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Can Saddam Hussein Get a Fair Trial?; Search Under Way For Escaped Prisoners in Washington State; President Bush to Push Immigration Plan; New Orleans Zoo Reopens; Changes for Children Working in Sweatshops in India
Aired November 28, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips.
Here are the stories that we are working on for you right now -- dangerous storm strike. A new tornado warning is out. We're tracking the wild weather hitting the heartland.
Can Saddam Hussein get a fair trial? The American on his defense team tells CNN, it will be difficult.
And on the loose -- the search is on for inmates after a prison break. We are live from Yakima, Washington.
This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Tornadoes one day, blizzards the next -- welcome to Kansas. As one season roars into the next, fall and winter both causing or threatening to cause misery, from the Great Plains to the Gulf Coast.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is watching it all in our Weather Center now -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kyra, yes, tornado warnings now, Doppler-indicated tornadoes, which means that some of the cells that you see on the radar are spinning.
They know that because Doppler knows which direction the raindrops are going. But southwestern Blount and also north central Jefferson County in Alabama, that's just northwest of Birmingham, and also Walker County in central Alabama. We will kind of take you on a radar tour here. Here's Montgomery, and here are the bigger storms up near Birmingham now -- some of them here, with all of the red zones here, all of those red counties colored in, tornado warnings. You should be taking cover in you're in one of the warnings there, one of the counties that I was just talking about.
Here's Birmingham, though. And here are the large storms that are spinning. They are traveling to the north-northeast at 30 miles per hour. At least for now, they are not headed to Birmingham. But there are strong cells into Murphysboro, all the way down to Fayetteville. And, then, even farther to the north, we have strong weather, heavier rain, even flooding rainfall types of weather here, from Dayton all the way down to Cincinnati, even down into Louisville -- not so heavy of rain, but a cold rain into parts of Michigan. And, then, yes, as we turn your attention back to the west, this is what you're talking about, Kyra. There's the snow, Sioux Falls, Valentine, all the way down to Grand Island, Nebraska.
And, then, for our viewers just making getting up or just tuning in out here on the West Coast, a pretty significant storm coming down along I-5 -- also, snow into Reno -- snow, also, even into Lake Tahoe. Look at the size of the storm. It almost goes from the Hudson Bay to Florida. And down in Atlanta, down into Alabama. That's where the most severe weather will occur today.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chad.
MYERS: Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, you're following the weather.
MYERS: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: That's, of course, happening by the minute.
Also, we are getting news about a mall shooting.
Tony Harris working that for us in the newsroom -- Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, just trying to get as much information as we can on this. This is what we know so far.
We're getting reports out of Charlotte, North Carolina, of a shooting at the Eastland Mall. You certainly don't need this, this time of year. Police are responding -- just sort of a map of Charlotte, North Carolina, right now. Police have confirmed the shooting. They are responding -- once again, shots fired at the Eastland Mall. This is in a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Police are looking for a suspect, or perhaps suspects, in connection with the shooting. Don't know of any injuries at this point in time. But, Kyra, we will try to get as much information, as we zoom in on the map there to give you a sense of where that mall is. It's in suburban Charlotte, the Eastland Mall, if you're familiar with that area.
Police have confirmed that shots have been fired. They are responding right now. We're going try to get additional information. And we will bring that to you as soon as we can -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Tony, thanks so much.
HARRIS: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Well, America, by invitation only, or come one, come all, or something in between? Almost 400 years after Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower, migrants still come from all parts of the world. Only, now, their American dream is, for many who came before, a nightmare in the making.
President Bush revisits the issue next hour in Tucson.
CNN's Bob Franken sets the scene at the White House.
Bob, let's start off by talking about what the president is proposing.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the president is proposing is to do something about the illegal immigrants who come to the United States.
And he's been talking about that a long time. The problem he has is that members of his own party don't think that the president is making proposals that are tough enough. So, the president is going to be trying to sell his program. He's making a couple of speeches, one in Tucson, one in El Paso, tomorrow, both, of course, near the border, saying that he is coming up with a program that is both tough and compassionate. It sounds familiar, doesn't it?
The tough part, says the president, will include his plans that would cause high-tech surveillance to be applied to border using the latest in technology. The second part of it, when somebody is caught illegally in the United States, he or she would be returned, not if -- in the case of Mexico, not to the border area, but further to the interior, with the obvious benefit in terms of future enforcement.
