Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Iran's Supreme Leader Declares Ahmadinejad the Victor

Aired June 19, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

HARRIS: It is Friday, June 19th. And here are the faces of the stories driving the headlines today in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. No compromise with election protesters. He warns, stay off the streets.

Mir Hossein Moussavi, Iran's losing presidential candidate, fights on. Another mass rally called for tomorrow.

And Rose Mapendo, a "CNN Hero" nominee for 2009 from Congo death camp to U.S. citizen. And lifeline for refugees.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Iran's supreme leader speaks and the crowd chants "Death to Israel, death to America, death to Britain."

Well, today's prayer gathering at Tehran University was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's public address since last Friday's disputed election. The ayatollah passionately defended the vote, praising the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's win as a definitive victory and dismissing allegations of vote rigging.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER (Through Translator): It has been upon -- up to the people to decide and that's what happened. People have picked who they wanted.

My will was never told to the public, what I wanted was never publicized, and people did not have to listen to that. People their own yardsticks, they had their own criteria and they acted based on those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: He is the man behind the curtain in Iran. The ayatollah, but there is a man behind the title. Ali Khamenei, 69 years old, a foot soldier in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran's president during the 1980s.

Here's CNN's Ivan Watson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. For 20 years he's been Iran's supreme religious leader. The most powerful man in the country.

According to the constitution, Khamenei is the commander of the armed forces and the top judicial official in the country with the power to dismiss Iran's elected president.

Iran has only had one other supreme leader. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. When he died in 1989, the Iranian leadership quickly changed the constitution to pave the way for Khamenei to become his successor, says Stanford University's Abbas Milani.

ABBAS MILANI, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: In the initial constitution, you needed to be an ayatollah and Mr. Khamenei is in no way an ayatollah. He's a low-level cleric.

WATSON: Khamenei started out his career as a political dissident, frequently imprisoned by the shah of Iran. In 1981, Khamenei narrowly survived an assassin's bomb hidden in a tape reporter. The attack left his right arm paralyzed to this day.

Today it's a taboo to defy Iran's supreme leader, but that's exactly what the protesters have been doing. It is the biggest challenge yet to the supreme leader's 20-year hold on power.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK, Ivan Watson joining me from CNN's international news gathering desk and, Ivan, good to see you, first of all.

Look, you've covered Iran. What do you make of the current crisis? And I'm not just talking about where we are today. Let's talk about where we were, look, last week at this time when the Iran desk was a beehive of activity waiting for the election results.

WATSON: We're getting a lot less information coming out of Iran, unfortunately, because the Internet sites have been kind of shut down, Tony. And we've seen a drop in the amount of video that's being posted by protesters and by Iranians.

Now, in the big picture, this speech today, a very ominous warning to the opposition and to those street protesters. I mean, Khamenei basically said, and as we explained in that package, he is the most powerful man in that country and he said he will not bow to pressure from street protesters. He made that clear and I'd be kind of nervous if I was in the opposition right now in Iran.

HARRIS: Got to ask you, Ivan, that leads you to wonder what Moussavi and his people might be thinking today if the warning is stay off the streets. And as you mentioned, it is pretty ominous.

WATSON: Absolutely, Tony. And we'll be watching for what exactly Moussavi will say. He -- a group of reformists, kind of liberal clerics, have requested for a demonstration on Saturday to be held officially because these past demonstrations have been illegal. It'll be really interesting to see whether or not they'll go ahead with that and some of the chatter we're seeing on Twitter, some of the people are asking that same, that very same question. HARRIS: Yes. Well, that's...

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Can we see some of that?

WATSON: ... after this warning, will go ahead and do it.

HARRIS: Yes. Can we see some of the -- what people...

WATSON: Absolutely.

HARRIS: ... are saying there on some of the social networking sites?

WATSON: Absolutely. One of those posts that we saw, one poster said, and this was in Farsi. "Has Khamenei displayed his sword? If he wants to fight then we'll fight."

This one here that we're looking at right here, it says that, "The Islamic government has demonstrated it does not dare to confront huge gatherings. It can only use force against small gatherings." And the posting down here says, "Under no circumstances should we be afraid of them."

