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CNN Live At Daybreak

Dolphin Recovery; Small Business Administration Loans; Leaving Baghdad; Happy Birthday, Prince Harry

Aired September 15, 2005 - 05:29   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Coming up in the next 30 minutes, you'd think they'd want to stay at sea, but these dolphins are trying to get home safe and sound.

And it's a big birthday for Prince Harry. We'll hear his take on life at the ripe old age of 21.

But first, "Now in the News."

Within the last hour, reports of two suicide car bombers in Baghdad killing at least four police officers. Follows another suicide car bombing that killed 16 elite police officers in the capital. Elsewhere, 10 people were killed in Baghdad and Kirkuk in a rash of attacks.

President Bush will be back in New Orleans and Mississippi today. It will be his fourth visit since Hurricane Katrina struck. The president addresses the nation on the recovery effort tonight from Louisiana. That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. CNN will bring it to you live.

It is a baby boy for Britney Spears. The entertainer and her husband, Kevin Federline, got a police escort to the hospital in Los Angeles. The baby was delivered by C-section. According to "The New York Post," his name is Preston Michael Spears-Federline.

But we want to talk about Ophelia now.

Hello -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

Looking at Ophelia now, it has moved very little since we talked 24 hours ago, literally less than 200 miles from down here in Wilmington, where it was, and then over Morehead City, over Atlantic Beach and now right into Ocracoke Island is where that northern most eyewall is. Cape Hatteras getting a pounding here.

And it's going to go downhill from here on the cape, because the winds here are about 60, but they're about to go to 80 to 85 as the eyewall goes right on top of that island. There's the Ocracoke Island lighthouse right there getting really hard hit right now.

A lot of beach erosion, all the way through the Outer Banks, and even up to Kill Devil Hills, and Hags Head seeing a lot of beach erosion, that onshore flow pounding and pounding and pounding. The onshore flow actually pushing water up the rivers, as well making coastal river flood warnings in places that you don't expect it.

Because as the wind continues to blow the water the same way for days now, it's all just pushed right up the rivers. And some of these rivers now are up 10 feet compared to where they were or where they would be on a normal day.

There's Morehead City. There's Cape Hatteras 2:00 p.m. today, then finally 2:00 a.m. Friday morning, that's late tomorrow morning.

Carol, I showed you -- I told you that I'd talk to you about this spaghetti map. All of these models agreeing now that this storm is going to go to the northeast. The only problem is half of them are from Nantucket Island back to almost the eastern sections of Long Island. The rest missed the U.S., but obviously hit Canada up there in Atlantic Canada. So we'll have to watch it from here.

It's not losing much punch, because there's not much to hit, except the barriers around (ph). Well that's not going to slow it down much.

COSTELLO: All right, well we'll check back with you.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: New Orleans getting back to normal, that tops our "Mission Critical" update, from the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone. Just over a week ago, you heard the New Orleans mayor calling for forced evacuation. Well today, Mayor Nagin says he wants people to come back home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: I'm going to announce a phased re- population plan that is going to deal with some of the areas that were least hit by the hurricane and had less water. And then within the next week or two, we should have about 180,000 people back in the city of New Orleans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And those areas, by the way, that he's talking about will have temporary stores and two working hospitals.

We also heard this from the Louisiana governor, Kathleen Blanco. She's offering a buck stops here sort of thing. She vows to rebuild and urges the nearly one million people displaced by Katrina to come home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: There were failures at every level of government, state, federal and local. At the state level, we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again. The buck stops here. And as your governor, I take full responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Blanco also says she plans to appoint an outside financial adviser to make sure recovery money is properly spent.

Many coastal communities will require massive rebuilding projects. Among them, Long Beach, Mississippi. Authorities there have put up barbed wire in most of the battered town. They say it's an effort to keep looters from picking through the remains of the community. Military police in the area also say there are several bodies in the town. The 35-foot storm surge wiped out 75 percent of Long Beach.

In the desperate days immediately after Katrina hit New Orleans, a Louisiana congressman got a National Guard escort to his home. It was Friday after the storm hit when Representative William Jefferson was touring New Orleans with President Bush. While his constituents languished in shelters, a Louisiana Guard unit took Jefferson to his home to salvage some of his belongings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. PETE SCHNEIDER, LOUISIANA NATIONAL GUARD: We provided the vehicles to give Congressman Jefferson a tour of his district. And as part of that tour, he asked to be taken to his residence. We pulled into the residence, he departed the vehicle and went into his house and proceeded to take some things out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Jefferson maintains he wanted an up-close look at the devastation in his own district. Floodwaters had reached front porches in his pricey neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. WILLIAM JEFFERSON (D), LOUISIANA: I saw people at the convention center and asked them how they were. And they talked to me about the need to get buses out and so on.

