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CNN Live Saturday
Richard Pryor Dies at the Age of 65; Troops and Iraqis in Anbar Pravince Prepare for Crucial Vote; Southwest Airlines Plane Skids off Runway, Killing One; Former Presidential Candidate Eugene McCarthy Passes Away in Georgetown;
Aired December 10, 2005 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military has wrapped up Operation Skinner in Iraq. Officials say U.S. and Iraqi forces seized weapons and detained insurgents during the three-day operation in Ramadi in Iraq's volatile Anbar province.
CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm C.. Rogers in Chicago. We'll have the latest on that NTSB investigation into the Southwest Airlines accident that happened on Thursday.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kathleen Koch. Bird flu is the focus here at the White House. I'll have more on the administration's pandemic preparedness.
WHITFIELD: Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All that and more after this check of the headlines.
103 people have died in Southern Nigeria, where a Nigerian airliner crash landed and burst into flames. The Associated Press reports most were students returning home for the holidays from a school in the country's capital. Seven people are said to have survived. Bad weather may have been a factor.
New York Police say burglars shot and killed an off-duty officer in a gunfight near the officer's home in the Bronx. Police say both suspects are wounded and in custody. The three year veteran is the second New York officer to die in the line of duty in the past two weeks.
We begin with tough questions in Chicago today. That damaged Southwest Airlines jet at Midway Airport is being moved from the crash site to a hangar for further examination.
Aviation authorities say it could be a year before they determine why the jet skidded off the runway Thursday night, killing a boy and injuring 13 people.
Ceci Rogers is in Chicago, and how much of a factor is weather, Cici?
CECI RODGERS: You can see it's snowing again here in Chicago. And NTSB investigators will decide how much of a factor that was on Thursday night when that Southwest Airlines flight slid off the run way, crashed through into a barricade and into the street.
They did get the plane out of the street today here at 55th street and Central Avenue at the edge of Midway Airport, and got it back onto the property at Midway Airport. In fact, it's now out of sight.
The crane that helped lift the nose of that airplane is still there, that's all that's left of the scene of that accident Thursday night.
Now, six-year-old Joshua Woods was riding in a car with his family from Leroy, Indiana, and he was singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" along with the radio, Bruce Springsteen's song on the radio with his father and family. The family is mourning in private, but the attorney did talk to CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
RICHARD STEARNEY, JOSHUA WOODS FAMILY ATTORNEY: Joshua was a typical boy interested in planes and trucks and that sort of thing, and father was pointing out airplanes, and as they approached the field, passing by the field.
They heard the noise, the roar of jet engines, and this noise continued to rise in volume until it was a deafening roar, and bang, the plane landed on top of the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Rodgers: Joshua's tragic death is the first in Southwest Airlines' 35-year history. They're, of course, looking into the matter. But the NTSB is going to sift through everything, the plane will be in a hangar, and they'll go over there that with a fine toothed comb.
The NTSB was also to be talking to the pilots who were running the airplane that night, and they will have a briefing for us later this evening, Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Ceci, reportedly there were other pilots who said they thought runway was a bit slick, and that it wasn't a safe condition for the planes to land. Has anything more been made of that?
RODGERS: No, but the NTSB itself did say that in its preliminary briefing yesterday said that the runway's condition was fair for most of the runway but poor at the end of the runway, and so that would seem to jive with what some of the pilots were saying. It was a very heavy snowstorm that night.
WHITFIELD: All right, a lot of factors coming into play, thanks so much Ceci Rodgers, out of Chicago.
If an avian flu pandemic hit will the U.S. be ready? Worried about the worst case scenario, today the White House phased a pandemic exercise. Top health and government officials faced some sobering information.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House with details. This is some pretty frightening stuff, even though the administration says it doesn't intend to inflame panic.
KOCH: You're correct, it is frightening talk of 90 million Americans being potentially infected with the avian flu. Two million Americans dying. That's why the participants in this table top exercise say it was so very valuable, so very important.
