Quiet Revolution: Will Iran's Youth Prevail Over the Hardliners?

T E H R A N, Iran, Sept. 12 — From the moment you land here in Iran's capital, you sense this foreign assignment really will be "different."

The flight attendant has already come on the intercom — to warn women they must cover themselves in keeping with Islamic rules. As you line up at airport immigration to have your visa stamped — and look up at huge pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini — you can't help but think back to the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis.

There is a lot in Iran to remind you of the "bad old days" when Islamic radicals here cursed the United States as "the Great Satan." During the week we spent here, reform-minded newspapers were shut down and a 71-year-old dissident who had spent the previous 18 months in the United States receiving cancer treatment was hauled into court for allegedly trying to overthrow the Islamic state. Make no mistake: the Islamic ~~conservatives~~ SOCIALISTS still have the ultimate power here.

But it's a lot more complicated than that. A perfect example is the Friday prayer service at Tehran University. I stood on the press platform with my American news crew — as mullahs led the faithful in chants of "Death to America." Hundreds of Revolutionary Guards, the shock troops of the Islamic Republic, were beating their chests in religious fervor.

But as soon as the service was over, people came up to me and asked where I was from. "America," I said hesitantly, their chants still echoing in my ears.

"Oh, I've got a cousin in New Jersey," one man said. "I just came back from the States," said another.

How to reconcile what's going on in Iran? It seemed to our team that when crowds here say "Death to America" they mean death to U.S. foreign policy, especially the United States' support for Israel and economic sanctions against Iran. But when it comes to the American people, they want to trade with us, to visit us, and, to a surprising degree, to live like we do.

Denim Jackets and Satellite Dishes

You see this especially in the young people. There has been a population explosion since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Fully two-thirds of the population here is under 25. That's 40 million people who have little memory of what brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power in the first place.

A lot of people here think that simple demographics — the undeniable sway of this generation — will take Iran in a new direction. But where? We talked with a group of college students in Tehran, and their message was clear. They are tired of all the rules and restrictions, and they are fed up with the isolation from the world community. They want Islam as a religion, but they don't want the mullahs running their lives.

A 21-year-old drama student named Raha clearly bridles at always having to cover her head in public. So she has pushed the scarf to the back of her hair, and puts stylish sunglasses up front. Add her denim jacket, bright red pants and sneakers and, as I told her, she looked like she could be in Beverly Hills, not Tehran.

It's more than just clothes. The young people here are bombarded with Western images. They go to an Internet café and see the latest trends. Satellite dishes are illegal, but they are everywhere. The students we spoke to are up to date with the latest music videos.

But they live in a world here where religious police known as the Basij patrol the streets, enforcing the dress code and even breaking into private parties where there is dancing or alcohol. Babak, a male student who is also 21, told us he's been beaten several times, once for walking with his girlfriend in public. They were not even holding hands. "Everything is forbidden for me," Babak said. "Censorship is everywhere."

Widespread Frustration

This deep frustration — which is felt by people of all ages, not just the young — has become a key fact of political life here. When reform-minded President Mohammad Khatami ran for re-election last year, he won in a landslide. The reformers also took a majority of seats in the parliament. The people are voting for Khatami's central agenda: creation of what he calls a "civil society" where people are guaranteed certain freedoms.

But sitting on top of this democracy are the conservatives, led by Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader (a constitutional position), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These Islamic hardliners still control the courts, and the military, and Iran's foreign policy. So for now at least, the urge for reform — for opening things up — is still bottled up.

Which brings us to President Bush's so-called "Axis of Evil." That, of course, is what attracted us here in the first place — the president's charge that, like Iraq and North Korea, Iran is busy developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorists — an explosive mix that could someday threaten the West with a clear and present danger.

Confronting a Cleric

We confronted one of the most powerful men in Iran with these charges — Hassan Rohani, head of the Supreme National Security Council. To see Rohani, you drive through Tehran's horrific traffic and park outside a nondescript building on a small side street. The Revolutionary Guard repeatedly searched our team and our equipment. Then they opened a door into Rohani's elegant complex and we were suddenly in a beautiful, secret garden straight out of an ancient Persian tale.

