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CNN Live Sunday
Nagin Resumes New Orleans Rebuilding Efforts; Autopsy Results in Kentucky Mine Explosion; Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Aired May 21, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A second chance for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He's laying out his plans for the city. Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see what it does. Very, very serious conditions. This may be our last live report because I don't think we're going to be able to get through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: But he did make it through that hurricane and dozens more. Coming up, this veteran hurricane chaser will tell you how to survive when you've lost everything.
And then, the story of the U.S. soldier and an Iraqi boy and how they became a family.
It's Sunday, May 21st and you're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Carol Lin and these are the stories making news right now. As Iraq's new cabinet meets for the first time, a suicide blast kills more than a dozen people at a restaurant popular with Iraqi police. President Bush points to Iraq's parliament though forming a new government. The president calls it a new day for millions of Iraqis.
Gunfire inside a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, church. Four people were killed and police say they suspect Anthony Bell was abducting his wife and he killed her before he was then captured.
Now, Dutch police make an arrest in the Natalee Holloway case. A source tells CNN an acquaintance of Joran Van der Sloot is in custody. Van der Sloot was one of the last people seen with Holloway. The Alabama teen disappeared in Aruba last year.
He asked for it, and he got it. Ray Nagin has defeated Mitch Landrieu and he stays on as mayor of the nation's most troubled city. Tomorrow the massive job of rebuilding New Orleans resumes in earnest. The latest from there, CNN's Susan Roesgen. Susan?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. They say that religion and politics don't mix but in this city on the Sunday after Election Day, any good politician goes to church, and that's exactly what Mayor Ray Nagin did today. The mayor, his wife and their six-year-old daughter went to his church, it's an old Catholic African American church and there they sang along with the choir, they heard congratulations from the congregation and afterwards, the mayor talked about what his hopes are for the future of New Orleans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: 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 would bet anybody in here $1 that the end of the year, New Orleans will have at least 300,000 people living and working in this city. I say it, there's the number of permits that are open, and have been approved, and this city's going to be vibrant at the end of the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Now that prediction of 300,000 people living in this city by the end of this year is pretty optimistic, Carol, because right now, our population is only about 180,000 people, and as you know, tens of thousands of homes are still empty.
LIN: We love the church bells Susan, as we try make it through this report. I'm just wondering does the mayor have an immediate evacuation plan for the people who still remain in the city?
ROESGEN: He came out with this plan at least on paper a couple of weeks ago but we have found out it has a lot of holes in it, some pretty big holes. Even today, Carol, the mayor admitted that his plan to use Amtrak trains to get the sick and the elderly out of town and the plan to use city buses to get people from their homes in New Orleans to a central location where they would be bused out to shelters really, these plans don't make sense right now, Carol, if you can hear me over the church bells, because we don't yet have any shelters outside of the city identified for people to go to so the mayor has a big job starting tomorrow.
LIN: You bet and hurricane season, June 1st, thanks very much, Susan.
All right. So a lot of has been made of the mistakes since Hurricane Katrina, local, state, federal governments all been blamed. So why not offer big business a chance to do the rebuilding it itself? CNN's Rick Sanchez reports it's already in the works.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Onboard this bus could be the people who will help save New Orleans.
Back to this bus in a moment but first, take a look at New Orleans now. Take a good look. And ask yourself where your 87 billion tax dollars have gone. Congressional audits have found $900 million spent on mobile homes, never used, $249 million spent on cruise ship cabins that cost more than $5,000 a month, $632 million spent on hotel rooms, when less expensive apartments were available.
(on camera): Why did that happen?
NAGIN: I think it's just government. I mean, government is not the most efficient way of doing things.
SANCHEZ: So what is a more efficient way of doing things? The president and the governor and the mayor all are pushing a new idea, which is really an old idea, let the nation's businesses fix the nation's problem.
(voice-over): Now, back to the bus, who's on board? Executives, that's who. Representing some of the most powerful companies in the world, Citigroup, Caterpillar, Marriott, Goldman Sachs, Shell Oil, Home Depot, Dow Chemical, Disney, Wal-Mart, 32 in all, here on a trade mission.
Trade missions are usually trips abroad, to emerging markets, looking for U.S. investments.