The design on paper to push federal resources to the limit, to identify gaps, and then to fill those gaps in. White House spokesman Trent Duffy says roughly 20 participants representing every department, many, many seconds met from the Eisenhower Office Building for roughly four hours today.
They went over the bird flu pandemic scenario. They had gotten a peek at it about a week ago. They did identify some gaps: adequate vaccines, anti-viral treatment. Those need to be increased in production.
Also preparedness on the state and local levels, that would be key, and that's why the Secretary of Health and Human Services will be traveling to all states. All 50 states to spread the word.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE LEAVITT, HHS SECRETARY: This is a time for us to be informing, but not inflaming. It's a time for us to inspire preparation but not panic.
We have time to become the first generation literally in the history of man to do something to be prepared for a pandemic. Pandemics happen, they've happened in the past, they'll happen in the future.
This is about being ready for what inevitably will come. We're quite concerned about this h5n1 virus, as scientists suggest it could mutate into a virus of major concern, so we need to be ready.
KOCH (voice over): It was more than a month ago that President Bush laid out the bird flu response plan. Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend said it's vital that Congress pass the $7.1 billion request now so the U.S. can begin preparing. Because even though White House officials saying there is no bird flu pandemic eminent, another thing they learned in today's exercise is that everyday matters, Fredricka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The question has to be asked, why go public today? Don't table top exercises like this go on all the time in and around Washington without fanfare?
KOCH: They do, but this particularly involved people at a particularly high level. We're talking cabinet secretaries, and I think certainly that the concern does continue to grow.
Every time there is a new avian flu, bird flu case somewhere in the world where a human has caught it from a bird, it is a cause of great concern here at White House. they simply don't want to take any chances on this one.
WHITFIELD: Kathleen Koch at White House, thanks so much.
KOCH: You bet.
WHITFIELD: How big a threat is the bird flu, and what danger does it pose for you? Dr. Bill Lloyd joins us in a bit with more on why this particular virus has everyone is worried.
And tomorrow night Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines the bird flu in depth. His special "Killer Flu: A Breath Away," begins at 10 eastern.
Defense attorneys, prosecutors, celebrities, supporters and the victims families have all had their say. Now it's up to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This weekend he's weighing a clemency request to spare the life of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. A decision is expected soon. Convicted of killing four people in 1979, Williams is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday.
There is some fear that rioting could erupt if Williams, co- founder of the Crips street gang is executed. Since his conviction, Williams has denounced gang violence. Supporters say he's a positive influence, worth saving.
Granting clemency is, in any case, very complicated. It's been decades since a California governor has decided to spare the life of a death row inmate. Our Daryn Kagan examines the clemency issue in this "CNN Fact Check."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): The last California governor to grant clemency was Ronald Reagan in 1967. And in that case, the inmate had been brain damaged. During that period, clemency was also much more common. Nationwide more than 200 inmates were spared from death sentences between 1960 and 1970.
While clemency has only been granted 63 times in the last three decades. That's not including the 167 inmates whose death sentences were commuted by the governor of Illinois in 2003. That was a story unto itself.
The state of California doesn't execute people very often. Despite having more than 600 inmates on death row, only 11 people have been executed in California since the death penalty was reinstated in the late 70's.
The state of Texas has 400 inmates currently on death row and has executed 355 people since the death penalty was reinstated. (END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The U.S. casualty count is climbing in Iraq. Four American soldiers were killed in three separate incidents today in and around Baghdad. One soldier was killed by a roadside bomb. The three others were shot to death.
The U.S. military also announced the death of a soldier yesterday in Western Baghdad.
The U.S. military is hailing the capture of a high-ranking member of al Qaeda in Iraq. The man known as "the butcher" was seized and turned in by Iraqi citizens yesterday. "The butcher" was wanted in connection with several kidnappings and killings. Citizens told authorities they didn't want him around anymore so they brought him to a military camp in Ramadi. When he arrived the suspect was tightly bound and a little banged up, but not seriously injured.
