Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

High Turnout Claimed by Iraqi Officials in Vote; Riots in Toledo; Northeast U.S. Gets Break from Rain

Aired October 15, 2005 - 18:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Turnout is high, violence is surprisingly low in Iraq. Tonight, Iraqis vote on a new constitution. So how soon will U.S. troops come home? You are going to go live to Baghdad.
Violence erupts at a neo-Nazi march, protesters throw rocks at police and loot stores and destroy cars. You will see the latest live from Toledo.

And a fiery train crash, hundreds of people evacuate their homes as flammable gas leaks from one of the tankers totaled in the accident.

It is October 15th, and you're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. To our top story in just a moment, but these are the stories making news right now.

We've got to show you this one. Police and residents clashing in northern Ohio. Rioting breaks out after a planned rally by American Nazis was canceled. The mayor of Toledo blames gang members and others for taking advantage of the situation by throwing rocks and setting fires.

And finding a way to keep the deadly bird flu from spreading may be tougher than scientists thought. Health workers say Tamiflu is the first line of defense. But when it was used an infected Vietnamese girl, they found strains of the flu that were resistant to the drug.

Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collier died earlier today, apparently of a heart attack. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Collier had chest pains. His wife administered CPR and called 911. The 28-year- old NBA player was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital.

Now this is our top story, the historic referendum in Iraq. They came, they stood in line, and they voted in droves today on a proposed new constitution. There is a lot at stake for the Iraqis and we here in America as well. If approved, the charter will become the law of the land. The polls closed hours ago. The final results will come some time next week, but it's important that you know that the turnout was steady with some Iraqi officials saying it was more than 60 percent.

Now the United Nations says, look, that's premature to even say that, but also you should know that Sunni Arabs who held power under Saddam Hussein came out in surprising numbers, many of them hoping to defeat the constitution. So the vote could be really close. Now referendum day was mostly calm. U.S. and Iraqi forces clamped down with major security polling -- around those polling stations. And of course there were a lot of mixed feelings about the proposed constitution in Iraq.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's Iraq's second time at the polls in nine months to vote a simple yes or no on a complicated constitution that could shape their lives for generations.

"We are free now after 35 years of oppression," says Saba Marti (ph). "We can vote, we can talk, we can do whatever we want. We hope this vote will bring all Iraqis a better future."

Everyone hopes for a better future in Iraq, but not everyone agrees this constitution will guarantee that. Even these sisters are divided.

(on camera): How did you vote?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

AMANPOUR: And how did you vote?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

AMANPOUR: Why?

(voice-over): She says she worries the constitution doesn't guarantee Iraq's Arab identity. At this polling station, Jessica voted yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope our future of the Iraqis get the rights, especially the women.

AMANPOUR: Her mother also voted yes, but she is worried about the article stating Islam will be the base of all legislation.

"Everyone should be free to worship," says Alam (ph), "but we want a secular government, not a religious one."

(on camera): Key to the success of this referendum will be its popular legitimacy. In other words, whether everyone, including the minority Sunnis, believes that they're included in the process, that their interests are represented. So far, they don't.

(voice-over): A last-minute deal to get Sunnis to the polls did bring them out but...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh. I vote no. AMANPOUR: Dr. Manjad Al-Naid (ph), a Sunni, and his wife, Amira (ph) fear the constitution will rip the country apart and leave them out in the cold.

(on camera): You're worried an about the country splitting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, of course.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Amira wants nothing to do with this document. She worries the constitution gives all the political and economic power to the majority Shiites and Kurds who sit on the country's oil wealth.

One clear sign of change, this time, Iraqi security forces are manning the polling centers, ambulances on stand by just in case, and American forces on stand by, too. Colonel Ed Cardone says political development here is crucial.

COL. ED CARDONE, U.S. ARMY: The greatest thing that could help us right now is the development of legitimate local governments. The local governments that are here are -- were created by the old government and they're not a lot of them -- were not seen as legitimate. And so, when these elections happen, when there's a legitimate local government, that's going to help us a lot with the insurgency.

