Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

The Investigation into the Comair Commuter Plane Crash Continues; One Year Later, Katrina Victims Still Cutting Through Red Tape & Rubble

Aired August 28, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: -- the disaster.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And was it wind or water? Homeowners along the gulf coast stuck in the middle of that billion dollar debate. Our special series on the rubble and the red tape ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Welcome back everybody, I'm Soledad O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien, thanks for being with us this morning. In Lexington, Kentucky, federal crash investigators will try to figure out and why the flight crew of a Comair flight headed to Atlanta used the wrong runway yesterday morning. The jet, 50 aboard, sped down the shorter of two runways at the airport, crashing into the woods, killing all but one person, the flight's first officer. CNN's Jason Carroll live now from Lexington with more on the investigation. Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you Miles. Investigators are back out here this morning gathering information from the crash site. They are also reviewing the cockpit voice recorder, trying to gather more information from there, trying to determine what instructions the crew was given and if the crew understood those instructions. The plane was clear to take off yesterday morning at 6:00 a.m. from the airport. It was clear to take off on runway 22. That's the longer of the two runways, that runway 7,000 feet long. But the pilot turned on the shorter runway, runway 26, which is about half as long. The plane crashed through a perimeter fence into farmland and burst into flames. The plane's first office, Jim Polehinke was pulled from the wreckage, he is the only survivor, 49 others perished during that accident. This morning the University of Kentucky Medical Center spokeswoman spoke to us she told us that Polehinke is still in critical condition. Investigators have retrieved the cockpit voice recorder as well as the flight data recorder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB SPOKESWOMAN: We're still working on determining what was going on in the cockpit. What information was discussed between the air traffic controllers and the pilots? We are going to look at that. That's part of our investigation and we hope to have more information about that later.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP) CARROLL: Representatives from Comair described the captain, Jim Clay and the first officer as experienced pilots. And Miles, as you know, one of the things that investigators will be looking at is how familiar the crew was with the airport and how familiar they were with the airport's runways. Miles?

MILES O'BRIEN: One of the other things to be looking at of course is what sort of communication occurred between the control tower and that flight crew. What do we know about that, who was in the control tower? What did they see, what did they say?

CARROLL: When we asked that very same question of NTSB investigators, they made it very clear that they're still in the early stages of this, they did say that there was some sort of a reference to the correct runway yesterday during the communication between the tower and the crew, but in terms of elaborating beyond that they were not able to do that at least not at that point. Miles?

MILES O'BRIEN: Ok, thank you very much Jason Carroll in Lexington, appreciate that. Coming up we'll get a little bit more about this. We're going to speak to Debbie Hersman, she is with the National Transportation Safety Board and we'll get you updated on where that investigation stands. Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Tropical storm Ernesto now, the storm bearing down on Cuba, in Florida a state of emergency has already been declared and a hurricane watch is now in place for Miami. Further south in the Keys, an evacuation order is already in effect. CNN's Rusty Dornin live for us in Key West this morning. Hey Rusty good morning?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Soledad. You can see the effects somewhat of the evacuation order that was for tourists and non-residents here in Key West. Of course it's still early morning but the streets are very quiet. We see a lot of people making deliveries to the stores, but from what we understand a lot of the merchants are going to just simply open up, clean up, perhaps put up some storm shutters, and then they're going to close for the rest of the day. The Banana Republic just got a delivery a little while ago, they're packing those things up. Otherwise you see locals on the street, you see the lady down there with her dog, Anita McGee. She told me she is definitely not leaving for this storm, this is not something serious enough for her to leave.

That's of course many of the feelings of the folks here in Key West. And the area in particular they are not fond of evacuating. Of course they are saying there's no reason for evacuation. They wouldn't even ask the residents to evacuate unless Ernesto becomes a category 3 storm. So here along the main street, the main historic area here in Key West, very quiet, not many of the shops are going to be open, as you could see also, a few other people on the street, other news media who are commenting on what's being going on in the town, but everyone is just watching and waiting at this point. Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Rusty Dornin for us. Rusty thanks. Florida as we mentioned getting ready for the storm. Ernesto though seems to be changing a little bit of direction. Let's get right to Chad with an update on where he is going.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: Any way you slice it, it's not a good place for a $2 billion space shuttle to be, is it Chad? As I understand it, it looks like about Wednesday the current projection would put Ernesto, whether tropical storm or whatever it is by that point, right over that spot there, launchpad 39B. That's a live picture of the space shuttle "Atlantis." It's difficult to say right now because we're so far out, isn't it?

