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Violence Increases in Iraq; Two Children Found Dead in Louisville; New York City School Under Lockdown; Airlines Grounding Flights for Safety Inspections; Is Negative Campaign Hurting Democrats?
Aired March 27, 2008 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Border attack. Street battles, kidnappings. Iraq looks a lot like the bad old days as Iraq forces go to war against Iraqi militias. Our Kyra Phillips is live in Baghdad.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Destination delayed, day No. 2. Delta and American Airlines cancel hundreds of flights for safety checks. We'll tell you what's being checked and why.
Hi there, I'm Brianna Keilar at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
All right. We have this just into the CNN NEWSROOM. It is from Louisville, Kentucky, where two children have been found dead.
The story began unfolding this morning when police at the University of Louisville disarmed a woman. University police then asked city officers to check on the well-being of two children. All of this is according to the Associated Press. And they say city police found those children fatally wounded.
We're following this story and will fill in all the blanks for you as quickly as we can get them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(GUNSHOTS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: This is Basra on Iraq's oil-rich Persian Gulf coast. But similar fighting rages today also in Karbala in Hilla and Kut, also in Baghdad. This is the continuation of several days of fighting in Iraq, Shiite majority cities and towns.
And our own Kyra Phillips is in Baghdad, where U.S. troops were also attacked today -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Brianna, this was the concern days ago. We talked about this, the fact that this violence could be a threat to the U.S. surge, the fact that this violence could spread to other areas. Shia neighborhoods throughout Iraq and that's exactly what we've seen happen. We woke up this morning to mortar attacks, rocket attacks here in Baghdad, right in the international zone. Military sources saying that's a message to Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, to pull his forces out of Basra.
You're seeing supporters now, this video of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric that is so popular in this country. This battle is going on between his forces and also Nuri al-Maliki. Why in Basra? It's an oil-rich company (ph) that everybody wants a piece of. And this ongoing violence is just one -- one more way for these forces to try to fight for what they want.
And of course, Muqtada al-Sadr has lots of influence here. He called for a cease-fire not long ago. The violence dropped in this country. But once Nuri al-Maliki came in and said, "I'm tired of the corruption, the violence. I'm bringing forces in for this campaign," well, you've seen the outcome now and how it's spread even all the way to Baghdad. Supporters here for Muqtada al-Sadr rising up in the Shia neighborhoods.
KEILAR: And Kyra, I know that you're watching the situation there in Baghdad but you've also been in the country now for several weeks. You've been bringing us some really amazing behind-the-scenes looks at what's going on in Iraq. And I understand you're going to give us a look inside Saddam Hussein's jail cell. Tell us about that.
PHILLIPS: Well, I was lucky enough to gain an exclusive look. You know, there have been people that have gone in and seen this cell, Brianna, but no one's been allowed to tape it. Nobody's been allowed to look at his journal, his writings.
And no matter what you think about this war or Saddam Hussein, it will go down in history. He was a key figure, obviously, here in Iraq and in this conflict. And now his final moments and his memoirs will be looked at for decades and studied for decades by historians.
Here's the first look on camera of his cell and what it was like on his final day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJOR GENERAL DOUG STONE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: So he got up. He was informed that, in fact, today would be the day that he would be going to the execution.
He bathed himself here in a very modest manner. It was winter, so it was cold. He then put on his dark suit, the one that I think most people have seen. It was laying out here. He put that on. He was all ready to go. It took, I think, about a ten-minute delay.
But as he went out he said good-bye to the guards and then got in the vehicles and, of course, proceeded on over for the execution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And Brianna, prior to that execution, Saddam Hussein did a lot of writing in that jail cell and a lot of writing in his garden. Yes, a garden. Just outside of his cell, he would sit out there, smoke cigars and write pages and pages of documentation. For the first time, you're going to hear from that journal and also poems that Saddam Hussein wrote. That's coming up at the half hour.
KEILAR: All right. Looking forward to it. Kyra Phillips for us in Baghdad. Thank you.
LEMON: Now back to our top story and our breaking news here in the CNN NEWSROOM: two children killed in Louisville, Kentucky.
Joining us on the phone now, public information officer Phil Russell with the Louisville Metro Police Department.
We are hearing that you disarmed a woman but then you found the two children dead. Have you been able to connect the two?
PHIL RUSSELL, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE, LOUISVILLE METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, at this point we're -- we're looking into whether or not the two incidents are linked.
The University of Louisville Police had responded to a counseling center around 9 a.m. this morning regards to a woman that may have a weapon. They arrived and secured the area, made the necessary evacuations, took -- took the woman in custody.
