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Recipe for Revolution? Iran Government Take Vs. Opposition's Take; Alexander McQueen Found Dead
Aired February 11, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take it to the next level. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Tony. Good to see you.
As Tony said, I'm Ali Velshi, I'll be with you for the next two hours today and every weekday, helping you understand the issues that you confront, helping you make better decisions about how you spend money, about your safety and security, and we've got lots and lots to talk about today. Here's what I've got on the rundown right now.
Dallas, look at Dallas. This is Dallas, Texas. They're building snowmen in the streets. This storm is making its way through the Deep South. Different storm. We're still digging out from the other one in the northeast.
In Haiti, also weather, the problem is now rain. The people that live on the streets of Haiti are getting soaked right now. There are solutions for some of them and we'll talk about them later in the show.
And on Capitol Hill, we were not expecting this in particular today, since they've dug in on the snow. But Senate finance committee leaders have reached a bipartisanship agreement on a jobs creation bill. Here's my question. How does a bill in Congress actually create jobs? I'm asking the White House later on in the show.
But happening right now around the world in Iran, it is the 31st anniversary of the revolution in 1979. The government has promised it will crack down on demonstrations, it will not tolerate this. We're going right over to our Iran desk who have been working very, very hard to try to get information out of Iran. It's very different from last year in terms of the election in terms of the information flow. Ivan Watson has been keeping track of what is going on. What do we know about the situation on the ground right now?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well we know that the government succeeded. It had a big celebration, hundreds of thousands of supporters in freedom square and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was able to come out and declare, you know, praise the accomplishments of the Islamic republic, over 31 years, and say, hey, we are also a nuclear nation now. We have just begun enriching our first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium.
VELSHI: This is in direct contravention of what the rest of the world has said they want. There was also a warning, there was a warning earlier this week that a punch to the west that will sting. Have we seen anything other than the promised demonstrations? Have we seen counterdemonstrations?
WATSON: That's the interesting thing here. We heard the opposition would try to also attend this rally and it was very carefully controlled, huge amounts of security and they were not able to penetrate and in the state media we're not seeing mention at all of the efforts to try to get in.
You can see our producer here, Sara, she's showing some of what we've been getting smuggled out on the internet. Take a look at this video over here, Ali. This is kind of what people faced if they tried to get in to this square and be politicized and be it criticizing the government. These guys taking out a man. I don't know. He doesn't have a shirt on, and beating him up. And we've seen other videos as well. An I-report, we had a contributor, who sent some video of people trying to gather up in a square, chanting "death to the dictator." And then at one point, apparently, running away. We've also talked to one of the sons --
VELSHI: Yes.
WATSON: -- of one of the opposition leaders and this man was a former parliament member, Mehdi Karroubi, he was trying to get in and he was blocked and attacked by security forces.
Take a listen. Our own Reza Sayah spoke with his son, and this is what he had to say about that attack.
VELSHI: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately my father received very bad gas tears. And his face is burned. Also because a rampant problem, internal problem at the moment. We asked the physician is coming to check.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Your brother was arrested by them?
KARROUBI: My younger brother is arrested by the police. And we are surprised because for two days, we just came to demonstrate to rally, to participate to show what we want and also ask for our rights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: And we're just getting this statement from the European Union. This is from the high representative from the union of foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, saying, quote, the determination shown by protesters on Iran's streets shows their strength for desire for democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, but on this anniversary, dissenting opinions clearly not tolerated, Ali.
VELSHI: Again, I want to clarify this, you've been following this for so long, the December protests and the elections last year, they really do seem to be changing their tone. The government has threatened to crack down and it seems to be working. Is it the threat or the fact that they are going out and arresting people, they've been convicting people, they've been executing some of them.
WATSON: Executing people, and it does have effect in quelling the opposition.
The opposition they swore that they were going to use peaceful methods in this case, but we've seen government use force to break up the demonstrations. Big question, where do they go from here?
VELSHI: Stay with us over the course of the next couple hours. The Iran desk is staying on the story. We'll remind people what it was all about, this revolution, in 1979 that led to where we are today. We'll be getting the latest updates from Iran. Thanks very much, Ivan Watson.
