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Ivan Expected to Pack a Wallop; Martha Stewart Requests to Begin Sentence; Beslan Mothers Forced to Choose Which Children to Save; Putin to Change Chechnya Strategy

Aired September 15, 2004 - 14:00   ET

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

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


(WEATHER REPORT)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CO-HOST: Thank you so much, Jacqui Jeras.

Well, Ivan makes three for the Sunshine State, the third hurricane in just about a month, and some fear it just might be worse than the other two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. TONI JENNINGS, FLORIDA: If you want to do a comparison, it is the size of Frances but the impact of Charley. So when you think about what could happen to our Panhandle area, combine those and -- and use that as your criteria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Rick Sanchez has been getting soaked in Panama City Beach.

And Rick, you've also been watching the tides really kick up.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: yes, as a matter of fact, Fredricka, we got a report not long ago. I don't know if you've heard this, but we were monitoring that as dramatic as the scene seems behind us, that about 200 miles from here, there was a report of one wave as high as 34 feet, which is certainly nothing to mess with.

Combine that with the other things we've been hearing like the one you reported during our weather report that there might be tornadic activity coming into this area in about 10 minutes ago -- 10 minutes or so. And that certainly is reason for people here to be concerned.

For the most part, though, the big concern for people I think is found in what they have followed with previous hurricanes, specifically Charley. When you consider that Charley was what, at the time, was considered on a beat for Tampa, and then ended up making a little bit of a deviation toward Punta Gorda.

A lot of people in this region say, "Well, right now, they're calling for Ivan to be headed for the area of Mobile, maybe Pensacola. What it if it were to do the same thing? That's why we're not going to let our guard down." And for the most part, we see a few people coming out to the beaches but many, even this area here, which is, by the way, a peninsula. That's significant when you consider that a storm surge could cut part of this island off or part of this peninsula off -- pardon me. That it is imperative for people to wait this out and find out exactly where the storm is going.

One other thing that we should mention, and that is that we have been hearing reports of the Florida National Guard. They have been amassing in an area over here called the Bay County Fairgrounds. And that is where officials are telling us they will basically go out from in the event of a hurricane and there is a need for them to go out and help the citizenry.

So we're going to be monitoring all of this here from Panama City Beach.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rick. Thanks so much. And I'd be remiss by not saying...

SANCHEZ: Sure.

WHITFIELD: ... welcome aboard, but what a heck of a welcoming committee we're giving you, huh?

SANCHEZ: Yes. It's an interesting orientation, I'll tell you that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Rick. Talk to you again soon.

SANCHEZ: Thanks a lot.

WHITFIELD: All right -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Well, as we point out, every time a hurricane threatens New Orleans, the city sits below sea level between the Mississippi River and colossal Lake Pontchartrain.

It's engineered to keep water at bay, but that hasn't stopped, I'm told, thousands of residents and visitors from heeding the mayor's advice to just get out of the area.

We get the latest now from CNN's Jason Bellini. Where is he? Of course, not far from the French Quarter right there along the great Mississippi.

Hi, Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

We're experiencing 30 mile gusts of winds right now, and those people you're speaking about who have not left, some of them are right here. But this city is going to lock down pretty soon. Less than two hours from now, the city is imposing a curfew on the city, an indefinite curfew on the city.

The mayor of the city has just announced that they're opening up a shelter at the Superdome for people with special needs. These are people with medical needs. There's going to be guaranteed power there during the storm. He's actually called for people with medical experience, nurses, doctors who've remained in the area to come and assist.

The city has held off, waited until just today to announce these shelters, because they want people to leave. They didn't want people to stay in here.

But the mayor acknowledges that was -- that people staying in the city, many thousands of them, is just an inevitability, because not everybody has the means to get out. The airport is now closed. The port right here is closed down, as well.

The city has also issued that -- a ruling against price gouging. It made price gouging illegal. There are some reports of people paying $10 a gallon -- charging $10 a gallon for gasoline.

One other thing the mayor said for people who are staying behind, is that they need to make plans to evacuate vertically, to at least be on the second floor of their homes. He even told them that you need to have something ready so that you can hack through your roof if you have to and get up on the roof if the water level rises, if the worst were to occur.