CARLOS GUTIERREZ, COMMERCE SECRETARY: This is the first time we have ever done a trade mission inside of the United States.
SANCHEZ: Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez heads the delegation that includes stops at the state capitol and a bus tour of New Orleans. He says it's up to big business, not big government.
GUTIERREZ: We don't have a command and control Soviet-style centrally planned economy. We have an economy that works on the basis of entrepreneurship, investment, job creation, ideas, energy.
SANCHEZ (on camera): And that's what these folks can bring?
GUTIERREZ: That's what this is all about.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): But here is what Gutierrez's idea and New Orleans are up against, schools and hospitals shut down, levees still being repaired. Investors are hesitant to jump in, but the CEO of Shan Industries tells CNN she's ready.
SHERI ORLOWITZ, CEO, SHAN INDUSTRIES: It's perfect, absolutely perfect.
SANCHEZ: She'll propose a plant for the Gulf to produce $40 million worth of military shipping equipment annually. Home Depot announced it will invest $57 million.
J. PAUL RAINES, HOME DEPOT: And that breaks out into new stores, reopening of existing stores, and philanthropic efforts.
SANCHEZ: These first commitments will open doors, say city officials, for smaller business owners who have been waiting for the right signal to get back into business themselves. Rick Sanchez, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: That story originally aired on "THE SITUATION ROOM" and you can see Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM" weekdays at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and again at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Now we're getting word of some early autopsy results in that deadly Kentucky mine explosion. A coroner says three of the five dead miners survived in the initial blast, but later died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Today grieving family members are trying come to terms with their loss. CNN's Sumi Das has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Saturday should have been a joyous celebration for Tilda and Paris Thomas of Closplint, Kentucky. The first birthday of their only grandchild, Bryson (ph). But that morning Tilda received news that her husband was one of five miners who is died in the Darby mine explosion. Tilda says she felt sick and lost.
TILDA THOMAS, HUSBAND DIED IN MINING ACCIDENT: I think of all I'm going to have to do without him. I've been with him since I was 16. The only man in my life I've ever known.
DAS: A sixth miner, Paul Ledford, who the others called "Smiley" survived the accident. The cause of the explosion is not yet known but state officials say they're looking into the mine's methane levels and it appears some of the miners used or tried to use self-contained rescue devices after the blast.
Paris Thomas's brother-in-law, Russell Taylor, also works in the industry, though not at the Darby mine. He says the emergency breathing devices for miners just don't cut it.
RUSSELL TAYLOR, TILDA'S BROTHER: I think they need to be improved. One hour is not long enough. If a man works an eight-hour shift he should be able to last eight hours.
DAS: Taylor says the mine where he works has taken steps to improve safety but he questions why the U.S. government isn't doing more.
TAYLOR: If they had to do what we had to do, the laws would change real fast.
DAS: Do you think they're dragging their feet?
TAYLOR: They're dragging their feet because they don't want to spend a dollar.
DAS: The Darby mine has been cited 10 times in the last month by federal regulators. The Mining Safety and Health Administration says the figures aren't unusual for a mine of Darby's size. Sumi Das, CNN, Holmes Mill, Kentucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Overseas other mining dangers, China's official news agency says that an underground flood has trapped more than 40 miners. It's not known if they're dead or alive and several mine managers have been arrested. They're suspected of a cover-up. In other news across America, reduced to rubble in seconds, demolition crews destroyed the cooling tower at Oregon's only commercial nuclear plant. That plant closed back in 1993.
Ninety-thousand dollars in a freezer, that's what FBI agents found during a search of a congressman's house in Washington. They say they also have videotape of Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson accepting $100,000, he's accused and suspected of taking bribes.
Well, it's bad enough being on fire with people cheering, but then this guy jumps over the edge of a waterfall. In northeast Ohio, Ted Batchelor took the flaming plunge on the 30th anniversary of the first time he did it. By the way he's a professional stuntman. Could you tell?
Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved" is voted the best in "The New York Times" book review survey. It's considered the best work of fiction written in the last quarter century. Published in 1987, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel looks at the legacy of slavery.
"The Da Vinci Code." It packed theaters and made $224 million worldwide this opening weekend, that's despite church protests and plenty of pans from critics.