When we come back, Poppy Harlow will be talking about the Toyota problem. We have speculated that Toyota's sales and reputation would be badly hurt by the series of recalls. That may not be the case. We'll check in when we get back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. Story we've been covering very closely for you is the three recalls on ford cars. I want to go to Poppy Harlow who has been covering this, she's with CNNMoney.com. Poppy, you got new information that suggests that maybe the hit to Toyota is not as serious reputationally in terms of sales as we thought it is.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: It is exactly right. Let's take a look where we stand, you have hundreds of thousands of sticky gas pedals being fixed right now, about 50,000 per day Toyota says, and Prius fix still on the way. No word on that, but what we did this morning we talked to the man who is in charge of the biggest auto dealership in the nation, it's called AutoNation. He runs hundreds of dealers across the nation and he said the impact to Toyota is going to be minimal. And it's not true that customers are outraged over the Toyota problem. Take a listen to what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE JACKSON, CEO, AUTONATION: We have 21 Toyota and Lexus stores across the country with millions of customers, and they are telling -- we are communicating with them intensely every day. The situation is calm. It's orderly. And they expressed a depth of confidence and trust in Toyota.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Such a different story, Ali, than what we've been hearing from a lot of folks, and he even went on to say by April he thinks Toyota will make up the losses in sales. He said this is a historic moment for domestic automakers have been struggling like GM and Chrysler and Ford who has been doing better, to take hold of this historic moment and closed the perceived quality gap between the Asian automakers and the U.S. automakers.
VELSHI: One of the issues is AutoNation sells all different brands of cars. Unlike listening to a Ford or Toyota dealer about the impact of this thing, he's able to tell you the sense of whether people are going towards the domestic automakers. Are we hearing that that's actually happening?
HARLOW: It's one thing to hear it from him and it's different from seeing it in action. What we're seeing from Edmunds.com, the auto tracker, the biggest beneficiary of the Ford recall are going to be General Motors, Ford and Honda and Edmunds is also saying that Ford will surpass Toyota as the second largest auto sales company in the United States. So this is a big boom for the struggling U.S. auto industry but he also says, listen Toyota may not be as bad on the customer perception as we're hearing from other sources, Ali.
VELSHI: Good to hear it from another perspective, ford enjoyed it for a long time, as the number two automaker. CNNmoney.com, and Poppy Harlow, if you are worried about Toyota or want to know the news, CNNMoney.com has all of it.
Take a look at the White House right now. We have just heard that the president is meeting with the Dalai Lama at the White House on February 18th. We'll bring you more information on that as we get it.
Another piece of news that actually has a lot of people talking about. The famous fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, a young man, found dead in his home in London. Richard Quest will give us the latest on that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Let's go right to London. Richard Quest is standing by. He's the anchor of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS."
Richard, Alexander McQueen has died. We've been polling people around, half think it's a tragedy and half don't know who he is. Here's what we know. He's an influential fashion designer and he's a young man and he's been found dead in his apartment. Tell us about this.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: To the people who don't know who he was, I only have the question, where have they been and do they have any interest in fashion over the past 15 years? Alexander McQueen has been one of the most influential designers of his young generation. From 19 -- in 1996, barely a couple of years after his master's, he was appointed the design -- the head designer of Givenchy, the famous fashion house, a position he held until 2001. His style, his abrupt, his aggressive style, the very look that he, himself, put forward, he was known as the enfant terrible, even known as a hooligan, the English hooligan of the fashion industry.
Alexander McQueen was not only a designer, he actually created a genre, to the point of tonight, whether it be the New York fashion week or next week in Paris, where he was due to show his collection, or in London, one has to say that tonight, the fashion world has lost one of its giants.
VELSHI: You have met Alexander McQueen.
QUEST: Yes. I was making a program on style. And I met Alexander McQueen, about three years ago, two or three years ago. He was -- he was not an easy man to interview, by any means. He was extremely quiet and very hesitant in his answers. And, you know, sometimes you do an interview with people, Ali, and it just flows. On this particular occasion, it really was hard work. We were talking about actually whether I had any style, to which he politely sort of hinted that I was 60 percent of the way -- he said, actually, you're 60 percent of the way there. That's a very polite way of saying, no, Quest, you haven't got any style.
And the significance -- I mean, we can look at this tonight, from a variety of different ways. You can look at it as a human tragedy story. We don't know how he died. It's believed, the speculation, and let's put it straight on the table, is that he committed suicide, and the reason we say that is that the police say there are no suspicious circumstances. Well, 40-year-old men don't get found dead in their house without, you know, very often. So, there's that point.
Secondly, his flamboyant lifestyle. Alexander McQueen was openly gay. He was extremely well known. He had a very aggressive style in the fashion industry. And if we want to be mercenary, he had a very large business. He had successful boutiques and shops in New York and London and Milan and Los Angeles.
VELSHI: All right, Richard, thank you for joining for that and telling us a little bit about Alexander McQueen. We'll continue to follow what the developments are. The police have gathered, not far from where you are, they've gathered and trying to figure out what's going on. Richard Quest from London.