AMANPOUR: For instance, says the Colonel Cardone, he could wipe out an insurgent cell but with no local government to take its place, another one can spring back within days. And as people cast their vote this day, their highest hope is for an end in sight to the violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: So the counting is well under way. They say that officially we won't hear results for several days, but the unofficial word is bound to leak out earlier than that, because everybody is so interested in this. Apparently, according to people's anecdotal evidence at various polling centers and stations, the Sunni participation was higher than it was back in January, where they basically boycotted the vote, but the question is how did the Sunnis participate?

If two-thirds of people in just three provinces vote no, the referendum will be defeated. However, if a majority vote yes, it should pass, and most people think that it will pass. The question is, what effect it will have on the political process, and on the insurgency -- Carol.

LIN: Christiane, what if it does pass, but barely? What are the consequences of that tight an election?

AMANPOUR: Well, again, you know, it's all about essentially how do the Sunnis feel are they being represented. Some are saying that it's good that they're just involved in the political process, as compared to last time, when they sat it out. Many of the Sunnis felt that they had made an error by not taking part, because they didn't have a voice to shape their future. Right now, according to a lot of Sunni leaders and some U.S. officials, it appears that Sunni party leaders and others may be telling their people, don't think about today's referendum so much, think about the elections in December. That's when we can truly affect our fate, in December, if all of this goes according to plan, they will vote for a more permanent government.

LIN: All right, Christiane Amanpour, live in Baghdad, thank you very much.

Now what does this mean to Americans right here at home? Well, the Bush administration is eagerly awaiting the results of this referendum, and the president is already calling today's vote a critical step for Iraq. CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash live at the White House right now.

A lot at stake for the president here -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Carol. The president also called this vote a severe blow to terrorists. But interestingly he used his radio address today to reference an al Qaeda letter essentially trying to play to American pride, he said that that letter pointed to Vietnam as proof that if they hold out, the U.S. will eventually retreat.

Mr. Bush said, quote, "they're gravely mistaken."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Voting lines, ballot boxes, ink-stained fingers. The White House is on a blitz to use new rare images of Iraqi democracy to help stop sliding support and patience among war- weary Americans.

The president in his radio address.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With each step the Iraqi people take, al Qaeda's vision for the region becomes more remote.

BASH: The secretary the state in a CNN interview.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The future of Iraq is in the political process, and a referendum like today, where Iraqis participated in large numbers, is very bad news for the terrorists.

BASH: But the bottom line question for Americans: What does this vote on a constitution mean for the 156,000 U.S. troops in Iraq?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYSIS: This election is extremely important for the electoral process for the stability of Iraq, for the future of Iraq, but it is not the deciding factor in when American troops can come home. American troops can come home when the Iraqi forces are ready to take over. BASH: The number of battle-ready Iraqi troops is unclear, and the subject of hot debate. What Bush aides admit is clear, the toll Iraq is taking on a presidency also under siege over a botched hurricane response, high gas prices, an embattled Supreme Court nominee, and a top adviser repeatedly questioned by a federal prosecutor.

A poll out this week shows 53 percent of Americans do not think the effort in Iraq is going well, a 9-point jump in just one month, and perhaps the most concerning to Mr. Bush, eroding support in his own party. In September, 76 percent of moderate and liberal Republicans said going to war in Iraq was the right decision. That dropped 16 points in a month.

NORMAN ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: George Bush is resolute in deciding and maintaining that he will not pull out of Iraq. But if the public turns against the American presence there, and that public includes at some point a majority of Republicans, then we have a very different and a treacherous political environment for the president.

BASH: As for Democrats, most believe that a premature withdrawal of U.S. troops would be dangerous. But, Carol, they are trying to step up their message that, for the president, has to stop saying stay the course and offer a more detailed plan for stability in Iraq -- Carol.

LIN: Dana Bash, live at the White House, thank you very much.

Of course, all of you can get more information about the Iraqi referendum on our Web site, cnn.com, but we are going to have continuing coverage right here on our air as well throughout the night as these results come in, a lot at stake in that story.

But right now we want to take you to a developing story in Toledo, Ohio. The city's mayor has declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew tonight following violent clashes with police. The chaos erupted hours ago over a planned Nazi march. The march was canceled but a crowd that had gathered turned violent, throwing rocks and bottles at police.

