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American Morning

Mayor Would Like to Reopen Parts of New Orleans; A Series of Car Bomb Explosions in Around Iraqi Capital

Aired September 14, 2005 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien in New York. New developments out of Baghdad to tell you about this morning. A series of car bomb explosions in and around the Iraqi capital. More than 100 people killed. Violence coming just as Iraq submits its amended constitution to the United Nations -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien, live in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, a city -- the mayor of this city would like to reopen parts of New Orleans, but this neighborhood won't be open for quite sometime. We'll take you here and we'll pose the question, how will businesses get back in business in this stricken city?

Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: And Hurricane Ophelia is now a category-one storm, ready to strike the Outer Banks of North Carolina, maybe as early as tonight. A mandatory evacuation is under way, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

You're looking at a live picture from Atlantic Beach in North Carolina. You can see the surf picking up quite a bit, quite windy, too. And we saw some reports from Rob Marciano earlier this morning. Heavy rain, heavy winds from Ophelia could pound parts of North Carolina, they're expecting for as long as two days. And of course flooding a major concern there as well. We're going to bring you an update from the weather center. in just a few moments.

First, though, we want to get Miles. He's in New Orleans again today.

Miles, good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Soledad. You know, it's such uneven progress here in the city of New Orleans. We've heard the mayor yesterday, Mayor Ray Nagin saying certain parts of the city, the central business district, the French Quarter, parts of uptown, he would like to get those up and running, people able to move in by Monday.

But take a look behind me here in the Gentilly neighborhood. This is the edge of the water right here. When we came here a few days ago, I would of been standing in waist-deep water. So that's good news. The water is receding. But out there, that deep, dark abyss there gets very deep. In some cases as deep as eight feet, so it's quite sometime before this city is really open for business -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, we're going to check back in with you in just a few moments.

First, though, let's to Baghdad. More than a hundred Iraqis killed today in a wave of violence that was aimed at the Shiite majority. These attacks coming on the same day that the final draft of the Iraqi constitution is being presented to the United Nations. Jennifer Eccleston is live for us in Baghdad this morning.

Jennifer, good morning to you.

First, this very violent day. What can you tell us about these attacks?

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. That's right. A string of attacks across Baghdad today, the most recent a suicide car bomb rocking the entrance of an Iraqi army base in central Baghdad. That bomb blast then was followed by a ground assault, and fighting ensued between the attackers and the Iraqi military. U.S. forces were called into the scene. They responded to the scene, and sealed off that area. We understand that nine people were wounded there, but, Soledad, it's a day of escalating violence targeting Baghdad and the Shiite communities. Suicide car bombers targeted two busy Shiite neighborhoods.

The latest was in Shula (ph), in northwestern Baghdad, an area that has suffered from attacks in the past, four people were killed, and 22 were wounded in that blast. But the most deadly today was a attack involving a minibus.

Now according to police, the bus exploded near a meeting point for day laborers in Katamiya (ph), a Shiite neighborhood in north central Baghdad. Witnesses say when the van pulled up, the driver called out to those workers to come to his vehicle, and he then detonated his bomb. Now at least 80 people were killed there, and 162 were wounded. These day laborers usually gather in large numbers to pick up various construction and maintenance jobs, thus making them a prime target for insurgent attacks.

And we understand right now there is a claim of responsibility on an insurgent Web site, which said Al Qaeda in Iraq is responsible for these bombs across Baghdad. Of course he said it's by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, and the site says that they are in retaliation for the operations that are going on in Talafar, in northern Iraq, near the Syrian -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Jennifer, those pictures are really just horrific.

Jennifer Eccleston reporting for us from Baghdad this morning. Thanks.

Let's get right back to Miles this morning in New Orleans.

Miles, good morning again.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning again, Soledad.

Hurricane Ophelia still out there in the Atlantic posing problems. There's a hurricane warning out today from parts of South Carolina all through North Carolina. This is a category-one storm, given all that weave experienced here in the city of New Orleans, that might seem like something to trifle with, but it is still 75-mile-an- hour winds and the possibility of a storm surge.

CNN's Rob Marciano is in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina this morning, where they are getting ready for possibly the arrival of Ophelia today -- Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

Yes, it's definitely a different situation here than in the Gulf Coast for a number of reasons, a different storm, a different strength storm. It's moving very slowly so that will itself bring its own problems in the way of continually pounding surf, continually ripping winds and very heavy rain, so flooding will be an issue here.