Even though it doesn't look like this city will take a direct hit from Ivan. Anything can happen at this point. And the main concern right here is this river, which could overflow its banks, which put this city under a lot of water. That's the main worry right now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Our Jason Bellini, thanks so much.

And some of New Orleans best and brightest are choosing to sit tight and just hope for the best. That includes one of our old friends, presidential historian Doug Brinkley at the University of New Orleans. We've got him on the phone.

Doug, usually we're talking presidential history and now we're going to talk hurricanes. I'm curious to know if you've survived one of these before, living in New Orleans?

DOUG BRINKLEY, HISTORIAN AND NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: Well, you know, I wasn't down here when Camille hit in 1969. And that was just a devastating storm, particularly on the Mississippi Gulf coast.

If you go to the towns of St. Louis (ph) and past Christiana, Gulfport, you still see the remnants of the destruction that you know, Camille had. In fact, a lot of people took it lightly when they heard Camille was coming and would have the drink hurricane parties and drinks, thinking they could outsmart the storm. And unfortunately, it took -- it had over 200-mile-an-hour winds in Camille, and it took a lot of lives.

So people take hurricanes very seriously in this whole region in the Gulf of Mexico.

PHILLIPS: And looking into the '69 hurricane that came through there, a lot of changes have been made in your city. Doug, how do you think things have improved, and how do you think those in New Orleans pretty much know how to prepare for something like this now?

BRINKLEY: Well, the people know how to prepare, but our government has let us down.

One of the big problems that we have in the state of Louisiana, and I think it's a national problem, is coastal erosion. I mean, we have lost, since 1930, about a million acres of land.

And that's due often from federal policies, the building of levies, the digging of canals for navigation. We try to facilitate in oil and gas development, but we've lost our barrier islands.

And every year people talk about doing something and nothing gets done. We have a vanishing wetlands and barrier shorelines, and that is our great defense. And it makes New Orleans very vulnerable.

What happens is the storm will hit and get a lot of flooding. FEMA will give the city a billion or the state of Louisiana a billion or two dollars and then people go back to business and wait another year. In truth, the problem of coastal erosion has to be dealt with on a national level, because -- 24 acres of land is being lost -- I mean, 24 miles of land is being lost every year in Louisiana.

PHILLIPS: Leave it to you for the history on that. Real quickly, University of New Orleans, are you boarded up?

BRINKLEY: All the college, all the schools, everybody is boarded. The plywood business has, of course, been brisk. People out there -- everywhere you go, you see things boarded up. Only a few hard-core old drinking bars are staying open. There are a group of people that like to weather these storms.

But unfortunately, there's a lot of poverty in New Orleans, and a lot of people that don't have transportation; they have no way to go. They're care taking somebody who's seriously ill. Electricity will go out, and those people are the ones that need to be taken care of.

It's great now that Mayor Nagin is opening the Superdome, but there have been people calling for years that we need to have a storm safe structure that can be used as a haven for residents who are unable to leave.

And again, this community hasn't and the state has not gotten behind the measures to prepare for this. It's not like California, where buildings are built for earthquakes, to survive it.

We talk about the problem of flooding and hurricanes a lot, but we often don't do anything. The politicians just don't want to deal with the fact that we need to restore coastal Louisiana.

PHILLIPS: Doug Brinkley, a little different bit of history lesson with you today. Thank you so much.

And we're going to go live to the National Hurricane Center in about 20 minutes. CNN will have ongoing coverage of the storm's path all day and live overnight, including a special two-hour edition of "NEWSNIGHT."

WHITFIELD: And now to New York, where Martha Stewart says she wants to put this nightmare behind her. The homemaking maven is referring to the prison term she was handed in the ImClone stock scandal.

And CNN's Allan Chernoff tells us what she plans to do about it -- Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, Martha Stewart says that she simply cannot bear the suffering of having a five-month prison term hanging over her head.

A delay in the appeals process means that her case would actually not be heard until next year. So this morning, Martha Stewart had her attorney send a letter to the judge overseeing the case, asking that Ms. Stewart begin serving her sentence as soon as possible.

Martha Stewart said she needs closure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART, FOUNDER, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: I would like to explain to you, from my perspective, why I have decided on this course of action at this time.

