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Spirit of Jazz Returning to New Orleans; Interview with Russel Honore; Fears of Avian Flu Close to Home
Aired October 05, 2005 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, an attack inside a Shia mosque. It happened just hours ago in the Iraqi town of Hillah. At least 25 people are dead, but police fear that number will rise. Eighty-seven more wounded when the bomb went off during a funeral.
Accolades and celebrations for three chemists, now Nobel Prize winners. Richard Schrock is among the trio, who's research has allowed industry to develop better drugs and stronger plastics.
And a royal visit. Get ready, Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, are heading stateside. They're scheduled to visit New York, Washington and San Francisco early next month for their first joint official tour.
And soon to be a pro. Michelle Wie is expected to make it official today, a week shy of her 16th birthday. The golf guru competed as an amateur in seven LPGA events this year, twice finishing in the top three. As a pro, she'll be able to keep the prize money.
We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Amid all the damage caused by Katrina in New Orleans, the storm also managed to silence the city's vibrant music scene, at least for now.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports, a lot of New Orleans' musicians may be displaced, but they're already planning their comeback.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sound, the musicians, the pride of its people. New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. Suddenly homeless, jobless, Katrina forced many musicians away. Some without their instruments.
DEWON SCOTT, MUSICIAN: We made it. Yes, we made it.
GUTIERREZ: Dewon Scott is a New Orleans drummer, now in Houston.
SCOTT: I still have nightmares of seeing these dead people floating.
GUTIERREZ: For six days, he and family were stranded in a high school without electricity or water. Scott thought they would die, until a helicopter arrived.
SCOTT: It was like I seen Jesus, because when I saw that man walk through the hallway and like, let's go, let's go -- rescued. I fell on my knees and thanked God for that moment.
GUTIERREZ: But he says the horror he experienced, the misery he saw, still haunt him.
SCOTT: Right now, today, as I speak, as I prepare for bed at night, it still goes through my mind. I've seen this old lady slumped over in her wheelchair. I've seen this little girl who I had to cross over to get to the Superdome. It's still in my mind. I don't know what -- I'll try my best to get over this tragedy.
RUFFINS: Like I said, yes, that's all I got here.
GUTIERREZ: Bandmate Kermit Ruffins has more than a dozen CDs out and has played his jazz trumpet all over the world.
RUFFINS: That makes me feel good, right away.
GUTIERREZ: That trumpet, he says, is one of the very few possessions he still has. He evacuated New Orleans before Katrina hit.
RUFFINS: All day long, I kind of, like, privately grieve, and I never let anybody see it. I never let my mom, or dad or anybody see how bad I really feel about New Orleans.
But when we get on stage, it's second nature, and it's the happiest time of the day.
GUTIERREZ: Ruffins, and Scott and other band members found each other at a Houston club.
SCOTT: And when I opened the door to go in, I said, man, they got all of my friends up in here. And then I walked to the back, I see Kermit. I was like, man, we were just a-hugging.
GUTIERREZ: About 400 New Orleans performers are now in Houston. Local musicians gave them a warm welcome, offering housing, instruments and even sharing gigs.
RUFFINS: Let's party New Orleans style.
GUTIERREZ: Paul English from Houston formed an organization called Noah-Leans to help fellow musicians.
PAUL ENGLISH, NOAH-LEANS: Everybody feels a little helpless. Something like this will be -- we were all sitting around, thinking what can we do? And if I were a musician and I got displaced like that, what would I need? And I think the biggest thing I would need is a job.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): How important is playing music to you? SCOTT: It's like waking up in the morning actually, because I can focus on my muse being now and try to get the storm out of my head.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Ruffins says Katrina has changed him, and changed how he sees the world.
RUFFINS: And we will go back to New Orleans, rebuild and swing again. We will swing again.
GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And another LIVE FROM bonus story for you, special visitors at Washington's National Cathedral. Two dogs rescued from New Orleans floodwaters were among the pups taking part in the annual blessing of the animals. A team from Washington's Animal Rescue League saved 55 animals in New Orleans. The animals with no homes were taken back to Washington for adoption.
We'll have more LIVE FROM right after a quick break. And who knows, maybe even General Honore will call us. Find out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Well, in Upstate New York, investigators conducted tests today in hopes of figuring out what cause a tour boat to capsize on Lake George. Twenty elderly passengers of the Ethan Allen died in that tragedy on Sunday. One test involved loading a similar weight onto a sister craft of the Ethan Allen to see if the sudden weight shift onboard would cause it to rollover.
