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Marines Land in Tsunami-Ravaged Southern Sri Lanka; Baghdad Province Governor Killed
Aired January 04, 2005 - 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: American military flights helping tsunami victims and today, the U.S. Congress back in session, expected to vote on more aid. We've got new developments from hard hit areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's been training her whole life perhaps to, you know, help her survive these hour and a half that she needed to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: An American doctor caught in the tsunami puts her training to use on herself. We've got the story of how she survived.
O'BRIEN: Missing Americans, many still unaccounted for. We'll take you inside the State Department where the tough calls keep coming in.
PHILLIPS: Just how much of your donation actually goes to the people in need? Breaking it down dollar by dollar with some well-known charities.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And from the CNN Newsroom in Washington, I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
The Marines have landed in tsunami ravaged southern Sri Lanka and they haven't come empty handed. The latest phase of the U.S. military aid efforts includes hundreds of troops, hundreds of tons of food, water, water purification gear, bulldozers and generators.
Indonesia, meanwhile, welcomes the U.S. secretary of State and the governor of Florida on the second stop of their three-nation fact- finding mission. A donors meeting is planned for Thursday in Jakarta. By CNN's count, more than 155,000 tsunami victims are dead, a figure only slightly higher than yesterday's 94,000. Roughly 60 percent of the total died in Indonesia alone.
CNN, of course, has correspondents and crews all throughout the subcontinent. Today, we have 14 reporters and anchors in four countries.
PHILLIPS: It's a vast and intricate operation with suppliers rushing into the hardest hit quarters of Indonesia. And the wounded flying out with military precision. And that's now accident, but accidents can and do interfere with the best of campaigns. CNN's Atika Shubert brings us that, and more, from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today we flew with the helicopter squadron from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier to get a firsthand look at how relief efforts are going.
It is going slowly, but those helicopters are trying to get as much food, medicine and water to the survivors as they can, particularly along the hardest hit west coast of Aceh, which has been almost completely devastated because it was facing the epicenter of the earthquake.
Along that area, we see large portions of the road were simply swept out to sea, which means that infrastructure won't be put in place for a long time. Hundreds of survivors there swarming the helicopter as they're desperately trying to get the food and water that they need. Those helicopter crews able to try and unload a lot of that material making as many flights as they can during a day.
These helicopters are crucial because they're the only ones that can access these hardest hit and devastated areas. Relief is pouring into the area, but it's bottlenecked, particularly at the airport. The airport here in Banda Aceh is very small, just one strip to service all of these thousands of tons of aid that are coming in. And when that airstrip is for some reason blocked, it is a disaster.
What we saw today when we were flying around in those helicopters was a Boeing 737 on the runway with its wing tilted, completely stopping traffic. Apparently it had run into a herd of cattle as it landed. That's a minor hiccup in a big airport but here it is a catastrophe because it stops up the flow of aid. Meaning planes are not able to bring the food, water and medicine so desperately need. Sadly, more delays in getting aid, but fortunately, the plane has been cleared off the runway so that flow of aid should be started soon. Atika Schubert, CNN, Banda Aceh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, the U.N. reports day and night aid coordination meetings amid an unprecedented outpouring from governments and NGOs, that's nongovernmental organizations, private aid groups. The tally grew further today when Saudi Arabia, under fire in the Arab world for a relatively paltry contribution tripled it to $30 million. The Kingdom also plans a nationwide telethon on Thursday.
Back at U.N. headquarters, the point man on disaster relief reminded donors other parts of the world are suffering, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN EGELAND, DIR., U.N. DISASTER RELIEF: It would be the ultimate irony if we started the year with unprecedented global generosity and we would end this year, again, with no money for those most needed and the forgotten and neglected emergencies in Africa and elsewhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
At last count, aid pledges from government sources alone well exceeded $2 billion.
PHILLIPS: And a moment of silence for victims of the disaster. That's how the U.S. Senate opened the 109th session of Congress. Only then did its 100 members take their oath of office. Later today, members of both houses are expected to pass resolutions expressing their sympathy and pledging support for those who survived.
In France, one relief agency has been so overwhelmed with financial donations it's saying no more for now. Doctors Without Borders says all its projects in South Asia are fully funded. In Germany, 20 million euros have poured in since the tsunamis hit. That is more than that office collected all of last year.
So how much of that money that you donated actually goes to the disaster victims? Our Allan Chernoff goes by the numbers. Later this hour, stay with CNN and our unmatched resources for coverage of the tsunami disaster and the worldwide relief efforts. Tonight, a special prime-time look at "Turning the Tide", live from Asia beginning at 7 Eastern.
