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American Morning

At Least Two Blasts at Mosque in Historic New Delhi; Iowa Tornadoes; Forgotten Land?

Aired April 14, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news out of India at this hour. We're following reports of at least two blasts at a mosque in historic New Delhi.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello.

Did Barry Bonds lie under oath about taking steroids? A grand jury now investigating. The story coming your way.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly bear attack in the Tennessee forest. Traps are set, rangers hope to catch the killer bear.

S. O'BRIEN: And Iowa hit by devastating tornadoes. One person is dead and severe weather could be coming again soon.

Plus, nearly a dozen small towns in New Mexico are empty this morning as a fast-moving wildfire closes in.

Those stories are all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

We've got some breaking news to get right to this morning. Two explosions to tell you about near one of India's largest and most well-known mosques. At least three people have been injured. Some reports are saying as many as six -- or six and maybe more.

We have CNN's Ram Ramgopal on the phone. He's in New Delhi this morning.

Ram, first of all, do we know what happened?

RAM RAMGOPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still a bit sketch at this point, Soledad, but what we are gathering from police sources, as well as from the reporting of our sister network, CNN-IBN, these two explosions happened just about an hour ago in the Jama Masjid, which is one of the ancient mosques, the oldest mosques, and one of the oldest mosques here in Delhi.

It's in the heart of the old city. And according to the head priest of that mosque, the Shahi Imam, as he's known, he says these two explosions were about 10 minutes apart. It happened just after evening prayers were finishing. And as you rightly point out, police sources are now telling us that at least three people have been injured. There is some degree of confusion as to whether there may have been more injuries, but at this point all we do know is that three people have been injured in these twin explosions in this ancient mosque.

Now, the significance is that this is a very significant historic monument, as well as a religious monument. It's a Shia mosque built in the 17th century, a mogul (ph) mosque, really. So the very fact that these two explosions happened at such a significant spot has sent some degree of alarm through certainly New Delhi tonight -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you have details on where exactly it has taken place? Is it near the mosque or in the mosque? Do we know yet?

RAMGOPAL: According to the head priest, he says it happened just inside the mosque, the place where worshipers would come in to wash their feet before offering prayers at this mosque. According to the head priest, this happened just as the evening prayers were finishing right at that very spot where worshippers would pass.

According to the priest, also, the second explosion happened even as the injured were being evacuated from the area. So, obviously, according to him, at least it was a deliberate attack, a terrorist attack, he described it as, and something, according to him, at least, intended to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims in this vast country -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ram Ramgopal of CNN reporting to us from New Delhi. And those pictures coming from CNN-India.

Thank you for the update. Appreciate it. We're going to obviously follow this story -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: An important racial summit under way this morning in Durham, North Carolina. This in the wake of a black woman accusing white members of the Duke University lacrosse team of rape. Representatives of Duke and the city searching for answers to a deep racial divide.

A news conference just under way. Let's listen for a moment.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... that is known for tolerance, education, business opportunity, and medical and technological excellence. We pledge to all of our fellow citizens that we will continue to work together to strengthen the bonds that unite us. We all must work to become a community of one.

Thank you very much.

M. O'BRIEN: And as they continue that meeting, members of the community, representatives of Duke University, CNN's David Mattingly is there. No, take that back. We're going to listen a little more.

RICHARD BRODHEAD, DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: And I want to say, the events that have made us so newsworthy in recent weeks have highlighted strains in this city. And all of us are committed to addressing those strains and using this as an occasion to move this -- to move this community forward. But if they've highlighted strains, they've really also highlighted a tradition of neighborliness and collaboration, and I want to say, from the first moment to the last, the friendship I have found, the mutual support I have found, and the eagerness of all of us to bring something good out of this, that, for me, has been a profound and inspiring presence. And I want to thank the mayor and the chancellor for their help with this.

MAYOR BILL BELL, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA: Let me say on behalf of the city of Durham, and certainly members and colleagues of the city council, this event that has brought us here today obviously wasn't our doing. But we've been dealt the cards that we have and we are going play with them.

I'm convinced that this city of Durham, this county of Durham, is going to be a much better community when all of this is completed. And it's going to be a much better community because of the leadership not just of the people that you see here today, but because of the people in Durham. And what we've agreed is we're going to continue this dialogue throughout the community.