Here's CNN's Alina Cho.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Like so many others, Al Dardis heard about the accident on television.
AL DARDIS, FORMER CAPTAIN, ETHAN ALLEN: I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it.
CHO: Dardis had a reason to care. He was one of the first captains on the Ethan Allen, piloted the tour boat for 15 years.
You're still sick about it?
DARDIS: If that ever happened to me, I'd die. I couldn't take it.
CHO: Dardis said, when he was at the helm back in the '70s and '80s, he always made sure people were seated. He said the boat was harder to handle when it was filled to capacity. DARDIS: If you have a lot of people on one side, it's just not good. It don't run good.
CHO: He has seen what happens when a boat tries to maneuver around the wake of a larger vessel.
You've seen things flip over?
DARDIS: If they come close to anything and they're anywhere near half throttle, something bad happens.
CHO: Investigators are looking into whether the wake of another boat caused the Ethan Allen to cap-size.
MAJ. GERALD MEYER, N.Y. STATE POLICE: Well, you can understand how a vessel of that size, things could go wrong.
CHO: New York State Police Major Gerald Meyer said two crew members should have been aboard the Ethan Allen on the day of the accident. But Captain Richard Paris was alone.
MEYER: The crew member would be important in an accident situation because, you know, you might need two people to hand out life preservers.
CHO: The company that owns the Ethan Allen is Shoreline Cruises. The state has sidelined its five other boats.
JAMES QUIRK, PRESIDENT, SHORELINE CRUISES: Our company, Shoreline Cruises, has been in the passenger boat business on Lake George for more than 27 years. And until Sunday, we have had a perfect safety record.
CHO: But as this 911 call makes clear, something did go terribly wrong.
911 OPERATOR: 911 emergency.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. A boat, a boat, a boat went over just the Ethan Allen, just outside of Green Harbor.
911 OPERATOR: Green Harbor?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It tipped right over.
911 OPERATOR: How many people were in the boat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, please oh, a lot of people. They're hanging on to the bottom because it went right over. Oh, please hurry.
CHO: Seventy-five-year-old Anna McGunagle said it all happened so fast. She survived the accident. Her husband did too.
ANNA MCGUNAGLE, SURVIVOR: I was content that I wasn't going to make it and he was too. But God had other plans for us. CHO: Despite the tragedy, Al Dardis says Lake George is still the queen of American lakes and the perfect place to take a vacation.
DARDIS: It was a beautiful day, gorgeous day. Something like that should have never happened.
CHO: The NTSB will be conducting what it calls a stability test. It will take the twin sister boat of the Ethan Allen, put the equivalent of 50 passengers on that boat, move all of the weight to one side of it and then see what happens. The NTSB says it will know a lot more then than it does now.
Alina Cho, CNN, Lake George, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A straight-shootin', take-charge John Wayne dude. He gets frustrated if you get stuck on stupid, but he loves it when he says you're from Louisiana. General Honore told me weeks ago he was getting tired of all the attention, but he was exactly what the people of the devastated Gulf Coast needed after the hurricanes. He's a humble guy, who is focused on his mission. Now it's time for him to start thinking about heading home, maybe. Something he is just not sure he wants to do, though. Like he always says, you're looking at a calendar, I'm looking at my watch.
General Honore joins us now by phone. He's in Cameron, Louisiana.
What are you doing right now, General?
LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, COMMANDER, FIRST U.S. ARMY: Well, we came by to see the Alabama National Guard construct the tent city in Creole, which will be used for the southern part of the parish as a place for the government workers and the contractors who are working here to start the recovery phase in Cameron. And we're here to check on the progress of my planners, who have been working with the Cameron Parish president and police juror, who govern the parish, in establishing the courthouse. And both of those projects are progressing well -- over.
PHILLIPS: And you met with the former President Clinton yesterday. What did you tell him, sir?
HONORE: I told him there was a lot to do and there was a lot of people that need help and a lot of coordination to happen. And we -- what we were doing with the federal troops is still filling the gaps, in terms of medical capacity. We have the Comfort and the 14th cache (ph) hospital in New Orleans and we have helicopters helping with the levee project. And we have our D-Mark (ph) teams, who have completed the casket recovery in Cameron Parish. So we've been providing capacity or capability that the state and the FEMA need to make the transition from the response to the storm to the recovery phase -- over. PHILLIPS: You mentioned the National Guard. I had the pleasure to go with you to the homecoming of the Louisiana National Guard. We talked a lot in the helicopter. I just want to take a listen to part of that conversation, for a minute, sir, and then talk to you about your homeland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Where was it you were born, sir?
