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Disastrous Flood Moving South; Opening the Morganza Floodway; Riverside Towns Brace for Flood; Mom on Trial for Killing Daughter; Winning on a Crowded Ballot; Haiti Inaugurates New President; Pakistan Outrage at U.S.; Security for the SEALs; Two Imams at Two Mosques Indicted; George Lucas: Improving Education; MLB's Civil Rights Celebration; From Ear to Exile; Eye For An Eye in Iran; CNN Heroes; Getting Bin Laden

Aired May 14, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM this Saturday, May 14th, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Saving two of Louisiana's biggest cities at the sacrifice of flooding homes and farmland that's what will likely happen as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens the Morganza spillway beginning an hour from now.

While opening those gates would slowly divert floodwaters from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, areas in yellow could get up to 20 feet of water, in green up to 15 feet. The Morganza spillway hasn't been opened in nearly 40 years.

But for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it's a necessary move to protect major cities. But they're going to open it slowly so that people and wildlife are not caught by surprise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLONEL ED FLEMING, U.S. ARMY CORPS: There's a slow opening for a lot of reasons. One is from an engineering perspective. The water will come out of here pretty quickly. You don't want to scour the back side of this structure.

From an environmental perspective, obviously there are lots of bear and other kinds of wildlife and we want to make sure they have the opportunity to get to higher ground.

Last but most importantly, from a human perspective, we want to make sure folks have the understanding that water is coming their way and they need to evacuate in accordance with their local evacuation policies and procedures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our Ed Lavandera sat in on that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers briefing last hour. He joins us right from the Morganza spillway in Louisiana.

So roughly an hour from now, Ed, they'll be opening the spillway. How quickly before people would actually see that run-off of water?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've developed a map that will show that. It will take some time. We're about 40 miles or so north of Interstate 10. They say it will take about a day to get there and possibly as much as three days to get down to Morgan City, Louisiana, which is right on the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 miles away.

If you look down here, this is the Morganza spillway structure. If you look about halfway down, there are a couple of cranes up there. That's where the first gate will be opened today. They will open up one today in about an hour or so.

Over the course of the next couple days, they will continue to open up more as needed. That's obviously a very fluid situation. They'll have to make those determinations as they see the amount of pressure that's taken off the Mississippi River and that sort of thing over the coming days.

That's one of the things they'll continue to be monitoring. But we are told, if you look out this huge wide-open span here, Fredricka, by tomorrow, they say there will be like two to three feet of water everywhere you're seeing out there.

All that water will start to make its way south, urging the people in those lowest lying areas to head out. The colonel of the Army Corps of Engineers, Ed Fleming, the man who will be making that call here in hour to open up the flood gates talked a little while ago about what this day means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLEMING: This is a historic day, a historic day not only for the entire Mississippi River, but for the state of Louisiana. At 1500 this afternoon, we will open up the Morganza floodway, we'll start with one bay and that will bring about 10,000 cubic feet per second down this floodway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Now the number that you really need to pay close attention to is 1.5 million cubic feet of water per second. That is the threshold, the trigger point along the Mississippi River.

And once it's reached that point, that's when officials here will need to start taking water off the top. That means there's too much pressure on the levee system near Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Right now they're at more than 1.6 million cubic feet per second. Clearly it's now time to engage in this plan here and start letting the water flow out. That will happen here within the hour. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD (voice-over): Meantime, let's go north about 200 miles and take a look at these homes right here. We're talking about Greenville, Mississippi, Lake Ferguson where, believe it or not, the river is still a day or two from cresting.

This will get much worse as the water continues to rise. Greenville is right on the river on the Arkansas state line. Martin Savidge is there today. Martin, how are people of Greenville trying to prepare for what might come?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now most of them are standing on the levee and they are using it as a photo opportunity. They do not feel a great sense of urgency because it looks like the levee system here is working well.

As you point out, the crest has not arrived, and there still is some damage that's occurring. You probably can see the roofline off in the distance there. That happens to be the Greenville Yacht Club, completely submerged.

