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Live From...
The Day After Ivan; Car Bombs Shake Central Baghdad; Michael Jackson Faces Accuser's Mother
Aired September 17, 2004 - 13:00 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Ivan, the terrible day after, the damage assessment, the cleanup begins as the South says, "Please, no more hurricanes."
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. A tornado warning in effect for the Roanoke area right now. We have tornado watches in effect through the Carolinas and Virginia, and we have three tropical systems that we're still tracking. We'll talk about that and what kind of threat they pose, coming up.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen. Kyra Phillips is off today.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. It is Friday, September 17th. CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now. And we begin with the aftermath of Ivan, by the numbers for you first. The hurricane that killed dozens in the Caribbean may be the deadliest to hit the U.S. since Floyd in 1999. Anywhere between 19 and 33 deaths are being blamed on Ivan directly or indirectly from the Florida Panhandle to western North Carolina.
More than 1.8 million homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana don't have power as we speak... may not for days. President Bush has signed Ivan-ravaged portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and once again, Florida, into major disaster areas. He's planning to visit Alabama and Florida on Sunday.
And we've got reporters and crews all over, of course, including Gary Tuchman in Gulf Shores, Alabama, Chris Lawrence is in Pensacola, Florida, and Sean Callebs in Birmingham. We'll get to all of them in just a moment. But first, let's get a look on what is going on with Hurricane Jeanne. Briefly, is a hurricane... or, excuse me, was a hurricane, now a tropical storm, possibly a hurricane again as it makes its way from Hispanola to the southern Bahamas.
Jeanne roared across Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and forecasters say it's not too soon for Florida and the Carolinas -- dare we say it -- to start paying attention to yet another storm. Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has got her hands full yet again. Hello, Jacqui...
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: All right, Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much. Ivan redrew the contours of Gulf Shores, Alabama, and threw some nasty complications into the usual ordeals of hurricane recovery. And by complications, we mean alligators. By way of explanation, we turn it over now to CNN's Gary Tuchman, who is in Gulf Shores. Gary...
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, hello to you. And yes, we have been talking about one particular alligator. There are six missing from the zoo here in Gulf Shores, but the one particular one we're talking about is "Chucky" the alligator. Chucky is 12 feet long and weighs 1,100 pounds. And the zoo officials are very concerned what happens if an unsuspecting human stands near Chucky. Now, yesterday, it just so happened that our CNN photographer David Albritten (ph) spotted Chucky, got video of Chucky swimming around in floodwaters next to the zoo.
And despite the fact that today the floodwaters have almost completely receded near the zoo, Chucky is still missing... could be crawling around anywhere at this time. And it is fair to say they are rather desperate to catch Chucky the alligator and the other five alligators. It's very likely they'll have to kill some of these alligators, but they're hoping to catch Chucky alive, who is a major feature at the zoo here.
Now, regarding what's going on here in Gulf Shores, the area where I'm standing right now, yesterday, this was several feet of water. There has been a dramatic recession of the water all along here with the Gulf of Mexico, basically, an extension of it. You can see the water way in the background. There has been a lot of receiving of the water.
And today, we were allowed to go to the beachfront, about six blocks away from me, to get a look at the damage that has occurred there, and the damage is very extensive. There are many stores where walls now are completely gone. You still see the merchandise on the shelves, but no walls in the stores anymore.
There are many homes on the beach that have been built on stilts. Many of them have been there for scores of years, including when Hurricane Frederick came by here 25 years ago this week, another category three hurricane. Well, many of those homes are now gone because of the storm waters.
Flying above my head right now a Coast Guard helicopter. We've seen those helicopters coming and going over the last 24 hours. One other very noticeable thing on the streets here in Gulf Shores, tons of sand that has been deposited. You don't even recognize that they're streets anymore because there is so much sand on the streets.
We can tell you that the residents here in Gulf Shores Beach are not being allowed back to their homes right now. They are allowing, obviously, emergency officials here, us, the news media to report this. But the residents won't be allowed back here for at least another 48 hours because of the dangers. Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: I bet there are a lot of residents who'd like to get out there right now. Gary, the impression I've always had is that if you build a house on stilts on the beach, you're fairly well protected. Was it the wind that took these houses out, or was the surf so high that the stilts weren't enough?
TUCHMAN: A combination, Miles, of the wind and the surf. And let it be known, there are some houses that did survive this, but other ones did not do as well.