Turning to the top stories. A day of celebration in Iran is turning into a day of protests. It's the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution and security forces have been clashing with opposition protesters. Meantime, pro-government ralliers are also out in force, hearing President Ahmadinejad announce an expansion of Iran's highly disputed nuclear program.
If you're in your house under a blanket of snow, listen for creaking. The winter storm that paralyzed the mid-Atlantic is causing serious problems for homeowners. Roofs are collapsing. Chad was warning about this. 22 in the Washington, D.C., area alone.
And the last thing that survivors of Haiti's massive earthquake need is rain drenching the capital where more than a million people are homeless. It's an ominous sign of things to come. The region's tropical rainy season could start within a few weeks.
We've got weather problems in the United States. People are digging out from the storm in the northeast, and this is -- is this Dallas? Look at that. Look at that snow. This is the parking lot on a roof of a building in Dallas. They're getting a lot of snow. This is another storm headed through the southeast of the country this time. We'll be right back to talk about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Let's go over to Chad in the severe weather center and talk about what's going on in the country. A couple things going on, the snow in the northeast has finally ended. They are digging out from under that. You warned about creaking roofs and collapses on roofs and that's happening. But then I'm seeing pictures of snow in Dallas, what is happening?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is the next storm. You are not flying out tomorrow afternoon, are you?
VELSHI: I've learned my lesson. I'm staying put.
MYERS: Good, because it will hit Atlanta. Dallas, already 3 inches of snow on the ground. That picture you saw was actually right there from one of the rooftops. From one of our affiliates.
VELSHI: They're not done, are they?
MYERS: No, it will continue for the next few hours. Out west of I-20 already several reports of several inches of snow and it drives to the east and it does get to us tomorrow.
VELSHI: Us meaning here in Atlanta.
MYERS: Atlanta, exactly. Texarkana seeing snow, places that don't see much snow at all, the kids are having a bunch of fun, you can have fun in a couple inches as long as you're the parent and you don't have to drive anybody. Look at the numbers, Baltimore at 22.5 inches of snow, just from the storm yesterday. They had almost 25 from the storm couple days before that.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: So, we are seeing roof collapses. I have one from American University, Mitchell Stover sent in an I-report here, if you have anything like this, please send it in, just don't go into harm's way to get here.
VELSHI: To do it.
MYERS: To get your pictures. We don't need your pictures if you're putting yourself in harm's way. But American University had kind of an awning collapse. We know now of almost 15 boats that are sunk in D.C. marinas that were under cover. You know, the nice marina slips because they put a cover on top, well, they have now pushed the boats under the water. Look at the numbers. This is the total snowfall so far this year.
VELSHI: For the winter.
MYERS: For this winter.
VELSHI: Wow. MYERS: Six feet of snow at dulls. 70.3 in Philadelphia. We called this yesterday Mother Nature's stimulus package.
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: Because people having to spend money to get things shoveled. Cities --
VELSHI: To buy salt. Yep.
MYERS: Yes. So, at least maybe we're --
VELSHI: Interesting that your totals don't -- New York doesn't get taken over because it dodged the bullet on the last one.
MYERS: New York City had 10 inches this time, but because they didn't get a significant amount last time they are not near the records yet. Winter has just started. Ask Punxsutawney Phil.
VELSHI: It's not even Valentine's Day. All right, we'll keep on checking with you and you'll be back with the radar a little later on.
MYERS: Sure.
VELSHI: Let's check in the places digging out. Let's go to Kate Bolduan. I believe she's in Bethesda. Kate, where are you?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm here in Bethesda, Maryland, Ali, right north of Washington, D.C. I think you've probably been here yourself, even though you are a New Yorker at heart, I know you are. Look behind me, you can see they are starting to dig out here, you can see the little tunnel that's been created for the sidewalk here. And you can see the sun is shining, and I've seen a lot of smiling faces today, but Maryland across the state, it's not such a smiley situation, they are really having to dig out and it's not going to be a short process in some of these places.
But take a look. The plows have been out. You can see this road, it's a very busy thoroughfare in Bethesda, it is clear and almost dry, and look at all the cars, they are back in the road. I was near a parking lot of Giant Foods and people are clearly needing to come in because they need supplies. Look across the street at the mound -- the mound of snow, that's also what people are going to be dealing with and what plows need to get to at some point. Another mound right here, beside me, that they're going to have to be dealing with. Local businesses, right here, most of them, I would have to say, had to close because of the conditions over the weekend and, again, yesterday but we've been walking around and people are trying to open up. In one local business they're working and they are not necessarily open, why? Because some of their employees couldn't get in. Listen in.