The fate of four peace activities is, kidnapped in Iraq, unknown as deadlines set by their captors arrive. A group calling itself the Swords of Justice Brigade threatened to kill them today unless prisoners in Iraq were released. The men -- an American, a Briton, and two Canadians -- were seized two weeks ago today.
Kidnappers killed an Egyptian working for the U.S. military in Iraq. Iraqi police tell CNN they found his body on the side of a road near Tikrit today. He was abducted Friday.
For a closer look at problems and progress in Iraq, be sure to watch "CNN PRESENTS: 1,000 DAYS IN IRAQ." It's on tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern. This begins a special week of special coverage as Iraqis elect a permanent government and the U.S. military reaches its 1,000th day in the war.
What's it's like to attempt securing one of the most violent cities in Iraq? We'll take you on the frontlines with U.S. troops in Ramadi at the bottom of the hour.
Also still to come, after days of snow, what conditions can the nation expect this weekend? The latest weather forecast straight ahead.
And deconstructing Carrie? What? Why is a prestigious university giving college credit for watching the television show "Sex and the City."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: It is slow going for motorists in the northeastern United States after the region got walloped by a major snowstorm. This is the scene in Hampton, New Jersey -- I'm sorry, Hampton, New Hampshire. A foot or more of snow fell in parts of the state.
In neighboring Massachusetts, thousands of people were in the dark this morning after the storm knocked out power across the region. Snowfall ranged from about 12 to 16 inches in Massachusetts. Four to 16 inches fell across the state of Maine. A whole lot of snow up there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: And the entertainment world is now learning the sad news of a loss of a longtime star. Comedian Richard Pryor, we're told, has died at the age of 65. He is a man who took a stand for comedy, one that was sometimes controversial for reasons of poking fun at race, at himself and at everybody else.
On the phone with me right now is his wife to help confirm for us the circumstances of his death. Thanks so much for being with us. At the same time, we extend our deepest sympathies to you. What are the circumstances? What happened?
JENNIFER PRYOR, WIFE OF THE LATE RICHARD PRYOR: Richard died of cardiac arrest at 7:58 this morning at Encino Hospital. I tried to revive him. I performed CPR, chest compressions and paramedics got there and went to work on him. And when we got to the hospital, they continued to work on him, and he didn't come back.
And, you know, he's been so strong for so many years. He's had this disease since 1986, and Richard is such a fighter. I mean he's had beyond nine lives. We used to joke that he was going to outlive everybody because he just had his 65th birthday December 1st. And, you know, he was an extraordinary man, as you know, and wanted to be here and he enjoyed life, right up until the end.
He did not suffer. He went quickly, and at the end, there was a smile on his face, and I'm just -- I'm honored now that I have an opportunity to protect and continue his legacy, because he's very, very, very amazing man, and he opened doors to so many people.
WHITFIELD: And we're so sorry. We extend our deepest sympathies. I know this is an extremely difficult time in which to talk with us, and convey how important Richard Pryor was to you.
PRYOR: That's why I want to -- I want to talk to you because I -- he was very -- he was my treasure. My treasure ...
WHITFIELD: And important to the entertainment world.
PRYOR: ... and an international treasure. Exactly. That's why I want to talk to you, he was my treasure.
WHITFIELD: And important to the entertainment world.
PRYOR: Exactly. He meant so much and will continue to mean so much to the world to not just to the world of comedy but to the world at large.
He broke down doors and barriers he had a courage and a heart and a spirit that was unmatchable. And, of course, he was controversial. I heard your lead-in, but that was wonderful Richard.
WHITFIELD: He was proud of that.
PRYOR: He told the truth, didn't he?
He told the truth, he spoke the truth and it was very proud.
WHITFIELD: And it really was groundbreaking comedy, while at first it was controversial, there was a lot of eyebrows being raised for the things he would say and how he would say it. At the same time, it gave people a chance to laugh at things they wanted to laugh about or wanted to laugh about, or find reasons to laugh about, didn't he?
PRYOR: Yes, you just said it, and what was extraordinary about Richard was that, you know, rednecks came up, bigoted rednecks told him, thank you for opening my eyes. And because he was so in touch with the truth and only spoke the truth, he absolutely communicated that. And people respond to that whomever they are, they respond.