But if you look over on this side, you'll see the green hillside, that's actually the levee, it's built to 75 feet. The crest expected here Monday, 65 feet so well below that. So if you're on the other side of the flood protection system here, you're in very good shape.

If you're not, though, you're in very bad shape. Take a look. This is one of the casinos that dots the coast here. You can see along the waterfront that that building has been heavily flooded. We took another tour yesterday up what's called lower Ferguson Lake road.

Normally that's a drive and a quite beautiful one. Now you can't get to it by car. You have to get there by boat. There you five a three to five-mile stretch of homes. All of them, about 90 to 100 homes completely submerged. In some cases, some of these houses are a little above water. That's because they're on stilts, 15 to 17 feet in the air.

They thought they built them high enough so that no flood would touch them unfortunately not the case. Here are some pictures from Vicksburg, which is about 80 miles downriver. Vicksburg is not expected to see the crest until Thursday. I believe it's going to be about 57.5 feet.

But already, they are suffering down there, a lot of flooding, especially the businesses along the banks of the Mississippi River and a number of homes. As you pointed out, the tributaries as well, not just the Mississippi are backed up. That's causing a lot of flood damage, especially in agriculture.

You have three million acres under water in four states, Arkansas alone saying it's got half a billion in damage to the crops down there. Finally, Fredricka, we want to give a shout-out to two guys who have a very long way to go. These two fellows we found on the levee. They were by moon landing. They work for the Army Corps of Engineers.

It's their job to follow the crest of the flood as it goes down stream. They started up in Illinois weeks ago. They made it down this far, moving it at about four miles an hour. They stop every half mile, take a measurement, gather the data and transmit it so that everyone else knows where the crest is.

They will do that all the way down to mile marker zero and the Gulf of Mexico. They have a long way to go, probably will be doing that all the way to the end of the month, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Martin Savidge. Thanks so much coming to us from Greenville.

All right, let's check in with our Jennifer Delgado in the Weather Center more on this situation. It's very frightening for those who operate their homes and businesses. But clearly, from some of that video we saw, there have been some serious evacuations and it looks successfully. But a lot of homes very much damaged.

JENNIFER DELGADO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You know, but rightfully so. So many people evacuate. That's what you want to do with all of that rushing water coming down. That is such a dangerous situation.

Now let's talk a little more about the Morganza flood gates. What you're looking at in red, this is actually the flood gate, here is the Mississippi River, to help you visualize it a bit more. When you open up the flood gate, we're going to see more of that water, just of course, just flooding the area you're seeing just to this region to the west.

That is going to flood roughly about 34,000 square kilometers and this area right here for Butte Le Rose, that actually doesn't have a levee system there so the flooding is going to be bad in that region. As I take you a bit more area over towards the east, we're talking about Morgan City.

You can see populated area, but they do have a levee system. So everything plays out, it looks like hopefully Morgan City will actually be doing pretty good. Now keep in mind. Just pay attention, a little bit more about Morgan City. How they have a flood gate as I show you a little more about levees.

Now just imagine if there is a levee there and the water gets so high and it over tops the levee, of course, these homes are going to virtually look like islands. Now if you have the levee system there and it holds up, of course that is going to protect the towns nearby.

But by opening up Morganza spillway, that is going to lead to more protection downstream for areas including Baton Rouge as well as for areas including Louisiana. We're talking about New Orleans.

Just to give you an update on the flooding there, we're dealing with major flooding for many rivers. You can see for areas on May 19th, we're talking about Vicksburg River at 12.8 feet. Then as we go May 21st, 12.2 for Natchez.

This is important to point out. This is major flooding. Now down towards the south near New Orleans we're talking about moderate flooding, and that is better news than major flooding. Certainly everybody across the part of New Orleans needs to pay attention to this problem with the Mississippi.

WHITFIELD: All right, we will be keeping tabs all day long. Thanks so much, Jennifer. Appreciate that.

