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Road to Recovery; Earthquake Disaster; Driving Danger

Aired October 12, 2005 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Conflicting accounts of a bloody conflict on Bourbon Street. Robert Davis pleaded not guilty today to four charges surrounding his widely viewed beating at the hands of New Orleans police late Saturday. The retired teacher was hoping to see the charges dropped. Instead, trial is set for January for alleged public drunkenness, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and public intimidation.
As for the beating, a lawyer for the three police officers who themselves are charged with battery and suspended without pay, say they did nothing wrong. Davis was escorted to a nearby wall, the lawyer said, after shoving and insulting an officer who only wanted to know if he needed help. The lawyer and the officers' union say blows were struck when Davis refused to put his hands behind his back and he hit his face on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. DAVID BENELLI, POLICE ASSN. OF NEW ORLEANS: The videotape only shows you a tunnel-vision view of a particular scene. You lose perspective. You can see some of the action, but not all the action, where you may be able to see a hand of an officer that appears to be hitting someone in the head, but actually striking someone on the side of his shoulder. But what you don't see is the action of the hands of Mr. Davis, or the legs of Mr. Davis, or what the other officers and federal agents were doing at the same time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK DE SALVO, ATTORNEY, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: What are they supposed to do when somebody resists arrest tomorrow, just say, OK, you can go? What happens when somebody doesn't want to get cuffed? Do you say, OK, you can go? I mean, this leaves them in a way of not knowing what to do or how to do it, because there might be some cameras around that will catch a snapshot of what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: There's more. Davis is considering suing the city, and the feds are investigating possible violations of his civil rights.

Well, New Orleans' Ninth Ward was accustomed to being last if not ignored or forgotten outright long before Hurricane Katrina. Now it's the last to let its former residents return for a brief look at their former lives and livelihoods.

CNN's Alina Cho is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Residents who live here in the Lower Ninth Ward were allowed in past the checkpoint at about 8:00 in the morning Central Time. Not long ago, we saw the Red Cross come in, as well as the Salvation Army, police officers, and National Guardsmen. All of them will be here to assist residents as they get a first look at the damage. And I can tell you from driving around here that most, if not all of the homes, were either damaged or destroyed.

Yesterday, we escorted two documentary photographers to their home so that they could get a look for themselves.

(voice-over): Keith Calhoun and wife Chandra have not seen their home in the Lower Ninth Ward since Hurricane Katrina until now. It is not pretty.

KEITH CALHOUN, LOWER NINTH WARD RESIDENT: This is it.

CHANDRA MCCORMICK, LOWER NINTH WARD RESIDENT: It's just a mess.

CHO: The home they've owned for 12 years in the historic Holy Cross section has been flattened.

CALHOUN: Basically, we just got to start over.

CHO: Chandra says there is a hidden blessing.

MCCORMICK: This is not good at all, but we have each other and we have our family, and that's going to keep us going.

CHO: The couple, along with their two children, have temporarily settled in Texas. For six weeks, they've been waiting to come back.

MCCORMICK: That was what I wanted to come back here for, you know, mainly to just see if I had anything of my work.

CHO: There is not much, if anything, that is salvageable. So Keith begins a new chapter of documenting, taking pictures of what's left of his home. Later, the couple checks on Chandra's mother's home. There's a surprise. They found boxes of their photos, pictures that tell the story of the Lower Ninth Ward.

CALHOUN: Do you see these men? Lifting two sacks? They were working for their money, despite how hard they worked, you know? They was able to take care of their family. And we leave this life back in the city.

CHO: The Lower Nine, as locals call it, is home to Fats Domino, a place where corner grocery stores are called "superets," where historically, blacks in New Orleans have found affordable housing. It's a place where neighbors say good morning and good night. It's why the couple says it's important to rebuild, why their family will be back.

CALHOUN: This is where we come back to. At least now I know what I'm facing. I know that, hey, you don't have nothing no more, but you got to keep going.

CHO (on camera): Residents who want to come in to the Lower Ninth Ward for this look and leave will have to do so between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Central Time. No one will be allowed in after dark.

Alina Cho, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And now to Pakistan, where the misery of growing -- is rather growing four days after a powerful earthquake. At least 20,000 people have been killed. And the United Nations says the disaster has left two million survivors homeless and vulnerable to disease. Relief supplies are pouring in, but desperation still rules in some of the worst-affected areas.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. He joins us now on the telephone -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much.

A desperate situation here in Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani- controlled Kashmir, one of the areas that was clearly affected by that devastating earthquake.

WHITFIELD: All right. It sounds like we're losing a lot of that transmission of Matthew.