That's why he broke down the barriers and he crossed all boundaries. He was really larger larger than life. And his comedy is unparalleled, and everybody, they say you're not a true comic unless you imitate Richard Pryor.
WHITFIELD: There was a lot of imitation, so many current day comedians who embrace and talk about and herald how much they learned from Richard Pryor.
PRYOR: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And it does cross all racial barriers, too.
PRYOR: And he talked about his own life and his own suffering. He was able to turn pain into comedy in such an amazing way. He really made it into something he made it valuable, he made his pain not just be a private pain, but he let the world see it.
He showed it to the world, and that was his inspiration, too. People said if he can do it, I can do it. If I'm not going to be a victim to my circumstance or to my situation, you know, look at him and I won't be a victim either.
WHITFIELD: And Jennifer, he was not a one dimensional entertainer.
PRYOR: Lord no.
WHITFIELD: He was a comedian yes, that's what we knew him as. But he was also an actor. We remember great comedic as well as serious roles he did, starting with great roles, sharing the screen with Bill Cosby.
PRYOR: My goodness, going back that far. "Which Way is Up," we were talking with friends, he was doing all black films in the beginning, but they weren't crummy, they had a lot of message back in the day, and he did "Silver Streak."
He really represented African-Americans in a very valuable, dignified way. Even when he was being silly. And obviously he grew and grew and went on to do lots of films, of course with Gene Wilder. He was so proud of films like "Blue Collar" and "Lady Sings the Blues," he had a great part where he was able to stretch and show his acting ability.
WHITFIELD: It was so fun to see he and Gene Wilder, together. Jennifer Pryor, the wife of Richard Pryor, who, if you're just now joining us, Richard Pryor died at age of 65. Just after celebrating his 65th birthday.
If you wouldn't mind sticking around, we want to bring a beautiful tribute to Richard Pryor. His life documented by CNN's Sibila Vargas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIBILA VARGAS; CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Late in his life, Richard Pryor found a wealth of new material from the main source of his comedy. His own life. The comedian was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986.
In an appearance at the Los Angeles Comedy Store in 1992, he turned his tragedy into comedy.
RICHARD PRYOR: I found out I had it on a movie set. I didn't know what it was. The director said, come this way, oh, yes. And my body would go -- cut! Richard! stop kidding!
I'm not kidding!
VARGAS: He was rarely kidding. Pryor became a legend of comedy by tapping his rage and agony for laughs.
He was the biggest name in stand-up comedy in the '70s, won grammys for his albums and was part of the team that created the script for "Blazing Saddles." He was nominated for an academy award for dramatic acting in "Lady Sings the Blues."
R. PRYOR: I be like Valentino, you be like Valentino and what's his name. We be all right.
VARGAS: Pryor was remembered more for the incident in which he was horribly burned while free basing cocaine, an incident he later described as a suicide attempt, an incident that also found it's way into his comedy.
Pryor directed himself in a semi autobiographical film, "Jo-jo Dancer, You're Life is Calling," in the mid '80's. A film, he says, refused to be written as a comedy. Pryor had long been in fragile health; he suffered a massive heart attack and underwent triple bypass surgery in 1990.
His colleagues didn't wait to honor Pryor after his passing. At a Friar's Club Roast in a special television tribute to Pryor in 1991, Hollywood told Pryor how they felt about him.
ROBIN WILLIAMS: To use Chuck Yeager's line, he broke the envelope, he pushed it beyond anything he can dream of. Deep stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a savage kind of humor and comes out of a great deal of pain, and I think it's remarkably inspiring.
VARGAS: Also remarkable was his determination to keep working as his disease progressed. He continued to make appearances doing stand- up comedy sitting down. In late 1995 he performed on an episode of "Chicago Hope." He received an Emmy nomination playing a multiple sclerosis victim fighting off the frustrations of his illness.