Rohani is a cleric, and is clearly at ease with the power he wields. He answered every one of our questions with good humor, even the toughest.

There were some surprises. One of them was to hear how threatened Iranian officials feel by the Bush administration. Rohani told us that the United States has never been more aggressive towards Iran than now, not even during the hostage crisis. When Rohani and his colleagues hear Washington talk about the "unelected leaders" in Iran, they see it as setting a rationale for overthrowing the government here. This is not rhetoric. They see it as a real possibility.

When it came to the Bush administration's allegations against Iran, Rohani denied them all. This was not a surprise: it's what Iranian officials always do. No, they had nothing to do with that ship, the Karine A, that was seized by the Israelis with 50 tons of weapons allegedly meant for the Palestinians. No, they have no program to develop nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons.

Rohani had no qualms about defending the Palestinian uprising against the Israelis — even the campaign of suicide bombings. Iran makes a distinction between terrorism — which it says it opposes — and freedom fighters. Where does Rohani draw the line? "It is very clear that fighting for the freedom of occupied land is different from a terrorist act," he said.

I asked: "When someone walks into a restaurant, to a Passover Seder, and slaughters innocent families, is that a freedom fighter?"

Rohani's answer: "What should they do? What is the Palestinians' alternative? The Palestinians, whose children are being killed."

I pressed him: "So they should kill Israeli children?"

And he replied: "What is their alternative? If these people are blowing themselves to pieces before anything else, this means there remains no alternative."

A New Mood

I hope you'll read the full transcript of the Rohani interview and watch our broadcast report on Primetime Thursday. Having traveled the world for the last 30 years, I found Iran to be one of the most vital, complex, and yes, difficult places to report on that I have ever encountered.

From everything U.S. intelligence officials told us — and everything we found out ourselves here — Iran does aggressively pursue its policies in the Middle East, especially toward Israel. However, I was far less convinced that Iran has much interest in promoting terrorism around the world.

Most of all, if you spend time here, you are likely to come away with the strong sense that things will change. The hardliners are still in charge. But there is a mood in the street — a determination to lead a freer, less isolated life — that in the long run, seems irreversible

M I A M I, Sept. 13 — Three people in two cars were detained today along a South Florida highway on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. Authorities shut down the interstate as they used dogs and a robot to search for explosives.
The cars were stopped after a woman at a restaurant in Calhoun, Ga., reported overhearing three men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent making "alarming" comments, according to Mickey Lloyd of the Georgia Department of Public Safety.
Eunice Stone, who said she was the one who called authorities, told Fox News Channel one of the men said: "Well, if they're mourning about 9/11, what are they going to do about 9/13?"
She said the men talked about going to Miami and "bringing it down," though she wasn't sure what "it" was.
"What she reported would lead a reasonable person to believe a criminal act was pending," said Vernon Keenan, acting director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The Georgia agency issued an advisory for the men's cars, and the cars were pulled over in Florida early today after one ran a tollbooth on Interstate 75, authorities said. Bomb-sniffing dogs alerted authorities to material in both cars, but no explosives were immediately found, said E.J. Picolo of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
A law enforcement official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that authorities had not found a terrorist connection and that the three men appeared to be medical students going to a medical conference in Miami.
The official said the men were originally Jordanian, Iranian and Pakistani, and at least two are naturalized citizens.
Authorities blasted open what appeared to be a backpack taken from one of the vehicles, and a robot was being used to search the vehicles. Bomb-squad technicians in protective blast suits also removed a suitcase and plastic bags from one car and searched the interior and trunk.
"We're taking it very serious until we can eliminate the possibility of a threat or verify that there was a legitimate threat," Picolo said.
Picolo said all three people were legally in the country, but he would not provide further information about them. The three were being detained but had not been placed under arrest, he said.
The cars, both with Illinois license plates, remained on Interstate 75 about 50 yards apart, and the highway remained closed more than nine hours after the cars were stopped.
FBI spokeswoman Carrie McCune in Chicago said five federal agencies were involved but she wouldn't release any other information.
The Florida Highway Patrol shut down a 20-mile stretch of the interstate, known as Alligator Alley, around 1 a.m. after one of the cars ran a toll plaza, Lt. John Bagnardi of Florida Highway Patrol told CNN. He said the people pulled over were uncooperative and refused to immediately allow a search.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had issued an advisory for the two cars Thursday after a woman in Calhoun, in the northwestern part of Georgia, told police she overheard three men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent discussing their plans Thursday, authorities said.
The interstate is the main east-west route across the Everglades, running from Naples to Fort Lauderdale. The highway patrol said the road was blocked off from a tollbooth east of Naples to State Road 29.
— The Associated Press
Radiation on Freighter ‘Natural,’ Not Bomb