So we're hearing defiant voices, still, coming over the Internet, Tony.

HARRIS: Ivan, as you get more of this, just give us a heads up and we'll get you right back on the air, all right?

WATSON: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Ivan Watson for us. Ivan, appreciate it, thanks.

Iranian opposition groups are not planning rallies today. Yesterday's mass demonstration drew tens of thousands of people. They were fired up by their champion Mir Hossein Moussavi. You are looking now at amateur video from YouTube. Part of the protest was also held in silence. Take a look here.

Now the opposition is calling for another big rally, as Ivan Watson mentioned, tomorrow in Tehran. Government officials have offered to talk with the country's three losing presidential candidates. They are demanding new elections.

U.S. congressional leaders want to show support to the people of Iran. Just last hour Senator John McCain introduced a resolution to that effect and he criticized President Obama for not taking a stand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It's unfortunate in a way that this resolution is required since the administration does not want to, quote, "meddle" and has refused -- the president has refused to speak out in support of these brave Iranian citizens, most of them young, who are risking their very lives to protest what was clearly an unfair and corrupt election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: McCain's resolution mirrors one that's being debated right now by House members. It supports all Iranians who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law. A vote on the measure is expected today.

You know, half a world away from Tehran, young Iranians and Iranian- Americans gathered at a cafe near Los Angeles to watch the ayatollah's speech today. Most of those watching are students at UCLA. They were quick to react.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been lies after lies. Nothing surprised me. He adds more life to what Ahmadinejad has been saying. He just added more lies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just hoping that he'd try to understand and hear people out and try to make some accommodations, but obviously he didn't. So -- he sticks to his guns, he sticks to his words, stick to people that been around him. And it just seems like they're not going to back down for anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: California has a large Iranian population. They've held several post-election protests.

You know a television station near Los Angeles stays focused on Iran. Our Kara Finnstrom is plugged in there, joining us live from Canoga Park.

And Kare, if you would, plug us into how that television station is covering the story, overall, in particular today.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, Channel 1 is owned and operated by an exile from Iran. It's actually part of a vast network of independent Persian media outlets here in Los Angeles that have been extremely busy during this past week.

You take look at these monitors behind me. You can see some of the images that they are broadcasting out. Now this station says that it airs all kinds of political views, all kinds of voices on its air, but the owner also very clear in the fact that he is pro-regime change, pro-democracy and that he uses his station here to promote, to encourage democracy in Iran.

We want to show you some of the images that actually they're bringing in from Iran. Yes, Tony, take a look at this. And I'm going to bring in Roxanne here who has been helping us throughout the day. Actually we're doing a little bit of moving around in this tiny space here.

Let's take a look at these images. And if you'll explain to us, what are we seeing here? To the average viewer at home, this may not represent much. But this was taken one week ago on the day of the elections and what does this say to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was (INAUDIBLE) and that's a region in Iran. And the historical flag of Iran has the lion and the sun on it and the movement that started since over a year ago is the We Exist Movement by this television station and since March 20th, there has been 117 of what we call the shir o khorshid, which is the lion and sun, historical art, only flag that we know, and (INAUDIBLE) which is We Exist slogan has been raised all over different parts of Iran.

FINNSTROM: And you were sharing with me that it could be very risky for someone to actually fly this flag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could be executed so I mean.

FINNSTROM: I also want you to stand by for a second. I want to show you this, Tony.

HARRIS: Sure. Sure .

FINNSTROM: Very interesting. As I said, they're interested and involved in promoting, encouraging democracy in Iran. That's part of this station's mission.

Take a look at this, this is a pen that they actually have shipped out. It's a camera and inside -- it's a video camera and inside this allows them to transmit images back. They sent how many of these to Iran?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 10,000 of these and it's very easy. You click on it, it videotapes with sound and you just click it to the USB ports and they can transfer the images right away.

HARRIS: Whoa.

FINNSTROM: So, Tony, they don't know how many of the images getting back actually came from these but again they did ship out 10,000 to Iran.

HARRIS: OK. Kara Finnstrom for us, Canoga Park, just outside Los Angeles. Kara, good to see you. Thank you.

