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CNN LIVE SUNDAY

Deadly Greyhound Bus Accident in California; Smooth Travels at New York City Major Airports; Two U.S. Congressman Injured in Car Accident in Iraq; Flood Prevention Experts Advise New Orleans on Flood Control Systems; Soldiers in Iraq Comment on Washington's War Debate; Generation of Sperm Donor Offspring Search for Family

Aired November 27, 2005 - 19:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. and British embassies in Baghdad are urgently investigating reports that four western humanitarian workers have been kidnapped in Iraq. Two are Canadian, one is British, and there are unconfirmed reports that the fourth aid worker is an American.
Tragedy on an Arizona highway today. Two people are dead; four others seriously injured after a van overturned north of Phoenix. Police are investigation. They say the van's driver apparently lost control. The vehicle rolled across Interstate 17, ejecting several people.

The hunt continues for two inmates who escaped from a maximum- security jail in Yakima, Washington. Louis Soto and Giano Alaimo escaped Friday night. Both are considered dangerous and they may be armed, say officials. Seven inmates who fled with them are now back in police custody.

Our top story now, millions of Americans are packing up and heading home as the Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close. The trip ended tragically, however, for passengers involved in a deadly Greyhound bus crash in Southern California. We'll go live to Santa Maria in a moment.

Meantime, the nation's airports are packed with holiday travelers. Ahead, we'll take a look at whether New York's LaGuardia Airport is keeping up with the hustle and bustle.

And in some areas, blizzard and tornado warnings could cause big problems for the return home. Let's go straight to CNN's Brad Huffines in the Weather Center, and specifically that applies to people in Missouri and Arkansas, right?

BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right now, that is the area of heaviest thunderstorms presently on Doppler Radar. What we're looking at right now is Little Rock right here. The edge of the tornado watch box here. That means tornadoes can form in these severe thunderstorms with little or no notice.

And every county that you see lit up in red, those are counties where there are active tornado warnings, including northwestern Clark, southeastern Pike, Garland County, western Saline County, as well as Perry County and extreme northwestern Saline County, and Conway and southeastern Polk County.

You're looking at these storms approaching Little Rock now. And some of those thunderstorms are tremendously heavy.

Now what we're watching for, in these lines of thunderstorms, are these little notches. You see this little hook-shape of that storm briefly as it moved just to the northwest of Hot Springs. And we're looking at circulation in these thunderstorms.

Several areas where the winds are trying to spin up these small tornadoes, or I shouldn't say small, I should say short-lived tornadoes. Some of them could possibly be quite large. Numerous reports of storm damage all up and down this line of thunderstorms from Missouri into Arkansas and now into portions of northeastern Texas.

All of this is part of a large line of thunderstorms that extends all the way across northeast Texas, into sections of Arkansas where we have that chance of severe thunderstorms for the rest of the evening. Into Arkansas, up through Missouri, as well portions of southern Iowa where we have now had counties being put under a tornado watch.

Then you cross on the other side of that storm system, from Kansas City, west, rain showers start to turn into snow showers across western and central Kansas. Just plain blizzard conditions across this part of Kansas, into Nebraska, because of winds 50 to 60 miles an hour blowing snow, and visibility is virtually nil.

I just found out, Fredricka, I-70 now, west of Goodland, Kansas, because of the weather, has now been closed.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. Folks have to be real careful out there and stay tuned.

And, Brad, thanks so much.

HUFFINES: Certainly.

WHITFIELD: Well, now to California and that deadly Greyhound bus crash. The bus overturned in Santa Maria today killing two people and injuring dozens more. CNN's Kareen Wynter is there.

And, Kareen, why are investigators feeling like driver fatigue might, indeed, be a factor?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are, indeed, thinking or going in that direction, Fredricka, because, upon interviewing the bus driver, there was some indication there that maybe this person was on the rode too long. I'll get to that in just a bit.

But the preliminary investigation, what we've been hearing from the California Highway Patrol, is that mechanical factor did not play a part in this crash, but the fact that this driver may have been asleep behind the wheel.

