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CNN Live Saturday

Top Federal Official Warns Against Reopening New Orleans Soon; Interview with Paul Kagame

Aired September 17, 2005 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a look at the latest developments as New Orleans and the Gulf coast struggle to recover from Hurricane Katrina. A top federal official is warning New Orleans residents to be cautious about returning to their homes too quickly. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen says there are major health concerns, including continuing problems with the water, sewer and power systems.
Tests on muck covering the New Orleans area show that it is loaded with diesel and fuel oils. EPA officials say those pollutants, which can take years to break down, account for as much as 10 percent of the sediment left behind by the hurricane.

The Coast Guard says it rescued nearly 6,500 people during the first week of Katrina operations. Most of them were in areas that could not safely be evacuated by boat so they were air lifted to safety by a fleet of 17 Coast Guard helicopters.

A sign of progress on the road to recovery. Some business owners are being allowed to go back to New Orleans today to begin getting ready to re-open. Just a short time ago, FEMA's top man on the ground urged New Orleans residents to consider delaying their return to the city. CNN's Sean Callebs is standing by with the very latest -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredricka. We are in the Uptown area of the city, just one of four areas that the governor wants to open up within the next ten days, bringing about oh, 180,000 people back into this area. We know there's been frustration with FEMA. Now there's signs of growing frustration, the way the city and the state handled it. I don't know how well you can see, but a little tiny sign on that telephone pole says Nagin and Blanco must go.

But the mayor says he wants the city to breathe again. But without question, this breathing is going to be constricted. There's still -- basic services haven't been restored to this area -- water, electricity, things of that nature. And then they come back and they'll come into things like this, where the windows are just shattered, so a lot of cleanup.

Just down the street here, this is an area really characterized by its tiny neighborhood shops. There's a little toy store. We spoke with the owner, Betsy Mouk a short while ago and she says it's frustrating getting the conflicting information from the mayor and now the vice admiral of the Coast Guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BETSY MOUK, BUSINESS OWNER: We don't have water. We don't have electricity. There are wires down everywhere. We didn't expect that. I kind of expected that the power would have been turned back on. In fact, I misunderstood when he did his press conference the other day because he talked about uptown and I thought it had been turned back on.

But obviously, we drove down St. Charles and there's trees down everywhere and wires down everywhere. And a big problem is gas, we don't know what's happening with the gas lines. So -- and a lot of our homes are run on gas, so it is kind of scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: And Ms. Mouk said she actually tried to come into the city a couple days ago, when she heard people in the Central Business District were allowed to get business passes to come in and check out their shops, but she was routinely turned away by the guard manning checkpoints in this area.

And drinking water, there's no way to overstate what kind of problem that is going to be. They may get electricity back on, and control the natural gas situation. But even by the best estimates, getting clean drinking water into the city is weeks or even months away. So it's interesting that the mayor has been saying all week long, we want people back, we think we can handle 180,000.

But now, the individual here on site heading up the effort by FEMA, trying to get the situation under control says you may want to think about coming back in because drinking water could cause all kinds of health problems and it's going to be a concern for a long time. Also, Fredricka, you can probably tell, we're getting something we haven't seen since Hurricane Katrina blew threw. It's now starting to rain here for the first time in more than two-and-a-half weeks -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, Sean, for some of the residents or shopkeepers like Ms. Mouk that you just talked to, who are making these discoveries, who feel like they misunderstood the urging to come back, is she and others planning to go back to the shelters or staying with friends and families and then perhaps later on in the future coming back to New Orleans to try to clean up?

CALLEBS: It's a good question. Firstly, we have not seen a massive influx of people coming back trying to take a look at their shops. Betsy Mouk has a son who's now attending school in the town of Monroe. So she is reluctant to bring him out because schools aren't going to be open here for a long time, hospitals aren't going to be fully open for a long time.

So what she's thinking about doing is getting a manager to oversee her toy store for the foreseeable future. What she really wants -- what she really wants is to get up and running in the next month or so because the lucrative Christmas season will kick in and that's when, of course, so many of these stores make a great deal of their profits. WHITFIELD: All right. Sean Callebs, thanks so much in the Uptown section of New Orleans.