He promised not to criticize his successor, but former President Bush takes aim at the Obama administration and its policies. We'll tell you what he said, next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your severe weather headquarters.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello, Detroit. Little rough weather moving through your area. Flood watch in effect. That affiliate camera WDIV, right now right around 70. You'll hover, maybe climb a few degrees. Thunderstorms potentially in your area. They've been in and out of there all day long.

Good morning, everybody again. I'm Rob Marciano. (WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: That's the latest from the weather department. The CNN NEWSROOM will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: This protest video from Iran sent to us by a CNN iReporter in New York. He says he got the video from a female friend who attended Wednesday's rally.

Young Iranian women have been strikingly visible in street demonstrations, many are hoping for greater rights.

Questions about a car, a condo and a career. Here with the answers and today's top tips. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

Gerri, good Friday to you. Are you ready to dive into the...

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey there, Tony. Let's get down to it.

HARRIS: Into the -- OK, let's do it. Jason writes, "I have a Ford Bronco, Gerri, and on the FuelEconomy.gov Web site I got a combined mpg of 14 so I was wondering if that would make me eligible for the rebate and, if so, could you use it toward a foreign car or does it have to be an American car?"

WILLIS: Hey, good questions, Jason. But it sounds like you're a good candidate because your Bronco gets less than 18 miles per gallon, city and highway combined. That's the rule.

Now to qualify the car also has to be less than 25 years old and the car you're buying has to get at least 16 miles per gallon to get it -- at least the $3,500 back from Uncle Sam. If you want to get the entire 4500 bucks your new car has to get 19 miles per gallon city and highway combined.

Now it doesn't matter if what you're buying is American or foreign make. But it has to cost less than $45,000. And look, you don't even get your hands on that voucher money, OK. It goes right to the dealer. So don't even think about it. And keep in mind while this Cash for Clunkers bill just passed the Senate yet, it still has to be signed into law by the president. So it's not the law of the world right now, but it probably will soon be.

HARRIS: Yes, that's a good question. Thank you, Jason.

Now the next question comes from Ivan who writes, "My son is looking at a condo in the L.A. area. He tells me that he is going through a mortgage broker. He has a good credit score. Is he as well off going to a mortgage broker or searching the banks himself?"

What do you think, Gerri?

WILLIS: Hey, good question, Ivan. HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: Look, if your son is a good candidate for a loan, meaning he's got a 20 percent down payment, a good credit score, a good income stream that he can prove, shop on your own first.

You know the only professional he really needs to see in that case is an accountant to see if he qualifies for that $8,000 first-time home buyer's tax credit.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

WILLIS: Which will be a big deal to him. On the other hand, you know, if he's not quite that perfect candidate, let's say, maybe he works for himself, it's difficult for him to prove his income, then you might want to use a mortgage broker. That may help because they know about the special programs out there.

HARRIS: Nice. Time for one more, Gerri?

WILLIS: Sure.

HARRIS: OK. This one comes from Matt who writes, "I hate, I hate my current job more than anything in the world, Gerri. But how about this, given the state of the economy, should I just quit my job without first lining up another job? Should I just throw caution to the wind?"

What do you think, Gerri?

WILLIS: You know, Matt, a lot of people are in this situation right now. They're just biting their time until the economy improves. Let me tell you, it's never a good idea to quit your job until you find another. Increase the gap in your resume that may or may not be filled in quickly.

You'll have more leverage negotiating for the kind of job you want, the salary you want, if you're already employed. And that doesn't mean you can start progressing towards your goal. Start joining professional groups.

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: Filling up the network now. Polish your resume. Take some sick time, if you have to, in order to go to the interviews. But I know a lot of people out there feel your pain.

HARRIS: Oh, yes.

WILLIS: If you have any questions, send them to me at Gerri@CNN.com.

HARRIS: Yes. I can't let you go without you teeing up your bottom line this weekend. Come on, Gerri.

WILLIS: Yes, 9:30 a.m. right here on CNN, Saturday morning, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE." We're talking about a lot of good stuff. What about all that credit card debt forgiveness that's going on?

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: You getting on that. I know people want to know what you need to know about credit card debt. We're handling a lot of issues.

HARRIS: True.