O'BRIEN: Insurgents bent on disrupting the upcoming election in Iraq take a hefty toll today. Five U.S. service members, 11 Iraqi security officials and the governor of Baghdad Province all killed in a series of attacks. CNN's Jeff Koinange, details from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It happened in the Al Horia (ph) neighborhood in northern Baghdad where Governor Ali Al Haidri and six of his bodyguards were in a three-car convoy, heading from his house to the office.
They were intercepted by unidentified gunmen, who sprayed machine gunfire into his vehicle, killing the governor and a bodyguard. Two other bodyguards were wounded. There's no word yet on whether the assailants were killed or captured.
This is the second such assassination attempt in three months, almost three months to the day, a similar ambush killed two bodyguards. The governor walked away unharmed.
Less than an hour before the assassination incident, a suicide bomber in an oil tanker filled with petrol and laden with explosives crashed through a police checkpoint, right outside the Green Zone. His target? Iraqi police command headquarters.
Eyewitnesses on the ground say 10 people were killed in that incident, including eight Iraqi commandos and two civilians. More than 60 people were wounded in that incident.
All this on a day when five U.S. servicemen were killed in various attacks, three in Baghdad, one in Balad, north of the city, and one U.S. Marine in Al Anbar Province -- Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Tsunami relief, grim news from Iraq, and Social Security, just part of what's on the Bush administration's plate on this very busy day. Early in the year, let's check in at the White House with CNN's Dana Bash.
Hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Well, first of all, on the assassination of the Baghdad governor, the White House condemned that assassination in the strongest of terms, but they are saying here that that, and none of the other violence -- which, of course, as we've been seeing has been escalating -- should stop, delay the Iraqi elections planned just 26 days from now.
Now, the Iraq Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called President Bush yesterday to discuss, according to the White House, the security situation and Iraqi elections. There were some eyebrows raised about that phone call because the White House didn't tell reporters about it until it was first published in the newspaper. Now, Bush officials insist it was not a call of an alarm. That there was no discussion about delaying the Iraqi elections and according to one official Ayad Allawi was "not going wobbly".
The two talk a lot, according to White House now. And as one official put it, we're moving towards a defining moment of the president's foreign policy. Of course, they're going to be talking a lot.
Having said that, the White House is well, aware, Miles, of the fact that there are some senior Iraqis who are saying delaying the elections at this point would be a good idea, particularly because of the idea of Sunni involvement, participation in that election. But, of course, at this point, the White House is insisting that they really want this to move forward -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Dana, give us an update on the tsunami aid effort both private and federal money.
BASH: The White House said today that the Web site that former President Bush and President Clinton were referring Americans to, which is the USA Freedom Corps Web site, has really increased in the number of hits. They said that they tracked it. It's got 100,210 hits since the former presidents signed on. That compares with an average of 5,575 hits that that site normally gets.
Having said that, the White House acknowledges they really don't have a way to track the progress and success of this initiative they have launched with the two former presidents because they're going through private donations; that they're referring Americans to organizations they can't specifically track.
We did, of course, hear an anecdote from President Clinton that former President Bush did get an e-mail on his Blackberry that he carries, saying that $1 million would be pledged. Former President Clinton said he got some other pledges of that kind of money himself.
As for President Bush, Miles, I should tell you that the White House says he has not given personally himself. He is looking into it, trying to figure out what organizations to give to. They promise here, Miles, that his personal contribution will be significant.
O'BRIEN: All right. I never get messages like that in my Blackberry.
All right, Dana Bash, at the White House. Thank you very much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: The U.S. State Department is getting thousands of calls from Americans unable to locate family members or friends thought to be in the tsunami disaster area. Just ahead, we'll show you how it's trying to help track down the missing people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like so scary. One second you're just there and then everything's gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Talking with your children about the tsunami. A teacher and student have lessons from the classroom.
An assassination today in Iraq, part of a violent attempt to disrupt upcoming elections. What can be done to make democracy work? We'll talk about it right after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The coalition in Iraq is in a race against time, and stepped up insurgent violence, to hold credible national elections as soon as January 30. Time is coming on that one. With us is Peter Brooks, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He's written extensively on this.
Peter, good to have you with us.
PETER BROOKS, SR. FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Good to be with you.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the process here. Everybody is focusing on January 30.
BROOKS: Right. O'BRIEN: That's really just the beginning of a very long process. Why don't you shed light on that for us?
BROOKS: Absolutely, Miles. These elections on the 30th are going to set up another interim government. Actually, we're going to have another interim government, we're going to have a new president, a new prime minister, and two deputies. And the most important part is the 275-member national assembly.
They're going to -- this assembly is going to develop a new constitution for Iraq, which hopefully will be the permanent constitution, which will be ratified in the fall, probably by a national referendum. And then next December, they will actually elect another whole government. So, this is just the first step.
