Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Newer Orleans; Ancient Mysteries

Aired March 21, 2006 - 09:34   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a question for you, and it's question that many people have asked and would like to see answered. What's New Orleans going to look like in the future? Mayor Ray Nagin and his top business and government leaders have released a blueprint now for the city's redevelopment. Some residents say, though, the plan is cutting them out.
CNN Gulf Coast correspondent Susan Roesgen live for us in New Orleans this morning.

Hey, Susan, good morning.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Soledad.

People in this city just want to know whether or not they should rebuild their damaged neighborhoods. And this new blueprint gives them some answers, but not all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN (voice-over): Mayor Ray Nagin insists New Orleans is on the verge of something great.

MYR. RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: This committee's recommendations offer a solid framework for rebuilding.

ROESGEN: The new blueprint drafted by his handpicked committee calls for better neighborhoods, better schools, better just about everything. No one will be stopped from rebuilding a damaged home, and even neighborhoods with fewer than 50 percent of their pre-Katrina population will be welcomed back. But all that comes with a warning.

NAGIN: The Army Corps or Engineers has warned me that some of our lowest lying areas of New Orleans east and the Lower Ninth Ward will have some flooding from levees overtopping if another hurricane travels along the same path as Katrina, even with the restoration of higher, better fortified levees.

ROESGEN: What the mayor did not say is whether those low-lying areas will be fully redeveloped. This map shows the areas the mayor mentions, the Lower Ninth Ward and New Orleans East, the areas in red, severely flooded after Katrina, and likely to flood again.

And the message some people are getting in these predominantly African-American areas is that the city will eventually abandon them.

BABATUNKI AHMED, RESIDENT: A smaller footprint means you don't want my mama back. You don't want my grandkids back!

ALBERT CLARK, RESIDENT: This is a racist, no good, rotten committee. It doesn't represent the grassroots, it doesn't represent poor folks; it represents the rich, the ruling class.

ROESGEN: The public comment was loud, but powerless. The mayor's plan is final, pending approval by the state, which is in charge of dolling out federal dollars for the recovery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: And the city needs those federal dollars, Soledad, to do a lot of things on the wishlist in that blueprint, things like providing temporary housing for people, jobs training and better flood protection here.

O'BRIEN: Like in many issues, to a large degree, it's all about politics, isn't it? I mean, the election is just around the corner, Susan.

ROESGEN: Oh, you bet, Soledad. The mayor is running for re- election. He's obviously hoping to appeal to many evacuated New Orleanians, predominantly African-American, who have still not been able to come back. He wants to say, come back, but you're going to rebuild at your own risk. What he did not say was whether or not the city is going to extend services, basic things like police protection, fire protection, sewer services, in a lot of those areas, and that's the frustration that we've been hearing at those meetings.

O'BRIEN: Gosh, you can understand it. Come back, but you may not have 911, and no sewage treatment and no way to get your garbage picked up.

Susan Roesgen for us this morning. Thanks, Susan.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: Still to come this morning, your chance to buy the shirt right off of your favorite American Idol's back. We're "Minding Your Business" for you.

O'BRIEN: Eww.

Then, police catch a suspected cross-dressing crook, thanks to a pair of his panty hose.

We'll explain that story, just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Hey, Daryn, good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR; Good morning, Soledad.

A busy morning ahead for us. We're just minutes away from the president's news conference. John Roberts is going to stick around with us and help us with our coverage there. Also ahead, rebuilding New Orleans, just so it can be flooded again? Mayor Nagin says people can build where they want. We want to know what you think. Should residents be allowed to rebuild on the flood plain? E-mail your thoughts at livetoday@cnn.com.

And a man who sends our hearts racing, Bill Lester, a 45-year-old rookie, and role model for all of us out there who are bored disc (sic) jockeys. He is my guest live, coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY. For now, back to you.

We'll see you John in a couple of minutes.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Daryn.

ROBERTS: And coming up next, unlocking one of the Bible's great mysteries. Could this be a picture of the fabled Noah's Ark? A closer look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Ahead in just a few minutes, President Bush is going to hold a news conference at the White House. He's expected to discuss Iraq and the economy. CNN is going to carry that for you live as it happens, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, which, of course, is in just a few minutes from now -- John.

ROBERTS: The Holy Grail, the Garden of Eden and Noah's Ark, all are ancient mysteries, their locations seemingly lost forever, but is one of those about to be found in the mountains of Turkey? Newly released research from the area around Mount Ararat may hold the key to finding Noah's Ark.

Joining me now is professor Porcher Taylor, from the University of Richmond. He has been hunting for the Ark for many, many years. Professor Porcher joins me now.

And let me ask you this question, what do you think you have found on the slopes of Mount Ararat?

PORCHER TAYLOR, ASSOC. PROF., UNIV. OF RICHMOND: John, this is a paradigm-busting satellite photo of what might be the remains of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat.