We also learned that this bus driver, a 63-year-old male, Samuel Bishop from Fresno, California, wasn't even scheduled to work on Saturday. He was off-duty when he was apparently called into work.

We also learned that Bishop was on the road for several hours. He left Fresno, made several stops in the middle of the night and, this morning, picked up another route from Los Angeles and was heading through this area when this all occurred.

But officials say they still don't know exactly what caused this crash. That's just preliminary. That, maybe, fatigue may have been a role here.

Now, two people were killed. One of them, a 23-year-old woman from Santa Maria, California. She was seven months pregnant. Also, a 50-year-old man from San Francisco.

Officers have been spending the day, also, talking to witnesses on the scene. They've been describing, you know, what they saw, if they saw anything out of the ordinary.

But first, here's a sound byte that we have from local officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN MINOR, LIEUTENANT, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: We do have reason to believe that driver fatigue may have been a significant factor in the cause of this accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: And also, a witness -- there were many people shaken up after this accident, as you can imagine. There were 43 people on the bus, including the bus driver. But here's what one witness described of their ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BUS ACCIDENT VICTIM: I've seen that man before. I've been on his bus route before and he does do a lot of overtime. I'm not trying, you know, to get nobody in trouble or say nothing about nobody. But I've been on that bus with that man before because I do a lot of traveling in the Greyhound because I don't like to fly. Now, I don't even like to take no buses. And it's like, I'm literally traumatized, because all I keep on hearing in my head is this dude that keep on screaming over and over again. He died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WYNTER: And so this investigation continues tonight. Officials say they've ruled out drugs and alcohol. But if they do plan on charging the bus driver, Fredricka, they say it would be a misdemeanor, vehicle manslaughter without gross negligence. Fredricka --

WHITFIELD: All right. Kareen Wynter in Santa Maria. Thanks so much.

Well, the nation's airports are jam-packed but, so far, it seems to be smooth sailing at New York's LaGuardia Airport. CNN's Susan Lisovicz is there.

And I wonder if that depends on what terminal you happen to be in, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm in the lucky terminal then, Fredricka. You know, because 37 million of us are traveling between Wednesday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. That's what AAA says. And, of course, most of us are traveling at the beginning and the end, like tonight. So it's real crunch time here.

But here's why we have to thank Mother Nature because the skies are clear, the temperatures are mild and the end result is that, yes, what you're seeing here in the terminal is pretty normal, in terms of just a regular day, not one of the busiest travel days of the year.

The Port Authority tells us, LaGuardia, most flights getting in and out with 15 minutes or less in delays. At Kennedy Airport, another one of the major airports in New York City, no significant delays to speak of. And at Newark Airport, the third of the three major airports, we're now seeing delays averaging 24 minutes and that's due to volume.

But, of course, most of us are traveling by car. So let's take a trip, 10 miles west of here, to the George Washington bridge where we're seeing a little bit of congestion, especially at the toll booth.

One thing motorists can be grateful for, of course, this holiday weekend is sharply lower gas prices. But AAA tells us that, when it comes to Thanksgiving, it really doesn't matter if gas prices are high or low.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANTILL WILLIAMS, AAA: What we found historically is that high gas prices alone do not prevent people from traveling. It may alter their travel somewhat, but you'll be hard pressed to tell Grandma or your mother-in-law that you can't come see them because you can't pay that extra $10 in your gas tank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LISOVICZ: Yes, that would be a touch argument, I think, for Grandma or for the mother-in-law. But in any case, we should also give due credit to a lot of the passengers themselves. They heeded the advice of airport officials, they got here early and, as a result, a lot of them had extra time to spend with their families. Which is what people want to do on the holiday weekend, is to be with their families. Or, at least, in most cases, I think.

Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: I think that's safe to say. Thanks so much, Susan.

Reports out of Iraq say two U.S. lawmakers have been injured in a vehicle crash. Congressman Jim Marshall of Georgia, is quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "the vehicle overturned on the road to Baghdad's airport." Marshall says, Congressman Tim Murphy, of Pennsylvania, was airlifted out of Iraq to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck. And Missouri representative, Ike Skelton, was sent to a hospital in Baghdad.