O'BRIEN: All right. So, you can look at it both ways in the sense if any mistakes are made on January 30, there's time to correct them. At the same time, it kind of prolongs the agony, if you will.
BROOKS: Right, right. But this seems to be the right process. They've never had democracy before. They've never been to polling places. They may have had an election in the 1970s, or something along then, maybe back in the 1950s. So, this is something new for them. They have to register people, they have to set up polling places, there will be 9,000 or 10,000 polling places. And also we have the challenges of the security situation.
O'BRIEN: A couple three weeks ago, you wrote an article, which was very interesting, talking about the important things that should be focused on throughout this lengthy process. The first thing you talk about is promoting pan-Iraqi politics. What does that mean? And how will that help the tribal conflicts that occur there?
BROOKS: That is exactly what we're trying to get over. We don't want Iraq to turn into Bosnia, where you had the Croats and the Serbs, and the Bosnians fighting each other. You want to have politicians and parties that appeal across ethnic and religious divides. As you know, we have Sunni and Shias there, we have Arabs and Kurds. Those are the four major groups. Kurds themselves are Kurds and Sunni, and the Shia in the south are Arab and Shia. So, what we have to do is we have to develop parties and people that appeal across the entire country.
O'BRIEN: Much easier said than done on that one.
BROOKS: Right.
O'BRIEN: Let's press on: Create an Iraqi national identity, which is sort of part and parcel of what you were just talking about, allowing people to see themselves as part of a nation, as opposed to a tribe, right?
BROOKS: That is right, exactly. And elections will help that, because people will take part in Iraqi elections, not in Shia elections, not in Kurd elections, or in Sunni elections. That will help as well. But you are right, we want Iraq to be considered -- instead of splitting up, instead of civil war, instead of dividing, balkanization, like we have seen in other parts of the world, we want them to stay as one country.
O'BRIEN: All right. Next theme, grow the economy. Iraq rich in natural resources, obviously, sitting on a ton of oil, second only to Saudi Arabia; tapping into that has been very difficult because the insurgency has focused on this point.
BROOKS: Right. What we want is putting people back to work. It's not just the oil industry. It is putting people back to work. Idle hands can be the devil's workshop. You don't want people that are unemployed to join the insurgency. So, getting people to work, even if it's any sort of work, is positive. And it makes them feel productive and a good part of society.
O'BRIEN: Of course, if they're afraid to go to work, that's a real problem.
BROOKS: That's right.
O'BRIEN: And security becomes an issue in all of these.
BROOKS: Right.
O'BRIEN: Final thought, promoting federalism. We take federalism for granted here. We probably shouldn't, because it's a wonderful system that allows a sense of everybody participating. How do you create that in a place that really has no that tradition or notion about it?
BROOKS: It's not going to be easy. That is how important it is to have this strong leadership, a strong central government at the beginning. And that is what we we're trying to develop. And then allow each region, you are talking about the Shia in the south, the Sunni in the center, and the Kurds to the north, to have some sort of autonomy. That is probably the only way.
If you don't allow power sharing they're probably going to go their own ways. That creates bigger problems. The Kurds and the Turks, for instance, in the north would be a big problem if we don't allow people to have some sort of regional autonomy.
O'BRIEN: All right, Peter Brooks, with the Heritage Institution.
Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate your insights on all this.
BROOKS: Thank you for having me on.
O'BRIEN: We'll check in with you as this long process continues -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A Portland, Oregon, surgeon is recovering from a severe injury after using her skills and stamina to survive the South Asia tsunami. Elaine Murphy of affiliate K2 reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ELAINE MURPHY, K2 NEWS REPORTER (voice-over): Dr. Libby North lies in a Bangkok hospital bed right now. Her hand was 90 percent severed. A calf muscle detached. This is one of the things that saved here. She loved to run marathons and kite board in the Columbia River Gorge. And it gave her the stamina to survive these raging waters.
DR. HELMI LUTSEF (ph), OREGON STROKE CENTER: I was half joking saying she's been training her whole life perhaps to help her survive these -- hour and a half that, you know, she needed to survive.
MURPHY: Co-workers say Libby had been staying in a bungalow at Phi Phi, a beautiful island off the west coast of Thailand. And it was a structure that crushed her hand.
ANN TILLINGHAST, FRIEND: When she was pinned down, she kept -- she applied pressure to her hand to keep it from bleeding.
MURPHY: She says Libby was nearly ignored at the hospital. Libby insisted, I need surgery. I need surgery. Doctors finally looked at her hand rushing her to the operating room.
LUTSEF (ph): She had not been given a bath, even though she had now been in a hospital for about three days, that she was still covered with all the grime, her own blood, everything else.