They then contacted us to check the welfare of children inside a home in a South Louisville neighborhood. Our officers, along with officers from the University of Louisville police, made entry into the house and, unfortunately, found the bodies of two children who had been fatally wounded.
LEMON: OK. So you're on campus. Right? At the counseling center, correct? And then this woman -- you're disarming this woman who's causing a disturbance.
RUSSELL: Well, the -- actually that was handled by the University of Louisville Police.
LEMON: OK.
RUSSELL: It sounds like they did a fantastic job of being able to secure that scene.
LEMON: OK. So, then, from that incident you get word that you need to check on two children, you said in the South Louisville neighborhood?
RUSSELL: And so our officers arrived, were able to make entry and again, discovered the tragedy there...
LEMON: OK.
RUSSELL: ... of two children, middle and elementary school age.
LEMON: OK. I was going to ask you the ages. Middle and elementary school. Do you know if they were girls or boys?
RUSSELL: I don't have that information just now.
LEMON: OK. Do you know the extent of their injuries, what were they -- what were the wounds?
RUSSELL: Again, still -- still investigating that. The coroner, I believe, is still on the scene at this time.
LEMON: OK. Do we know why -- why was this woman in a counseling center?
RUSSELL: You know, again, just information that I have is limited based on what transpired at University of Louisville today. And that was handled by the University of Louisville police.
LEMON: Any other prior incidents with this woman? Is she known by law enforcement?
RUSSELL: You know, I'm still looking into that. But again, just a tragic situation. We had the loss of life of two young children today.
LEMON: Real quickly, they were at home alone?
RUSSELL: Yes, there was no one else in the residence when our officers arrived.
LEMON: Phil Russell, public information officer for Louisville Metro Police Department. Thank you for joining us. If you get more information, please check back with us.
RUSSELL: Absolutely.
KEILAR: This just in, coming to us from New York City: a school lockdown there, this happening in Brooklyn. We're talking about John Dewey High School in the borough of Brooklyn. It's been locked down due to a report of a gun in the school.
According to a spokesperson at the New York Board of Education, apparently a student claims that he or she observed another classmate put down a bag which another student picked up, at which point a gun fell out. Now the spokesperson says neither the bag nor the alleged gun have been recovered. And the school has been locked down since 12:30 p.m.
You can see here in the pictures, this is John Dewey High School in Brooklyn. Some of the students gathered outside, obviously, a precautionary measure that we've seen in other situations like this during school lockdowns.
But again, this is a high school in Brooklyn under lockdown because of a report of a gun. That gun at this point, if it exists, has not been found. We're going to continue to update you on this school lockdown in New York City as more details become available. LEMON: If you ever wondered what the violence in Iraq means to you, well, here's one thing: the bombing of an Iraqi oil pipeline helped send crude oil prices up more than $1 a barrel today, on top of an almost $5 surge yesterday. That one is blamed on an unexpected drop in U.S. energy supplies.
Gas prices are creeping up again. AAA says we're now almost paying almost $3.27 a gallon on average for self-serve regular. That's a lot of money.
Well, if it's any consolation, that is not a record. It's still a lot of money, though. We hit $3.28 -- $3.285 a gallon on March 16.
The stock market sees things differently today. The Dow has been slightly up, but the NASDAQ, well, it's in a funk on dicey news from Oracle. Much more from our business news desk in just a few minutes.
The economy, of course, is issue No. 1 for the Democratic presidential hopefuls today. On the campaign trail in New York, Barack Obama says the government can do more to help struggling Americans, especially since the Federal Reserve has already backed a bailout for the investment bank Bear Stearns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we can extend a hand to banks on Wall Street when they get into trouble, we can extend a hand to Americans who are struggling, often through no fault of their own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Senator Barack Obama also called for new rules and regulations to keep the markets, quote, "competitive and fair."
KEILAR: Obama's party rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, is also weighing in on the nation's economic health. At a campaign stop in North Carolina, she aimed her toughest comments at the current White House occupants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, the Bush economy is like a trap door. Too many people are one pink slip away, one missed mortgage payment away, one medical diagnosis away from falling through and losing everything.
The oil companies, predatory student loan companies, the insurance companies and the drug companies have had seven years of a president who stands up for them. I will be a president who stands up for all of you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Senator Clinton also pledged to make changes to the NAFTA trade deal with Mexico and Canada. And she also promised what she called a time-out on new trade agreements.
LEMON: And Brianna, if you're flying American or Delta today, you might want to check on your flight. Both airlines are still inspecting some of their older planes. In Delta's case it is a re- inspection, but it still means canceled flights and stranded passengers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LOWRY, DELTA PASSENGER: I was getting ready to board a flight and they said it was canceled. So we'll go up to the Crown Room and stand in line there for about an hour, and they tell us it's not canceled. Go back down to the gate.