MYERS: It is, this storm could be 150 miles east of there and really make no effect whatsoever on the Cape. But it really would have been better to launch this thing yesterday. And it was a lightening strike Miles, is that right that stopped it from going up?

MILES O'BRIEN: Yeah, there was a lightning strike to the launchpad. It didn't affect the shuttle but they wanted to make sure so that held off the Sunday launch and that puts them into this mode. So right now what they're doing is they're preparing to roll it back to the hanger, that precludes there will we no launch attempt tomorrow. They won't move it, though, until they absolutely must, until, hopefully as that forecast comes in, it's going to do exactly what you said and move a little farther to the east and they'll be able to put the space shuttle in space, which is a safe place for it during a hurricane as well.

MYERS: How long does it take to move it from here back to the --

MILES O'BRIEN: It's a full day. I mean first of all, there's a whole process that they're going through right now to remove some of the fuel that is on there to power the fuel cells, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. There's like a whole checklist that they have to go through. So they're kind of hedging their bets going through the hanger checklist, while trying to preserve the countdown checklist at the same time and the fish or cut bait time will be tomorrow afternoon when they'll have to decide whether to roll back or press on for launch.

MYERS: We should know by then.

MILES O'BRIEN: We should hopefully.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They don't roll it back at all? They just start the process, but right now it'll just sit there until the moment comes when you have to roll it back?

MILES O'BRIEN: Right. That's exactly --

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They don't sort of like start edging it closer.

MILES O'BRIEN: And then if, at that moment, suddenly they got a better forecast, they'll load up the fuel and try to launch. So, there you go. You have to kind of handle it both ways. Look at it from both directions. Thank you Chad.

MYERS: Nice to have you back Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Hey, it's good to be back.

Happening this morning, President Bush is headed to the gulf coast today, his 13th visit in the year now since Katrina destroyed so much of that region. He begins in Mississippi today, New Orleans tomorrow. He'll meet with community leaders, he'll give a few speeches and we are told he will not be proposing any new programs or aid packages for Katrina victims.

At least 10 British tourists among the victims of bomb blasts that wounded 27 in Turkey. The attacks occurred along the Mediterranean coast and Istanbul's commercial district. No one has claimed responsibility.

In Baghdad at least 11 people are dead, 63 wounded, suicide car bombing, it happened at an Iraqi police check point near the interior ministry. An Iraqi official says the notorious Abu Ghraib prison just outside Baghdad is now empty. The deputy justice minister says the last detainees were moved out on August 15th. No confirmation from the U.S. military.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in Beirut today, Annan discussing the role of a planned 15,000-strong peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon, it's his first visit to Beirut since the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah began two weeks ago.

And Britain has requested the extradition of a man arrested in Pakistan in connection with that terror plot to blow up U.S. airliners. A ministry's spokesman says the man was being investigated for alleged links to Al Qaeda.

Coming up, the deadly Comair crash. Why would the crew try to take off from a runway that was too short? Were they confused? Were they tired? Did they get the wrong instructions? We'll ask those questions.

Also, red tape and rubble. A year after Katrina, find out why so many gulf coast residents are struggling to rebuild.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And the sex trade in Cambodia where girls as young as five years old are sold as slaves. We have a special report this morning on the effort to rescue them. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: So how in the world could it happen? How could the flight crew of that Comair (INAUDIBLE) CRJ-100, taxi to the wrong runway? A runway half as long as the longest runway at Lexington, Kentucky and begin their takeoff roll on a runway that was inadequate for that aircraft? Let's take a look briefly at the airport using our Google map technology and give you a sense of how it might happen. We'll zoom in on Lexington, Kentucky Bluegrass Airport. As we say, there are two major runways there, one of them, 22 and 8, which you see in this portion of your screen right across here is 7,000 feet. Plenty of room for that airplane to take off. There it is, 22 right there. The shorter runway, runway 26, which is where I would land my little plane is about half as long, its 3,500 feet. So how is it possible that an airplane could end up on the wrong runway?