KATHY JANUS, EMPLOYEE, FANCY CAKES BY LESLIE: The biggest thing is the lack of foot traffic because they can only keep up with the snow and the plowing and only so much. So we have a lack -- a drop in foot traffic, but other than that, the cake board has come in, you know, we crank them out. We work hard on them. We have to stay extra hours because staff can't get in either, so we have a lot of that going on.
BOLDUAN: And over there, the Fancy Cakes by Leslie, beautiful cakes, they are really looking forward to being back open. They said over the weekend they had to close down because of the snow. Again, they were closed down yesterday, and they're very much looking forward to getting back open for business and getting some the foot traffic that they say is so important for their business. How can you pass up when you see a beautiful cup cake in the window, Ali? It's very costly, all the cleanup. I know you want to talk about that. The state of Maryland, I spoke with state officials, through the December storm they had spent up to $50 million of their yearly winter expenditures as they call of it $60 million to clean up.
VELSHI: Wow.
BOLDUAN: The weekend storm? That was $35 million, so they didn't even finish cleaning. What is all of this on top of that? They said honestly they can't estimate, but it's expensive.
VELSHI: I don't know if you got this, but in Montgomery County, where you're in, 3,000 people without power. Yesterday they pulled crews because it was too dangerous. Have you seen power trucks restoring power?
BOLDUAN: I haven't seen it right here, because largely right here the power is clearly on, but we do know the Pepco crews, as you mentioned, they had to pull over because of how strong the wind gusts were. They couldn't go up in the buckets yesterday to actually fix the power lines. They say they're making progress, but largely the state said the big problem is the residential roads. These roads look really great. They say it's not a short process. One person actually warned me it could be a couple weeks before they have all the lanes in some of the urban areas open. A couple weeks is not what people want to be hearing right now.
VELSHI: Yikes. Kate, what is bouncing around on the top of your hat?
BOLDUAN: This -- I think it's my little furry -- I think this is probably the little furry top of my hat. Is that what you're talking about?
VELSHI: Just checking. Just checking. Nice hat, keeps you warm.
BOLDUAN: I'm sorry? Am I distracting you? I'm so sorry, it's just nobody ever said to me, what's bouncing around on the top of your head.
VELSHI: Kate, excellent to see you, as always. Thank you for being on us. We'll stay on the weather story with Kate and Reynolds and Allan Chernoff who is at the airports and, of course, Chad.
Listen, we were telling you about the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran. A lot of you are asking what is this all about? I want to tell you, when we come back, we'll tell you how we have got to where we are in Iran today. It's worth listening to.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. I'm here at the Iran desk, the CNN International Iran Desk, where we are tracking information coming out of Iran. We are soliciting information, when we get it, we're trying to verify it.
This is the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran, the one of that happened in 1979. Now, today there have been celebrations of that, pro-government celebrations largely in the streets of Iran. Protests as well, but we're -- they're not as successful. Crowded streets in Iran today. We do know that. We're not entirely sure where the protesters are. They've said that they've been stopped from actually being involved in the president.
Now, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the crowd today and he talked about the succession with the country's effort to enrich uranium, in fact, he bragged about how the country is a nuclear nation despite efforts by the rest of the world to prevent that.
The opposition groups have told us that security forces have prevented supporters of the opposition from reaching the square where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking, and they clashed with demonstrators. We actually did have video of that. We showed at least somebody being -- being beaten by -- by forces. We are unable, because of the information flow, to independently confirm these opposition reports. But there are reports that a vehicle that was carrying opposition leaders was attacked by security forces.
Now, the opposition movement has refused to back down. They first took to the streets nearly eight months ago. That was during the presidential elections, and they -- they questioned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or the validity -- validity of his re-election, particularly, because in some precincts there seemed to be more votes than there were actually people.
What is this all about? This stems from the fact that 31 years ago, there was a big protest in Iran, and it resulted in a new government with -- and it started with many of the same complaints that these protesters actually have today.
Here's my colleague Reza Sayah with a backgrounder on it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Islamic Revolution of 1979 marked the end of Iran's Western-backed monarchy under Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi and the beginning of an Islamic republic. The revolution was the climax of more than a year of demonstrations against what was seen as the Shah's oppressive regime.
Despite soaring oil profits in the 1970s, Iran was plagued by crippling inflation. The Shah, who liked to show off his lavish lifestyle, was criticized for ignoring the poor and middle class. Iranian's also condemned the Shah for spurning his Islamic traditions in favor of modernization and stronger ties to the West.
The opposition movement was led by the Shah's nemesis, Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini relentlessly denounced the Shah as a corrupt dictator and Washington's puppet. Audiotapes of his fiery speeches circulated throughout Iran.