R. PRYOR: Sometimes I lay in bed and think I get up, but I can't. My energy won't allow me to. I try to get up and my legs say what are you doing? Look at me like I'm crazy. You know you can't do that, you just freeze. Smell the roses.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Again a tribute to Richard Pryor, comedian, actor, a great entertainer, died at age of 65.
On the telephone with us again is Jennifer Pryor, his wife.
You were with him when he passed away earlier, and Jennifer, we saw in the piece, this is a man who masked great pain in a lot of ways. Most people saw him as a funny man, just a cutup all the time.
He had been through so much, whether it was drug addiction, and most currently MS and heart attacks along the way. While he was in the hospital, give us an idea what his condition has been like recently. What he was being treated for?
PRYOR: I'm sorry, I was on with somebody else from your organization. What was the question?
WHITFIELD: Well, we saw in this piece he's been through so much over the years.
PRYOR: Amazing.
WHITFIELD: He showed a lot of that pain through his comedy. We know very publicly about his fight with drugs, about his most recent fight with multiple sclerosis. He had been in the hospital, most recently, you mentioned how you were at his side as he passed away. What was his condition most recently in the past few days before his death.
PRYOR: Richard had been struggling. He was diagnosed in 1986 with MS and fought it valiantly, and of course, it was progressive, and he was not getting better, clearly, and he was having renal failure as well, and a series of other, other issues that usually attend MS when it's at this stage.
However, Richard really enjoyed. I want to say that it still comes as a shock us to, even though it's like, well, he was really sick and blah, blah, blah because he was such a fighter. He was so amazing and enjoyed his life. He went out every week, he went to the movies, he visited his children. He really had a quality of life, and he's been, for the past two weeks, he's been laughing a lot, which is wonderful.
I know he had the last two weeks were happy for him. That he had his birthday, and I just talked to Flynn Pryor, the wife before me, and said she, you know, she reminded me that Richard really wanted to make it to 65 because so many of his family and his people had heart conditions and didn't live a long life.
He did turn 65 December 1st, and he was happy. I mean, yesterday, he was laughing. He was happy, he was in good spirits. He told me he loved me. Made a few jokes, and his communication skills were good at times and at times absent. It would depend. And the past few weeks they were excellent.
He was communicating in a very clear, forceful way. For that, I'm really grateful. I'm also grateful that he didn't suffer. I'm grateful for all the love that Richard has had in his life.
WHITFIELD: And just as you are finding that to be a very comforting -- we've heard from so many comedians who talk over the years about what a great influence he was on their careers, from Robin Williams, Gene Wilder, Bill Cosby, I'm sure it's a comfort to them as well knowing that he was laughing all the way to the end.
PRYOR: He really was.
WHITFIELD: And filmmaker Spike Lee is on the line with us too. And it's interesting to note, Spike, just how Bill Cosby and Gene wilder and all of these comedians may have in some way influenced you in your craft. More specifically about Richard Pryor, what kind of an influence was he in your life and your career?
SPIKE LEE, DIRECTOR: Well, my father is a jazz musician, he used to play in a lot of clubs when Richard was in New York City, especially the clubs in the village. Of course, I was too young then, but for me, Richard was a giant.
He was an innovator, he was a trail blazer, and the way he used social commentary in his humor opened up a universe for other comics to follow in his footsteps.
WHITFIELD: Would you say that made a direct impact on you as a social commentator?
LEE: Oh, definitely, definitely.
WHITFIELD: He gave you license to do that?
LEE: Excuse me.
WHITFIELD: He almost gave you license and encouraged you to do that, in a way?
LEE: He showed that one can use entertainment, movies, whatever, to make social commentary. I love him.
I just remember being in college and seeing Richard Pryor in "The Sunset Strip" and all those great things, but also what people don't realize is he was a great actor.
If you go back to "Lady Sings the Blues," people overlook "Blue Collar." He looks fantastic in that film, "Blue Collar." He wasn't all ha-ha, laugh, laugh, laugh, he was a very great dramatic actor, too.