A racing champion is now in a race for his life. Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro had surgery near Philadelphia today. Doctors say he may die. The horse broke three ankle bones at the start of yesterday's Preakness Stakes.
Let's go to Ray Riley from our affiliate WGAL for the very latest. Ray, have you heard from the doctors yet?
RAY RILEY, WGAL-TV CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, at this point we have not heard from the doctors. It's been more than six and a half hours since Barbaro went to surgery at 12:30. The hospital staff told us at about 6:00 that surgery was still going on and they expected to wrap up shortly. Now surgeons say this is one of the worst injuries they have ever seen.
The three-year-old broke and shattered bones in his lower leg. Barbaro was brought to the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School of Medicine last night. We're told he was resting comfortably until that surgery began. Doctors are going to great lengths to save this horse's life. Under any other circumstance this horse would have been put down on the track.
Now surgeons say if Barbaro comes out of surgery OK rehabilitation process could be extensive but could be done here on the facility. There's actually a special pool that the horse can go in and work that leg and rehab it back but we're waiting patiently for that surgeon to wrap up surgery and hopefully they will have the details of how that surgery went coming up here soon. Carol?
LIN: Ray, why are they fighting so hard to save this horse's life? Normally horses don't even make it this far. RILEY: Absolutely. The horse actually at this point won't run another race but he's a Kentucky Derby winner, he's a thoroughbred. This horse is great for breeding. There's a lot of money tied up in this horse and also I'm sure there's a lot of love tied up with n this horse from the owners all the way down to the trainers to everybody that worked with this horse. So the long ride, all the buildup to the Triple Crown, there's probably a lot of emotion as well tied up into this horse.
LIN: You bet, Ray Riley, thank you very much. Let us know when you hear from those doctors.
Now hurricane season is about to start. Coming up, Bonnie Schneider looks back at some past storms that is going to help you prepare for the season.
And remember this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your impression?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all -- it's a massive amount of power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Jeff Flock is synonymous with hurricanes. He's one of our best and on to a new business venture, he is going to show us how we can survive in a hurricane.
Millions of people watched the online cartoon Jib Jab. Guess what? There's something new in their world, that's a little later in this program. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: This is the start of hurricane preparedness week. The storm season starts officially in 10 days. So what can we expect? Well, we'll know a lot more tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. Eastern when the National Hurricane Center releases its outlook for the season ahead. Now hurricane experts chart their best guesses from the actions of past storms. So CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider looks at some of the worst ones.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Last year for the first time ever, they ran out of names for the Atlantic hurricane season. Twenty-eight tropical storms and hurricanes, including a few brutal ones. Dennis, Rita, Wilma and the unparalleled destruction of Katrina.
This year, a new list of names, but expectations of more extreme weather. (on camera): And some of the extremes from past years? The earliest hurricane to ever form occurred in March, 1908 but it never made landfall. The earliest hurricane to strike the U.S., that was Hurricane Alma back on June 9th, 1966.
(voice-over): The last major storm of 2005, Wilma, went down in history as the most intense ever, reaching Category 5 status in the Caribbean Sea, with the lowest pressure ever recorded for an Atlantic storm. Though the season starts June 1st, it doesn't usually peak until August or September, the first big storm to reach the U.S. last year was Dennis, which came ashore at Pensacola, Florida in mid-July.
And the 1992 season didn't get started until late August, when the "A" storm, Andrew, tore through South Florida and Louisiana, becoming one of the most destructive in U.S. history. Bonnie Schneider, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: We do want to remind you that CNN is your hurricane headquarters. So when hurricane season gets underway, you can tune in day or night for the latest forecast and other news that you need to know.
Now, we have a treat coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps you can see the wind begin to intensify here. You can see -- very serious conditions. This may be our last live report. Because I don't think we're going to be able to get through this. As we get some more ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: That is Jeff Flock and he's been through about two dozen hurricanes. He brought five things you need if you're caught in a storm. Also ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David George was a modern day alchemist. He could turn junk mail into cold cash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Drew Griffin joins me with a chilling look at identity theft. Is your identity at risk?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: When you're talking hurricanes, this next guy I'm going to show you has been there and back and he's got several wet T-shirts to show for it in a good way. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEFF FLOCK, WWW.HURRICANENOW.COM: Look over there, perhaps you can see the wind begin to intensify here.