All right, in other news now, the U.S. State Department is apologizing for a computer glitch that left thousands of people believing they had won a green card. Millions applied for just 50,000 green cards. Officials invalidated the results posted on a web site after learning of the mistake. A new lottery will be held come July.

And jury selection in a sensational Florida murder trial continues into the weekend. You're looking at live pictures actually right now. Lawyers are still trying to seat jurors to hear the murder case against Casey Anthony.

She's accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter nearly three years ago. The little girl was missing for six months before her skeletal remains were found in the woods near her home.

Haiti has a new president. But before winning office, Michelle Martelli was just one name on a crowded ballot. We'll tell you how many candidates he beat to win.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Michel Martelli hasn't had an easy road to Haiti's presidency. In the first round of voting he was one of 19 candidates. It included the wife of a former president, a entrepreneur, an engineer, two former prime ministers. Martelli's inauguration is just one headline around the world we're watching.

The former entertainer once known as "Sweet Mickey" was sworn in as Haiti's new president today. A power outage before the ceremony showed the country still faces problems from last year's earthquake. Martelli pledged to wipe out the corruption, which has plagued Haiti for years.

And Palestinians lobbed stones at Israeli police as the two sides clashed in Jerusalem today. Police fought back with teargas. The violence erupted at the funeral procession for a Palestinian teenager shot by police Saturday.

And Pakistan's parliament is demanding an independent investigation into the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Lawmakers are furious that Navy SEALs carried out the operation on Pakistani soil with no warning. A joint resolution also calls for an immediate end to drone strikes along its border region.

The Pentagon is also upset about the operation, but for very different reasons. Military officials worry that details leaked ability the commandos involved in the raid could endanger their lives. As Brian Todd reports, they want the leaks to stop now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're the best trained, toughest commandos in the world, but now we learn members of the Navy SEAL team that killed Osama Bin Laden have told their boss they're worried about their own security and that of their families.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates say the SEALs told him that in recent days. He says the Pentagon is looking at ways to step up security for the team and is frustrated at leaks about the raid.

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Frankly, a week ago in the situation room, we agreed we would not release operational details from the effort to take out Bin Laden. That fell apart on Monday, the next day.

TODD: We've learned about the SEALs secret stealth helicopters, about how they moved around the compound, their head cameras and about an intelligence safe house nearby.

KEN ROBINSON, FORMER SPECIAL FORCES OFFICER: The executive branch, the legislative branch, friends, relatives and acquaintances, they need to shut the -- up.

TODD: Former U.S. Special Forces Officer Ken Robinson says future SEALs operations could be compromised by those details. But security at home is also a big worry.

(on camera): Has there been information put out in the public that would compromise the security of the SEALs now, the identities, et cetera?

ROBINSON: I don't think so. But I think the concern is they there could be if people continue to dig. Where the Achilles heel lies is really with friends, relatives and acquaintances, someone who is proud of them and who may know and knows their back. That gets into a public domain where it then gets picked up by a report and then gets broadcast.

TODD (voice-over): The SEALs identities are classified, but the base where the team is stationed is known.

(on camera): The SEAL Team Six is widely reported to operate out of this facility near Virginia Beach. We couldn't get on base. The unit is covered with such a degree of secrecy, the military doesn't acknowledge that it's here or that it even exists. That code goes beyond operational security at the base.

(voice-over): The SEALs community protects them, too. We went to several places in the Virginia Beach area where the SEALs are known to frequent. Several restaurant and bar owners wouldn't talk to us, didn't want us filming their establishments.

The SEALs appreciate their discretion and lived by it themselves. One bar owner told us off camera, if the SEALs are there and a fight breaks out, the SEALs slip out. Brian Todd, CNN, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The hunt for Osama Bin Laden spanned the terms of three U.S. presidents. Who were the architects of such a resounding success? CNN investigates how the plan was conceived, planned and carried out. Watch our "INSIDE THE MISSION, GETTING BIN LADEN" tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

Two Islamic leaders, a father and son from two South Florida mosques, they are among six people charged today for allegedly sending money to a known terror group overseas. Susan Candiotti has been working this story and joins us live now from New York. What more can you tell us, Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Well, certainly as you indicated, among those charged, you've got two imams, a father who is 76 years old and his 24-year-old son. Each is the religious leader of a mosque, one in Miami and one in Margate, Florida, which is near Fort Lauderdale.