O'BRIEN: All right, Gary Tuchman in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Keep us posted from there. Betty...
NGUYEN: Next door in Florida, almost 3,000 National Guard troops are deployed across the Panhandle. But most everybody else, except for aid and rescue workers, is being urged to stay away from the hardest hit areas. And in Pensacola, the hardest hit areas, well, they are everywhere. CNN's Chris Lawrence is there and joins us now with an update. Hi there, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty. The workers are finally able to get out on the road and start clearing away some of those huge trees and pieces of debris that have blocked access to the highways, and even entire neighborhoods. Florida Governor Jeb Bush just finished his tour of the damaged areas a little while ago, and it's one of the duties as governor that he's become very accustomed to after Hurricanes Charley and Frances.
Here's a look at some of the damage that Hurricane Ivan has caused, some of which the governor may have seen during his aerial tour of the area. The winds and the water surge lashed out at this area, destroyed homes, it splintered trees, it snapped power lines and left them dangling on sides of the road. The power is still out here. There is no running water, and some families literally have nothing left to go back to.
And the damage is not confined only to the interior. Out here, you're taking a live look now at Interstate 10 over Escambia Bay. That is damage, where an entire section of the bridge has been wiped out by the hurricane. And what you're looking at there is the back half of a trailer that has been literally torn in two.
Now, the cab of the truck and its driver are missing, and police say there's an oil slick in the water, right at the edge there of the break. They've sent divers out into the water, but so far, with all that muck and debris in there, they've only been able to see about five feet down.
NGUYEN: Chris, have divers had to halt that search, or are they going to go back a little bit later today, because I know they had to halt it yesterday as they were searching for the driver of that truck?
LAWRENCE: Right, exactly. They're looking for the driver. And right now, one of the police officers who went out right to the edge said you can see the oil slick right there. But right now, there's just too much muck for them to get any deeper. They believe that the cab is in there, if it hasn't been washed away. But right now, just the condition of that water is not allowing them to get much deeper to take a better look.
NGUYEN: Not good news there. All right, Chris Lawrence, thank you so much for that report. Damage and destruction from Ivan and its aftermath range from obvious to still unknown, to less than expected, and Alabama's got all three, as CNN's Sean Callebs reports from now from Birmingham.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A weaker Ivan rolled through the heart of Dixie, downgraded but still packing strong winds. In central Alabama, Ivan will be remembered for rain and flooding. Sandra Strickland and her seven children watched Five-Mile Creek swell and inch toward their home. They didn't want to, but realized they may have to evacuate.
Where do you think you're going to go?
SANDRA STRICKLAND, ALABAMA RESIDENT: Probably to the shelter...
CALLEBS: In other areas, roads were closed, but that didn't stop motorists, including this city bus driver.
UNIDENTIFIED BUS DRIVER: I'm ready to go home and get out of this.
CALLEBS: Amid the maze of monitors and projections, Birmingham's Emergency Management Agency coped with the fallout of Ivan. The city expected to get clobbered.
MARK KELLY, ALA. EMERGENCY MGMT. AGENCY: To a degree, we got lucky. We do have a lot to do, and we have a lot of downed trees, a lot of people without power, and certainly, some flooding.
CALLEBS: Rain and wind brought down trees, and trees brought down power lines at the height of the storm, leaving 200,000 Birmingham homes in the dark. The city is facing weeks of cleanup, but officials say they got a break when Ivan picked up speed and didn't linger over Birmingham.
Authorities in central Alabama say they can't complain, however, especially after seeing the devastation Ivan caused along the gulf coast. Sean Callebs, CNN, Birmingham, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Switching gears now, a dramatic day in a California courtroom. Superstar Michael Jackson going face to face with a woman who says he molested her son. The court's in a quick break right now, so CNN's Miguel Marquez darted outside to give us an update. Miguel, what's the latest?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we're in our typical morning break here. It is a tedious day in that courtroom. The witness, the mother of the accused, being evasive, very evasive, almost to the point of being hostile. At one point, she stopped the proceedings and said, "Somebody's whispering back there behind Michael Jackson and the lawyer, behind Tom Sneddon. I can't concentrate because somebody's whispering. I need them to stop." And it caused a little commotion in the courtroom.