On February 1st, 1979, Khomeini made his triumphant return from exile two weeks after a defeated Shah had left Iran. Ten days later, the military declared itself neutral. On February 11, the Islamic revolution was official.
What made the revolution unstoppable was the assortment of groups and social classes that opposed the Shah. Not everyone wanted a theocracy, but Khomeni managed to crush rival revolutionary factions and establish an Islamic republic, a self-described democracy where all decisions had to be approved by him, the supreme leader on clerics who ruled in the name of God.
Reza Sayah, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. The Iran desk. We're going to stay on top of this story. We are continuing to listen to and try verifying information that's coming in.
Another security issue, this one is closer to home. The Winter Olympics are about to get under way in Vancouver, Canada. And Vancouver is taking no chances with that.
When we come back, our security desk updates us on what's going on with preparation for the Winter Olympics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I don't know what you guys are doing on Friday night, I'm watching the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Obviously, the Winter Olympics have a whole set, for any Olympics have a whole set of security concerns associated with them.
Let's go to Jeanne Meserve at the CNN Security Desk. She is keeping an eye on exactly what's going on with the Olympics.
What do we got, Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ali, officials say they don't know of any specific or credible threats against these Olympics. Frankly, they're more worried about political protesters than they are about terrorists. But they are taking every precaution and putting a lot of security in place.
This will be the largest security operation in Canada's history. It's going to cost about $900 million, involve 15,000 military police and private security guards. Vancouver is a port city. Some of the venues are right on the water, so there's a big presence, maritime presence.
In addition, they are going to have people patrolling up in the mountains on snowshoes. There will be aviation restrictions. A very big effort with, of course, a lot of security cameras and road closures.
But the guy who is coordinating the integrated security unit says he doesn't want security to be overwhelming here.
Here's Bud Mercer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASST. COMM. BUD MERCER, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: We want them to remember the sport, the culture, the celebration of the Olympics, the gold medals, the beauty of British Columbia and Canada. I don't really want them to remember security. I think security has to be there. There will be security there. It will be smart security. It will be friendly security. It won't all be police officers. So we have employed and deployed. You know, the greatest advancements in I.T. technology in a smart way, which actually keeps our security put -- visibility security footprint down, so we're not what's remembered by the visitors and the athletes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: And, Ali, you know, one of the challenges here is that they really have two venues. There's the City of Vancouver, and then there's the Whistler Ski Resort. They are a couple of hours away from one other, and there's only one road connecting them. It's a real choke point. Mercer told me it will be heavily patrolled, and he believes they have enough resources in placed both at Whistler and in the city, so that if there is any disruption, they can keep everything safe -- Ali?
VELSHI: And they built that road out, but it was an old logging road. It was -- it sort of kept the traffic out of Whistler for all those years, but it does sound like they are prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Jeanne, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this. We'll be back to visit you at the security desk. Jeanne Meserve at our security desk in Washington.
Checking the headlines right now. A big plunge on the real estate roller coaster. The median price of a single-family home was down 12 percent last year. That's the price at which half of all homes are sold for more and half are sold for less.
Another report says foreclosure filings fell almost 10 percent last month compared to the month before. But they're still 15 percent higher than they were a year ago.
A sharp drop in the number of people filing for new jobless claims. The Labor Department says 440,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. That's a lot of people. But it's down almost 43,000 from the week before. That's hopefully a good sign.
And in Florida, a successful lift-off for the Atlas Five Rocket after three scrubbed launches. The rocket is carrying the Solar Dynamics Observatory. NASA says it's going to help scientists study the sun in greater detail than ever before.
And we've got weather in Haiti. It's rain. It doesn't look like a lot right there, but if you don't have a house and if you've just got a sheet over your head, it's a big problem. We're going to tell you about the weather in Haiti. We'll also going to tell you about a potential solution on its way to Haiti to help those people who are living without shelter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Let's talk about what's going on in Haiti. There is bad weather there. There's rain. We just showed you some video of that on the streets of Haiti. This is, of course, it's not rain that looks like any big deal, unless you don't have a shelter, unless you don't have something to keep the rain off of you.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think that's the least of their problems.
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: I think the rain mixing with everything else that's on the street -- because they have no sanitation.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: The people that are still stuck in the buildings, they're probably deceased. They needed this rain a few weeks ago, believe it or not. If you have rain right after a devastating earthquake like that, the people that are trapped can use that rain as drinking water.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: I know it sounds disgusting to you and me. We'll go out buy a bottle of Dasani.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: While you're stuck in a building, and you see water dripping down from the crack roof, that's godsend. It really -- it extends survivor rates significantly. But what's coming in now, it's too late, because, you know, we had one person pulled out the other day, but, you know, that was -- I hate to use the word miracle, but there you go.