We go back down to the gate. We get there. They tell us it's canceled again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: At least he's lucky enough to go to the Crown Room. Many people did not have that luxury.
A Delta spokesperson tells CNN these long lines should be a lot shorter come morning when the airlines should be back on schedule.
In New York, our chief technology correspondent, Mr. Miles O'Brien.
What's the focus of these inspections, Miles?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT: Don, they're focused on an auxiliary hydraulic power unit on these MD-80 series planes, and more specifically the wiring which connects it.
It's a high-voltage piece of equipment, one of the higher voltage pieces of equipment on the airplane. And the spaghetti of wires that leads to it, the concern from the FAA is they could become frayed or damaged. And that could cause arcing, and if there's arcing and it's exposed to the vapors of fuel, you have a potentially lethal scenario.
And so back in September of '06 the FAA sent what's known as an airworthiness directive. That's kind of like a tablet coming down from the Mount for aviation. It's very specific. You're supposed to do exactly what it says.
But what happened on this particular airworthiness directive, there was some ambiguous language here. And the mechanics at American apparently did not reattach those wires exactly the way the FAA wanted. And that's what has led to this whole cascading effect.
As they audited that compliance on that particular airworthiness directive, the FAA found out they weren't attached properly, and there was some concern.
LEMON: Yes, and that's -- I was going to ask you how big a deal it is. And I -- if I remember correctly, the flight over Long Island Sound, that arcing...
O'BRIEN: You bet.
LEMON: ... that's what that caused -- was that what caused the problem there?
O'BRIEN: Right. TWA Flight 800, July of 1996. Investigators say what happened there was there was some exposed wire inside the center fuel tank of that 747. There were fuel vapors in there, causing the explosion.
A couple years later another scenario which was wiring induced. Swiss Air Flight 111. Halifax, Nova Scotia, was the location there. A short-circuit in the entertainment system causing an on-board fire.
So wiring is kind of an Achilles heel for these airplanes, especially as they get older. And it's important that they comply with these airworthiness directives. And it's important, also, that the FAA issue directives that are clearly followed and not ambiguous.
LEMON: Obviously, there's really nothing you can do as a passenger, because you rely on the inspections. So how concerned should we be about flying in the near future, Miles?
O'BRIEN: Well, on the one hand, you know, coming in the wake of the Southwest Airlines thing, which triggered all these audits, where they weren't inspecting and their allegations are that the FAA knew about it, that would give us some great reason for concern.
But the other thing to consider here, when you consider all this, we're not talking about this in the wake of a horrible accident. We're talking about this in the wake of an FAA safety audit having discovered all this.
And let's remember, the last time a big airliner crashed in the U.S., it was back in November of 2001 here in New York City, an American Airlines Air Bus shortly after takeoff. There's been an incredible safety streak here.
The big concern, though, Don, that lurks at the bottom of all this is the airlines are hard-pressed economically. We all know about that. Might they be tempted to cut corners on maintenance? That's the big concern.
LEMON: Yes. I think was it 587 over Nassau right after 9/11?
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
LEMON: That was -- and we all thought it was terrorism related.
O'BRIEN: Right.
LEMON: Turned out not to be. Yes. Miles O'Brien, very valuable information. Thank you, sir.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome. KEILAR: It's an issue no candidate can afford to ignore. The two Democratic presidential hopefuls weigh in on the economy. What they say they'd do about it.
LEMON: And kids and autism: a tough diagnosis to get, a tough diagnosis to deal with. How parents can cope.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Developing news into the CNN NEWSROOM. And sadly, it involves two children. It comes to us from Louisville, Kentucky, where two children have been found dead.
This story began unfolding this morning when police at the University of Louisville disarmed a woman. We're told that woman was at a counseling center, and that was just moments ago. That was from Phil Russell, who's public information officer for the Louisville Metro Police Department.
They said after they got that woman secured, they were told that they needed to go to a South Louisville neighborhood and check on two children who were home alone. And sadly, when they got there, city police found those children fatally wounded.
The coroner's on the scene now. We're following this story and will fill in the blanks just as quickly as we can get them for you.
KEILAR: We've got some new pictures for you out of New York City. A school under lockdown. This is John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, where apparently, a student claimed that a gun fell out of another student's book bag.
A spokesperson for the New York Board of Education saying neither the bag, nor the alleged gun, have been recovered. But at this point the school has been on lockdown for just a little under an hour. We're going to continue to follow this story here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: All right. Tough talk. A nasty tone. And in case you haven't noticed, the race for the Democratic nomination has gone negative. And the back-and-forth is taking a toll.