One thing that came out during the proceedings today is that the prosecution says that they have moved the accuser and his family to a different county. This was coming up during questioning by Thomas Messero Jr. (ph). He wanted to know where the district attorney had -- or somebody from the district attorney's office had met with her. They didn't want to say it because they've been moved, at great expense, and surreptitiously to another county.
Also, questioning has been kept very narrow during this. Lawyers argued before she took the stand. Tom Messero Jr. saying to the judge, not in front of her, that she had claimed, at one point, that her ex-husband had molested her child, and that her ex-husband had also imprisoned her son. It was an objection raised. The judge cut him off at that point and said the questioning in this case is going to have to be much narrower.
She referred continually to everybody associated with Michael Jackson, Bradley Miller, the private investigator, and Mark Geragos, Michael Jackson's former attorney, collectively as "his damage control people," or "damage control team," not wanting to admit, essentially, that she had known them.
She did finally admit that she had had a conversation, or an interview, with Bradley Miller, this private investigator, and then went on to admit that she told another lawyer, Bill Dickerman, that it was Mark Geragos. He needed a contact in order to get her furniture back, that Bradley Miller, this private investigator was holding.
It seems simple and small, but if they can prove this point, the defense lawyers believe they can prove that the prosecution knew or should have known that Bradley Miller was working for Mark Geragos. Therefore, everything in his office would be off limits to a jury. Miles...
O'BRIEN: All right, Miguel, the entire Jackson clan and entourage wearing white today. What's that all about?
MARQUEZ: Well, it seems to be a theme. We've heard before that, you know, they came here expressing unity, and innocence, and the like. Then we heard, well, maybe it was just that Latoya liked wearing white. But it seems certain that it is going to be a theme with the Jacksons.
Most of the family here -- I think we're missing Tito and Maureen, and the parents are not here today. The fans are even starting to pick up on this as well, and wearing white. But it seems to be, you know, they're the good guys, I think they're saying, and the attorneys, the prosecution who wear dark suits, are the bad guys.
O'BRIEN: All right. I hear some fans in the distance. How big a crowd, quickly, is there?
MARQUEZ: It's measuring in the tens today, Miles. I'm not seeing the big buses that usually come up here from Los Angeles. There are several people in the courtroom, probably not wanting to lose their seats, so they're staying in there, fans and the like. But right now outside the courtroom, it's measuring in the tens, not the hundreds that we've seen before.
O'BRIEN: OK, we did see that before, for sure. Miguel Marquez, we appreciate it. Betty...
NGUYEN: Overseas, another bloody day in Baghdad as more car bombs rock the Iraqi capital. Still to come, we're going live to the war zone, where the casualty numbers continue to climb. And is your pension in peril? We'll take a look at what could turn into the biggest bailout since the S&L crisis. And guess who'll pay for that? Plus...
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The jazz party starts tonight. I'm Maria Hinojosa at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, California. Coming up, live music from Terence Blanchard, playing his tribute to the great Dizzy Gillespie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Night falling on Iraq now, and it's been a day, unfortunately, like many before it. Two car bombs shook central Baghdad this morning, one that caused dozens of casualties, and one that could have been much worse. CNN's Walter Rodgers has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two Americans and one British contractor living here believe an Iraqi security guard was protecting them overnight. But the guard disappeared, evaporated. These U.S. soldiers arrived after the three contractors were kidnapped by what neighbors say were 11 armed men. There was no U.S. Army presence, the Army stretched far too thinly to protect much other than themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Well, it's a tough time because we're in a period where the Iraqi security forces still don't have the capabilities that they'll need to take on an even greater share of the load.
RODGERS: There also have been brazen attempts to breach the perimeter of the so-called green zone, the highly fortified home of the U.S. and British Embassies, and the interim Iraqi government. Questions now exist about whether the green zone's perimeter can be defended.
This week's car bombing, killing 47, prompted one U.S. general to say he simply cannot provide protection to all of Baghdad. Iraqis have known that for months, that wherever they go, they can be blown up by car bombs or random mortar fire, or kidnapped. The result: the U.S. is losing goodwill rapidly.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You didn't need to create this hornet's nest. You didn't need to incite hatred more than there was already across the region by literally invading and, as far as a lot of Arabs are concerned, raping a country. (END VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS (on-camera): The phrase "civil war" has been on the lips of many here. And while that phrase, civil war, is certainly not inevitable, as the insurgency grows, and as the number of car bombings increase almost on a daily basis, there is no question that there is a security crisis in this country now -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Car bombings, kidnappings... what about the violence on Haifa Street? What's that at right now?
