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CNN Live Sunday
Ray Nagin Re-Elected; Bush Praises Formation of Iraq's Unity Government; Bad Break for Prize-Winning Horse
Aired May 21, 2006 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Reelected Mayor Ray Nagin talks to CNN about what is next for New Orleans. And from Preakness to bleakness, a bad break for Barbaro. What happens now to the prize- winning horse?
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELTON JOHN, SINGER: ... America, I'm talking (BLEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: An angry Sir Elton John there. We'll tell you why he's so hopping mad yet again.
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Fredricka Whitfield. All that and more off this check of the headlines.
Now in the news, police say five people are dead after a gunman opened fire at a church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Four people were killed at the church and the fifth victim was the suspect's wife. Police say he abducted her and shot her at another location. The suspect, being identified as Anthony Bell, is in custody.
And the carnage continues in Baghdad. At least 17 people are killed in three separate attacks. In the worst incident, 13 people died and 18 were wounded in a suicide bombing at a restaurant.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Guantanamo Bay prison will not be closed soon. She spoke to NBC's "Meet the Press."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Of course it will be closed. It's my hope that that time is coming. But we do have to recognize.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the timetable?
RICE: I'm not going to talk in timetables. What we can talk about is what results we want. And we want a result in which we are certain that dangerous people are not going to be let back out onto the streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And Dutch police have arrested one person in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. The arrest was made in the Netherlands and the person is said to be an acquaintance of Joran Van Der Sloot, once a focus of the case. Holloway went missing on the island of Aruba last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY NAGIN, MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS: This is a great day for the city of New Orleans. This election is over and it's time for this community to start the healing process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls for unity and offers hope as he prepares to lead the hurricane-damaged city for four more years. Nagin celebrated last night, winning reelection in a close runoff vote against Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu. Susan Roesgen joins us live now from the Crescent City with the very latest. Susan?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Well Brianna, you know they say that religion and politics don't mix, but in this city on a Sunday after an election, a good politician goes to church and that's exactly what Mayor Ray Nagin did today. He went to his church, an old Catholic African-American church and he let the spirit of the moment move him there. He let the joy of the congregations congratulations to him wash over him. He had a wonderful time there in church. He was with his wife Seletha and his six-year-old daughter. And then afterwards he held an informal news conference to talk about what he believes the future of the city will be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAGIN: I see New Orleans after the next three years being a pretty vibrant city. I am serious and I bet my opponent a buck on one of the debates -- I will bet anybody in here a dollar that at the end of the year, New Orleans will have at least 300,000 people living and working in this city. I see it. There's the number of permits that are open and have been approved and this city is going to be vibrant at the end of the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: The mayor also said President Bush called him today to congratulate him and that the president pledged to continue to try to help the city recover. On Monday, Brianna, he's got three orders of business.
His first, he says, is going to be a 100-day plan for the city. His second is to evaluate the staff. We understand that some staff members may be let go. And his third and most important to New Orleans voters, goal for Monday is to start working on the neighborhood replanning process. That was something that was started back in January, then it was stopped when there was an outcry from many neighborhood groups because certain neighborhoods were targeted to not be rebuilt. So since then, nothing has been done really. A lot of people here are in limbo. The mayor says he's going to start looking at the neighborhood rebuilding process first thing on Monday.
KEILAR: So Susan, not a lot of mudslinging in this campaign between Mitch Landrieu and Mayor Ray Nagin. What is going on afterwards? Is Landrieu sort of throwing his support behind Nagin?
ROESGEN: He did last night, Brianna. He, in a very gracious concession speech, he urged his supporters to rally around the mayor. He said "Let's get away from the twin cousins of poverty and race and let's have a conciliatory tone here. Let's all work together." He said he would do his part to help the mayor. He, by the way, goes back to being the lieutenant governor of this state and he might decide to run for governor in the year 2007.
KEILAR: Thanks for that report -- Susan Roesgen reporting for us live from New Orleans.
Now let's go on to Washington where President Bush is touting the latest sign of progress from Iraq: the formation of the country's new unity government. He praised the move today and telephoned several of the new top leaders and Ed Henry is at the White House now with details. Ed?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Brianna. With the war dragging the president's poll numbers down to historic lows, he is pouncing on some signs of progress emerging this weekend from Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): With the first lady at his side, President Bush delivers some rare Sunday morning remarks, touting good news out of Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The formation of a unity government in Iraq is a new day for the millions of Iraqis who want to live in freedom.