HONORE: A place call Lakeland, Louisiana, which you see the map, it's it's right off Falls River. And that is the Smith (ph) plantation, primarily raised sugar cane. And that's the part of the Louisiana/Mississippi River levee system. And when high water -- these levees were built for when high water comes from up north in the spring (INAUDIBLE), to keep the banks of the Mississippi from overflowing into the delta (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: It's pretty amazing just listening to you. You know so much about this region and about this land. And I'm curious if you had a chance to go back to your hometown of Lakeland yet?
HONORE: No, I have not. Been focused on the mission, which is the parishes that have been affected by the storm -- over.
PHILLIPS: Well, your father, a Creole farmer -- you're one of 12 kids -- I know you know cattle. And I know that you know how important they are to the people of these regions. You were fighting to save that cattle. What's the status of that?
HONORE: Well, I think we've gone from thousands down to hundreds in each parish that still need to be rescued. And we're working with the Department of Agriculture and the state of Louisiana Agriculture Department, the ranchers and farmers themselves, with a lot of help from all the agencies of the Department of Transportation in Louisiana to the fish and wildlife folks. It's a total team effort to try to save the animals -- over.
PHILLIPS: And not only that, but those individuals that were saved -- those lives that were saved of human beings and so many shelters right now, you've had a chance to go to a lot of those shelters and talk to the people, and you do it in a very nonchalant way. I'm curious to see what you think about the situation, about getting them out of those shelters into homes, the trailers that are being set up in random areas. What kind of status report can you give us, sir, about those individuals that want to get back into a real home?
HONORE: Well, I did have the opportunity to go into a shelter yesterday in Baton Rouge, and I think you nailed. I think people are ready to move on. It's a term of capacity. We only make about 1,000 of those trailers a day in the industrial base, and over in Mississippi, we have a delivery of about 500 a day. And you do the math of the number of people that's been displaced or homes that have been damaged and it will take a capacity of days and weeks before we can meet the demands of everybody.
And Admiral Allen and the great FEMA team are trying to make that happen. But yes, people in shelters are ready to move on. Everyone and I saw and had the opportunity to see were ready to move out of the shelters. And it is a major effort, but all that takes time to make it happen, considering the number of people we're dealing with from Alabama, all the way to some part of Texas. So, there is a significant effort that is going on to make that happen -- over.
PHILLIPS: Now, of course, General, there has been this talk back and forth that you might be pulling up stakes and heading back to Atlanta, Georgia. But are you staying in the fight for a while. Is that what I understand? You're not coming home yet?
HONORE: I'm still on mission -- over.
PHILLIPS: Understandable. Final question. Our Randi Kaye is there with you for the day. Where are you going next, sir?
HONORE: We're going over to the courthouse in Cameron, and we're going to the wildlife refuge in Cameron. Then we'll go to Vermilion Parish, check in at the courthouse, see the parish president. Then we're going to a town called Erath and Delcambre in Vermilion Parish -- over.
PHILLIPS: What will you do in Erath?
HONORE: Erath, we'll take a look at -- talk to the National Guard team that's there, talk to the mayor. They have been working to get all their people registered. And just spend a morale call with them and see if there is anything we can help with them in their crisis phase -- over.
PHILLIPS: Well, when it comes to a morale call, you're the man. General Russel Honore, thanks for your time.
HONORE: OK. See you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
More LIVE FROM starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to figure out how we're going to handle what could be many hundreds of thousands of dead bodies. That's the kind of planning you need right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: In the event of a global bird flu pandemic, who's going to protect you and your community? The president mulls his options for the worst-case scenario.
Also ahead, here comes the neighborhood. Some homeless hurricane survivors say the new FEMA cities are a blessing. Others are trashing trailer life.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Philips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Well, you've heard the term and mentally filed it somewhere between hoof-and-mouth disease and mad cow, but the whole world is taking note of bird flu. And if you've wondered what all the fuss is about, forget the bird and focus on the flu.
The flu pandemic of 1918 killed tens of millions worldwide and it, too, began in birds. So concerned are scientists about similarities that they have taken the unprecedented step of reconstructing the old germ from DNA from a frozen victim.
