Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Million Customers Without Power after Hurricane; Ellsworth Base Saved From Chopping Block; Iraqis Work on Constitution, Activists for Women Concerned

Aired August 26, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Candiotti in Hollywood, Florida. As South Florida cleans up after Hurricane Katrina, the hurricane prepares for a possible second swipe at Florida's Panhandle. I'll have a live report coming up.
KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Thanks, Susan.

And "Security Watch," they dropped the ball on pre-9/11 intel. Should CIA officials be punished? We're going to talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ARMSTRONG, TOUR DE FRANCE WINNER: I can't say it loud enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Lance Armstrong tells CNN his side of the story. Find out what he says is behind these persistent rumors of doping.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: CNN, your hurricane headquarters

PHILLIPS: Recapping Katrina: tropical storm, then hurricane hits Florida. Tropical storm again, leaves Florida. Hurricane again. Might hit Florida again. You got all that?

Between the time Katrina careened into Broward and Miami-Dade and glazed the Glades en route to the Gulf of Mexico, it knocked out power to more than a million homes and businesses, dropped more than a foot of rain, and gave this highway overpass the once over. Luckily, though, the site was still under construction. No one was hurt.

Katrina is blamed for at least four deaths right now, all from falling trees, all in Broward County.

We're on the story with CNN's Susan Candiotti in Hollywood, Jacqui Jeras in our weather center, straight upstairs. Susan, let's go to you first.

CANDIOTTI: Well, it doesn't make much to create flash flooding in south Florida. And so when a hurricane pulls through, even a Category 1 hurricane, look out. And sure enough, a lot of flooding, especially in South Dade County. There, there are reports of anywhere from six to 12, 15, up to 20 inches of rain in isolated areas, some people having to navigate through their neighborhoods using canoes. So others are walking around knee deep in water.

There's no telling how long it will take for the waters to recede, but that's something areas of South Dade now have to contend with.

Also the storm knocked out power, as you indicated, to more than a million people. At least 200,000 customers have now had their power restored since last night. But it's taking all day for utility crews to go around the areas, the three county areas just to assess the damage and give a hard estimate about how long they think it will take to make repairs. They expect to make that prediction sometime tomorrow.

And remember, as many people lost power in this hurricane as they did in Hurricane Andrew, which was a Category 5 storm. And, of course, the two storms are nothing alike.

Also, as we indicated, four people lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Katrina, all of them struck by trees, either as these people were driving or walking around inspecting storm damage.

At some small retail airports, some private planes that had been tied down were ripped loose from their moorings and flipped over. Some damage there. However, Hollywood International Airport, Ft. Lauderdale as well as Miami international airports are both open for business again this day.

But as you know, Katrina not through yet. And Florida Governor Jeb Bush has a word of advice for the people who live along the Gulf Coast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: We're at least three days away from another landfall, which means that the families in the Panhandle area, once again, should take precautions to prepare for the possibility of a storm coming. You have two days to calmly go about your business of making sure that you have the necessary supplies for your home, that your home has been secured, and we would urge you to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: What a hurricane season. This is the 11th named storm of this season. And remember, it's only August. The heart of the season, September and October.

Jacqui, back to you.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, thanks very much, Susan. Susan in Hollywood, Florida.

Looking OK in Hollywood right now. You can see it on our map. And no radar return, so that means it's dry. But you can see all the cloudiness where Susan was. And just off to her west, we do have a little bit of wet weather.

And we are going to continue to see these pop-up showers and thunderstorms, unfortunately kind of adding insult to injury a little bit for today.

The center of the storm, though, much closer to Key West, about 45 miles away from there right now, bringing a lashing to the Keys at this hour. In fact, reporting a wind gust at Key West at 69 miles per hour right at the top of the hour. Also some heavy rains spreading on down towards Cuba.

It's in a very rapid, intensification mode at this time. This is already packing a punch at 100 miles per hour. That's a Category 2 hurricane. We have to get up to 111 miles per hour for this to be a Category 3. We consider Category 3 a major hurricane.

There you can see the center of circulation here. There's the Florida Keys, and we'll zoom on in and show you Key West. And you can see the torrential downpours right there. You can expect easily one to two inches per hour with this. And I think the lower Keys will likely end up seeing some amounts of rain between 10 and 20 inches when all is said and done.

A very nice-looking picture on the satellite. There you can see it as it continues to head on a westerly track. But we are expecting that turn here, bringing it on up to the north. And until it starts turning, we're expecting to continue to see rain on this part of the coast, and that's why the flood watches remain in effect for much of southern Florida.

