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Islamabad Hotel Attacked by Truck Bomb; Treasury Looks for $700 Billion to Bail Wall Street Out
Aired September 20, 2008 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that. There is chaos in Pakistan at a hotel packed with Westerners, an enormous suicide truck bombing, the bloody aftermath all caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe this is going to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: From the White House, to Wall Street, to Main Street, the fix is in. The big question is, will it work? CNNMoney experts with new details for you.
We're going to go behind these pictures that you see here. It is a race to the finish that takes a frightening turn right in front of horrified onlookers. How is the driver doing? We find out from him live right now.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. It happened just hours after Pakistan's new president promised to root out terrorism. A suicide truck bomb ripped right through the Marriott in Islamabad, killing at least 40 people, and wounding some 200 others.
We're told one American is among the dead and another is reported wounded. CNN's Reza Sayah is in Islamabad and he was only a few miles away from the blast when it happened.
Take a look at his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bloodshed and bedlam in Islamabad, a massive truck bomb blows up right in front of one of the most popular destinations for foreigners and Westerners in the heart of the federal capital, the Marriott Islamabad, the explosion leaving dozens dead and at least 175 injured.
The explosion so big, so many victims, that the army was called in for the rescue. The inspector general of the Islamabad police tells CNN that this was a truck bomb that tried to enter the Marriott Islamabad and get through the steel gates. When the guards said no, that's when the explosion happened. Just to give you an idea of how powerful this explosion was, we were in a building about three miles away, and the building roared and rumbled, so much so that we thought the explosion was right next door. When we found out it was at the Marriott three miles away, we drove there and just saw a horrible scene: cars mangled, half of the hotel in an inferno, and bloody victims being dragged away from the carnage.
The attack coming just hours after newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari addressed the parliament for the first time. In his address, Zardari said he dreams of a Pakistan free of terror. On Saturday night, Pakistan's militants gave this country and its president a new nightmare to deal with.
Reza Sayah, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Reza, we appreciate that reporting coming from Islamabad.
OK. Here's a question for you. Got $700 billion lying around? Well, not you, but the American public? You had better, because that's how much it's going to cost you and all other Americans to bail out Wall Street.
Unbelievable, right? Well, Congress will hammer out the details starting next week, and the plan would authorize the Treasury Department to use your money to buy up bad debt, specifically, mortgages that went sour. All those millions of mortgages that went sour. It's expected that Wall Street would unload these debts for pennies on the dollar, and the Treasury would then hold onto them until the housing market recovered.
Well, Wall Street's downward spiral was so big and so fast the White House was really no other way of putting it, caught off guard. President Bush says he soon realized doing nothing simply was not an option.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My first instinct was to let the market work until I realized that, while being briefed by the experts, of how significant this problem became. And so I decided to act and act boldly. It turns out that there's a lot of inner links throughout the financial system.
The system had grown to a point where a lot of people were dependent upon each other. And that the collapse of one part of the system wouldn't just affect a part of the financial markets, it would affect the average citizen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, CNN's Kate Bolduan is following developments on Capitol Hill, and our financial correspondent Poppy Harlow is with us from New York. Kate, we want to start with you. You heard the president said, and I want to get this quote right, "doing nothing was not an option," and he wants the Congress to act very quickly on this, doesn't he?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seems that they definitely have gotten the message. They're here, many lawmakers' staffs, and we've even seen a lawmaker here today. They are working this weekend and they definitely are looking into this proposal.
It's a brief proposal, it's a brief three pages, but it offers broad -- if granted it would offer the Treasury Department broad power. And one Democratic aide said to me what they're doing right now is trying to get their hands around this proposal to understand it, and understand its implications.
To that end, there was a meeting just this afternoon of staff members and -- from leadership, both parties, both sides, along with members -- staff members of the key committees, the House Banking -- the House Financial Services Committee, the House Budget Committee, and the Senate Banking Committee.