HENRY: The president was celebrating the Iraqi parliament's approval of most of a new cabinet.
BUSH: I fully understand that a free Iraq will be an important ally in the war on terror, will serve as a devastating defeat for the terrorists and al Qaeda, and will serve as an example for others in the region who desire to be free.
HENRY: But violence on the ground still threatens to overshadow formation of a new government with more Iraqis killed Sunday in a spate of attacks in Baghdad.
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: Sectarian violence over the last three months has been higher than at any time in the last couple of years. The Iraqi police, we saw stories about this today, clearly doesn't have things under control. HENRY: Critics also note the new Iraqi government has still not filled three of its cabinet posts, including the critical slots of defense and interior, which oversees the police.
SEN, JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I don't want us to get too optimistic. We've still got a couple of important posts to fill. But it's certainly a significant step forward and now let's hope they start governing.
HENRY: That caution explains why the president made no mention of bringing U.S. troops home.
ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: If we withdraw our forces from Iraq before the Iraqis can take care of their own security, the consequences for the region and the world would be indeed very grave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: And with rumblings in Italy and Japan that they may bring their troops home soon, U.S. boots on the ground in Iraq may be needed now more than ever. Brianna?
KEILAR: Ed Henry live at the White House -- thanks for that report, Ed.
And a quick programming note: the best political team on television joins the king of talk live from Washington tomorrow night. Don't miss "LARRY KING LIVE" Monday night at 9:00 Eastern.
A small town in eastern Kentucky mourns today. People in Holmes Mill, prayed for five coal miners killed in an underground explosion. One miner survived. An investigation is under way into what caused the blast early yesterday morning.
Other news across America. It looks like all the horror of a suicide bombing in Baghdad, but this is actually a commercial being shot in Los Angeles. It is being made for Iraqi T.V. The sponsors hope it will deter suicide bombers.
And some high-profile speakers at several commencement ceremonies today. Former President George Bush and his wife Barbara delivered the keynote address for George Washington University grads at the National Mall. And Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts spoke to law students from Georgetown Law Center in Maryland today. And in Massachusetts, a first for cycling legend Lance Armstrong. He delivered the keynote address at Tufts University.
Whoa, look at that, reduced to rubble in less than 10 seconds. Demolition crews have destroyed the cooling tower at Oregon's only commercial nuclear plant. The plant closed in 1993 for financial and safety reasons. The tower is the largest in the nation to be demolished.
It's bad enough being on fire and instead of putting yourself out, people just cheer. But then this guy jumps over the edge of a water fall. It's all right, he meant to do that. It happened in northeast Ohio. That's Ted Batchelor you just saw. He took the flaming plunge on the 30th anniversary of the first time he did it. And don't worry about him, he's a professional stunt man.
A freak accident leave a Triple Crown hopeful fighting for his life today. We'll talk to the vet who attended to Barbaro next.
Plus, it's being called the Great Wall of Stone. China's Three Gorges Dam pits nature against the future. We'll take a closer look. And later, inside Opus Dei. We'll go behind the scenes of the religious group at the center of "The Da Vinci Code" when CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. It's time for your allergy report. This time of year, grasses and trees are pollinated quite a bit. Out West across the inter mountain West, especially northern Utah, ragweed is an issue as is cedar and juniper trees. The hardwoods along with the grasses are pollinating down south and across the northern tier. Birch and oak are two of the problem trees that are pollinating quite a bit. Hope you are feeling well today and have a great weekend.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: That's out of here. Take a look, it's gone. Barry Bonds hits career home run No. 714. The San Francisco Giants slugger ties Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time homer list yesterday. A 19-year-old man from Pleasanton, California, grabbed the ball and quickly left the stadium. And he actually say he's not a Bonds fan, but he hopes the ball could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Of course, speculation about steroid use has tarnished Bonds' home run pursuit.
And Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is in surgery right now for what vets are calling life-threatening injuries. The colt broke three bones in his right rear ankle at the start of yesterday's Preakness. And joining me now by phone is the Dr. Dan Dreyfuss. He's the vet who tended to Barbaro when the horse broke down.
Now Dr. Dreyfuss, can you tell me how serious is this injury we're seeing here?
DR. DAN DREYFUSS, VETERINARIAN (on camera): It is a serious injury. It is not an injury that is 100 percent fatal in horses, but it is a very serious injury.