Now look at this scene, looters were breaking into a store while another building was set on fire. The mayor says he pleaded with the community to ignore the march, but they refused.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACK FORD, TOLEDO, OHIO: It really was the gang members that took advantage of the situation, in my estimation. I did talk to them, said I'd be willing to meet with them to discuss any legitimate grievances but they were not interested in that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Now there's more to come because authorities are fearing that violence is going to continue into the night so they're beefing up police presence in the city. We've got reporters Sashem Brey from CNN affiliate WTVG, joining me right now from Toledo.

Sashem, does it feel dangerous out there? Is it a tense situation?

SASHEM BREY, WTVG REPORTER: Certainly the residents think so. That beefed up security you mentioned is going to be in effect throughout the weekend. And there's reason for that to be there, as you can imagine, throughout the day we've seen several police vehicles, a fire truck, even our own news vehicle completely ruined by the rioting, and so police are taking no chances.

We understand 50 Ohio Highway State Patrol troopers are on their way in to keep the peace. In addition, every single local police officer is now on duty, alongside some sheriff's deputies, also detectives brought in, put into uniform, and then put back out on the streets to keep things calm.

As you mentioned, we've also learned that there is a possible threat that violence is going to reenact -- come back tonight -- later on tonight and so residents, they are not calm about this. We've received nonstop phone calls into our news room, people afraid to leave their homes, asking if they're going to be safe to go out and go to dinner tonight.

But again, police are telling them at this hour that they are OK. Authorities are going to stay up day and night to make sure that they calm everybody down.

LIN: Sashem, we'll see what happens. We're going to be following this developing story through the night as well.

In the meantime, we want to show you what's been going on up in the northeastern part of the United States. It was dreadful, eight straight days of rain. Parts of the Northeast are getting a reprieve right now from the miserable weather. But despite the break, the death toll from widespread flooding rose now to 12.

CNN's Jennifer Westhoven tours the damage in one New Jersey town hard-hit by the rain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sun finally broke through on Saturday in the Northeast, after eight days of relentless rain that dropped more than a foot of water in some places, even more than Hurricane Rita dumped on the South last month.

The waters flooded to five and six feet in some areas, like the small town of Spring Lake, New Jersey. Residents were stunned as the water suddenly started getting into their homes and filling up their streets.

DREW CLARK, SPRING LAKE RESIDENT: Thank God that as far as I know there was no fatalities so that's the main thing. There's been some property damage but nobody foresaw this unfortunately, so as long as everybody comes out OK and healthy, I think we're pretty lucky. WESTHOVEN: Not every town was so lucky. At least 12 people were killed by the rains, seven of them in New Hampshire. Hundreds of people were evacuated as floods and power outages hit the Northeast. The governors of Massachusetts and New Jersey both declared a state of emergency, the first step to apply for federal help to pay for the cleanup.

Floods and power outages also hit Connecticut, Long Island and New York. In New Hampshire, 1,300 people were evacuated from Keene. Some couldn't get back to their homes, blocked by a 500-foot wide mudslide because the ground is soaked with rain.

(on camera): Here in Spring Lake, neighbors are finally getting a chance to come out of their homes to look at the damage. They're checking on their other neighbors and they're starting to clean up. And meanwhile, kids are doing what they always do after getting out of the house, after eight days of being cooped up, they are having fun, even kayaking in the streets in front of their house.

(voice-over): These storms may have been deadly and dangerous, but as the floodwaters recede, for these kids, they may someday be just a happy memory.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday when it was in my front yard we were skipping stones like in a lake.

WESTHOVEN: Jennifer Westhoven, CNN, Spring Lake, New Jersey.

LIN: And just as you were looking at the devastating pictures, this just in, new warnings from the weather center tonight. Brad Huffines joins me live now.

Brad, what have you got?

BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carol, an area of disturbed weather that we've been watching in the tropics as we've seeing the Northeast become inundated with rains, now has become a tropical depression. Now that doesn't sound like much of a threat. But this tropical depression, number 24, is likely going to become Tropical Storm Wilma tomorrow, possibly Hurricane Wilma by Monday, and a Category 2 or stronger Hurricane Wilma by Wednesday. So all residents, especially along the western Caribbean coastline as well the southern Gulf Coast of the United States need to watch this storm.