What is the controversial part is the guest worker proposal of the president. He has come up with a plan where somebody who is a guest worker would be working in the United States with a visa for three years, could reapply for another three years, then would have to return to his country, primarily Mexico, for a year, before he could apply again.
This is something that is favored by business, which says that the economy and the businesses really need the availability of, let's face it, cheap labor -- cheap labor -- cheap labor -- excuse me. But those who are very much against such compassionate efforts say that what it really does is, it makes it easier for the illegal immigrants to continue to stream into the United States.
Therefore, the con -- the controversy certainly will continue -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, well, conservatives pretty upset about this plan, no doubt, Bob. How is the president going sell it?
FRANKEN: Well, the president is going to try and sell it by, in effect, saying, look, I'm your president, conservative Republicans. This is something that will work. It is tough.
And he's going try to use what the cliche calls the bully pulpit to do it.
PHILLIPS: Bob Franken, thank you so much.
You know that bully pulpit very well, Bob.
Well, the president's speech is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. Eastern, 2:45 in Tucson. CNN will bring it to you live.
Now a postscript that we're calling "Only in America" -- those olive, drab uniforms worn by U.S. Border Patrol agents at each and every checkpoint, made in Mexico. You may recall it ironic, but -- or you may call it ironic, but the agents call it a risk to national security.
Says one Texas congressman, what's to stop someone from walking across the border in a Border Patrol uniform? The feds point to safeguards, including on-site inspections at a Mexican factory which makes the uniforms on a contract basis for VF Solutions of Tennessee. Still, a made-in-America requirement may come up in Congress by the end of the year.
Saddam Hussein back on trial in Baghdad today for alleged crimes committed against the Iraqi people. The man once deemed to be an imminent threat to America returned for a special Iraqi tribunal some two-and-a-half years after -- or since U.S. force withdrew him -- at his side, oddly enough, a former U.S. attorney general who is advising Hussein's defense team.
And, earlier, we spoke about the trial with CNN's Aneesh Raman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good afternoon.
It was an incredibly engaged Saddam Hussein at this trial session, markedly different than what we saw last time, where he was resigned at the end of the trial gathering. Today, he was aggressive. He was defiant. He was angry at times.
At the beginning of the trial session, Saddam made it known that he was not able to take the elevator up in the courtroom. The elevator was broken. He was ushered up some flights of stairs, and made a point to the judge about those who have him in custody. The U.S. military still has Saddam Hussein in custody, now at the behest of the Iraqi government, but a very frank exchange between Saddam and the judge today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADDAM HUSSEIN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF IRAQ (through translator): I was brought here to the door, and I wore the handcuffs. We don't accept that. And, at the same time, the elevator was not working. And the Koran in my hand and the handcuffs, I went in the elevator. We will bring that to the attention of the police.
Mr. Judge, I don't want you to -- I want you to order -- I want to you order them. They are in our -- on our land. I will -- you have the servants. You are an Iraqi. And they are foreigners and occupiers and invaders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAMAN: Now, Kyra, as much as this is a legal process, it is very well, also, a symbolic one, all involved. No, not just Iraqis, but the world is watching. And the court -- that judge, is keen to make this court seem as legitimate as possible. But the defendants, not the least of which is Saddam, trying to show defiance at every turn -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Aneesh, talk to me about the security for a minute. Saddam Hussein actually had to get an iris scan, and -- and so did you?
RAMAN: Yes, I mean, the incredibly tight security -- at the last trial session one of the marshals, U.S. Marshals, coordinating security at the actual venue, said, it would be easier to get into the White House on that day than it would be to get into this trial courtroom.
When you go in, as journalists, you have to be pre-screened. I went yesterday. You get an iris scan, if you're a U.S. citizen. If you're not, there are a number of questions they ask you. There's a background check.
Once you go in, as a member of the media, you're still behind a bulletproof, soundproof glass wall. And below you is where the actual trial takes place -- so incredibly high security -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, we mentioned former Attorney General Ramsey Clark joining the defense team. Do we know what his role is going to be?
RAMAN: He signed on officially now as an adviser. He was sworn in at today's court session. He arrived in Baghdad yesterday. In comments that he made to CNN earlier, he really stressed that he's here to try and fix the security situation, as much as he can.