They met with Treasury staff for about an hour this afternoon here on Capitol Hill, this meeting was described as a question and answer session, not a time for negotiation. They clearly want more detail.
We are -- however, we are also getting some initial reaction from lawmakers, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell he issued a statement a little earlier today that says, in part, let me quote it: "This proposal is and should be kept simple and clear." He goes on to say: "We must closely scrutinize the proposal to make sure it works and we must do so quickly. Simply put, now is not the time for partisan plans or pet projects."
And then this from Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, he spoke out this afternoon, listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: The problems we face come up very quickly, and come up in different forms. So if you were to draw the legislation too tightly, it might be useless to deal with the problem.
On the other hand, you don't want to give such a wide berth that things are done that were not envisioned in the legislation. And the trick will be to sort of thread that needle.
That's why some kind of supervisory authority to overlook this, to report back to Congress on a regular basis is something that is on the table, although hasn't been flushed out or accepted by either side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Now you heard right there, thread the needle. That seems to be the key that a lot of lawmakers are looking into, balancing, helping Wall Street, because of the trickle-down effect to homeowners, but also worrying and wanting to focus and making sure that the troubled homeowner, the struggling taxpayer, is a major focus of this plan -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Kate, appreciate that. Thank you very much.
Seven hundred billion dollars, really too large a figure for most of us to really visualize, just $1 billion is at stake in $1 bill. Well, would you see 63 miles high. So $1 bill, 63 miles high, that would give you the amount that we're talking about here.
Stakes are enormous for this rescue plan, and it must work. That's what we're being told. Now as you watch your investments and try to decide what to do, take a minute to think about two men who are facing the same sort of decision but on a global scale.
We're going to talk now about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Paulson is President Bush's third treasury secretary. Before joining the administration in 2006, he served as the chairman and CEO of the investment bank Goldman Sachs. He is 62 years old and holds degrees from Harvard and Dartmouth.
Ben Bernanke, meantime, became Federal Reserve chairman in 2006 after a long career in academia. He was an economics professor at Princeton and Stanford, and he's recognized as one of the leading scholars of financial crisis, especially the Great Depression. He served as the chairman of the President's Council on Economic Advisers in 2005 and 2006. We want to get now to CNN's Poppy Harlow.
Poppy, we've been talking about those numbers there, $700 billion. But you know what? That's not it. Because we've got $200 billion of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, $85 billion for AIG, and now $700 billion, how are we going to absorb all of this as American citizens? We're paying a lot of taxes right now.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: We certainly all are, no one would argue with that. But you know, the two men you just talked about, Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, two big brains working to solve a massive problem. President Bush saying this is a big package because it is a big problem.
To give you some perspective of what $700 billion really means, well, the size of our economy is just over $14 trillion, so this is sizeable, but government intervention like this is not unprecedented. Let's look back to 1989, the savings and loan crisis.
The government came in to rescue what was going on, creating something called the Resolution Trust Corp. But you can't compare what may happen now in dollar figures with what happened then because fundamentally the form of the intervention would be different.
Unlike during the S&L crisis, the Treasury is likely to run this program directly. But the Treasury's money is your money, the taxpayers' money. So that's what Schumer and those lawmakers are asking us to talk about is, is this the right way to solve the problem?
What would likely happen is the government would buy these sour mortgage-related assets from the banks, holding them on their books now at below market rates, package them up, wait for the market to turn around, then sell them off.
So, Don, the government could potentially make a profit from this move. But what's key is the incredibly huge stake the government has taken just in the past month. Let's look at what happened in September.
You said it there, $200 billion, up to $200 billion to bail out Fannie and Freddie, those mortgage financiers; $85 billion this week alone to back up insurance giant AIG; and now a proposed $700 billion purchase of those troubled mortgage-related assets from the bank.
The idea is here if we can get all of those sour assets off of the books of these banks, they can get on solid footing, they can then make more loans available and make those loans more affordable to all of the homeowners out there that need them and therefore they hope, solve the housing crisis. And that, Don, is what people are saying is at the crux of where we are right now.