Well let's get down a little bit closer and we'll give you a sense of how this airport is laid out. First of all, this is where the airliners taxi, these are the jetways and so forth. Don't know which particular gate they were at. But the path of the taxiway would take them out this way, and down this, that's taxiway alpha. And as you can see, before you get to alpha, you cross runway 26, now there are numbers there which are easily legible from up here because you're looking down on it from above. But when you are on the ground it's sometimes hard to read those numbers. This would be 22 over here. So instead of going all the way down this next section of taxiway, apparently what happened is they stopped here and went down this way and that led to the crash scene being at the end of runway 26. Well there's a lot of things you could look at here. There could be crew fatigue issues, there could be visibility issues, although the weather was pretty benign at the time, there was a little bit of haze. By the way, this is where the crash site was. And all of these factors will be considered. Air traffic control as well, crew training as the National Transportation Safety Board begins its investigation in earnest today.

Joining us now from the crash site near Lexington is Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Ms. Hersman good to have you with us this morning. Bring us up to date on the so- called "black boxes," the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, the former in this case, the cockpit voice recorder will probably be very telling, have investigators had a chance to listen to it yet, have they learned anything?

HERSMAN: We were able to obtain the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder yesterday. We returned them to Washington and they were delivered to our lab yesterday afternoon. We began a preliminary read on those and we were able to find yesterday that the information contained on both of them pertained to the accident flight and that it was good. We have about 32 minutes of audio on the cockpit voice recorder that's good quality. And on the flight data recorder we have several hundred parameters of useable data. And so we are going to be looking at those. Last night we formed teams in our organizational meeting and those teams are going to be meeting in Washington. Folks are flying in this morning and they will begin the work of transcribing and pulling out the information from the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

MILES O'BRIEN: How soon might we see a transcript publicly of that cockpit voice recorder?

HERSMAN: Well you won't see a public transcript of the cockpit voice recorder until the dockets open. And that would occur when the factual reports are completed or when we have a public hearing. But we may be able to release on scene some information about what we found on the cockpit voice recorder. MILES O'BRIEN: What about the air traffic control tapes, the conversations on the radios between the tower and the flight crew, what do we know about that?

HERSMAN: Our air traffic control investigators were able to pull the tapes from the air traffic control, the tower, and they were able to listen to those. And we did, also listen, have a preliminary listen to our cockpit voice recorder. On both of those, there was information that there was pre-planning. There was planning discussions both by the air traffic controllers, and the crew, conversations with each other about using runway 22 for departure. We do know from the information that we have obtained on scene, gathered evidence, documentation and from the flight data recorder, that the runway that the crew used was runway 26.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, so how many people were in the control tower and do we know if that person in the control tower was taking care of other things at that moment? Or, for whatever reason, did not see that this aircraft was at the end of the wrong runway?

HERSMAN: That will be part of our investigation, our air traffic control group will be conducting interviews, they'll be conducting interviews with people in the tower, on the ground. We have a number of groups that have been formed. And that is what they are doing today. They are on the ground and they're doing the work of collecting information, documenting the scene, gathering evidence, and collecting records.

MILES O'BRIEN: And was there one sole controller in the control tower at the time?

HERSMAN: I know that that's what the news reports are reporting, but we have yet to determine all of the information. We have yet to conduct interviews with the air traffic controllers. That is being done as part of our investigation.

MILES O'BRIEN: I do know that there was some recent work down on that longer runway there, runway 22, the 7,000-foot runway that they should have chosen. Is it possible in the process of that, that some key markings of the taxiways or runways were omitted that made it more confusing for the crew? Have you had a chance to get into that?

HERSMAN: We haven't had a chance to get into that but that certainly will be part of our investigation, we'll be collecting all of the notices to airmen, the note cams, we'll be looking at all of the work that might have been done at this airport. We'll be looking at markings on the taxiways, runways, we'll be looking at lighting. Our investigations are very thorough. This is part of what we will be looking at but certainly we'll be collecting all of that information while we're on scene. It's a fact-gathering exercise.

MILES O'BRIEN: Now, the condition of the first officer, the sole survivor is critical. Are you reasonably optimistic you'll be able to interview him?

HERSMAN: At this point we know he's in very critical condition. Of course, we would like to be able to interview him but it's not possible at this point. Our hopes continue to go out for his speedy recovery.

MILES O'BRIEN: Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Thank you for your time this morning.

HERSMAN: You're welcome.

MILES O'BRIEN: Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, red tape and rubble on the gulf coast. We'll take a look at the issue that's really infuriating hurricane survivors, what their insurance companies are doing for them or doing to them.