KEILAR: So describe this injury. Obviously fractures in different places?
DREYFUSS: Yes. He has two main bones that are fractured in his right rear leg, the bone above the ankle and the bone immediately below the ankle. KEILAR: So this isn't necessarily life threatening, but is there any chance that Barbaro will ever run again.?
DREYFUSS: Oh, there's absolutely no chance that he'll run again. It is definitely a career-ending injury, but it is really a fight now to save his life. It is that severe.
KEILAR: So why is it a fight to save his life? I mean, when we think of in terms of people, someone breaks their leg, we don't think of that being life threatening. What's the difference with a horse?
DREYFUSS: The biggest difference is the size and the fact that they must immediately bear weight. He's probably close to a 1,200- pound animal. And he has to be able to bear weight essentially within an hour or so of the completion of surgery. If this injury were to occur in you or I, we would be bedridden for weeks if not months.
KEILAR: So what do you have to do to make it so that he can bear that weight? Do they put pins in the bones? What do they do?
DREYFUSS: Well the surgeon will make determination at the time of surgery. There's a couple of different things that can be done. But yes, there are internal fixation devices such as screws and some heavy almost like stainless steel rods that can be used to repair the leg and to try to transfer the weight bearing away from the damaged areas to allow it to heal as best as possible.
KEILAR: And we're seeing right here Barbaro actually makes a false start at the beginning of the race at Pimlico. Does that have anything to do with the injury, that false start out of the gate?
DREYFUSS: In my opinion that had absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever. If you watch when they rebreak the horses and actually get the race started, the horse breaks very well. And there was no indication prior to him being reloaded into the gate that there was any problem whatsoever. I don't think that had anything to do with it.
KEILAR: Dr. Dreyfuss, thank you so much for being with us. Of course we're keeping our fingers crossed that Barbaro will pull through this. Really a heartbreaking story for a Triple Crown hopeful.
Now robbing banks goes high tech. Your bank may be at risk from thieves that don't use masks and guns. And has the calendar caught up with the engineers racing to rebuild New Orleans levees? Straight ahead a whirlwind of construction as hurricane season approaches.
And excuse me, Sir Elton John? Unedited straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: When they asked famous thief Willie Sutton why he robbed banks, this is what he said: "Because that's where the money is." That philosophy may be the same for crooks now, but the tactics are a lot more sophisticated. Drew Griffin explains in an excerpt from this week's "CNN PRESENTS: How to Rob a Bank."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go. All right. There we go, sweetheart.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): When Houston Veterinarian Mike Janney opened his clinic in 1999...
MIKE JANNEY, VETERINARIAN: She's real tender down here in her abdomen.
GRIFFIN: ...he also opened a $90,000 line of credit with Bank One.
JANNEY: I still have the original first check from this account, check 1001.
GRIFFIN: Then why would he get a notice from Bank One two years later, claiming he owed $85,000?
JANNEY: And I'm thinking to myself, how can this be? I've never even used this account.
GRIFFIN: Around the country, other Bank One customers were asking the same question because they had the same problem.
GRIFFIN (on camera): A Bank One fraud investigator described it as a gusher, a problem so big the bank needed help from the feds. What was eventually uncovered is a chilling example of employees stealing the private information we all entrust to our banks.
It is a whole new way to rob a bank.
MATTHEW BOYDEN, FEDERAL AGENT: It's a lot easier and a fairly sophisticated and common way to do it.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): How did they do it?
Step one, getting account information. And what could be better than the customer service center where the ring leaders recruited rogue employees to build an information pipeline. Name and address, mother's maiden name, date of birth, Social Security number and account number.
Step two, take over the account.
Some of the juiciest targets were businesses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get one of your boys to give you a hand with that.
GRIFFIN: Ronnie Sanders owns Triangle Metals. Unbeknownst to him, someone called Bank One and said Triangle Metals had a new address, had moved from an industrial section of Nederland, Texas, to this house in Houston, 100 miles away. When a batch of freshly-printed checks arrived at the phony address, the heist went into overdrive, $37,000 $38,000, $39,000 checks -- fraud, totaling $195,000.
SANDERS: It's a form of bank robbery, that's for sure.
GRIFFIN: Some of the largest checks were paid to the order of Floyd Turner, and paid to the order of Ronald Humphrey. Turner and Humphrey are former professional football players, teammates on the 1994 Indianapolis Colts.