MURPHY: Her family has had her airlifted to Bangkok where she went through surgery again.
LUTSEF (ph): My understanding is that she also had some sand and other rubble, debris in the wound. So they wanted to open it to make sure it wasn't infected.
MURPHY: Libby's friends and co-workers at the Oregon Stroke Center say she's alive thanks to her training as a doctor and an athlete. Elaine Murphy, K2 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Many Americans are still missing in the aftermath of the tsunami. CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel tells us what the government is doing to track them down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans Angie Faust (ph) and her boyfriend, Luke Scully (ph) of Portland, Oregon had planned to spend their three-week Christmas vacation on the beaches of Thailand's resort Island of Phuket.
Friends say the couple's last credit card transaction was made in Phuket on Christmas Eve, but that there has been no word from them since.
TINA MAHAFFEY, FRIEND OF MISSING COUPLE: You have it in your head you'll get that call the next day. As the second day went on, we became more and more anxious. KOPPEL: More than a week after a devastating tsunami hit Thailand and 11 other countries the State Department says 16 Americans are confirmed dead. Secretary of State Powell who arrived in Thailand Monday said between 4,000 U.S. citizens are still unaccounted for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very frightening. If you find out anything, please let us know.
KOPPEL: Here at the State Department officials are working the phones around the clock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's just great to hear that everything is OK with his wife, Ronnie, and Clint.
KOPPEL: Talking to family and friends of those believed to be missing, trying to whittle down the list of inquiries to unaccounted for Americans that only days ago stood at 20,000.
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We have been able to satisfactorily respond to three-quarters of those inquiries, or about 15,000. That leaves us in the neighborhood of 5,000 inquiries that we have not been able to nail down.
KOPPEL: Officials expect that number to drop drastically, and in order to speed up the process are appealing to the public for help.
MAURA HARTY, ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: If anybody who is watching this broadcast has in fact called us already, and has now heard from their loved one, that they please call us again to let us know.
KOPPEL: That number is 1-888-407-4747.
(on camera): At the same time the U.S. is also working with the Thai government, for example, to sort through immigration papers and double check to see if any of the still unaccounted for Americans might have left Thailand since the tsunami hit.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, at the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: If you have not heard of the status of a loved one in the tsunami affected regions, CNN would like to hear from you. We want to find out about your efforts to locate missing friends or relatives. And are you still waiting to hear from them? Please call CNN at 404- 878-1500. The phone will be manned from 8:00 a.m. Eastern to 5:00 p.m. Eastern. After those hours, you'll get a voice mail. We'll check the messages -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Just how efficient are the charities at translating donations into help for tsunami victims? We're going to track where the dollars go just ahead on LIVE FROM.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Most charities are asking for cash donations rather than goods. But frequent flyers can also help relief efforts. I'll tell you how, coming up on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, in addition to giving cash donations to disaster relief funds, frequent flyers can also help by donating miles. Susan Lisovicz joins with us now from the New York Stock Exchange with that report.
Susan, that's actually a very good idea. I have tons of miles that I can't use up either.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So you might want to listen very carefully, Kyra.
Major airlines including Continental, Delta and United are letting flyers donate miles to help the Red Cross, UNICEF, and other relief organizations. The miles will go toward flying aid workers and supplies to the affected areas.
Also, flyertalk.com, a bulletin board for frequent flyers has launched a online drive for frequent flyers to raise funds for the Red Cross. It says nearly $10,000 has been raised within 24 hours of launching the program. Northwest's select customers will get something back for donations. World Perk members will get 500 bonus miles in exchange for a $50 donation to the Red Cross.
Kyra and Miles, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Well, Susan, let's talk about the tsunami devastated areas and how it's going to be affected economically. And is there anything we can be doing on Wall Street to help those devastated areas?
LISOVICZ: Well, this may be really hard to believe, but despite the awful toll in human lives, many economists say that the tsunami is likely to have a shockingly small economic impact on the nations hit. That is because most major ports and manufacturing zones in the region were spared. The disaster is expected to cut just a few tenths of a percentage point off economic growth in the region.
But please take note that, of course, if there's any major outbreak of disease or social unrest, that could change that picture substantially.
Turning to the economics on Wall Street, well, you see the second day of '05 really having problems in terms of getting a rally going. The Dow industrials right now at their low for the session, off 80 points, 10,648 is the level. The Nasdaq sliding nearly 2 percent.
The Federal Reserve just released minutes of its December meeting and they show increased concern about inflation. And that's the latest from Wall Street.