I then went uptown to the area where I live and to my neighborhood. Every member of Congress went back to see what had happened in their own area, as I did. I was only five or six miles from the convention center is where my house is located, so it was hardly much of an inconvenience to go there. I wanted to see the condition of my house, as every other congressman who went down there did. The trouble is, as I told you, they didn't have to have guards with them, and I did, because they worried about me being shot. But I went to the house to see whether it was under water, whether it had been looted, that sort of thing. There wasn't anything especially important to retrieve from the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Jefferson spent an hour inside of his house emerging with a laptop, a large box and at least two suitcases. He was inside so long the soldier's truck got stuck and had to be pulled out.

We've seen the stranded dogs, cats and even potbelly pigs, but there are still other creatures left out there fending for themselves.

CNN's Gary Tuchman goes on a mission to find them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We're on a rescue mission. Before the hurricane, this was Gulfport, Mississippi's Marine Life Oceanarium. Now it's destroyed, and eight of the dolphins were washed into the Gulf of Mexico. But take a look to the left of the boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're coming.

TUCHMAN: The dolphin trainers and experts from NOAA have made an amazing discovery. The dolphins not only survived, they're all together in the Gulf.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a shock that we found all eight of them together, because even at the aquarium, they weren't all housed together.

TUCHMAN: But now it's a race against time. These dolphins have always lived in captivity. They can't survive more than a couple of weeks in these waters. They are skinnier and were injured in the hurricane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's on the mat, right?

TUCHMAN: The trainers jump out to feed the dolphins and provide antibiotics.

(on camera): The goal is to get these dolphins on the mat behind me. But right now, even if they got them on the mat, they couldn't bring them back because the waters here are too deep.

(voice over): They're trying to coax the dolphins into shallower waters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now the most important thing is to try to keep them comfortable. They recognize the training staff. They are comfortable with the training staff. TUCHMAN: There were six more dolphins at the aquarium. They are safe, because they were put in hotel swimming pools a little farther inland. The hope was the other eight could survive in this 30-foot tall tank, a tank that made it through Hurricane Camille. But it was no match for the 41-foot storm surge, so the dolphins got swept out to sea.

(on camera): What are the names of the eight dolphins who are still out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well we've got Tony, Kelly, Shelley. We have three captive ones that are Alija and Noah. And then, of course, we have Jill.

TUCHMAN: Of course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jill is the oldest one. She's 40 years old.

TUCHMAN: Forty years old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That, in human terms, it's about 90 years.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): They were not able to capture the dolphins Wednesday. So they will try again Thursday, as they spend another night in contaminated waters among predators they know little about.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Gulfport, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Of course Thursday would be today.

Coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, we're going to talk to one of those dolphin rescuers before they head out and try again. That comes your way at 6:15 a.m. Eastern.

A lot of people lost small businesses in Hurricane Katrina. But even if you didn't, you may still be able to get help from an organization designed to help small businesses. What are we talking about, money and a lot of it. That's next.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Beautiful morning here in New York City.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:41 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

President Bush heads back to the Gulf Coast today. It will be his fourth trip there since Hurricane Katrina struck. The president will reveal his recovery plan for the region in a televised speech tonight from Louisiana. Chief Justice nominee John Roberts will be back on Capitol Hill this morning for final questions in his confirmation hearing. Democrats will get one last chance to pin him down. Republicans are confident Roberts will win the committee approval.

In money news, ESPN and Major League Baseball have agreed on a new broadcast deal worth nearly $2.5 billion. The eight-year deal also gives the Sports Channel the rights to show baseball games over the Internet and mobile phones.

In pop culture, Russell Crowe says he may never return to the United States. The actor tells an Australian magazine that his lawyers are working to reduce assault charges against him. Those charges are the result of the infamous telephone-throwing incident at a New York hotel. Of course a conviction might make it too difficult to get a visa to enter the U.S.

In sports, Roger Clemens was masterful on the mound just hours after the death of his mother. Clemens led the Astros to a 10 to 2 win over the Florida Marlins. Bess Clemens died early yesterday of emphysema. She was 75. The pitching ace says I get my determination from her -- Chad.

MYERS: A difficult little story there, wasn't it?

And good morning, everybody.

Here are some of the wind gusts from Hurricane Ophelia, Cape Lookout 92 miles per hour. So you can see it certainly was a hurricane. Bald Head Island, that's down by Cape Fear, 84 miles per hour. Wrightsville Beach at 79. And a lot of sand, a lot of surf and a lot of the beach gone from North Carolina this morning as you wake up.