SANDERS: Is this for real? It's just really hard to believe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Watch the complete report "CNN PRESENTS: How to Rob a Bank" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Capitol corruption: the latest on an FBI investigation inside the Beltway. Plus, hurricane season is just two weeks away. Will the New Orleans levees be ready? And inside Opus Dei, they're the bad guys in "The Da Vinci Code," but we'll show you what they are really like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The massive flooding in New England this week is a good reminder we all need to check our insurance. For many of us flood insurance is a must. To figure out your flooding risk, log on to floodsmart.gov. Now you can get coverage for up to $250,000 on your home and up to 100,000 on its contents.
It was a down week on Wall Street, the Dow suffered its biggest single day point loss in more than three years on Wednesday. To keep things in perspective, the average is up almost four percent though for the year.
But there could be some good news for all the college graduates. The job market couldn't be brighter for new grads. That according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The average salary for accountants and economists is up more than five percent since last spring. Now that's a reason to celebrate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Here are the top stories this hour. Now in the news, President Bush praises the Iraqi parliament for approving the country's new government. The president says a free Iraq will serve as a valued ally in the war on terror and as an example of freedom in the Middle East.
In Afghanistan, a suicide car bomber kills two people and wounds six others just outside the capital of Kabul today. This comes on the heels of the series of deadly skirmishes between coalition forces and Taliban militants.
It's a first ever for the FBI on Capitol Hill, searching a congressman's office. Federal agents swooped into Louisiana Representative William Jefferson's congressional office last night. The FBI says it's part of an ongoing investigation into public corruption.
Police in Baton Rouge say they've captured the trigger man from a deadly church shooting this morning. Five people were killed, including the suspect's wife. Another person who was wounded is expected to survive.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin went to church today celebrating the morning after winning re-election and thanking voters. Nagin defeated Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu yesterday in a close runoff vote. His margin of victory was just over 5,000 votes. And today a jubilant Nagin expressed high hopes for his city's future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAGIN: I see New Orleans after the next three years being a pretty vibrant city. I am serious and I bet my opponent a buck on one of the debates -- I will bet anybody in here a dollar that at the end of the year, New Orleans will have at least 300,000 people living and working in this city. I see it. There's the number of permits that are open and have been approved and this city is going to be vibrant at the end of the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Landrieu called on New Orleans residents to come together to support Nagin.
And Mayor Nagin starts his second term one day before the start of hurricane season. And despite promises, the Army Corps of Engineers say the New Orleans levees won't be ready. CNN's Sean Callebs filed this report for "THE SITUATION ROOM."
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SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's gutting his house, but Brian Bonura has no plans to move back in, at least not this year. Especially, he says, now that the Army Corps of Engineers admits construction on flood gates and levees will not be finished when the hurricane season starts June 1st.
BRIAN BONURA, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I don't feel safe coming back to this area right now and I'd rather be somewhere else and come here and work on it and hopefully in the future, it will be safe to come back and live here again.
CALLEBS: Colonel Lewis Setliff is in charge of the federal project to repair the levee system dubbed Task Force Guardian.
COL. LEWIS SETLIFF, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: We are going to be very anxious but I will tell you if these systems are never tested I'll be very happy.
CALLEBS: It will be at least a month until repairs are done. But local residents like Bonura and his business partner Mike Palmisano say they like others will sweat out the entire hurricane season.
MIKE PALMISANO, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: They don't feel safe. I mean just think about it. You're not going to go pour new money into an area when you know there's a potential problem for this levee to go ahead and break again.
CALLEBS: And despite months of work here the what if factor has the corps concerned.
SETLIFF: We don't know the frequency. The dynamics involved, is there another Hurricane Katrina coming, but I do know that the system we're building would prevent catastrophic failure.
CALLEBS: The Army Corps of Engineers says this city will be safer on June 1 than it was before Katrina last year. But for the legions of residents whose endured the wrath after the storm that's little comfort. With some 350 miles of levees in and around this area, it is safe to say it will be an anxious hurricane season.
Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And you can go inside "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer weekday afternoons at 4:00 Eastern in the live prime time edition airs at 7:00 p.m..