WILLIS: Including, I don't know if you've heard about this or not, Tony, the accident tax.

HARRIS: No, I haven't.

WILLIS: There's an accident tax out there and in some places if you have even a minor fender bender, you could get billed. So we're going to tell you what you need to know about that. We've got a lot of -- a jam-packed show.

HARRIS: I just had one of those fender benders the other day. The last thing I need given all my pain and suffering is a tax.

All right, Gerri.

WILLIS: I know. A lot of people share your pain.

HARRIS: Yes. Have a great weekend, Gerri.

WILLIS: Yes. You, too.

HARRIS: And once again, check out our special report. "America's Money Crisis." It's available to you at CNNmoney.com.

President Obama walking a tight rope and under fire for his response to the protest in Iran. Is he getting it right?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: This just in. We're getting reports into CNN that an Illinois prosecutor is now saying that there is not, is not enough evidence to charge Senator Roland Burris with perjury.

You'll recall, at least most recently, another wiretapped conversations released between Burris and Governor Blagojevich's brother, which led to a new round of accusations that Burris was trying to trade fund-raising support for Governor Blagojevich to the governor's decision on who would fill President Obama's vacant Senate seat.

But we're getting report now that an Illinois prosecutor said there isn't enough evidence to charge Senator Roland Burris with perjury. We'll continue to follow developments on this and confirm this up independently here at CNN and give you the latest as we get it.

President Obama under fire from the right over his response to the Iran protest. The senior White House correspondent Ed Henry joining us from Washington where he is on the air with his radio show "44 with Ed Henry."

Doctor, good to see you.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. How are you?

HARRIS: I'll say -- are you kidding me, it's Friday. A couple of issues to take up with you, Ed. First of all, the issue of how the president is responding to the demonstrations in Iran. It certainly has led to some strong criticisms from Republicans, most recently, Congressman Eric Cantor said this on Tuesday. I'll read it to you.

"The administration's position on what's going on in Iran is a vigorous debate, is absurd. People are being brutalized and murdered by the regime in Tehran. We have no idea exactly how many have died or have been serious injured since the regime has restricted journalists."

It goes on and goes from there. And we've heard the criticism from Senator John McCain, as well.

How is the White House responding to the criticism and I guess it's important to note that not all conservatives believe that the president is mishandling the situation.

HENRY: That's right. There's been mixed opinion. And the White House has been pointing that out. I mean it's almost like back to the future when you hear this back and forth between the president and Senator John McCain. A little bit of shadow boxing, perhaps, on foreign policy between them.

HARRIS: Yes.

HENRY: But we should point out that Senator Richard Lugar, a very prominent Republican, a top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, this week has said look, he thinks the president is striking the right balance. You've got to be really careful.

I mean on the radio program this morning, we've also been getting some feedback on Twitter in addition to phone callers, et cetera. And on Twitter, you know, there is divided opinion.

I just got one person sending it to me at edhenry@CNN basically saying look, if the president got more involved, this one person said, he believed there'd be a massacre, that it would -- it might, you know, increase the violence. So it's a very delicate, diplomatic situation for the president, obviously.

And part of the approach from the White House has been a feeling, they believe, that if the president got more personally involved, that would just provide more fodder for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to say what some of the things that the supreme leader was saying this morning and this is that the west and the media and the U.S., in particular, is really driving this situation and that's why the White House believes it's better to sort of be, to speak out broad terms about democracy, about elections, legitimacy of elections but not be seen as meddling.

HARRIS: Right. Right. Let me turn to health care. Boy, we spent a lot of time on it this week. My goodness, we're going to spend the next couple of months working on health care here in the NEWSROOM and trying to sort out all the sides and figure out what all the stakeholders want in this.

Ed, you know Ted Kennedy's committee is getting down to the serious work of writing and scoring its version of health care reform. Senator John McCain, again, jumped to one of the critical questions in this debate, how will the plan be paid for?

I want you to listen to a bit of an exchange between Senator McCain and Senator Chris Dodd, who we should add is standing in for Senator Ted Kennedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: How in the world do we expect to reasonably authorize maybe there's good things, maybe there's not in this without a cost estimate. It is a joke if we run through this stack of papers here without having some provision and I suggest we not move forward until we have some provision as to how we're going to pay for it.