Well, all this weekend, CNN is focusing on the more than 2,000 children who have been reported missing or separated from their families since Hurricane Katrina. CNN's Kimberly Osias joins us from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. And are there stories of kids being reunited with their family members just within recent days?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely Fredricka. In fact, we were here this morning when there was one such happy reunion. That connection was made. Little 7-year-old Tyrielle Guillot. It's amazing. I mean, it's amazing the power of television and the power of when everybody works together because what happened was this little girl was with her grandmother. Now, her mother didn't know where she was.

She knew about the effort to show the faces on television. She sent a picture in and then little Tyrielle saw herself and knew the only way that picture could have been on the screen was because her mother sent it in.

And actually, one of the volunteers, the caseworker here, a former retired New York City Police Department officer, took the call, her first hour, in fact. Can you imagine getting a call like that in your first hour and facilitating a reunion that's yet to take place but will happen soon, which is really exciting. I mean, that's the whole purpose. That's why everybody is here.

We just got some new numbers in about the number of missing children. There are still 2,060 missing but of those, there are 836 that have been resolved, 836 cases like little Tyrielle. And hopefully we will have more cases to report.

I want to tell you a little bit about the volunteers that are here. Most of them are former law enforcement officers. But they have been specially trained in the behavioral sciences area. Many have a master's degree in psychology or sociology or like fields. So they're really able to help talk people down, help elicit that information and get them to a point where they can give that. So they are very well-trained and well versed in dealing with people in critical crisis situations.

I want to show you Maritza Sabolos (ph). She is 41 years old, missing from New Orleans, and she -- now the story behind this, her husband actually was called out to work, and he came home after the hurricane and nothing was there. I mean, his son was gone, wife gone and his son. Let's take a look at Santiago Florez, five years old, missing from New Orleans. He is on the Web site, that www.missingkids.com. His picture is there, brown eyes and brown hair.

Now, there are also some children that are looking to find their parents, children in shelters or in foster homes. Those case workers on the ground are working in concert here as well, taking down that information. Take a look at Joshua and Justin Ratcliff. Joshua is 16 years old, Justin is 15 years old, last seen in Jefferson, Louisiana.

These two brothers and their mother were at the Superdome. When they evacuated, they were separated. So the mother went to Baton Rouge and the sons to Houston. So they are trying to get back together. Hopefully we'll have successes of those people that are getting back together -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kimberly Osias. Thank you so much in Alexandria, Virginia.

President Bush used his weekly radio address today to talk about building and rebuilding the Gulf coast. The president's contention that the massive effort can be financed without a tax increase is fueling discussions in Washington. CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us live with more on that -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Bush is insisting that he is not going to raise American's taxes and he believes those tax cuts should remain permanent. That is something that the administration believes will actually strengthen the economy.

The president today trying to make his case once again that the federal government can afford it, but it will mean some sacrifices. The White House not yet prepared to say what kinds of cuts and where those cuts will come from. The president is outlining this proposal, this grand recovery program.

He is talking about some of that money going to Gulf opportunity zones or go-zones. Those are tax credits for businesses in the area. He's also talking about the Urban Homesteading Act, that is to provide free land to low income families to help them rebuild homes and also recovery grants or accounts to help with education, housing and other types of costs.

Of course, all of this, causing debate here between Democrats and some fiscally conservative Republicans and the Bush administration over how they're going to afford it. Now, President Bush earlier today in his radio address tried to give greater detail to make the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our goal is to get people out of shelters by the middle of October. So we're providing direct assistance to evacuees that will allow them to rent apartments. And we're beginning to bring in mobile homes and trailers for temporarily use in affected areas. We'll also help provide housing for the many workers who will rebuild cities in the region so that reconstruction can move forward quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, the White House economic adviser, Al Hubbard, says this means this will cost federal dollars, taxpayers' dollars and he also says it means there's going to be an increase in the federal deficit. We're talking about a deficit of $314 billion for 2006, that perhaps ballooning by $200 billion.

The Democrats say this is something the country just cannot afford, that they need to raise taxes. But today the Democrats decided that they wouldn't respond or at least engage in that debate. They decided to reach out to the president, kind of in a conciliatory tone. We heard from Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: Some issues reach beyond party. In the face of the human tragedy which lies behind us and the task that lies ahead of us, there is no room for partisan politics. Let the people of America know, we must all work together. We will all work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And also today, she thanked President Bush for offering federal assistance, again, reaching out an olive branch, if you will. We know federal as well as state and local officials have been battling over who is responsible and ultimately who is going to pick up the cost. But just to give you a sense of what this looks like, the 2006 budget we are talking about, cuts in 12 of the 23 government agencies.