The modern bird flu has been known to infect and kill humans. Sixty-five at last count. But it can and probably will mutate and spread.
The Bush administration sees a growing threat to national security. And CNN's Bob Franken is following a couple of stories on that front.
First, Bob, what can you tell us about a presidential speech on terror?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's making this speech tomorrow, and the White House is going to great pains to make sure that it gets a lot of attention. Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, just concluded his briefing where he said that this is "a major speech, an unprecedented detail about the nature and the planning of the enemy that we face," meaning the United States and the terrorists.
He says the president is going to go into greater detail about strategy than he ever has before. Those the words of Scott McClellan.
And while that speech is coming tomorrow, the president was focusing on Iraq today, holding a meeting with his defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the man who until recently conducted the transition operations in Iraq for the coalition nations. And during the president's remarks that followed was an implicit reference to criticisms that the training of Iraqi security forces has not gone as quickly as it should.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over 30 percent of the Iraqi troops are in the lead on these offensive operations. We've got troops embedded with them, and that's an important part of the training mission. But nevertheless, the Iraqis are showing more and more capable to take the fight to the enemy. And that's how we're going to succeed in helping democracy become established in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: And as for the people who have expressed concern that the numbers of those ready and qualified to fight have not met expectations, President Bush said that's because the training emphasizes quality control more than it does quantity -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, the president also mentioning bird flu. And we have been talking about the possible quarantine situation, military intervention, something we haven't heard, Bob.
FRANKEN: Well, you know, it's quite interesting. The president put that out there yesterday without any specifics about how the military would be involved. Scott McClellan reemphasized, as the president did, that the military, just as an organization, might be able to enforce something like a quarantine, which really comes under the worst-case scenario.
But what about other possibilities? And we were seeking specifics on that, such as the public health advocates who say that the best thing to do would be to increase the production of a promising vaccine.
U.S. drug manufacturers don't really spend that much time in the manufacture of flu vaccines these days for a variety of reasons. So, the question is, is one of the options to try and get the drug manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies to get back into that business? All Scott McClellan would say is there are a variety of options on the table.
PHILLIPS: All right. Bob Franken, live from the White House. Thank you so much.
Now, the "Q" word, "quarantine," is a first instinct among policymakers facing the prospect of pandemic. But many experts say it's a last resort. And the greater the danger, the less it can be relied upon, especially in our global society.
Our coverage continues with CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lethal strain that's killed roughly five dozen people in Asia with no confirmed cure, no fully developed vaccine, has the president openly discussing worst case scenarios. What if the avian flu spread to the United States?
BUSH: If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country, and how do you then enforce a quarantine. One option is the use of a military that is able to plan and move, so that's why I put it on the table.
TODD: President Bush acknowledges some governors don't like the idea. And the head of the American Public Health Association says quarantining one region or even a community would be, in his words, extraordinarily difficult.
DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN, AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSN.: The more likely thing is that the outbreak is going to be in multiple places at one time, and the odds against you being able to get a whole community quarantined and containing a section that way is probably not going to happen.
TODD: And, says Dr. Georges Benjamin, the United States military's medical corps is stretched too thin to be effectively deployed for a quarantine. Dr. Benjamin says the public health system should handle any U.S. outbreak, and he supports measures the administration has already taken: bolstering research, stockpiling vaccines that are in development and antivirals for people who already have avian flu.
World Health Organization officials say historically quarantines have worked only to delay pandemics, but they say that delay could be valuable if a deadly strain is on the move. One expert has an ominous projection if avian flu moves to the United States.
DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, UNIV. OF MINNESOTA: We need to figure out how we're going to handle what could be many hundreds of thousands of dead bodies. That's the kind of planning we need right now, and that's what is going to get us through this.
TODD (on camera): So far, according to the World Health Organization, human cases of avian flu are now confined to four countries, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. How close is this strain to spreading to the United States? Officials at the WHO and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services say there is no way to know for sure. One official at the Center for Disease Control says it's possible but unlikely.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, it isn't bird flu or regular flu or Legionnaires' Disease or SARS, but something has stricken more than 80 people at a nursing home in Toronto and killed 10. Doctors say the mysterious outbreak is apparently on the wane and apparently confined to Seven Oaks Home for the Aged.