I suppose the best word to use for this very harsh and difficult decision is finality, and my intense desire and need to put this nightmare behind me, both personally and professionally. I must reclaim my good life. I must return to my good works and allow those around me who work with me to do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Martha Stewart will now be -- she'll be sentenced by the Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau of Prisons will determine whether or not she'll go to Danbury, Connecticut, where there is a minimum security camp, or to Coleman, Florida. Those are her two top choices.

Now, of course, they are both professional and personal reasons for Martha Stewart's decision here. Her legal problems have been absolutely devastating to her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Advertisers have been fleeing the magazine, and of course, her television show is now on hiatus. Martha Stewart said she's facing a very tough five months ahead. She said she will be missing her pets, her two dogs, seven cats, chickens, as well as horses -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And as well as her family. She did mention that. All right. Thanks so much, Allan Chernoff in New York.

Well, the horrors of the school siege in Beslan.

Inside the school, the terrorists force a mother to choose: stay inside with both daughters or take the baby and run for her life. One woman's private hell, a story you won't forget.

And he's been covering the tragic news from Russia for us. Now our own Matthew chance is here for some Q&A on what his experience were as he was covering that story. You'll hear all that when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In Beslan, the horror that put the small Russian town on the world map continues to emerge as survivors tell their heart- wrenching stories.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote has one mother's agonizing choice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than 24 hours in captivity with her two daughters, Anetta Gadiva (ph) had to make the choice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Terrorists came and said only one woman and only one baby come -- come out.

CHILCOTE: The hostage-takers had struck a deal with the Russian negotiator to let a small group of mothers leave the school with their infants, but any older children would have to stay.

Anetta pleaded with the terrorists to leave her behind and let her 9-year-old take 1-year-old baby Balena (ph) out instead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I say, "It's my other daughter. Maybe she take my baby and she come out."

CHILCOTE: There was to be no compromise: either she went with the infant or no one would be released.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My bigger daughter look me in eye every time, every time I see her eyes.

CHILCOTE: Her elder daughter Alana (ph) started to cry.

(on camera) This is your daughter?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. CHILCOTE: How old is she here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 9 1/2.

CHILCOTE: The last time she saw Alana (ph) alive was as she left the school with a group of other mothers, many of whom had to make the same choice.

Twenty-four hours later Alana (ph) was still a hostage, sleeping, a survivor said, when one of the terrorist bombs went off. Anetta loses her English when she tells the rest.

"When the blast went off she must have gotten up and started running away," she tells me, "because she had a bullet here in her neck."

Every morning Anetta goes to the memorial cemetery; every morning she seeks forgiveness.

"Mommy didn't protect you. Mommy didn't save you. I left you there. I thought all three of us would die if we stayed. Why don't you come to me in my dreams?"

This was Alana (ph) two years ago, star of her class. She spoke to graduating students. The words then now have new meaning.

"This is the last time I will sing for you," she says. "I will remain in the school to live, and for you, I will remain in the past."

From her apartment's balcony view of the school, Anetta struggles with the decision that freed two lives but forever made her a hostage of her choice.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Beslan, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, for the first time since the deadly siege two weeks ago, the school bells are ringing again in Beslan. For many children, classes resumed today with a moment of silence.

The freed hostages are still recovering and Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, is responding to the terrorist attack by announcing radical and controversial changes to the political system.

CNN's Matthew Chance has been covering this tragedy and Russian politics. He joins me now live.

Nice to have you back here safe and sound.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.

PHILLIPS: You were mentioning that you just can't emphasize the grief enough. I mean, put it into perspective for us from more of a personal perspective. CHANCE: Well, it's an incredible place, Beslan, or it's become an incredible place, because this is a tragedy that has really shattered this community.

It was, you know, so many hundreds of people were killed. It's a town of just 45,000, 50,000 people. So it seems, if these casualty figures are correct, that about one percent of the entire population of the town was killed, a good many more injured.

So when you walk around Beslan, there's not a single family there that haven't been directly affected. They haven't lost a son or a daughter or a mother or a father or -- or lived next door to a family who's been affected that way.

So literally streets are wailing with grief. It's very, very dramatic.

PHILLIPS: Now, also we should point out, this just didn't come out of nowhere. I mean, this has been an ongoing problem for a decade.

Vladimir Putin came in, in '99, and even -- there were bombings that took place in Moscow then. You tend to wonder, OK, why wasn't this issue of Chechen terrorism handled more quickly, in a different manner?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, Vladimir Putin from the outset, since he came to power in '99, has been trying to deal with the problem in Chechnya. He's been trying to deal with it in a military fashion. He sent the troops in to try and reestablish Russian central control there.

