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Asking Questions With a Gun and Drill; Wildfires in Greece; Last Day for Cash for Clunkers; Concerns About Swine Flu Rise With Start of School; Declassified CIA Document Give Many Pause About Interrogation Tactics; Holder to Appoint a Special Prosecutor; The Upsides of New Orleans; Attack Aimed at Heart of Pakistani Leadership Foiled

Aired August 24, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

(WEATHER REPORT)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Buffalo, New York is mourning over two fallen firefighters today. They were killed when the floor of this burning convenience store collapsed into the basement. Lieutenant Chip McCarthy (ph) was a married father of three, a 22 year old veteran of the department. Firefighter Jonathan Croom (ph), 34, a 10-year veteran, and father of one. It's the deadliest day for the Buffalo Fire Department in 26 years.

It's wildfire season, which you know first hand if you live in parts of California. But a large chunk of Greece is burning, too. Children's Hospital, summer camps, even a monastery have been evacuated as dozens of fires rage north of Athens.

CNN's Phil Black is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the situation has eased a little overnight. It's given some respite to firefighters in their work. And they started again early this morning with pretty serious water bombing, trying to get as much of an upper hand as possible just in case the conditions worsen again. So, they have been hitting the fires behind me, they are still burning here.

This is Dionysus (ph), just north of Athens. There are no fires burning still within those northern suburbs of Athens itself, but there are still active fire fronts just north of that, and the fear is that, should the conditions turn bad, should those winds whip the situation up yet again, then it could once again go out of control.

We have seen the winds treating these fires in a very unpredictable way, driving those fire fronts forward, but also blowing embers ahead, starting new fires. And that's what firefighters have been dealing with in recent days.

Certainly the residents have been in areas directly affected. We have seen scenes of not quite panic, perhaps, but certainly a lot of anxiety.

A lot of residents have chosen to stay behind and try and fight the fires, protect their homes as much as they can. Some of them have chosen to flee sort of towards the last moment or so. There are suburbs across northern Athens that are still this morning evacuated where flames came right up to homes and destroyed some of them. Firefighters are still working there to essentially mop up what remains.

Most of the flames are gone but it is still very hot there. There's still a lot of smoldering going on. And as long as there is the threat of high wind, there is always the chance that these fires could pick up again in those areas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So you got a clunker and you want some government cash? You better hurry up, because under six hours to go before the Cash for Clunkers deal hits the end of the road.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's the end of the road and it's out of gas. Whatever car-related metaphor you want to use, Cash for Clunker is coming to an end in less than six hours.

As our Kate Bolduan explains, the program not only spiked sales, but the tedious paperwork as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a fast- approaching deadline, customers flocked to car dealerships over the weekend, looking, hoping to be one of the last to drive home a deal.

DAVID BARROSSO (ph), TRADED IN VAN: I came here and there was so many people here.

BOLDUAN: David Barroso (ph) is trading in his van with more than 150,000 miles on it for a new Toyota...

BARROSSO: Say thank you.

BOLDUAN: ... thanks to a $3,500 Cash for Clunkers rebate.

BARROSO: For me, basically, more motivation. You know? And, of course, a new car always is good.

BOLDUAN: As of Thursday, the Transportation Department reported more than 450,000 clunker deals nationwide worth nearly two-thirds of the $3 billion set aside for the program. But dealers say the paperwork and the payback is a major concern.

(on camera): So, 15 to 20 documents like this for every deal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Right.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Tammy Darvish is the vice president of Darcars auto chain in Greater Washington. She has people working around the clock to meet the deadline. They've made 1,400 clunker deals so far fronting as much as $4,500 for each rebate. To date, they've only been reimbursed for nine.

TAMMY DARVISH, VICE PRESIDENT OF DARCARS IN GREATER WASHINGTON: I mean, you know, especially coming out of the times that we've just come out of, and then to have this kind of cash flow hanging out there, it's very unnerving. And it's hard to sleep at night knowing that you have, you know, $6 million outstanding.

