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Locals Concerns About Crawford Protests; Venezuelan Plane Crash Kills 160; Investigators Look Into Greek Airplane Crash

Aired August 16, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES ANDERSON, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: What we saw happen here last night is a sacrilege. These crosses represent five of my comrades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Crossing the line in Crawford. Tense times between locals and protesters, outside the president's ranch.

New deadline for democracy. Will Iraqis overcome centuries of bad blood to rule themselves?

And if you're tired of paying more for gas, you might want to check out the junk in your trunk.

From the CNN center in Atlanta, we got a lot of junk in our trunk. I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Well, 10 days of anger. Ten days of protest. Ten days of passion, publicity and spectacle. And even more on the way. It's the crusade of Cindy Sheehan, now 10 days old, on the outskirts of President Bush's retreat in Texas.

It's grown by the day, as it would seem, as a back lash. Last night a pickup truck mowed down a long row of white crosses signifying troops killed in Iraq. They weren't just symbols to Charles Anderson, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: These crosses represent five of my comrades from my battalion who are no longer with us or no longer -- no longer here, who sacrificed in some way their lives so that the individual that did this had the freedom to drive down this American highway and desecrate their graves

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Suzanne Malveaux watching all this from the White House -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Kyra, as a matter of fact, our own Dana Bash is in Crawford, Texas, and she has been also watching these developments unfold. Obviously, the tension really seems to be rising here between the residents of Crawford, Texas, and some of those visitors, protesters on both sides.

Now, it is the police county commission that actually says that there was a man that was arrested last night. He was charged for criminal mischief. Now, what happened was, according to this police officer, is that he found this man who essentially was in a pickup truck. His pickup truck, the tire had actually blown. There was a wood stake that was in one of the tires. Now, one of those wooden stakes, of course, allegedly from those rows of crosses that you had talked about, those rows of crosses that signified those fallen soldiers from the Iraq war. And allegedly, this man being charged with taking his pickup truck and running over that display.

This has caused a lot of concern and a lot of anger among people there, particularly the protesters. We heard from Cindy Sheehan, who spoke out about it earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY SHEEHAN, PROTESTER: What happened last night is very disturbing to all of us. And it really should be very disturbing to America, because no matter what you think about the war, we should all honor the sacrifices of the ones who have fallen. And to me, it's so ironic that I'm accused of dishonoring my son's memory by doing what I'm doing by the other side, and then somebody comes and does this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, Kyra, of course, this was allegedly -- this was a violent incident, but most of these protests have been rather peaceful. What just happened within the hour or so, McLennan County commission -- residents went before the commission, had a meeting to discuss what has now been called Camp Casey. The disruptions involved some of the blocked roads and traffic jams, and things that residents are concerned about.

They have signed a petition talking about their concerns. Many residents saying that the school year is about to begin. School buses will be going back to that road. They want to expand the no-parking zone a little bit further.

Let's take a listen to one of those residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA HARRISON, RANCH NEIGHBOR: That's why I have a security issue for my children. You know, that who else is going to come up there? We don't know who all is up there protesting, what type of people it's bringing around. And I don't think they know everybody's background. So that's just my concern there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So as it is now, Kyra, the no parking zone, at least across from the Crawford ranch, is several hundred feet. If that's expanded it could be quite a distance away, miles away from the Crawford ranch. Again, residents expressing their concerns about all of this. We did speak, as well -- Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman who is on the ranch spoke before reporters. And she was asked, again, whether or not the president was willing to meet with Cindy Sheehan. She once again reiterated, saying that the president last Thursday said that he sympathizes with her cause. He met with her last June. That he cherishes the right, of course, for everybody to peacefully protest, but, again, he will stick with his schedule -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux. Thank you so much.

Well, another week in Iraq, make that six days, to draft a constitution that was supposed to be submitted to the national assembly some time yesterday. If you were watching, then you know the drafters were stymied by the issues of federalism, the role of Islam and equal protection for women.