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: There is a cold front that's running right down here through Haiti. This is an old NOAA satellite. We can actually see the Caribbean that was a couple of showers right over Port-Au-Prince, literally a shower. That's it. And then it caused all of this.
Let's go to the video here of what happens after. How people were trying to move this water out of the way. You know, I remember covering Missouri floods --
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: And Mississippi River floods, and one of my colleagues happened to put a microphone cable in his mouth, just to hold it up out of the way by accident. And it had been drug through the mud literally. That man was sick for quite a few weeks.
VELSHI: Really?
MYERS: From that.
VELSHI: Just because of the exposure, right.
MYERS: In the Missouri and the Mississippi and the United States.
VELSHI: Right. Not in a place with sanitation concerns to start with.
MYERS: Those people aren't just shoveling away dirt, all right.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: You know what else is in there.
And now what's happening. Look at this. Can you find Haiti?
VELSHI: No.
MYERS: Can you even see it?
VELSHI: What is that?
MYERS: Right here, let me show you. Here's Port-Au-Prince.
VELSHI: OK. OK.
MYERS: Here you go. All the way up here. There you go. There's Labadie. The cruise ship up at Labadie. There's the Dominican Republic and there's the other side under that.
I guess, I should have run it another color. Let's see if I can draw it real fast so you can see it all. There's so many colors.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: 150 years worth of hurricanes, category 2 or higher.
VELSHI: Wow.
MYERS: This is the crossroads of the Caribbean. The crossroads of Hurricane Alley. Here's Gerth and Edith and Caroline. You can see the names. Here's Flora and Ella, and it just --
VELSHI: Wow.
MYERS: -- they all seem to cross over Haiti. And that can be significantly even more devastating when you're talking about people and now 13 inches of rain --
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: -- not 0.1 of an inch of rain.
VELSHI: All right.
MYERS: Here they go. That's why we're still there.
VELSHI: Yes. And we're going to check on that one of the things we want to discuss with you is that, if you are in one of those houses or, let's say, you're not in a house, let's say you were on a piece of land and your house disappeared. It was crumbled. What do you use for shelter? We've heard about people using cardboard boxes. We've heard about people using sheets. But how do you even get that stuff that's destroyed off your property?
There's rebar, there's steel, there's concrete, there's junk. So Habitat for Humanity got together and tried to figure out what's the best toolbox that you can send to Haiti to help people clear their land, and create some shelter, and they're sending -- starting tomorrow -- about 8,000 of these boxes, or 2,000 I think already in the Dominican Republic, but this week they've been getting these boxes together. They're sending 8,000 of them down to Haiti.
Ivan's with me, because Ivan spent a lot of time in Haiti watching this stuff.
This toolbox with all sorts of things in it. There's duct tape, there's a hacksaw to cut through the iron. They're calling it a hammer, but, it's a real -- you know, big one.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Heavy duty.
VELSHI: Crowbar.
WATSON: Right.
VELSHI: Rope, tarp, gloves, buckets, gloves, safety glasses. Does this look useful?
WATSON: Absolutely. We take this for granted. Look at this. A box of nails. But this is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
VELSHI: Right.
WATSON: Waterproof tarp. I was seeing huge, basically refugee camps, displace person camps, where people were using cotton sheets and sticks and they were sleeping under those. Now can you imagine what happened to those when they were hit by an hour long torrential downpour before dawn this morning? And how much even just one tarp could have helped that family.
VELSHI: Yes. And this is what they are saying. Home Depot was involved in this. And they got a number of the suppliers and these tools to supply them at cost. And there are little -- you know, things that we take for granted. But just a little knife here -- my producer tried to open and cut herself, but there you go.
WATSON: Careful.
VELSHI: But there you go. A little knife, a way to get through some of the metal that's broken and replacement blades and duct tape and things like that.
I was asking them how someone would use this. And they were saying they sort of put this together because it seems to be the most useful stuff, and some may use it differently.
So somebody might have two trees or they might have something standing to which they connect the tarp using the rope, but this is kind of the starter tool kit to try and get your -- your life off the ground.
WATSON: You know, it was interesting. We were already seeing -- and I left about a week and a half ago. People shifting from those sheet- and-stick houses or shelters to start to putting together things with plywood and -- and scrap metal and things like that.
VELSHI: Right.
WATSON: More like almost shantytowns coming up. And you can still line your kind of roof with something like this.
VELSHI: Yes.