BOLDUAN: The National Automobile Dealers Association is urging the government to give them an additional week to process all the deals they expect in these twilight hours. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood assures the money is on the way.

RAY LAHOOD, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: They're going to get their money. We have the money to provide to them.

BOLDUAN: As for customers like Sarah Nesbitt, she's rushing to cash in on a deal she just couldn't pass up.

SARAH NESBITT, CUSTOMER: From this, with all its dings and dents and scratches and dog hair and all that, into one of those.

BOLDUAN (on camera): So, what are people buying? Well, this dealer says nearly 80 percent of all their clunker customers are buying foreign brands, and about 80 percent of what people are turning in are domestic vehicles.

Kate Bolduan, CNN, Silver Spring, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now some recent numbers.

As of this morning, Cash for Clunkers is credited for 625,000 deals, with nearly $2.6 billion in rebate vouchers handed out.

Now, if you missed out, here's some consolation. You can still get a $600 tax credit for buying a new car.

Now we're continuing our coverage of the health care systems around the world and what we can actually learn from them. We want to take a look at Ireland.

Ireland ranked 15th in a European survey on quality of health care. The life expectancy in Ireland is almost 80 years, almost two years longer than here in the U.S.

One of the problems facing Ireland, though, shrinking tax revenues that are making it difficult for that country to pay for its own reform plan.

Here's CNN's Kitty Pilgrim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Five years ago, flushed with prosperity, Ireland started to reform its health care system. It began centralizing health care and offering higher salaries to doctors to switch to the public system of health care and give up their private patients.

Richard Saltman of Emory University has studied many European health care systems.

RICHARD SALTMAN, EMORY UNIV. SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Essentially what they did was increase the pay for hospital physicians, increase it quite a good deal, but in return, those hospital physicians had to restrict or eliminate seeing private patients in the hospitals and having them in private beds.

PILGRIM: Every citizen is covered under the public health plan, but 50 percent of the population buys supplemental private insurance to avoid the long wait times on elective surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the public sector, one can wait up to three years for a hip replacement or a corneal lens transplant.

PILGRIM: Patients in need of immediate care often flood emergency rooms says Bruce Pollack, who has studied health care in Ireland.

BRUCE POLLACK, ACADEMY FOR INTERNATIONAL HEALTH STUDIES: In hospitals, waiting times in emergency rooms for urgent or emergent care in Ireland is longer, perhaps, than I've seen it in any other developed nation.

PILGRIM: There is one doctor for every 333 people, compared to one for every 416 in the United States. Ireland spends 7.5 percent of its GDP on health care, compared to 16 percent in the United States. And $3,424 per person compared to $7,290 in the United States. Life expectancy, 79.7 years, compared to 78 in the United States.

Costs are starting to strain the system as tax revenues decline in the current economic downturn. One thing Ireland has done well is foster the development of the pharmaceutical industry.

POLLACK: The government was providing significant tax benefits to entice the pharmaceutical industry to invest in the manufacture of chemicals in Ireland, it actually helped fuel the economic engine of the Celtic Tiger, and so there is a very congenial relationship between the ministry and the industry.

PILGRIM: Kitty Pilgrim, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: There's some relief in the demand for services in the last few years. Many of the legal immigrants that flooded Ireland in boom times have now returned to their home countries after the recession wiped out their jobs, so it's taken some of the pressure off the health care system there. Sure, they'll still be in the mail, but lots of folks may be getting a reality check on their Social Security income.

Stephanie Elam live with what you need to know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Your top stories now.

A grisly mystery at a mobile home park near Fort Worth, Texas. Bones apparently from more than one infant turned up in a garage bag left by a former tenant. Investigators aren't sure yet what crimes, if any, were committed.

And the U.N.'s top official in Afghanistan is calling last week's presidential election a real achievement. He also admits there were problems. An independent watchdog says it's gotten about 45 complaints that could affect the outcome if they're confirmed. Officials results won't be known for weeks.

Scotland's justice secretary defending his division to free the Lockerbie bomber and send him back to Libya. His hero's homecoming sparked global outrage last week.