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 13 — Officials feared a U.S.-bound freighter might be carrying material for a nuclear weapon. But it now appears radiation on the ship is coming from clay tiles among its cargo, they said today.
The Liberian-flagged container ship M/V Palermo Senator was ordered back to sea early this week and subjected to a series of tests, including by weapons experts from the Pentagon's special operation troops on Thursday. The vessel has been detained off the coast of New Jersey.
It is now thought that the radiation was from natural causes and coming from clay tiles that were being shipped, a defense official said today.
— The Associated Press
Senator Asks: West Nile-Terror Link?

M O N T P E L I E R, Vt., Sept. 13 — A senator who was the target of an anthrax-laden envelope sent to his Washington office last year has raised the possibility that terrorists may be responsible for the spread of another disease: the West Nile virus.
Sen. Patrick Leahy called on the government to examine whether terrorism is involved in a West Nile outbreak that has killed 54 people this year.
"I think we have to ask ourselves: Is it coincidence that we're seeing such an increase in West Nile virus or is that something that's being tested as a biological weapon against us?" Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday.
The Vermont Democrat made the remarks on a radio talk show broadcast on WKDR in Burlington and WDEV in Waterbury. In a statement issued later by his office, Leahy said he could point to no specific evidence that the outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus was linked to terrorism.
A spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that there is no evidence to suggest an act of bioterrorism.
The spokesman, Tom Skinner, said the cycle of the disease and its transmission — from mosquitoes to birds and to people — is what one would expect with West Nile. "All of that points to this being a naturally occurring outbreak," he said.
According to the CDC, nationally, 1,295 people have contracted the disease and 54 have died.
Leahy's office also released excerpts Thursday from previous news and congressional committee reports saying officials had downplayed the fear that the spread of West Nile virus might be the work of bioterrorists.
"In the times in which we live, questions about our vulnerabilities are unavoidable, and finding all the answers we can is more important than ever," Leahy said in the statement. "I have no way of knowing what the answers are, but some legitimate questions have been asked, especially before September 11 last year, and no doubt they are being asked anew by the agencies that are working on this."
West Nile first appeared in the United States in 1999 when an outbreak in New York killed seven people. That October, The New Yorker magazine published an article focusing on a book by an alleged Iraqi defector, who said Saddam Hussein may have developed a lethal strain of the virus to use as a biological weapon.
A report issued in July 2000 by the minority staff of the Senate Government Affairs Committee said "law enforcement, public health, and intelligence officials have investigated the possibility that West Nile virus resulted from a bioterrorist attack but believe that this is very unlikely."
— The Associated Press

How About this one?

Defector Says She Was Saddam’s Mistress

Sept. 12 — A woman who says she was Saddam Hussein's mistress describes a Viagra-fueled lover who enjoyed watching The Godfather and tapes of his enemies being tortured — but cried as the allies took Kuwait from Iraqi occupation during the Gulf War.

"He don't believe in his mother, he don't believe in God, he didn't believe in nobody," Parisoula Lampsos, 54, told ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman in an interview from a safe house in Lebanon. "He believe only for Saddam," Lampsos added. "He look at the mirror, 'I am Saddam.' He went like that. He looks. 'I am Saddam. Heil Hitler!'"

Allegedly Helped Bin Laden

As U.S. officials look for current links between Saddam and al Qaeda, Lampsos said she was told the Iraqi leader has met and given money in the past to Osama bin Laden, according to one of several written excerpts from the Primetime Thursday broadcast.

Lampsos saw bin Laden at Saddam's palace in the 1980s, she said, and claimed Saddam's son Oday told her his father met with bin Laden again in the mid-1990s and gave him money.

"He give to Osama bin Laden," Lampsos said. "He give to Palestine."