Also we saw what happened when people didn't evacuate for hurricane Katrina, so why are some folks saying they're going to stay put even if another storm hits? We'll take a look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Insurance companies all have different slogans, but the promise is the same -- we're going to be there when you need us. Well many Katrina victims think that's not true. Who's really at fault though, insurance companies who are trying to get off easy or customers who didn't understand their policies? All this week in our series "Red Tape & Rubble", we're taking a look at Katrina-related insurance problems. Here's CNN's Ali Velshi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Gulf of Mexico comes into your living room, it's all gone.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cecil Tillman says his insurance agent told him he'd be covered if a hurricane hit. So when Katrina came ashore, bringing the Gulf of Mexico with it, he figured he was protected. Apparently not.

CECIL TILLMAN, KATRINA VICTIM: This is the window that blew out when Nationwide is saying that the surge of water got here before the hurricane winds.

VELSHI: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company says water, not wind caused most of the $43,000 in damage to Tillman's home.

TILLMAN: Nationwide I think gave me $4,600.

VELSHI: $4,600 for wind damage. Nationwide told Tillman the water damage wasn't covered under his policy. Like Tillman, 1.7 million homeowners filed property insurance claims after Katrina, more than $40 billion in property damage payouts made the hurricane the most costly disaster in U.S. history. But the cost to homeowners is greater. (on camera): So was this damage caused by wind or water or both, well to the homeowners they say they thought they had hurricane coverage and that the question is just a technicality. But the insurance companies say the question is all that matters.

(voice-over): We wanted to ask Nationwide about Tillman's case, but the firm wouldn't comment. So we went to the Insurance Information Institute, the industry's public relations arm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homeowners insurance policies have never covered for flood and since 1968, 38 years ago, the federal government established the national flood insurance program so people throughout areas affected by hurricanes, or river or lake flooding can in fact buy flood coverage.

VELSHI: But if this fact was widely known, Katrina proved it wasn't well understood. And Mississippi lawyer Richard "Dicky" Scruggs says the insurance companies are profiting by claiming that water damage from a hurricane isn't part of the hurricane.

RICHARD "DICKY" SCRUGGS, MISSISSIPPI LAWYER: The policies themselves are very difficult to interpret. They don't use words like "storm surge", they don't even have the word "hurricane" in most of them. They call it wind storm. You know, what the heck is that, that can be anything.

VELSHI: Scruggs says he represents more than 3,000 Mississippi hurricane victims against five insurance companies. Jointly they reported profits of more than $12 billion last year. Despite the record policy payouts, 2005 was the insurance industry's most profitable year ever. But it wasn't a profitable year for Cecil Tillman.

TILLMAN: I was reading in the paper where if each individual case is heard separately that it could take 60 years. Of course, I won't be here to see it, but I'm going to let it run its course.

VELSHI: A course, he hopes, that doesn't have any hurricanes in it. Ali Velshi, CNN on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Coming up tomorrow Ali's going to take a look at some of the new measures that are being considered and implemented that could help homes survive a future category 4 storm. And experts say those improvements could save homeowners and federal and state governments and insurers tens of billions of dollars. Anderson Cooper has a look at what's coming up on his program tonight, Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, tonight a year since Katrina, trailers wasted, deadlines unmet, money unspent or misspent and promises not kept. Still, we're keeping them honest, looking for progress and talking with the people still fighting to make a difference. 360 in New Orleans tonight 10:00 p.m. eastern. Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Anderson thanks. Top stories are straight ahead this morning, we're keeping a close eye on tropical storm Ernesto. We'll have the very latest on where it's headed.

And you think people would have learned a lesson after hurricane Katrina. So why does so many say they still wouldn't evacuate the next time a big storm is on the way? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail, sign up for AMERICAN MORNING quick news at cnn.com/am. AMERICAN MORNING back in 60 seconds, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: You know, Chad, just a moment ago, you and Carol were talking about how people should be heeding all of these evacuation warnings, and you kind of think, right, given what happened during Katrina, everybody would evacuate and evacuate early. But believe it or not, there's a new study out that shows just how many people would choose to stay put in a similar situation as Katrina.

CNN's Sean Callebs has a look for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Horrific images of Katrina, of people stranded, either because they chose to stay or they had no means by which to leave.

But surprisingly, a recent Harvard study says it could happen, again, from Texas all the way to the Carolinas. The study says only two-thirds of the residents living within 50 miles of the coast would obey a mandatory evacuation notice with a hurricane bearing down.