We're looking at measures where we can broaden it to be much more inclusive. But I'm convinced, and I think the people in this community are convinced that we really are going to be much stronger.

And again, I want to applaud the leadership of Dick Brodhead at Duke University, James Ammons at NCCU, and other leaders throughout this community, ones that are not here who are working to bring a just conclusion to this.

What we've decided from the safe side is that we've long said that we're going to let the legal process take its course. We're going to deal with other issues that we can deal with. And as a result of that, we're going to come out a lot better.

And I want to thank you this morning. I don't know if we have time for questions. I know I've got to go. But stay tuned.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what you talked about this morning?

M. O'BRIEN: All right. We're going to stay tuned as well. We'll continue monitoring it, and we're going to move on.

That was the mayor of Durham, Bill Bell. He was preceded by the Duke University president, Dick Brodhead. And before him, the North Carolina Central University chancellor, James Ammons.

The African-American woman who leveled the allegations of rape against the white Duke University lacrosse players a student at NCCU. That group, all those people getting together trying to deal with some racial issues which really were simmering and then came to a boil in the wake of these allegations at Duke University.

We'll keep you posted on that -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Park rangers are on the lookout for a killer bear this morning. The bear has killed a 6-year-old girl in a national forest in southeastern Tennessee. The girl's 2-year-old brother and her mother are both now in critical condition.

Miles talked to a park ranger just a little while ago who has told us how they've set up traps, several traps in the woods, because they're trying to capture that bear now. They called off the search dogs. That happened earlier this morning. The campground also has been evacuated -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: We're watching a wildfire in New Mexico. It's already burned more than 13,000 acres. Parts of the state are under fire watch today. Winds expected to be brisk. Somewhere between six and 10 small communities have been evacuated, and the fire is nowhere near contained.

Parts of eastern Iowa cleaning up this morning after three bad tornadoes. One death blamed on the severe weather.

Tornadoes damaged homes, knocked out power to thousands. Much of that in Iowa City. And on the University of Iowa campus, classes there canceled today.

Angie Hunt of our affiliate KCCI joining us live now from Iowa City.

How does it look there, Angie?

ANGIE HUNT, REPORTER, KCCI: Well, Miles, just extreme devastation throughout parts of this city. You're looking at St. Pat's church behind me. This is a historic landmark here in Iowa city, a symbol of pride, and a symbol that a lot of people have really dwelled up a lot of emotion about today as they look at the devastation to this building.

As you can see, a massive brick building just ripped apart. The entire roof, many parts of the walls gone. Bricks are just strewn across the yard here and on to the sidewalk.

It's just one example of the damage throughout the downtown city and some of the residential neighborhoods here in the community. We have seen several cars that had their windows blown out. Others were lifted up off the ground, flipped over on their top.

There's damage to several businesses. Again, windows shattered, a lot of debris, power lines down. Streetlights, trees all uprooted and tossed around.

East of the downtown area in some of the residential neighborhoods, there are several large trees that are uprooted. Damage to several homes. We did talk to a couple of business owners and managers who described the damage for us and what they saw. They said it was just massive winds. It got very dark, very quiet, and then it just moved through.

They said it's just like you always here, it sounds like a freight train coming through. That's just what it was like last night.

So of course today the cleanup is starting to begin. In fact, cleanup going on throughout the night as they try to clear the roadways in some of the main areas. But a lot of work to do here in Iowa City -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Long night, long day and days ahead. Angie Hunt of our affiliate KCCI.

Thank you very much.

Let's get a forecast in now. Chad Myers is in the weather center with that.

Chad, bad weather is heating up again, isn't it?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A little bit, yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: We're getting this word just in, and the information's coming to us from The Associated Press. They're reporting a tentative deal for Delta and the pilots.

Of course, you know the airline's been trying to avoid a walkout from the pilots. We're hearing now that the pilots union and the airlines have reached a tentative deal on both pay and benefit cuts. It's not clear yet the details of the agreement, but they had been meeting and had been in arbitration over the weekend in New York, hopeful that they would be able to avoid a strike that could have happened as early as Monday.

Three hundred thousand passengers fly Delta every single day, and there was, of course, a concern that if indeed the Delta pilots went on strike, that, frankly, that could have brought the entire airline down. So some good news as far as that goes. We don't know the details yet. We're going to get some more information for you on that story as well.