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: We got here about 300 amendments that have been filed, so obviously, depending upon the outcome of amendments, that will those numbers fluctuate one way or the other, we're going to send a bill when we complete this process here that will be scored and will be paid for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: All right, Ed, how confident is the administration that something is passed?

HENRY: Well, they're still reasonably confident. But what you see there beyond, you know, the political sparring is that John McCain has some rationale to sort of jump in like that.

HARRIS: Yes.

HENRY: Which is that, there's been, as you mention, the scoring by the various budget bean counters saying, look, on the Kennedy bill, for example, it's going to cost something like $1 trillion to actually fund a health reform like that. It's still in the draft stage. It's going to change.

But $1 trillion and yet it's still going to leave millions of people uninsured. And so it's great fodder for the Republicans to say, what are you doing here? Are you going to raise people's taxes to pay for it and yet you're not really going to cover that many more people?

Big problem for this president, but I would not underestimate his ability to use the bully pulpit and try to rally the public on his side.

HARRIS: Hey, Ed, give everyone the phone number so they can call you.

HENRY: 1-877-266-4189. We'll be taking calls on health care, Iran and in a couple moments we'll be interviewing one of John McCain's former economic advisers, Douglas Holtz Eakin.

HARRIS: You're awesome, Doctor. Have a great show.

HENRY: Thank you. Good weekend.

HARRIS: Have a great weekend.

All right. Add immigration reform to the items on President Obama's agenda. In a speech this morning the president said he is committed to comprehensive reform that includes a way for illegal immigrants to become citizens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people believe in immigration, but they also believe that we can't tolerate a situation where people come to the United States in violation of the law. Nor can we tolerate employers who exploit undocumented workers in order to drive down wages.

That's why we're taking steps to strengthen border security and we must build on those efforts. We must also clarify the status of millions who are here illegally. Many who have put down roots.

For those who wish to become citizens, we should require them to pay a penalty and pay taxes, learn English, go to the back of the line behind those who played by the rules. That is the fair, practical and promising way forward. And that's what I'm committed to passing as president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The president spoke at the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast. Former president George W. Bush says he won't criticize his successor, but he is taking broad aim at the policies of President Obama in a speech to business leaders this week. Bush warned against nationalizing health care and against too much government involvement in business and the financial system on plans to close Guantanamo Bay. He said, quote, "There are people at Gitmo that will kill Americans at a drop of a hat. Persuasion is not going to work. Therapy isn't going to change their minds."

The White House pointed to the Bush administration transfers of detainees from Guantanamo to a program in Saudi Arabia and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fired back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think we've had a debate about -- about individual policies. We had that debate, in particular. We kept score last November and we won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: On the administration's fiscal policies, Gibbs says President Obama inherited an economic catastrophe.

So much for a turn around. New data shows unemployment is up in nearly every state, but no fear, there is some positive news. Susan Lisovicz, there she is, will give us the details in just three minutes. Good to see you, Susan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: There has been a lot of talk about the economy stabilizing recently, but, today, news state-by-state unemployment numbers are out and those numbers - ugh. Susan Lisovicz. That's pretty, that's a pretty technical term there -- ugh -- Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We understand it, though.

HARRIS: You understand it perfectly, don't you?

LISOVICZ: You don't need your MBA for that.

HARRIS: Susan, how is this broken up by state?

LISOVICZ: OK, Tony, the caveat here is yesterday, we got the most recent weekly unemployment claims. We're encouraged there. But when you look at the month and you look at the breakdown for 50 states, it's tough. You know, unemployment rate, 9.4 percent. Twenty-six- year high.

So, the unemployment rate rose in 48 states last month, and ten states now have double-digit unemployment. Michigan, once again, leading the pack, higher than 14 percent. Of course, Chrysler filed for bankruptcy at the end of April, and so that number in Michigan could go higher due to the GM bankruptcy. Number two, maybe a surprise to a lot of folks. Oregon, with a nearly 12.5 percent rate. So, these numbers are high and, yes, we're going to have to deal with it for a little while.