Forty-eight percent of respondents in an NBC -- a new NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll say they have a negative view of Hillary Clinton. Thirty-two percent say they see Barack Obama in a negative light, as well.
Is all this bitterness, this going back and forth, is it going to affect the Democratic candidates and their White House chances? Let's ask Mark Halperin. He's a senior political analyst at "TIME" magazine.
Mark, I found your article this morning very interesting. You did an interview with Hillary Clinton, an exclusive interview. And I want to talk to you about that.
But real quickly, is this going to affect -- because I read something earlier. I'm not sure which poll it was. I think it was, like, 23 percent of people said, "You know what? I'd like to see Hillary Clinton drop out of the race." But the same amount of people said, "I'd like to see Barack Obama drop out of the race."
MARK HALPERIN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, look, it's not surprising, as this race goes on, there is bitterness. That's partly in the negative campaigning, and that's partly, I think, what's driving up the negatives for Hillary Clinton.
But also I think, you know, as the campaign goes on, flaps are happening just sort of organically. Neither is running a perfect race. In the short-term, it's definitely hurting them, but look, it's not hurting their fund-raising. They're both still raising record amounts of money. It's not hurting the vote turnout, at least not so far. We've seen record turnout.
I think in the short-term it's a cause for hand-wringing. It's a cause, a talking point for Obama supporters to say this is why Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race and bring this to closure.
But the reality is, it's going to go on for a while. They're not pulling back as they have in some past instances. And I think the party is going to have to figure out how to come together after this, but I think they probably can.
LEMON: What about the long term? The longer this goes on, the more negative views voters have of the Democratic nominees.
HALPERIN: That's -- there's no question. But the Democratic Party is pretty pumped up in general. And I think the critical moment will come when one of these two wins the nomination, could be in June, might not be until the convention.
The loser is going to have to do, I think, the lion's share of the work to say, "Look, I know" -- say to their own supporters, "I know how committed you were. I know how badly you wanted to win, but now we need to get together as a party."
The challenge they face, I think, is more John McCain and his appeal to independents and to some Democrats, than it is the current bitterness. Because we've seen a lot of bitter fights in past nomination contests. It's the coming together that's the most important part. I think the fight now is not that important.
LEMON: OK. Very interesting stuff. I was talking about your "TIME" magazine exclusive. It's on TIME.com. Right? And here's...
HALPERIN: Yes, sir. In "TIME" magazine, coming out this week.
LEMON: OK. I want to ask you this real quick, because it says you were talking to Hillary Clinton about super delegates. And she -- you were talking about pledged delegates.
And she said, "We talk a lot about so-called pledged delegates, but every delegate is expected to exercise independent judgment. And you know, I'm just going to do the best I can in the next ten contests to make my case for the voters in these elections."
OK. So she's talking about super delegates. Even though it's pledged, though, she's thinking, you know what? They may change their minds and she still has a chance. You said she was cheery and upbeat about it.
HALPERIN: Well, she was cheery and upbeat throughout the interview. But in this case, this is a topic that's come up before. Are those delegates, not the super delegates but the ones who get picked in the primaries and caucuses. Sometimes we call them pledged delegates, but technically they're not. Most of them, almost all of them, will vote the way they were elected to vote. But they don't have to.
And what Senator Clinton seemed to be saying, even though her campaign says they're not going to poach those delegates or try to get them to flip, that some of them might just change their mind on their own. Not impossible, but I suspect it would take a real collapse to Senator Obama's campaign for that to happen. And some people see her raising this -- I didn't ask her about it; she raised it on her own -- as a sign of desperation.
LEMON: Hey, Mark, they're telling me we've got to wrap here. But I've got to ask you this real quickly.
HALPERIN: Yes.
LEMON: Real quickly about John McCain. He doesn't have an opponent sort of following his every word and pushing whatever he says wrong or what have you. It seems -- it appears that he's sort of getting a pass on mistakes he's made or controversial comments he's made. Real quickly, can you respond to that?
HALPERIN: He's gotten something of a pass. But that's not uncommon. He doesn't have the competition right now.
Today in their economic speech, as you saw both Obama and Clinton go after him, kind of auditioning for Democrats to say, "I can take the wood to McCain in the general election." So he's going to get a little heat, but not as much as they are, at least for the time being.
LEMON: Mark Halperin, thank you. And again, great interview with Hillary Clinton. Thank you much.
HALPERIN: Thanks.
KEILAR: The college student who asked Chelsea Clinton about the Monica Lewinsky scandal is defending his question. Butler University student Even Strange asked Chelsea Clinton Tuesday about criticism of the way her mother handled the Lewinsky scandal and if it, quote, "might be a sign of weakness."