Very, very serious conditions. This may be our last live report because I don't think we're going to be able to get through this.
As we get some more good gusts, inside their house right now and weathering it.
We're starting to get right now is really beginning to whip it up. Also several tornadoes have been spotted, and have touched down. We don't have any real indication about how much damage they have done, of course much of this area is rural area, so -
What's your impression?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a massive amount of power.
Yeah. They tell us this is not even the worst of it yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Oh my goodness. That guy getting knocked around there is former CNN correspondent Jeff Flock. He's been in the thick of it since Hurricane Gilbert back in 1980 but here in a nice warm, dry place.
FLOCK: A little heavier now. I probably wouldn't get blown around as bad now.
LIN: And a new project, Hurricane Now.
FLOCK: Hurricanenow.com. We'd like to do hurricanes all the time.
LIN: That is truly one of the things you were famous for here at CNN.
FLOCK: I've always enjoyed hurricanes. My first memory as a child is that of a hurricane.
LIN: Now, doing it for a living, you are out there in the thick of it, 24-7 during hurricane season.
FLOCK: We found a way to broadcast live through landfalls of Rita, Katrina, Wilma. We were seven or eight hours straight on the air during those hurricanes.
LIN: With live streaming video on the Internet.
FLOCK: Live streaming video. Me standing there talking for seven or eight hours.
LIN: And we used it.
FLOCK: Some of it was fairly incoherent but some of it was good. LIN: Just the experience of it.
FLOCK: It was neat to see it unfold live.
LIN: Exactly. And the reason why we booked you tonight, not only the pleasure of seeing you in person but we thought more than 60 percent of people are not prepared for hurricane season, despite last year, that's according to the Red Cross. What do you do if you have nothing? Which is what you basically have to deal with when you're in the mix of it.
FLOCK: Well, that's true. You don't want to encourage anybody to stay for a hurricane. The best thing you can do is get out if you possibly can. But we know from the experience last year with Katrina and Rita that some people can't get out. They either don't have the car, don't have the means, they've got a sick relative, maybe like Charley for example two years ago, which looked like a weak Category 1, maybe Category 2 storm headed up the coast, the west coast of Florida, all of the sudden makes a right turn, heads for Punta Gorda and winds up a Cat 4. So those people weren't prepared. They weren't able to leave either. So what do you do if you have to stay?
LIN: Right.
FLOCK: So that's kind of what we looked at.
LIN: Show me what you have here. It definitely looks like Outward Bound.
FLOCK: I hadn't brought a lot of things that we use ...
LIN: But the most important thing you have?
FLOCK: But one of the things you love to have is a hand crank radio and a light. You really want to have communication, the more information you can have about a hurricane the better. This is, you know, if you run out of battery, you crank your own power. We got trapped one time - I got trapped in a location where I didn't have my batteries, didn't have the rest of my kit. If I have this at least, even if the batteries die I have got light, I've got a radio. Light is of course, very, very important. I like to take as many flash lights as you can.
LIN: I've never seen a flashlight that big.
FLOCK: This is a big one, in fact. Let's see if we can turn it on. I think I charged it.
LIN: How bright is that, like a headlight?
FLOCK: There it is. Let's blow that -- I messed up the camera.
LIN: This brings out the boy in Jeff Flock, by the way.
FLOCK: The point is you can shoot across the newsroom and maybe wake somebody up out there. LIN: Yeah, that's the supervisor's desk.
FLOCK: What you can do is really illuminate say you hear a tremendous, awful outside, you want to know what the hell it is but you don't want to go out there. You can throw this on, and then you can see, oh, geez, the neighbor's house went away. That's a brick house, my house is made out of wood, something like that.
LIN: Or a tornado's coming.
FLOCK: If the storm is coming at night, you really -- you want to have as much information as you can.
LIN: What do you eat? What do you drink?
FLOCK: I like Chips-Ahoy myself.
LIN: How long can you live on that?
FLOCK: Three days and then you've had enough of them. The reality is eat whatever will keep. You want to bring something that's going to hang around. Powerbars are good. But the thing about when you're out there for awhile is you want protein and you may have some vegetables, you may have some apples, you may have some things that are in wrappers but you want some kind of food so beanie-weanies if you like those things, franks and beans in the can, you can heat it up on the radiator, on the dashboard of your car, you can bring other kinds of things, Slim Jims, in a package, taste terrible but it's protein, beef. Sort of beef.