Not all of China is celebrating the completion of the massive three gorgeous dam walls. The $25 billion dam is the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. It's designed to protect thousands from the flood prone river but some wonder if China's new great wall is worth the cost human or financial. Here is CNN's Stan Grant.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STAN GRANT, CNN BEIJING CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He dreamed of a great wall of stone taming the mighty river. Now it is complete. To stand at the three gorges dam is to see a display of force. Massive generators will pump out energy equivalent to 15 nuclear power plants, its transmission range 1,000 kilometers. Doing away with dirty coal, fuel, and potentially providing millions with reliable electricity, 17 years to build. A cost of $25 billion U.S. dollars at it's peak and 30,000 workers. And it was at the center of it all one man.
CAO GUANGJING, VICE PRESIDENT, THREE GORGES PROJECT: Have very little time for relax, racing against time, yes.
GRANT: Only 38 years old Cao Guangjing has been the man in charge pulling all this together. He has delivered. Construction of the dam has been brought in nine months ahead of schedule; the entire project will be fully operational by 2009. Impressive feat but not one without criticism.
DAI QING, ACTIVIST: It's too huge. The critics try to suggest. The river goes through it. Political project. GRANT: Critics say the damming of the river will increase pollution and the spread of disease. Lei Henshun is a retired professor and respected environmental expert. He is concerned about the varying water levels of the river during the dry winter months it will be kept at 175 meters to maximize hydropower. In summer it will be lowered to 145 meters to allow for the flood season.
LEI HENSHUN, ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT: Some special problem will show up because a large area will be exposed in summer and then the garbage plant and dirty mud will easily become breeding grounds for disease.
GRANT: Look at the state of the river. It's a muddy brown color. Medical waste visible, floating debris, even the bodies of dead animals. But Chinese officials say don't believe your eyes.
CAO GUANGHUI, ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION BUREAU (Translator): Monitoring results obtained by the Environmental Department show that with the rise of the water level the quality of the water has in fact improved instead of deteriorated.
GRANT: Then there are the people forcibly removed from the homes as villages and towns have been submerged. More than a million people have been displaced. Many complain they don't want to move and in any case cannot afford it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): How can they force us out? We can't afford to leave. We don't have a house to move to.
GRANT: Yet in China the past must make way for progress. The dam will provide much needed power and help with flood prevention. The project stands as a symbol of China's balance between nature and the future.
Stan Grant, CNN, Three Gorges Dam, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Time now to go global with headlines from around the world. Incredible video out of Indian-controlled Kashmir where a cameraman gets caught in the cross fire of a militant assault. At least seven people were killed, 20 more wounded in the attack. Two rebel groups claim responsibility.
In Jakarta, Indonesian women by the thousands turned out in support for a tough anti-pornography bill. If passed as written it would ban public displays of affection such as kissing, as well as erotic poetry and photographs. Critics say the proposed law would undermine the nation's secular tradition.
Last night at Cannes, Sir Elton John unedited, the 59-year-old musician went off on press photographers while presenting an award to a young actor. Listen to the tirade with of course the expletives deleted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELTON JOHN: I sincerely believe that you will be a huge star and great actress in many, many years to come. I am talking [ bleep ]. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Hey, what is a little bit of cursing with out a moment of curiosity?
Coming up an eye opening look at some of "The Da Vinci Code's" worst villain. The truth about Opus Dei. Do its members really beat themselves? That story in four minutes.
And it turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. Owners say their pets are reading. Can writing and arithmetic be next? But first a look at a new frontier with many baby boomers starting to retire and many of them wanting to travel more. Our Daniel Sieberg has the story of what one company is doing to help them out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): People are living longer and able to stay active in their golden years. With that in mind aircraft manufacturer Boeing is working to make air travel easier for the elderly.
VICKI CURTIS, BOEING SENIOR ENGINEER: The goal of the aging process is to teach younger engineers by turning them older and then having them on an airplane flight so that they can see firsthand and have difficulty to get out of a seat.
SIEBERG: Engineers wore suits that simulate what it is like walk in the shoes of an older person. Things like poor vision, back pain, and flexibility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That hurts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a lot easier to stand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need more leg space.
CALSEE ROBB, BOEING ENGINEER: It is harder to walk, it is harder to carry things, and it is harder to see where you're going.
PHILLIP AYOUB, BOEING ENGINEER: I want to lay there and be very still and get it over with.