Those of you without power, unfortunately, struggling as the heat index is well into the lower 90s and will like get into the middle to upper 90s before the end of the day.

Let's get to that forecast track where we're expecting it to go, moving through the Gulf of Mexico throughout much of the weekend. And it looks like it's going to wait until Monday before making its second landfall.

Still a very wide margin of error, so you really need to be on alert, even in New Orleans extending all the way over into the northeastern Gulf. But right now the best estimate is that it will probably make a second landfall somewhere in the Florida Panhandle -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui. Thanks so much.

Not even CNN can be everywhere. So that's where you come in, you and your trusty digital camera, of course. Among the latest viewer photos that we received is this shot from Pompano Beach, a mobile home park just a mile or two inland from where Katrina blew ashore last evening.

And next up Doral, just west of the Miami airport. We mentioned falling three trees have been a mortal danger with this storm, due both to winds and extremely heavy rain, which softens the earth. Finally, a bridge over troubled waters and one troubled boat, in particular, in Miami.

Keep those pictures and e-mails coming, but please don't put yourself in danger while you're shooting them. We sure appreciate it.

ANNOUNCER: CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

PHILLIPS: All's well that ends well at Ellsworth, Air Force base, that is. And while the end of its desperate fight for life is not officially over, one local politician is calling this the greatest day that happened in South Dakota for a long, long time. South Dakotans spell relief B-R-A-C.

CNN's Ed Henry has the 411 -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you've thrown me in the soup, alphabetic and numeric, as well.

This is the most dramatic development. BRAC means, of course, the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, that's at a lunch break right now but they've been meeting throughout the day and throughout this week in the room behind me.

Most dramatic development came today when they announced, as you mentioned, Ellsworth Air Force Base will, in fact, stay open, overriding the recommendations of the Pentagon.

That was a major decision. This is the second largest employer in the state of South Dakota, home to many of the nation's B-1b bombers. But also a major political boost to Republican Senator John Thune. He had a lot riding on this.

To give you a little flavor of what went down in the room as the verdict came down, Thune was a bundle of nervous energy, rocking back and forth, fidgeting in his seat, waiting for the decision from the commission. That's because last year when Thune knocked off Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle he did that, in part, by Republicans promising that if Thune was elected his pal President Bush would make sure that the Air Force base stayed open.

You can then imagine John Thune's surprise back in the spring when he found out that Ellsworth was actually on the hit list. He talked to me a little earlier about some of his frustrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Well, we were surprised when Ellsworth ended up on the list. We had been hopeful that it wouldn't. And obviously my preference would have been that the administration would have perhaps intervened in some fashion. That was the argument that was made about the base closure process in '95. Then President Clinton intervened on behalf of Ellsworth at that point.

But this administration postured itself very differently on this. They said this is going to be -- these are going to be military decisions based on military value. That was the premise I had to work with; that was my reality. And that was the hand we were dealt.

So we began to work awfully hard after May 13, realizing that we were going to have to win this on the merits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: And that led to some credibility problems for Senator Thune back in his home state, given the fact that the White House had not backed him. So what he did instead was join forces with Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, a rival of his who he'd actually squared off against in 2002 in a nasty Senate battle that Thune lost by just a few hundred votes before coming back to beat Daschle last year.

That effort by Thune and the Democratic senator, Tim Johnson, was able to push this through at the end. Some high-level lobbying, some last-minute lobbying. And they believe they won it on the merits because of the economic impact it would have had on South Dakota -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And I'm just curious: I don't want to put you on the spot, but has anyone talked to Tom Daschle? I mean, that's the whole Thune-Daschle, you know, politics that were involved: "I can keep the base open," "No, you can't," "Yes, I can." I'm just curious if Daschle has responded.

HENRY: I bet, you know, he might be smiling a little bit about the fact that Thune was on the hot seat but also probably smiling about the fact that at least the Air Force base is going to stay open.

Tom Daschle, obviously, just as much as John Thune, cares about the state of South Dakota and that economic impact. It was going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 million of a hit, according to John Thune, if it had closed.

But you're right, politics is part of this. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has insisted not an ounce of politics has gone into the decision making here. But some people are wondering about this commission saving a very high-profile Republican senator with this decision, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Not an ounce of politics. I'm going to remember that line, Ed. I think you and I know better than that. All right, Ed Henry, thanks.