WHITFIELD: And that he had such range. I think on the surface when people were introduced to him, they thought OK, he's strictly a comedian. He's going to poke fun whether it be at himself or at race, he was a lightning rod for criticism because of the foul language he brought to the stage.
But it was interesting to see his career evolve, Spike, that he could take on very serious roles and be taken seriously, whether it be in acting or be on the stage as a comedian?
LEE: Well, it's a great loss. You know. They're coming too quick. Ossie Davis, Richard Pryor, we're losing giants. We're losing giants.
WHITFIELD: And it is very saddening indeed. And Spike Lee, thank you so much for joining us. Did you -- before I let you go, did you have an opportunity to meet Richard Pryor in person or get an opportunity to converse with him at all about being such a trail blazer?
LEE: You know I saw him a couple times and shook his hand and gave him a hug and exchanged pleasantries, that was about it.
WHITFIELD: All right, Spike Lee, thanks so much for being with us and helping to pay tribute to the loss of a great man, a great comedian, a great entertainer, Richard Pryor, dead at the age of 65.
And Jennifer Pryor, his wife, thank you very much for being on the line with us and giving us an idea of what his life has been like and especially in the final stages of his battle with multiple sclerosis.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: And sad news to deliver on the passing of an American icon, comedian and actor, Richard Pryor dying at the age of 65. His wife, Jennifer Pryor, joining us on the air moments ago saying she was at his side in the hospital when he passed away.
He died of a heart attack after many years of battling multiple sclerosis. Richard Pryor, dead at the age of 65.
In other news we're following for you, at the bottom of the hour now. Transportation officials in Chicago are using a crane and a flatbed trailer to tow the passenger plane that slid off a snowy runway Thursday night.
Federal investigators are planning to interview the captain and copilot of the Southwest Airlines 737. A six-year-old boy was killed when the plane crashed through a barrier at Chicago's Midway Airport and onto a street.
Top federal officials held a drill today at the White House to test the government's response to a possible bird flu pandemic. Details of the exercise are not being disclosed.
Afterwards, however, Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend told reporters there is no current evidence that a flu pandemic is eminent.
In Iraq, a deadline has passed without any word on the fate of four western hostages. Kidnappers threatened to kill the peace activists, including American Tom Fox. Also today in Iraq, four American soldiers were killed in separate attacks by insurgents.
Violence is escalating in Iraq ahead of Thursday's parliamentary election. An election worker from a Sunni Arab party was shot to death while hanging posters in Mosul. A second person was wounded.
CNN's Nic Robertson examines the danger that looms ahead of election day and the extreme precautions that have become commonplace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CPT. PHILLIP ASH: So it comes to a complete stop. Good to go?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is no ride at fare. Captain Phillip Ash leads the way to the roof of perhaps the most dangerous building in Iraq.
ASH: Right now you're on the rooftop of the al-Anbar Government Center.
ROBERTSON: Al-Anbar, the Western Iraqi province where most U.S. troops are killed these days.
ROBERTSON (on camera): This is the main government building in Ramadi. While we're on the roof, we're being told to keep our heads below the sand bags because there could be snipers out there.
BRIG. GEN JAMES WILLIAMS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: It's obviously a contentious point for the insurgents because they need to continue to address, this is the beginning of the heart of government here in the Anbar province.
ROBERTSON: Several floors down, the province's top sheikhs and clerics are holding a groundbreaking meeting with U.S. commanders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to have the Sheikh's security (inaudible) central street.
ROBERTSON: It's progress, U.S. commanders say, that insurgents want to stop and tribal leaders here, after more than two years of resistance to U.S. occupation, realize they need to embrace.
WILLIAMS: They understand the democracy will get them to a different place, and they have to participate to be part of it.
ROBERTSON (voice over): At the meeting, next week's elections are the biggest issue. These Sunnis all think Iraq's electoral commission is limiting the number of polling stations they can have to reduce turnout and cut their representation in the new government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It would lessen our position among other provinces and make our province look smaller, less unimportant.