Investigators say the elder imam spearheaded the alleged conspiracy. Altogether six people are indicted for raising at least $53,000 in donations to help the Pakistani Taliban. Prosecutors call that money the tip of the iceberg of their 3-year-long investigation.

That terrorist organization is linked to a number of attacks including last year's convicted Times Square bomber, a suicide attack only yesterday in Pakistan and another 2009 suicide attack that killed seven U.S. soldiers at a military base in Pakistan.

Court papers state that when one of these imams heard of the attack, quote, "he declared his wish that God bring death to 50,000 more." The FBI and prosecutors say they track a string of suspicious transactions from the U.S. to Pakistan and at this point won't say who the donors are.

Authorities stress that the two South Florida mosque communities are not under indictment. Investigators say the money was sent to help the Taliban carry out terror attacks overseas, to buy guns and support schools that train children to become Jihadists.

Now these defendants are expected to appear for the first time in court on Monday in South Florida. If found guilty, Fred, they face up to 15 years in prison. In his words, the U.S. attorney in Miami tells CNN that the elder imam, quote, "is no man of peace." Fred.

WHITFIELD: Susan Candiotti in New York. Appreciate that. Thank you.

All right, George Lucas, you know his name from the movies, the movie maker that he is, director. He's a major force now behind improving education. Find out what he's doing to make schools better.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Digital technology is all around us, your phone, your computer, your camera. Now legendary filmmaker George Lucas is making sure it gets in all of our schools. Here is this week's "Perry's Principles."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Star Wars" creator George Lucas conquered the empire with the power of the force. Now he's conquering education with the power of the internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Education is the single most important job that the human race has.

PERRY: Edutopia.org is a free, non-profit site that highlights what works in schools with blog, articles and videos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're looking for ways for students to deepen their knowledge and work with their own knowledge so they can become the authors of their own learning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So often you find people know their education system could be better, but they're not always sure exactly in what way. So what we've tried to do with edutopia.org is to shine a spotlight on innovation and show people with the power of video what it looks like and how it's taking place.

PERRY (on camera): One of the biggest challenges that I see in education is that when a school is successful, people begin to say that that can't be replicated.

CINDY JOHANSON, THE GEORGE LUCAS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: We try in our coverage to show tips and strategies that can be adapted, that can be extended to other environments.

PERRY (voice-over): Like in southern California where Michele Smith lives.

MICHELE SMITH, PARENT: My son is dyslexic. There were a lot of challenges that he was facing in a traditional school setting. So I started self-educating myself on the charter schools.

PERRY: Using clips from Edutopia, Smith produced a video illustrating the vision she had for a new charter school and won over the school board.

SMITH: This is our school site. This is context middle school 2011.

JOHANSON: So often with education, it's about what's wrong, the problems in education. Yet there's this force of people out there on the front lines.

PERRY: Steve Perry, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: All right, it has been 64 years since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier. Well, today MLB marks how far baseball and our country has come.

Atlanta is hosting the Civil Rights game this weekend. And the city's Centennial Olympic Park is trying to spur interest in the game among young people.

Jennifer Mayerle joins me right now with more on the celebrations that are taking place, the events. You have batting cages there. You've got kids who are getting coaching on their swing. What else?

JENNIFER MAYERLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is so much going on. I mean, they're playing right behind me. Baseball and the Civil Rights Movement really go hand in hand. So many of the baseball greats, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, really paved the way for so many of the players that came up behind them and one of them is right here behind us.

That's Terry Harper there in the white. Otis Nixon in the red behind him, these former Braves all-stars are helping these kids. Imagine playing with all-stars being a young person. Now baseball also played an important role in the life and success of "Grey's Anatomy" star Jesse Williams. We had a chance to catch up in with him out here today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSE WILLIAMS, ACTOR FROM GREY'S ANATOMY: I think it's a great opportunity to kind of interact with the next generation of kids coming out that are or maybe even in the future will be affiliated with baseball.