ROBERTS: Now I have got in the television monitor next to me, some evidence from -- oh, I guess it was a little more than 50 years ago, a 1949 spy plane photo. This was taken -- and you can see this little outcropping here on one of the shoulders of Mt. Ararat. That's what really started this whole investigation going.

Now, here is this, as you said, paradigm-busting satellite photograph that you just recently released from a company called -- let's move to the next one if we could -- a company called DigitalGlobe released this photograph. It's a satellite photo. Here we are. And taking a look at the telestrator here, this is the image that we're looking that looks like what could be just a snow-capped, wind-swept ridge on Mt. Ararat. But what are you saying it is, Dr. Taylor?

TAYLOR: In 1996 on the public record, Tom Dougherty (ph), the CIA's director for public liaison, categorically stated that this is the Ararat anomaly, which has intrigued the United States intelligence community since 1949, when the B-29 bomber first took photographs of the anomaly on that Ararat.

ROBERTS: And you believe the Mt. Ararat anomaly could possibly be?

TAYLOR: Noah's Ark. However, this is a paradigm-busting satellite image, John, because it's way too big. It's a 1,015 feet long in length. Most biblical scholars think the ark was probably about 450 foot long. Also, this is not a rectangular barge. Again, most biblical scholars think the ark looked like that. Here, we have a Titanic-shaped, almost modern-looking type of ship, if, indeed, it's a ship.

ROBERTS: So even though this may be, as you saw, a paradigm- busting satellite photo, which could indicate a potential vessel that is far too large to be the ark, which, if memory serves me correctly, was supposed to be 300 cubits by 50 cubits by 30 cubits high, which would make it -- a cubit being around 21 inches -- about 450 to 500 feet long. You still believe that the ark could be on top of Mt. Ararat?

TAYLOR: This anomaly, this oddity, has intrigued the intelligence community since 1949. Over the last 13 years, I've had very intriguing conversations and meetings with intelligence officials regarding a spy satellite imagery of this exact site. And more than a few CIA photo interpreters believe this is the remains of a huge boat on Mt. Ararat.

ROBERTS: Now, a question that I had. This area on Mt. Ararat, that you have detailed here with some calculations, is a little bit above the 15,000-foot level. I did some rudimentary calculations that if you had biblical rains of let's say, a foot of rain an hour, which I think anyone would agree would be biblical, over 40 days and 40 nights, 960 hours, you would have 960 feet above sea level of water. But how do you get a boat up to 15,500 feet?

TAYLOR: It would certainly take a lot of water to get a boat up to 15,000 feet. Most certainly.

ROBERTS: I mean, is it possible? Obviously, the bible has its own story about what happened, that all the mountains were covered and some people have said that, well, perhaps back in the days of Genesis, the geology was a lot -- and the geography was a lot lower than it is, and perhaps these mountains, being of volcanic origin, may have actually grown some in the ensuing time.

TAYLOR: The Genesis record indicates that subterranean waters erupted, and also waters came down from the sky. Again, it most certainly would take a lot of water to put any kind of boat up to 15,000 feet.

ROBERTS: Now, here's one of my favorite little pieces of what might be determined to be evidence. Here is an illustration from the year 1691. And if we take look here, here is Mt. Ararat, and right up there, in the very top corner, is something that looks like an ark. And here we have a comparison side by side of that illustration, plus this B-29 photograph. And look it, they're almost in the same place. So this is obviously something that leads to the intrigue, is not, Dr. Porcher?

TAYLOR: It most definitely does, because Sir John Chardin was one of the famous explorers and travelers of his time, and when he visited Mr. Ararat, he had no hidden agendas. He's a person of first- hand observation precision. And notice the detail throughout that entire sketch that he drew. And right there in the same spot as the CIA's anomaly, you have a boat or a ship.

Could be a big coincidence, but then again, I'd also like to point out that the anomaly has roughly a six-to-one length-to-width ratio. At 1,015 feet long and roughly 160 feet wide, that would make it six-to-one or 300 cubits by 50 cubits from a proportionality framework, six-to-one. That is likewise.

ROBERTS: And of course, adding to all of the intrigue, as well, is that a lot of people have wanted to have expeditions up to the summit of Mt. Ararat, and just about every time the Turkish government has said, can't do it, it's a closed military area.

Professor Porcher Taylor, thanks very much for joining us this morning. Appreciate it.

TAYLOR: Thank you.

ROBERTS: And we're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: So just before we go, quick question. Is it the ark or a windswept ridge?

O'BRIEN: I believe it. I believe it's the ark, until I believe otherwise.

ROBERTS: That is why we love these stories.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it's true, it's a great story. That's it for us this morning. Made it through two days. See, not so bad? Go take a nap now.

ROBERTS: Three more to go.

O'BRIEN: AMERICAN MORNING back tomorrow morning.

Daryn Kagan is going to take you through the next couple of hours.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com