Congressman Marshall was not hurt. CNN is seeking further details on that story.

Iraq's former interim prime minister is making some shocking allegations his county's new government. Ayad Allawi is quoted in The Observer newspaper as saying that Iraqi officials are torturing and killing citizens just like Saddam Hussein did. Allawi accuses the interior ministry of being behind all of it.

Iraq's national security advisor calls those claims ridiculous and says Allawi made them for political reasons.

Saddam Hussein's war crimes trial is set to resume tomorrow in Baghdad. The former Iraqi leader and seven co-defendants are accused in the deaths of more than 140 men after a failed assassination attempt back in 1982.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports now.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lawyer Aqil Al-Kanani remembers his two brothers he says were killed by Saddam Hussein's security forces in 1979. Last month, Kanani and his family watched the opening day of Hussein's trial on TV. Now, he wants the trial over so he can get answers of why his brothers, Yuseen (ph) and Tahah (ph), were killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AQIL AL-KANANI, LAWYER (through translator): I really care to hear his answer, no matter if he would go on a trial for my case or another case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Beset by technical glitches last time, the trial faltered in its opening hours.

Hussein grandstanded, wasting time. Then his lawyers got a 41- day adjournment to study the charges that accuse Hussein and seven former regime allies of brutally repressing a 1982-assassination attempt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANANI: Speaking to me as an Iraqi and not as a lawyer, I would denounce the delays of the trial and I would demand the court execute him immediately. But as a lawyer, I see it as a legitimate process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: For a while, even the return to court next Monday seemed to be in doubt. Since appearing at the trial, two defense lawyers were killed and another wounded in targeted assassinations. Only U.S. assurances to help investigate, and offers of protection appear to have convinced them to come back.

Still in jail awaiting trail, are other regime loyalists, like Hussein's former deputy prime minister, Terik Aziz (ph). His lawyer is worrying about when his client will see trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY: When they saw him last night, he was very sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Iraf has had death threats. His concern now is that the trial is unjust. No just because defense lawyers are being killed, but because they lack training in case like crimes against humanity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATTORNEY: They must also send the lawyers, also, to England, to America to learn them in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: When Hussein gets back in the dock, proceedings are expected to speed up. Witnesses could be called as early as the first day. But within days, the trial could be put on hold again to minimize tensions ahead of national elections.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

WHITFIELD: And for extensive live coverage of Hussein's trial, tune into tomorrow morning to a new extended versions of "CNN's AMERICAN MORNING." Hosts Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien will now kick off the day an hour earlier, at 6 am in the east, and 3 am out west.

Ahead here, soldiers speak. U.S. troops in Iraq talk about their mission and the political debate here at home.

But first, it's flat and mostly under sea level. Can New Orleans learn flood control lessons from the Netherlands? We travel to the North Sea coast to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We update developments in New Orleans in our "Fast Forward" segment.

Mayor Ray Nagin will swear in Warren Riley as the superintendent of police tomorrow night. Riley has held the job on an interim basis since former Chief Warren Compass resigned in the aftermath of Katrina.

Mayor Ray Nagin will hold a town hall meeting in New Orleans to update residents on the state of that city.

And after a record 25 named storms in 2005, the Atlantic hurricane season finally ends on Wednesday. But forecasters say it's not unheard of for a tropical storm, or even a hurricane, to develop in December.

Well, more and more of New Orleans is slowly returning to normal and officials are weighing the merits of various plans to protect the city from another natural disaster. They could take a tip from experts in the Netherlands, home to some of the world's leading experts in flood prevention.

Here's our Richard Quest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flat, surrounded by water and, like New Orleans, largely below sea level.

Holland lives with the threat of flooding from the North Sea. The country's equivalent of Katrina happened in 1953. A storm surge at high tide destroyed the dukes and killed more than 1800 people.

De Vriend was one of the children rescued, and is now an expert in flood prevention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUIB DE VRIEND, PROFESSOR OF HYDRAULICS: After the 1953 flood, we've said never again. But that's an absolute statement, of course. So we had to translate that into an acceptable level of safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: In Holland, that meant raising the flood probability to one in 10,000 years. By comparison, the New Orleans standard was one in 250 years.