WHITFIELD: All right. Suzanne Malveaux in Washington. Thank you so much.

A look at our other top stories now. At least one person was killed this morning when a commuter train derailed on Chicago's South Side. About 76 people were injured. The train was heading into the city from Suburban Joliet when the derailment occurred. A Chicago area Congressman says there's no word yet on the cause.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BOBBY RUSH (D), ILLINOIS: Metra hasn't told me -- they don't know of cause of it right now. And I think that the cause of it is going to be determined probably after the NTSB gets here and really do their level of investigation. So we're all awaiting on NTSB to give us the final report in terms of the cause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In Iraq, there's been a deadly car bombing. It occurred in a market in a low-income Shiite neighborhood on the outskirts of Baghdad. Police say 30 people were killed, and 38 more injured. Most Iraqi insurgents are believed to be Sunni Muslims, and may of the recent attacks have targeting Shiites.

Making her first address to the United Nations General Assembly, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the U.N. to become, in her words, "an engine of change." Rice called terrorism the greatest threat confronting the world. She also warned about nuclear proliferation and criticized Iran for walking away from nuclear talks. Authorities in Los Angeles say they've recovered two famous paintings stolen five years ago from a Swedish museum. The paintings are a 1630 self-portrait by Rembrandt and the painting by Renoir, "Young Parisian." Experts say the two paintings are worth more than $50 million. Four suspects have been arrested. All are Swedish citizens.

Ophelia heads north, but is New England still threatened by the powerful storm? We'll have an update.

Also, the legal fight over what insurance companies will have to pay Katrina victims. Lawsuits are already being filed to force the industry to cover all hurricane losses. Can they be successful? Our legal eagles will weigh in on that debate.

Plus, they were separated from their newborn baby for days. How members of this evacuated family finally find each other and a new home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tropical Storm Ophelia still a menace out there in the Atlantic. Let's check in with Bonnie Schneider. What's it doing now?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Fredricka, the good news is Ophelia is a storm that's on the move. It's quickly moving now to the northeast at near 21 miles per hour. That's a fast-moving storm. We expected it to move quickly once it gets over these cooler waters.

Right now, we're getting reports of some strong winds in Nantucket. I just checked. They had a wind gust of 28 miles an hour, but the bulk of the precipitation of Ophelia has managed to stay offshore, so that's good news. There are still some concerns for the Nova Scotia area. In fact, if you take a look at our track for Ophelia, you'll see it's quickly moving to the northeast, but we are watching out for Halifax. They're going to just get some wind and rain, unfortunately, with Ophelia.

But this is such a busy tropical season, once we're done with one storm, we're on to the next one. We have a tropical wave, as you can see near Puerto Rico, and this wave that we've been watching here in the lower latitudes has now gotten more organized and definitely more of a concern for us. This is Tropical Depression Number 17.

What a busy season, we're already on number 17 and we're not nearly done with the tropics yet. Now, look at the projected path for Tropical Depression Number 17. According to the National Hurricane Center, this will eventually become a tropical storm named Philippe.

That's the next name on our busy list, and then eventually possibly even a Category 1 hurricane. And it's still way out there, so this is something we're going to be watching very, very closely in the days ahead because we're looking for more development. It's going to be moving into a more favorable atmosphere. I just want to show you how far along the list we are on hurricane names. Philippe already, after that we have Rita. And if we ever did get to the end of the alphabet, you're probably wondering what happens then? Well, then you go to a Greek alphabet and you start out with alpha, so let's hope it doesn't get that far.

Just to show you quickly across the country, some strong storms for parts of Oklahoma. Otherwise, much of the country is enjoying some nice weather from the Rocky Mountains down to the southeast. A little bit stormy, but not too bad at all. We've got our eyes on Ophelia and, of course, Tropical Depression Number 17 -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow, and a big if. If we were to go to that Greek alphabet, would that be a first?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, it would be. I don't think we'll get there, let's hope not. But Philippe looks like it will become developed enough to get a name and become a tropical storm. Remember, those winds have to get above 39 miles per hour for that to happen, and right now we're at 35, so we're likely to see that.