Matthew, hopefully I still have you there. Give me an idea when we talk about this relief effort to what extent are other countries able to assist?

CHANCE: Well, I hope you can hear me now, because we are having some technical problems here. The technical situation is extremely fragile, and that's not just for us. That's also for all the emergency teams that have a...

WHITFIELD: OK. We're going to have to try this another time because it looks like it's only getting worse there. But Matthew Chance reporting there from Muzaffarabad. And we'll try to restore that communication.

Meantime, ITN''s John Irvine filed this report from that same region.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN IRVINE, REPORTER, ITN (voice over): Most of them have traveled a long way to be in this position, on the point of catching a mercy flight out of this desperate place. Five days on, and the influx of wounded is unremitting. These people have walked miles from outlying villages to reach Muzaffarabad's main first-aid station and telepad.

(on camera): A high proportion of the injured being brought in here are children because, of course, Saturday was a school day. And the classrooms were packed when many school buildings were brought crashing down by the quake.

(voice over): Ten-year-old Nadia (ph) is still in her school uniform. She was freed from the rubble yesterday and brought here by her uncle. His wife and his own children are dead.

This little girl is blind. She sustained a broken leg when her house collapsed. It's taken her parents four days to get her here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people are walking from the 50-kilometer area, from 30-kilometer area, carrying their patients on their backs.

IRVINE: All the children we've shown were on a flight out of here courtesy of the U.S. Army. In this one helicopter, they managed to take 50 patients who will receive the treatment they need in hospitals in Islamabad. Patients who don't warrant being medevaced are allowed to go home, or at least what passes for home these days.

Camps like this are springing up all over the city, and conditions are retched. Inside every makeshift home there is anguish and grief.

This woman lost her husband and one of her children. She said she had no idea what she's going to do.

The distribution of aid to the homeless continues to be chaotic in places, and many here blame the Pakistani army for their plight. This man berated an officer for not supplying enough tents. It is the army who are in charge here and, yet, they show no great urgency, despite the fact that the first snows of winter are have fallen on the highest peaks.

John Irvine, ITV News, Muzaffarabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pledging long-term U.S. help for Pakistan. She met with the country's officials during a brief stop in Islamabad today and promised, "We will be with you, not just today, but tomorrow."

The U.S. has already committed $50 million to the earthquake relief effort. Rice predicted even more aid will be coming.

Well, turning to the rescue efforts in Guatemala, crews are finally getting to parts of that country that have been cut off by the floodwaters. More bodies have been found. The death toll rose to 654 yesterday, and officials believe nearly as many are missing and may never be found. A week of torrential rains led to floods that have damaged, destroyed or still threaten 200,000 homes. Guatemala was hardest hit by the flooding, which also affected Mexico and several Central American nations.

Well, here in the U.S., people in New Hampshire are bracing for a new round of heavy rain and a threat of more dangerous flooding. Parts of the state had been hit with up to 10 inches of rain over the last several days. At least three people have died in the floods in New Hampshire, and the governor says up to six others are still missing.

Well, let's get the latest forecast for New Hampshire. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Well, it is five miles of road that puts fear into anyone who has to travel it. We take you down one of the meanest streets in Iraq.

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He went in the water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your cousin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he just drowned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, tough lessons, hard lessons from the hurricane. A school with a unique approach to helping young evacuees straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In Iraq today, lawmakers are returning to Baghdad for a special session of parliament to vote on a last-minute constitutional compromise. Iraqi President Talabani calls the deal "historic," and he's urging all Iraqis to vote for the constitution during Saturday's referendum.

Sunnis in Iraq have opposed the way the proposed constitution shares power. The compromise was reached through negotiations among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish officials.

Meanwhile, violence continues in the days before Iraqis vote on that constitution. For the second day, a suicide blast rocked the mostly Sunni city of Tal Afar. Today, that bomb killed 30 people and injured 40 others. The bomber targeted an army and police recruiting center.

Meanwhile, a car bombing in Baghdad and near Baquba left 14 people injured. Iraqi police say the convoy of a Sunni official was the target of the Baghdad explosion. Seven Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a suicide car bomb detonated outside Baquba.

The most recent car bombings in Iraq highlights a serious and deadly problem: insurgents using cars or roadside bombs as weapons.

From Baghdad, our Aneesh Raman looks at the risks that people face trying to travel through that unsettled country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's called the world's most dangerous road. A private security company coming under insurgent gunfire earlier this year as they drove from the capital to the airport. A persistent threat on a road many fear and no one can avoid.