But, Don, I want to give some people an idea of what led up to this, this week. On our Web site we have something called "The Week that Crushed Wall Street" on cnnmoney.com. That can just show you what happened in this historic week -- Don.
LEMON: Yes, we are all over it here. I know that we have a special tonight, Poppy, thank you so much for that. You can go to cnnmoney.com as well, as Poppy mentioned, and find all of the information you need.
But we also have a CNN special tonight, it is a special "YOUR $$$$$," it's "Emergency Edition," because this is an emergency. Investment banks bought out, bankrupt, or bailed out by the government. How you can understand exactly what went down this week. We want to break it all down for you. That is at 6:00 Eastern tonight, 7:00 Eastern.
We're taking your calls live. Free advice, of course, you want that. Get the answers on a special two-hour "YOUR $$$$$," "Emergency Edition," coming up right after this broadcast.
Homeward bound in Galveston, but do they have anything to come home to? That's the question.
And check this out. The need for speed spins out of control. We go behind these pictures.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. There is some good news in all of this and some bad news as well. People from Galveston, Texas, displaced by Hurricane Ike, well, they can -- there you see that some of the damage there, they can start heading home come Wednesday. But they're being warned not to expect very much.
It was a week ago today that we were tracking Ike's arrival on the Texas coast. It was breaking news just last weekend, and its direct hit on Galveston. Well, this is the scene today, when word spread that some Galveston residents would be allowed back on the island to check out their property, lines and lines of cars.
Galveston's mayor says the city has little or no, if any, electricity. Natural gas, water or sewer services, none of that. There are few medical facilities and little cell phone coverage there as well. Some homes are just completely destroyed while others sustained little or no damage, such is what severe weather will do to you. OK.
Well, damage along the Gulf Coast has grabbed the most attention here, but people as far north as Ohio are also suffering the effects of Hurricane Ike. Power companies say tens of thousands still have no electricity today, a full week after the storm rumbled through that region.
Ike blew through the Midwest with winds up to 80 miles an hour, and at its peak, more than 2 million Ohioans lost power from the storm.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: OK. Well, coming up here on CNN, the story behind this. Check it out. The storm came and then it left one house standing. Only one house in all of this devastation. I'll talk with the owner of this home in Gilchrist, Texas. Make sure you join me tonight at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
And you know what? Speaking of just amazing pictures, you have to see these in order to believe it. Check it out. Well, you know what? The driver survived this. We go behind these unbelievable pictures straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. When you look at the screen now, make sure you don't blink, because this was a practice run by a racing boat in San Diego. And as sometimes happens, these boats go so fast that they can, you know, catch some air underneath them, and at these speeds, that can be disastrous, as you saw there.
The boat was going about 180 miles an hour when it went airborne. You can see it just shattered into splinters as it hit the water there. Incredibly, the driver was only slightly hurt. These boats are built with cockpits that are nearly indestructible just for this reason.
OK. Well, the boat driver, his name is Mark Workentine (ph), and he -- he survived this, only minor injuries. Photographer Gil Rebilas captured it all on tape, and he joins us by telephone now.
And I've got to thank you for joining us. You actually know Mark, right?
GIL REBILAS, PHOTOGRAPHER: Yes, I do.
LEMON: And we spoke to him just moments ago, and at the very last second here, he decided that he wasn't up to speaking to us, but thanked us for wanting to get him on, because he is just in shock at this moment. But you saw him right after this crash, you know him. Tell us what his reaction was.
REBILAS: Well, his reaction, like any other racer that goes through an incident like this is like being disoriented. And, you know, it takes some file to get your faculties together after an incident like this.
LEMON: Was he up walking around when you talked to him?
REBILAS: Yes, he was.
LEMON: And what did he say to you specifically? I know you said it takes some time to get your faculties, but what did he say to you? I mean, obviously, again, you know him, did he say, you know what, Gil, I can't believe this happened, I'm lucky to be alive, anything like that?