For the Dutch, this new higher standard involved huge projects, like building new dams across the river estuaries. Being prepared meant having control rooms waiting, just in case.

The latest project is a flood barrier system with swinging gates towering 70 feet into the air. This structure is absolutely vast, but then, it has to be because, the idea is the two sides come out into the middle of the river, they sink to the bottom and, only then, will they be able to protect Rotterdam, up there, from the storm surge.

Professor deVriend believes the American authorities will have to go back to the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEVRIEND: Decide politically what level of safety you would like to have. Then derive the design conditions belonging to that level of safety and then design a system, a flood defense system that meets those conditions. And that's a bigger scheme than building dikes around the cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The U.S. Gulf Coast threat is very different than that faced by the North Sea. So what's worked in Holland may not be suitable for New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED DUTCH MALE: Each Dutchman believes that it's important to spend money on flood control. And don't think that they did that very much in New Orleans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Everyone agrees, though, the principles remain the same.

Richard Quest, CNN, along the Dutch coast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A Dutch delegation is visiting the U.S. and sharing extensive knowledge of that flood control procedure with Louisiana officials.

Joining me, from New Orleans, Dale Morris, senior policy adviser for The Netherlands.

Ambassador, good to see you Dale.

DALE MORRIS, SENIOR POLICY ADVISER, DUTCH AMBASSADOR: Thank you, Fredricka. Nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, which city, or who I should say, reached out to whom first, New Orleans to the Netherlands, or the other way around, post-Katrina?

MORRIS: Well, The Netherlands and the United States share a long-standing amount of cooperation. The Netherlands was the first country to recognize the U.S. flag in 1776 and The Netherlands' bankers actually financed the purchase of Louisiana a few years later.

In 1953, after the tremendous floods in The Netherlands, the Dutch government actually invited a Tulane University professor and engineer over to The Netherlands to help them decide and determine how they could build better pumps for The Netherlands. And so the cooperation is...

WHITFIELD: So there's always been this great relationship. One that reaches far back. But now, fast forward to the situation now. When we look at the piece that we just saw, we talk about the floodgates, we talk the dikes and these manmade islands around The Netherlands. When you look at New Orleans, does it seem to be the right kind of model in which to follow your example?

MORRIS: Well, sure. There are a number of principles that will apply to any water control project. You have to deal with sedimentation. You have to deal with river flow. You have to deal with navigation. You have to deal with ecological questions.

In The Netherlands, they've adapted a Room for the Rivers policy, which will allow for bigger flood plains for the rivers, in case flooding occurs in Central Europe, or heavy rainfall occurs in Central Europe and moves downstream and drains through The Netherlands.

They have a number of standards they've developed, sort of state of the art technology for remote sensing in the dikes themselves, to see how their responding to higher water levels and higher pressures. And also, to drought conditions because that has occurred in Europe too. And when droughts hit, the dikes and the levees dry out. And that can impact their ability to actually work when the need comes.

So there are a number of important projects that exist in The Netherlands, and technologies that exist in The Netherlands that are applicable here.

And certainly, the floodgates that you showed, you highlighted in your feature right before. That's state of the art technology. And I know they had discussed that for New Orleans, I think, in the 1960's and the 1970's. And it may be time to look again at that project to see, maybe, not one at that scale, but similar projects at a smaller scale may be sufficient or actually necessary here in New Orleans.

WHITFIELD: And bottom line, Dale, this is a very expensive venture and there have been critics who've said, "If trying to save a city is going to be this expensive, this complicated, then perhaps it's not worth the effort." How would you argue against them?

MORRIS: Well, I think, on behalf of the Dutch government, I would think the Dutch government would clearly disagree. It isn't as expensive as you might think. The total Dutch investment in the public works, the dams, the dikes, the pumps, the gates, the sluices is about $18 billion total. That's a fixed cost. And then the Dutch government spends about $500 million a year on flood...

WHITFIELD: And would you see those same kinds of figures for the U.S. for current standards in New Orleans?