Coming up later this hour, I'll tell you how a cutback in defense spending could hurt some big military contractors. Stay tuned, LIVE FROM continues after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired January 4, 2005 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: American military flights helping tsunami victims and today, the U.S. Congress back in session, expected to vote on more aid. We've got new developments from hard hit areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's been training her whole life perhaps to, you know, help her survive these hour and a half that she needed to survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: An American doctor caught in the tsunami puts her training to use on herself. We've got the story of how she survived.
O'BRIEN: Missing Americans, many still unaccounted for. We'll take you inside the State Department where the tough calls keep coming in.
PHILLIPS: Just how much of your donation actually goes to the people in need? Breaking it down dollar by dollar with some well-known charities.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
O'BRIEN: And from the CNN Newsroom in Washington, I'm Miles O'Brien. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.
The Marines have landed in tsunami ravaged southern Sri Lanka and they haven't come empty handed. The latest phase of the U.S. military aid efforts includes hundreds of troops, hundreds of tons of food, water, water purification gear, bulldozers and generators.
Indonesia, meanwhile, welcomes the U.S. secretary of State and the governor of Florida on the second stop of their three-nation fact- finding mission. A donors meeting is planned for Thursday in Jakarta. By CNN's count, more than 155,000 tsunami victims are dead, a figure only slightly higher than yesterday's 94,000. Roughly 60 percent of the total died in Indonesia alone.
CNN, of course, has correspondents and crews all throughout the subcontinent. Today, we have 14 reporters and anchors in four countries.
PHILLIPS: It's a vast and intricate operation with suppliers rushing into the hardest hit quarters of Indonesia. And the wounded flying out with military precision. And that's now accident, but accidents can and do interfere with the best of campaigns. CNN's Atika Shubert brings us that, and more, from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today we flew with the helicopter squadron from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier to get a firsthand look at how relief efforts are going.
It is going slowly, but those helicopters are trying to get as much food, medicine and water to the survivors as they can, particularly along the hardest hit west coast of Aceh, which has been almost completely devastated because it was facing the epicenter of the earthquake.
Along that area, we see large portions of the road were simply swept out to sea, which means that infrastructure won't be put in place for a long time. Hundreds of survivors there swarming the helicopter as they're desperately trying to get the food and water that they need. Those helicopter crews able to try and unload a lot of that material making as many flights as they can during a day.
These helicopters are crucial because they're the only ones that can access these hardest hit and devastated areas. Relief is pouring into the area, but it's bottlenecked, particularly at the airport. The airport here in Banda Aceh is very small, just one strip to service all of these thousands of tons of aid that are coming in. And when that airstrip is for some reason blocked, it is a disaster.
What we saw today when we were flying around in those helicopters was a Boeing 737 on the runway with its wing tilted, completely stopping traffic. Apparently it had run into a herd of cattle as it landed. That's a minor hiccup in a big airport but here it is a catastrophe because it stops up the flow of aid. Meaning planes are not able to bring the food, water and medicine so desperately need. Sadly, more delays in getting aid, but fortunately, the plane has been cleared off the runway so that flow of aid should be started soon. Atika Schubert, CNN, Banda Aceh.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, the U.N. reports day and night aid coordination meetings amid an unprecedented outpouring from governments and NGOs, that's nongovernmental organizations, private aid groups. The tally grew further today when Saudi Arabia, under fire in the Arab world for a relatively paltry contribution tripled it to $30 million. The Kingdom also plans a nationwide telethon on Thursday.
Back at U.N. headquarters, the point man on disaster relief reminded donors other parts of the world are suffering, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN EGELAND, DIR., U.N. DISASTER RELIEF: It would be the ultimate irony if we started the year with unprecedented global generosity and we would end this year, again, with no money for those most needed and the forgotten and neglected emergencies in Africa and elsewhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
At last count, aid pledges from government sources alone well exceeded $2 billion.
PHILLIPS: And a moment of silence for victims of the disaster. That's how the U.S. Senate opened the 109th session of Congress. Only then did its 100 members take their oath of office. Later today, members of both houses are expected to pass resolutions expressing their sympathy and pledging support for those who survived.
In France, one relief agency has been so overwhelmed with financial donations it's saying no more for now. Doctors Without Borders says all its projects in South Asia are fully funded. In Germany, 20 million euros have poured in since the tsunamis hit. That is more than that office collected all of last year.
So how much of that money that you donated actually goes to the disaster victims? Our Allan Chernoff goes by the numbers. Later this hour, stay with CNN and our unmatched resources for coverage of the tsunami disaster and the worldwide relief efforts. Tonight, a special prime-time look at "Turning the Tide", live from Asia beginning at 7 Eastern.