Residents of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana say they are worried about their future. This week, the federal government announced a flood protection plan that excludes a 20-mile strip of land that's south of New Orleans. Well, that land happens to be Lower Plaquemines Parish.

Gulf Coast Correspondent Susan Roesgen is live for us in Plaquemines Parish this morning.

Hey, Susan. Good morning.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

It's actually about 80 miles of coastline that we're talking about here. When the federal officials announced this week a new flood protection plan, it would protect basically 98 percent of the New Orleans area. But it's the last 2 percent, the unprotected 2 percent, that worries people in this parish. People here who live here say the government has abandoned them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: This is Lower Plaquemines Parish, part of Louisiana's beautiful coastline. It's a narrow peninsula that carries the Mississippi River from New Orleans into the Gulf of Mexico. It was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina, but now the federal government is not willing to commit about $2 billion to protection the southern part of the parish from another hurricane, essentially abandoning 70 miles of coastline and the 14,000 people who live there.

ACY COOPER, FISHERMAN: We have equal rights, too, and we want our rights. And we pay our taxes, and we want help just like everybody else.

ROESGEN: Fisherman Acy Cooper is trying to come back from Katrina, fixing up his restaurant that got nine feet of water, eager to welcome friends and family back home. But there's another issue here as well. Without federally-funded levee improvements, this coastline could be lost.

(on camera): People here can raise their own houses to protect their own property, but they say if the government won't protect this land, who will?

(voice over): If another big hurricane hits, this parish is the last buffer between the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans.

BENNY ROUSSELLE, PARISH PRESIDENT: If you sacrifice Plaquemines today, who do you sacrifice tomorrow? Will it be the Florida Keys? Will it be the California coast? There's got to be some realization that, if you start retreating and start cutting communities off, you know, it won't stop just in Plaquemines Parish.

ROESGEN: Federal officials insist it's a matter of priorities, but that explanation doesn't satisfy the people who live here.

COOPER: I fly a flag out here just to show my support for the United States, and now they're going to turn around and forget about me? It's totally wrong. I'm showing my support. I want support from my country. (END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: So, Susan, they lose the buffer. They lose the business. And then, is the state going to lose the coast? I mean, is Louisiana fine about losing part of its coast?

ROESGEN: Boy, Soledad, that's -- really, the answer is sort of yes and no. Yes, the state realizes that the federal government has priorities and that federal dollars won't last forever after Hurricane Katrina. But no, this state is not prepared to lose the tens of thousands of tons of seafood that come through this coastal parish, and the state is not prepared to lose the nearly 11,000 active oil rigs that are in this parish. And the state would argue that the federal government shouldn't really want to relinquish those natural resources either.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, people there just get absolutely hammered. I mean, they're in terrible shape already.

Susan Roesgen for us this morning.

Susan, thank you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It looks like some big trouble for Barry Bonds is brewing. Did the slugger lie to a grand jury about steroid use? That story's ahead.

S. O'BRIEN: And it is Good Friday today, and today we're going to take a look back at the life of John Paul II with the cardinal who served as his personal secretary for almost 40 four years.

That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Some breaking news stories that we're following for you this morning.

First, let's go to India and look at the pictures here coming to us live. There's been two explosions at a historic mosque there, a Shia mosque -- actually, I'm told this is videotape coming to us from CNN-India.

Terror is suspected. It looks as if anywhere between three to six and maybe more people have been injured. We're monitoring this story for you this morning.

Duke University, there's just been a meeting that's wrapped up between the mayor of Durham, North Carolina, the chancellor of NCCU and the president of Duke University. They took some questions as well. The goal of that meeting, to heal some of the racial tensions under way ever since an African-American woman accused some members of Duke's lacrosse team of rape.

And out of Atlanta this morning, the union for Delta Airlines Inc. pilots says there is a tentative agreement with Delta, the carrier, on pay and benefit cuts, and that could avert a strike. There have been negotiations going on here in New York trying to find common ground between the two -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui on the stand of the final phase of his sentencing trial. With his life on the line, he expressed no regret whatsoever, no remorse, and offered nothing but vile hatred for Americans, and specifically for 9/11 victims and their families.

Among the things he said -- and there was a lot -- referring to 9/11, "I just wish it could have gone on the 12th, and the 13th and the 14th," and you get the idea here. "There's no remorse for justice," Moussaoui said.