So lawmakers OK'ed an extension that the U.S. ambassador calls a disappointment, not a significant setback. He says the ends justify some pretty difficult means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: We want Iraq to succeed. A lot of American treasure and blood has been spent here. It is no secret about that. You shouldn't be surprised by that, that we want Iraq to succeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Accident or attack? Officials in Spain say either could have caused the first loss of Spanish troops in Afghanistan. Seventeen killed in a helicopter crash near the western city of Herat. Those troops were part of a NATO contingent trying to keep the peace ahead of next month's local and parliamentary elections. A second Spanish helicopter made an emergency landing nearby. But Spain is disputing initial reports that the two may have collided.

Investigators in Venezuela and Panama and Columbia and France want to know what caused the deadliest airline disaster in Venezuelan history. One hundred and sixty people were on board the West Caribbean Airways jet that crashed overnight en route to the island of Martinique.

CNN's Karl Penhaul on the phone with me now from Bogota -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At least 150 rescue workers are currently involved, combing the site where that aircraft went down, Kyra. That includes Venezuelan national guard, police and Venezuelan firefighters.

What they say is that this site is very difficult to access. It's rugged, mountainous terrain, covered by a large amount of forest, too. What we do know from the Venezuelan aviation authorities was that this aircraft, a West Caribbean Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-82, was flying at 33,000 feet when it radioed the control tower to say that one of the engines had completely failed and that they had developed problems in the second engine. Shortly after that call, the plane then lost radio contact and crashed into the mountain, just about 20 miles across the border into Venezuela from Colombia.

The plane itself was actually covering a route between Panama and the island of Martinique. It was a charter flight. And according to a spokeswoman for West Caribbean Airways, there were 152 passengers on board and eight crew members. Rescue workers saying this morning that there are definitely no survivors, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl, I know you mentioned engine trouble. But has terrorism been ruled out?

PENHAUL: So far, nothing has been ruled out completely, because what investigators say is that it's early stages yet. They're combing the flash site, obviously. The wreckage is spread across a large area, half a square mile or so. But early indications certainly would appear to be that the link here is due to mechanical and engine failure, rather than any other factor, including weather or terrain, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl Penhaul from Bogota. Thanks, Karl.

Two days after a separate airliner went down in Greece, investigators are hoping the flight data recorder can tell them what may have gone wrong with that plane's cabin pressure and/or ventilation system.

More now from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For one expert, the sight of huge metal fragments on a Greek mountainside brings back uneasy memories.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: It was eerily similar.

TODD: Peter Goelz led the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation of golfer Payne Stewart's Lear jet crash in October 1999. In that accident, which killed Stewart and five others, the plane lost cabin pressure for unknown reasons and no one inside could get supplemental oxygen in time. Everyone on board lost consciousness, and fighter pilots helplessly watched the aircraft slam into the ground.

In Sunday's crash, according to witnesses and fighter pilot accounts and word from Greek officials, the passenger plane was on auto pilot at 35,000 feet, and at least one crew member, a pilot, appeared unconscious. Goelz says one of the first things investigators will have to look at is whether this plane lost cabin pressure at that very dangerous altitude.

GOELZ: At 35,000 feet, the temperature outside the plane is well below zero, perhaps 45 or 50 degrees below zero. If that atmosphere was allowed to enter the aircraft without any kind of conditioning or heating, it would -- it would very quickly cause paralysis and unconsciousness.

TODD: But Goelz says it's the lack of oxygen that most often causes unconsciousness inside the cabin. He says cabin pressure can be lost if doors or other portals are not sealed properly or if the so-called bleed air valve in the back of the plane, which regulates cabin pressure, malfunctions.

Officials at Boeing tell CNN this plane was a 737-300, manufactured in March 1999. Goelz says that's a relatively new, very reliable aircraft. He says these planes rarely lose pressure but when they do, pilots know how to react.

GOELZ: The masks have independent oxygen systems, and they're trained to get the plane down to below 10,000 feet. In which people can breathe on their own and it's very perplexing about why the crew was not able to respond.

TODD: But Peter Goelz says pilots have about 15 seconds after cabin pressure is lost to don their own oxygen masks and regain control of the aircraft. He says in this case, the pilots may not have realized in time that pressure was lost.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Crunch time in Gaza. Israeli forces, with reluctance, using force to dislodge settlers and protesters, who now have four hours left to leave peacefully with full compensation.

CNN's Guy Raz is in the largest of the 21 settlements being painstakingly cleared. The key syllable there, of course, being pain.

Guy, how's it coming?

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, one can't help but feel the tension here in the Gaza settlements this evening just hours before the formal period of evacuation is set to begin.