O'BRIEN: Insurgents bent on disrupting the upcoming election in Iraq take a hefty toll today. Five U.S. service members, 11 Iraqi security officials and the governor of Baghdad Province all killed in a series of attacks. CNN's Jeff Koinange, details from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It happened in the Al Horia (ph) neighborhood in northern Baghdad where Governor Ali Al Haidri and six of his bodyguards were in a three-car convoy, heading from his house to the office.
They were intercepted by unidentified gunmen, who sprayed machine gunfire into his vehicle, killing the governor and a bodyguard. Two other bodyguards were wounded. There's no word yet on whether the assailants were killed or captured.
This is the second such assassination attempt in three months, almost three months to the day, a similar ambush killed two bodyguards. The governor walked away unharmed.
Less than an hour before the assassination incident, a suicide bomber in an oil tanker filled with petrol and laden with explosives crashed through a police checkpoint, right outside the Green Zone. His target? Iraqi police command headquarters.
Eyewitnesses on the ground say 10 people were killed in that incident, including eight Iraqi commandos and two civilians. More than 60 people were wounded in that incident.
All this on a day when five U.S. servicemen were killed in various attacks, three in Baghdad, one in Balad, north of the city, and one U.S. Marine in Al Anbar Province -- Jeff Koinange, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Tsunami relief, grim news from Iraq, and Social Security, just part of what's on the Bush administration's plate on this very busy day. Early in the year, let's check in at the White House with CNN's Dana Bash.
Hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.
Well, first of all, on the assassination of the Baghdad governor, the White House condemned that assassination in the strongest of terms, but they are saying here that that, and none of the other violence -- which, of course, as we've been seeing has been escalating -- should stop, delay the Iraqi elections planned just 26 days from now.
Now, the Iraq Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called President Bush yesterday to discuss, according to the White House, the security situation and Iraqi elections. There were some eyebrows raised about that phone call because the White House didn't tell reporters about it until it was first published in the newspaper. Now, Bush officials insist it was not a call of an alarm. That there was no discussion about delaying the Iraqi elections and according to one official Ayad Allawi was "not going wobbly".
The two talk a lot, according to White House now. And as one official put it, we're moving towards a defining moment of the president's foreign policy. Of course, they're going to be talking a lot.
Having said that, the White House is well, aware, Miles, of the fact that there are some senior Iraqis who are saying delaying the elections at this point would be a good idea, particularly because of the idea of Sunni involvement, participation in that election. But, of course, at this point, the White House is insisting that they really want this to move forward -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Dana, give us an update on the tsunami aid effort both private and federal money.
BASH: The White House said today that the Web site that former President Bush and President Clinton were referring Americans to, which is the USA Freedom Corps Web site, has really increased in the number of hits. They said that they tracked it. It's got 100,210 hits since the former presidents signed on. That compares with an average of 5,575 hits that that site normally gets.
Having said that, the White House acknowledges they really don't have a way to track the progress and success of this initiative they have launched with the two former presidents because they're going through private donations; that they're referring Americans to organizations they can't specifically track.
We did, of course, hear an anecdote from President Clinton that former President Bush did get an e-mail on his Blackberry that he carries, saying that $1 million would be pledged. Former President Clinton said he got some other pledges of that kind of money himself.
As for President Bush, Miles, I should tell you that the White House says he has not given personally himself. He is looking into it, trying to figure out what organizations to give to. They promise here, Miles, that his personal contribution will be significant.
O'BRIEN: All right. I never get messages like that in my Blackberry.
All right, Dana Bash, at the White House. Thank you very much -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: The U.S. State Department is getting thousands of calls from Americans unable to locate family members or friends thought to be in the tsunami disaster area. Just ahead, we'll show you how it's trying to help track down the missing people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like so scary. One second you're just there and then everything's gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Talking with your children about the tsunami. A teacher and student have lessons from the classroom.
An assassination today in Iraq, part of a violent attempt to disrupt upcoming elections. What can be done to make democracy work? We'll talk about it right after a break.
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O'BRIEN: The coalition in Iraq is in a race against time, and stepped up insurgent violence, to hold credible national elections as soon as January 30. Time is coming on that one. With us is Peter Brooks, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He's written extensively on this.
Peter, good to have you with us.
PETER BROOKS, SR. FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Good to be with you.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the process here. Everybody is focusing on January 30.
BROOKS: Right. O'BRIEN: That's really just the beginning of a very long process. Why don't you shed light on that for us?
BROOKS: Absolutely, Miles. These elections on the 30th are going to set up another interim government. Actually, we're going to have another interim government, we're going to have a new president, a new prime minister, and two deputies. And the most important part is the 275-member national assembly.
They're going to -- this assembly is going to develop a new constitution for Iraq, which hopefully will be the permanent constitution, which will be ratified in the fall, probably by a national referendum. And then next December, they will actually elect another whole government. So, this is just the first step.