WHITFIELD: Hurricane season ending not until November 30th.

SCHNEIDER: November 30th, yes.

WHITFIELD: We have a ways to go but at this rate, they're moving awfully quickly. Thank you, Bonnie. Well, now that Hurricane Ophelia has moved north, it's cleanup time along the southern coast of North Carolina. Ophelia wasn't the major disaster that many coastal residents feared.

And even though it never made landfall, the storm did dump plenty of rain, more than a foot on some areas. And it did leave behind patches of wind damage and significant beach erosion to parts of the Outer Banks.

Well, it's supposed to be a historic weekend for Afghanistan, but will violence mar election day? Up next, why even having their names on the ballots has cost some candidates their lives.

Plus, the leader of another war-torn nation looking for a new start. Hear my conversation with Rwanda's president. Can his nation recovery from civil war and genocide?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Afghans go to the polls in just seven hours. They're elect a parliament and 34 provincial counsels. Ahead of the vote, violence. U.S. and Afghan troops say they've arrested 20 militants who tried to blow up a dam in South Central Afghanistan. Thousands of people would have been in the path of the floodwaters had it crumbled.

Three Afghan police officers have been shot to death in an ambush by Taliban holdouts. And even with the heightened military presence on the streets, at least a half dozen candidates for office have been killed in the run up to the vote. Rwanda's president says the international community needs to move quickly to provide debt relief to impoverished African nations. President Paul Kagame says expanded trade with the U.S. and other countries is also key to Africa's future. He is at the U.N. this weekend, but yesterday, he was in Atlanta to receive the Andrew Young Medal for capitalism and social progress. In an interview, I asked him about specific examples of progress in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRES. PAUL KAGAME, RWANDA: You have to recognize that we can't solve our problems overnight. So it's a question of progress. And you have to start from somewhere and you have to prioritize how you move in dealing with your problems. It's also harder (ph) to bring in peace and solidity and security for the people of Rwanda.

Secondly, we had to move along with the processes of reconciliation, of Democratization and socioeconomic development. And you have to many (ph) institutions putting institutionism in place so that they can help us to be able to achieve this. So the progress I'm talking about can't be measured in times of saying, for example, in education what have you done? what have you achieved?

Where have you come from and where are you now? I'm very happy to say, for example, that we have really achieved by 82 percent in terms of universal primary education. The net enrollment was up 82 percent, the highest in our region and beyond.

So this is progress. We've been building schools. When we took over, when we took office, it was only about 700,000 children that were going to school in primary school. And now we have 1.8 million children attending primary school because of those efforts, so this is one measure of progress.

WHITFIELD: Didn't you also have to reform mind sets? When you talk about these Hutus and Tutsis, and the genocide, the victimization, it also men the reforming people's attitudes about labels. No longer are people identifying themselves openly as Tutsis and Hutus, but instead Rwandans. That is a colossal and very difficult hurdle to achieve, isn't it?

KAGAME: It is. It is. Reconciliation takes a long time, because what tore our country apart is the work of decades of bad leadership, of bad politics. So to remedy that, you are not going to do it in one day or in one year or two years. You certainly have to go through the progress of education, through the process of making provisions that make a difference in the real life for the people of Rwanda and involve them and also allow them to challenge themselves to understand what went wrong with them.

And this is taking place and I think people out of this tragedy, they are much better people, better understanding, trying to find out what went wrong with them, why did they kill each other. Why did they -- yes. WHITFIELD: And your tribunals, which are ongoing right now are helping to do that. And we're talking about victims and those who are carrying out assaults and killings in the same room, confronting one another with dialogue, correcting one another, setting the record straight. Is that part of, not just the healing but also part of the punishment?

KAGAME: It is. And in fact, what we are doing, under the charter that is participatory justice that we have put in place. We are aiming at two major themes. One is to have justice done and in so doing, also achieve reconciliation. And that is brought together by wanting to know the truth, so people have to sit there and say what happened.

And practically what has happened is that people have listened. They have had a portion of blame, but also in the end they have the heart to forgive those who are involved on the only miss (ph) of how they have come out to say what happened. So it is a very, encouraging process because it's getting results.