He will not stay during this week, while the trial is adjourned in Baghdad. He plans to go back to the U.S. But he's keen to make sure that the lawyers who are involved feel safe, feel that they can represent their clients and stay in this trial process -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Will he actually sit down with Saddam Hussein and advise him?
RAMAN: It's unclear to what extent he will get involved in the specific legal parts of this case.
I -- it's unclear whether he will sit down with Saddam Hussein. He's met him twice before, once in the build-up to the first Gulf War and once in early 2003. He was in the courtroom. He saw Saddam today. But the extent of his involvement is still yet to be worked out, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: I want to make sure I ask you about this, Aneesh, before we let you go.
You were embedded with U.S. troops. And something interesting that you said previously when spending time with troops, they had a clear mission about what they were doing with regard to fighting terrorism. You've seen that attitude change, though, haven't you?
RAMAN: Yes, well, you know, morale is an incredibly difficult thing to judge, and it's near impossible to gauge it nationwide.
And the group that we were with, members of the 3rd I.D., embedded with last week, embedded with about a month ago, when you ask them what is this fight about, why are they going out there, before, you used to hear more about the war on terror, about building a democracy in Iraq.
Now you hear much more the very simple fact that they want to return home and they want to keep their brothers and sisters in arms alive. They've had an incredibly difficult fight where I was, the northern part of Babil Province, known as the Triangle of Death -- Thanksgiving Day, three U.S. soldiers were killed, four others wounded in and around that area.
So, they go out with a clear mission of wanting to come back. They know the political debate is taking place back home. They cannot let that enter their mind, because they face mortal danger on a daily basis -- Kyra.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Once again, that was CNN's Aneesh Raman, reporting earlier from Baghdad.
Well, there's a new development in the CIA leak scandal. "TIME" magazine says another one of its reporters, Viveca Novak, will testify about her conversations with a lawyer for President Bush's top political aide, Karl Rove.
"TIME" reports that Novak is cooperating with Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel who is investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's name. "TIME" says that Novak will testify under oath about discussions she had with lawyer Robert Luskin starting in May of last year. A grand jury already has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, on perjury and obstruction of justice charges related to that investigation.
The highest court in the land today unequivocally upheld the law of gravity. It could have been a grave situation, indeed -- a chunk of marble the approximate size of a basketball breaking off the court's facade and falling 100 feet to the stairs below. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but three dozen visitors were lined up barely 15 feet away.
CNN's Kimberly Osias is there.
And, Kim, we saw some of the action in just the past few minutes -- a little survey of the building there. What's going on?
KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they actually had a technician that went up, actually took a lift up, about 80 feet high, a little bit short of exactly how high that west pediment is. It's about 100 feet high. And what he did -- he is with the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, took a number of photographs as close to the area as he could, that dental molding that actually came loose and went down all the way down. You mentioned like a basketball. That's exactly how it was described, break -- breaking off, of course, into two very large pieces, about 40 pounds each, one foot by one foot by one foot.
Then, there were a number of little pieces all over. Of course, engineers are going to pore over those photographs to make sure that this was not an isolated event, that there is really no safety risk to anybody else. And, for now, that area, that main entryway where all the tourists go through is closed. It may be closed again tomorrow and for the next days and weeks.
They tell me they have to just wait and see what the engineers let them know.
PHILLIPS: Now, the chunk that did fall down, you were telling me that, possibly, someone might have grabbed a piece of it, and -- now we may be seeing it on eBay. Was that the talk around there on the steps?
OSIAS: Well, who knows? Actually, the justices agreed to hear a case. Oral arguments in will in the spring against -- against eBay. It's actually a -- a patent infringement case. So, it's ironic that, actually, some tourist took some -- some of the small pieces of marble and said that it was greatest thing they could have to take home.
Fortunately, that is the case and that nobody was hurt. I mean, you -- you can see, it could have been a very dangerous situation. But one little girl that I spoke with said she didn't even really want to come here with her dad, but this was really cool.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: I'm glad no one was hurt.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: That definitely wouldn't have been cool.
OSIAS: No, definitely not.
PHILLIPS: Kimberly Osias.
Yes, it's one of those talkers, right? It got us talking about the pediment -- pediment above you and all the players up there, and...