O'BRIEN: All right. So, you can look at it both ways in the sense if any mistakes are made on January 30, there's time to correct them. At the same time, it kind of prolongs the agony, if you will.
BROOKS: Right, right. But this seems to be the right process. They've never had democracy before. They've never been to polling places. They may have had an election in the 1970s, or something along then, maybe back in the 1950s. So, this is something new for them. They have to register people, they have to set up polling places, there will be 9,000 or 10,000 polling places. And also we have the challenges of the security situation.
O'BRIEN: A couple three weeks ago, you wrote an article, which was very interesting, talking about the important things that should be focused on throughout this lengthy process. The first thing you talk about is promoting pan-Iraqi politics. What does that mean? And how will that help the tribal conflicts that occur there?
BROOKS: That is exactly what we're trying to get over. We don't want Iraq to turn into Bosnia, where you had the Croats and the Serbs, and the Bosnians fighting each other. You want to have politicians and parties that appeal across ethnic and religious divides. As you know, we have Sunni and Shias there, we have Arabs and Kurds. Those are the four major groups. Kurds themselves are Kurds and Sunni, and the Shia in the south are Arab and Shia. So, what we have to do is we have to develop parties and people that appeal across the entire country.
O'BRIEN: Much easier said than done on that one.
BROOKS: Right.
O'BRIEN: Let's press on: Create an Iraqi national identity, which is sort of part and parcel of what you were just talking about, allowing people to see themselves as part of a nation, as opposed to a tribe, right?
BROOKS: That is right, exactly. And elections will help that, because people will take part in Iraqi elections, not in Shia elections, not in Kurd elections, or in Sunni elections. That will help as well. But you are right, we want Iraq to be considered -- instead of splitting up, instead of civil war, instead of dividing, balkanization, like we have seen in other parts of the world, we want them to stay as one country.
O'BRIEN: All right. Next theme, grow the economy. Iraq rich in natural resources, obviously, sitting on a ton of oil, second only to Saudi Arabia; tapping into that has been very difficult because the insurgency has focused on this point.
BROOKS: Right. What we want is putting people back to work. It's not just the oil industry. It is putting people back to work. Idle hands can be the devil's workshop. You don't want people that are unemployed to join the insurgency. So, getting people to work, even if it's any sort of work, is positive. And it makes them feel productive and a good part of society.
O'BRIEN: Of course, if they're afraid to go to work, that's a real problem.
BROOKS: That's right.
O'BRIEN: And security becomes an issue in all of these.
BROOKS: Right.
O'BRIEN: Final thought, promoting federalism. We take federalism for granted here. We probably shouldn't, because it's a wonderful system that allows a sense of everybody participating. How do you create that in a place that really has no that tradition or notion about it?
BROOKS: It's not going to be easy. That is how important it is to have this strong leadership, a strong central government at the beginning. And that is what we we're trying to develop. And then allow each region, you are talking about the Shia in the south, the Sunni in the center, and the Kurds to the north, to have some sort of autonomy. That is probably the only way.
If you don't allow power sharing they're probably going to go their own ways. That creates bigger problems. The Kurds and the Turks, for instance, in the north would be a big problem if we don't allow people to have some sort of regional autonomy.
O'BRIEN: All right, Peter Brooks, with the Heritage Institution.
Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate your insights on all this.
BROOKS: Thank you for having me on.
O'BRIEN: We'll check in with you as this long process continues -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: A Portland, Oregon, surgeon is recovering from a severe injury after using her skills and stamina to survive the South Asia tsunami. Elaine Murphy of affiliate K2 reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ELAINE MURPHY, K2 NEWS REPORTER (voice-over): Dr. Libby North lies in a Bangkok hospital bed right now. Her hand was 90 percent severed. A calf muscle detached. This is one of the things that saved here. She loved to run marathons and kite board in the Columbia River Gorge. And it gave her the stamina to survive these raging waters.
DR. HELMI LUTSEF (ph), OREGON STROKE CENTER: I was half joking saying she's been training her whole life perhaps to help her survive these -- hour and a half that, you know, she needed to survive.
MURPHY: Co-workers say Libby had been staying in a bungalow at Phi Phi, a beautiful island off the west coast of Thailand. And it was a structure that crushed her hand.
ANN TILLINGHAST, FRIEND: When she was pinned down, she kept -- she applied pressure to her hand to keep it from bleeding.
MURPHY: She says Libby was nearly ignored at the hospital. Libby insisted, I need surgery. I need surgery. Doctors finally looked at her hand rushing her to the operating room.
LUTSEF (ph): She had not been given a bath, even though she had now been in a hospital for about three days, that she was still covered with all the grime, her own blood, everything else.