REBILAS: Well, you know, with these boats, you're talking 7,000 horsepower engines in these boats, and they explode off of the starting line. It's totally different than drag racing on the asphalt. And when the boat takes off like that, they're just holding on for dear life, and when something like that happens, and the boat starts getting out of shape, all they can do is just hold on.
LEMON: Yes. Now, you were in the crowd, obviously you were here and shot this video. All of these people around you, obviously gasps. We could hear some of it on your video, people going, oh, my gosh, wondering. Describe the reaction to this.
REBILAS: Well, yes, when anything like that happens, you can hear -- you heard one gentleman scream out, guys, ladies, everybody just -- they're in awe. Seeing something like that happen in front of your face, it's -- you know, it's just unbelievable, like when I'm sitting behind the camera and I'm following something like that, my first thing is to do my job.
So when I'm finished videotaping, I just stop, and I have to take a deep breath and I'm shaking like a leaf, because, you know, your adrenaline kicks in and starts reacting on you like that.
LEMON: Yes. Do you think this sort of activity should continue? There is all -- where there are air shows and we have accidents like this, there's always debate about whether or not these types of events should continue. What do you think?
REBILAS: You know what? As in any sport, you know...
LEMON: It has got its risks, right? REBILAS: Like NASCAR and asphalt drag racing, football, baseball, there's always something that can happen like that, you know? And as far as the safety of -- the safety is top notch, the capsules are made for a catastrophic event like that, you saw the capsule come out of the boat.
LEMON: All right. Gil Rebilas, thank you very much, and give our thoughts and prayers to Mark. I know that he's a bit shaken up and if he can join us a little bit later on, maybe tomorrow night, we would love to have him here or Monday on "AMERICAN MORNING." Thank you very much, sir.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON (voice-over): Moved by the desperate images of Haitians in the aftermath of recent storms, an actor and a musician team up to bring aid to Haiti.
MATT DAMON, ACTOR: This is a natural disaster on top of extreme poverty. So it's a catastrophe on top of another catastrophe. Human beings should not live like this.
LEMON: My conversation and with Wyclef Jean and Matt Damon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Water-filled helicopters, flame retardants, backfires, all used to fight wildfires after they break out. Now firefighters are turning to a new weapon to keep things from getting hot in the first place. Here's CNN's Josh Levs with our "Tech Effect."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To prepare for and help prevent wildfires, foresters need to know where they can happen. So southern forestry officials are using a computer program called the Wildfire Risk Assessment that literally maps out areas facing a higher fire risk.
CHIEF MITCH FLOYD, TOWNS COUNTY, GA., FIRE DEPT.: That's the beauty of the technology, we can add these various layers, and we can really track our fire activity, we can track our high hazard areas.
LEVS: The layers are individual maps of an area's vegetation, terrain, fire history or urban layout. When combined, the layers produce an image that helps officials pinpoint places needing special attention.
GREG STRENKOWSKI, GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION: This shows all the layers put together. You can see right in here the orange layers are showing us the highest-risk areas. And use that information to let people know that they're at risk and their homes are at risk and communities are at risk. LEVS: Once homeowners know they live in a high-risk area, they can take steps to protect their property long before a wildfire strikes.
ALAN DOZIER, GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION: We're finding through research that there are a lot of little things also that a homeowner can do, you certainly want to have the class A roofing that's fireproof, double-paned windows is a good fire-wise practice, keeping your firewood away from the home, there's a good practice.
LEVS: Forestry officials hope use of this technology will expand across the United States. They say that could have a big impact on the effects of future wildfires.
STRENKOWSKI: Maybe when we do have a big fire again, that the homes will be protected, the fire will go around them, and we won't lose lives and property.
LEVS: Josh Levs, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Terror in Pakistan as a truck bomber targets an Islamabad hotel. We will take you there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back here in the broadcast. I'm Don Lemon.