By the way, this is the last hurricane name we have on the list. Wilma is the very last name. The next one, if it comes aground, will be Alpha. We start the Greek alphabet. We'll talk about this more during the 10:00 hour.

LIN: Brad, thank you very much.

In the meantime, we're going to be taking you to Washington, D.C., where you're going to see the Millions More Movement, how Hurricane Katrina united thousands of Americans who want to focus now on poverty, so we're going to take to you today's rally.

Plus, middle class crunch, with rising prices and falling wages, is the U.S. government doing anything to help the average American?

And later, putting a freeze on your biological clock. I'm going to show you a controversial new technology this allows women to put their eggs and motherhood on ice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: It's hard to believe that it was a decade ago that hundreds of thousands of black men responded to a call to march on the nation's capital. Today, 10 years later, brought the sequel to the Million Man March, headlined again by the controversial Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.

CNN's Kathleen Koch reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Men, women, and children, together this time for what is being called the Millions More Movement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you ready to be unified?

KOCH: Some came hoping to recapture the spirit of the Million Man March 10 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be part of history, this is continuing history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was motivating, because you were around that many people, that many positive black men.

KOCH: Then it was standing room only, as far as the eye could see. This time, thousands showed up, and while the focus in 1995 was on atonement and personal responsibility...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must go back home and organize as never before.

KOCH: ... this time it's on action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we are building a movement, focus on getting rid of poverty, getting rid of injustice, but we're not going to be overly dependent on the government. This is a self-development movement.

KOCH: It is a lofty goal. Black unemployment remains at more than 10 percent, virtually the same as 10 years ago. Drug abuse and crime continue to disproportionately impact African-American communities, but experts say some things have improved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not having babies out of wedlock, those things that we have control over, you have seen black high school completion go up, black college attendance go up.

KOCH: And in the months after the Million Man March, some 1.5 million black men registered to vote. Still, critics insist that after the disturbing images of thousands of primarily poor black citizens trapped in New Orleans, it will take more than a rally to affect permanent change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We now need follow-through, one more rhetoric -- day of rhetoric won't help.

KOCH: Some at the event worry that even more affluent blacks are desensitized to the problems that still plague much of the African- American community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just that now that we have money, we have good jobs, now we're not together like we should be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problems are not being faced, they're not being discussed, they're not being confronted.

KOCH (on camera): The test comes when the members of this Millions More Movement leave here, and try to turn words into actions.

Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Welcome news in New Orleans, the curfew is now 2:00 a.m. in some parts of downtown. Bar owners were complaining, they wanted the curfew lifted all together. They were planning a protest when the city changed the midnight curfew to 2:00 in the morning.

And Kermit, Texas, was the perfect place for Kermit the frog to celebrate his 50th birthday. I can't believe he's middle aged. Well, the lovable muppet kicked off his globe-popping tour. He's going to visit the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and run with the bulls, maybe, in Pamplona, Spain, and then bravely stop at Frog Leg Festival in Florida. Watch out, Kermit!

And now from trash to treasure in Massachusetts. An 83-year-old man found a lottery ticket worth $1 million in a convenience store garbage can last week but then someone claims they bought the ticket and threw it away and that person wants it back.

Well, not everyone wins the lottery. In fact, a lot of Americans these days are spending more and earning less.

CNN's Christine Romans looks at the money crunch facing the middle class.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The ingredients of middle class life are getting more expensive by the day. Gasoline, fuel oil, fruits and vegetables, medical care, education, all slashing Americans' spending power.

BARBARA EHRENREICH, AUTHOR, "BAIT AND SWITCH": It is definitely harder to be middle class today than it was a generation ago. A generation ago, a family could be in the middle class on one person's earnings. Today, there have got to be two people's earnings.

ROMANS: And when you adjust those earnings for these higher prices, Americans' earnings fell in September. So what are policy- makers doing to help the middle class under assault? They're tightening bankruptcy laws to make it harder to start over. The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates 11 times, that makes the money you borrow more expensive. And credit card companies, at the urging of the federal government, are raising the minimum payment you must make each month on your charge cards.