LIN: And you have a knife. And some other tools.
FLOCK: If it gets bad just end it all, but a multi-tool ...
LIN: You are kidding.
FLOCK: Yeah - is very helpful, a multitool you've got pliers, you've got multiple screwdrivers, you can saw through something if you have to Swiss Army-knife type stuff, I think that's helpful. It gets wet. I bring a million towels. A million towels.
LIN: Storm suit.
FLOCK: A storm suit because you're going to get the one you got, the three that you got are going to get wet so have a dry one somewhere and of course, first aid. You've got to have first aid. I've never opened this first aid kit, fortunately. I've never been hurt in a storm, I don't know what's in it - I do know what's in it but we've never had to open it.
Here's another thing. I've never used this.
LIN: What is it.
FLOCK: It is a storm survival kit, I got this as a gift about seven years ago and it's been through every hurricane with me and still got the seal on it. I've never had to open it. It allegedly has matches, candles, sugar, salt, tea, bouillon, wire, a whistle, paper, pencil, compass. I could go on but all in this can.
LIN: Something to read while you're out there.
FLOCK: I don't know where I got it.
LIN: Jeff, we're going to be watching you, I know we are, your terrific coverage out there and the energy that you bring to the story. I know it's a passion for you.
FLOCK: It is, it has always been a passion. I don't know if it's -- My first memory is Hurricane Donna 1960, coming up the Eastern Seaboard.
LIN: You were two?
FLOCK: I was 2 1/2 but I remember I said what was that? I can remember this early storm and my mom said that was Hurricane Donna. We went down to the bay to look at the waves.
LIN: Now you're going to bring it to us once again, hurricane season 2006.
FLOCK: Good to see you, Carol. Great to see you.
LIN: Good luck.
FLOCK: Thank you.
LIN: All right. If you'd like more information Jeff's Web site is www.hurricanenow.com and he also has some emergency supplies on that Web site. Because I know sometimes it's hard to gather everything up all together and have it easy at hand.
Now, he thought of plenty of reasons why he shouldn't adopt an Iraqi boy but he couldn't face himself or the child.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I decided that if I was going to feel ashamed for eternity and I was going to worry about him every day of my life, here on earth, then there really was only one option, and that was to go get him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: The good that can come out of war, this is a different kind of love at first sight. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Here's a quick look at what's happening right now in the news. A suicide bomber kills 13 Iraqis in a Baghdad restaurant. 18 others were wounded and four other Iraqis were killed in two more roadside attacks around Baghdad. And violence in Iraq has been taking a toll on President Bush's job approval rating. But today, he made the most of the latest sign of progress out of Baghdad. Mr. Bush praised the work of Iraq's new unity government.
And mission accomplished for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He won his bid for re-election last night. Unofficial poll results show Nagin beat Mitch Landrieu by more than 5,000 votes. Let's look at reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NAGIN: 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.
MARC MORIAL, FORMER MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS: There ought to be great congratulations to Mayor Nagin. He threaded the needle politically. He did what he needed to do under very difficult circumstances against a tough, articulate, energetic challenger.
MITCH LANDRIEU, LT. GOVERNOR, LOUISIANA: I want to congratulate Mayor Nagin. This was a hard fought campaign. It was fought well within boundaries of political discourse.
NAGIN: Mitch ran a splendid campaign. He is a gentleman. And he is a good public servant for this state.
LANDRIEU: I am asking to you join with me in supporting Mayor Nagin and his administration and the people of this city to get this city back again.
JESSE JACKSON, REV., RAINBOW PUSH COALITION: Now it's time to go forward. And I think the monies promised will allow people to come back home for reconstruction of houses, and hospitals, and schools, and job training, that must be the agenda now.
NAGIN: This city is positioned for growth. This great city of New Orleans is ready to take off. We have the levees being repaired. We have incentive dollars for businesses and for people. We have citizens around the country who want to come back to the city of New Orleans. And we're going to get them all back to the city of New Orleans!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: President Bush is cheering on Iraq's new unity government, congratulating the country's top leaders for getting down to business. Our Ed Henry reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the First Lady at his side, President Bush delivered 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 the 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 in 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.