WHITFIELD: What do you envision for a future Rwanda?

KAGAME: Rwanda must be united, and it's for all the people of Rwanda. It must be Democratic. It must also be prosperous. Want to see economic development, building on the foundation of democracy, of stability, of the unity of the people of Rwanda. And we have set ourselves targets for the next 20 years.

We have adopted what we call vision 2020, which means a number of goals we have set ourselves and how to achieve them within this period that we're raising our country from a low income country to a middle income country.

WHITFIELD: President Kagame, thank you very much. Nice to meet you. Congratulations on your award and the progress of your country.

KAGAME: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Taking insurance companies to court. Can home owners' policies which didn't cover flood damage still be forced to pay up? We'll debate that issue, next with our legal eagles.

And still to come, CNN's exclusive interview with Iran's new president. Hear what he has to say to America and his allies about his country's nuclear program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

This is a special weekend at CNN. We're working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to find children separated from their families by Hurricane Katrina. The children on the left side of your screen have been reported missing. In cases where we have photos, we're showing them. But in some cases, no images are available. Only a bit of information. But if you have more information about any of these children, please call 1-800-843- 5678. That's 1-800-THE-LOST. Your help could reassure parents and potentially reunite families.

Hurricane victims are busy this weekend filing claims for property damage but many are out of luck. FEMA estimates 60 percent of home owners in the hurricane zone didn't carry flood insurance. That raises this question, is damage from wind or water? CNN's Allan Chernoff reports from the Mississippi coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Marion Williams' insurance adjuster looked at his home's damage and said, it's the result of a flood, not a hurricane.

MARION WILLIAMS, BILOXI RESIDENT: It was driven by the wind. The wind the hurricane is wind, you know, strong winds that blow that it pushed the water into here.

CHERNOFF: Williams has no flood insurance. Neither does his neighbor, 82-year-old Bill Veirling, still waiting for his insurance adjuster. Veirling fears he'll also hear the damage came from a flood.

BILL VEIRLING, BILOXI RESIDENT: Baloney. All the way through here, from the beach all the way through diagonally across here, there's evidence right on down the line of some low pressure sucking things up. Flood didn't do that.

CHERNOFF: In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Mississippi's attorney general charges insurance companies with illegally trying to get out of paying compensation to Katrina's victims.

JIM HOOD, MISSISSIPPI ATTORNEY GENERAL: If we don't get this stopped, what insurance companies are trying to do, it's going to bankrupt the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Louisiana and parts of Alabama as well.

CHERNOFF: The insurance companies, in their standard policies, exclude damage resulting from water, even if that water is driven by wind. The companies say home owners need to buy separate flood insurance, offered by FEMA. But relatively few people in this area bought such insurance because this is not a designated flood zone.

Named in the lawsuit are State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate and other insurers. State Farm said, "The Attorney General's action threatens to undermine the insurance industry's financial stability." Nationwide says, it was "deeply disappointed with the Attorney General's charges." Allstate said, "It's unfortunate that a lawsuit has been filed so early in the recovery process." The industry's trade group says, the policies are clear.

JEANNE SALVATORE, INSURANCE INFORMATION INST.: The insurance industry did not charge premium for flooding and flooding is not covered under standard home owner's policies.

CHERNOFF: The Red Cross estimate Katrina damaged more than one- third of the home's along Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Residents like Bill Veirling hope the state's lawsuit will get insurance companies to soften their stance. He says his only other hope is a bailout from the federal government.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Biloxi, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, insurance is just one of the legal issues that have risen since the catastrophic storm. Let's talk with law professor and civil rights attorney, Avery Friedman, in Cleveland.

Good to see you, Avery.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And in New York, Defense Attorney Richard Herman.

Good to see you as well, Richard.

RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fred. We missed you.

WHITFIELD: It's been a while. Missed you guys.

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, Richard, let me begin with you.

In Mississippi, the attorney general is suing insurers for denying an awful lot of the policy holders because they didn't have flood insurance. And Jim Hood is trying to impress upon those insurers that they should cover the flood damage. Does he stand a chance?