And asked during cross-examination yesterday if he would participate again, Moussaoui replied, "Today." When referring to a naval officer who had been emotional on the stand referring to fallen comrades, he described her as "pathetic."

So, who is Zacarias Moussaoui? Why is he so filled with hate?

Sajjan Gohel is director of international security at the Asia- Pacific Foundation in London.

Sajjan, it's -- I think people reading this in the newspaper this morning are scratching their heads wondering if this even reflects humanity at all.

SAJJAN GOHEL, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Well, you know, Miles, with the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, nothing is surprising, yet everything is still shocking. He is enjoying the notoriety. He's taking advantage of the situation. And as he's done in the past, he's trampling on the feelings of those who lost their loved ones on September the 11th.

He seems to be an individual that is either very calculated, very clever, or is totally unhinged and maybe not mentally stable. But either way, all that is happening is that he's taken advantage of the court proceedings and exploiting that, getting full attention. And, of course, his comment have been deeply disturbing.

M. O'BRIEN: What do you think? Is he insane or is he calculating?

GOHEL: Well, as we've seen in the case of other individuals that have been tied to al Qaeda, when they are brought up to stand, held to account, they try and exploit the situation. They will give out their usual rhetoric, their anti-American propaganda. It seems to be a normal case.

With Zacarias Moussaoui, let's not forget that he was an educated individual. He got a master's degree at a London university.

It's not as if he's from an area where he had no intelligence whatsoever. But what is, of course, a fact is that there are other members of al Qaeda. A statement was out containing comments from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the master planner of 9/11, that Zacarias Moussaoui was too unstable and they couldn't trust him to take part in 9/11.

We don't really know what's going on in his mind. I don't think he himself actually knows the real extent of what he's actually thinking, and that is what is so complicated. There seems to be inconsistency after inconsistency in what he says.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. No remorse, and even more, just direct anger, telling people in the courtroom, victims or families' victims, that he wishes they were dead, that kind of thing. To me, it was like verbal terrorism. In other words, if words were bombs, that's what that was.

GOHEL: Very much so. And what he's done is basically continue with the al Qaeda propaganda, because let's not forget this is actually a trial that's been focused throughout the world. People are watching this all over because of the fact that this is the only individual that's been charged in connection to September 11th, the world's worst terrorist attack.

Innocent people died in the most horrific manner. And what you're seeing is that -- what worries me in particular is that al Qaeda itself will try and exploit the situation. They'll use Moussaoui as a type of recruitment tool, as a pinup for future individuals that they hope to get to join their organization. And Moussaoui himself has served that purpose very well.

It's a worrying situation, because, of course, with media it's seen throughout the world. And one doesn't know what could happen next with Moussaoui, because nothing seems to be consistent. It doesn't follow a straight path.

M. O'BRIEN: Help us understand here, because you just said, you know, he's an educated person. He had a lot of opportunity. I think a lot of people have the assumption that what fuels terrorism is a sense of hopelessness and a lack of clear purpose for the future.

He had a lot of reason not to be a terrorist and yet he became one. Why?

GOHEL: What we're seeing is that Europe has very much become the recruitment center for terrorism. Now, Zacarias Moussaoui was born and brought up in France. His family came of Moroccan origins, but nevertheless, he was part of the society, the French society that he was born and brought up in.

But he had a question of identity. He didn't know where he really stood. And that was exploited by the fundamentalist clerics that operate in the mosques. They exploited the situation, encouraged him to go off to faraway lands. He went to the al Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan and was further indoctrinated.

The defense, Miles, are talking about that he came from a background where he was underprivileged, he suffered discrimination. I think that's more of an excuse, really, because he did get an education. He had the opportunities life. Let's look at the example of C.C. Lyles (ph), who died -- who was a flight attendant and died on United Flight 93. She had a tough background, but she took three jobs to try and support her family. She didn't make excuses. And I think we shouldn't make excuses for Zacarias Moussaoui either.

M. O'BRIEN: Are you worried he'll become a martyr if he's given the death sentence?

GOHEL: What worries me is that the death sentence could actually be too ease for him. It's -- there's a strong case for it, but let's look at the fact that if he is given the death sentence, it could work in the hands of al Qaeda. They certainly would try and exploit the situation. It would give him perpetual notoriety.