We're following a breaking story out of Pakistan this hour. It is a suicide truck attack at a Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. It has killed at least 40 people and it had wounded dozens of others. One law minister there is calling it Pakistan's 9/11. We're told one American is among the dead and another American was wounded. The blast caused a natural gas leak and a fire that quickly engulfed that entire building. There are fears that this hotel could collapse at any moment. So you want to stay tuned, because if it falls down, we will have the pictures for you right here on CNN.
That happened hours after Pakistan's new president addressed parliament and promised to root out terrorism. There's some irony there.
The Pakistan attack has made waves around world and definitely caught the attention of the presidential candidates out on the stump. Early today, John McCain issued a statement about the attacks. He is calling them an outrageous act of violence. He went on to say, quote, "We must work with the elected government of Pakistan to find those responsible. Hold them accountable, and diminish their ability to threaten us and our allies in the future."
Barack Obama, meantime, mentioned the attack just a little while ago at a campaign stop in Florida. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There was a bombing in Pakistan today. A number of people lost their lives. We don't know the full details yet. But I think it indicates the degree to which we are still dealing with an extraordinary terrorist threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: From the war on terror to the battle of the attack ads, John McCain said this, Barack Obama said that. Well you know what, our Howard Kurtz gets to the bottom of all of it for you. Look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN NEWS CORERSPONDENT (voice-over): Obama has two juicy targets, close McCain aides who have stepped out of the spotlight because of controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Carly Fiorina, the fired aide, who got a $42 million golden parachute, Phil Gramm, the ex-senator, who pushed through deregulation and called Americans hurt by this economy, whiners.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: That's true. Fiorina was forced to resign at Hewlett- Packard and got a huge severance package. Gramm championed the law loosening banks and insurance companies that was ultimately signed by President Clinton. Gramm did recently call America a nation of whiners, complaining about a mental recession.
But one line in Obama's ad distorts something that McCain said this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: They think the economy's fundamentally strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: What McCain actually said was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fundamentals of our economy are strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: That's a key distinction since the underlying system can be strong, even as Wall Street is reeling.
A McCain ad meanwhile tries to link Obama to a former chief executive of the mortgage giant Fannie Mae.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Who advises him? The post says it's Franklin Reins for advice. Shocking. Reins made millions, Fannie Mae collapsed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: Reins did tell "The Washington Post" in April he was offering some advice to the Obama campaign. Now he and the campaign are denying any such role.
McCain unveiled a new ad aimed at another CEO of Fannie Mae, Jim Johnson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Fannie cooked the books and Johnson made millions. Then Obama asked him to pick his V.P. and raised thousands for his campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: That's true, and Johnson gave up his role vetting vice presidential nominees over controversy about his own home loans.
(on camera): It's the age old tactic of guilt by association. Whether voters really care about advisers who were hardly household names remains to be seen.
Howard Kurtz, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. We are six weeks out until Election Day, and CNN's "Truth Squad" -- it is a "Truth Squad" -- we're going behind all the you-know-what and we're cutting right through it. We're checking on what claims of both candidates on what to do about the crisis on Wall Street. Out on the campaign trail, there are negative ads, misperceptions. We will cut through all of it in what we're calling "The Truth Squad." Make sure you join us tonight at 10:00, if you want us to cut behind this.
Also, we want to get your opinion. We want to get your questions. We're at twitter.com/DonLemonCNN. You can also go to Facebook. And you can go to I-report as well. The reason we want you to go to I-report is because we want you to send us a video of your question so we can ask our money expert. If you have a web cam or what have you, go to the blog section of ireport.com, click on the blog that we wrote. We asked questions there and we want you to send in your questions. You can get free advice from our money experts. Just send us a little web cam question and we'll get it on for you.
One more note from the campaign trail we want to tell you about, the McCain campaign says Republican running mate Sarah Palin will meet with Hamid Karzai next week in New York. It's very interesting because this is the first time she's going to meet with a world leader in her new role as a vice presidential candidate. Karzai is joining other world leaders at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly. Many Democrats, even some Republicans have criticized Palin for her lack of experience in international affairs. So this will be a test of sorts for her.