Now, throughout much of the morning, police and demonstrators clashed here in Neveh Dekalim, the largest of the Jewish settlements. At times, those clashes were rather fierce. And police arrested some 50 demonstrators here throughout the day.

But later on in the day, calm returned to the settlement. As you can see, it's nighttime here. And in the next few hours, we do expect to see Israeli soldiers beginning the process of going house to house, door to door, and asking those remaining residents to leave voluntarily for one final time, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Guy, let's talk about those demonstrators just for a moment. I mean, these are individuals, for the most part, that are coming from the outside in, right? These aren't even the residents that live in the area?

RAZ: And what's extraordinary about it, Kyra, is that many of the people we've talked to here in the Gaza settlements are actually quite embarrassed in a sense by the behavior of these demonstrators, as you say, many of them young people. About 5,000 to 6,000, according to the army, managed to infiltrate into these settlements over the past few days and week.

And many of the people in the settlements are simply not happy. They're not -- they don't accept the methods that these young people have used in a sense, burning tires, shouting abuse at soldiers and police. And at certain times, throwing punches, as well.

All that being said, many of the existing residents in this settlement have already left. And those who do remain are expected to leave quietly, even after the period of voluntary evacuation ends -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Guy, one more question. This is an area that you've been coming to for more than a year. I'm curious what residents told you a year ago about the reality of this day, and what they're saying to you now. I remember a piece you did on a zookeeper who said he was never going to leave.

RAZ: A year ago, you couldn't find a person in any of the settlements who said the disengagement will happen. They simply didn't believe it. In fact, as late as January, I was talking to the zookeeper here in Neveh Dekalim. There was a fairly modest sized zoo here with llamas and camels and some monkeys.

And I asked him, I said, "What are you going to do with the animals? Are you preparing to evacuate them?"

And he said, "I don't have to, because it's simply not going to happen."

Well, last week, the zookeeper left and all of the animals were taken out. And in the past two days, you've really seen not necessarily people coming to terms with what's happening, but more an acceptance of the reality that this settlement, these settlements here in Gaza, are now about to be shut down -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Guy Raz, thank you so much. We'll continue to follow up with you throughout the day, of course.

And we're just getting word now into CNN that Coretta Scott King, the widow, of course, of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, has been hospitalized. She's in Atlanta, at Piedmont Hospital.

We are told she is resting comfortably. We don't know why she was admitted to the hospital. We just got word. We'll let you know the condition of Coretta Scott King and what exactly happened as soon as we get that information. More LIVE FROM right after a quick break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, acne drug restriction. The FDA keeping a closer watch on people who taking Accutane. Will it curb the harmful effects?

Fires in Ford vehicles. A CNN investigation. Is the federal agency in charge of car safety doing enough to warn the public about the potential problem?

And later on LIVE FROM...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody keep their head down.

PHILLIPS: On patrol for a killer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guy hit us yesterday.

PHILLIPS: Inside the mission of American soldiers looking for explosives in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch him. Watch him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Even back here in Beacon (ph), we're all feeling the pain at the pump. Prices keep going up. We've been doing the tally, J.J. Ramberg. I know you're going to help us with some tips. Eighteen cents, more than 18 cents, in just the past week, right? Did we get the numbers right?

J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's at $2.55 a gallon nationally for unleaded gas right now. When I just reported on this last week, it was $2.41. It's gone up that much in just a few days.

Quite high. But let me give you some tips on what you can do to try and ease a little bit of the pain at the pump if you can at all.

And this first one might be a tiny bit hard to swallow, given the incredible heat wave that we've had this summer. But it's use your air-conditioner sparingly. I know that might be hard to do. But when you use your air-conditioner, your gas mileage goes down.

If you can't handle being in a hot car, one thing you can is turn the air-conditioner on, keep it on, cool the car down, and then turn it off and let the fan circulate the air so at least you have some cold air going on.

Now another tip, you might think, I'm not going to turn the air- conditioner on, what I'm going to do is roll down the windows. Right? Turns out, that's not so good for gas mileage also. When you have the windows down, or if you have a convertible and you put the top down, that causes drag on the car and that worsens gas mileage also. You have to decide between the air-conditioner or the windows. If you're going at a fast speed, choose using the air-conditioner. You'll save a little bit more using the air conditioner than putting the windows down.