Baseball was a big part of my life growing up. I think also anything that offers a historical perspective. That's how we got here today. What it means to be here and the sacrifices that were made on the way.

MAYERLE: Of course, we're honoring some of the people that paved the way with the Civil Rights Movement and some of those baseball players. Hank Aaron, you say you like him?

JAMES: Yes, absolutely. Hank Aaron is legendary, beyond legendary. It's one of a kind so an opportunity to be in the same room as him is very unique and exciting. I think we can help communicate that to the young people out here as to how we got here.

MAYERLE: One of the things they're trying to do today with want to play is to get some of the youth reinvigorated in baseball, reenergize. What's your message to them?

JAMES: Well, baseball was a huge part of my life growing up, I played year-round, traveling. It really taught me a tremendous amount about discipline, about being accountable, about what you said you're going to do. It's the beautiful combination of like individual, being a task manager for yourself, but also being on a team. So you learn how to balance a team sport, but also handling your responsibility.

Hitting is one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult things in sports. Hitting safely and being able to feel that responsibility is entirely yours and that ball is coming at you.

However, you have a team to fall back on to be your support system. I think it's a lovely combination of the two.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MAYERLE: And Williams and so many of the other players out here out talking to the kids, hoping that they take those messages along with them when they leave here today. This baseball game behind me, that's just the beginning, that is leading up to the culmination of this entire weekend with the Civil Rights game tomorrow at Turner Field, Braves versus the Phillies. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, all eyes will be on that. Thanks so much, Jennifer, appreciate that.

All right, the flooding in the Mississippi Delta, well, it presents a lot of tough questions for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Next, find out how it decides which communities to protect from the floodwaters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: How is it decided which homes and communities to save, which ones to sacrifice? In a moment we'll go in depth with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as they deal with the flooding along the Mississippi River.

First a look at some of the other top stories. Two Islamic Leaders in South Florida and a relative in California were arrested today, charged with providing support to the Pakistani Taliban. That's the terrorist group with close ties to Al-Qaeda responsible for attacks on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Three other people in Pakistan were also indicted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to stand up to California -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Thousands of California teachers were ending their week of protests against education budget cuts throughout the State. The teachers are calling for an extension of the State's expiring tax hikes to stave off deep cuts to schools.

An autopsy is being conducted today to find out what killed New York Rangers player Derek Boogaard. The hockey player's body was discovered yesterday in his Minneapolis apartment. He began his NHL career in Minnesota before joining the New York Rangers. He was just 28 years old.

Turning now to the flooding along the Mississippi River. The water is way up on the Tennessee-Missouri state line. Dyersburg, Tennessee, there's still people in Dyer County who remember the last time the water came up this far. That was 1937. One man was helping his uncle salvage whatever he could.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD LINDSEY, DYER COUNTY RESIDENT: He has nowhere to go. He's going to have to try to fix it. Hopefully we can make it livable again. It's a lot of work.

He's taking it pretty hard. He's getting ready to retire. You know, fixed income, things like that. It's tough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All week CNN has been going in depth with the troubled waters. Right now -- we're watching the Morganza Spillway north of Baton Rouge. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to open it in about 30 minutes from now to divert water from the city. Casey Wian takes a look at how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decides which areas to spare.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN REPORTER: Major General Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers made the most controversial call yet in response to the historic flooding along the Mississippi River. He ordered Missouri's Bird's Point Levee blown up diverting water away from several towns, but flooding 130,000 acres of farmland, wiping out an estimated $300 million in crops.

BRYAN FRAZIER, FARMER: Sick to your stomach. Farming is all I've ever done.

MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL WALSH, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Certainly I know many of the people who own land there, and I was talking with them. They understood the difficulty of the decision that had to be made.

WIAN: But the Army Corps now faces a class action lawsuit from farmers.