ROBERTSON: But it could be too late. Two years of resistance has stifled security force growth and the province doesn't have enough trained men to secure all the polling sites it wants.
WILLIAMS: For all intents and purposes there are zero rank police here. Even though there are 6,000 police on the rolls, they're not at work because they've been intimidated by the insurgents.
ROBERTSON: A drive outside shows how bad security has become. Long grass grows in the street, opposite the governor's office. And stores on the once busy thoroughfare are shut.
Within a sniper's shot of the governor's building, the market district is a little busier, but some here do not buy the idea of their leaders meeting with the Americans.
The American occupation forces are harming us, this man says, they shoot all over the place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Echo One. One south of Bada-Bing.
ROBERTSON: The same streets at night, a target for U.S. raid. It's a dual mission; marines are searching for any hint of insurgent staged attacks. And at the same time, they say, they encourage people to vote. A tough job, not just because it's the middle of the night, but because the insurgents here have spread their own message. You vote, you die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you go, this place, kill.
ROBERTSON: They kill you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They -- me or my family or my brother, this is a problem here.
ROBERTSON: In elections so far this year, Ramadi has had the lowest turnout of any Iraqi city. Barely two percent in the referendum two months ago.
COL. JOHN GRONSKI, COMMANDING OFFICER: Somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 voted here in Ramadi last night. The Ramadi area, and what we're hoping, what I personally hope for, for the coming election is five times that amount. I'm hoping for 50,000 people. ROBERTSON: Nobody, even in the upbeat mood of the new meetings is counting on it being easy.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Ramadi, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Moments ago we reported on the passing of comedian Richard Pryor, dead at the age of 65.
Another significant passing to pass on to you. A man who took a stand against the Vietnam War, former Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy has died at age of 89. He died in his sleep in a retirement home in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C.
With a look now at life of Senator McCarthy, here now is Bruce Morton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He was a poet, a scholar and right-handed hitting first baseman in semi pro ball for the Watkins Clippers in the Great Sioux League.
If you're old enough, the Eugene McCarthy you remember is the one who ran for president in 1968 to protest the Vietnam War.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gave people a chance to register their opposition to the war. And there were many who were quite pleased just to do that much because they felt it was no way they could even make anything -- other than protest in the streets -- no semiformal way in which they could do it. That was a good in itself.
MORTON: The war was tearing the country apart, Americans dying in Vietnam, Americans screaming at each other back home.
College kids worked precincts in New Hampshire. Neat and clean for Gene, they said. He came very close, losing to president Johnson by roughly 4,000 votes out of 50,000 cast. Johnson saw the message.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON: I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.
MORTON: And Robert Kennedy, who had declined to run when it seemed hopeless, jumped in.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY: My candidacy of the presidency of the United States.
MORTON: McCarthy, who never forgot a slight, resented that, and would and talk campaigning on of those sitting by camps throwing notes of encouragement to those fighting the battle and then coming down to join in shooting the wounded and declaring victory.
The convention nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Chicago's police beat McCarthy's young supporters in the streets and parks outside.
The war went on, and so of course did McCarthy. He always had a sense of humor, called one Senate colleague a hobbit, a J.R.R. Tolkein character with little fury feet.
He wrote poetry, one of the things he said he'd do if he elected is tear down the fence on the White House and hold poetry readings on the lawn. He ran quincically for president every four years thereafter. This was 1992 on a children's television show.
EUGENE MCCARTHY: You have to go on television to make it official. This is the closest thing to an official announcement.
MORTON: He was inconsistent and funny and literate. Thanking a friend for a home-cooked meal quoting a famed French gourmet. He spent most of his last years in Virginia horse country and he wrote.
You can be a former candidate he said once but not a former poet. He wrote a poem about the World War II character, Kilroy. Kilroy was here, GI's scrawled everywhere.
Kilroy, McCarthy said, was absent without leave from Vietnam.