Perhaps the best thing is for him to be in prison for the rest of his life, where he can talk to himself, where his notoriety will be forgotten, and where he won't be able to spout his anti-American sentiments anymore. He needs to face the punishment the same way that the victims of 9/11 are facing a continual incarceration for the loss of their loved ones. He needs to face a perpetual incarceration, and he needs to remember every day for what he did.

M. O'BRIEN: Sajjan Gohel in London.

Thank you very much.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to have much more on the Moussaoui trial in just a moment. That trial, in fact, is a very hot topic on talk radio. We're going to talk to CNN contributor and radio host Bill Bennett about what his listeners are saying today.

Plus, a story you heard first on CNN. A grand jury reportedly considering perjury charges against Barry Bonds. We'll have the latest on that story, too.

All ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A look at what people are talking about this morning. CNN contributor Bill Bennett's been getting an earful today from the listeners of his radio program. He's in Arlington, Virginia, where he does his show, "Bill Bennett's Morning in America."

Hey, Bill. Good morning to you.

BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR Hey, Soledad. Thank you. Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: I know you've been doing a lot on immigration of late, and that's no real surprise. You've got a pretty conservative audience. Has all the news about Moussaoui sort of taken over and pushed that out of the way and taken the limelight now?

BENNETT: Yes, good question. The audience actually is, I'd say, center -- center right, but we do have liberals come in. We really run the gamut of the political spectrum.

It's very interesting, Soledad. The first three days of this week on the show -- I give topics -- like AMERICAN MORNING and "Good Morning America," we list the topics, the news items, but then we let the audience run with it and we see what they want to run with.

The first three days of this week it was immigration. That's all anybody wanted to talk about. We had several topics; it's all anybody wanted to talk about.

After the Moussaoui trial on Wednesday and the transcripts came out, it all changed on Thursday. The last two days, it has been dominated by talk about Moussaoui and 9/11.

What this did, Soledad, was brought back to my audience, at least, and I think to a lot of Americans, memories of 9/11, where they were. Someone started it by saying, you know, "I remember what I was doing," and then we had a flood of calls. So it really brought it back to the fore. And I think a good service here by the media in terms of reminding people, lest we forget.

S. O'BRIEN: Some people must be weighing. I mean, you heard Miles doing this interview just a moment ago. The details of what Moussaoui has now done. It's really vile. I mean, just spewing hate to these people who had their lives utterly ruined him, his mind at least, by him his cronies. Are people talking about that?

BENNETT: Absolutely. I mean, it really captured them, kind of stopped them in their tracks, and we talked about, you know, that book by Hanna Arrington (ph), "Banality of Evil," about Adolf Eichmann. And people said this is the banality of evil, this is the face of evil. And like when Miles said when he talked about verbal terrorism, if terrorism were words, this would be it. This guy who is comfortable in the American idiom, but also is a deeply-committed fanatic to his cause, and people are reminded about, you know, what it is we're facing. So it was a very gripping moment, I think, for the nation.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question. Do people want him put to death, or do your listeners say, you know what, worse than being put to death would be, be forced to live, because the families, as you know, are divided on that. What where do your listeners stand?

BENNETT: I know, there's not much nuance in this one. I would say most of the listeners want him put to death.

But the other thing that was generated was memories of 9/11. We had one listener who said that he sets his watch for 9/11 every morning, a little alarm, to remember it, and there are remarkable number of things like this their Americans have as a way of keeping place in their minds what happened on that day. S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you know, here in New York, it took me the longest time because I live downtown and saw one of the planes hit, every time you'd see a plane overhead, you'd literally see everybody sort of jump and be very startled. I have to imagine you're getting people's really personal stories. I mea, this just taps into people's emotions.

BENNETT: Absolutely. Those of you in New York at the time, sure. But the remarkable thing about this country is that as big as it is, everybody who calls and has a connection. It might be one, or two or three degrees of separation, but no more than that. My brother knew someone. My cousin was there. You know, we're related to a guy whose brother is a firefighter. Everybody has some connection, and this whole Moussaoui thing brought all of this back to Americans. And you know, immigration was just bursting at the seams, the whole attention span, and it just took it right off the table, at least for a couple of days. We'll see what happens next wick.

S. O'BRIEN: Bill Bennett is a CNN contributor, also hosts Bill Bennett's "Morning in America." Sounds a lot like American morning.

BENNETT: We've got it covered. We've got it covered.