There is nothing like a hero's welcome for a hero. This man has greeted more than 20,000 of them. That's why he is our hero, and we're going to share his compelling story with you. You don't want to miss this one. It's coming right up, right after the break in a couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Leaving home to go to war, then coming back after living the horrors of combat, the most emotional moments of a soldier's life. Today our "CNN Hero" is a legally blind Vietnam vet who understands all of that. He is there, rain or shine, to give our troops the support they need. I want you to meet Walt Peters right now.
(CNN HEROES)
LEMON: That was Walt Peters, a "CNN Hero."
To see more about Walt or to get involved with any of our heroes' causes, go to CNN.com/heroes. The most outstanding heroes will be honored Thanksgiving night on CNN.
Moved by the desperate images of Haitians in the aftermath of recent storms, an actor and a musician team up to bring aid to Haiti.
MATT DAMON, ACTOR: This is a natural disaster on top of extreme poverty, so it's a catastrophe on top of another catastrophe.
LEMON: My conversation with Wyclef Jean and Matt Damon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A one world leader called Haiti the forgotten people after all of these storms and we have been getting e-mails and calls and requests from you saying please cover what's going on in Haiti. So we're doing that for you right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Haiti has been hit hard by the last four major storms. We're talking about Fay, Gustav, Hanna and then Ike. Part of why they get smacked so hard with flooding, deforestation, no trees. And the Dominican Republic says it will donate trees and pay crews to plant them. But residents continue to chop trees for wood and also for charcoal.
Two people who cared so much about what's going on in Haiti, they actually went to help out. Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean and Matt Damon just got back Sunday.
I'll start with you, Wyclef, since that is your homeland. What did you see when were you there? WYCLEF JEAN, SINGER: I mean, basically what struck me is the reality of mothers losing their children, and dead bodies being on the side, a flood carrying you away in the middle of the night, and people sleeping on top of rooftops, because they don't want to come down. People have 12 days they haven't eaten anything. These are the things that we're facing. When we landed in Gornid (ph), you could actual smell the dead bodies as you're going through the town. This is what we experienced.
LEMON: Matt, I understand at one point Wyclef turned to you and said, people should not live like this, and that struck you as the sentence that summed up the whole trip.
DAMON: Yeah, it was perfectly said, I mean, it was true. I mean, the smell really was incredible. it was like walking into a wall. And, you know, to see people walking through this water that was just, you know -- it's sewage and, it's just -- incredibly unsanitary. And these little children with no shoes walking, you know, it just -- it was -- we -- our animals don't live like this, and these are people. And the whole time we were there, we had, you know, the U.N., the blue helmets were with us and some cops that some -- you know, were with us. But we didn't see any other police or, you know -- we didn't see anybody. I mean, there was nobody there for these people.
LEMON: What do you guys think -- Wyclef, what do you think of the aid effort going on? I know you have www.yele.org, which is your organization, but what do you think about the international help for Haitians?
JEAN: I think when we spoke to the prime minister, she couldn't say it better. Haiti is completely forgotten. We feel that -- the World Food Program is down in Haiti. They are trying to aid, but they definitely need a lot more help.
We had a chance to sit with Paul Farmer, and Paul Farmer was like, look, I don't do relief. But in this case, they had to go and do relief. And like Matt said, when we was down there, we feel that people want to help but there's one problem. To get down there, you basically are going by air or you're going by sea, so it limits the amount of food that can you get into these areas. So we have this website set up, yele.org where $5 can make a difference.
And you know, we really feel that when a mother is talking to me and looks me in the eyes and she's like, I didn't even bury my child, I just left her on the side of the road, this has to touch you, you know?
LEMON: And you were talking about Paul Farmer? Just so our viewers will know, Paul Farmer is the director, founding director of Partners in Help, which is really an AIDS organization. He's also helping the Clinton Foundation with former President Clinton's worldwide AIDS relief.