And he wrote this. There are quiet waters where a berry dropped by a bird flying starts ripples, that from the center of the pond spread in concentrics, dying in silence at the feet of the blue leaves. I now know where those waters are.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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WHITFIELD: Once again, we want to remind you of two very significant passings today. Actor and entertainer, comedian Richard Pryor has died at the age of 65. He died in a hospital today in California with his wife at his side. He dived a heart attack after battling many years multiple sclerosis.
And in the nation's capital, former Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy has died. He died in his sleep at an assisted living community in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. You'll best remember him as a man who took a stand against the Vietnam War -- a challenge that ended up leading to president Lyndon Johnson withdrawing his name from the nomination for presidency. Eugene McCarthy dying at the age of 89.
And as promised, we wanted to bring you a very serious topic and a very serious author who has tackled the topic of addiction. James Frey is the author of a book called "A Million Little Pieces."
He joins us now. James, we booked this far earlier without the expectation of this very sad news taking place today. We still think it's very important to address a subject that you have tackled: addiction. Chemical dependencies and how difficult it is for a family as a whole to address.
This your book being a best-selling book, and oftentimes, you know, we know there are an awful lot of books out there to talk about addictions, why is it that you felt now is the time and it's important for you to tell your story and convey it in a very different, unorthodox way?
JAMES FREY, AUTHOR, "A MILLION LITTLE PIECES": I wrote my book because I didn't ever thing I read a book about addiction that was accurate or that honest. Books glamorize it or romanticize it or make it not as awful as it really is.
I also had never seen a book that took a position that was against 12 steps or AA and that didn't look at addiction as a disease. You know, I thought there was a story to be told that hadn't been told yet.
WHITFIELD: And in the story that you tell, which is very raw and very graphic in details. You talk about everything from what it's like to go into a rehab center, to come face to face with your demons, to see what it has done to you physically as well as to your family. To experience what it is to be in a room with other addicts.
You do this in a very unorthodox way by telling the story without what many expect to be, you know, usual or grammatically correct punctuation, an interesting mix of upper and lower case, you don't have a lot of quotations, yet somehow you can you follow the story, it is both narrative and stream of consciousness. Why did you take this approach?
FREY: You know, the book is created to be a work of literature, and I didn't want to write a book that was like every other book that's been published. When I read books that are great books, you will always notice they're written in ways that haven't been seen before and tackle subjects that haven't been tackled before.
I look for a very unique and distinct way to write, and you know, I think I found it. The book didn't doesn't look like anything that's been done or read like anything that's been done.
WHITFIELD: You had real apprehension, didn't you, about writing the whole story, you started it and stopped for many years and decided to go back, Why is it? Were these details that even shocked you?
FREY: Yes, some of it's shocking, some of it's absurd and ridiculous. I stopped writing the book initially because I wasn't ready to confront what was in it.
I needed a certain objectivity and distance to the events that are portrayed in it before I could accurately and honestly write about them. I waited until I felt I had that and started again. Once I started the book, it was written pretty quickly, less than a year, and came out about two years ago.
WHITFIELD: And you talk at the top of this interview how a 12 step program is not necessarily is the end all, be all, it didn't necessarily work for you.
Instead, what are the other options out there for someone who is battling these demons, battling these addictions, who may be hearing, it's drilled in their head, that the 12 step program is really the only way.
How do you encourage them or their families to reach out and find another way? Something that might be a little more personalized and more successful?
FREY: I say there is a million ways to do it, you know. The 12 step groups, the most accurate statistics say the 12 step group is successful with 10 percent of the people who try them. That means 90 percent of the people who walk in the rooms walk out of them failing.
My basic message is there's a way, if you want to find a way. It can be love, it can be religion, it can be a 12 step group. It can be anything you want, but there is a way, if you want look for one and willing to work hard enough to find it.
WHITFIELD: James, thanks so much for taking a very courageous approach to talk about something very personal, and congratulations to you on 13 years now of being sober and now with a wife and family, and I do understand it's still every day, one day at a time, but thanks so much for take the time out. And happy holidays to you and your family.
Thank you very much for having me, I appreciate it.
James Frey. The book is "A Million Little Pieces".
So much more ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Carol Lin is up next.
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