And today, Secretary MacAskill tells an emergency meeting of parliament there was no financial deal behind this decision, which he says was prompted by compassion for the cancer-stricken terrorist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: "Health Care in Focus" now.

If your license plate says "Maryland," you've paid a fee, $11, into a program that's the envy of the country. Even some other countries. Maryland's MedEvac helicopters save thousands of lives every year at no cost to patients.

CNN photojournalist Oliver Janney brings us the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAJOR A.J. MCANDREW, MARYLAND STATE POLICE: In 1970, the Maryland State Police Aviation Command performed the first civilian MedEvac ever, transporting over 300,000 patients on our helicopters in the past 30 years.

DICK GELFMAN, CAR CRASH SURVIVOR: My name is Dick Gelfman. I was involved in a head-on collision. The person coming in the other direction apparently fell asleep or was otherwise distracted and crossed the center line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do about 8,000 missions a year. Of those 8,000 missions, about 5,000 are MedEvac missions. If we can get to a patient within 25 minutes, we have over a 90 percent chance of getting that patient to a trauma center within what we call the golden hour.

GELFMAN: I wouldn't be here right now if I hadn't been flown out.

DR. ROBERT R. BASS, MARYLAND INSTITUTE FOR EMERGENCY MED. SERVICES: This is system (ph) and the Emergency Medical Resource Center. This is the hub of our statewide communications system where calls come to when a helicopter is requested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventeen has landed safely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... en route. Information only -- first patient, a 44-year-old female.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy.

GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY, MARYLAND: Maryland has the best MedEvac system in the world. There are people who come from other countries to see what Maryland has done.

GELFMAN: I never got a bill for the helicopter ride. It's an amazing thing.

BASS: In our system, we don't charge any patients to transport them. It's paid for by a surcharge on vehicle registrations.

GELFMAN: We have a system that works, we have choppers that take people no matter where -- it's not a question of who it is that' injured, it's not a question of whether the person's a child, an adult, a bad guy, a good guy, a cop, a crook. It's not that kind of a question.

It's a question of, here's a person in need, we've got to get them care. That's what, you know, a society ought to be doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Oliver Janney, for putting that together for us.

Well, the millions of Americans who rely on Social Security benefits have gotten used to their checks getting bigger and bigger every year, but don't expect that to happen next year, or even the year after.

Stephanie Elam at the New York Stock Exchange with the details on this cost of living adjustment -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

This is something people do not want to hear, but it is the raw truth. Trustees who oversee Social Security say there will not be a cost of living increase for the next two years. That hasn't happened since 1975.

Now, we're not going to get the official announcement on this one until October, but here's what's going on.

The cost of living increase is tied to inflation, specifically third quarter consumer prices. I know the third quarter's not done yet, but last week we got the July Consumer Price Index numbers. That showed that year to year, prices fell by the biggest amount in 59 years. Why? Cheap oil and gas.

Remember last year when we were paying crazy, crazy amounts for a gallon of gas? Well, oil went nearly $150 during that period. Today, it's going for $74, much cheaper, but no doubt this is still a big issue for the 50 million Americans who get Social Security, and that's why they care. Inflation is not so much of an issue right now, but it does affect the Social Security checks.

PHILLIPS: So, even though energy prices aren't as high as last year, health care costs are rising. And that's a huge concern for older Americans, right?

ELAM: Oh, no doubt about it. That's the situation that's not going to change for all of us. Right? We're all going to get older and there's going to be things that break down in the system for us physically. And so this is what people care about.

Inflation is down, but Medicare premiums are rising. And since six million people get their premiums automatically deducted from their Social Security checks, their check could actually decrease.

The National Committee to Preserve Social Security, which is an advocacy group, says out-of-pocket medical costs eat up $3 out of every $10 of the average Social Security check. They also point out that it's a bad time not to boost Social Security because many are struggling with smaller retirement portfolios.

But then you've got the critics who point out that Social Security was boosted in January by nearly six percent, and that was the biggest jump in 27 years. So, some people saying they have already gotten a bit of an increase, others saying it's still not enough.

