Kremlin Vows Retaliation for School Killings
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at some of the stories now in the news. Secretary of State Colin Powell is on Capitol Hill this hour for a hearing on the deepening crisis in Sudan. A live picture there on Capitol Hill. Less than an hour ago before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said that atrocities committed in the Darfur region do constitute genocide. Tens of thousands have died, 1.2 million people displaced in Arab attacks on non-Arab African tribes. Back in the U.S., Los Angeles officials are warning of traffic delays this morning as terror drills send about 20,000 people into downtown streets. In just about two hours, simultaneous evacuations will occur at city hall, police headquarters, and several other civic center buildings. That's all part of a mock disaster drill to prepare for a possible terrorist attack. Former heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali was in the political ring this morning. He appeared before the House Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee. He was there to discuss reforms in professional boxing. Rudy Giuliani, who was the mayor of New York during 9/11, is remembering those killed in another attack on innocent civilians. Giuliani is in Beslan, Russia, today, for a wreath-laying ceremony at the school where at least 335 people were killed on Friday. Giuliani also met today with Russia's foreign minister. On that topic, Chechen rebels are responding to Moscow's reward for terrorists linked to the school massacre with a bounty of their own. They are offering $20 million for the capture of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, more details emerged from the inside of the siege of the school and the Kremlin's reaction, our Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty explains.</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Still reeling from a terrorist massacre of hundreds men, women, and children held hostage in a southern Russian school, Moscow vowed to strike back. Russian chief of staff, General Yuri Baluyevsky said, "Russia will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region." The General noted he was not implying Russia would resort to nuclear weapons in its fight against terrorism. The remarks echoed a stance taken by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, that it retains the right to launch preemptive strikes on terrorists virtually anywhere. A senior administration officials tells CNN, every country has the right to defend itself in the war against terrorism. In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the Russian position understandable.</s>JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: The United Nations' charter does give a right of self-defense. And the United Nations itself has accepted that an imminent or likely threat of terrorism certainly entitles any state to take appropriate action.</s>DOUGHERTY: Meanwhile, Russians heard the first definitive version of what happened in that school in southern Russia. The prosecutor general, Vladimir Ustinov, reporting to president Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, the meeting broadcast at length on Russian television. The report contained the first official public acknowledgement that there were 1,200 men, women and children taken hostage, far more than first reported. The prosecutor general told the president, one terrorist questioned the ringleader called the Colonel, "Why seize a school?" The Colonel shot him dead and later killed two female terrorists as a warning, triggering a remote control to detonate explosives they had strapped to their bodies. Anger over the behavior of Russian authorities spilled into the streets of the nearby town of Vladikavkaz Wednesday, the regional president promising his government and possibly he will resign. As more families in Beslan laid to rest their loved one, Russian authorities announced an unprecedented $10 million reward for information leading to the neutralization of two Chechen rebel leaders whom they accuse of organizing the assault that killed so many. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.</s>KAGAN: Back here in the U.S., two Congressional panels are holding hearings today on the prison abuse scandal at the same time some retired military leaders are blasting the Pentagon probe. Our Kathleen Koch is at the Pentagon with both of those stories this morning. Good morning.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. The two most recent reports on the alleged abuses in Abu Ghraib Prison came out in late August. So needless lawmakers were not in session then, are very anxious to get a chance to really probe for some more details on those reports, to question the authors of the reports. So right now, we're having back-to-back, simultaneous, really, hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee, the House Armed Services Committee. There you see Major General Antonio Taguba being questioned by members of the Senate. He of course conducted the first probe into the abuses there at Abu Ghraib Prison. Also testifying before the Senate will be Major General George Faye, who completed his Army probe of the prison incidents back on August 25th. Also testifying this morning is former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, he is appearing before the House. And though in his probe, he did conclude that the alleged mistreatment did go higher up the chain of command, at least responsibility for it did, Schlesinger this morning told lawmakers that in his opinion the abuse was not pervasive or systemic.</s>JAMES SCHLESINGER, INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL CHMN.: To be sure, these abuses and the failed oversight that allowed them are an embarrassment. They do not reflect the standards that this society believes appropriate. We must take those steps necessary to see that those standards are indeed upheld in the future.</s>KOCH: Hearings come as pressure is mounting for an independent commission, something along the lines of a 9/11 Commission, to be named to get to the bottom of the scandal. Yesterday a group of retired admirals and generals sent a letter to President Bush asking that such a panel be named. An independent commission also has the backing of at least one member, a Democratic member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. So it will be interesting today to see that subject comes up at the hearings -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Kathleen Koch at the Pentagon. Kathleen, thank you. A disputed claim that one documentary says could bring unimaginable consequences if targeted by terrorists. Officials strongly deny that charge. We'll look at the battle over the Indian Point nuclear facility just outside of New York City. And another look at Hurricane Ivan as the Category 5 storm moves towards Jamaica.