S. O'BRIEN: Between the two of us, right. Thanks, Bill -- Miles.

BENNETT: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: Who's that guy in the T-shirt looming over his shoulder there? Who is that?

Right now, we're following breaking news out of India. A pair of explosions reported near one of that country's largest mosques. There are reports of injuries. We'll have the latest.

Plus, potentially big trouble for Barry Bonds. Prosecutors want to know did he lie to a grand jury about steroids? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: It is Good Friday, really the holiest day in the Christian calendar, and it is of course leads up to Easter weekend, the Resurrection on Sunday. A rare look at the inner workings of the Vatican in store for you on Easter, the last days of John Paul II.

CNN's Delia Gallagher talked to the people closest to John Paul for a CNN PRESENTS.

Here's a preview of her special. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For nearly 40 years Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz and Pope John Paul II were inseparable.

CARDINAL STANISLAW DZIWISZ, ARCHBISHOP OF KRAKOW (through translator): I didn't have a private life. His schedule, his work became my work, my schedule.

GALLAGHER: Dziswisz was the pope's personal secretary, a job he started when John Paul was still Carol Wojtyla the young archbishop of Krakow.

DZIWISZ (through translator): He asked me can you come and help me with my work? And I said, when? He said today. I told him I'd come tomorrow, and tomorrow lasted for more than 39 years.

GALLAGHER: Today, one year after his friend's death, Dziwis is back home in Krakow, working the same job, living in the same home and praying in the same private chapel where his mentor once prayed.

DZIWISZ (through translator): After breakfast he'd come here, lock himself in and pray by himself until 11:00. No one else was allowed in. He'd be here alone with Christ. And not only did he pray, he also worked here.

The nuns were always curious about what he was doing. They peeked through the keyhole and would see him prostrate on the floor. That was his way of praying. So this chapel was very close his heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Fascinating. You don't get interviews like that too often, do you?

GALLAGHER: Yes. That was a rare one. I mean, he's the private secretary for 40 years, and he never spoke during that time to the press on the record.

M. O'BRIEN: Good for you.

GALLAGHER: So it was certainly an exclusive.

M. O'BRIEN: And a tip of the hat to you for getting that. Let's talk about -- of course, Easter was a little earlier last year, but roughly speaking, this time last year, the pope was very ill. Did you get a sense from talking to him as to how ill he was, you know, Good Friday into Easter?

GALLAGHER: Yes, I was surprised, actually, to find out that, despite the fact that we saw he was frail and really declining -- you remember when he couldn't speak at the window and he was trying to speak -- his private secretary told me really up until two days before he died. So he died on a Saturday and until that Thursday, he was OK. You know, he was certainly in ill health. But he was at least going on as if he was going go on for a while. So even those closest to him were surprised on that Thursday he got a sudden chill, sudden fever, and from there, it was a rapid decline until Saturday.

M. O'BRIEN: So it's kind of precipitous, interesting.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, I've got to ask you about the Gospel of Judas. This is fascinating to me. I've been reading all about this. And John Paul's successor has weighed in recently on this.

GALLAGHER: Yes, he has.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell me what he had to say.

GALLAGHER: Well, you know, yesterday was Holy Thursday, the beginning of Holy Week, and a day which sort of commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus. So in his Homily, Pope Benedict discussed Judas. And one of the -- you know, he came out very firmly on the traditional side that -- he said Judas was a liar and a double-crosser and...

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

GALLAGHER: So, you know, that's the...

M. O'BRIEN: No uncertain terms.

GALLAGHER: That is the traditional view of Judas. And the Gospel of Judas has tried -- sort of support that view and tried to say, well, Judas wasn't such a bad guy after all because Jesus asked him that he be betrayed. So he was just doing what Jesus wanted.

M. O'BRIEN: Part of the whole setup, according to this.

GALLAGHER: Right. And the problem with that is, of course, that it's a part of whole sort of gnostic view of the world, which sees the body as bad and the material world as evil. And so the pope says, well, this is really not the Christian view of the world. And he comes down firmly on the side that Judas was not only bad, but betrayed Jesus for money. So it kind of brings it back into modern day, and sort of saying, you know, the material world and money should not be the thing that one is looking at, especially at Easter time.

M. O'BRIEN: So you think those old scrolls are fake?

GALLAGHER: No, no, the documents are definitely authentic. The documents are authentic. And certainly, that's a great discovery. And the Vatican even, you know, is quite happy to recognize that. But it's the interpretation of them.