RODGERS: Today?
NGUYEN: Yes.
RODGERS: I believe we saw about 10 killed in the two suicide attacks. But I think in the past four or five days, what you can say is that you had over 200 Iraqis killed, probably since Sunday of this last week. But today, actually, was a relatively quiet day. It is Friday, the Muslim prayer day, and there was only one lethal car bomb in Baghdad itself. People are dying elsewhere in this country on a fairly frequent basis, particularly in Fallujah.
Overnight, U.S. jets struck there. And in Fallujah, the Americans say that they killed 60 fighters affiliated with Abu Musab Zarqawi. He, of course, was the target of those bombings. The Iraqis, however, say as many as 40 civilians may have been killed there -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Much violence there. Walter Rodgers, thank you so much for that. And one final note from Iraq for now, and a rare optimistic one. It's been grounded for 14 years by sanctions and two wars, but Iraqi Airlines resumes regular international flights tomorrow. It's got a pretty limited route... round trip flights to Damascus and Amman twice a week are currently the only options for ticket holders.
There are a few hurdles for the company, though. Concern over security, of course, is keeping most international travelers away. Tickets are expensive for the average Iraqi... about $600 to Damascus and then back. And of the airline's 16 planes, only one is operational -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: News from around the world now. Take action now... those words from UN secretary general to his Security Council on a resolution before them demanding Sudan and the violence in Darfur... Kofi Annan blames the Sudanese government directly for failing to rein in militias there, and preventing more than a million displaced people from returning home.
Arrested... police in the Indonesia capital have in custody a man they say is connected to last week's suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy. Nine died in that blast. Jakarta officials blame a militant group with ties to al-Qaeda.
And an all-too-frequent occurrence in Nigeria, again with tragic results. Desperate people trying to steal fuel from a pipeline near Lagos today accidentally set off an explosion. As many as 50 reported killed.
Coming up on LIVE FROM, the problem with pensions, and who could end up paying for it. Plus, who's blaming whom? A look at workplace harassment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Lot of people asking this question: how safe is your pension? New worries this week for some airline workers, and that puts a new strain on the agency that insures pension plans. All this could mean you could end up paying for someone else's golden years. Try that one out for size. Here's Ceci Rogers of CNN financial news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CECI RODGERS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The agency that guarantees 44 million pensions, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, is running out of money, and it's only a matter of time before taxpayers have to foot the bill for a massive bailout.
DOUGLAS ELLIOT, CTR. ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL INST.: The bottom line is we have a serious problem. It's just going to get worse the longer we wait.
RODGERS: The Center on Federal Financial Institutions says under current conditions, the PBGC will be broke by the year 2020, and will require a $50 billion bailout. But the scenario worsens if airline pensions default. The money runs out by 2018, and the price tag on a bailout rises to $109 billion. That would be the biggest government bailout since the S&L crisis of the early '90s, which cost taxpayers more than $150 billion.
A pension bailout could be avoided, the study's author says, by taking action now, including raising the premiums companies pay into the system.
ELLIOT: There's been a significant disproportion for 30 years now between the level of risk PBGC takes on and the premiums they charge. There hasn't been a single study that shows that premiums are even half of what they would have to be to balance that.
RODGERS: Higher premiums may only be part of the answer, especially if American companies continue to shutdown or freeze their traditional pension plans in favor of defined contribution plans, such as 401k's, that are less expensive for them in the long run.
BOB KORAJCZYK, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: As well funded plans leave the system and poorly funded plans stay in the system, there is going to be more and more pressure on the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation as these plans get turned over today.
RODGERS: In fact, the PBGC says only 20 percent of today's workers have a traditional pension, compared with 40 percent in the mid '80s.
(on-camera): This week, the PBGC asked Congress for more legal powers to seize the bankrupt assets of companies that abandon their pensions, for example, and to force healthy companies to fully fund their pensions, so that taxpayers don't have to pick up the tab when pensions fail. Ceci Rodgers, CNN financial news, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: It used to be that sexual harassment was all about men behaving badly toward women. But times are changing. Rhonda Schaffler joins us now...