I also just noted saying "Social Security" that many times back to back is hard.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: It's hard to say that word any time you have to say it, especially when you look at the numbers that come through and you see what you have to this point.

Stephanie, thanks.

ELAM: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Time's running out, money's running out. More than 650,000 Americans will have used up their unemployment benefits by next month; 1.5 million will actually run out by the end of the year. And for many, there's no job in sight.

CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow spent the day with two people facing that reality first hand. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice over): Rachel Gold and Anthony Barberio don't have much in common. Rachel is 28 and worked in recruiting after graduating college. Anthony is 46. He worked on Wall Street for 20 years, but he never went to college.

The thing they do have in common? A $430 weekly check from the government. Like six million other Americans, it's life on unemployment after losing a job.

RACHEL GOLD, RECEIVING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS: I definitely didn't think that I would be sitting here, you know, nine months later, you know, without employment.

HARLOW: Rachel lost her job in November.

For Anthony, it's been more than a year.

ANTHONY BARBERIO, RECEIVING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS: When I first was let go, I figured maybe a month, two months, you know, and I didn't think it would last this long.

HARLOW: But it has, and each day brings more work to find work.

GOLD: This afternoon at 2:30, I have a recruiting meeting with somebody that I was networking with.

HARLOW: But the responses are few and far between.

(on camera): So, you have applied for more than 650 jobs?

GOLD: Correct.

HARLOW: How many interviews have you had out of that?

GOLD: Maybe 10.

HARLOW (voice-over): Anthony has applied for hundreds of jobs, too. If it were up to him, he would extend unemployment benefits.

BARBERIO: I think they should just keep continuing it until the job picture gets better.

HARLOW: Unemployment benefits have already been extended, but the Labor Department forecasts 4.4 million Americans may lose their benefits before finding jobs. For Anthony, that will happen by the end of this year. And Rachel expects to lose her benefits in January.

GOLD: I would go out and get a waitressing job. I would have to.

BARBERIO: Well, I'm going to put, like, a deadline as to when I'm, you know, going to have to really seriously, you know, look for something, you know, whether it be a department store or something like that. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. Poppy Harlow joining us live from New York.

Poppy, what about Rachel and Anthony getting temporary jobs?

HARLOW: It's a great question, Kyra. I asked them, but here's the deal. They take home about $1,700 a month through those unemployment checks. That is more than they would make at most entry level jobs, really certainly at some waitressing jobs or bartending jobs. So, unemployment's their best bet.

And what's interesting about this, Kyra, is there is really no incentive for either of them at this point to go out and find part- time work, which I thought was really fascinating but, at the same time, a real glitch somewhat in the system, because they don't have any real push to go out and get part-time work because then they can't get any unemployment benefits, Kyra. That's a big problem.

PHILLIPS: Could we see the government extend unemployment benefits again?

HARLOW: Probably. It's been extended a number of times through the stimulus package up to 79 weeks in some states, as we have reported before. There are bills right now introduced in the House and Senate pushing to extend those benefits for another 13 weeks but at the same time, you will remember last month, we saw the unemployment rate fall slightly, so there's others that argue why pay for that?

Why take more government spending to lengthen unemployment benefits when we see the job picture improving somewhat? But we're seeing some people push for that. That's exactly what you heard Anthony in the piece, that's what he wants to find. They have applied for hundreds of jobs, and no bites yet, Krya.

PHILLIPS: All right. Poppy Harlow. Appreciate it.

HARLOW: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, progress report, New Orleans four years after Hurricane Katrina. The unemployment rate, the housing market, how are they doing? The answer might surprise you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's in every state. It's killed hundreds of people, and now there's fear that swine flu may be waiting in your child's classroom. Here's the most recent U.S. numbers.

Fifty-three states and territories are reporting cases. Nearly 8,000 people have been hospitalized, and more than 500 deaths are blamed on swine flu. The numbers are already scary enough, so what's the government doing to keep schools from adding to those totals? Here's what Education Secretary Arne Duncan told our Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: What I hear you saying is that there are federal guidelines, if you will, but it's really up to the local school districts to make these decisions. Is that right?

ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Absolutely. Local school districts working with the local health officials. This is going to be very much based at the local level, absolutely. We want to empower them with great facts to make the right decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So, the federal government putting a lot of the responsibility for the fevers and runny noses on the states. For more on the swine flu school prep, let's bring in senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen and also Lisa Barrios live at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. She actually heads up the division of Adolescent and School Health.

Lisa, let's start with you. I mean, we're hearing the secretary there, Arne Duncan, saying okay, we're leaving it up to the locals to decide what to do, but obviously, this is a across-the-country problem and we look to you at the CDC to give us some type of guidance because you're the experts. So, what are you doing with regard to getting the flow of information to the local level?

LISA BARRIOS, HEAD OF ADOLESCNET AND SCHOOL HEALTH, CDC: Right. Well, we are putting out guidance. We put out guidance a couple weeks ago for schools and last week for colleges and universities, other institutions of higher education, that's based on what research we can look at, what science we know, what experts who have been dealing with flu and looking at this particular H1N1 flu are thinking are the best things to do. We have been able to put all that together in guidance. But as Secretary Duncan said, it does come down to what is feasible, what's doable at the local level...

PHILLIPS: So what is the guidance, Lisa? While I have you, what is the guidance right now from pre-K to the college level, especially in light of this story coming out of the University of Kansas and all these students getting sick?

BARRIOS: Right. We do know that H1N1 flu is circulating in the country right now, and that is a rare thing. It doesn't often happen that we have flu circulating through the summer in this country. So, we do expect that people will be getting sick.

What we're recommending are really very basic kinds of activities that people can do to try to reduce the spread of influenza, especially before we have a vaccine available. And those are very simple things like staying home when you're sick. That goes for kids as well as faculty and staff. Making sure that people are vigilant during the school day, and if someone does seem to be sick, that they separate them from well people as quickly as possible until they can be sent home. It also includes the basic hand washing, covering your coughs and sneezes that we have all been talking about for a long time. It's even more crucial to do that now. It's the best way that we have to try to prevent the spread.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lisa, I have a question for you. Hi, it's Elizabeth Cohen. If a school has a death, and they call you for guidance about what to do, will you tell them to close down if they have five deaths? Will you advise them to close down? What will the CDC be advising in those situations?

BARRIOS: Right now, we are not advising that schools close. What we are doing is keeping a very close eye on what's happening with the flu during the fall and the winter. So we're looking at the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths. We're looking at whether or not there are changes to the virus that make it seem that it's getting to be more severe. If that does happen, then we may recommend that schools close. But right now, we are not recommending that, even though we would expect to be seeing some influenza in schools.

COHEN: I understand that these decisions are up to the schools about when to close, but I'll tell you, if my child's school had children dying of H1N1 and the CDC didn't advise them to close down, I would find that a little strange.

BARRIOS: Again, it is up to the schools to make that decision and it really is a local-based decision. You need to keep in mind that closing schools can have a lot of negative consequences, and based on our experience in the spring and the summer, we really think those negative consequences at this current point are outweighing the benefits of closing the school.

We need to remember that schools provide necessary care for children throughout the day, they feed children, they provide health services for children, in addition to their educational progress. So, it's important to try to balance the risks with the benefits of keeping kids in school.

PHILLIPS: You bring up an interesting point about balancing the risks. Elizabeth and I were talking about this. You're sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't, because you don't want to blow anything out of proportion, you don't want to scare people but at the same time, you don't want anybody dying. So, is this the type of situation where you just have to sort of give your basic advice on how to stay home if you're sick and wash your hands and, you know, the things that we have heard over and over until something drastic does happen, and then step in and advise?

BARRIOS: Right. I think what we are doing is trying to keep a really close eye on what's happening with the virus, and we are trying to be very clear to people that we may change our guidance if we see that things are changing with the virus and with how it's affecting people in this country. We may change that guidance, and we have put out there the things that we would consider doing. That would include things like closing schools or keeping home well siblings of people who -- children who are ill in order to try to prevent the spread. PHILLIPS: Before we let you go, where do we stand now with regard to how you feel about the spread and the number of cases? I mean, does it look like everything is holding steady. Do you see it as getting worse? Is it certain parts of the country? What is the latest information you can tell us?