HARRIS: Susan, any states with low unemployment figures anymore?

LISOVICZ: Yes. There are. Tony, you and I do not live in those states. Nebraska, North Dakota, tying for the lowest rate, under 4.5 percent. Why North Dakota? Well, it's got a diverse range of industries, such as minng, agriculture, health care, transportation. So, North Dakota doing well and Nebraska, as well. The same, same sort of situation.

There wasn't a whole lot of speculation in the housing market in either of those states, not like, say, for instance, California, Florida, that type of situation. What we're seeing here also, Tony, be happy to know. A little positive move from yesterday. The Dow, NASDAQ, S&P 500 all up on the final trading day of the week, but we a lot of ground to make up for the nearly 300 points the Dow lost between Monday and Tuesday.

HARRIS: Good to see you, Susan, let's do it again next hour.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

HARRIS: This year's World Refugee Day is especially poignant for a woman named Rose Mapendo. After surviving a Congolese death camp ten years ago, she went on to start a group dedicated to saving and resettling refugees. Yesterday she was honored as Humanitarian of the Year by the U.N. Refugee Agency. Rose Mapendo is this week's CNN Hero.

ANNOUNCER: This is "CNN Heroes."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN SARANDON, ACTRESS: When I first met Rose, I was just so taken by her heart. She's the story of the power of forgiveness. I'm Susan Sarandon, and my hero fights for the survival and resettlement of refugees.

ROSE MAPENDO, FOUNDER, MAPENDO INTERNATIONAL: I had seven children. With me and my husband. I never, never thought that genocide could happen in Congo. (INAUDIBLE) or the men that put us in the prison, they were so angry for God. When they found out I was pregnant, I said, "God, accept my life, forgive me, I forgive those enemies." I named my twins after the commanders that tried to kill us. That day is the day I survive.

SARANDON: She dedicated her whole life to saving these refugees that are falling through the cracks with Mapendo.

MAPENDO: Mapendo is my national (INAUDIBLE). It's my hope. It's my answer for my prayer.

SARANDON: What Rose has done is shown this great capacity to move on and to forgive and to embrace life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: CNN is searching the globe for unheralded heroes and people driven to exceptional achievement and service to others.

If you know someone who deserves to be a CNN Hero, let us know. You can nominate them by logging on to CNN.com/heroes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Driving and waiting for hours to play a U.S. Open course. For some golfers, it is a dream come true. We are live from the U.S. Open.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

HARRIS: After a rain shortened opening round at the U.S. open, round one resumed early this morning on a squishy track at Bethpage Black. It is a formidable course when dry and one a lot of golfers want to take a swing at. CNN's Larry Smith caught up with few of them. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Scott Finlayson playing Bethpage Black, and despite what you see...

SCOTT FINLAYSON: Did you see that?

SMITH: ... this is a triumph.

FINLAYSON: Are you kidding me?

SMITH: To understand why, you have to go all the way back to the parking lot some 20 hours ago.

FINLAYSON: We show up at 1:30, sure enough, there's seven guys already here and we're the eighth spot.

SMITH (off camera): You're not leaving.

FINLAYSON: We're not leaving.

SMITH (voice-over): On this day, he's just one of the Bethpage State Park parking lot community. Waiting overnight in their cars to play the famed black course in the same U.S. Open setup the pros will face. Waiting it see how tough it is, no matter how long it takes.

MICHAEL FRANZINO, GOLFER, FROM GREEN LAWN, N.Y.: We didn't know the whole situation about who has to show up at what time, and we actually just got very lucky and got the last spot.

SMITH (off camera): They got the lucky spot, right? Number six. You are guaranteed that you will be playing the black course tomorrow.

FRANZINO: As long as I don't disappear by 4:30.

SMITH (on camera): Anybody that will be with you must be in that car with you at 4:30 when they come out.

JOHN PHILLIPS, SUPERVISOR OF GOLF OPERATIONS, BETHPAGE COURSE: You see people driven here from Pennsylvania. We've had people -- the one car down here is from Maine. We've had people up from Texas. When they find they're in space seven or eight, they'll be a little more disappointed.