MORRIS: Well, that's to be determined. I think the U.S. authorities will determine, first, what level of protection they need. And then you can design a flood control system that will respond to that.

You keep in mind, in The Netherlands, 70 percent of the GDP is at or below sea level, and they finance for -- the Dutch finance all of the flood control money for less than a penny on the dollar of GDP. That's certainly an affordable expense, given the amount of costs for what happens if you don't do that.

I mean, the U.S. is facing some tremendous high costs rebuilding this area, and actually responding to the damage of the floods.

WHITFIELD: All right. MORRIS: You may want to look at the investment as an insurance expense.

WHITFIELD: Dale Morris, senior policy adviser for The Netherlands. Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us from New Orleans this time.

MORRIS: Thank you very much, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And when we come back, voices from Iraq. The candid thoughts of American troops who are putting their lives on the line everyday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We want to update you on a story we brought to you earlier when we told you about an accident. A car accident that took place in Iraq involving a U.S. contingent of lawmakers. A couple of the representatives were injured. Among them, Representative Tim Murphy, a Republican out of Pennsylvania. He was airlifted out of Iraq, into a military hospital in Germany. He happens to be on the telephone with us now.

Now, we reported earlier, Representative, that you were going to be getting an MRI because of a neck injury. How are you feeling right now?

TIM MURPHY, R-PENNSYLVANIA (voice-over): I'm feeling better. The MRI showed that the injuries were not as bad as were first thought. I'm just a little bit groggy from some pain medication. But there's still some symptoms here, but it looks like the seriousness is down. So I'm thankful for that.

WHITFIELD: Well, we're glad to here that. Now, what happened?

MURPHY: Well, we had just met with General Casey, the head of our forces in Iraq, and we were in an armored vehicle convoy, a couple of them being armored buses. And it appeared a vehicle may have run us off the road. We're assuming it 's unintentional. You know, we hit something pretty hard and flipped into the air a little bit. It was apparently strong enough to take off the tires or the axle from the vehicle, and then we landed on our side, trapped in this armored vehicle.

But we were given aide immediately through some of the people who were there. And the troops immediately just cordoned off the area to make sure there wasn't anything bad that was going to happen from anybody else there.

Next thing I know, we're in one helicopter going to a Baghdad hospital, for military, the combat surgical hospital. And then they wanted me to have more tests done. They were concerned about my symptoms. So the next thing, I'm airlifted to Germany along with our other wounded troops.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Some frightening moments there. Now, I also understand a Missouri representative, Ike Skelton, who was among the contingent there with you, in that accident. Even though we were showing the graphic up there of Baghdad, Iraq, he continues to get treatment there in Baghdad at a hospital, even though you are in Germany. Do you know what his condition was like?

MURPHY: Actually, he's out of Baghdad now too. He's up in Germany. He's much better. Doing well.

I'll tell you, this was an incredible lesson on how excellent our military medical services are. I mean, just incredible. You can see why they save so many lives. When we went on a C17 airplane, it basically becomes a flying hospital mobile intensive care unit, with many wounded in there who's lives are clearly attributed to the incredible medical care there from some very dedicated people who are trying to do the right thing.

So we're just very proud, you know. There were a lot of people there who had it a lot worse than us. But we're better off here.

WHITFIELD: And Georgia Congressman Jim Marshall was with you as well.

MURPHY: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Is he uninjured?

MURPHY: He's uninjured. He's fine, yes. He's fine.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. All right, well, Representative Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, thanks so much for being with us. Glad you seem to be feeling well, well enough to be able to be on the phone with us out of a U.S. military hospital there in Germany.

MURPHY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD. Thanks so much.

All right, now, to Brad Huffines in the Weather Center to get a better look, another look that is, of very severe and treacherous conditions across the country, particularly in Arkansas and Missouri, Brad?

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News". California investigators are still trying to pinpoint what caused a deadly Greyhound bus accident in Santa Maria. They're looking further into whether driver fatigue may be a factor. The bus rolled off Highway 101 and plunged down a 10-foot embankment. Two people were killed, including a woman 7 months pregnant. All 42 other people onboard were injured -- or at least -- injured seriously.