He's succeeded to some extent, but what -- what has to be done is create this kind of mutated war which is leading to these terrible terrorist atrocities like this siege in Beslan, and like the suicide bombings that Moscow and other cities have witnessed. And the week before Beslan, two Russian airliners were bombed by suspected Chechen terrorists.

So there still is that very severe problem in Chechnya. And many of Moscow's critics urging Vladimir Putin now to try and address that problem in Chechnya. Otherwise there will be another Beslan or something just as hideous.

PHILLIPS: All right. Talking about addressing the problem, let's talk about Shamil Basayev. We haven't talked about this man. This is the man being compared to Osama bin Laden. He's the one leading these terrorist attacks, or at least he's taking credit for them.

CHANCE: Well, he's certainly one of the most prominent sort of Chechen rebel leaders in the breakaway republic. And you're right, because the Russian government has pointed the finger of blame at Shamil Basayev for being the person who orchestrated, who masterminded this particular attack on the siege in Beslan. And it's certainly true that he is an extremely hard line Islamist militant fighting for an independent state in Chechnya.

There are other people who are also fighting for an independent state in Chechnya. The previously elected former president of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, who seemed to be more of a moderate within the sort of Chechen rebel movement.

But the position of Moscow is to reject both the hard liners and the moderates and to go for their military solution. And this is what the outcome has been of that policy.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll follow the policies in place, how Putin is changing things and also this rebel movement and how it spread out throughout Russia.

Are you going to be around for awhile or are you going back overseas?

CHANCE: I'll be going back overseas the end of next week.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be talking to you from there.

CHANCE: Great.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Matthew. All right.

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, we'll go to where the unexpected is a way of life. Patrol the mean streets of Sadr City with U.S. troops, ahead on LIVE FROM.

And put the pucks in storage. The hockey season could be on ice, an NHL newser is expected in a few minutes, and we're watching for you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Listen to this. A new survey shows that Americans might not be as overworked as they think.

Rhonda Schaffler live at the New York Stock Exchange. Very different for all of us here at CNN, though, right?

(STOCK REPORT)

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Aired September 15, 2004 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(WEATHER REPORT)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CO-HOST: Thank you so much, Jacqui Jeras.

Well, Ivan makes three for the Sunshine State, the third hurricane in just about a month, and some fear it just might be worse than the other two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. TONI JENNINGS, FLORIDA: If you want to do a comparison, it is the size of Frances but the impact of Charley. So when you think about what could happen to our Panhandle area, combine those and -- and use that as your criteria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Rick Sanchez has been getting soaked in Panama City Beach.

And Rick, you've also been watching the tides really kick up.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: yes, as a matter of fact, Fredricka, we got a report not long ago. I don't know if you've heard this, but we were monitoring that as dramatic as the scene seems behind us, that about 200 miles from here, there was a report of one wave as high as 34 feet, which is certainly nothing to mess with.

Combine that with the other things we've been hearing like the one you reported during our weather report that there might be tornadic activity coming into this area in about 10 minutes ago -- 10 minutes or so. And that certainly is reason for people here to be concerned.

For the most part, though, the big concern for people I think is found in what they have followed with previous hurricanes, specifically Charley. When you consider that Charley was what, at the time, was considered on a beat for Tampa, and then ended up making a little bit of a deviation toward Punta Gorda.

A lot of people in this region say, "Well, right now, they're calling for Ivan to be headed for the area of Mobile, maybe Pensacola. What it if it were to do the same thing? That's why we're not going to let our guard down." And for the most part, we see a few people coming out to the beaches but many, even this area here, which is, by the way, a peninsula. That's significant when you consider that a storm surge could cut part of this island off or part of this peninsula off -- pardon me. That it is imperative for people to wait this out and find out exactly where the storm is going.

One other thing that we should mention, and that is that we have been hearing reports of the Florida National Guard. They have been amassing in an area over here called the Bay County Fairgrounds. And that is where officials are telling us they will basically go out from in the event of a hurricane and there is a need for them to go out and help the citizenry.

So we're going to be monitoring all of this here from Panama City Beach.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rick. Thanks so much. And I'd be remiss by not saying...