SMITH: With only 24 golfers guaranteed a chance to play the famed course each day, the wait can be nearly as long as the list of rules for waiting.

PHILLIPS: The biggest rule being, one person has to be in the car. You cannot leave the car for longer than an hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We get a little bit of everything -- some adult beverage to make us feel a little better, to make the time go by. Supposedly that's a two-man tent but we're going one in there.

JUSTIN HAND, BETHPAGE PLAYER, FROM NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I: I'm just going to sleep in the front seat.

SMITH: Two nights?

HAND: If I have to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I drove four hours, no way I'm leaving here without playing 18 holes on the black course. That's the way I look at it.

SMITH: And so, Finlayson is triumphant. A twosome didn't show up by the 4:30 a.m. deadline, getting him on the course where his luck runs out, quickly.

FINLAYSON: You're kidding me. This stuff sucks.

I got a birdie, right? Did I birdie yet?

SMITH: How many?

FINLAYSON: Two and a half.

(LAUGHTER)

SMITH: Meanwhile, back in the parking lot, the line begins anew.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Aw, Larry, I love that piece. Boy, that is, that course will tear you apart. Hey, I got to ask you something. Did you look at the first page of the leader board. Folks may not know any of the names on the leader board. But you're telling us there's one story there, this Weaver kid worth paying some attention to, huh?

SMITH: Yes, Drew Weaver. He's an amateur out of Virginia Tech. You may recall a few years ago, he won a big amateur tournament and dedicated the victory to those who lost their lives in that horrible shooting a few years ago. He was actually on campus about 100 yards away when that happened and ran to the library for safety and waited three and a half hours before he came out. He's a great young man who has aspirations of a pro career, and he's one of the names in the clubhouse at one under par.

HARRIS: That's a terrific story. Where's Tiger? If I don't ask about Tiger, everybody will send me pages and -- whatever. Tweets and whatever.

SMITH: And you're going to get hate messages and everything. He was even par through 14, but then went four over on the final four holes. Ended his day at four over par, seventy-four and likely will not play again tomorrow until the rain delays. He's not play again today.

HARRIS: Oh, he's going to stew on that. Larry Smith for us at the U.S. Open. Larry, appreciate it. Good to see you, as always. Thank you, doctor.

Iran's election fallout spreading fast across the Internet. Dan Simon is live at the YouTube headquarters in California.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Iran supreme leader on the defensive during Friday prayers. His address punctuated by chants of "Death to Israel, death to America, death to Britain."

This gathering at Tehran University was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's first speech since last Friday's disputed election. The ayatollah passionately defended the vote, praising Mahmoud Amendinejad's win as a definitive victory. He also warned that those causing violence during the protests would be held accountable.

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER (via translator): Extremism in the country, in society, any extremist move, will fan up another extremist move. If political elites want to ignore law and break the law, and take wrong measures which are harmful willy-nilly, they will be held accountable for all the violence and blood and rioting.

HARRIS: Okay. Iranian opposition groups are not planning a rally today, but they plan to be back on the streets tomorrow.

Google and Facebook are adding Farsi translations to their Web sites. That will let users translate Persian text into English. The move, sure to speed the spread of information on the Iranian election crisis. CNN's Dan Simon is at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California. That's another Internet company that's playing a starring role in this Iran drama. Good to see you, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Tony. And let me tell you where I am, first of all. Only at a place like YouTube can you find an indoor putting green. Sort of goes with the loose culture here in Silicon Valley, but YouTube now obviously playing a very serious role with everything that's going on in Iran.

And joining us to talk about all these powerful videos that we're seeing is Victoria Grant. And she is the head of policy for YouTube. And, Victoria, we don't have a lot of time right now, but the first question we want to ask. You look at all the videos. Tell us why you think YouTube is playing such an important role.

VICTORIA GRANT, HEAD OF POLICY, YOUTUBE: What we're seeing, Dan, is the democratization of information as this unfolds. So we have a very low barrier of entry here, where the average citizen equipped with a cell phone or video camera can walk outside their house and into their neighborhood, whether their neighborhood be Tehran or Washington D.C. or Santa Cruz and videotape these events as they unfold.