JOHN ROTHER, AARP: People are going to be facing much higher energy bill costs, health care costs have been going up, new changes in laws, bankruptcy, changes in credit cards. This does add up to a real squeeze on most American households, but particularly those who are on fixed incomes.

ROMANS: And news of a Social Security cost of living increase of 4.1 percent does little to take the sting out of a projected 30 percent increase in home heating costs this winter.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

LIN: Coming up, two generations on the front lines. Next, the story of a father who fought, but never got to see his son return from war.

And later, we are going to return to our top story, today's vote in Iraq. Retired Major General Don Shepperd is going to join me live to talk about today's security and whether today's vote may be one step closer to bringing American troops home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Every week we like to bring you the more personal stories from the frontlines, sometimes it's in the war zone, sometimes it's right here at home. Today's story is a sad one. I can't tell you what it was like to watch it. A father, who fought bravely as a veteran, and convinced his son to join the services.

CNN's John King reports from Ada County, Idaho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Idaho's Veteran Cemetery opened just over a year ago. Not all that many grave states for Tom Titus to tend to on the volunteer days he volunteers here.

THOMAS TITUS, SON KILLED: Sometimes I do because my connection is I'm a veteran.

KING: More time then to talk to the young man on the left end of the front row, the first veteran laid to rest here.

TITUS: That was my only son, and yes, he's my hero, and he always will be because he showed me a lot. There are things that I don't even think are important anymore because they're just not, because he's not around.

KING: A year has passed, a little more, but not the pain, the disbelief, the memory of a knock at the door.

TITUS: And all of a sudden it just seemed like my heart just went right up my throat and just like i had, seemed like somebody had their big hand around my throat and it just seemed like I had -- you know, it just seemed like somebody had their big hand around my throat and I couldn't breathe. And I opened the door, and they said, "are you Thomas Titus?" And I went, "yes," and they asked me again.

And then I heard the words that every parent hates to hear. And they started telling me the circumstances and I was like, Chaplain (ph), I remember, you know, I said, would you please write that down? You know, I couldn't understand it. And he wrote it down. And I kept saying, this cannot be true.

Tom Titus is angry at anti-war demonstrations on the news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody made a remark standing over there and I am going ....

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was in Crawford on vacation and ...

KING: One group in Boise put his son's name on a cross.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How dare they? Did they ask my permission? No? Do they really care about the families, no. They're doing it for their own agenda like a lot of other people take advantage of us. Other than that, they wouldn't acknowledge me if they pet me on the street.

KING: At the politicians and the Pentagon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They sent them in there with insufficient protection. The humvees are not suited of that, number one because no armor plating and of course with the roadside bombs, the IEDs and that, they were just really good targets.

KING: Angry most of all at himself, at himself for raising a son so proud of his father he insisted on following in his footsteps. Brandon Titus left a letter for his dad in the event of his death, a letter Tom Titus read at his son's funeral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I learned a lot from my dad, and I want to be like him. I wanted to do something that would make him truly proud of me."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Sunday night on CNN, it's CNN PRESENTS: "The War in Iraq: Voices from the Home Front" so please, plan to join us at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: An overnight curfew tarts in Toledo, Ohio, 90 minutes from now. That leads the top stories happening in the news. A Nazi group planned to march there to protest what it called black crime. The march never took place but counter demonstrators ended up vandalizing stores and setting up fires and fighting with police.

And grim new statistics from Pakistani officials. The say death toll from last week's earthquake has risen now to 38,000 dead with 62,000 injured. They say the quake has left more than 2 million Pakistanis homeless.

And it is official now, bird flu is in Europe. Health officials in Romania today confirmed that the strain that kills people turned up in tests on infected ducks. The only plan right now is to destroy about 45,000 birds.

Nine months after Iraqi voters elected an interim government, they are risking their lives to show they voted again. Millions turned out today to vote on the country's proposed constitution, and the Iraqi media that was once under the thumb of Saddam Hussein's sensors are reporting freely today and have a lot to say. CNN's senior editor of Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Iraq, local TV today the station calls a wedding, a celebration and a holiday. Al Iraqiya is the new name of what was known simply as Iraqi TV under Saddam Hussein. Back then coverage was all Saddam all the time. The station hailed the chief and his entourage and portrayed him as popular, admired and loved by all.