MICHAEL PONDER, ATTORNEY FOR FARMERS: What we have here is really a situation that's of questionable moral ambiguity. How do you choose one set of homes and livelihoods over another?

WIAN: The Corps says it was a difficult decision and there were no good options.

JIM POGUE, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Their sacrifices are going to benefit hundreds of thousands of people all through this region.

WIAN: Congress gave the Corps that kind of power after the devastating Mississippi River flood of 1927 which left hundreds dead and at least 500,000 homeless.

GEORGE SILLS, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, RETIRED: The entire Mississippi Delta was under water at that time. So Congress did two things. They granted them the authority and gave them a mission to do flood control. But they also gave them immunity from anything that they do that happens to be wrong.

WIAN: Subsequent major floods in 1937 and thereafter brought criticism, but nothing like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In 2009 a Federal Judge ruled that the Corps' failure to maintain a shipping channel led to massive flooding in New Orleans.

JOSEPH BRUNO, ATTORNEY FOR KATRINA VICTIMS: They need to be evaluated, need to be investigated. We've got to make sure this doesn't happen again.

WIAN: The Government has appealed the ruling. Congressman Benny Thompson was part of a congressional inquiry into the Corps after Katrina. His district stretches along 280 miles of the Mississippi and he met with Army Corps officials this week.

REP. BENNY THOMPSON (D), MISSISSIPPI: Before Katrina, they were a closed operation, kept it to themselves, and that was an issue. But I've seen some effort on the Corps' part since then to reach out.

WIAN: Now the Corps seems eager to show their work as the flood of 2011 moves south. This is flood water from the Mississippi River and one of its tributaries, the Yazoo River which is expected in the coming days to overflow this levee. What the Army Corps of Engineers has been doing over the last few days is laying nearly four miles of this polyurethane sheeting on what was the dry side of this levee. The idea is it will help prevent erosion from damaging farmland on the other side. Working to save farms here, farms there gone and more tough choices to come.

Casey Wian, CNN, Vicksburg, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Fighting floods is only part of the Corps mission. Up next, see what else it does and why it's battling Congress.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, on CNN "In Depth," our troubled waters. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is front and center when flooding strikes. That's only part of its mission. Casey Wian reports it's having to do it all with less.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: For years this is how the Army Corps of Engineers researched the impacts of flooding in the Mississippi River Delta, models built to scale to see what would happen, for example, if a barge tried to pass through flood gates. Now it's using high-tech tools such as this computer simulator providing a realistic river boat pilot's view.

DR. JEFFERY HOLLAND, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: By far the biggest change is we've gone from the types of models you see here to a combination of computer models and physical models of this type.

WIAN: The Corps's Research and Development Center in Mississippi studies everything from wartime infrastructure needs for the Military to ways to prevent migrating juvenile salmon from being killed by hydro-electric power plant turbines. It's a massive mission that the Corps says may become tougher. President Obama's 2012 budget proposes cutting the Corps budget 18 percent compared to 2010.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing fewer new projects, using a larger proportion of our money to operate and maintain the infrastructure that we're responsible for, just like these levees that are holding back the Mississippi River.

WIAN: The Corps says that it will probably need to ask Congress for more money to pay for the work it's doing now along the Mississippi. It's used to doing that. In fact, critics say its projects are often too politicized and too dependent on earmark spending requests by individual Lawmakers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Congress have a project for the most part they're good and valid projects. There is a very small percentage that probably are best not in our budget.

WIAN: Now Congress has eliminated earmarks, and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint introduced a bill he says is intended to depoliticize the Corps' budgeting process and eliminate a backlog of almost 1,000 unfinished projects. Neither DeMint nor the Corps would discuss the proposal. Even with pressure from some Lawmakers, shrinking budgets and a daunting challenge from mother nature, the Corps is preparing for what comes after this year's historic flooding.