WATSON: To make sure that the water didn't pour in the same way or use a rope. And, frankly, it is possible that after this is distributed, some of this, we're going to start seeing ending up in the bazaars and the markets resold.
VELSHI: Resold, I'm sure.
WATSON: Because, hey, it's a source of money. It will help feed your kids. I got to be honest, Ali, if some of these people had had these tools on the second day after the earthquake, it might have been a lot easier to dig out survivors.
VELSHI: You might be able to catch up. But we saw pictures. You saw them. You were at those sites, where people were using rudimentary tools to try and -- and trying -- you know, pull people out of the building. I don't know how you do it where we have all tools available to us in a place like this. But to see it there, and see people just sort of heaving stuff out and not having water, I hope this helps.
10,000 of these boxes, thanks to donations to the Habitat for Humanity. Also, C.A.R.E. is helping to distribute that. They are also sending 3,000 latrines and soap and cleaning supplies. Just things we take for granted --
WATSON: Absolutely.
VELSHI: And a lot of folks there just don't have. Ivan, thanks. That was great work while you were down in Atlanta. If you want to get involved in this sort of thing, Habitat for Humanity is trying to do this.
The next stage, by the way, of what they do is to -- is to try and send those houses that they help people build, temporary houses.
WATSON: Absolutely.
VELSHI: And that's slightly better houses. We'll stay on top of that story. We're not going to leave it.
Hey, listen, today is the 20th anniversary of the famous freedom walk. The walk that Nelson Mandela took out of Robin Island prison off the coast of Cape Town. The 20th anniversary. He is still with us. 91 years old. There he is, listening to the celebration of 20 years of freedom for Nelson Mandela.
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VELSHI: All right. Today is the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from South Africa's Victor Verster prison. He spent 27 years as a political prisoner who had fought against apartheid. He went on to win the Nobel Peace Price in 1993. He was elected president of South Africa in 1994. And the rest of that history we are living.
But a very, very exciting day for many people in South Africa.
Nkepile Mabuse is in Cape Town. David McKenzie who is normally in Nairobi is here with me today. But he spent many, many years in South Africa. He was there on the day that Nelson Mandela was released.
Nkepile, let's go to you first. What an exciting day in South Africa. What is the story there?
NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was, indeed, Ali. Celebrations began in the morning at Victor Verster Prison, of course, where Nelson Mandela walked out 20 years ago after spending 27 years of his life in prison.
Of course, people today, hundreds gathered remembering that all- important day. And then, of course, it was the pomp and ceremony parliament where the current president who is Jacob Zuma dedicated his state of the nation's speech to the international icon. Mr. Mandela was in the audience. And he looked very, very well. He was accompanied by his wife, Graca Michel. And he had Mr. Zuma's speech in his hand and he followed each and every word.
So I'm sure many South Africans were very delighted to see their beloved icon, because they rarely see him. He is 91 years old, and he is frail, and retired from public life. So they hardly ever get a glimpse of him, and they will be very pleased to have seen that he looks quite well, Ali. VELSHI: Nkepile, good to talk to you. There are very few people in the world who cannot watch the fact that Nelson Mandela at the age of 91 was able to walked into parliament in Cape Town, and listen to a speech about him. I think that is a momentous time.
Nkepile Mabuse in Cape Town, thank you so much for joining us.
David McKenzie joins us now. David, you were in Cape Town, when this happened. And remind us that we were watching on TV, this picture of Nelson Mandela walking out and greeting people. It was very, very triumphant, but there was a lot of that country that was very worried that a bloodbath was about to take place now that Nelson Mandela was out and white rule in South Africa was coming to an end.
MCKENZIE: Well, that's right. And you have to remember that prisoner Mandela was in jail for all those years. And I'm South African. I was born in Cape Town.
I remember being, you know, much younger then, and I were hearing that this momentous occasion was happening. Everybody knew it, obviously, who Mandela was. But, you know, there was a media blackout for all of this time. We hadn't seen him other than old archive. And in South Africa, there was the state border cross that was run by the apartheid government. So what you had is going almost overnight in the media sense.
This person -- he was famous, but unseen suddenly coming out triumphantly with Winnie Mandela by his side. I can picture it in my head. It was this huge occasion. But as you say, there's certain sections of the population. Well, what is going to happen now? The black majority will ultimately run South Africa.
VELSHI: Right.
MCKENZIE: This country that for decades was run by a racist government. And he ended up going from the prison. He gave the speech to thousands of people in Cape Town way before you wouldn't be allowed to have a protest or meeting as black or white or white South Africans. Coming out then, one of the first things out of his mouth was a message of reconciliation of getting past this. And for a person who was in jail for all of those years.
VELSHI: Right. 27 years.