SIMON: And some of the videos have really been quite graphic. I know normally YouTube might get rid of them or censor them, but in this case they're staying online. Tell us why.

GRANT: I think, you know, we've got basic policies on violence. We don't allow graphic violence on the site, but for every video that we see, it's important to look at the context every time. So what we're really looking at is what is the uploader's intent. We're looking at, you know, what is the title of the video, what is the documentary purpose? And here, when we have a documentary purpose, we're going to potentially age-restrict those videos, but we're going to want them to say up so the world can see what's happened.

SIMON: OK, Victoria Grant, head of policy for YouTube. Tony, not much time, but we'll be here for several hours and coming up in an hour or so, we'll show you a Google map. It will be really fascinating to see where these videos are coming from, and also you may have heard, as everybody knows, when you look at Iran and all the videos that are coming from Iran, the Iranian government has actually censored a lot of these sites. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, and we'll talk about how average citizens are able to get around that.

HARRIS: Dan, we'll get back to you in about an hour. Dan Simon for us.

We're updating on our top stories and working on new ones for you for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

One lawmaker calls it long past due. The Senate approves a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery. Why some say it's a first step but not enough.

Trying to get health insurance when you're already sick. Will reform fix the problem of pre-existing conditions. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us.

And the new iPhone, shorter lines and less hoopla this time around. Where's Nicole? Nicole Lapin of CNN.com following that story for us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A vigil to fallen protesters in Iran, just one of the images from our iReporters helping us to cover the story. These photos are from Sherven, an amateur photographer who wants to become a photojournalist. He called the rally by Mousavi supporters yesterday the biggest in Iran since the Islamic revolution. He says the people are still hopeful. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, it is World Refugee Day. We want to take a moment to look at why we even have a World Refugee Day. Nicole Lapin from CNN.com is here to help us explain this to everyone.

NICOLE LAPIN, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony, it comes around every single year. It's Saturday this year, and last year, actually, the number of refugees all around the world declined, but it's still at 42 million. This year, the number of displace in war-torn areas like Somalia and Pakistan and Sri Lanka has actually, Tony, offset the number of declines we have seen, so that number is expected to rise.

You're looking at these numbers and you're saying, my God, how can I help? You can. We have a special section of the Web site set up for just that. The impact your world page has links to organizations that we have vetted. Oxfam America, for example, Refugees International, Red Cross, and others, Tony. Again, that is CNN.com/impact. It's all under this page. You can also see Angelina Jolie speaking yesterday, and we're going to play that next hour.

HARRIS: Well, that was absolutely fascinating.

LAPIN: Yes.

HARRIS: And before -- and let's -- we're going to play portions of that interview next hour for everyone right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Before we get to the top of the hour, let's get quickly to Rob Marciano, he is standing by in the severe weather center. And, Rob, we got a minute before we get to something pretty special at this top of the hour.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We found some severe weather, Tony, coming at you. A fresh tornado watch has been issued within this red area, which is where we thought most of the severe weather would be. And it's been pretty active, especially Chicago, northwest, into Milwaukee. They had a ton of rain this morning, and Chicago getting beat up pretty good right now.

They are right on the line of what is a severe thunderstorm watch, which will expire later this afternoon and a new tornado watch, which has just been issued by the storm prediction center, and that's going to go right on through the afternoon as well. Heavy rain, certainly some frequent lightning, and there's been reports of gusty winds in Iowa this morning, so those storms certainly have a potential for busting out some tree limbs and maybe knocking out some power.

Rain across the Northeast finally coming to an end, so a drier day today before the next round of rain comes through your area tomorrow. Chicago, boy, it's been a nightmare getting in and out of O'Hare. Ground stops until 11:15 local time, and then summer comes at 1:45 in the morning, on Sunday. Tony?

HARRIS: Oh, yes, bring on summertime. It feels like it here in Atlanta. All right, Rob, thank you.

Iran's supreme leader speaking forcefully today, Ayatollah Khamenei making his first public statements since last Friday's elections that set off days of protests in Washington

Lawmakers are working on a U.S. response to the election dispute. The House voting on a resolution supporting the Iranian people. We are committed to bringing you all sides of the story, despite the limits placed on the media by Iran's government.