Well, the Black Hills are alive today with the sound of celebration over Ellsworth's survival. Our favorite quote so far, "Hot diggity-damn" from one county commissioner who watched the vote from the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce. Here's the chamber's president and member of the Ellsworth task force, Jim McKeon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM MCKEON, ELLSWORTH TASK FORCE: Outstanding. We worked hard providing compelling military arguments for the strategic value, and we're happy that the independent commission understood, delved into the problems that we provided with them, came to the right conclusion. And when they made that vote this morning, we were ecstatic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Ellsworth is said to contribute almost $280 million a year to South Dakota's economy.

Well, news from Aruba now. The two brothers who were jailed for weeks in connection with the Natalee Holloway mystery have been arrested again. Authorities tell CNN that Satish and Deepak Kalpoe will be questioned again about the Alabama honor student who vanished in the wee hours of May 30. The man in the middle of this photo, Joran Van Der Sloot, remains in custody, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, ladies, imagine a world where your husband can divorce your just by saying, "We're divorced." And where 9-year-old girls can be forced into arranged marriages. It could be the future for women in the new Iraq.

Intelligence lapses before 9/11. Should the CIA be punished now? And what's behind the secret group claiming advance knowledge of the al Qaeda link to Muhammad Atta.

Heartbreak in the heartland and plenty of blame to go around as more than one in 10 girls at this high school have been pregnant in the past year. But are the numbers really that shocking when you hear things like this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never planned on getting pregnant. I mean, to me it was something that always happened to that other girl, you know. I never could get pregnant. I'm too good to get pregnant. But here I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, as each deadline passes in Iraq with no agreement on a draft constitution, the pressure grows on negotiators to reach some kind of deal. The White House confirms that President Bush felt the need to get personally involved, so this week he picked up the phone and he called a top Shiite official to urge compromise.

For the latest on the intense work toward this constitution, let's go straight to CNN's Aneesh Raman in Baghdad -- Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good afternoon.

We expect to hear in the coming hour from the speaker of Iraq's national assembly and get a sense as to whether talks have ended or whether they will, in fact, continue onward tomorrow. All Iraqi leaders have been involved in intense negotiations again today, trying to find compromise on this draft constitution.

The Shia have reportedly put forth a document that sidelines a lot of the issues among federalism and de-Ba'athification that have concerned the Sunnis. The question, of course, then is whether the Kurds will be content with that. They have long said they want explicit mention of federalism in this draft document. They, of course, had a powerful autonomous region under Saddam. They want nothing less in the new Iraq.

And as you mention the U.S. president getting involved on Wednesday, placing a phone call to Abdul Aziz Hakim, the head of SCIR, a religious Shia party which also is the biggest Shia political party in this government, urging the Shia to stay at the table and continue talks until they can get the Sunnis on board.

Now Kyra, the Iraqi government says they already met their only legal deadline in this process, which was on Monday, the time by which a draft document had to be submitted to the national assembly. They say the only legal deadline they now face is for that referendum to take place by mid-October. So these talks could go forward and onward for days as they try to find compromise -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Aneesh Raman, thank you so much. We'll keep checking in with you.

Also keeping a close eye on deliberations in Baghdad, activists working to protect the legal rights of Iraqi women. With me now from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Basma Fakri. She leads the Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq.

Basma, good to see you.

BASMA FAKRI, WOMEN'S ALLIANCE FOR A DEMOCRATIC IRAQ: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: When we look at Iraq's population, what's the percentage of women in Iraq right now?

FAKRI: Well, we know it's more than 50 percent so far. We know some numbers come like 60 percent. So let's be conservative and say 50 percent.

PHILLIPS: All right. So you say 50 percent of those women...

FAKRI: More than 50 percent.

PHILLIPS: More than 50 percent of those women, OK. How many of those women would you say are like you, very progressive, democratic, versus a little more cultural, not minding so much the religious based laws?

FAKRI: Well, it's hard to say. However, these women with the cultural background or with a religious background, they were not exposed to all the women's rights, what's up there. And that's why some of them are afraid of any changes. That's why they want to stick to the Sharia and the Islamic law.

So we are trying to educate these women, try to educate the society about their rights, the women's rights and human rights. PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about those religious-based laws that you're concerned about. From marriage to divorce to custody to travel to inheritance. Let's start with marriage and how you are going about trying to convince women, "Look, this could be dangerous with regard to Islamic law. And you should be open to a more democratic approach."

FAKRI: Well, as you know, and most of people now they know, there are different sects of Islam, and each one they have their different interpretations of the Sharia.

So for marriage, let us say sometimes the girls as young as 9. They can be forced into marriages. It depends on which sect of Islam you're in and which place you are there.

And some of them, you know, like for the marriage you can go up to four wives, and some of them they can say nine. You know, it's two and three and plus four that would be nine wives. So it depends on people how they interpret it.