But here's the question I have for you, Matt. What do they need here? I'm hearing they need helicopters and boats, which essentially means they need millions and millions of dollars.
DAMON: The U.N. put out a flash appeal for $108 million, and that's -- you know, there are two things. There's the short term issue, there's this emergency, and this -- they need humanitarian relief. They need food, blankets, they need -- people are living in a flooded city. Still underwater. There's the potential for water borne disease looming and it's not going to just get easier for everybody overnight. They need a sustained effort.
Right now the World Food Program, you know, we talk to those guys. They're doing great work there. They're really trying, but they're doing food distributions in the middle of the night because if -- they can't drive a truck full of food there, it will just get torn apart. People are really desperate. It's just human nature. They haven't eaten. They're scared. They're hungry. And the people at the World Food Program don't want to get hurt or anything else during a food distribution.
We did a food distribution in Gornid (ph) inside a compound surrounded by, you know, manusas (ph). We've got these guys with blue helmets and M-16s guarding us so we can hand out rice. It's unbelievable.
LEMON: You can understand why when you see -- because people are hungry. We saw people that came into CNN as people who were fighting for food, this young girl got trapped in barbed wire because she wanted to get food and water from the aid workers and she couldn't get to it. So -- how do you explain to people what you're seeing and the desperation that's going on there in order to move them to help out in this situation?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
All right. Well, you know what, we answer that question coming up. Matt Damon will answer that question, and Wyclef Jean sings as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: More on my interview a few days ago with musician and Haiti native Wyclef Jean and actor Matt Damon. They spoke with me about their aid mission to Haiti. I asked what, Damon, what needs to happen to raise more awareness of this desperately poor island nation. Take a look at what they said.
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DAMON: Extreme poverty, people surviving on less than $1 a day. That's 1.2 billion of fellow human beings are trying to survive on less than $1 a day. I've seen extreme poverty all over India, South Africa. This is a natural disaster on top of extreme poverty. So it's a catastrophe on top of another catastrophe. The situation is so desperate, it really goes back to what Wyclef said, human beings should not live like this. So you see almost inhuman-type -- you know, type of, you know, behaviors, because people are -- people because people are -- being forced into conditions that are human. LEMON: Because they're trying to survive.
DAMON: Exactly. Exactly. Incidentally -- Don, sorry to cut you off -- incidentally, because of deforestation, which is a man-made problem in Haiti, people are cutting down the trees of Haiti because they need to cook food. As a result, every time a storm comes, Gornid (ph), which sits in a floodplain, gets flooded. This is a tropical storm that didn't even hit Gornid (ph). 3,000 people lost their lives because they're so vulnerable to mud slides and flash flooding. There are long term problems, too, that have to be addressed or else every couple of years you'll people up here pleading to send emergency relief funds because towns like Gornid (ph) are flooded.
LEMON: When you were there, you both are big celebrities. People know you.
Of course, Wyclef, because Haitians absolutely love you. But you said it wasn't about celebrity for you, especially at one point, when you were in front of the cathedral. I'm told you just started to sing. What did you sing?
JEAN: For me, just coming from there was real emotional. They say you can't change the world by a song, but basically, you know, I sung a song and basically said after the darkness, the light must definitely come. And we invited everybody to the front. And despite what they were feeling that day, they are so honored to have our presence, which is a great thing.
LEMON: Do you mind singing a bit for us?
JEAN: (SINGING).
We're saying, basically, if you have an ear, let you listen because the country needs to change. This Sunday, we'll be at Club Amazouro doing a concert for Haiti. It's called a concert SOS. If you want to see Wyclef, you want to raise money for Haiti, be there at Amazouro.
LEMON: Where is it?
JEAN: Amazouro is actually in Queens.
LEMON: Wyclef Jean, Matt Damon, we appreciate it so much. Thank you so much for what we do.