We are in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. That's in Carteret County. It's pretty much midway between Wilmington and Cape Hatteras.

Right now up here, you see behind me the surf here. This is low tide, by the way, which is normally about where high tide would be. You see the sea foam scooting across the beach, which faces to the south. So our east winds have been steady today. So 25 miles an hour, gusting easily over 30.

Actually right now, we're in a bit of a lull. About 20 minutes ago it was really coming down. That's just the way it goes up until the arrival of the eye. You see the surf today.

Let's look at what it looks like yesterday, pretty much the same deal, except the sun was out at times. High-water surfers were out. I bet you they're not going to be out here today, because conditions are extremely dangerous, and it's only going to get worse. Business owners and residents boarding up in preparation for the storm today. Obviously anything that flies through here at 75 miles an hour will do some damage to your home. There have been some evacuations ordered. We did go out yesterday, and speak with Allen Smith yesterday.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN SMITH, CARTERET CO. EMERGENCY SERVICES: We are really trying to stress to folks who are trying to determine whether to stay or not, that they weight and look at all of the information being given to them and make a good, sound decision. If they decide to stay, they need to realize that once they decide and the storm has peaked out, it may be a time where emergency services won't be able to run, so they will be on their own until it's safe for us to run again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: That was the emergency services director of Carteret County. The county that we're in, one of the counties that are mandatory evacuation, at least down east county, where we are right now, is not mandatory. The storm surge is going to be a different situation here, pretty much most the Outer Banks are protected by big time sand dunes, and the surge has to get up an over eight, nine, 10 feet to breach those dunes. Right now, we expect the surf to get to about six, seven, maybe feet. So about up to the dunes, we will be moving back as the storm approaches.

That's the latest from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Miles, or Soledad, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Rob Marciano, thank you very much.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: The death toll in Louisiana this morning now stands at 423. And as we've been saying all along, those numbers will, in fact, continue to rise. Not far from where I stand, we were out on a boat just the other day. There are several corpses that are in the water here. So clearly, there's a matter of accounting to be done here. Long, tedious process when you consider how many square miles behind me remain covered over by this thick, putrid water.

CNN's Sean Callebs is in a part of town, a place in the city of New Orleans which is very crucial to the effort to get this city back dry. He's one of the key pumping stations, and this is all part of the effort to get this city back in business. The mayor saying yesterday he wants to start reopening some of the neighborhoods that are least affected by Monday.

Sean, what is the latest from there?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, a very ambitious effort by the mayor. We are at pumping station number three. Really, these pumping stations are on the front lines of the effort to try and liberate this city from the floodwaters that have come in. And this one is a pretty good example of what has gone right and what has gone wrong in this city. There are three pumps operating inside here, three pumps that should be operating. Only one is right now, and it just came online yesterday. This facility was flooded when the water poured into the city and was basically not operating for the past couple of weeks.

There are about 30-some large facilities like this, pumping water out of the city.

The problem, they got a lot of water out quickly, from about 80 percent of the city flooded to about 40 percent, but now the work is going much more slow. The reason there are filters that screen the water as it goes out, and so much debris is coming in now that the filters are simply getting too clogged up. This is supposed to pump out drainage water, but with the sewer systems overflowing, it also pumping out raw sewage, and that is going right into the Mississippi River. Still, progress is being made, and because of that, the mayor says he is eager to open up four sections of the city, including the French Quarter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYR. RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans is coming back. We're bringing New Orleans back. We're bringing its culture back. We're bringing its music back. I'm tired of hearing these helicopters. I want to hear some jazz. We're bringing its people back. And we're going to bring the spirit that makes New Orleans one of the greatest, unique cultural cities in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: But the mayor says he also has to walk a fine line. He expects as many as 150,000 people could be in Monday. And he is concerned, concerned that that could affect all of the emergency work going on in the city -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: CNN's Sean Callebs, who is at pumping station number six. That's a key place now. That's kind of the granddaddy of all pumping stations here in New Orleans. And when that gets up and running well, that effort to pump out water, which now stands at about five or six billion gallons a day, according to the Corps of Engineers, that will increase perhaps by as much as three times, so that will be significant. Already the water receding, but that could make it go much faster -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Good news on that front then.