Now a third one, you mentioned junk in the trunk before. Take that junk out of the trunk, because when your car is heavier, you use more gas. So for example, if you play golf, put your golf clubs in your car when you're going to play golf but when you go home, take them out. You want to keep your car as light as it possibly can be to have good gas mileage.

Also, drive the speed limit. When you drive fast, you're ruining your fuel efficiency. The Department of Energy did a study and they found that when you drive somewhere between 50 and 55 miles per hour, then you're at peak fuel economy. When you go faster than that, it starts going down. At 75 miles per hour, the average gas mileage goes down by 24 percent.

Now, think 24 percent is quite a lot when you're paying $2.55 a gallon. If you're driving an SUV, you want to drive even slower. You're at fuel economy for gas at 45 miles per hour if you drive an SUV.

And then finally, and this seem like the most obvious one, if you're going out to buy a new car, buy a new car or vehicle that gets good gas mileage. If you're choosing between a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon versus 40 miles per gallon, you're paying double for the one that gets 20 miles per gallon. And again, at $2.55 that is going to add up very quickly -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: J.J. did you say leave the golf clubs out of the trunk?

RAMBERG: Unless you want to ride your bike, you can put your golf clubs there.

PHILLIPS: I don't know if I can do that. Scott Regar (ph), my director, I know he's trying to do a show here, gas clubs out of the trunk, we can't do that can we? No, we can't do that. All right, we're going to look at your other tips. J.J. Ramberg, thank you very much.

And a warning now for women who take non-aspirin painkillers such as Extra Strength Tylenol. Keep an eye on your blood pressure. A new study suggests that women who take these every day are about twice as likely to develop high blood pressure. Check it out in the American Heart Association Journal, "Hypertension."

And tough new restrictions on that acne drug Accutane. New rules that we're reading about here, designed to prevent birth defects associated with that drug.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING" (voice-over): For years, the FDA and the makers of Accutane have known the drug can cause severe birth defects. More recently, it's been linked to depression, even suicide.

For now, thousands of Americans who take the popular acne drug, along with those who prescribe it and dispense it, will have to enroll in a national registry. It's part of a major government program called I Pledge.

In it, steps to ensure that women know the risks and don't get pregnant while taking Accutane or its generic versions. The action comes after decades of safety warnings and other restrictions and a study last fall showing a biological connection to depression in teenagers. That study compared the brains of young adults taking Accutane with those taking antibiotics.

In the so-called Accutane brain, activity in the front part of the brain was down 21 percent.

DR. DOUGLAS BREMMER, PSYCHIATRIST: This plays a critical role in emotion. If there's a decrease in function in that part of the brain, then it makes sense that there would be changes in mood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And the doctor is in, even on the weekends. Sanjay's always working. A "HOUSE CALL" from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Saturday and Sunday mornings, 8:30 Eastern, only here on CNN.

And in our next hour of LIVE FROM, you met him yesterday and he's back. Dr. Otis Brawley. He's coming back to us from Emory University, to answer your questions about cancer. We got so many e- mails we wanted to answer more of them, just for you. So that's coming up.

Also ahead a small part that could be causing fires in some cars and trucks. New information in a CNN investigation, coming straight up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Now in the news, two banks agree to pay up in the mediclaims lawsuit filed by now bankrupt Enron. JPMorgan and Toronto Dominion Bank will pay at least $420 million to settle claims that they could have prevented the energy trader's collapse. Ten banks are now named in that lawsuit.

Heat and rough terrain slowing firefighters' efforts to rein in a devastating wildfire in Washington state. The 49,000-acre -- acre fire, rather, is burning near Pomeroy. In 11 days, it's destroyed more than 100 homes. And fire officials say that blaze is about -- well, it's only three quarters contained. No deaths, but dozens of injuries being reported following a major earthquake in Japan. The 7.2 magnitude quake jolted northeastern Japan this morning, triggering small tsunamis and shaking skyscrapers 220 miles away in Tokyo.

A mad dash to buy used laptops turns violent in Virginia. Thousands of people rushed through the gates of the Richmond International Raceway today to get a chance to buy a used laptop computer for 50 bucks. Several people who were pushed or shoved were injured.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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