JEAN: Thank you, sir.
DAMON: Thanks for carrying the story, Don.
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LEMON: Wyclef Jean performing in Queens. You heard that, Club Amazouro. He does that Sunday night. Go to yele.org and learn about that.
Also, Governor David Paterson of New York opened Brooklyn's National Guard Armory to collect relief supplies. People there can drop off non-perishable goods.
Also, if you'd like to get involved, we have help here. We can tell you where to go. Visit CNN.com/impactyourworld page. You'll find links to groups providing food and shelter to people in need all over the world, at CNN.com/impactyourworld.
From the big screen to the small, award-winning actresses are looking to add to their collection.
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LEMON: "Issue Number One" is the big story this weekend. Ali Velshi is standing by with a special edition of "Your $$$" that you don't want to miss -- Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN BUSINESS ANALYST: Don, it will be two hours of a special emergency edition. This is the time to slow down, breath and let us help you figure all of this out. The first hour, everything you need to know about the historic week on Wall Street and America's money crisis. The second hour, Don, is all about you. We are taking your phone calls. Keep your eye on that ticker at the bottom of the screen. We'll give you the number to call. And you can talk to us on twitter at twitter.com/issueonecnn. We hope you'll join us, Christine Romans and I, for this special two-hour emergency edition of "Your $$." It starts at the top of the hour, Don.
LEMON: I think a lot of people will be joining you, Ali. A lot of people are interested in this. Thank you very much, sir. I'll be tuning in.
Six more weeks until Election Day and there is a lot for you to consider. Join us for a special "Truth Squad" edition at 10:00 p.m. eastern. We'll hear from Suzy Orman (ph), Ali Velshi, Howard Kurtz and we'll hear from you as well. We have been soliciting your I- reports all week on what you've given up because of the economy, also your questions that you'd like free answers and advice from. The "Truth Squad" tonight. Make sure you tune in for that.
Some of your favorite leading ladies on the big screen are being recognized for their work on the small one.
CNN's Brooke Anderson shows you.
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HOLLY HUNTER, ACTRESS: How do you know my name?
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Holly Hunter has been a familiar name for decades. Known for films like "Raising Arizona" and "Broadcast News."
ARI KARPELL, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: She won an Oscar for "The Piano" and yet it's very difficult for her to find significant, meaty roles and she turned to TV.
ANDERSON: At 50, Hunter says her role as a tough, yet vulnerable police detective on "Saving Grace," inspired her to jump from film to TV.
HUNTER: There's a certain lack of boundaries with my character which affords me as an actress a tremendous amount of freedom.
ANDERSON: "Entertainment Weekly's" Ari Karpell contends television offers mature actresses more substantive roles than films.
KARPEL: The majority of roles available to women over 40 and 50 are the wife, the sort of supporting role to a male star.
ANDERSON: The choice to go small screen has been rewarding for both actresses and their shows.
KARPEL: Any new TV show needs something that will guarantee viewers to tune in at the beginning. And the thing that's going to do it is a well-known actor.
ANDERSON: This year, four of the five nominees for outstanding leading actress in a drama, including Hunter, are movie stars.
GLENN CLOSE, ACTRESS: Right.
ANDERSON: Glenn Close, a five-time Oscar nominee is being praised for playing a cut-throat litigator in her role in "Damages."
Two-time Oscar winner Sally Fields has snagged an Emmy for her turn as Norah Walker in "Brothers and Sister" and asserts she and her fellow actresses follow the quality roles regardless of the medium.
SALLY FIELDS, ACTRESS: They are actors. That's what they do.
KARPELL: Kara Sedgewick's film career had been in Indy films. So she turned to TV and has huge success on "The Closer."
ANDERSON: This is Sedgewick's third nomination for the hit TNT series. Another gritty character for another movie maven turned small screen star.
Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.
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LEMON: That's it for us tonight at 5:00. I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you back here tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern. A special edition of "Your $$," a special edition is straight ahead.
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