In Arizona a section of Interstate 17, about 25 miles north of Phoenix is closed as police investigate the cause of another fatal accident. This one happened when a van lost control, flipped and ejected some passengers. Two people were killed, at least four others injured seriously.

In Iraq there are reports that four Western aid workers have been kidnapped. Two are believed to be Canadian, one British, the fourth worker missing may be American, but that's not confirmed yet. The U.S. and British embassies in Baghdad are investigating.

After a five-week recess the trail of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein will resume tomorrow, but his lawyers plan to ask for another three-month delay. Defense attorneys are frustrated with court procedures and they're concerned about security.

And don't forget CNN's special live coverage of Saddam Hussein's trail begins at 6 a.m. Eastern, on a new time for "AMERICAN MORNING."

And now, in case you missed it, let's check some highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows. Iraq was topic A on all of them. On NBC's "Meet the Press" the Republican Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee John Warner, commented on assertions that President Bush deliberately hyped pre-war intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN WARNER (R-VA), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES CMTE.: Our president would not intentionally take any facts and try and mislead the American public, in my judgment.

What was before all leaders of the world at that time, were facts that gave rise to the Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction and some potential for nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: On "FOX News Sunday" two other key senators weighed in on Iraq's readiness to protect their country without the help of coalition forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), ARMED SERVICES CMTE: I think everybody is aware of the fact that we're much too much of a target and we've got to transfer the responsibility to the Iraqis. And puts some pressure upon them to take that responsibility.

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R-IL), CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: I accept Carl Levin's point that we need to put pressure on the Iraqis to perform. I would put a lot of pressure on the Iraqis to perform. But the fact of the matter is we are going to try to train them to perform. The questions is how well they do so. Whether they mop up on each other whether they have a unified country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Every Sunday at 7:00 Eastern, we'll bring you the best headlines from the Sunday talk show circuit.

So, we've heard what the politicians have had to say about the war in Iraq. But what do U.S. soldiers think about their mission? And how to they feel about the debate that's going on back home? Here's CNN international correspondent Aneesh Raman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The best days in Iraq are the slow ones, when there is no engagement with the enemy, when there's the chance to get some down time, killing time, killing flies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not even flying.

RAMAN: And for us it is a chance to talk to soldiers about the war raging here and the debate about it raging back home.

CPL. JAMES PARSLEY, U.S. ARMY: Whatever they're fighting for over there, this is our fight, you know, we're trying out best. And pretty much, soldiers, whether they want to be here or not, this is our focus.

CPL. CHARLES JOHNSON, U.S. ARMY: I think it's right for people to argue and in college and regular office days, argue about what we're doing over here. Hey, it might help our benefits get higher or something, you know? I don't know, they just don't understand what its like over here. What its like driving down the road full of BVIEDs (ph) or EIDs, or something.

RAMAN: The fight in this part of Iraq, just south of the capital, remains a tough one. Roadside bombs found on a near daily basis, car bombs detonated, insurgent groups operating among the civilian population.

The soldiers are trained, though, to confront these dangers, but not the risks they can face back in the U.S.

JOHNSON: When I went home, you mentioned you were from Iraq and stuff, that's not the greatest thing to mention to a girl when you're at the club. It doesn't work. Some asked me what I do, I'm like I'm in the Army Infantry in Iraq, you know. But it is something I try to avoid from saying, just because it starts a whole conflict.

RAMAN (on camera): When you're out on patrols like this and you talk to the soldiers about the fight here it is less about the war on terror, or building a democracy in Iraq, it is much more about getting home.

(voice-over): Over the past nine months this squadron has lost 18 men. They know that number may rise every time they go out.

JOHNSON: You don't know when you're going to get shot at; it's very unexpected. Fire fights come from across canals, across open city areas and stuff, where you can't get to.

RAMAN: But on slow days it's rarely politics and strategy that pass the time. Sometimes a conversation turns to the worse of Army rations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like the chicken breast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love the Jambalaya because I'm from Texas.

RAMAN: While in Washington the arguments rage over whether America's soldiers are risking their lives for a noble goal or a hopeless cause. The distinction means little on the front line.