HENRY (on camera): And with rumblings in Italy and Japan that they may soon bring their troops home, U.S. boots on the ground in Iraq may be needed now more than ever.
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: A time to remember, about 3,000 people gathered on the National Mall to reflect on America's fallen soldiers. Now this was a special tribute to the men and women who died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And this is the beginning of remembrance week, so an appropriate tribute today.
And you may need a box of tissues for the next story. It is out of Iraq, but it's not your normal war zone dispatch. This is a story about hope, and love, and human kindness.
Here's CNN's Glenn Beck.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It's Monday morning and Scott Southworth is doing what he does every day, getting his son, Allah, ready for school, a typical routine, just not a typical family.
ALLAH SOUTHWORTH, SON: It's not too bad like yesterday.
BECK: It's hard to believe that less than three years ago, this father and son were strangers.
CPT. SCOTT SOUTHWORTH, ADOPTED IRAQI CHILD: We met on September 6th of 2003.
BECK: You see, Scott Southworth is a soldier. While stationed in Iraq, he spent much of his free time volunteering at a Baghdad orphanage.
S. SOUTHWORTH: You're in a war zone and you're seeing so many horrible, terrible things happening, to be able to go and work with those children and see the laughing and the smiling, and get a chance to play children's games with the kids really helped, helped bring some levity to all of us in that war zone.
BECK: And that is exactly where he first laid eyes on Allah.
S. SOUTHWORTH: He can't walk, so he pulled himself with his arms all the way over where I was sitting. And then he grabbed my watch and told me all about the generator, and the air conditioner, and didn't want me to leave.
BECK: It was in that moment that Scott knew his life would be forever changed.
S. SOUTHWORTH: I believe Allah knew immediately that I was his dad. And I think he knew what was going to happen in the end.
BECK: And so it went that Scott Southworth began the process of adopting an Iraqi child. For most people, it would be an insurmountable feat. For Scott Southworth and his soon-to-be son, it was fate.
S. SOUTHWORTH: We got notification from the U.S. government that humanitarian parole had been approved. And within just a matter of hours, I purchased the plane tickets to fly direct from and back to the United States. And then I went into almost 24-hour mode, working with the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
BECK: But bringing Allah to the U.S. was just the beginning. You see, Scott's a single guy, raising Allah on his own. And Allah has cerebral palsy. The odds were already stacked against them.
S. SOUTHWORTH: I didn't have enough money, not capable of caring for a disabled child with cerebral palsy, not married yet, damper on my social life, my career. BECK: Despite all the reasons why not, Scott went with his heart.
S. SOUTHWORTH: What I realized is that every one of those reasons was an excuse, an excuse that I would have felt very ashamed to give him. And so I decided that if I was going to feel ashamed for eternity, and I was going to worry about him every day of my life here on Earth, then really there was only one option. And that was to go get him.
BECK: Raising a child with cerebral palsy presents hardships on any parent. But instead of considering CP as a disability, Scott and Allah chose to embrace it.
S. SOUTHWORTH: I don't look at Allah as a disabled child. And Allah doesn't stigmatize himself as being disabled.
SINGING: There he is the God who loves me.
BECK: It's been a couple years now, and Allah's progress in school is nothing short of remarkable. The other kids have taken a liking to teaching Allah all the things he never learned in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Teaching him like how to add one plus one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mixing colors. And he knows two of them already.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How to tie your shoe, learn your ABCs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really fun and he makes you laugh. It's nice having him around.
BECK: As for Scott's bachelor status, I think he may have found himself a wingman.
S. SOUTHWORTH: I remember telling people that he was somewhat of a chick magnet, that he's much better looking than I am. So I think that the girls take to him pretty well. I'm just kind of a side kick.
BECK: Forget the obstacles, forget the hardships. Just spend a little time with this family and you'll quickly see, you don't have to be typical to be a family. And every once in a while, determination and love really can overcome anything.
S. SOUTHWORTH: We acknowledge that he can't walk. We acknowledge that he has cerebral palsy. But the one thing about a relationship is, is that I accept him for who he is. And he accepts me for who I am.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: In case you missed it, let's check some of the highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows. Now topic A on CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER," General Michael Hayden's confirmation hearings as CIA director.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WYDEN: Americans are fearful today because again and again, their government says one thing and then does another.