Here's what it looks like now. The storm right over, the eyewall right over the lighthouse at Ocracoke Island, although it seems to be pulling offshore just a touch. Cape Hatteras really getting battered this morning by some of the eyewall there.

And there you go, the tip there, the tip of the island, that is Ocracoke Island. Into Pamlico Sound, a lot of flooding going on there. Cape Hatteras right there at the very tippy top. You'll be getting, Nags Head, you'll be getting a big band of rain and thunderstorms very soon. And then even flooding as far northwest as Washington as the water has been running up the wrong way up the rivers -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Chad, thank you. We'll check back.

This morning some help you may not know about for those of you struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina. You've heard of the Small Business Administration, of course, but did you know that it helps private citizens, as well as business owners? For those who qualify, the organization's Disaster Assistance Program offers this, $1.5 million for small businesses, up to $200,000 to repair damaged homes and up to $40,000 to replace personal property. We want to get more now from Matt Young. He's the Public Information Officer for the SBA Disaster Assistance Program.

Good morning -- Matt.

MATT YOUNG, U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMIN.: Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Where are you guys set up in the Gulf region?

YOUNG: Well we're here certainly in the areas that are damaged the most. And we have loan officers in all of the disaster recovery centers that FEMA and the state have set up. And currently there are four of those offices set up. There is one in Waveland. There is one in Ocean Springs. There is one in Moss Point. And there is one in Tiplersville.

COSTELLO: So if I owned a small business that was destroyed by Katrina, what do I do?

YOUNG: Well certainly we would encourage you to come in to one of these offices, and you can actually get an application at these offices that we've set up. Or we have an 800 number. Certainly we encourage all of the homeowners, the renters and businesses to first call the FEMA 1-800 number, 621-3362. And that one number will register people, and then it will refer them to the agency that's best able to help them.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: OK, well let me stop you there, Matt, because that sounds...

YOUNG: OK.

COSTELLO: ... rather complicated for people who have lost everything and may not have a phone or a mode of transportation to get to your field offices. And then you have to pick up an application and then you have to call FEMA. Wow!

YOUNG: No, they should call FEMA first. And I think they have set up phone banks for people to call. I've seen it down here. They've provided telephones and that type of thing. But if -- most people are getting around, OK. They're able to get to the disaster recovery centers.

COSTELLO: OK, well let's talk about specifically what people can receive. We know that small business owners are probably eligible to receive some money. But what about people who don't own businesses, how much are they eligible for?

YOUNG: Well homeowners can borrow up to $200,000 to make repairs to their primary residence, their home. And homeowners and renters can also borrow up to $40,000 to repair or replace their damaged personal property. That would be like furniture and clothing.

COSTELLO: When you say borrow, is there interest attached to those loans?

YOUNG: Yes. And you know this is a federal program. And these are low-interest loans. Now for the homeowners and renters, the low rate is 2.687 percent. And the low rate for businesses is 4 percent.

COSTELLO: And how long before I call FEMA and fill out the application would I get the money?

YOUNG: Well we're looking at, and certainly we need a completed application from the disaster victim. For home loans, we are looking at approving or coming to a decision on a loan in 16 days. And then on a business application, again, once we've received a completed application, we're looking at about 19 days. And the big thing is, again, we encourage people to get those applications back to us, because we can't provide...

COSTELLO: Yes.

YOUNG: ... them any assistance until they get the application to us. So that's the...

COSTELLO: You know, Matt, I think the program sounds great, but 16 to 19 days just sounds a long time to me for people desperate for any help they can get.

YOUNG: Well initially that's the whole thing is, Carol, is the initial help I mean certainly comes from the agencies that are on the ground, the American Red Cross and FEMA also provides their part of their program is to provide temporary housing. Our program is actually for the long-term recovery. This is to put people back into their homes for the long term, to put it back to what it was prior to the storm, as well as for businesses. We are the long-term recovery for disaster assistance.

COSTELLO: All right. Matt Young, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

Matt Young from the Small Business Association.

Here's how you can apply for that help, call 1-800-621-FEMA. That's the number Matt was giving you a little bit ago. On the Internet, you can head to www.sba.gov.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In Iraq, it's been another violent day. At least 30 people have been killed. The deadliest incident, a suicide car bombing aimed at an elite Iraqi police squadron in southern Baghdad. Sixteen of them were killed. Twenty-one others, including civilians, were wounded.

And within the last hour, reports of two more suicide car bombings. Those killed four officers. The bodies of six other people were found elsewhere in Baghdad. And in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb killed two police officers. As you know, a string of attacks yesterday killed at least 153 people and wounded more than 300.