Miles, thanks.

Let's turn to Capitol Hill now. It is day two of questioning for chief justice nominee John Roberts. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on his nomination will resume in less than two hours. National correspondent Bob Franken live for us on Capitol Hill this morning.

Bob, good morning to you.

Ten hours of questioning on Tuesday. Anything new learned about Judge Roberts?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Not very much. He's very good at deflecting, as we found out. Still waiting for the surprise, but right now, there are an awful lot of frustrated Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): So many questions, so few definitive answers.

JUDGE JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE NOMINEE: I feel the need to stay away from a discussion of particular cases. I'm happy to discuss the principles of stare decisis.

FRANKEN: Meaning, decided laws assumed, for starters, to be correctly decided, like Roe versus Wade.

ROBERTS: It's settled as a precedent of the court.

FRANKEN: But Supreme Court justices uniquely can overturn precedent. Almost 24 years ago, then Reagan Justice Department lawyer John Roberts wrote of what he termed a so-called right to privacy. That right is the key legal rationale for Roe.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: Do you believe today that the right of privacy does exist in the Constitution?

ROBERTS: Senator, I do. The right to privacy is protected under the Constitution in various ways.

FRANKEN: But Roberts repeatedly refused to state whether he believed Roe versus Wade was decided correctly.

And what of his memo written more than 20 years ago in which he said...

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Quote -- "some might question whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good."

FRANKEN: He had some explaining to do.

ROBERTS: And that's a common joke that goes back to Shakespeare has nothing to do with homemakers. The notion that that was my view is totally inconsistent and rebutted by my life. I married a lawyer.

FRANKEN: Democrats were frustrated by this lawyer's responses all day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute, Senator Biden, he's not finished his answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's filibustering, sir. But, OK, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's not. No, he's not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can go ahead and do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a bad word, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we do, too. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and continue not to answer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Sparring is going to continue today, but thus far, nobody has laid a glove on Roberts, thus far -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You know what? There's more. FRANKEN: There's more.

S. O'BRIEN: CNN is going to have more live coverage today. Bob Franken for us this morning. The Roberts confirmation hearings are going to be seen in a special "SITUATION ROOM." We'll take you to "THE SITUATION ROOM." That begins at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Still to come this morning, we're going to go back to one of the days other big stories, Hurricane Ophelia. We'll take you live to the National Hurricane Center in Miami for the very latest on that path. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. CNN is your hurricane headquarters, and this morning we are talking about Hurricane Ophelia, now a category one. You see the loop there, moving very slowly, only about five miles an hour. But as we've seen from Rob Marciano, who's been reporting live for us, he's already feeling the effects of the storm, even though, as Chad tells us, probably 19 hours away from landfall where he is. Obviously, lots to talk about with this storm.

Let's get right to the National Hurricane Center's Ed Rappaport. He's in Miami this morning.

Ed, nice to see you, as always. Thanks for talking with us.

Lots of variability in this storm. Why does that matter? How is that going to play out?

ED RAPPAPORT, DIR., NATL. HURRICANE CENTER: I'm sorry. I couldn't hear the entire question.

S. O'BRIEN: The variability of the storm. You know, yesterday, it was a tropical storm, then it was a hurricane, then it's been a tropical storm, a hurricane. I think Chad said four times we've seen it go back and forth. What does that indicate about this storm?

RAPPAPORT: It indicates we have a pretty steady intensity, because those variations you talked about were only five miles an hour, so it's been going between 70 and 75 miles per hour. Now it's a 75 miles-per-hour hurricane, with those winds focused on a few small patches, mainly on the eastern side of the circulation center. We expect the center to come up over the next 24 hours or so and move along, or very near the coastline. So it will be a large area, it's going to get tropical storm-force winds, and an area just near to the east of the center that's going to get hurricane-force winds, primarily over the Outer Banks. And we're going to see some storm surge from those winds of perhaps six to eight feet.

S. O'BRIEN: What kind of damage are we talking from a six to eight foot storm surge and from tropical storm-force winds?

RAPPAPORT: We're going to look in terms of the winds and the rain, because it's a slow-moving hurricane, we could see 15 inches of rain. We're looking at impacts that were similar to Katrina in Florida, not for the Gulf Coast, but for Florida, downed trees, downed power lines, some flooding, both from the storm surge and also from that rainfall.