Chelsea Clinton gave him this icy response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY CLINTON: Wow. You're the first person actually that's ever asked me that question. In the -- I don't know -- maybe 70 college campuses that I've now been to. And I do not think that's any of your business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Evan Strange appeared on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" earlier today, and he still insists that his question was legit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVAN STRANGE, BUTLER UNIVERSITY STUDENT: No. 1, she's campaigning for her mom, so I think, you know, any question is -- is valid and especially when there's a three-trillion-dollar budget at hand. It's a question that needs to be answered, especially when many voters want to know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And we know there are so many opinions about this. We want to know what you think. Was it OK to ask Chelsea Clinton about her mother's handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal? Or maybe you think it wasn't. Send us an e-mail at CNNnewsroom@CNN.com. We want to hear what you think about this.
LEMON: Take a look at these pictures. This is by no means a presidential palace, but it was the last place -- the last place Saddam Hussein lived before his death by hanging. CNN got a look inside, and so will you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. I'm not sure if this is promising news. We'll ask Susan Lisovicz. A new reading shows the economy probably did not fall into a recession in 2007.
Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with all the very latest for us.
But that doesn't mean it didn't fall in 2008. But is that good news or bad news?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That -- that is an excellent point, Mr. Lemon.
All right. Let's just start with the report we did get: GDP, the broadest measure of the economy, the final look. We have two previous ones, third one unchanged. So the patient had a pulse, but it was very faint.
The growth for the world's greatest economy, just 0.6 percent. This is something that's very closely watched when determining a recession. But it's not the only factor. There's more leeway in it.
And as you noted, Don, really the big question is, what is the first quarter going to show? And we end the first quarter, of course, next week.
Of course, the housing market weighing on the economy. More numbers on that today. The large home builder Lennar reporting a fourth straight quarterly loss. And -- and the company executives say it's actually going to worsen. Why is that? Because there's still a glut of homes, and there's a credit crunch. It's actually quite succinct, the CEO saying that -- that consumers are being very cautious, and those that actually want to make a decision and are ready to buy sometimes can't get financing. It's a problem.
But Lennar shares are up 5 percent. Why is that? Because the losses for Lennar were not as bad as Wall Street expected.
Stocks in general drifting lower. Techs in particular under pressure today. Two I just want to point out real quick. Google is down about 2.5 percent. Its growth in paid clicks, which is a key source of revenue, rose only modestly. And so that stock is under pressure.
And so is Oracle. Its shares are down about 7 percent. Its sales were pretty good, more than 20 percent for the quarter, but it was below Wall Street's consensus.
So the Dow is down just six points. The NASDAQ is down nearly 17. And oil is going in the opposite direction. Right now it's up nearly 2 bucks, and it's getting close to $108 a barrel. So inching closer -- or I should inching close -- shot up 5 bucks yesterday, up nearly 2 bucks today. It's getting a lot closer to the all-time record that we saw earlier this month, Don.
Back to you.
LEMON: All right. All right, Susan. Thank you. We'll check back.
KEILAR: This is no presidential palace. But it was the last place that Saddam Hussein lived before his death by hanging. CNN got a look inside, and so will you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Thirty-two past the hour. A couple stories we are working on for you today in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stuck at the airport. Oh my goodness, look at that! They're on the belt. Delta and American Airlines canceled several hundred flights today to conduct voluntary safety inspections on two models of aircraft. The cancellations are expected to affect flights well into tomorrow.
A developing story we have for you out of Kentucky. Two children have been found dead at their home in Louisville. Police went to check on them not long after a woman was disarmed on the campus of University of Louisville. No one was injured at the university. It is unclear if the two events are linked.
A new round of violence in Iraq. Security stations and Shiite neighborhoods saw new rocket and mortar fire today in Baghdad. The U.S. military says one person was killed and 14 people were injured in the fortified green zone, the site of U.S. and Iraqi government offices.
KEILAR: During his time in power, nobody in Iraq lived better, more comfortably, surrounded by more ornate luxury than Saddam Hussein. But that all changed in the final weeks of his life. Those days were spent within plain walls sleeping on cement behind a locked door.
Kyra Phillips is in Baghdad, she got a rare and exclusive look inside of Saddam Hussein's prison cell. Tell us what you saw, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well Brianna, whether you agree with this war or not, Saddam Hussein is a key figure in this conflict. Whether it's his life, his writings or his final moments, it is going to go down in history and be studied for decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): It was one of the last times the world saw Saddam Hussein alive. Now, for the first time, you will see where he lived out his last moments -- in his cell, reading from his journal, and his final haunting photograph. So he was actually jailed in a building he built.