So we try to educate these women about their rights and what can be the implication of these laws that will affect the family and women and the whole society.

PHILLIPS: All right. So once again, just to emphasize the points with regard to marriage, because we did put some graphics together.

We're talking about you can allow a 9-year-old girl to be married. Some interpretations allow forced marriages.

Now let's move into divorce and the points with regard to divorce. A man can divorce his wife just by saying, "You're divorced," three times. A woman must leave her home once divorced.

I mean, a lot these women, if, indeed, that has, have no options. They've never worked a day in their life. They just know about caring for their husband and raising their children.

FAKRI: That's true. As for saying, the stating divorce, also there are some differences. We can say minor differences, between sects of Islam. But the result will be the same.

Like the husband has the right to state, "You're divorced," three times. Whether they are separate times or the same time, she will be divorced, and she has to leave the house.

However, the 1959, the one -- family law, 188, which was improvement at that time, stated that the wife can stay in the house three years after her divorce. That will be, you know, the improvement at that time. So at least we want to keep that one, and we want some improvement. We don't want to go backward.

With the divorce, as you said, with the wives, they don't have an education, any financial support. They can't go back to the streets. PHILLIPS: And Basma, looking at custody rights. Mothers can lose custody of sons at age 2, daughters at age 7. Then if we talk about travel, women cannot travel without a male relative as an escort. And finally, inheritance. Women generally receive half of what men would.

So if, indeed, this constitution -- let me ask you this. Is there a way to keep these Islamic laws out of the constitution? For those who want to practice and are comfortable with this way of life, can they do it without it being in the constitution?

FAKRI: Well, that's what women are pushing for. We want Islamic law or -- as a practicing Islam to stay out -- outside of the constitution. It's great to be as a source because Islam is a great religion. It has great values. And all the society that are following Islam, not directly but following the essence of Islam.

However, if you want to apply all these Sharia with different interpretation, as you said, with divorce, marriage, or male companion, you can restrict women, you can restrict half of the society from moving, from expressing their opinions, from contributing to the society, which is everybody. Every person need it, and this time, it's a time of building. It's a time of moving forward.

PHILLIPS: Even historically, if you look at the first wife of Prophet Muhammad, I mean, Prophet Muhammad worked for her. I mean, the role of women was all about respect and honor and lifting her up to a higher role, right?

FAKRI: Definitely. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (ph), she was a merchant and Prophet Muhammad in Islam (ph), he was working for her. And he didn't marry another wife during her life. So that set a great example for the rest of Muslim men.

However, not everybody following that. So we try to keep it as ideal, as a great example, but we don't want it to trickle down to interpretations of some clerics, of some people, and control women's rights.

PHILLIPS: Basma Fakri, head of the Women's Alliance for a Democratic Iraq. Thanks for your time today.

FAKRI: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a closer look at Muhammad Atta's link to al Qaeda. If CIA big-wigs knew about it before 9/11, should they be reprimanded now? We're all over that in a moment.

And there's this...

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diddy.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Diddy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just Diddy, that's it.

MOOS: Did he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he?

MOOS (voice-over): He did.

DIDDY, RAP PRODUCER: Diddy, it's simple. You know what I'm saying? Five letters, one word, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Diddy or did he make a big mistake changing his name all the time? Jeanne Moos checks it out. LIVE FROM is brought to you by the letter "P" for perfect. Right after this.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Back live in B Control now where we always finish our bottles of wine. Isn't that right, Mike?

But if you can't finish the bottle of wine that you ordered for that special dinner, well, BYOB, bail with your own booze. More and more states are deciding you can take it with you.

The "Boston Globe" reports that Massachusetts is going to consider legalizing what you might call doggy bags for wine bottles. Supporters say the change would reduce drunk driving, because people wouldn't feel the need to finish off the bottle before heading home. At least 30 states already allow dinners or -- yes, diners, rather, to take their bottles with them.

Well, checking the price at the pump as we look toward the weekend, every little bit helps. AAA reports the gas prices have fallen for the past four days in a row. The nationwide average stands at just a hair above $2.60 a gallon for self-serve unleaded. People in San Diego are paying the most, at $2.82 a gallon. Chicago is right next to them at $2.81. Cheyenne, Wyoming, has the cheapest gas at $2.41 a gallon.

Well, Wall Street keeping a close eye on oil as Hurricane Katrina spins into the Gulf of Mexico. Allan Chernoff live from the New York Stock Exchange with the latest from there.

Hi, Alan.

CHERNOFF: Hi, Kyra.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com