It was barely two-and-a-half years ago that SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, claimed 44 lives in Toronto. More than 700 around the world.
The sheriff of Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish says that his employees won't not get a paycheck today, and he's not happy with state and law enforcement officials. Law enforcement personnel in the parish have been working under extreme conditions since Katrina hit, but Sheriff Jack Stephens says his workers won't get paid because the of the cash crunch facing his department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF JACK STEPHENS, ST. BERNARD PARISH, LOUISIANA: We notified the state and the federal government about three or four weeks ago that we would be able to make our September 20 payroll, but October 5, we wouldn't be able to do that. And we really haven't received any help from the federal or state government with regards to that.
Now I have 182 enforcement personnel that have been working under the most extreme conditions for the past two weeks, then in danger of not getting a paycheck today. I mean, it just -- it's a continuing series of inadequate responses to an emergency situation that keeps on happening.
I mean, I talk to people on the street every day, and their primary comment is there just seems to be an absence of leadership in this whole event. No one has stepped up yet at the federal or state level to address urgent and immediate needs like meeting the payroll of first responders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A spokeswoman for Louisiana's governor tells CNN the state has been funding the payroll for St. Bernard Parish, but she says the flow of state money is being cut off due to a looming state deficit on $1 billion.
Well, it's a far cry from the Ritz, or, for that matter, even a run of the mill hotel, but for some hurricane survivors the trailers they're now living in are home sweet home. Others aren't so sure. And some locals fear a soaring crime rate.
CNN's Dan Simon is in the disaster zone with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's no welcome home sign or balloons to recognize the occasion. But for some hurricane evacuees in Baker, Louisiana, these trailers, they say, are a blessing.
JAMAL SIMMS, EVACUEE: I'm ready to go right now. You know what I'm saying? Basically for the privacy. That's the most important thing.
SIMON: Jamal Simms is among the expected 3,000 evacuees to move into one of these new temporary homes provided by Uncle Sam. One look inside and there's clearly an improvement from life at the shelter.
(on camera): All this is brand new. You can see that there is a stereo here, a CD player, plenty of lighting.
(voice over): Space is tight in these 30-foot-long trailers, but the essentials and even some nonessentials are here.
SIMMS: Basically your own house.
SIMON: But not everyone is as enthusiastic. Lisa Carter says, despite losing everything in New Orleans, the cramped quarters are keeping her away from moving into a trailer, along with what she says is opposition to the evacuees' presence from locals.
LISA CARTER, EVACUEE: And the community don't want us here.
SIMON: There's actually some truth to it. Some residents are blunt.
CLIFTON BURGE, BAKER RESIDENT: One of my biggest concerns is that the crime is going to be a problem.
SIMON: Baker Mayor Harold Rideaux says there's nothing to fear, and he's pledged to do anything he can to aid in the rebuilding of lives.
MAYOR HAROLD RIDEAUX, BAKER, LOUISIANA: We just want to be able to give something back to the citizens that don't have any place to stay right now.
SIMON: But if history is any indication, "Fema City," as some have dubbed it, could produce even more hardship. Example, this trailer community in Punta Gorda, Florida, went on line last year after Hurricane Charley. Many residents told CNN it has become a nightmare.
DOYLA LANE, EVACUEE: There is just always something. If you get two nights out of a week where you don't see the blue lights flying in here, a fight out here, somebody trying to stab somebody, something, you're doing good.
SIMON: In addition to the crime at the Florida site, authorities say more than two dozen evacuees have tried to commit suicide and cite the stress of remaining uprooted. Housing researcher Ronald Utt says there's a better solution than massive trailer parks.
RONALD UTT, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: There's a lot of cities in the southeast, in Texas and Alabama and Mississippi, and over into Florida and Georgia, that were not devastated, which have active, lively rental markets with lots of decent apartments and lots of vacancies.
SIMON: But FEMA will only guarantee three months of housing. The trailers are available for more than a year.
Back in Baker, Jamal Simms is grateful.
SIMMS: They're doing all they can do for us. They're doing the best they can.
SIMON: The question is, how will he feel months from now?
Dan Simon for CNN, Baker, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And just ahead on LIVE FROM, knowledge may be power, but in Iraq sharing is becoming riskier each day. Why are insurgents putting teachers in the crosshairs?
It's been four years since the U.S. went into Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, but the fighter is tougher and deadlier than ever. Why doesn't anyone in the U.S. seem to notice?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Back live in Beat Control.