HERMAN: I don't think so, Fred. I think that lawsuit is politically motivated and he's trying to prey upon the sensibilities of all these people that have suffered such horrendous damage in that area. But these contracts, these insurance clauses are clear and unequivocal. And all the insurance companies are absolutely right. If these courts sought to reform those policies now, the insurance industry would be bankrupt. They're going to have to rely on a federal bailout because none of these litigations, in my opinion, will be successful.

WHITFIELD: But, Avery, in the case that we heard, in Allan's piece, an awful lot of these homes were not in flood zones. So it wouldn't precipitate people having flood insurance. So why shouldn't their standard home owner's policy cover some of this damage? Water that may have been brought by rain or just water from the storm surge?

FRIEDMAN: Well the answer is simple. There's a distinction under typical home owner's policies of wind insurance, which is the hurricane, and flood insurance, which is generally not covered. The problem here is that and I think it's a bit cynical to say that it's politically motivated. I actually want to give Jim Hood, the attorney general, some grace in this thing. I think it's a noble effort, although I do agree, I think he's going to wind up losing it.

The bottom line is, there's a need to change the system. Because, after all, Jim Hood also represents the insurance commissioner that approved the exemption for flood exclusions. So I don't know how he's going to get himself out of that one.

WHITFIELD: So for a lot of these folks who perhaps don't have the proper insurance, if it boils down to that, they're going to have to rely on the federal government. They're going to have to rely on FEMA funds to help them rebuild or refurbish or move on, right, Richard.

HERMAN: Absolutely, Fred. You know, when you get insurance, immediately you get that binder, that one-page binder that says you have the coverage. And then about a week later that thick book comes in. And most people, they don't read that book, including lawyers.

FRIEDMAN: Right. That's right.

HERMAN: They just put it in the file in the drawer and that's it. Well, in that book it has specific express exclusions. And here, flood insurance is one of them.

FRIEDMAN: Well, but something's got to be done about this. And there is a way to solve the problem. Not the past, Fredricka, but in the future. Number one, insurance companies could say, look, we're putting you on notice that you've got to go get federal flood insurance. And it should be a condition. Second, the commissioner of insurance in Alabama should require that by regulation or finally one way to do it is for the state legislature to say, if you want to sell insurance here in our state, one of the conditions is to let consumers know about their right to get flood coverage.

HERMAN: But Avery Avery . . .

WHITFIELD: Wow, so whether it's the commission or whether it's the legislators of that state, you see, Avery, that the state should be taking charge in this. This is not a matter that should find its way on Capitol Hill and become a congressional matter?

FRIEDMAN: I'm not troubled by that. I have to tell you something, I'm not troubled if Congress gets in there and forces insurance companies to at least make the disclosure or, at very worst, authorize some kind of supplemental protection. But the bottom line, it's Alabama doesn't get off scot-free, nor does Louisiana in this case.

WHITFIELD: Yes. OK.

FRIEDMAN: They had responsibility.

HERMAN: But Avery but Avery . . .

WHITFIELD: OK, I'll let you make that point, Richard, because I do want to go on to another topic before we close up that topic.

HERMAN: But, Fredricka, you made the great point and that is this. This was not a flood zone. So these people did not anticipate water damage like that and therefore they didn't buy this extra (INAUDIBLE). They wanted a cheaper policy. Still cheaper premiums.

FRIEDMAN: Still (INAUDIBLE) know. Still should let the consumers know.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, this kind of debate exemplifies the kind of confusion that a lot of the policy holders . . .

FRIEDMAN: You're right.

WHITFIELD: Are up against.

Let's move on to negligent homicide. We're seeing that there are family members so upset, rightfully so, that their family members who were in hospitals or nursing homes were not evacuated and they are now pursuing negligent homicide cases against these facilities, whether it's the individual owners of these nursing homes or the hospitals, maybe even some of the cities. Avery, do these folks have a good case? A good argument to make?

FRIEDMAN: Well, first of all, it's a criminal case. That means the prosecutor is going after the owner of the nursing home. And what's interesting in this particular case, the Manganos that owned this particular facility, there were five nursing homes in the community, four realized that this storm was coming, took precautions and got their patients out.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

FRIEDMAN: For some reason, and some are describing a financial reason, they left them there. And what do we have? We have stunning numbers of deaths. And I think these people are in a world of trouble.

WHITFIELD: Richard, how do you see it?