S. O'BRIEN: It's almost like we're conditioned to think that a category four or five is a big storm, and a tropical storm or category one, you know, doesn't even rate on the radar, so to speak. People are being evacuated. Do you have big concerns for not only the beach erosion, but also the people who live in the area?

RAPPAPORT: We do have some concerns. And even in South Florida for Katrina for category-one hurricane, there were about 10 deaths, people without power for two to three days in some cases, and there was some damage that we said from trees, power lines down, and in addition, inconveniences as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Ed, I'm going to ask you to stand by for one second, because I know Chad has a question for you --0 Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Ed, I have a little concern here on the shape of the North Carolina coastline here. This looks like a bowl. We've used that word too many times with New Orleans. But now all of the water has been pushed into this bowl for so long. These rivers are going to flood today, aren't they? Are they going to go backwards?

RAPPAPORT: There will be pressure from the winds and the surge pushing up the rivers. And in fact, as we take a look at another depiction here, what we're looking at now is the track forecast to come along or near the coast, we are going to push that storm surge inland, and here the green shading along eastern North Carolina is in the order of five feet. The reds or oranges, a small area, could be as much is as six, seven, maybe even nine feet, so you're right feet, we're going to be pushing a lot of river into sound and up the river as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Final question for you, Ed, if I may, we've been talking a lot, or I should say, you and Chad, have both been talking a lot about how slow moving this storm is. Why is that relevant? Why does that matter?

RAPPAPORT: It matters in a couple of ways. It's been fortunate, in the sense, that we have had time to prepare, and hopefully everybody who's left who was planning to leave has. The bad news, though, is because it's moving so slowly, it prolongs the impact, both in terms of the winds, which induce the storm surge, and the rainfall, so that's why we're expecting 10, locally 15 inches of rain, significant problems from flooding, from fresh water and from the salt water.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, we're going to keep an eye on it, as I know you will, too.

Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center in Miami for us this morning. Ed, thanks. Still to come, some business news. Andy says that one major airline seems to be one step closer to bankruptcy, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We were talking about Delta Airlines yesterday. Today, we're talking about Northwest Airlines. Are they close to filing for bankruptcy? Andy's got a look at that and a look at the markets, as well, as he minds your business.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Bad, bad news in this industry. Terrible.

SERWER: Indeed. I mean, it could be black Wednesday for this business, Soledad. We've been talking about Delta, we've been talking about Northwest this morning. Published reports saying that Northwest Airlines board will be meeting today to decide whether or not this airline, the nation's fourth largest, will file for bankruptcy today.

The company apparently has not paid $42 million in bills over the past several days. There is still a mechanics strike, as we've been reporting over the past several weeks. And the stock plunged more than 50 percent yesterday, Soledad, to an all-time low of $1.57. The company is losing about $4 million a day.

The mechanics strike goes on out there in Minnesota. You can see it's ugly. And there's, you know, a scab picture there. So if Delta and Northwest both file for bankruptcy, that would be the third and fourth largest airlines in the nation. That would mean that four of the seven largest airlines in the nation would be under chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. United and U.S. Air already are. It would also mean that half of the seats in this country flown by airlines would be on bankrupt carriers, which is truly a staggering notion.

S. O'BRIEN: Utterly. And just after 9/11 and with the oil prices, I mean, there's just big hammers on all front.

SERWER: They are. And, you know, at some point -- I know we've been saying this for months now -- but the government is going to have to step in and address this problem.

Let's talk about the markets yesterday, quickly. Stocks retreated after a couple good sessions. You can see here, red ink across the board. But I do have some good news, because stock futures are up slightly this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. We'll end on good news, then. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: That's it.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right back to Miles. He's in New Orleans this morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning again, Soledad. We're at the end of a street, which has become a boat ramp, as you can see. These are members of the Massachusetts National Guard, Task Force Yankee, it is. This is their sector. It's their job to perform search and rescue. In just a few moments, we will introduce you to some of the people on this team and tell you what they're doing as they move forward to try to help people get to their homes potentially, see if they can recover anything at all.

Back with more AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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