We're talking about another deadly bombing in Iraq. The target this time, a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad. At least 25 people were killed, dozens were wounded. It happened during the funeral services for an Iraqi civilian killed in a separate attack. Officials expect that death toll to rise.
In western Iraq, so far so good for American Marines. They're part of a major U.S. military offensive aimed at rooting out insurgents in three key towns in the Euphrates River valley near the Syrian border. One of the towns is Haditha. In the words of the Americans, a crossroads for insurgent fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria. The Marine commander of Operation River Gate says they've encountered very little resistance.
Facing intense pressure from the United States and the U.N., Iraq's National Assembly today voted to reverse last-minute election rules that would have virtually assured the approval of a new constitution. In response, Sunni Arabs dropped their threat to boycott next week's national vote. The controversial rules would have made it nearly impossible for opponents to block that measure.
If the new constitution is a key to Iraq's future, those teaching the next generation of Iraqis must be equally important, if not more so. But teachers and principals are being killed at an alarming rate.
They've become the targets of the insurgents. And in the latest attack, a principal was gunned down outside his Baghdad high school yesterday. But these are committed professionals who don't scare easily. That's according to CNN's Aneesh Raman, as he reports from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 8:00 a.m. in New Saba Elementary (ph). Children line up, classes get under way. And sixth grade history teacher Hind Ali breathes a sigh of relief that she made it here alive.
HIND ALI, HISTORY TEACHER (through translator): When I leave my home, I assume that I'll die. My way from home to school is very dangerous. When I hear a bomb or an explosion I think of my daughter and husband.
RAMAN: But Hind comes every day. All the teachers do, despite the risk, to teach, to parent, to befriend a generation of Iraqi children growing up in turmoil. A cause so basic they thought it had to be beyond the insurgents' scope. Not anymore.
Last week, seven teachers were murdered in Iraq. Six in the southern village of Muelha (ph). Insurgents dressed as police took them aside at an elementary school as the kids were leaving and opened fire. Grief among relatives and colleagues alike.
For Basava Hussein (ph), a teacher of 22 years, anger breeds inspiration. Purpose bound in tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's something horrible to kill teachers. And what happened made me more Iraqi, more proud to come and teach. I'm not afraid to die. This is our next generation. And the future depends on them.
RAMAN (on camera): Concerns here are high after the recent attacks, but also because of the October 15 vote. Schools like this are set to become polling stations. And teachers fear it will make them more of a target.
(voice over): On the street outside, barricades have just gone up. A school is now a checkpoint. And a principal is in an impossible position.
SUAD MEHDI, PRINCIPAL (through translator): Parents don't want this as a polling station. They ask me to refuse. We are worried. Many parents will stop sending their children to school.
RAMAN: There are no armed guards, no police patrols at New Saba Elementary (ph). They know here that the government can barely protect its own.
Instead, each day for Hind...
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: We love Iraq.
RAMAN: ... for Basava (ph)...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love Iraq.
RAMAN: Putting their fear aside is the only way the country's hope can survive.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And just ahead on LIVE FROM, "Happiness is a Warm Gun." That's more than an old John Lennon song as far as Kayla Williams (ph) is concerned. She joins me with some straight shooting on the role of women in the U.S. military
Plus, the very latest on Tropical Storm Tammy as this year's hurricane season shows no sign of slowing down.
All that and much more to come.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: "Now in the News," the president's controversial pick for Supreme Court justice is making the rounds again on Capitol Hill. Harriet Miers met today with fellow Texan Senator John Cornyn. From there, it was off to speak with Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy. Some senators, conservatives in particular, are wary of Miers because of her lack of judicial record.
Protesters at the Supreme Court as justices take up Oregon's emotionally-charged physician-assisted suicide law. The court appears divided over whether the federal government has a right to stop Oregon physicians from prescribing fatal doses of medication to dying patients. Oregon voters have endorsed that law twice.
Authorities are conducting a battery of tests on the ill-fated Ethan Allen to try and determine why the boat capsized on Lake George. That boat flipped Sunday, killing 20 elderly passengers. Investigators are also performing tests on its sister ship to see if excess weight was a factor in that accident.
Fire crews on the ground and in the air, trying to contain a 100- acre fire burning near the California-Mexico border. No structures are threatened, but firefighters worry that gusty Santa Ana winds and warm temperatures have the potential of turning the fire into a massive inferno.
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