PARSLEY: Most of the people out here probably wouldn't want to say anything.

RAMAN (on camera): Why?

PARSLEY: It's -- you want to just do your job.

Your story is not what happens behind a desk. It's out here everyday.

RAMAN: Aneesh Raman, CNN, Northern Babul Province, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And here in this country children conceived by sperm donors are using technology to their advantage to find their long lost siblings. We'll show you how they're doing that when CNN LIVE SUNDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, the CIA leak investigation is by no means over. Tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" reporter and famed Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward speaks out in his first TV interview since testifying in the CIA controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB WOODWARD, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I wish I did have a bombshell. I don't even have a firecracker, I'm sorry.

LARRY KING: OK, Robert, what were you not telling us that night.

WOODWARD: Well, first of all, I was telling you the exact truth. That I did not have a bombshell or any story for the next day's paper. I did know that back over two years ago at the end of a very long interview, substantive interview, for my book "Plan of Attack", a source had -- when I asked about Joe Wilson -- told me that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA as a WMD analyst. At that point, and on your show, I didn't know what that meant at all, because it was such a casual off-hand remark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Once again, the Bob Woodward interview airs tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE" at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific.

Well, imagine having a sibling that you never knew about. Now multiply that a few times. A new generation from sperm donors searches for answers and finds a few surprises, too, when CNN LIVE SUNDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, imagine, if you would what it would be like to find out you have half a dozen brothers and sisters you've never even met. A pretty strange thought, maybe even a little scary, but it is happening as children conceived with sperm donations track down their biological siblings. CNN's Deborah Feyerick introduces us to such a group.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show's you.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They laugh and joke as if they've known each other forever. Five brothers and sisters, half siblings who share a father they have never met. In fact, they only met within the last year.

(On camera): You guys are really the first generation, on some levels, to be searching for one another. Why?

JUSTIN SENK, CHILD OF SPERM DONOR: It's like finding a long lost siblings you never had. I mean, how many chances -- what are the odds that that is going to happen?

FEYERICK (voice-over): More surprising for 15-year-old Justin, an only child, unlike the others here, he only found out this summer he was conceived using donor sperm. Immediately curious he went online. And that's where he found twins Erin and Rebecca, and siblings Tyler and Mackenzie, all from the same donor, Donor 66. All live in the Denver area, within an hour's drive from each other.

ERIN BALDWIN, CHILD OF SPERM DONOR: There's always that connection that you feel like you've gone way back, but you really haven't, you just met.

FEYERICK: The one they haven't met is their genetic father. From his written profile, which most potential mothers get, they know that Donor 66 was a surgical assistant. His sperm when to three mothers treated by the same doctor in the Denver area.

Wendy Kramer brought the teens together through her web site, Donorsiblingsregistry.com. She created it with her son Ryan, to help him find his own donor dad. So far the site has made 1,000 matches between donor siblings or between donors and their children.

WENDY KRAMER, DONOR SIBLING REGISTRY: So, there is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 families with 15 children all born from the same donor.

FEYERICK (on camera): And you think this is almost an under reporting of the number? That there may be twice or three times...

KRAMER: Oh, absolutely.

FEYERICK: ... as many.

KRAMER: Absolutely, 40 of women report they're live births. So, we're seeing a fraction here.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Sperm banks are not required to track the number of children born from any one donor. There maybe two or 200, since a donor may donate multiple times, there is just no way to know for sure.

(On camera): How many half brothers and sisters do you think you have out there?

RYAN KRAMER, CHILD OF SPERM DONOR: I would say, probably, between 15 or 20 or so.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Wendy's son Ryan has never met any of them. He's 15 and by all accounts a genius. We met him at the University of Colorado, where he will soon a sophomore majoring in aerospace engineering. He easily answers calculus and physics questions, the questions about his own biological dad are much, much tougher.

R. KRAMER: Parts about my face, you know, they're -- my brow or my teeth, or my nose or certain things just clearly don't come from my mother. And to see those in somebody else would just answer a world of questions for me.