CURTIS: The process was pretty much awareness for the engineers that things were going to need to change. The lighting was improved, better signage, lavatory door latches. I think they will start seeing them in 2008.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: The critics slammed it and some churches called for a boycott but moviegoers flocked to see it any way. The "Da Vinci Code" has taken in $224 million in its first three days of worldwide release. Second only to "Star Wars Episode Three." It beat out the number two spot previously held by the third "Harry Potter" movie and if you have seen "The Da Vinci Code" or read the book you will know that the bad guys in this book are catholic group called Opus Dei. That is an organization that actually exists. But what is Opus Dei really? Delia Gallagher has our report first seen on "PAULA ZAHN NOW."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the biggest cover-up in human history.
DELIA GALLAGHER, FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT: At the center of the controversy is a real-life group called Opus Dei. Unwilling cast as a villain in Dan Brown's book and brought to life on film by an evil bishop and a killer monk who lurks in shadows and whips himself bloody. But what is Opus Dei?
Opus Dei describes itself as a Catholic organization whose mission is to enable people to serve god through work and everyday life. But in "The Da Vinci Code" Brown describes it as a deeply devout Catholic sect a brainwashing cult and a secret society. From the first page of the book Brown sets the stage for his tale of conspiracy inside the $475 million headquarters on Lexington Avenue. This is the actual building; it's 17 stories tall with separate entrances for men and women. Inside, separate facilities divide male and female members. They make a life-long commitment to celibacy and to living in an Opus Dei resident. There are his and her chapels, dining rooms, classrooms and fitness centers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the exercise room. Also known as the torture chamber.
GALLAGHER: Real torture chamber. Tona Varela has been here for 25 years.
TONA VARELA, OPUS DEI NUMERARY: In Opus Dei we are about holiness. You need to be free to love god.
GALLAGHER: Do you feel brainwashed? Do you feel like you belong to a cult?
VARELA: I hope I don't look brain washed to you. I am completely free. I am very happy and free.
GALLAGHER: Not all members of Opus Dei are celebrating. The majority of the roughly 3,000 American members are what are called super numerary. They can marry, have children and live in their own home. Terri Carron is one of them a wife, mother of four and public relations consultant. Terri is one of several members the group has been providing to the media in recent months?
What is the biggest myth perpetuated about the book or the movie?
TERRI CARRON, OPUS DEI SUPERNUMERARY: I think the biggest myth about Opus Dei is that it is some kind of religious organization involving a conspiracy to find some elusive holy grail. And the reality is a much more down to earth. We're just people. Lay Catholics looking for god in our everyday life.
GALLAGHER: As for "The Da Vinci Code" hulking albino monk named Silas who steals, murders and then tortures himself. Opus Dei wants you to meet a real Silas. Far from hulking or albino, Silas is a Nigerian born stockbroker who lives in Brooklyn, works on Wall Street and stands 5'5".
SILAS AGBIM, OPUS DEI SUPERNUMERARY: I'm not a monk or an albino. I'm married with a wife and three children.
GALLAGHER: No murders.
AGBIM: No murders.
GALLAGHER: In your background.
AGBIM: No murders in my background. All you find in my background is a jolly fellow.
GALLAGHER: For all the debate about the book and movie neither Dan Brown nor the filmmakers are the first to portray Opus Dei in a negative light. Some former members have told stories of fear, entrapment and brainwashing on this Web site. The Opus Dei Awareness Network which claims to describe the group's questionable practices in vivid detail.
COLLEEN, FMR. OPUS DEI NUMERARY ASST: Opus Dei is a cult. And you know I want people to know that a year ago I would have never said that. Looking at this makes me feel sad.
GALLAGHER: Colleen was an numerary assistant in Opus Dei for 20 years, living and working in the residences throughout the U.S. including the one in New York. But last year Colleen left for good.
COLLEEN : Opus Dei preaches goodness and peace and love. Really what they do is not ethical. It's deceptive and scary. It's not so good. I still have nightmares every night that I'm in Opus Dei and I can't get out.
GALLAGHER: Colleen says she was expected to practice strict rituals, striking herself with a knotted whip called a discipline and wearing a spike metal chain as a reminder of Christ's suffering.
COLLEEN: We believed that the more you mortified yourself the more graces you would win for people.
GALLAGHER: The albino monk in "The Da Vinci Code" wears it so tightly he makes himself bleed. You can see for yourself just how sharp these spikes are. Depending on how tightly you tie it, it could be pretty painful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Corporal mortification is harmless to your health. It doesn't cause any physical damage.
GALLAGHER: It doesn't make you bleed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not a bit.