HERMAN: Well, Fredricka, St. Bernard's Parish, the parish in which the nursing home was located, did not issue a mandatory evacuation order. And the owners of St. Rita's, the nursing home in question, claimed they weighed the balance of whether or not they should move some of the people. Some of whom were on feeding tubes. Some of whom were bedridden. And some of whom, knowing the year previously in the event of a hurricane died during the course of a move. So, you know, there's a defense there. But the mere fact that four other nursing homes in the area chose to evacuate, I think that's going to be hard pressed against St. Rita's.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder then, Richard, is there a case? Is there an argument to be made from some of these grieving family members that they could either pursue legally the city or these institutions because perhaps if there wasn't a mandatory evacuation order in place, perhaps there should have been. Can that argument be made on those grounds?

HERMAN: I absolutely think it will, Fred. And I think you're going to see massive litigation here of state, local, parish, county, federal, everyone's going to push the blame to everyone else. It's going to be utter chaos in the courts down there.

WHITFIELD: Avery, you're shaking your head. Or even in the case of whether there was an evacuation plan that was on the books but maybe it wasn't executed properly or fully.

FRIEDMAN: Yes. I mean the bottom line is, there may be liability against the nursing homes. I totally don't buy the idea that there's going to be liability against government. I just don't see it. I think the case law is very clear. I think there will be litigation I agree with that all over the place, but I think who's going to be held responsible? It will be the insurance company that represents this nursing home and maybe some of the individuals.

WHITFIELD: And, Richard, last word?

HERMAN: Well, it's just a tragic situation, Fredricka. And our hearts and prayers go out to all these poor victims, especially to children.

FRIEDMAN: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, Richard Herman, Avery Friedman, thank you so much, gentlemen. Hope to see you soon.

HERMAN: Thank you, Fred.

FRIEDMAN: See you soon. Take case.

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, a CNN exclusive. The newly elected president of Iran, one-on- one with our Christiane Amanpour. Topic A, his country's nuclear ambitions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Iran's president says his country will "use every resource: in the standoff with the U.S. and other countries trying to halt its nuclear program. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the United Nation's General Assembly next hour. The hardline conservative elected in June says Iran is determined to pursue it's nuclear program. He insists it is for energy purposes only. But the U.S. and European nations suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. In an exclusive interview, CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour asked the Iranian president about those suspicions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you accept at all that the United States, Europe, they are deeply suspicious about your intentions? They just think that you want to build a bomb. Do you understand that? And why do you want to have this crisis?

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, (through translator): Yes, you see, we understand. We know that their intentions are bad intentions. Their intentions towards us are bad. When have they ever shown or have had clean, clear, pure intentions towards us? We don't have expectations for anything else coming from them. What rights do they have? When they want to talk about such issues to us, they need to proceed according to international laws. They cannot say that we don't like the intentions, what we think are the intentions of your country, therefore, we want to prevent you.

AMANPOUR: If you are referred to the security council and if sanctions are imposed on Iran, will you take countermeasures? Already some of your officials have threatened to provoke a rise in oil prices, have potentially threatened to pull out of the NPT. What will you do if sanctions are imposed?

AHMADINEJAD, (through translator): I think any intelligent, healthy, smart human being should use every resource in order to maintain his or her freedom and independence.

AMANPOUR: So you could see interfering with oil prices?

AHMADINEJAD, (through translator): I doubt that the leaders of the United States and Europe are that far removed from reality. I think they're smarter than denying us this legal right. It is natural, of course, and they will use whatever they have in their hand, which is the U.N. Security Council. And our nation has the means to defend and obtain its own rights. Do not doubt that our people will not lose.

AMANPOUR: It sounds very aggressive what you're saying. It sounds like we're headed for real confrontation.

AHMADINEJAD, (through translator): No, it is no, we have no such intentions. All we're saying is that we will go according to all of the provisions. There are cameras set up here. You are the ones who are saying, do not proceed according to what law is this being imposed on us. You have come and you are putting you are interfering in our internal affairs against international laws. Who is at fault? Who is being aggressive?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, I ray of hope. A family separated by Hurricane Katrina is back together again. Their long journey and reunion next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: After fleeing New Orleans, a family called the Breauxs is settling in now to a comfortable home in Dallas due solely to the kindness of strangers. But the best part is, the Breauxs moved in with their infant son, who one day will have some story to tell. Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAD BREAUX: Thank you so much.