BARRIOS: We have got cases across the country in various different places. For the most part, it's sporadic and regional. There's a few places where it's more widespread. Again, it's unusual to be seeing any flu in August, but the levels overall are not tremendous, and we are not seeing a lot of differences from sort of during a normal seasonal flu season.

PHILLIPS: Got it. Lisa Barrios straight from the CDC, thanks so much.

BARRIOS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We have been getting some tweets at kyraCNN on all this flu stuff as well. Emmy Mason writes in with some news from her neck of the woods. She says two schools closed in Kentucky, one in Perry County, the other in Bourbon County from H1N1.

Then BlackSheepMafia's go a request and suggestion. "Hurry up, vaccinations, and wash your hands constantly." Nardo52 says, "Kyra, the only question I have is why is this H1N1 being overreacted to? More people die from a common cold than this."

Similar thought from YoTweets: "Dude, seriously, Kyra, what's so special about this H1N1? All it is is the flu. Come on, all the media hype for what? Like, four deaths?" Actually, there's been more. I got to fact check you on that one. The CDC's count, there've have been 522 swine flu deaths in the U.S. this year through Thursday.

So, thanks for tweeting us. Keep them coming @KyraCNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Breaking news to tell you about. "The Washington Post" reporting that Attorney General Eric Holder will appoint a special prosecutor. His goal: to examine nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators allegedly tortured terror suspects in custody. Sources tell The Post that Holder is set to name John Durham, a Justice Department prosecutor, from Connecticut. This comes as President Obama approves a special interrogation unit to be overseen by the White House and amid a CIA report detailing possible prisoner abuse.

Other top stories. One search is over, another begins in the killing of a swimsuit model, Jasmine Fiore. The man suspected in her death, reality TV star Ryan Jenkins, has been found dead of an apparent suicide in a Canadian motel room. Authorities are trying to identify a woman who was seen dropping him off there.

In Oklahoma, the daughter of a convicted child rapist plans to testify against him before a grand jury. David Earl is scheduled to leave prison next month, just 19 weeks after pleading guilty to raping a foru-year-old girl. Earl's daughter and two other women say that Earl's raped them, too, and they want him to stay behind bars.

T-minus 11 hours till liftoff for the space shuttle Discovery. If you want to see it live, you better get a nap this afternoon. It's not blasting off till 1:30 in the morning Eastern time, weather permitting, of course. The shuttle is delivering equipment to the international space station. Three space walks are planned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: This coming to us now through the Associated Press. Listen to this. A newly declassified CIA report is saying that interrogators here in the U.S. actually threatened to kill the children of a September 11 suspect.

We're just now getting this information. Apparently, this document that was just released today by the Justice Department goes on to say that one interrogator here in the U.S. said that a colleague had told Khalid Shaikh Mohammed -- you remember one of the men convicted of the September 11 attacks. Apparently this interrogator told him that if any other attacks happened in the U.S. that quote, "We're going to kill your children." Another interrogator allegedly tried to convince a different terror suspect detainee that his mother would be sexually assaulted in front of him, though the interrogator in question denied making such a threat.

This is all detailed in a document that was just released today, and we're getting a chance to read some of the highlights of this document that was released by the Justice Department. Apparently, this report was written in 2004. It was examining the CIA treatment of terror detainees following the terror attacks of September 11 back in 2001.

It has been declassified, and that's how we were able to get our hands on this as part of the lawsuit that we have been telling you about that's been brought forward by the ACLU. We will continue to follow up on the information that's now slowly being released from these declassified documents, now being released by the Justice Department due to this lawsuit by the ACLU.

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, and in too many places, the wounds are still fresh, but our Sean Callebs actually found parts of New Orleans where the outlook is more upbeat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New Orleans has been shielded in the aftermath of Katrina. Not by levees. It has been an economic buffer. Federal and private money as the city rebuilds.