OSIAS: That's right. And I brushed up on my art history...
PHILLIPS: Oh, you did?
OSIAS: ... and those Corinthian columns and the architect.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Anything you want to brag about?
OSIAS: Oh, well, sure. Actually, it's...
PHILLIPS: Well, go right ahead.
(LAUGHTER)
OSIAS: ... that west pediment, Kyra.
This is really interesting. You know how, in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo buried his face, for all those art history aficionados...
PHILLIPS: Right. Right.
OSIAS: ... on "The Last Judgment"?
Well, actually, the architect -- and his name is Cass Gilbert -- if you look very closely at this west pediment, he is the third from the left, I believe, according to the curator's office -- very interesting.
PHILLIPS: OK. Now, on top of that, Jim Guthrie (ph), our writer, he said that -- do we know who came up with the legendary inscription "equal justice under law"?
OSIAS: I believe that was Cass Gilbert. Don't quote me on this.
PHILLIPS: Very good, the arc...
OSIAS: But...
PHILLIPS: The architect him -- architect himself.
OSIAS: Is that right?
PHILLIPS: That's right.
OSIAS: Whew.
PHILLIPS: Kimberly, not bad.
Kimberly Osias, there at the Supreme Court, thank you so much. Well, value added.
Well, coming up, a killer confrontation with a pack of dogs -- it's one of those stories that just -- it's hard to understand. We are going to explain about a day of lawn work ended in this tragically -- situation for a Texas woman.
We will tell you about it in just a sec.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More on that mall shooting now in Charlotte, North Carolina -- North Carolina.
Tony Harris working it from the newsroom -- Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, Kyra, just want to give you latest update on that situation.
Police are, obviously, on the ground, working this shooting at the Eastland Mall. This is in a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. The shots were reported about an hour ago. And the reporting actually came from multiple callers, who said they saw a car quickly driving away from the scene.
Now, that -- as we move in here, we can give you a better look at the -- the immediate area surrounding the mall and the mall itself. There's this interesting note here, Kyra. Not clear yet if anyone was injured in the shooting at the scene itself, but we can tell you that a man did walk into a local hospital with a gunshot wound that was possibly related to the mall gunfire.
We're working to get as close to the situation as we can on the ground. And we will bring you some more information, hopefully clear that aspect of the story up, as soon as we can.
PHILLIPS: All right, Tony, thanks.
Well, straight ahead, still at large, Luis Soto and Gianno Alaimo are both described as dangerous. Here's their pictures. They may be armed. And, most likely, police say, they may have split up. They escaped from the county jail in Yakima, Washington, overnight Friday, along with seven other inmates. Five were recaptured within hours, two others nabbed yesterday. Soto was awaiting trial on second-degree theft. Alaimo is charged with assault.
Anthony Gomes with our affiliate KNDO is following the manhunt.
What do we know at this point, Anthony?
ANTHONY GOMES, KNDO REPORTER: Kyra, right now, law enforcement is following up on dozens of leads they have got since Friday, late Friday afternoon, during this brazen jail escape from the facility behind me.
They're looking for two men still on the loose tonight, as you mentioned, Luis Soto, 28 years old. He was originally in jail on charges of residential burglary. Police think they're hot on his trail in the city of Toppenish, Washington. That's about 15 miles south of Yakima here. They think that they found a tent where he spent Friday night and a storage shed where he slept Saturday night.
No word yet how he's finding shelter in these places, if anyone is aiding or abetting him -- the other man police are looking for this afternoon, Gianno Alaimo, 5'9'' tall, 26 years old, originally held on a second-degree assault charge.
Now, right now, police are working the theory that the two are not traveling together. Alaimo might have gone to Seattle. They're also working a theory that he might have tried to leave the country, either to Mexico or to Canada -- two suspects, the two escapees from the Yakima County Jail still on the loose tonight.
Police have caught seven other suspects, and several of those are scheduled to make court appearances this afternoon. They're facing charges of first-degree escape. If convicted, they face maximum sentences of 10 years in jail -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Anthony Gomes, thanks to much.
And, just real quickly, those pictures, once again, of these two suspects on the loose -- police looking for these two men out of -- that have escaped from that prison. OK, we are going to bring them up just one more time, Alaimo and Soto, still at large. If you have seen them, of course, contact authorities in Yakima, Washington, immediately.