KAREN ROSEN (ph): Oh, it's our pleasure.

TAD BREAUX: This is . . .

LANIE BREAUX: This is Zachary.

TAD BREAUX: Baby Zachary. This is our boy.

MICHAEL ROSEN (ph): The kid that we were looking for, right?

LANIE BREAUX: Right. Exactly.

ELIZABETH COHEN: Zachary Breaux, meet the people your mother and father describe as angels, Michael and Karen Rosen, strangers who'd never met your family until Katrina hit.

TAD BREAUX: It's all right. Everything's OK now.

KAREN ROSEN: Oh, it's our pleasure.

TAD BREAUX: You're an angel.

COHEN: The Rosens received this e-mail that the Breauxs, evacuees from New Orleans, need help. The Rosens didn't just give help, they gave a house.

MICHAEL ROSEN: This is right, you know, because, you know, we were trying to sell it but this is a much better use.

COHEN: The Rosens said they didn't think twice about taking their house off the market.

MICHAEL ROSEN: This was our den. OK.

TAD BREAUX: OK. Yes, I see where the TV . . .

MICHAEL ROSEN: (INAUDIBLE).

COHEN: The Breauxs have the house for as long as they want at no cost. It's been a long three weeks for the Breaux family. For two days, Tad and Lanie had no idea where Zachary was. They'd evacuated with their six-year-old son but had to leave five-day-old Zachary in the hospital. It wasn't safe to take him. Tests showed he needed special care to make sure he didn't have SIDS. The Breauxs figured they'd be back in a few days to get them.

TAD BREAUX: We've called every place else in the south, so now we're just going to continue to move further north. We'll call Fort Worth next.

COHEN: But conditions were so bad, no one could get into New Orleans and phones were out. Tad and Lanie and countless friends and family frantically searched hospitals in four states.

LANIE BREAUX: Yes. You want to check my badge?

TAD LANIE: Oh, there he is.

COHEN: They finally found that baby Zachary had been evacuated to a hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, and flew in to get him.

LANIE BREAUX: We had the whole nursery ready and the diaper bag ready and everything. We left it there because we were going to come back in two days.

TAD BREAUX: Yes, we didn't think we'd be taking him home from the hospital in an airplane.

COHEN: Tad and Lanie have their new house thanks to Tad's third cousin Karen Crane (ph). Karen was reunited with them after she saw them on CNN. She sent out the e-mail asking for help and hundreds responded.

KAREN CRANE: There's no way that my husband and I could have done this without so many friends and our synagogue. And it's just been it's been beautiful.

COHEN: And all from an e-mail?

KAREN CRANE: Yes. Yes.

LANIE BREAUX: There's so much stuff here. I kept opening stuff and stuff and stuff and stuff. It's like a baby shower. TAD BREAUX: And I said, no, honey, this is like a baby flood.

LANIE BREAUX: I didn't get it at first.

COHEN: The Breauxs say every time their situation looked dark, when they couldn't find their baby.

TAD BREAUX: He's finally found. We found him.

COHEN: When they had nowhere to live, someone, usually someone they didn't know . . .

TAD BREAUX: You guys are angels.

COHEN: Reached out and fixed it.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, the worst of times indeed can often bring out the best in people.

Coming up next, we're dedicating a whole hour to the heroes of Katrina. You'll see and hear amazing stories of the ordinary people who just jumped in to help neighbors when it seemed no one else would.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Coming up next, CNN presents heroes among us.

First, a check of news right now.

The medical examiner confirms that one person was killed in the train derailment in Chicago today. The train carrying 125 people was in-bounded from Juliette, Illinois, when it derailed on Chicago's south side. Officials say 76 people were injured. Ambulances and life flight helicopters transported the injured to area hospitals. No word yet on what caused the train to derail.

The head of the federal government's Hurricane Katrina recovery effort is urging New Orleans residents not to return just yet. Vice Admiral Thad Allen says water, sewer and power systems are not in place to meet basic human needs. The major of New Orleans hoped to have nearly 200,000 evacuees back in the city within the next couple of weeks. About 15 minutes from now, Iran's president speaks before the United Nations regarding the country's nuclear program.