(MARKET REPORT)
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Aired September 17, 2004 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Ivan, the terrible day after, the damage assessment, the cleanup begins as the South says, "Please, no more hurricanes."
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. A tornado warning in effect for the Roanoke area right now. We have tornado watches in effect through the Carolinas and Virginia, and we have three tropical systems that we're still tracking. We'll talk about that and what kind of threat they pose, coming up.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen. Kyra Phillips is off today.
O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. It is Friday, September 17th. CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now. And we begin with the aftermath of Ivan, by the numbers for you first. The hurricane that killed dozens in the Caribbean may be the deadliest to hit the U.S. since Floyd in 1999. Anywhere between 19 and 33 deaths are being blamed on Ivan directly or indirectly from the Florida Panhandle to western North Carolina.
More than 1.8 million homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana don't have power as we speak... may not for days. President Bush has signed Ivan-ravaged portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and once again, Florida, into major disaster areas. He's planning to visit Alabama and Florida on Sunday.
And we've got reporters and crews all over, of course, including Gary Tuchman in Gulf Shores, Alabama, Chris Lawrence is in Pensacola, Florida, and Sean Callebs in Birmingham. We'll get to all of them in just a moment. But first, let's get a look on what is going on with Hurricane Jeanne. Briefly, is a hurricane... or, excuse me, was a hurricane, now a tropical storm, possibly a hurricane again as it makes its way from Hispanola to the southern Bahamas.
Jeanne roared across Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and forecasters say it's not too soon for Florida and the Carolinas -- dare we say it -- to start paying attention to yet another storm. Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has got her hands full yet again. Hello, Jacqui...
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: All right, Jacqui Jeras, thank you very much. Ivan redrew the contours of Gulf Shores, Alabama, and threw some nasty complications into the usual ordeals of hurricane recovery. And by complications, we mean alligators. By way of explanation, we turn it over now to CNN's Gary Tuchman, who is in Gulf Shores. Gary...
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, hello to you. And yes, we have been talking about one particular alligator. There are six missing from the zoo here in Gulf Shores, but the one particular one we're talking about is "Chucky" the alligator. Chucky is 12 feet long and weighs 1,100 pounds. And the zoo officials are very concerned what happens if an unsuspecting human stands near Chucky. Now, yesterday, it just so happened that our CNN photographer David Albritten (ph) spotted Chucky, got video of Chucky swimming around in floodwaters next to the zoo.
And despite the fact that today the floodwaters have almost completely receded near the zoo, Chucky is still missing... could be crawling around anywhere at this time. And it is fair to say they are rather desperate to catch Chucky the alligator and the other five alligators. It's very likely they'll have to kill some of these alligators, but they're hoping to catch Chucky alive, who is a major feature at the zoo here.
Now, regarding what's going on here in Gulf Shores, the area where I'm standing right now, yesterday, this was several feet of water. There has been a dramatic recession of the water all along here with the Gulf of Mexico, basically, an extension of it. You can see the water way in the background. There has been a lot of receiving of the water.
And today, we were allowed to go to the beachfront, about six blocks away from me, to get a look at the damage that has occurred there, and the damage is very extensive. There are many stores where walls now are completely gone. You still see the merchandise on the shelves, but no walls in the stores anymore.
There are many homes on the beach that have been built on stilts. Many of them have been there for scores of years, including when Hurricane Frederick came by here 25 years ago this week, another category three hurricane. Well, many of those homes are now gone because of the storm waters.
Flying above my head right now a Coast Guard helicopter. We've seen those helicopters coming and going over the last 24 hours. One other very noticeable thing on the streets here in Gulf Shores, tons of sand that has been deposited. You don't even recognize that they're streets anymore because there is so much sand on the streets.
We can tell you that the residents here in Gulf Shores Beach are not being allowed back to their homes right now. They are allowing, obviously, emergency officials here, us, the news media to report this. But the residents won't be allowed back here for at least another 48 hours because of the dangers. Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: I bet there are a lot of residents who'd like to get out there right now. Gary, the impression I've always had is that if you build a house on stilts on the beach, you're fairly well protected. Was it the wind that took these houses out, or was the surf so high that the stilts weren't enough?
TUCHMAN: A combination, Miles, of the wind and the surf. And let it be known, there are some houses that did survive this, but other ones did not do as well.