Well, a Texas family is reeling, after an elderly woman was attacked and killed by a pack of dog over the holiday weekend.
Reporter Melissa McGuire from CNN affiliate KVUE has the details and the reaction from the woman's family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACK STILES, HUSBAND OF VICTIM: She was a grandmother. She loved her -- her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren. She loved working in her yard. And that's one consolation that I have got, that she was doing something that she really loved.
MELISSA MCGUIRE, KVUE REPORTER: Jack Stiles is devastated, after losing his wife of 55 years.
STILES: I hope and pray that this was not a -- a hard death for her, because it was an awful death.
MCGUIRE: Seventy-six-year-old Lillian Loraine Stiles was on her riding lawn mower in her front yard when she was brutally attacked by dogs, rottweilers and pit bulls and a crossbreed, six in all. Jack didn't know what had happened until a person driving by stopped and knocked on his door.
STILES: Well, he knocked on the door and said, there's a body in your yard. And I immediately went out there. And as soon as I -- I saw her, I knew she was dead. And, then, I got up. And he asked me, he said, do you have a gun? And I said, yes.
And I came into the house to get a gun. In the meantime, the dogs were attacking him.
WELDON SMITH, DOG ATTACK VICTIM: Right up the top of my boot, this one a little bit past. I got some here and some here.
MCGUIRE: That man was Weldon Smith.
SMITH: The best way I can describe it, it's like wolves on the attack. They knew what to do, no growling, barking, carrying on. They were just after me.
MCGUIRE: He suffered bites all over his body.
SMITH: Their mouths was that big. They could get all the way around my leg like that.
MCGUIRE: The dogs apparently escaped from their yard, about 500 yards away. Milam County Sheriff Charlie West spoke with the owner.
CHARLIE WEST, MILAM COUNTY, TEXAS, SHERIFF: He doesn't speak English very well. But through an interpreter, I -- I -- I told him that his dogs had just killed a woman. And it was like hitting him in the head with a hammer.
The sheriff says dogs like these need to be more closely controlled. The Stiles family wants a law in place to protect people, so someone else doesn't lose a loved one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want an awareness, because we feel like these -- people that own these dogs need to be responsible. They need to keep them. If they are going to have these type of dogs, then they need to be responsible, and they need to be held accountable for whatever kind of damage that they do, especially the tragedy of a loss of life.
STILES: It was just -- just terrible, to even think of our loss that we have got, in the way that it happened. We -- if -- if anything can ever be done out of this, it's worth going through this interview to hopefully reach people that will learn that these are vicious animals, and they don't need to be around.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, no decision has been made on whether criminal charges will be filed.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange.
Some big drug companies are recruiting college cheerleaders. We will tell you why when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So, what do drug companies have in common with college cheerleaders? The answer, more than you think.
Susan Lisovicz has the story, live from the New York Stock Exchange.
Susan...
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: It -- it -- this one...
PHILLIPS: ... where -- we could go many places with this.
LISOVICZ: We could.
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: And I will stick to the script.
Drugmakers are giving it the old college try, Kyra. They are recruiting cheerleaders. They're reportedly using former college cheerleaders to pitch prescription drugs to physicians. According to "The New York Times," demand for cheerleaders is so strong, it's led to the formation of an actual employment firm named Spirited Sales Leaders, that pairs the drug companies with a database of thousands of potential candidates.
At least one doctor questioned the drug company's hiring priorities, calling the tactic sexual marketing. He said that there's a saying in the profession that you will never meet an ugly drug rep. Drugmakers deny that sex appeal has any bearing on hiring, according to those that were contacted by "The Times."
Now let's stick with the drug industry. Merck announced today that it plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or 11 percent of its work force, worldwide. About half of those cuts will take place -- place here in the U.S. The drugmaker also plans to close or sell five of its manufacturing plants -- this all part of a plan to save up to $4 billion by 2010.
The company has been struggling with ongoing litigation from its recalled painkiller Vioxx. Next year, Merck loses patent protection for its top-selling cholesterol drug Zocor -- Merck shares dropping right now more than 5 percent, which is weighing on the Dow. It's part of the Dow. That's why -- the Dow industrials down 46 points, or nearly half-a-percent. The Nasdaq is losing 1 percent right now. But they're both coming off a week or more of rallies.