STONE: Jailed in a building that he built, jailed in a building that many of his guests came and enjoyed.
PHILLIPS: Did he know where he was?
STONE: You know, initially we didn't think he did but he actually did know. I mean he ultimately knew exactly where he was for a combination of reasons that only the owner would probably know.
PHILLIPS: Major General Doug Stone oversees detention operations. According to Stone, Saddam also knew what was once decadent had become bare. This is the cell where Saddam Hussein slept, bathed, and spent his final morning.
STONE: So he got up, he was informed in fact today would be the day that he would be going to the execution. He bathed himself here, in a very modest manner. It was winter so it was cold. He then put on his dark suit, the one that I think most people have seen, that was laying out here. He put that on. He was all ready to go. It took about a 10-minute delay, but as he went out he said good-bye to the guards and he then got in the vehicles and of course proceeded on over for the execution.
PHILLIPS: What did the guard write about his final minutes before he went to the galley?
STONE: He wrote that just in the last 10 minutes while he was waiting he asked the guard, he said I want to give you all my belongings, please give those to the lawyer and please tell my daughter that he is going to meet God with a clear conscience and that he's going as a soldier sacrificing himself for Iraq and for his people.
PHILLIPS: Next to Saddam's cell, his exercise bike, examining table, basic medication. And a nickname not many people have ever heard. Why did you all call him Vic?
STONE: Little known secret. When he came here there was a debate, do you call him Mr. President? No, that doesn't sound very good, what do you call him? And each detainee has an interment security number and so we thought we don't want to call him that number either. So one day he looked across and said why do you have that initials on there? We said, well, that stands for very important criminal. He said well what does that mean? He says well it's Vic. He said OK, that's what I want to be called.
PHILLIPS: But, says Stone, Saddam felt much more comfortable in his garden, a garden he was allowed to grow under a watchful eye.
STONE: This is probably his favorite area. Again, not particularly too elaborate.
PHILLIPS: Did you find that odd that he wanted a garden or did you suggest that?
STONE: No, no, he wanted a garden, he wanted to have a little planting over here. It's sort of somewhat interesting that nothing he ever planted grew very well. And I don't know why that is other than you could see there's still some plants left there that kind of grew up. But the kind of flowering he was hoping for I guess didn't flower.
This is kind of interesting. This is just a lawn chair but he was a little uncomfortable in his arms, oftentimes trying to write, sort of resting his arms. He couldn't rest it up on here, so this got built up and duct taped so that at the right level he could kind of continue to keep writing.
PHILLIPS: They are writings, Stone tells us, that have never been read publicly before. Here in these pages, it is clear, Saddam was obsessed with his legacy.
STONE: Therefore, I find my responsibility of citizen in my role as a believer in the nation require putting the dots on the letters so that the people in history thereafter me know the facts as they are and not as those who want to ...
PHILLIPS: So he is afraid that history will not be recorded as he wants it recorded.
STONE: As he wants it recorded, exactly.
PHILLIPS: Let me ask you about the poetry. He writes this one poem talking about Baghdad, he says the nights are darker after the sunset but the smoke and the burning overwhelms the city. You will feel suffocated under its skies. My days are now nights, no stars, no moon but lots of screams. He was writing about something he couldn't see. STONE: Yeah. Yeah, it's fascinating. Even where we're located now he would have heard things, he probably could have sensed (INAUDIBLE) and that sort of thing. But he was seeing a very different battlefield than what he physically could see or even experience at the moment.
PHILLIPS: What do you think of the fact that he wrote poetry? Saddam Hussein writing poetry.
STONE: Trust me, I'm not a literary major here but I think there is a sense in poetry, a timelessness about the sense of things. And I think Saddam Hussein, through all of his writings was trying to equate himself with timelessness, he was important in history, and he'll be important in the future. So linking this poetry together all I can surmise is much like linking the rest of us together in one. It wanted people to remember him in a very poetic, large fashion.
PHILLIPS: The empty chair, an eerie image of Saddam sitting next to us watching us do exactly what he wanted. In one part of the journal he writes, "Dear nation, get rid of the hatred, take the clothes of hate and throw it into the ocean of hatred. God will save you and you will start a clean life with a clean heart." But this was someone that was so full of hate.
STONE: Well, he certainly was, at least those were his actions. But how we see ourselves, how the world sees us, how you want yourself to be seen in history, how you'll write about it, there is a cunningness to him, there's a sense of where he's fitting, there is a desire to sort of piece things together so that this is what you'll remember.