Jazz great Irvin Mayfield recently opening a club in the French Quarter, but he wants to talk about his job as a commissioner of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. IRVIN MAYFIELD, COMMISSIONER, NEW ORLEANS REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: Redevelopment is just another word of self-investment for citizens. And I think that passion has always been important to New Orleans. We're now trying to figure out how to transform that passion from music and food into different areas of redevelopment in our neighborhood.

CALLEBS: Sean Cummings is a lifelong New Orleanian. A hotel owner and developer.

SEAN CUMMINGS, CO-FOUNDER, START UP NEW ORLEANS: There's a significant amount of federal spending that is still going on her that's related to the flood catastrophe, and in many ways, the city is benefiting from that. It's propping us up.

CALLEBS: After Katrina, close to 80,000 homes had to be rebuilt, attracting legions of construction workers. It's helped keep the New Orleans unemployment rate at about 7.2 percent, while the national average is closer to 9 percent.

(on camera): With the hotels and nightlife, New Orleans has its share of service jobs. But entrepreneuers are also investing here, finding that there are benefits to being in this city.

(voice-over): Nic Perkins is CEO of the Receivables Exchange. He could have started his business anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dottie from Pennsylvania, Darrell from England, John from Boston...

CALLEBS: New residents know about the problems. Crime, a poor education system, the slow pace of rebuilding. But they are convinced the positive outweighs lingering, deep-rooted problems.

NIC PERKINS, CEO, THE RECEIVABLES EXCHANGE: To have an operation like this would be literally five, six, seven times more for us in New York or San Francisco. The quality of life here -- you can live in New Orleans exceptionally well under a start-up salary.

CALLEBS: And remember, all those volunteers rebuilding the city, and many are doing more than just swinging hammers.

TIM WILLIAMSON, CO-FOUNDER, THE IDEA VILLAGE: If you look at the people who have come since Katrina, there has been an influx of talent that has come to New Orleans initially to help. But now they are coming here to stay, to live, but more importantly, to grow new, exciting companies in New Orleans.

CALLEBS: Home prices are up about 1.1 percent from 2008 to 2009. Nationally, they plunged about 10 percent over the same period. New Orleans is a long way from being whole. Entire neighborhoods remain in ruin, and thousands are still displaced.

MAYFIELD: A lot of people say, look, you guys have been at this for four years. Why isn't this done already? I think people need to understand the volume of things that we have done and we're doing. CALLEBS: And in many ways, the city has something that it couldn't claim four years ago: optimism.

(on camera): In many ways, New Orleans remains a tale of two cities. The central business district, the French Quarter and areas the tourists see are coming back in a big way. However, many outlying areas are still in dire need of repair and revitalization.

Sean Callebs, CNN, in New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: "AMERICAN MORNING" has special reports all this week leading up to the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and we will, too. Every morning in the 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Team Sanchez, what you working on for the next hour back there in your little hole?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Well, one of the things we're working on is what you were just talking about, the CIA investigation. This is amazing stuff. We got Bob Behr (ph) here and, you know, Bob Behr, for my money, he's one of the most knowledgeable CIA guys we ever worked with. He will tell us whether these things are really routine, if anybody has ever done this kind of stuff before at the CIA, if it's prosecutable.

We're running at least one case, we have been drilling down on one case, so to speak, throughout the day, where agents or contractors actually used a drill to threaten a suspect, a terrorism suspect. Obviously, that's going to come into play. We will be all over that.

Also, we just got this tape a little while ago that we will be sharing with you. It's a tape of one of these town hall meetings. It's a real head turner. It's very dramatic what Senator Tom Coburn is asked.

But the story of the day, the video of the day, is a new PSA being released in England.

PHILLIPS: Oh, on the texters.

SANCHEZ: Watch a little bit of this. Watch a little bit of this.

PHILLIPS: Oh, this is gruesome.

SANCHEZ: Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CAR CRASHES)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, it goes on for about another four minutes. It's kind of like watching a movie. It's done that well. High drama. The message is obvious. For those of us who like to e-mail on our way home from work, adults and kids who can't stop texting to save their lives, including my kids, this is a warning. This is the kind of stuff that can happen and has.