And that's the latest from Wall Street.
LIVE FROM continues right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, a stunning fall from grace for an eight-term California congressman. Randy "Duke" Cunningham has resigned this afternoon, just hours before the (INAUDIBLE) pleaded guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy charges. The former Navy pilot had inspired the movie "Top Gun" for his service in Vietnam. Now the congressman admits in court to accepting bribes and faces up to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors say a defense contractor bought Cunningham's home for an inflated price as payback for Cunningham's influence in awarding contracts. After his court hearing, the congressman sent out a tearful message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM (R), CALIFORNIA: I was not strong enough to face the truth, so I misled my family, friends, staff, colleagues, the public, and even myself.
For all of this, I am deeply sorry. The truth is, I broke a law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions. Most importantly, the trust of my friends and family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: We'll take you to New Orleans now, the school bell rang. The children came to Ben Franklin Elementary. It's the first regular public school to reopen in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina hit. This morning, big smiles and hugs welcomed about 200 boys and girls from kindergarten through sixth grade. Some of these children used to go to other schools in New Orleans and some now live outside the city, but are being brought to school by their parents now.
Excitement mixed with tears in New Orleans' Garden District, as the Audubon Zoo reopened its gates. About 66,000 people streamed through during the holiday weekend. Admission was free and so were the hugs for those overcome with emotion. Zoo workers say that all but two otters and a raccoon survived that storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN MALONEY, GENERAL CURATOR, AUDUBON ZOO: It was important to show the nation and it was important even for us to know that we're here and we're indeed alive and well. And I think that was such an important message.
Children relate to animals. And in something as incomprehensible as a hurricane, I think for them to know that their favorite animals were OK and were fine, I think that helps comfort them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The Katrina disaster has hit close to home for several CNN employees. Our Kathleen Koch has seen much of the Mississippi storm damage firsthand. The family hails from the hard-hit town of Bay St. Louis and Kathleen has taken time to help out with the recovery work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As a reporter, I had already made three trips down to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where I grew up since the hurricane. But my family hadn't been there. My two daughters, Caitlin (ph) and Karen (ph) and my husband Rick.
When the children had three and a half days off for Thanksgiving, we decided to go and get our hands dirty, and do what we could to help rebuild the town. And then my siblings decided to follow suit.
My brother Mark (ph) who already lives in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, one of the hurricane-hit areas, and my sister Gerri (ph) and brother-in-law Lynn (ph) came from South Carolina with a U-Haul packed with supplies. My sister Lori (ph) drove from Colorado with her daughter and with other volunteers from her church, and with my mother, and they brought gardening supplies, they brought plants, and bushes, and flowers to plant around Our Lady of the Gulf Church, where the grounds had been completely swept clean by the storm surge, just sand deposited there.
They cleared that out, and they brought in topsoil, and planted the plants. My sister came from Virginia as well and we all worked, we worked helping people gut their homes. There were so many homes. We were very surprised to find that even almost three months after the storm, hadn't even been touched.
So we would go into people's homes, many of them senior citizens, we would help them pull out possessions, everything from furniture, to clothing, pots and pans, some of them rusting, still full of the water from the storm surge that had gone through there. We would spread the possessions out, let them sort through them, and then take sledge hammers and crowbars and start gutting the houses, ripping out the drywall and the insulation. Taking them down to the two-by-fours so the people could start over.
People when they didn't have a home, or when they just had a slab, we would go there and help clear the slab and prepare it for a FEMA trailer. And so we worked with residents in that way, as well. And then there was a wonderful Thanksgiving feast for everyone in the town, everyone who was left. And hundreds of volunteers came and helped out with that, including dozens and dozens of people from Jonesboro, Arkansas, with the Rotary came and helped with that.
It was just really an inspiring time to be there, and a wonderful time to be giving back to a town that needs so much. I really think it's something that every American would benefit so much from doing, going down to any of the hurricane-hit areas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana. Boots on the ground is what they need most right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Once again, that was our Kathleen Koch when she went back home to help her own hometown after the hurricane hit.
Well, she is at home and at peace. Those words from the daughter of Vera Smith, after her mother finally was laid to rest. Smith, who was 66, was struck by a car as she tried to get to a grocery store after Hurricane Katrina. Her husband covered her body with a bedspread right there on the New Orleans sidewalk. Someone else built a small wall of bricks around it. And there she lay for five days before taken to a morgue.