Under the new name, al Iraqiya the pre-taped propaganda is replaced by live television. On this referendum day, al Iraqiya reported from many locations live, bringing viewers images and opinions from polling stations around the country, but it's not exactly even-handed.

"We are all for the new constitution," says this woman, "we're here to vote yes, yes, and yes." back in the studio, this guest recites a poem in favor of the constitution, and hails the hands that wrote it and the hands voting on it today, all the while the proverbial ticker beneath carries messages supporting a "yes" vote.

Built with U.S. support but now under Iraqi management al Iraqiya even tries its hand at live breaking news.

In this case, former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a staunch supporter of the constitution, arrives at a voting station to cast his ballot.

In a country where violence is an everyday occurrence and the threats of insurgents are on many minds, the fact that the referendum occurred in relative peace is seen as an accomplishment.

This al Iraqiya anchor says his role and that of his colleagues was a patriotic one so he calls everybody to the camera. He calls them here,s the heroes of Iraq. "Be proud, he says." This reporter answers, "We are proud because we said yes to the constitution." Not much doubt where al Iraqiya stands.

Octavia Nasr, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: ... military analysts just returned from a tour of Iraq. Retired Major General Don Shepperd is here on his take on today's referendum. You literally just got back from Iraq on Monday.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Still groggy.

LIN: And jet-lagged ...

SHEPPERD: A foot on each continent.

LIN: ... but very well aware of what happened in Iraq and a major step forward perhaps. What is your sense of how important a role that the Iraqi forces played in today? Did they secure 100 percent of the polling stations?

SHEPPERD: They did. The Iraqis themselves kept the polls clear and there was an outer circle beyond that they kept clear and then the Americans were there to back up and not much backup was required. There weren't many incidents around the country of violence. It came off smoother than was predicted by the people when I was over there.

LIN: So are the Iraqi forces ready to take over security of their country?

SHEPPERD: Not yet. Not yet. They are in some places and there's good units and bad units and units in various stages of development.

They say they need us probably another three to five years for logistical backup and that type of thing in an ideal situation. Of course, our people want to come home but as I talked to the trainers who are embedded with Iraqi forces they are very impressed and the Iraqi forces that we visited, the Ninth Mechanized Infantry Division, they are good and they are mad that they're being attacked, they're being killed, their families are being killed. They're ready and they're already taking over what they call battle stage, geographic areas, 20 percent of the area of Baghdad has been turned over to Iraqi forces.

We're going to see this spreading more and more, you're going to see an acceleration of it in 2006 and I think some of our forces will start to come home in 2006.

LIN: 2006. So even though there's the vote today maybe there is going to be a constitution in place, a parliament by December. You see a huge presence still for U.S. forces? SHEPPERD: I do see a huge presence for U.S. forces, certainly next year but starting to come home next year but I also see a rapid acceleration of the training and the capabilities of Iraqi forces over there. The ones I visited were really good and very, very motivated.

LIN: Despite what General Casey said, that one in four, one in five Iraqi forces is really qualified for the job?

SHEPPERD: Look, this got all bollocksed up in so many ways. We're talking about different things, we're talking about readiness as measured against U.S. forces. They're never going to be measured against U.S. forces. They don't have to be that good. They have to be better than the insurgents and they're rapidly getting better than the insurgents.

They can do many things better than we can, particularly intelligence, a presence in a particular area. The Iraqi people by polls have no confidence in U.S. forces and they have great confidence in the Iraqi security forces and I believe that's going to grow as they get more present throughout the country.

LIN: Was there anything that disappointed you?

SHEPPERD: Well, I think the thing that disappointed me - or the thing I realized and thought about deeply for the first time was the real difficulty of electing a competent civilian government, one that gains the confidence of the people. It's hard enough in this country. And we see it all over. But there to elect a competent government that is not corrupt, that doesn't take payoffs is going to be very, very difficult, and gaining the confidence of people is going to take some time.

What they want is they want clean water, trash pickup, electricity that, type of thing and delivering that to an elected government is going to be very, very difficult.

LIN: None of those services I know that you saw with any reliability.