PHILLIPS: But this is the way many will remember Saddam Hussein. So this was the last photo that was taken of him.
STONE: That's right, Kyra. This was the last picture ever taken of Saddam Hussein alive that we're aware of.
PHILLIPS: Why is he so irritated? He looks angry.
STONE: He is angry. That's very perceptive. He actually is a guy that wouldn't normally look like that, but our guards noticed it. What had happened was the Iraqi guards had written his name on the back of this white board as if to take his picture in front of the words Saddam Hussein and they had misspelled his name. So he turned to them and said "I am Saddam Hussein."
PHILLIPS: A captured moment of an angry man, a man who, until the end, refused to see himself as anything other than a believer in the nation, the nation he lost.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Brianna, something else that was interesting about his journaling. He would listen to a radio just outside his cell. His guards would bring him a radio. He'd write just bullet points about what was happening during the war. It didn't really make much sense, but he'd write down a number of people killed or what happened in Tikrit, his home area, and just try to detail the military strategy.
So that was interesting. He was a military general so he wanted to do that. Also, he wrote nothing about torture. He didn't write about gassing the Kurds. He didn't talk about any of the crimes against humanity that he was executed for.
KEILAR: I wonder, because looking at some of those writings, you could see at least some of them were in Arabic. Were all of them in Arabic?
PHILLIPS: That's interesting that you ask me that. Yes, it was all in Arabic. I had my producer, Isabelle Veech with me so she could actually look through and translate what looked interesting. I told her I wanted to hear some of the poems and I wanted to hear just random writings, whether it was about the war or his life or his feelings while sitting out into his garden. We thought those were some of the most interesting parts.
And here is something else that was interesting that the general talked about, his handwriting changed as time moved on. So at the beginning when he was in the jail cell, his handwriting was very neat, very clear, and then towards the end it was sort of hard to understand, it was messy, and you could see the difference between the two types.
KEILAR: Did he have visitors, Kyra, while he was there?
PHILLIPS: Actually, the last -- his brothers. He visited with his brothers just before he died. He would sit out into that garden, he would write, he would smoke cigars, but his final visitors were his brothers. According to his guards, it wasn't emotional at all. They said good-bye and he said I know my time is near and that was it.
KEILAR: Very interesting. Kyra Phillips for us in Baghdad, thank you.
LEMON: In many ways your child is perfectly normal but you sense something is wrong. Is it autism? What can you do to get help for your child? We'll tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: There is a happy anniversary to one of the best known drugs in the world. Viagra was approved by the FDA 10 years ago. Over that time 35 million men have been prescribed it and millions more probably have taken it without a prescription. Later in the NEWSROOM, we'll hear from Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the medical impact of Viagra. But there's also been a huge cultural impact, including the famous commercials, and of course all of those jokes.
KEILAR: Knowing something is wrong with your child but not knowing what. This can be an extremely frustrating experience for the parents of autistic children.
In this week's "Empowered Patient," our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explores the challenges of first getting the diagnosis, then getting beyond it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In many ways, Justin Kinninger is your typical 7-year-old. He loves math, pizza and Pokemon. But from the very beginning, Justin's mom Shannon sensed something wasn't right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he was supposed to be sitting up, he wasn't sitting up. When he was supposed to be holding his head up, he wasn't holding his head up. When he was supposed to be rolling over he wasn't rolling over.
COHEN: But when Shannon took Justice to the pediatrician.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The doctor kept on saying that boys develop slower than girls. I was very frustrated.
COHEN: Finally when Justin was 4, she found a specialist, a developmental pediatrician who knew immediately what was wrong.
SHANNON KINNINGER, MOTHER: He's autistic. I'm thinking, finally we got a diagnosis.
COHEN: From getting a diagnosis to getting the right schooling, parents of children with autism have to be tenacious, even relentless sometimes to get their children what they are entitled to. First, getting a diagnosis is crucial. If your doctor isn't listening to you, be persistent. The Kinninger's lost valuable years. The earlier your child gets help the better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't wait. Don't just wait for them to grow out of it in order to get some services. You have to have a diagnosis.
COHEN: The problem -- your doctor may not notice your child's behavior during a short office visit so you might need to videotape your child at home. Also a letter from a daycare provider or preschool teacher discussing your child's behavior might help. The diagnosis is just the beginning. Parents need to push for services in school.
JUDITH STEUBER, PARENT ADVOCATE: You have to become an expert on education, because you are the advocate for your child.
COHEN: In the end, says both Kinninger and Steuber, it's always good to go with your gut.
STEUBER: You really do have to trust yourself.
KINNINGER: You are the best advocate for your child.