Over the weekend, her cremated remains were returned to Texas and placed right between her parents' graves.
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PHILLIPS: The fight for Iraq continues, unabated on various fronts. A Baquba car bomb detonated near a U.S. military patrol. Three soldiers said to be slightly wounded.
And word that four Western aide workers have been kidnapped somewhere in Iraq. One is said to be Norman Kember, a British citizen, the others, two Canadians and an American, still unidentified. U.S. embassy in Baghdad confirms only that an American citizen is missing.
As calls for a U.S. withdrawal grows louder, a top investigate reporter tells CNN that President Bush is committed to seeing the mission accomplished.
But in an interview on CNN's "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer, Seymour Hersh said that troop reductions are likely to begin next year with U.S. air power filling potential voids. Sounds, simple right? Not so says Hersh.
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SEYMOUR HERSH, THE NEW YORKER: I have had people in the Air Force say to me what are we going to be bombing, barracks, hospitals, you know, who knows who's going to be telling us what to do.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So, what you're hearing is that the U.S. air power, the U.S. Air Force, they're getting jittery even thinking about the fact that they may be called in to launch air strikes, based on what they're getting from Iraqis on the ground?
HERSH: It's good to know there's a lot of ethics in the Air Force. There's a lot of guys that are--they know the force of the weapons they have, and they don't want to be responsible for bombing the wrong targets.
They don't want non-Americans telling them what to do. This president in private at Camp David with his friends, the people that I'm sure call him George, is very serene about the war. He's upbeat.
He thinks that he's going to be judged maybe not in five years or 10 year, maybe even 20 years. He's committed to the course. He believes in democracy. He believes that he's doing right thing, and he's not going to stop until he's gets--either until he's out of office or it falls apart or he wins.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Seymour Hersh on the war in Iraq.
Now, imagine working seemingly endless hours under grueling conditions and for just pennies a week. That way of life is all too real for millions of children in India. But for some of these youngsters not anymore at least for now.
CNN's Satinder Bindra has the details from New Delhi.
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SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's breakfast time and with it at last some care and affection for more than 450 children who need it so desperately. All were rescued by city officials from sweatshops in New Delhi where they toiled in abysmal conditions.
From now on, I won't work in the embroidery trade again, says Abdul Katur (ph). My mom and dad want me to return home and study.
For now, he's in a shelter run by an NGO and this is probably the best care he'll ever get. Several months ago, 7-year-old Abdul left his poverty-stricken village in eastern India to learn how to make dresses.
As a trainee, he says he was paid about 35 cents a week, and had to buy his own needles. Once a week Abdul says he was allowed to leave work. He was entitled to one set of clothes a year.
(on camera): Many of these children are mentally and emotionally exhausted. They say they were given just two meals and forced to work 12 to 18 hours a day. They also say they were frequently beaten up by their employers.
(voice over): When I was homesick and cried, he says, my bosses kicked, punched and beat me with slippers leaving me delirious for the rest of the day.
Indian officials say, they'll prosecute all those who hired these children. In reality very few prosecutions work their way through the courts.
We went to the district where the children were recovered. If these children don't work, he says, they'll become vagabonds, and there will also be no money to run their homes. They'll be forced to beg.
The International Labor Organization estimates 12 million Indian children work in sweatshops. Indian officials recognize the magnitude of the problem. And promise all of these children will be home in weeks.
But Abdul Katur and his friends say, poverty may soon force their own parents to send them back to the same sweatshops where they lost their childhoods.
Satinder Bindra, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, there's a lot more LIVE FROM coming up.
Speaking of this, just hanging around, it's not what you want to do on a ski holiday, right? But some guests at a famed resort had no choice. We'll have that story straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
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(WEATHER REPORT) PHILLIPS: A lot happening right now from the weather to more on that shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Tony Harris in the news room.
Tony, what do you know?
HARRIS: I've got some new information for you Kyra.
We're getting some new pictures in from our affiliate in Charlotte, WCNC, that will help us tell this story of the shooting at the Eastland Mall in a suburb just east of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Now, in this video, you will see a lot of police activity around the mall particular attention on the parking structure. That's because the witnesses to the shooting told police that they saw a car quickly driving away from a parking deck behind the shopping center.