M. O'BRIEN: It's all in the interpretation, isn't it?

All right. That's just a small taste of Delia's report. You can watch "CNN PRESENTS" this Saturday and Sunday, 7:00 Eastern both nights, for special back-to-back editions, "The Last days of Pope John Paul II," followed by "The Mystery of Jesus." Excellent viewing for this particular Easter weekend.

Thank you, Delia, for coming by.

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S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we've got the story of a firefighter and his family. They have to rebuild against pretty difficult odds. The son battling cancer, their home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. But family and friends and co-workers have stepped in, and now they have literally a new life. We're going to meet all of them just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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S. O'BRIEN: Oh, we should all have friends like Kenny Milligan's friends. Milligan is a firefighter in Mobile, Alabama. Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home, his young son has been battling cancer. He's been off the job to deal with all of that. And in the middle of it, his friends have stepped in, and what they did is just truly amazing.

Mr. Milligan and his son K.J. and his wife, Lori (ph), all join us this morning from Mobile, Alabama.

Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us.

I'm going to let you tell your story because it is a great story. I'll tell a little of the background first. You have had a horrific 18 months, horrific, utterly horrific. Your son was diagnosed, K.J. diagnosed with germ cell tumor, a kind of cancer, back in 2004. Your house was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. I have to imagine for the two of you, that at that moment when your father calls to say your house is gone, and your son is sick, it was the hardest part of your life, am I right?

KENNY MILLIGAN, LOST HOME IN KATRINA: It was a very hard moment. It was really a sinking feeling.

S. O'BRIEN: Go on.

You moved into a FEMA trailer, I know, and a FEMA trailer that had a view of your destroyed right behind it, and then you bought a new house that was in foreclosure. How bad was the house, the new house that you were buying that in was in foreclosure? What kind of shape was it?

MILLIGAN: It need some patching up. There were some holes in the wall and the carpet was pretty bad, and it was -- it needed a little work.

S. O'BRIEN: While you're talking, I'm looking at Lori's eyes and she's looking around, because that's the house you're in now and the house you're describing, and that house is a beautiful house now. Describe for me, before we give it away, how it got so great. Describe for me, Lori, the nice things about this house now?

I don't think Lori's hearing me. Why don't you go ahead, Kenny, and describe for me how great the house is now.

MILLIGAN: This -- all the things i've always wanted in the house, a hardwood floor, the fireplace, a fenced-in yard, a beautiful kitchen, because I love to cook. That's just -- it's beautiful.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow, it is. I'm looking at pictures of it while you're talking at the same time. It's your colleagues in the fire department who did all the work and they kind of came up with an interesting strategy so that you could take leave and get paid. Why don't you tell me, Kenny, exactly what they did.

MILLIGAN: It's called catastrophic leave, and when you have an injury -- in my case, it was my son -- they donate their vacation and sick time when I ran out, and they donated over 40,000 hours for me to spend this last time with my son.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow. And then, of course, they actually came in and renovated the house for you as well. You didn't really know what was going on, because you're away dealing with your son, who -- they found more tumors. He had to have another round of chemo. Do you have any idea what they were up to? And what was it like when you first came in and saw how amazing it was?

MILLIGAN: I was speechless. I mean, I thought they were just going to put in a little paint and just to patch things up here and there. We come into a house that you would open the magazine and look at. It was just beautiful.

S. O'BRIEN: It looks beautiful from the pictures. Yes, it was much more than just lapping a little paint on the walls for you, isn't it?

Tell me how K.J.'s health is, because you've got good news on that front, too, right?

MILLIGAN: He's cancer-free. He's been cancer-free for close to three months now. He had a bone marrow transplant, and he's completely healed.

S. O'BRIEN: We are so glad to hear that. I know K.J. is there. He's wear the headset so that he can hear our conversation as well.

Good for you. That's great news, so often we report on sort of bad news and sad news, and you have had your share of both. And to see it all turned around is great, and to have your friends help you out. Kenny, what great news. We're happy to hear that.

Kenny, and Lori and K.J. Milligan joining us from Mobile, Alabama in their brand spanking new house.

Thanks, guys.

MILLIGAN: Thank you. S. O'BRIEN: A short break. We're back in just a moment.

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