MURPHY: Her family has had her airlifted to Bangkok where she went through surgery again.
LUTSEF (ph): My understanding is that she also had some sand and other rubble, debris in the wound. So they wanted to open it to make sure it wasn't infected.
MURPHY: Libby's friends and co-workers at the Oregon Stroke Center say she's alive thanks to her training as a doctor and an athlete. Elaine Murphy, K2 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Many Americans are still missing in the aftermath of the tsunami. CNN State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel tells us what the government is doing to track them down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans Angie Faust (ph) and her boyfriend, Luke Scully (ph) of Portland, Oregon had planned to spend their three-week Christmas vacation on the beaches of Thailand's resort Island of Phuket.
Friends say the couple's last credit card transaction was made in Phuket on Christmas Eve, but that there has been no word from them since.
TINA MAHAFFEY, FRIEND OF MISSING COUPLE: You have it in your head you'll get that call the next day. As the second day went on, we became more and more anxious. KOPPEL: More than a week after a devastating tsunami hit Thailand and 11 other countries the State Department says 16 Americans are confirmed dead. Secretary of State Powell who arrived in Thailand Monday said between 4,000 U.S. citizens are still unaccounted for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very frightening. If you find out anything, please let us know.
KOPPEL: Here at the State Department officials are working the phones around the clock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's just great to hear that everything is OK with his wife, Ronnie, and Clint.
KOPPEL: Talking to family and friends of those believed to be missing, trying to whittle down the list of inquiries to unaccounted for Americans that only days ago stood at 20,000.
ADAM ERELI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We have been able to satisfactorily respond to three-quarters of those inquiries, or about 15,000. That leaves us in the neighborhood of 5,000 inquiries that we have not been able to nail down.
KOPPEL: Officials expect that number to drop drastically, and in order to speed up the process are appealing to the public for help.
MAURA HARTY, ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: If anybody who is watching this broadcast has in fact called us already, and has now heard from their loved one, that they please call us again to let us know.
KOPPEL: That number is 1-888-407-4747.
(on camera): At the same time the U.S. is also working with the Thai government, for example, to sort through immigration papers and double check to see if any of the still unaccounted for Americans might have left Thailand since the tsunami hit.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, at the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: If you have not heard of the status of a loved one in the tsunami affected regions, CNN would like to hear from you. We want to find out about your efforts to locate missing friends or relatives. And are you still waiting to hear from them? Please call CNN at 404- 878-1500. The phone will be manned from 8:00 a.m. Eastern to 5:00 p.m. Eastern. After those hours, you'll get a voice mail. We'll check the messages -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Just how efficient are the charities at translating donations into help for tsunami victims? We're going to track where the dollars go just ahead on LIVE FROM.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Most charities are asking for cash donations rather than goods. But frequent flyers can also help relief efforts. I'll tell you how, coming up on LIVE FROM.
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PHILLIPS: Well, in addition to giving cash donations to disaster relief funds, frequent flyers can also help by donating miles. Susan Lisovicz joins with us now from the New York Stock Exchange with that report.
Susan, that's actually a very good idea. I have tons of miles that I can't use up either.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So you might want to listen very carefully, Kyra.
Major airlines including Continental, Delta and United are letting flyers donate miles to help the Red Cross, UNICEF, and other relief organizations. The miles will go toward flying aid workers and supplies to the affected areas.
Also, flyertalk.com, a bulletin board for frequent flyers has launched a online drive for frequent flyers to raise funds for the Red Cross. It says nearly $10,000 has been raised within 24 hours of launching the program. Northwest's select customers will get something back for donations. World Perk members will get 500 bonus miles in exchange for a $50 donation to the Red Cross.
Kyra and Miles, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Well, Susan, let's talk about the tsunami devastated areas and how it's going to be affected economically. And is there anything we can be doing on Wall Street to help those devastated areas?
LISOVICZ: Well, this may be really hard to believe, but despite the awful toll in human lives, many economists say that the tsunami is likely to have a shockingly small economic impact on the nations hit. That is because most major ports and manufacturing zones in the region were spared. The disaster is expected to cut just a few tenths of a percentage point off economic growth in the region.
But please take note that, of course, if there's any major outbreak of disease or social unrest, that could change that picture substantially.
Turning to the economics on Wall Street, well, you see the second day of '05 really having problems in terms of getting a rally going. The Dow industrials right now at their low for the session, off 80 points, 10,648 is the level. The Nasdaq sliding nearly 2 percent.
The Federal Reserve just released minutes of its December meeting and they show increased concern about inflation. And that's the latest from Wall Street.
Coming up later this hour, I'll tell you how a cutback in defense spending could hurt some big military contractors. Stay tuned, LIVE FROM continues after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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