COHEN: With this week's "Empowered Patient," I'm Elizabeth Cohen.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE) KEILAR: For more practical things you can do to help your child get the best treatment if he or she has autism, check out Elizabeth's empowered patient column, it's online at cnn.com/health. A very useful and informative column.
Also this weekend, tune in for a special edition of "HOUSE CALL," part of CNN's in-depth coverage of autism, unraveling the mystery, this is leading up to world autism awareness day, that's April 2nd.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to go one-on-one with CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding asking tough questions about the vaccine controversy and also what parents need to know about the first signs of autism. You can learn what to look for. Now all of this is on "HOUSE CALL" this Saturday and Sunday morning at 8:30 Eastern time.
LEMON: All right, we have some breaking news in to the CNN NEWSROOM. Take a live look at these pictures, they're from Ypsilanti, Michigan. You see that overpass, that is a crane there. You are also looking at Godfordson Road.
We're being told that M-14 in both directions, sorry, that's the M-14 in both direction near Godfordson Road closed because of a construction crane accident. Again all of this according to our affiliate there, WDIV. Police said the crane crashed through the overpass. Traffic is currently using the off and on ramps to get around the closure.
So what they're doing, they're getting off, and then go back around to get around the closure here. No word yet on any injuries but you can see it's a pretty serious situation there happening. That crane, look at that Brianna. Just sort of crashed there and it looks like it did some major damage to the interstate and I'm not sure if this crane was working on the interstate trying to do repairs there, but the damage appears to be terrible.
There you go, crane accident. We've had several in the last couple of days. This one a construction crane on an interstate, Ypsilanti, Michigan. We'll continue to follow.
Let's talk now about struggling with straight talk. John McCain's message messed up due to teleprompter trip-ups. Who put a question mark in the prompter?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK, right now I'm doing something I do a lot, reading a script off of a teleprompter. Right? Well, politicians use prompters too and they're great -- except when -- see that blank space? Something goes not quite right.
Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even when your claim to fame is ... SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some straight talk.
MOOS: Talking straight isn't always easy. Not when there is a teleprompter involved.
MCCAIN: Already tight household budgets are getting tighter with a real borrower. Leaders -- lenders -- lenders who initiate loans --
MOOS: When he won in New Hampshire, Senator McCain's speech was panned because he was reading it from papers looking down.
MCCAIN: To keep this beautiful bountiful blessed country safe --
MOOS: Safe from mangled sentences. One of your opponents is the silver-tongued Obama.
OBAMA: Fierce urgency of now.
MOOS: It's urgent that John McCain master the art of the teleprompter.
MCCAIN: Fifty-one million homeowners ...
MOOS: His campaign has been trying different formats, using prompters that reflect the script up on to glass panels to the sides of the podium or using a flat screen directly in front of McCain.
MCCAIN: Find themselves unable ...
MOOS: Unable to pull it off without blatantly appear to be reading.
MCCAIN: So stand up with me, my friends.
MOOS: You can almost read it in his eyes. When you read teleprompters, your life is basically in the hands of the person who's scrolling the copy along. I an look very natural like I'm talking off the top of my head. Then the prompter person does this and I'm dead. In Dallas, Senator McCain was soldiering through his teleprompter script.
MCCAIN: When an uncivil brawl ...
MOOS: When suddenly his prompter failed as he paged through his backup script. The crowd helpfully chanted, chanted until the teleprompter came back up. Bill Clinton once looked up to see the wrong speech in his prompter as he was about to deliver the state of the union.
BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not at all sure which speech is in the teleprompter tonight.
MOOS (on camera): One of the worst things that can happen to you when you're reading teleprompter is for the person running the prompter to go too slow so that you have no choice but to speak like this. I've even had someone run my teleprompter backwards while I was on the air live. The next time you notice John McCain struggling ...
MCCAIN: This crisis, as in all I may face in the future ...
MOOS: At least he hasn't pulled a Ron Burgundy, movie anchorman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Ron Burgundy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damn it! Who typed a question mark on the teleprompter? Anything you put on that prompter Burgundy will read.
MOOS: McCain reads what they didn't type.
MCCAIN: Thank you very much.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos CNN, New York.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: I'm Don Lemon?
KEILAR: You know, you do have those moments sometimes as an anchor for sure.
LEMON: Yeah. Sometimes is just disappears.
KEILAR: When things are going too slow, what do we do? We do this, if there's video rolling, faster.
LEMON: I say, keep up prompter or roll up or can we get the -- hey, I think it's OK just to be transparent. All right we're being told to wrap. How about that?
KEILAR: Let's talk about another story. From the middle class to the food bank in less than 90 days, could this happen to you? We're going to have the story of one family.
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