SHEPPERD: None.

LIN: All right. General Shepperd, thank you very much.

SHEPPERD: Pleasure.

LIN: We're expecting to get some preliminary results of the referendum throughout the evening. So stay with us for continuing coverage on this very important story.

In the meantime, still ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, a new way to delay motherhood, freezing your eggs. But when they defrost do they still work and can you really get pregnant? Well, one of the country's top fertility experts answers these questions for us. And men really you'll want to stay tuned, too.

And driven to extremes, the rush and the speed and the danger. How in shape must top NASCAR drivers be to handle the speed behind the wheel? Our Sanjay Gupta takes us on the track.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: In today's fountain of youth, the pursuit of motherhood at any age. An Italian scientist is claiming women can stop the clock by freezing their eggs and waiting for career or love to blossom. A 41- year-old woman, for example, could use the eggs she had frozen at the age of 22 and conceive her child at leisure.

Well that is now the claim of an Italian scientist. The story is featured in "New York Magazine." I talked with Sarah Wildman who wrote the article as well as a preeminent infertility doctor, Jamie Grifo, about all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARAH WILDMAN, "NEW YORK MAGAZINE": I looked at three types of women interested in this process. The first is a cancer patient and she has the most dire need. She's facing imminent end of her fertile life and the second two are sometimes the same woman, that's a woman whose career is going to make her 30s a time when she doesn't feel she can have a child for a variety of reasons, and a woman who is looking for a partner, a husband who wants to wait until she finds that man to have a biological child with.

LIN: And time's a-ticking.

WILDMAN: Exactly.

LIN: Dr. Grifo why is the procedure so complicated. I know we're familiar with the frozen embryos, a fertilized egg and that's a more common procedure but why is it controversial to use a frozen egg?

DR. JAMIE GRIFO, REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGIST: Well, it's less complicated than embryos. That's a good thing. It's complicated because it allows a woman to put her reproductive life on hold and if the technology doesn't work, these pregnancy rates are somewhere in the 30 percent to 40 percent range one could change the way they live their life with the hope and promise that doesn't come true.

LIN: What are the odds that it will come true? You've done some trial tests yourselves.

GRIFO: That's correct. And we're somewhere in the 30 to 40 percent range. And we think we can do better. It takes a lot more work and research to get there.

LIN: But isn't that the same probability as in vitro?

GRIFO: Depends on the age of the woman, it depends on the clinic, but for the group of patients we're talking about, the IVF success rates are in the 50 to 60 percent range so it is lower than fresh IVF but it is as good as frozen embryos.

LIN: Sarah, how much does this cost? WILDMAN: It's quite expensive, actually. It's something between $9,000 and $15,000 for the procedure that includes hormones, because the woman goes through a few weeks of hormone shots to increase the likelihood of more and more eggs being produced and then $500 per year for storage and that's if she does one cycle. And of course, to really increase her odds she may want to do two cycles so we're talking $20,000 to $30,000 potentially in costs for this.

LIN: All right. Well, that is what some infertile couples are willing to pay or even people who are willing to adopt. But Sarah, did it seem whimsical on these women's part, did it seem like they were just being calculated about their career and wanting to have it all?

WILDMAN: Absolutely not. I actually found for the most part these were women who were really almost romantic about wanting to find that perfect man and not wanting to do something like let's say freeze embryos or adopt or be inseminated which would mean that they would have a child that was not the biological child of whoever that man was, and it was sort of romantic take and a little bit sad, and a little bit hopeful at the same time.

Like, I think this technology can help me and I want to take advantage of it. I mean, they're a little bit cutting edge too, because most are going into this knowing there's not a huge amount of hope yet.

LIN: Right. Dr. Grifo, you are one of the more preeminent fertility experts in your field, and I'm just wondering from your opinion, where does this go? At what point do you think that women have to make a hard and fast choice that they may not be able to have their biological children?

GRIFO: Well, that's the complicated part about reproduction is we all assume that it will always happen, and we live our lives based on assumptions, and when you actually get to the point where you're trying, then you find out you're infertile and it changes the way you think.