The al Qaeda leader in Iraq has declared "all out war." In an audio tape posted on a Web site, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi stated targets are Shiites, Iraqi troops and the government. The statement comes during a deadly string of violent attacks in Iraq that I just told you about. More than two dozen people were killed in various attacks today. And, as I said, the day before it was a particularly violent day.

All of this violence is taking a toll. It's led many to leaving for neighboring countries, like Jordan and Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.

Our Aneesh Raman brings us the story of one retired engineer who says he's fed up with the city he has called home for more than 40 years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Moving out and moving on in a small Baghdad neighborhood. It's packing day for Gazwan Mukhtar, amid daily violence and a void of basic services. It is now time, he says, to go.

GAZWAN MUKHTAR, BAGHDAD RESIDENT: I'm 40 years in Baghdad. I have gone through the wars with Iran. I have gone through the sanctions and I have gone through all the 2003. And I have never seen Baghdad in such a bad situation. It's the worst that I have ever seen in every aspect.

RAMAN: Some weeks ago, Gazwan decided to leave behind everything he knew and take what little he could.

MUKHTAR: I have, over the last couple of weeks, sent suitcases to Jordan with people.

RAMAN: To find a better life. A retired engineer. His wife, a gynecologist, cannot work. Her clinic shut down. Like many professionals, they are targets for ransom kidnappings, a frequent occurrence in Iraq. And his children, all doctors, have already, in his words, "escaped."

MUKHTAR: What do you do, you don't go out on the street. The streets are very unsafe. So we are actually prisoners in our houses, in our neighborhoods. We will leave only when it is absolutely necessary.

RAMAN: Although no concrete count exists, officials say many Iraqis are fleeing to neighboring Jordan, Syria or Egypt. Their homeland now an unrecognizable war zone. Their futures here unnervingly vague.

MUKHTAR: One has to maintain a home. But with the -- it's going to improve within the next 5 years or 10 years, I'm more inclined that it will be in the 10 years scale.

RAMAN (on camera): And would you come back then? MUKHTAR: I don't know. I really don't know.

RAMAN (voice-over): While gone, Gazwan's house will remain empty, waiting for that possibility. In the meantime, the country he leaves behind will never be out of mind.

MUKHTAR: I leave physically from Iraq, but I'll never be able to leave mentally, because this place where I grew up. This is the only place I know.

RAMAN: One man of millions, one enormously difficult decision, leaving his home behind to escape what he calls a daily nightmare.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We are watching the path of Hurricane Ophelia this morning. In the next hour of DAYBREAK, I'll talk with the mayor of New Bern, North Carolina, where a mandatory evacuation order is in effect. But are his residents listening?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And I thought we would be playing the birthday music, because it is a big birthday for Britain's Prince Harry. He's 21 years old today. No cake and candles though, not for this Royal.

ITN reporter Robyn Curnow talked to Harry about his plans and his family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, ITN-TV REPORTER (voice-over): There will be no princely party. Instead, Harry, who's third in line to the British throne, says he'll be spending his 21st birthday on training exercises at the Sandhurst Military Academy.

PRINCE HARRY: I will be in a ditch somewhere and I'll have 29 others guys to celebrate my birthday with. It'll probably be silent. So it'll be happy birthday or something like that.

CURNOW: Not that he minds. Prince Harry says he loves his new Army life.

HARRY: There's something about me, I do enjoy running down a ditch full of mud fun, but it's the way I am, I love it.

CURNOW: The youngest son of Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, says even as a child he wanted to be a soldier. Now he's in the Army, he doesn't want special treatment because he's a prince.

HARRY: The last thing I want to do is have my soldiers sent away to Iraq, Kuwait or like that, and for me to be held back home twiddling my thumbs. CURNOW: As he prepares for a career on the front line, Prince Harry is already battling another kind of war with the tabloid media that paints him as a partying wild child.

HARRY: I'd love to do a column in the newspaper, you know, article, write this is what happened last night. No, this is what happened.

CURNOW: He jokes about setting the record straight. But Harry says he does find it hard being in the spotlight.

HARRY: So I don't think it's really a case of dealing with a -- don't know if you can't deal with it, you just get on with it.

CURNOW: Growing into his Royal role with the support of his older brother, Prince William.

HARRY: It's amazing how close we've become, you know, I mean ever since our mother died, obviously we were close. But he is the one person on this earth who I can actually really you know we can talk about anything.

CURNOW: He and his brother recently got a new stepmother, Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall. A second marriage that not all in Britain support.

HARRY: Camilla is Camilla and my father is my father, happier.

CURNOW: But despite some public opposition to the marriage, the new duchess has the young prince's support.

HARRY: And she's made our father very, very happy, which is the most important thing. William and I love her to bits.

CURNOW: Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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