O'BRIEN: All right, Gary Tuchman in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Keep us posted from there. Betty...
NGUYEN: Next door in Florida, almost 3,000 National Guard troops are deployed across the Panhandle. But most everybody else, except for aid and rescue workers, is being urged to stay away from the hardest hit areas. And in Pensacola, the hardest hit areas, well, they are everywhere. CNN's Chris Lawrence is there and joins us now with an update. Hi there, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty. The workers are finally able to get out on the road and start clearing away some of those huge trees and pieces of debris that have blocked access to the highways, and even entire neighborhoods. Florida Governor Jeb Bush just finished his tour of the damaged areas a little while ago, and it's one of the duties as governor that he's become very accustomed to after Hurricanes Charley and Frances.
Here's a look at some of the damage that Hurricane Ivan has caused, some of which the governor may have seen during his aerial tour of the area. The winds and the water surge lashed out at this area, destroyed homes, it splintered trees, it snapped power lines and left them dangling on sides of the road. The power is still out here. There is no running water, and some families literally have nothing left to go back to.
And the damage is not confined only to the interior. Out here, you're taking a live look now at Interstate 10 over Escambia Bay. That is damage, where an entire section of the bridge has been wiped out by the hurricane. And what you're looking at there is the back half of a trailer that has been literally torn in two.
Now, the cab of the truck and its driver are missing, and police say there's an oil slick in the water, right at the edge there of the break. They've sent divers out into the water, but so far, with all that muck and debris in there, they've only been able to see about five feet down.
NGUYEN: Chris, have divers had to halt that search, or are they going to go back a little bit later today, because I know they had to halt it yesterday as they were searching for the driver of that truck?
LAWRENCE: Right, exactly. They're looking for the driver. And right now, one of the police officers who went out right to the edge said you can see the oil slick right there. But right now, there's just too much muck for them to get any deeper. They believe that the cab is in there, if it hasn't been washed away. But right now, just the condition of that water is not allowing them to get much deeper to take a better look.
NGUYEN: Not good news there. All right, Chris Lawrence, thank you so much for that report. Damage and destruction from Ivan and its aftermath range from obvious to still unknown, to less than expected, and Alabama's got all three, as CNN's Sean Callebs reports from now from Birmingham.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A weaker Ivan rolled through the heart of Dixie, downgraded but still packing strong winds. In central Alabama, Ivan will be remembered for rain and flooding. Sandra Strickland and her seven children watched Five-Mile Creek swell and inch toward their home. They didn't want to, but realized they may have to evacuate.
Where do you think you're going to go?
SANDRA STRICKLAND, ALABAMA RESIDENT: Probably to the shelter...
CALLEBS: In other areas, roads were closed, but that didn't stop motorists, including this city bus driver.
UNIDENTIFIED BUS DRIVER: I'm ready to go home and get out of this.
CALLEBS: Amid the maze of monitors and projections, Birmingham's Emergency Management Agency coped with the fallout of Ivan. The city expected to get clobbered.
MARK KELLY, ALA. EMERGENCY MGMT. AGENCY: To a degree, we got lucky. We do have a lot to do, and we have a lot of downed trees, a lot of people without power, and certainly, some flooding.
CALLEBS: Rain and wind brought down trees, and trees brought down power lines at the height of the storm, leaving 200,000 Birmingham homes in the dark. The city is facing weeks of cleanup, but officials say they got a break when Ivan picked up speed and didn't linger over Birmingham.
Authorities in central Alabama say they can't complain, however, especially after seeing the devastation Ivan caused along the gulf coast. Sean Callebs, CNN, Birmingham, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Switching gears now, a dramatic day in a California courtroom. Superstar Michael Jackson going face to face with a woman who says he molested her son. The court's in a quick break right now, so CNN's Miguel Marquez darted outside to give us an update. Miguel, what's the latest?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we're in our typical morning break here. It is a tedious day in that courtroom. The witness, the mother of the accused, being evasive, very evasive, almost to the point of being hostile. At one point, she stopped the proceedings and said, "Somebody's whispering back there behind Michael Jackson and the lawyer, behind Tom Sneddon. I can't concentrate because somebody's whispering. I need them to stop." And it caused a little commotion in the courtroom.