Lampsos says she was Saddam's mistress on and off for 30 years, and at times saw him almost on a daily basis. But after fleeing Iraq a year ago, she fears Saddam will try to kill her, and she disguises herself by wearing a veil in public.

The Iraqi National Congress, the leading opposition group, helped Lampsos flee Iraq and supports her claim that she was Saddam's mistress. Western intelligence sources also say they believe her claim. Iraqi officials denounce it as ridiculous and declined to comment further.

Lampsos said she did not know whether Saddam has nuclear weapons. But she did say she overheard Saddam and his son Oday discussing plans to move chemical weapons around by night to avoid their detection by U.N. inspectors — something U.S. intelligence soruces say they always suspected.

U.S. intelligence agents have not yet debriefed Lampsos, but government sources told Primetime her apparent knowledge of Saddam's habits and behavoir could be critical to a U.S. effort to remove him from power.

‘You Are Afraid to Say No’

Early on, she loved Saddam, Lampsos said. He gave her a room in his palace stocked with clothes and gifts.

"He was tender," she said. "He was warm. He was nice. He was another person." But as Saddam grew older, he dyed his hair, used a relaxation mask to reduce wrinkles, and sometimes used Viagra to enhance their sexual encounters, she said.

"Saddam, he don't need to force anybody," she said. "You are afraid. You are afraid to say no. … I was with him because I was afraid of him."

Parisoula said she was part of what she calls Saddam's "collection" of women, which she said included three wives and over the years five other mistresses. She said she was his favorite mistress, and was friendly with his wives.

As she grew more disenchanted with Saddam, she said, she realized she would never be allowed to leave.

"I told him, 'Why? Let me go now,'" she recalled of the many times she said she tried to break off the relationship. "'I don't have anything to give you more. You can have any woman. What you need me?' He look at me very, very, very strong. He said, 'You belong to me. You are going to die here in Baghdad.'"

Role Seen in Son's Assassination Attempt

She knew Saddam was willing to go to extreme measures to get what he wanted. She says she saw first-hand examples of his ruthlessness — such as when she believes he ordered the assassination of Oday, his oldest son, because he viewed him as a troublemaker and a rival for power.

The assassination attempt failed, but Oday was left paralyzed.

"I didn't want in this way," Lampsos recalled Saddam saying afterwards. "I wanted him to die. It was better for him."

U.S. intelligence officials, who had suspected that Saddam was behind the assassination attempt but were unable to confirm it, told Primetime that Lampsos's account could be damaging to Saddam's regime, and potentially even destabilize it.

Whiskey and Torture

Even when relaxing, Saddam's brutal side could come out, she said. According to Lampsos, Saddam loved watching The Godfather, listening to "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra, or seeing videos of his enemies being tortured. He sometimes donned a cowboy hat, sipped whiskey on the rocks and puffed on a cigar as he watched the torture.

"He was happy, happy, happy," she said of the torture viewing. "Happiest day."

Saddam also raised gazelles, she said, because they were his favorite dinnertime meal, and when he was hungry he handpicked them to be slaughtered.

‘Thinks All the Time He Is Sick’

But Saddam also lived with fears, Lampsos said.

Saddam "thinks all the time he is sick," she said, and prefers that people kiss him on the shoulder instead of the cheek so he doesn't get infected with germs.

Several years ago, she added, Saddam summoned a doctor from Cuba because he suffered a stroke, something Western observers had suspected.

"If you see him in some photos, his mouth is not normal," Lampsos said. "It droops."

According to Lampsos, Saddam worried somewhat when George W. Bush was elected president, believing the younger Bush would come after him. But, she claimed, "He don't care."

‘Who’s America? … I Am Saddam’

Lampsos said Saddam was convinced that he would win the Gulf War a decade ago because, "He never lose. He always think that he will win."

Even after the United States stepped into the fray, she added, Saddam thought, "Who's America? Who are they? What [do] they think they are? I am Saddam."

But when the allies seized Kuwait, she sensed he had been crying, as his eyes appeared to be "with tears. His eye was red, red, red."

She said Saddam told her: "'I lose.' I said, 'What?' He said, 'Kuwait.' He said, 'They took Kuwait from me but I will took it again.'"

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