But for Sergeant Major Taylor, Route Irish, as it's called, is a daily destination, patrolling for potential bombs. In recent months, Taylor's soldiers significantly brought down the number of attacks, ridding the road of its infamy by befriending the community.

SGT. MAJOR ROBERT TAYLOR, U.S. ARMY: If we don't own these neighborhoods, we don't own that road out here. And we've got to own the neighborhoods.

RAMAN: But nearby, on Route Pluto, it's about showing force. This is the road, according to the U.S. military, that sees the most roadside bombs in Baghdad.

The U.N. headquarters bombed here in 2003. A car bomb killed dozens of children this summer. Humvees alone can't stop the attacks here.

(on camera): These tanks provide more than protection. They also send a very important message. The Abrams tanks are huge. They take about 500 gallons of fuel away, over 68 tons. They are a sign of force against the insurgency.

(voice over): The biggest threat, IEDs. Minutes into a patrol, heavy moments of uncertainty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just wired a tail (ph) that looks like it's going into the drain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very hard to determine. I'm telling you. Something about this ain't right.

RAMAN: In the end, it was only a carcass. But the patrol stays vigilant. Complacency kept at bay.

SGT. FRANK MEZO, U.S. ARMY: Because the minute you let your guard down, then one day you'll go out and, you know, there's everything happening.

RAMAN: And anything can happen. The threats vary. On Route Irish, Taylor says there's now a new danger for Iraqis: private security details.

TAYLOR: They're the biggest threat on the road. If they're in a hurry, they just start firing up in the air. If there's innocent bystanders around that get hit, they're not worried about it.

RAMAN: A view shared privately by others in the U.S. military, as well as some contracting companies operating in Iraq.

Every day U.S. troops are out patrolling these roads. The threat is always real, but so is the hope that securing things here will go a long way to securing the country.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: What happens when 20 million pounds of chicken meat is left unrefrigerated for more than a month? A rotten situation Katrina left behind later on LIVE FROM.

And another legacy from the hurricane, rising fuel costs. New predictions of just how much it will cost you to stay warm this winter coming up.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. A couple of tech heavyweights are joining forces in the lucrative IM business. I'll have that story next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, last hour we told you Apple Computers have unveiled a new high-tech iPod that offers a lot more than the original iPod. This soon to be obsolete, maybe?

Our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, is here to show us what it's all about.

So I have a feeling, Dan, we're not going to just see our music selections here on this screen, but something more?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, something more. You'll be seeing something more. We're talking about a video iPod.

The one you had in your hand just a second ago just plays music. What Apple is talking about today is offering video for your iPod. Steve Jobs is out in California right now talking about the details.

Very hard to get information from out there. The rumor is on some of the blogs that Apple is actually blocking cell phone use out there. So it's tough to get anything out of there right now.

However, what we see here is a picture from a blog site that shows what the new video iPod will look like. You can see a slightly larger screen there, pretty much the same design as the typical iPods we have been seeing. Now, what you will be able to have on it is sort of different than what people might be -- have been expecting. We are not talking necessarily about movies and that kind of thing. Apple will be offering music videos for about $2 each, about 2,000 of them, some Pixar short films.

You might know that Steve Jobs, in addition to being the CEO of Apple, is also the CEO of Pixar. So they'll be offering some short films.

Now, there'll be a couple of different versions, one 30 gigabytes, one 60 gigabytes. Who cares about the gigabytes. The point is they need to be a little bit larger to accommodate video. Video takes up a little more space than music, and so they're not offering a full-length movie.

The other issue around that, too, of course, is licensing and have the content for these new video iPods. You can almost think of them as kind of the first generation of video iPods.

And when the original iPod came out in 2001, it really pushed the digital music envelope. It changed the landscape, in a sense, of getting your music from something like iTunes or -- of course there are plenty of other services out there right now, too, Napster and Yahoo!, among others.

As far as the content in the future, we'll have to see what the other generations are. Apple is always updating and changing its products. The apple nano just came out last month, very thin. These ones, these new video iPods, also a little bit thinner.

So, Fred, we'll be keeping an eye on it. More details to come.

WHITFIELD: So, the size might be different, for one, which means you've got to change all the other accessories. So there's a whole other industry out there that comes with this new potential iPod.

SIEBERG: Absolutely. And they're probably scrambling right now with the specs to try and come up with some new accessories for these new iPods.

WHITFIELD: All right. Cha-ching.

SIEBERG: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, so much, Dan.

SIEBERG: All right.

WHITFIELD: Well, despite the new offerings from Apple, the company shares are taking a beating on Wall Street today. Susan Lisovicz can explain why.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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