One thing that came out during the proceedings today is that the prosecution says that they have moved the accuser and his family to a different county. This was coming up during questioning by Thomas Messero Jr. (ph). He wanted to know where the district attorney had -- or somebody from the district attorney's office had met with her. They didn't want to say it because they've been moved, at great expense, and surreptitiously to another county.
Also, questioning has been kept very narrow during this. Lawyers argued before she took the stand. Tom Messero Jr. saying to the judge, not in front of her, that she had claimed, at one point, that her ex-husband had molested her child, and that her ex-husband had also imprisoned her son. It was an objection raised. The judge cut him off at that point and said the questioning in this case is going to have to be much narrower.
She referred continually to everybody associated with Michael Jackson, Bradley Miller, the private investigator, and Mark Geragos, Michael Jackson's former attorney, collectively as "his damage control people," or "damage control team," not wanting to admit, essentially, that she had known them.
She did finally admit that she had had a conversation, or an interview, with Bradley Miller, this private investigator, and then went on to admit that she told another lawyer, Bill Dickerman, that it was Mark Geragos. He needed a contact in order to get her furniture back, that Bradley Miller, this private investigator was holding.
It seems simple and small, but if they can prove this point, the defense lawyers believe they can prove that the prosecution knew or should have known that Bradley Miller was working for Mark Geragos. Therefore, everything in his office would be off limits to a jury. Miles...
O'BRIEN: All right, Miguel, the entire Jackson clan and entourage wearing white today. What's that all about?
MARQUEZ: Well, it seems to be a theme. We've heard before that, you know, they came here expressing unity, and innocence, and the like. Then we heard, well, maybe it was just that Latoya liked wearing white. But it seems certain that it is going to be a theme with the Jacksons.
Most of the family here -- I think we're missing Tito and Maureen, and the parents are not here today. The fans are even starting to pick up on this as well, and wearing white. But it seems to be, you know, they're the good guys, I think they're saying, and the attorneys, the prosecution who wear dark suits, are the bad guys.
O'BRIEN: All right. I hear some fans in the distance. How big a crowd, quickly, is there?
MARQUEZ: It's measuring in the tens today, Miles. I'm not seeing the big buses that usually come up here from Los Angeles. There are several people in the courtroom, probably not wanting to lose their seats, so they're staying in there, fans and the like. But right now outside the courtroom, it's measuring in the tens, not the hundreds that we've seen before.
O'BRIEN: OK, we did see that before, for sure. Miguel Marquez, we appreciate it. Betty...
NGUYEN: Overseas, another bloody day in Baghdad as more car bombs rock the Iraqi capital. Still to come, we're going live to the war zone, where the casualty numbers continue to climb. And is your pension in peril? We'll take a look at what could turn into the biggest bailout since the S&L crisis. And guess who'll pay for that? Plus...
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The jazz party starts tonight. I'm Maria Hinojosa at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, California. Coming up, live music from Terence Blanchard, playing his tribute to the great Dizzy Gillespie.
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NGUYEN: Night falling on Iraq now, and it's been a day, unfortunately, like many before it. Two car bombs shook central Baghdad this morning, one that caused dozens of casualties, and one that could have been much worse. CNN's Walter Rodgers has the latest.
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WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two Americans and one British contractor living here believe an Iraqi security guard was protecting them overnight. But the guard disappeared, evaporated. These U.S. soldiers arrived after the three contractors were kidnapped by what neighbors say were 11 armed men. There was no U.S. Army presence, the Army stretched far too thinly to protect much other than themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Well, it's a tough time because we're in a period where the Iraqi security forces still don't have the capabilities that they'll need to take on an even greater share of the load.
RODGERS: There also have been brazen attempts to breach the perimeter of the so-called green zone, the highly fortified home of the U.S. and British Embassies, and the interim Iraqi government. Questions now exist about whether the green zone's perimeter can be defended.
This week's car bombing, killing 47, prompted one U.S. general to say he simply cannot provide protection to all of Baghdad. Iraqis have known that for months, that wherever they go, they can be blown up by car bombs or random mortar fire, or kidnapped. The result: the U.S. is losing goodwill rapidly.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You didn't need to create this hornet's nest. You didn't need to incite hatred more than there was already across the region by literally invading and, as far as a lot of Arabs are concerned, raping a country. (END VIDEOTAPE)
RODGERS (on-camera): The phrase "civil war" has been on the lips of many here. And while that phrase, civil war, is certainly not inevitable, as the insurgency grows, and as the number of car bombings increase almost on a daily basis, there is no question that there is a security crisis in this country now -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Car bombings, kidnappings... what about the violence on Haifa Street? What's that at right now?