For example, General Hayden in one day, six times said that this warrantless surveillance program consisted of international to domestic calls only. And then only when you were talking about terrorists.
But then folks here at home opened up their "USA Today" newspaper, heard about this domestic, you know, database. And they said we should have had some kind of inkling consistent with national security about what was really going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: On NBC's "Meet the Press" and ABC's "This Week", very different opinions about the government's alleged monitoring of Americans' phone calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: This president is committed to two goals simultaneously. First, that he's going to protect the privacy of the American people because that's who we are. But he's also going to protect us as a country.
And in order to do that, I think Americans understand that you can't have a situation in which al Qaeda and people associated with al Qaeda are having conversations inside the country that connect the country to conversations outside the country.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: But this is the reason we have a separation of powers in this country. And the Congress had enacted a law that told the president exactly what he was supposed to do. And he just ignored it, intentionally ignored it.
If he wanted - if there was any question about this, the very least they should have done is go to the Congress and try to get the law changed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: And on FOX News Sunday and CBS' "Face the Nation", the big topic was immigration reform.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The word amnesty in the dictionary means forgiveness. What we are talking about and what the overwhelming majority of American people support is an earned amnesty, background check - criminal background check, paying back taxes, $2000 fine, learn English, work for six years before getting in line behind everybody else. It's very tough. It's called earned citizenship. REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R), CHMN. JUDICIARY CMTE.: A lot of the illegal immigrants in this country will not sign up for whatever program it is, call it amnesty, call it earned legalization, because they're afraid they're going to lose their jobs. The market works. It is always cheaper to hire an illegal immigrant than to hire a citizen or a legal immigrant with a green card.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Remember every Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN's going to bring you the best headlines from the Sunday morning talk show circuit.
All right, "How to Rob a Bank" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. "CNN PRESENTS" takes a look at how identity theft breaks the bank, how the bad guys turn junk mail into cold cash, for example.
Here's CNN's Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David George was a modern-day alchemist. He could turn junk mail into cold cash. Postal inspector Matthew Boyden and Harris County investigator Mike Kelly finally stopped him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably the most prolific criminal I've ever arrested.
GRIFFIN: When they searched David George's suburban home, bundles of stolen mail were everywhere. In the drawers, the closets, and attic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything that had to do with identity theft and credit card fraud, we found it at that house.
GRIFFIN: There were credit card applications in the bathroom and 115 credit cards in every name but David George.
Among them, Jessica Durault, 22-years old, a student with a poor credit record.
JESSICA DURAULT, VICTIM: I wanted a credit card, but I was told that I was under restriction at the time, that I could not apply for any or get any until I had some hospital debts cleared up.
GRIFFIN: But if Jessica couldn't get a hard in her name, David George would do it for her. It took a combination of junk mail, a stolen identity, and a phony address. Days later, he had a credit card in Jessica's name.
DURAULT: Gold, like money.
GRIFFIN: Gold like money for Bank of America. It would charge as much as 64.58 percent in finance charges and interest.
DURAULT: It's just ridiculously high. They figure they got a sucker. They should make a ton of money off of that.
GRIFFIN: But in fact, it was the other way around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would you like to do?
GRIFFIN: David George used the credit card for cash advances, essentially loans totaling $2,100.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't forget to take your cash.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: That piece is just part of tonight's "CNN PRESENTS: How to Rob a Bank". It starts at the top of the hour.
But the correspondent Drew Griffin is with me right now.
Drew, I can't believe that somebody can take junk mail out of your mailbox and suddenly turn it into a credit card. How does that happen? Don't they need other information?
GRIFFIN: They can get it. If they need other information, they can get it from a variety of sources. We found out, much to our surprise, that a lot of our Social Security numbers are actually for sale over the Internet in some of these chat rooms. So there's so many ways that these crooks can get your identity and use that identity as their mask.
LIN: What's the best way to protect yourself?
GRIFFIN: Well, you've got to be careful with those numbers. The numbers are gold to those crooks. They should be gold to you as well.