People like Eddie Matrange, he lives across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans in the town of Mandeville.

EDDIE MATRANGE, MANDEVILLE, LA. RESIDENT: If I lived in New Oreleans I would leave, but Mandeville's a different story.

CALLEBS: He'd rather take the risk at home rather than kseek a shelter.

MATRANGE: Because nothing is being done any place to accommodate all of these people. And, I mean, where do you go, and how do you stay that long?

MARK SMITH, LA. OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We don't want people to stay.

CALLEBS: Mark Smith is with the Louisiana governor's Office on Homeland Security. He says the study is flawed, because it questions people living 50 miles from the coast, and people that far away, he says, shouldn't evacuate. But Smith admits, there are those in harm's way who will ignore warning.

SMITH: We understand that not everybody is going to leave. We understand that there are going to be people who play with the storm.

CALLEBS (on camera): Their lives.

SMITH: And their lives. And they have to be willing to accept that consequence.

CALLEBS: Smith is says Louisiana expects that 20 percent of the people ordered to evacuate will choose to stay.

But people like Frank Balet (ph) and Carl Ervin (ph), who saw their New Orleans east homes destroyed say they learned a valuable lesson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to never stay in a storm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't care what kind it is. When they say get out, we gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they say leave, I'm leaving.

CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Actually a huge problem. You know, we spent some time, both of us, over the weekend in New Orleans, and we were talking to some of the law-enforcement officials, who said now mandatory evacuation orders would go out right away, just because they'd like to get everybody out and keep the number down, way down, of people there. But what due do if someone refuses to go.

M. O'BRIEN: Or what do you do if they decide to hitch up their FEMA trailer and take everything with them. Compound that and figure out what that would do to the interstates. There's all kinds of things to think about.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, there are lots of scenarios that are very, very dire. It's been interesting to go back just for the last couple of days, and we'll be there again tomorrow when we do our special anniversary reporting. You know, but it's been interesting, I think, because there's been progress, you got to say that, and yet it's brutally slow, and it seems to me, at least, progress that, to a large degree, only the citizens who are there are bringing for themselves.

M. O'BRIEN: It is, in many ways, in spite of the government. In other words people, individuals, courageous ones, frankly, who are going into neighborhoods that -- who knows how they're going to come out, and taking a stand, fixing up their places. It's a risky thing.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, and the number of people who told us they got no money. They were not exactly helps by their insurance company, let's put it that way, because that's not the words they used. You know, and all pointing back that they're going to come back anyway. And we went to a church on Sunday morning in the Lower 9th Ward, which, as you know, just devastated. I mean, lots of it now looks like a field, because it's been wiped. Much is cleared away, and it was basically turned into rubble, and we were invited to come and sit in on their service and we did. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's Sunday morning, and the New Israel Baptist Church on St. Claude Avenue in the 9th Ward is back. Never mind that most of the choir is made up of visitors now, whose own church, the Greater New St. Luke and Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church, was wiped out and is rebuilding, never mind that only 50 people attended, half of them new faces, and no one is complaining about sitting in chairs, not pews.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we had like 200 to 250, and they're still pretty scattered. We have people in Baton Rouge, still in Houston, Dallas.

S. O'BRIEN: There's sheet rock stacked behind the pastor, Reverend Douglass Haywood (ph). The walls are stripped to the studs, but the ceilings are in fact. There's electricity, but no air- conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything I have in there was donated. The piano was donated. The sound system was donated. The pulpit was donated. The pulpit's furniture was donated. All of the chairs was donated.

S. O'BRIEN: New Israel Baptist Church has been back a week now. They expect, as word spreads, they'll grow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's really great, you know, that everybody's pulling together. I really don't see it sort of as a separate issue. You know, we're different congregations fellowshiping together. I think that makes the community stronger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: We talked to lots of folks in the Lower 9th Ward, who said, please, don't just show the devastation, please, you got to make sure that you tell people the total picture, which is there's some progress like the church coming back, and The church coming back isn't just, OK, well, they're back; it's we're going to be here to organize and collect the voices of the people in the Lower 9th so that they make sure they are not left out of the rebuilding process, because, to a large degree, they've been ignored, I think, it's fair to say by the government, and as we talked about, there's been no real plan to move anybody forward.