RODGERS: Today?
NGUYEN: Yes.
RODGERS: I believe we saw about 10 killed in the two suicide attacks. But I think in the past four or five days, what you can say is that you had over 200 Iraqis killed, probably since Sunday of this last week. But today, actually, was a relatively quiet day. It is Friday, the Muslim prayer day, and there was only one lethal car bomb in Baghdad itself. People are dying elsewhere in this country on a fairly frequent basis, particularly in Fallujah.
Overnight, U.S. jets struck there. And in Fallujah, the Americans say that they killed 60 fighters affiliated with Abu Musab Zarqawi. He, of course, was the target of those bombings. The Iraqis, however, say as many as 40 civilians may have been killed there -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Much violence there. Walter Rodgers, thank you so much for that. And one final note from Iraq for now, and a rare optimistic one. It's been grounded for 14 years by sanctions and two wars, but Iraqi Airlines resumes regular international flights tomorrow. It's got a pretty limited route... round trip flights to Damascus and Amman twice a week are currently the only options for ticket holders.
There are a few hurdles for the company, though. Concern over security, of course, is keeping most international travelers away. Tickets are expensive for the average Iraqi... about $600 to Damascus and then back. And of the airline's 16 planes, only one is operational -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: News from around the world now. Take action now... those words from UN secretary general to his Security Council on a resolution before them demanding Sudan and the violence in Darfur... Kofi Annan blames the Sudanese government directly for failing to rein in militias there, and preventing more than a million displaced people from returning home.
Arrested... police in the Indonesia capital have in custody a man they say is connected to last week's suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy. Nine died in that blast. Jakarta officials blame a militant group with ties to al-Qaeda.
And an all-too-frequent occurrence in Nigeria, again with tragic results. Desperate people trying to steal fuel from a pipeline near Lagos today accidentally set off an explosion. As many as 50 reported killed.
Coming up on LIVE FROM, the problem with pensions, and who could end up paying for it. Plus, who's blaming whom? A look at workplace harassment.
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O'BRIEN: Lot of people asking this question: how safe is your pension? New worries this week for some airline workers, and that puts a new strain on the agency that insures pension plans. All this could mean you could end up paying for someone else's golden years. Try that one out for size. Here's Ceci Rogers of CNN financial news.
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CECI RODGERS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The agency that guarantees 44 million pensions, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, is running out of money, and it's only a matter of time before taxpayers have to foot the bill for a massive bailout.
DOUGLAS ELLIOT, CTR. ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL INST.: The bottom line is we have a serious problem. It's just going to get worse the longer we wait.
RODGERS: The Center on Federal Financial Institutions says under current conditions, the PBGC will be broke by the year 2020, and will require a $50 billion bailout. But the scenario worsens if airline pensions default. The money runs out by 2018, and the price tag on a bailout rises to $109 billion. That would be the biggest government bailout since the S&L crisis of the early '90s, which cost taxpayers more than $150 billion.
A pension bailout could be avoided, the study's author says, by taking action now, including raising the premiums companies pay into the system.
ELLIOT: There's been a significant disproportion for 30 years now between the level of risk PBGC takes on and the premiums they charge. There hasn't been a single study that shows that premiums are even half of what they would have to be to balance that.
RODGERS: Higher premiums may only be part of the answer, especially if American companies continue to shutdown or freeze their traditional pension plans in favor of defined contribution plans, such as 401k's, that are less expensive for them in the long run.
BOB KORAJCZYK, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: As well funded plans leave the system and poorly funded plans stay in the system, there is going to be more and more pressure on the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation as these plans get turned over today.
RODGERS: In fact, the PBGC says only 20 percent of today's workers have a traditional pension, compared with 40 percent in the mid '80s.
(on-camera): This week, the PBGC asked Congress for more legal powers to seize the bankrupt assets of companies that abandon their pensions, for example, and to force healthy companies to fully fund their pensions, so that taxpayers don't have to pick up the tab when pensions fail. Ceci Rodgers, CNN financial news, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: It used to be that sexual harassment was all about men behaving badly toward women. But times are changing. Rhonda Schaffler joins us now...
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