PHILLIPS: It makes you think of that group of girls coming back from a cheerleading camp and they were texting and they were all killed. We actually saw that on Friday, and it was hard to stomach. It goes on for such a long time.

SANCHEZ: We have watched it and we decided that people should probably see this. That wasn't an easy decision to come to, but given the alternative, I think people should see this.

PHILLIPS: Yes. I think there's a good lesson. Absolutely. Rick, see you in a little bit.

SANCHEZ: All right.

PHILLIPS: Let's do a final check of today's swine flu H1N1 tweets. Journalproject asks "How do you protect yourself from getting this flu? Most have talked about what those who get it should do. What about the rest?" And hey, JournalProject, there's lots of good info at cdc.gov/swineflu.

Mercury1050 writes: "How come there's still a delay in getting out the vaccine? Get people vaccinated soon. That's why we need a government health care option soon."

This comes from Galaxy5007, "Who the heck cares about swine flu? It's a mild flu, not any worse than the nasty flu I got last winter." Thanks for tweeting, guys.

Death packs packed with ball bearings and explosives. Their purpose: to kill and maim. Target: Pakistani government officials. We're going to go live to Pakistan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The war against the other Taliban, those in Pakistan fighting to overthrow the government. Now we're learning an attack aimed at the heart of the country's leadership has apparently been foiled. Here's CNN's Cal Perry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Suspects are paraded in front of the media. The government says these men were planning to become human bombs.

A dragnet has fallen across Pakistan. Six members of the Taliban arrested in Punjab province. Powerful explosives were found. The district police commander tells CNN these men were planning to bomb mosques and police stations.

Punjab is Pakistan's wealthiest province. A strike here would be a clear blow to the country. In the southern port city of Karachi, Pakistan's financial center, seven members of a ban group with links to al Qaeda arrested. Police say drugs and explosives were found. Their target, unknown.

On Sunday, CNN gained exclusive access to these suicide vests. The government says they uncovered a plot some four weeks ago. The vests were intended to strike at the heart of the Pakistani government.

SENATOR A. REHMEN MALIK, PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER: First target was the parliament house. Second was one of the (INAUDIBLE). And third, any building of class (ph) and more prominent in Islamabad.

PERRY: The parliament is a five-minute drive from Pakistan's most powerful intelligence agency, the ISI. Both are in the heart of the Pakistani capital.

MALIK: They had (INAUDIBLE) jackets like they were were staying in one house and they had hidden the suicide jackets not far from that in the hills, which we have recovered. Obviously, they had a plan in Islamabad, because Islamabad is an icon of the country.

PERRY: Hitting back at the government would seem to be a high priority for the newly appointed leader of the Pakistani Taliban. He's said to be a brazen and young commander, he's been linked to attacks along the Afghan border in the past on NATO troops/ Striking high profile targets would send a clear message that the group still has a fight left in it.

Which is why the government continues its assault on the Taliban. Rumors of a cease-fire during the holy month of Ramadan quickly shot down.

MALIK: They are never captive (INAUDIBLE). Now, when they are the weakest moments and everybody knows that their back is broken, they are no more powerful. So, we won't give them time to get energized.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Cal Perry joining me live from Islamabad. So, why now? Why do we think this is happening at this time, Cal?

PERRY: You know, Kyra, I think we're talking about not just a war of ideals here, but a war for public perception, a PR battle going on between the Pakistani government and the Taliban. The Taliban wants to prove they're still here, they want to hit back and they want to do it now because all we have been talking about for two weeks has been their leadership being taken out.

The other thing is this intelligence document that says 50 suicide bombers are across Pakistan. We asked the interior minister if this was true. He said absolutely not, but with every single successful raid that we see by the Pakistani government, it only raises the question, is it possible that there are dozens of more attackers out there, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Cal Perry, appreciate your reporting.

PHILLIPS: That does it for us. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Rick Sanchez picks it up from here.