M. O'BRIEN: There is no plan. A lot of it is a leap of faith in many ways, and we discovered this. We went to the Gentilly neighborhood, which is a neighborhood that wasn't wiped clean in the way that the Lower Ninth Ward was, but its return has really been in fits and starts. And we checked in with an old friend of ours. This is Elysian Fields Road, which is kind of the main spine of Gentilly. You see more gutted houses than anything, a few FEMA trailers, a few where there is work going on. But it is very, very slow, and truly, the work of individuals alone, not the government.

One of the people we checked in with is Kim Bondy, former boss of ours whose dream house was this house until Katrina. She was going to retire there. And we checked in with her to see what her plans are in rebuilding. We'll tell you about that tomorrow.

The block behind her, we ran into a fascinating guy, Leon Toragono (ph). And truly, his house -- and you saw this, I know, Soledad, as you went through the streets. His house, as we get -- let's get to Leon's tape. His house is an oasis in this -- just this sea of rubble. And he was spending a meticulous amount of time on this beautiful garden he has. His house is still a wreck, but he is determined to hold his ground there, despite the fact that he doesn't really know if that neighborhood is -- which way that neighborhood will go.

Finally, the levees are a big question. We spend a lot of time -- look at that garden, isn't that gorgeous? I mean, Leon is gardener par excellence, and to pull that back after Katrina, he's done some hard work.

We took an aerial tour and looked at what the Corps of Engineers has done to bring the levees back to pre-Katrina levels. Now, remember pre-Katrina didn't do this city any favors. And we also asked him questions about what lies ahead. What is the big master plan for making this city safe to live in? Is there a master plan? The short answer is no. One year later, no.

S. O'BRIEN: We were told there's a process to a plan.

M. O'BRIEN: A process to a plan, there you go.

S. O'BRIEN: There's a process -- not a plan, but a process. We're going to talk about all that, and much more, as we take a look tomorrow on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. You can watch right here. I'll be in New Orleans reporting. Miles, of course, has his reports as well. Join us for our special coverage. We begin at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. That's tomorrow morning.

Still to come this morning, sex trade in Cambodia. Young girls -- and we're talking about 5-year-old girls who are sold into brothels every day. This morning, we've got a special report on what's being done to rescue them. That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Mariane Pearl was thrust into the national and international spotlight when her husband Danny Pearl was kidnapped and killed. But she's long been a journalist, producing documentaries and writing a book, and this month she begins a new role as a columnist for "Glamour" magazine. She is focusing on this month the Cambodian sex slave trade, and she profiles a former prostitute who's now an activist.

Mariane Pearl is with us this morning. So nice to see you.

MARIANE PEARL, COLUMNIST, "GLAMOUR": Good morning, thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: You think "Glamour" magazine, you think the "Glamour" dos and don'ts, you think fashion, you think advice for women. You don't necessarily think something as hard-hitting and as tough, frankly, as your article is for them. Tell me a little bit about "Glamour" and why you picked this project.

PEARL: Well, I picked this project because I thought, you know, people like Somaly Mam are just bringing us into a very difficult reality in the world. But I think it's just something a lot of people need to know about, and I think "Glamour" magazine has this audience that I really want to reach. You know, I've met -- yes, I've traveled a lot in America, and I've -- I love American women. I think they're really big-hearted, and I think they need that kind of information. They are willing to, you know, to hear from this...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I think it's going to be really shocking to women to read about this.

PEARL: It's shocking to all of us.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, I mean, everybody.

PEARL: It's a terrible story. It's really hard hitting.

S. O'BRIEN: Somaly Mam is the activist...

PEARL: Yes, she is. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... who really was your tour guide through it. What did you find? I mean, it is so tough, some of these details. What was the most shocking, in a way, of what you discovered?

PEARL: Everything was really shocking. You know, I went to so many brothels, and I just saw little girls, really babies, frankly, you know, who had just been rescued from cages where they were held and were tortured and raped. So I can't begin to describe to you what I saw, but it was really chilling.

The most -- probably the most -- the image that stays with me that I don't think I will be ever able to forget was just the eyes of a girl that had just been rescued and just it was sheer horror.

S. O'BRIEN: Somaly Mam takes these girls and rescues them. And how does she get in to get to them? I mean, because she has to get into the brothels and sort of win their confidence, in a way.