SANCHEZ: Sure.

WHITFIELD: ... welcome aboard, but what a heck of a welcoming committee we're giving you, huh?

SANCHEZ: Yes. It's an interesting orientation, I'll tell you that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Rick. Talk to you again soon.

SANCHEZ: Thanks a lot.

WHITFIELD: All right -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Well, as we point out, every time a hurricane threatens New Orleans, the city sits below sea level between the Mississippi River and colossal Lake Pontchartrain.

It's engineered to keep water at bay, but that hasn't stopped, I'm told, thousands of residents and visitors from heeding the mayor's advice to just get out of the area.

We get the latest now from CNN's Jason Bellini. Where is he? Of course, not far from the French Quarter right there along the great Mississippi.

Hi, Jason.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

We're experiencing 30 mile gusts of winds right now, and those people you're speaking about who have not left, some of them are right here. But this city is going to lock down pretty soon. Less than two hours from now, the city is imposing a curfew on the city, an indefinite curfew on the city.

The mayor of the city has just announced that they're opening up a shelter at the Superdome for people with special needs. These are people with medical needs. There's going to be guaranteed power there during the storm. He's actually called for people with medical experience, nurses, doctors who've remained in the area to come and assist.

The city has held off, waited until just today to announce these shelters, because they want people to leave. They didn't want people to stay in here.

But the mayor acknowledges that was -- that people staying in the city, many thousands of them, is just an inevitability, because not everybody has the means to get out. The airport is now closed. The port right here is closed down, as well.

The city has also issued that -- a ruling against price gouging. It made price gouging illegal. There are some reports of people paying $10 a gallon -- charging $10 a gallon for gasoline.

One other thing the mayor said for people who are staying behind, is that they need to make plans to evacuate vertically, to at least be on the second floor of their homes. He even told them that you need to have something ready so that you can hack through your roof if you have to and get up on the roof if the water level rises, if the worst were to occur.

Even though it doesn't look like this city will take a direct hit from Ivan. Anything can happen at this point. And the main concern right here is this river, which could overflow its banks, which put this city under a lot of water. That's the main worry right now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Our Jason Bellini, thanks so much.

And some of New Orleans best and brightest are choosing to sit tight and just hope for the best. That includes one of our old friends, presidential historian Doug Brinkley at the University of New Orleans. We've got him on the phone.

Doug, usually we're talking presidential history and now we're going to talk hurricanes. I'm curious to know if you've survived one of these before, living in New Orleans?

DOUG BRINKLEY, HISTORIAN AND NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: Well, you know, I wasn't down here when Camille hit in 1969. And that was just a devastating storm, particularly on the Mississippi Gulf coast.

If you go to the towns of St. Louis (ph) and past Christiana, Gulfport, you still see the remnants of the destruction that you know, Camille had. In fact, a lot of people took it lightly when they heard Camille was coming and would have the drink hurricane parties and drinks, thinking they could outsmart the storm. And unfortunately, it took -- it had over 200-mile-an-hour winds in Camille, and it took a lot of lives.

So people take hurricanes very seriously in this whole region in the Gulf of Mexico.

PHILLIPS: And looking into the '69 hurricane that came through there, a lot of changes have been made in your city. Doug, how do you think things have improved, and how do you think those in New Orleans pretty much know how to prepare for something like this now?

BRINKLEY: Well, the people know how to prepare, but our government has let us down.

One of the big problems that we have in the state of Louisiana, and I think it's a national problem, is coastal erosion. I mean, we have lost, since 1930, about a million acres of land.

And that's due often from federal policies, the building of levies, the digging of canals for navigation. We try to facilitate in oil and gas development, but we've lost our barrier islands.

And every year people talk about doing something and nothing gets done. We have a vanishing wetlands and barrier shorelines, and that is our great defense. And it makes New Orleans very vulnerable.

What happens is the storm will hit and get a lot of flooding. FEMA will give the city a billion or the state of Louisiana a billion or two dollars and then people go back to business and wait another year. In truth, the problem of coastal erosion has to be dealt with on a national level, because -- 24 acres of land is being lost -- I mean, 24 miles of land is being lost every year in Louisiana.

PHILLIPS: Leave it to you for the history on that. Real quickly, University of New Orleans, are you boarded up?