FEYERICK: Ryan's donor dad likely wasn't much older than Ryan is now. In fact, the majority of donors excepted by sperm banks are college students. They must be handsome, smart, outgoing, the kind of guy a girl would like to date. It's not coincidence many sperm banks and clinics within walking distance of major campuses. The work is easy, the pay is good.

ROTHMAN: They can make between $600-and-$900 a month, just coming to visit us a couple of times.

FEYERICK: Doctor Kathy Rothman is a pioneer in the field of donor sperm.

(On camera): What are we looking at here?

ROTHMAN: The next generation.

FEYERICK (voice-over): He founded California Cryobank in the mid-1970s and estimates as many as three-quarters of a million babies have been born from his sperm bank alone. A daunting number considering there are now 150 sperm banks across the country.

When Rothman began the controversy was using a stranger's sperm to have a baby. The controversy now, Rothman says, children trying to track down their genetic donors. Men who never intended to be found.

FEYERICK (on camera): Do you guarantee the anonymity of the donors.

ROTHMAN: We try to. We thought we did, we hoped we could. But after what's been taking place with the misuse of some of the technology out there. I don't think we can absolutely guarantee.

FEYERICK: Most potential mothers sign contracts agreeing to respect the donors privacy. Wendy says she never did. It may not matter. Testing DNA is as easy swabbing your cheek. And the growth of genetic data bases could make it all but impossible for donors to remain anonymous. One teenager recently used a saliva sample, had his DNA analyzed and found his genetic father through a DNA database.

W. KRAMER: I see them all on my web site, and over the next 10 years this wave of kids is about to hit the sperm bank industry and want answers to their questions.

FEYERICK: Donor dads have absolutely legal or financial responsibility to their genetic offspring. So then, what is it children like Ryan really want?

R. KRAMER: Really all I'm looking for from the donor is just to answer a few of those questions I have. You know, I'm looking for a relationship or money, or anything that a lot of people assume that donor kids want to know about them. Really, it's just a curiosity about who he is and, you know, where I came from.

FEYERICK: The five Denver-born kids from Donor 66 are now debating how far they want to go to find their genetic dad.

(on camera): So, show of hands, who wants to find the donor?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd love to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it would be cool.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

FEYERICK: You're not so sure, why not?

E. BALDWIN: I'm satisfied beyond belief. I have two brothers, two sisters.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Sisters and brothers, once strangers now family.

SENK: You know, you're friends, you may never see them again after college or after high school. But I'm going to know all of them for the rest of my life.

FEYERICK: And who is to say how many more children from Donor 66 they will meet down the road.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And now let's check in again with Brad Huffines in the Weather Center. Some crazy weather out there.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

WHITFIELD: Well, relive some of the most shocking moments of the past quarter century when "CNN 25 Presents: They Said What?" That's coming up in less than five minutes. Then, at 9 Eastern it is an encore presentation of Larry Kings exclusive interview with Bob Woodward. Hear what he has to say about the CIA leak investigation.

And I'll be back at 10 Eastern. Should a Florida teacher, who admitted to having sex with a student, spend time in jail? We'll debate that issue on our "Rap Sheet" tonight. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, a check of the headlines is next, and then it is "CNN 25".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield with a look at what's happening right "Now in the News." Driver fatigue may be to blame for a Greyhound bus crash this morning in California. Two people, including a pregnant woman, died when the bus ran off the road and slid down an embankment in Santa Maria.

And this is the scene right now on New York's George Washington Bridge. It's just one of the many crowded highways around the nation as people return home from their holiday travels. One of the toughest travel areas, eastern Colorado, by the way, where a blizzard warning is now in effect and I-70 is closed from outside Denver to Kansas.

Time now for "CNN 25". From Kobe Bryant to Martha Stewart and from politics to pop culture. The most unforgettable quotes from the last quarter century. Larry King answers the question, "They Said What?" as he guides you through the best sound bytes of CNN's first 25 years, next.

And stay with Larry at 9 p.m. for the "LARRY KING LIVE" show. Tonight, Bob Woodward talks about his role in the CIA leak investigation. What did he know, and why did he keep quiet for almost two years? And I'll see you at 10 p.m. with the latest holiday travel conditions on CNN SUNDAY NIGHT. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

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