PEARL: Yes, that - she has a team of investigators that work with her, and then they go to brothels. They sometimes pretend to be clients and they try to see if there are children involved, or hidden away or things like that. So sometimes they just go to the brothels and take the kids out and run, basically. S. O'BRIEN: Which is, I guess, just how it has to be done.

PEARL: Yes...

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, it's such a huge problem. Two girls -- I mean, I was going to say young women, but they're not young women. These are girls. I might be mangling their names, I'm sorry. Pauve (ph).

PEARL: Pauve, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Sixteen years old.

PEARL: Yes, she's 16.

S. O'BRIEN: What's her story?

PEARL: Pauve, like many of these kids, were sold by her mother, you know, which is so hard to fathom, right?

S. O'BRIEN: Can you imagine?

PEARL: Sold by your own mother at the age five. And then raped and raped repeatedly until she broke, and just, you know, took on 30 clients a day, being tortured in many ways, you know, I wouldn't describe here. But and then she was saved by Somaly one day at the age 12 and has been in one of the centers that Somaly has opened to try not only to save these people from slavery and sexual slavery, but also teach them a trade, you know, teach them how to read and write. So she also, you know, actually also gives them some kind of dignity in the...

S. O'BRIEN: Right. You can't just go in and grab them. You have to do so much.

PEARL: You have to do something with these people, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Mau (ph), a...

PEARL: Oh, yes, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Tell me about her. She's five years old. You know, I have a 5-year-old daughter, and I read that description, and...

PEARL: I know. Me, too.

S. O'BRIEN: It just kills you.

PEARL: (INAUDIBLE) and it's the same thing, she was sold by her mother. And she was just this tiny little baby and she was sick. And, you know, you could tell that she had been raped many times. So it's really the first time in my life that I saw little children that are not children anymore. You know, there five years old, and you have a 5-year-old, you know what it feels like...

S. O'BRIEN: Right. You know how little they are. PEARL: Yes, and how in touch with their innocence you are, right, as a mother. And that was gone in this case.

S. O'BRIEN: While you were working with Somaly, she -- her daughter was kidnapped.

PEARL: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And you talk a little and you write a little bit about how you sort of had this moment where you connected on a very, I guess, just an intense and very sad level. Because, of course, your husband (INAUDIBLE) and you sort of knew.

PEARL: Yes, I just happened to - I arrived in Campa (ph) and I just found, you know, that her daughter had just been kidnapped. And obviously everybody thought this was retaliation for her work. So basically what I -- you know, because of my experience, I knew what she was talking about, I knew what she was feeling, and I could help her, you know, and...

S. O'BRIEN: Her daughter was returned.

PEARL: So the daughter was found when I left, and she had been raped and it was a retaliation, apparently. And obviously the kid hasn't been judged yet. But it was retaliation for her work. And she's 15 years old, and she's doing OK. You know, she has -- she's been recovered, which, in itself was a victory. But, you know, obviously, she paid a price, too.

S. O'BRIEN: Will these girls really recover emotionally? I mean, how can you be five years old and have, you know, 30 clients or 10 years old or 12 years old? You know, 30 -- I know she's working with them psychologically, too.

PEARL: She is.

O'BRIEN: But do you think there's hope that they're going to recover?

PEARL: No, they haven't even gotten to like the post-traumatic stress disorder stage. You know, right now it's just life-and-death issue, and I'm sure -- I think the (INAUDIBLE) recovery, they can help other people get out. I think you can't just walk away from that kind of life and trauma. I don't think so.

S. O'BRIEN: It is such an amazing article.

PEARL: Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: I have long been a reader of "Glamour" magazine, but now it is great to see you joining them as a columnist as well.

PEARL: Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: Where are you headed next, do you know. PEARL: I just came back from Mexico, and then I will do the story on the French suburbs, and the next story that's coming out is about Cuba and Nigeria.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, well, you know I'm Cuban, I'm looking forward to reading that one.

Mariane, nice to see you. Thanks for coming to talk with us this morning.

Mariane also is the author of "A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl" -- Miles.

Up next, Andy, "Minding Your Business."

Hello, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hello, Miles. What is Ivanna Trump doing in Beirut? Part of an effort to help rebuild the city, believe it or not. We'll tell you about that coming up next -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Bringing bling to Beirut. All right. Thanks for that. We'll see you in just a little bit. And Also singer Aaron Neville will join us. The New Orleans native has put together a new album that he says gave him hope in the aftermath of Katrina. We'll ask him all about it, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to a look at our top stories right after this break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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