Now let's get to that new information. Police are telling us that there was a group of about 12 men at the Eastland Mall, and that two of the men got into an argument, some kind of an altercation.
One of them pulled a handgun and shot the other. Now, a moment ago we told you there were no reports of people being injured at the mall, shoppers or employees of the mall, but that there was a man who showed up at a local hospital with a possible gun shot wound. Police believe that was or that is, in fact, the victim in this shooting.
Police tell us he is not cooperating. The only statement he has made is to say that he was not shot at the mall, but he is otherwise not cooperating.
Once again, police believe this was an argument between two individuals and was not a robbery attempt. Police are still working that scene at the Eastland Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina. None of the employees of the mall and apparently none of the shoppers at the mall injured.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Tony. Thank you so much.
Well, it's called the Grizzly Express. But some skiers may have grisly memories of that ski lift at Canada's Lake Louise Resort. Check this out -- about 65 people were trapped in these gondolas for hours when the lift suddenly came to a dead stop and wouldn't budge yesterday. So ski patrollers finally slid along the cables, fitted the passengers with harnesses and lowered them to the ground one by one. A witness called it something straight out of a James Bond movie.
So how much that is teddy in the window? Well, we're not talking about stuffed animals. It's lingerie, lace foundation garments, or as some insist on calling it, women's underwear. And it's not displayed on mannequins -- it's on live models. As a shop in Augusta, Maine, tries to heat up sales, some shocked townsfolk want to nip it in the bud.
Reporter Tory Ryden from the CNN affiliate WMTW has more on the jaw-dropping sales technique.
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TORY RYDEN, WMTW CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With snow falling and a traditional holiday horse-drawn carriage making its way down Water Street, the holiday shopping season officially got under way this weekend in downtown Augusta.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we come by and say hi to the girls.
RYDEN: And one specialty apparel shop is taking no chances it will be ignored by eager shoppers walking by.
FELICIA STOCKFORD, LINGERIE STORE OWNER: Women will come in and say they're here because they saw a girl in the window and they liked what she was wearing, or their husband saw an outfit and really liked it and please go get it because the kids are at Grammy's and -- it totally works.
RYDEN: What works for the owner of Spellbound Lingerie Shop is her gamble that live models in skimpy outfits standing in her window will bring in customers.
STOCKFORD: For the most part, people are really cool about it, even women. And you can tell when somebody's mad about it -- someone's girlfriend or wife will smack him or something like that, a glare. But mostly even women are really cool about it.
MARLENE REED, SHOPPER: I don't have a problem with it. I've seen a lot, shall we say, less pleasant things on the regular street and in people's yards and in different -- you know, around the state because I travel a lot. And I just think it's good. And it could take care of Water Street -- hey, we need -- it looks pretty down here, the lights come on, and maybe it would be nice to have -- good for Augusta to have people back downtown, not at the mall.
RYDEN: That is the goal, after all.
And model Nikki Hunt's attire is perfectly within local laws for what can be displayed in a storefront. So anyone annoyed by Spellbound's live models doesn't have any legal leverage.
And this model says, it's all very natural for her.
NIKKI HUNT, MODEL: I've always been into lingerie. It's something that I wear to concerts a lot, I wear to raves. There's certain things you can kind of mix and match. Other things not quite appropriate. But it's just something I'm into.
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: My guess, Wolf Blitzer will not be heading to Augusta, Maine any time soon. He's standing by in Washington to tell us what's coming up this hour.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Looks like a lovely place, Kyra, that we'll want to visit at some point down the road, not necessarily in the coming days.
We've got a lot of news, though, coming up at the top of the hour.
A crying congressman facing 10 years in prison. Find out why this elected official is about to end up behind bars.
Plus, down at the border, President Bush speaking within the hour about his immigration plan. Will it split the GOP? We'll take a closer look.
And Saddam Hussein -- is his trial falling apart? Find out why he went off in court today.
And there are new developments in the CIA leak case. Will new testimony put Karl Rove back in the spotlight of prosecutors?
All that, lots more coming up right at the top of the hour -- Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf. Thank you so much.
All right. Stay with us.
One more live individual to join us -- not in lingerie, I promise. We'll be right back.
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