BRINKLEY: All the college, all the schools, everybody is boarded. The plywood business has, of course, been brisk. People out there -- everywhere you go, you see things boarded up. Only a few hard-core old drinking bars are staying open. There are a group of people that like to weather these storms.

But unfortunately, there's a lot of poverty in New Orleans, and a lot of people that don't have transportation; they have no way to go. They're care taking somebody who's seriously ill. Electricity will go out, and those people are the ones that need to be taken care of.

It's great now that Mayor Nagin is opening the Superdome, but there have been people calling for years that we need to have a storm safe structure that can be used as a haven for residents who are unable to leave.

And again, this community hasn't and the state has not gotten behind the measures to prepare for this. It's not like California, where buildings are built for earthquakes, to survive it.

We talk about the problem of flooding and hurricanes a lot, but we often don't do anything. The politicians just don't want to deal with the fact that we need to restore coastal Louisiana.

PHILLIPS: Doug Brinkley, a little different bit of history lesson with you today. Thank you so much.

And we're going to go live to the National Hurricane Center in about 20 minutes. CNN will have ongoing coverage of the storm's path all day and live overnight, including a special two-hour edition of "NEWSNIGHT."

WHITFIELD: And now to New York, where Martha Stewart says she wants to put this nightmare behind her. The homemaking maven is referring to the prison term she was handed in the ImClone stock scandal.

And CNN's Allan Chernoff tells us what she plans to do about it -- Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, Martha Stewart says that she simply cannot bear the suffering of having a five-month prison term hanging over her head.

A delay in the appeals process means that her case would actually not be heard until next year. So this morning, Martha Stewart had her attorney send a letter to the judge overseeing the case, asking that Ms. Stewart begin serving her sentence as soon as possible.

Martha Stewart said she needs closure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART, FOUNDER, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: I would like to explain to you, from my perspective, why I have decided on this course of action at this time.

I suppose the best word to use for this very harsh and difficult decision is finality, and my intense desire and need to put this nightmare behind me, both personally and professionally. I must reclaim my good life. I must return to my good works and allow those around me who work with me to do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Martha Stewart will now be -- she'll be sentenced by the Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau of Prisons will determine whether or not she'll go to Danbury, Connecticut, where there is a minimum security camp, or to Coleman, Florida. Those are her two top choices.

Now, of course, they are both professional and personal reasons for Martha Stewart's decision here. Her legal problems have been absolutely devastating to her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Advertisers have been fleeing the magazine, and of course, her television show is now on hiatus. Martha Stewart said she's facing a very tough five months ahead. She said she will be missing her pets, her two dogs, seven cats, chickens, as well as horses -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And as well as her family. She did mention that. All right. Thanks so much, Allan Chernoff in New York.

Well, the horrors of the school siege in Beslan.

Inside the school, the terrorists force a mother to choose: stay inside with both daughters or take the baby and run for her life. One woman's private hell, a story you won't forget.

And he's been covering the tragic news from Russia for us. Now our own Matthew chance is here for some Q&A on what his experience were as he was covering that story. You'll hear all that when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In Beslan, the horror that put the small Russian town on the world map continues to emerge as survivors tell their heart- wrenching stories.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote has one mother's agonizing choice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After more than 24 hours in captivity with her two daughters, Anetta Gadiva (ph) had to make the choice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Terrorists came and said only one woman and only one baby come -- come out.

CHILCOTE: The hostage-takers had struck a deal with the Russian negotiator to let a small group of mothers leave the school with their infants, but any older children would have to stay.

Anetta pleaded with the terrorists to leave her behind and let her 9-year-old take 1-year-old baby Balena (ph) out instead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I say, "It's my other daughter. Maybe she take my baby and she come out."

CHILCOTE: There was to be no compromise: either she went with the infant or no one would be released.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My bigger daughter look me in eye every time, every time I see her eyes.

CHILCOTE: Her elder daughter Alana (ph) started to cry.

(on camera) This is your daughter?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. CHILCOTE: How old is she here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 9 1/2.

CHILCOTE: The last time she saw Alana (ph) alive was as she left the school with a group of other mothers, many of whom had to make the same choice.

Twenty-four hours later Alana (ph) was still a hostage, sleeping, a survivor said, when one of the terrorist bombs went off. Anetta loses her English when she tells the rest.