Where should this be limited? I think where it should be limited is that patients need to understand their chances, they need to understand their circumstances and they need to make good decisions and what we're about is allowing women to make good decisions and level the playing field between men and women. Men don't have this problem. Women do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, Dr. Grifo tells me because women will wait years before trying to conceive with frozen eggs, we won't really get real live data on the women who are using this technology today, for a long time. We'll follow the story anyway.

In the meantime, what do race car drivers in common with astronauts and should they be considered athletes? Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some answers up next. But first here is Ali Velshi to tell us what's ahead on ON THE STORY. Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are ON THE STORY here at the George Washington University and our correspondents have the inside word on what they're covering.

Christiane Amanpour is ON THE STORY in Baghdad with what's at stake as Iraqis vote.

Suzanne Malveaux on the political story that's still running hot, the Harriet Miers nomination.

Sanjay Gupta is ON THE STORY of the bird flu and fears that the world is doing too little too late.

All coming up, all ON THE STORY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE I need to examine your child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Chinese)

UNIDENTIFIED SYNTHESIZED VOICE: Will my child be OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not from an episode of "Star Trek" but the technology demonstrated by IBM researchers is straight from science fiction.

WILSON ROTHMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, "TIME": For years we've thought about the idea of a machine that can translate what we say, but now, for the very first time, IBM has designed software that actually does it. The goal would be to carry six or eight languages in your pocket.

For instance, a hospital in a big city, one PDA could have ten predominant languages so that the doctor could go around from bed to bed and carry on different conversations in different languages with every one of his patients.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The translator is still in the early testing phase but may be available in time forever travelers on the Boeing 787, known as the Dreamliner, one of the next generation air planes coming to market in 2008. The plane is being designed to consume less gas and offers passenger-friendly features such as higher, more comfortable humidity levels in the cabin and larger windows that can be shaded using passenger-controlled sensors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: So do you think driving a car at high speeds is athletic? Maybe some of you driving in morning rush hour but I'm talking about NASCAR. Its drivers endure tremendous physical and mental demands. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at some of them in his special, "NASCAR, Driven to Extremes." Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important to be fit, mentally fit, physically fit. These cars take a lot out of you.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the straight- aways, Wallace and the other drivers travel almost the length of a football field every second. On the turns, they experience G forces similar to the space shuttle on liftoff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery.

GUPTA: Drivers are pulled sideways on the corners with the same force astronauts are pushed down on the shuttle launch. Are race car drivers athletes? A definitive yes says Dr. Steve Olvey, who has studied them.

DR. STEPHEN OLVEY, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: Absolutely. Race drivers require all the same attributes that more traditional athletes require in their sports.

The heart rates in the more fit drivers would be similar to what you would see in a very fit Olympic long distance swimmer, marathon runner, somebody actually playing basketball, professional basketball.

GUPTA: NASCAR drivers also need to concentrate with few breaks as they maneuver in traffic at 180 miles per hour or more. Imagine hitting the fast forward button the next time you're on the highway. Jack Stark is team psychologist for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the top teams in NASCAR.

JACK STARK, SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST: No other sport that I know of demands that kind of attention to detail and focus for four hours.

GUPTA: Drivers need to say mentally sharp in conditions like a sauna. The car is humid and the temperature inside is routinely over 100 degrees. Closer to 170 degrees by the floorboards that's why he wears the special heel were protector and has cool air pumped from a hose in the top of the helmet.

RUSTY WALLACE, NASCAR DRIVER: The hardest thing is getting dehydrated real, real quick. Physically overheating and your body starts shutting down, concentration level starts going away. The most weight I've ever lost in one race was 11 pounds.

GUPTA: Even with all of the challenges, the 49-year-old Wallace remains in contention for the NASCAR championship. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Wow!

Well, don't miss Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special, "NASCAR: Driven to Extremes." That's tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern.

Now in just a few minutes CNN brings you ON THE STORY. And then at 8:00 Eastern it's CNN, "25 Flash Forward." "Fortune Magazine" predicts the top trends that are going to shape your life for decades.

And at 9:00, legendary rocker Rod Stewart sits down with Larry King and I'll be back at 10:0 Eastern for another live report from Iraq, how about today's historic vote affect the politics right here at home. A check of the hour's headlines and then ON THE STORY.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com