Shred everything. Try to limit your junk mail. Opt out of those, any business you have, dealings with, opt out of the financial packages that they'll send you with pre-placed cards.
And monitor all your accounts. So many of us just do not do that. And a lot of frauds could be very caught early on if we just paid attention to what was happening.
LIN: All right, Drew, so interesting. Looking forward to the hour.
GRIFFIN: Good.
LIN: "How to Rob a Bank."
All right, chances are at some point, you got an e-mail with a clip from the Web site Jibjab. Well, now that hugely popular site is about to expand. Daniel Sieberg has details on what exactly that means when we come back.
And don't forget the show we just talked about with Drew Griffin. "How to Rob a Bank" at 8:00 Eastern, 10 minutes from now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 experience aging project is to teach the younger engineers by turning them older, and then having them on an airplane flight, so that they can firsthand relate to how difficult it is to get in and out a seat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engineers wore suits that simulate what it's like to walk in the shoes of an older person, things like poor vision, back pain, and flexibility problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that hurts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm not a big fan of sitting. It's a lot easier to stand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I need more leg space.
CALSEE ROBB, BOEING ENGINEER: It's harder to walk, it's harder to carry things, it's harder to see where you're going.
PHILLIP AYOUB, BOEING ENGINEER: I just kind of want to lay is there, and just be very still, and just kind of get it over with.
CURTIS: The project was pretty much an awareness for the engineers that things are going to need to change. The lighting is improved, better signage, bin latches that will open a little easier, laboratory door latches. Oh, I think you'll start seeing them with the 787 in it 2008.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: In this week's "Leading Edge", Jibjab.com, their wildly popular animated cartoons pull no punches, poking fun at the Washington establishment. But now, there's something new.
CNN's Daniel Sieberg has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since 2004, their signature cartoon has been seen by hundreds of millions of people online and on TV.
SINGING: This land belongs to you and me.
EVAN SPIRIDELLIS, JIBJAB.COM CO-FOUNDER: We didn't hear directly from any of the top, top people, but we did hear through the grapevine that both of the candidates had seen the piece and laughed at it. SIEBERG: Brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis work with a handful of staffers out of a modest office in L.A. They've recently launched an expansion to their site, jibjab.com. It's a departure from their political skewering, offering everyday jokesters a virtual locker. It's called Joke box.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: The whole idea is about, you know, creating a place where it's easy for people to share. It's easy for people to discover new funny, jokes online and easy to share it with friends.
SIEBERG: A real time stream of jokes and video clips uploaded by Jibjab users is projected on a wall.
(SINGING)
SIEBERG: But blasting barbs at politicos on both sides of the fence remains the brothers' bread and butter. No one in D.C. is safe.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: We definitely go out of our way to be bipartisan. And I think, you know, for us, when we make these shorts, it's not about, you know, pushing our political point of view. There's enough people out there that do that. And they're shouting from rooftops. For us, our goal is to make people laugh and you know, keep it even-handed.
SIEBERG: Each production is like a short film. Evan and Gregg providing the early inspiration and acting. They often make a Hitchcockian cameo, too. For the final cut, they get a little help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With "This Land", we have an actor named Jim Messman, who is a phenomenal impersonator.
SIEBERG: Both Evan and Gregg say the adage holds true. Dying is easy, comedy is hard. But they say they're in it for the long haul.
GREGG SPIRIDELLIS: Yes. I'm the guy above the jib and he's above the jab.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: Since I drew the logo, I gave him the cool mustache.
G. SPIRIDELLIS: Yes.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: He gets the curly mustache.
SIEBERG: So what keeps the Jibjab founders grounded as they approach their seventh year of business?
E. SPIRIDELLIS: Yes, there's a piece of humble pie out there for everyone. And you just don't know when you're going to get it.
G. SPIRIDELLIS: When you're going to get served.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: So I guess we live our lives like the humble pies right around the corner, you know.
SIEBERG: Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Santa Monica, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Up next, "CNN PRESENTS: How to Rob a Bank." Then at 9:00 Eastern, Larry King talks to Robert Redford and the boss at Chevron about America's oil addiction. At 10:00, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is sleeping on the job. He explores how we sleep, how we dream, and how a lack of sleep affects our health and lives. That's at 10:00 Eastern.
The hour's headlines when I come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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