HOLLAND: There's going to be an extraordinary concern about the main purpose that the Corps of Engineers has which is the saving of human life. What we will be looking to do is to understand ever more effectively how the water moves in the main channel, in the Mississippi River, how long will it be before people can get back into their homes and reclaim their lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Casey Wian reporting. Once again the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will open one bay of the Morganza Spillway at the top of the hour and we'll take you there live as it happens.

All right. Tens of thousands of people risking their lives to flee the war in raging in Libya. They're crowding onto flimsy fishing boats, setting out on rough seas and heading to a tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An arrest warrant may be issued for Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi for crimes against humanity. An official close to the international criminal court tells CNN to expect a formal announcement on Monday. It's the first time the ICC investigated alleged crimes against humanity while the conflict in question was on going.

The conflicting raging in Libya has sent a wave of desperate people fleeing the violence in their homeland, getting out is one thing, but then there's the question of where will they go. Watch this report from CNN's Ivan Watson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN REPORTER: They come by sea, leaky, wooden fishing boats jammed full. Some women and children all desperate to escape North Africa, all willing to risk their lives to get to this tiny island on the edge of Europe.

IBRAHIM COOPER, LIBYAN REFUGEE: The sea is very difficult, some people -- as for me, I vomited so much. I'm happy I'm here.

WATSON: For years most of the boat people coming to Lampedusa were Sub-Saharan African migrants fleeing poverty and unemployment. Now there's a new driver, the grinding war in Libya.

COOPER: It's very dangerous. I can't say. I have to escape.

WATSON: It's only noon and this is already the third fishing boat crammed with migrants and refugees to land in Lampedusa in just one morning. On Friday, more than 1,200 refugees from Libya landed in a single day.

LAURA BOLDRINI, UNHCR SPOKESWOMAN: We have experienced this reality everywhere in the world. Every time you have a war, you have civilians who try to escape.

WATSON: The United Nations says more than 30,000 migrants and refugees have landed here in just the last three months.

BOLDRINI: This is Russian roulette. You don't know at this point if you can reach the other side of the Mediterranean. It's terribly risky.

WATSON: Look what happened last Sunday. One of the overloaded boats hit the rocks off the coast. Italian rescue workers struggled to save hundreds of people, but not all made it. Italian villagers held a funeral service for three passengers from that doomed boat. No one even knows their names.

In the past few months the U.N. estimates hundreds of boat people died attempting this journey across the Mediterranean. Faceless victims of a dangerous voyage who never got a funeral.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Lampedusa, Italy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Other International news now including a criminal court ruling in Iran. Michael Holmes from CNN INTERNATIONAL here with more on that.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very disturbing story, this one. What happened was back in 2008, Majid Movahedi was convicted of throwing acid in the face of a woman who he wanted to marry him and never been interested. There's the woman there. Her name is Ameneh Bahrami. She met him in college. He came up to her, he tried to want to take her out, wanted to marry her. She never had anything to do with him. Said no, no, no.

One day, November 2004 she's walking along the street, just gotten off the bus. He comes up behind her. She felt somebody behind her. She turned around. He throws acid in her face. She puts her hands on her face and she gets acid on her hands, her eyes, blinded.

Under Islamic law you can literally call for an eye for an eye. As part of his punishment, she said she wanted him to be blinded. She was going to do the blinding herself, five drops -- he gets sedated -- five drops of acid in each eye. She was going to do it herself. It was going to happen today. She decided she wouldn't do it. She's worried about getting acid on herself. She's obviously paranoid about acid these days.

WHITFIELD: Not because she was worried --

HOLMES: No because a doctor was going to do it. It was meant to happen today -- Saturday. It was put off for reasons unknown. The family all showed up for this thing to occur. It was put off for reasons unknown. The family is saying they've been told to come back tomorrow. It could happen tomorrow.

Literally -- this is an unusual sort of punishment. You have Amnesty International saying to the Iranians, look, whatever the crime, it's inhuman to do this for a punishment. They've been calling on them to have a jail term, whatever you like. But don't carry out this sort of punishment.