GALLAGHER: The Reverend Michael Barrett insist that Opus Dei is not a cult. And thinks that "Da Vinci Code" director Ron Howard should have left out any mention about this day in the movie.
REV. MICHAEL BARRETT, OPUS DEI PRIEST: The trailers that I have seen are so sensational I have a little bit of hope that maybe it is going to fall on its own foolishness.
GALLAGHER: It's a work of fiction.
BARRETT: It's a work of fiction but it still doesn't entitle a person to say whatever he wants about real institutions.
GALLAGHER: Opus Dei asked Sony pictures to add a disclaimer to the movie reminding viewers that it is fiction but Ron Howard declined saying spy thrillers don't start off with disclaimers. What would you say to movie goers of "The Da Vinci Code?"
BARRETT: I say to see the movie with your eyes open. Not to take things in as everything presented is a fact and true.
GALLAGHER: Delia Gallagher, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: You can see more stories like Delia's on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Watch weeknights at 8:00 Eastern and 5:00 Pacific.
Important health news ahead. This is what a super bug looks like through a microscope. Doctors say you could be a carrier and not know it.
See spot run. But how about see spot read. Teaching an old dog new tricks next.
And among the most popular stories this hour on CNN.com the former Berkeley student who was dubbed naked guy after attending class in the buff has died in jail. Officials are investigating the death as an apparent suicide.
Also the Dixie Chicks in the line of fire controversy seems to follow the country music group. Now they have a new album out. Will anyone buy it?
Number one online this hour demolition crews in Oregon imploded a defunct nuclear power plant tower this morning. Click on to CNN.com for details.
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KEILAR: In this age of iPods and text messaging it's good to know great American writers are still out there. Novelist Tony Morrison's books "Beloved" has picked up top honors in "The New York Times" book review survey. "Beloved" is considered the best work of fiction written in the last quarter century. It looks at the legacy of slavery.
It may not end up on "The New York Times" best fiction list but a new book claims to teach man's best friend how to read. Is Spot ready for this? Here's our Jeanne Moos to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): How many owners can say this about their dogs?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's been reading for about two years now.
MOOS: You don't believe it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Good boy.
MOOS: Still don't believe it? Well believe this. OK. So a novel might be to much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Want to do some light reading? War and peace. It will just take a minute.
MOOS: Teach your dog to read makes no bones about it. OK, you're right, your dog will never be able to read this book but it might teach him the basics.
BONNIE BERGIN, PRES. ASSISTANCE DOG INSTITUTE: You can teach the dog to read two or three words in a space of 15 or 20 minutes. Once you see that then you know it is real.
MOOS: Bonnie Bergen is considering a pioneer in assistance dog training. She founded the assistance dog institute in Santa Rosa, California. Her new book shows how to use flashcards to teach dogs to read. But is it actually reading?
BERGIN: They are looking at it as abstract symbol.
MOOS: First to show the card and say the command a few times. Then you graduate to flashing the card without saying the word.
BERGIN: Good boy.
MOOS: A reward is crucial though the treat tends to be more powerful than the written word.
BERGIN: Is this what you're looking for?
MOOS: The flashcards get harder.
BERGIN: Two letters, three letters, three words.
MOOS: And though dogs have mastered as many as 20 written commands. Also show a lot of guessing. When shown the command down Norton first tried to speak. Then he did a turn and only then did he go down? Moments later he apparently took shake for speak. But when he was shown speak upside down he is doing it. We made up a few of our own flashcards. I guess she doesn't want to join. Run spot run. And another of your literary favorites. Seriously, folks, why teach dogs to read.
BERGIN: We are looking for ways to stretch their minds.
MOOS: So instead of just splashing around the pool. We would like to know where the canine section is. Head to the bookstore together. Next thing you know she will be map reading. North. South. East.
Instead of war and peace.
Only a thousand pages to go.
How about the doggie equivalent a romance novel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, good beau.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: A check of the headlines is coming up. But first the story of a lighthouse that outlived the island it was built on. It's our changing earth report.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's no light shining anymore from South Carolina's Morris Island light house. And there is not an island there either. Wind and waves have washed the island away and the lighthouse now stands a quarter mile off the shore near Charleston. This photo from the turn of the century shows the island in better days. With palm trees, a keepers house and other buildings on the island. It's been out of commission since 1962 but preservationists have mounted a successful effort to save the structure. The light house isn't on an island anymore but the historic structure built back in 1876 survives.
Bonnie Schneider, CNN.
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