"When the blast went off she must have gotten up and started running away," she tells me, "because she had a bullet here in her neck."

Every morning Anetta goes to the memorial cemetery; every morning she seeks forgiveness.

"Mommy didn't protect you. Mommy didn't save you. I left you there. I thought all three of us would die if we stayed. Why don't you come to me in my dreams?"

This was Alana (ph) two years ago, star of her class. She spoke to graduating students. The words then now have new meaning.

"This is the last time I will sing for you," she says. "I will remain in the school to live, and for you, I will remain in the past."

From her apartment's balcony view of the school, Anetta struggles with the decision that freed two lives but forever made her a hostage of her choice.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Beslan, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, for the first time since the deadly siege two weeks ago, the school bells are ringing again in Beslan. For many children, classes resumed today with a moment of silence.

The freed hostages are still recovering and Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, is responding to the terrorist attack by announcing radical and controversial changes to the political system.

CNN's Matthew Chance has been covering this tragedy and Russian politics. He joins me now live.

Nice to have you back here safe and sound.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.

PHILLIPS: You were mentioning that you just can't emphasize the grief enough. I mean, put it into perspective for us from more of a personal perspective. CHANCE: Well, it's an incredible place, Beslan, or it's become an incredible place, because this is a tragedy that has really shattered this community.

It was, you know, so many hundreds of people were killed. It's a town of just 45,000, 50,000 people. So it seems, if these casualty figures are correct, that about one percent of the entire population of the town was killed, a good many more injured.

So when you walk around Beslan, there's not a single family there that haven't been directly affected. They haven't lost a son or a daughter or a mother or a father or -- or lived next door to a family who's been affected that way.

So literally streets are wailing with grief. It's very, very dramatic.

PHILLIPS: Now, also we should point out, this just didn't come out of nowhere. I mean, this has been an ongoing problem for a decade.

Vladimir Putin came in, in '99, and even -- there were bombings that took place in Moscow then. You tend to wonder, OK, why wasn't this issue of Chechen terrorism handled more quickly, in a different manner?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, Vladimir Putin from the outset, since he came to power in '99, has been trying to deal with the problem in Chechnya. He's been trying to deal with it in a military fashion. He sent the troops in to try and reestablish Russian central control there.

He's succeeded to some extent, but what -- what has to be done is create this kind of mutated war which is leading to these terrible terrorist atrocities like this siege in Beslan, and like the suicide bombings that Moscow and other cities have witnessed. And the week before Beslan, two Russian airliners were bombed by suspected Chechen terrorists.

So there still is that very severe problem in Chechnya. And many of Moscow's critics urging Vladimir Putin now to try and address that problem in Chechnya. Otherwise there will be another Beslan or something just as hideous.

PHILLIPS: All right. Talking about addressing the problem, let's talk about Shamil Basayev. We haven't talked about this man. This is the man being compared to Osama bin Laden. He's the one leading these terrorist attacks, or at least he's taking credit for them.

CHANCE: Well, he's certainly one of the most prominent sort of Chechen rebel leaders in the breakaway republic. And you're right, because the Russian government has pointed the finger of blame at Shamil Basayev for being the person who orchestrated, who masterminded this particular attack on the siege in Beslan. And it's certainly true that he is an extremely hard line Islamist militant fighting for an independent state in Chechnya.

There are other people who are also fighting for an independent state in Chechnya. The previously elected former president of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, who seemed to be more of a moderate within the sort of Chechen rebel movement.

But the position of Moscow is to reject both the hard liners and the moderates and to go for their military solution. And this is what the outcome has been of that policy.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll follow the policies in place, how Putin is changing things and also this rebel movement and how it spread out throughout Russia.

Are you going to be around for awhile or are you going back overseas?

CHANCE: I'll be going back overseas the end of next week.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be talking to you from there.

CHANCE: Great.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Matthew. All right.

WHITFIELD: Straight ahead, we'll go to where the unexpected is a way of life. Patrol the mean streets of Sadr City with U.S. troops, ahead on LIVE FROM.

And put the pucks in storage. The hockey season could be on ice, an NHL newser is expected in a few minutes, and we're watching for you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Listen to this. A new survey shows that Americans might not be as overworked as they think.

Rhonda Schaffler live at the New York Stock Exchange. Very different for all of us here at CNN, though, right?

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