WHITFIELD: So are we at an impasse or indeed tomorrow we might --

HOLMES: Well, the court has ruled that this will happen. So he at this stage, according to the legal proceedings, this will happen. Whether it happens tomorrow, we don't know. The family has said they have been told to come back tomorrow. It was meant to happen today and, as I say, got put off for reasons unknown. But they've been told to come back tomorrow. So this will happen and she's completely unrepentant about it. She says I want this to happen.

WHITFIELD: Literally an eye for an eye. All right. Michael Holmes, thank you so much off CNN INTERNATIONAL. Appreciate that.

Traveling thousands of miles to help children that this man hasn't even met. Meet our CNN hero next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Every day in Vietnam, an estimated 23,000 children are living on the streets. Our CNN hero of the week is an Australian who moved to Vietnam and is now giving those kids a chance for a brighter future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BROSOWSKI, BLUE DRAGON CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: Here in Hanoi, kids come to the streets hoping it would be better than living in poverty in the countryside, but often they find things are worse here.

You can identify kids who are living and working on the streets. They may get detained by the authorities. They may get beaten up. There are gangs selling heroin. We're finding kids being tricked and sold into prostitution. And it was just a case of I can help so I should help.

My name is Michael Brosowski, I work in Vietnam with street kids, trying to get them off the streets and back into school and into safe homes.

When we started out, our goal was to get them back to school. To do that, we realized we would have to take that place of providing an income, food, providing the shelter.

Our Center is where the kids know to come. This is where they feel safe. They can join in our activities. They can talk to the staff, and we have to make sure they're working toward education or getting a job or improving their health.

We also have to be careful if the child has a family the family is as involved as possible. It's an amazing feeling getting to watch these kids go from being malnourished and completely lacking confidence to wanting to make a change.

I grew up in poverty and I often used to think what if I could do something good with my life. If only someone would give me a chance. Now I'm the guy who can help these kids and give them a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Since 2004, Michael and his Blue Dragon Children's Foundation have helped more than 350 Vietnamese youngsters get off the street and into school to find safe shelter.

We also want to hear from you, tell us about the hero's in your community. Send us your nominations to CNN.com/heroes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Remember that Sunday evening when we learned Osama Bin Laden had been killed? President Barack Obama didn't let on that a defining moment of his presidency was just hours away.

We're talking about that moment tonight in a one-hour special called "INSIDE THE MISSION, GETTING BIN LADEN."

Here's a bit of it from CNN's Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The President of the United States.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Saturday, April 30th, 2011.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's wonderful to be here at the White House Correspondence Dinner. Just in case there are any lingering questions, tonight for the first time, I'm releasing my official birth video.

LAWRENCE: But behind the laughter, it was the defining moment for Obama's Presidency.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Little did we know what he knew, which was that we were just a few hours away from killing Osama Bin Laden.

LAWRENCE: Just hours earlier, the President made a final phone call to the Vice Admiral McRaven.

HENRY: It was very dramatic because the President basically said Godspeed. We have given you all we can to get the job done. Now it's up to you and your men.

LAWRENCE: Seven thousand miles away, at a U.S. Military base in Afghanistan, a handful of America's elite commandos are gearing up for the most important mission of their lives. Capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden.

Under the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of Monday, May 2nd, two U.S. Military Blackhawks with 25 Navy SEALS descend on the compound believed to be hiding the world's most wanted terrorist.

HOWARD WASDIN, FORMER U.S. NAVY SEAL: You've got endorphins being released, you've got epinephrine or, you know, adrenaline being released. If you control that fear, you fight.

LAWRENCE: An intense mission with no room for error.

But as the SEALS close in on their target --

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Something went very wrong. One of the helicopters lost lift and crashed.

The whole plan had been that they would rope down from helicopters hovering overhead. It doesn't work anymore.

The SEALs on the helicopter had to get out and assault the compound from the ground.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, the hunt for Osama bin Laden spanned the terms of three U.S. presidents. Who were the architects of such a resounding success? CNN investigates how the plan was conceived and carried out.

Watch or DVR "INSIDE THE MISSION, GETTING BIN LADEN" tonight, 8:00 Eastern time.