MCKENZIE: It was an instant 27 years.
VELSHI: That's how he spent doing hard labor.
It wouldn't have been surprising to some people to say, sky is mad and he wants his revenge.
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MCKENZIE: (INAUDIBLE) being jailed, but I have been alive at that point.
VELSHI: Right. Right.
MCKENZIE: And he came out and he gave the speech of reconciliation. It wasn't early indicated to even those on the wrong side of history. That this man is going possibly be the savior of South Africa.
VELSHI: Right.
MCKENZIE: And even the media at the time, the foreign media as well was privately and publicly predicting that this could never get beyond the stage. And there are problems in South Africa -- issues with unemployment and crime. But, you know, we are hosting the World Cup this year.
VELSHI: That's right.
MCKENZIE: Mandela is around. He is checking through those notes. I was amazed in reading President Zuma's speech. This man has disappeared from the public life a little bit, but he is still such an icon to South Africans and the world.
VELSHI: Well, he did acknowledge one thing that I thought was very important on that very day. And he has done it ever since then. And that is that he realized the history South Africa is a shared history. It doesn't really matter your color is. You're there, you have been there for awhile, it is everybody's country now. And I think that was interesting tone to set.
MCKENZIE: And what is important is it is a shared future.
VELSHI: It's a shared future.
MCKENZIE: Without the sharing of power at the early stages, without the continued commitment to multiracial society, South Africa would not have gotten to where it is today.
VELSHI: Right. And it is a country with one of the most advanced and inclusive constitutions in the entire world.
David, when are you going back to Africa? You are mostly in Nairobi, right? That's where you're in?
MCKENZIE: I'm out of east Africa. I cover that half of Africa, which is caught a big patch. And certainly huge connections with the U.S., with President Obama's family living in Kenya, still. So you know, it is -- there's a lot of exciting things happening in my region.
VELSHI: Very good to have you here. David McKenzie, thank you.
MCKENZIE: Thank you, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. When we come back, we are going to that stimulus desk. Billions of dollars are available to help you weatherize your home. We've been talking so much about weather. Josh Levs is standing by to tell us why that money hasn't been spent yet?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: All right. Josh is covering the stimulus desk. Thank you for getting a chair, because you have been sort of towering over me.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know, because I was too tall standing over you.
VELSHI: So we've been hearing. We haven't been hearing from you as much, because unfortunately we've been following this bad weather.
LEVS: OK.
VELSHI: But what makes me think about, this bad weather, you found some money in the stimulus bill for people winterizing their homes.
LEVS: Yes, it is interesting. I mean, we were wondering, too, what's being done because a lot of people struggling in the cold right now.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEVS: There are a couple of things. I mean, there are some programs out there helping to clean out the street. Some of the stimulus money did trickle down its way to the de-icing machines in some town and snow ploughs. But what's really interesting is that there is weatherization. $5 billion to weatherizing home. And guess how much of this actually had been spent?
VELSHI: I'm going to guess not much.
LEVS: Tiny, $441 million.
VELSHI: Right.
LEVS: Less than 10 percent has actually gone to doing anything for people's home so far. So you have the bulk of this money that people can apply for. We'll show you in a minute how to get there.
Well, you got $5 billion that's put into this. Only a little trickle has actually gone to home.
VELSHI: And this is money that is meant to be -- you're suppose to spend it on making your house more energy efficient.
LEVS: Contractors will come to your home --
VELSHI: Yes.
LEVS: And they will make it more energy efficient. They will help build the insulation here to improve your air condition to help you in the summer. Remember, people die from no air conditioners in the summer as well.
VELSHI: Right.
LEVS: So this is a huge problem in pretty much all over the country at some point. So what they did was they made this money available. The Feds got it to states pretty fast, but now the states are out there, and they have to figure out how do we make sure that the money does not get wasted, right? They are trying to look at which agencies get the money.
VELSHI: Right.
LEVS: People have to apply for that money. The steps are on the way. It's been a year since the stimulus came into action.
VELSHI: So how does somebody apply for this?
LEVS: So what they do is there is a Web site that you can go to, and it is a long Web site that you won't remember, which is why -- go to my screen actually. I posted a link for everybody on my Facebook page. We'll get it going at the blog. It's at my Facebook, Joshlevs@cnn right.
We will get it up at CNN.com/josh and CNN.com/ali, so anybody can apply for this. And there is still billions of dollars left out there. So, especially, people with lower incomes, if they are concerned about the cold, if they are concern about the heat, go ahead and apply. You might get a chunk of change to improve your house that way.
VELSHI: All right. We're going to keep an eye on what is going on with that.
Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: You bet.
