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On Her Way; Big Apple Gearing Up for New Year's Celebrations

Aired December 30, 2005 - 13:37   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Baby Noor is on her way home. The three-month-old Iraqi girl has left Baghdad for the next stage of the journey, from the dangerous streets of Abu Ghraib, Baghdad to a hospital here in Atlanta, Georgia.
Private First Class Justin Donnelly has played a key role in the unfolding drama to get baby Noor potentially life-saving medical treatment. He joins us now live from Baghdad with more on how this little girl was captured and captured the many hearts of so many people overseas and here.

Take us back, Justin, and tell us how it all began.

Justin, if you can hear me, take us back. I know we've got a bit of a delay. But take us back to when you found baby Noor and tell us how this all began.

PFC. JUSTIN DONNELLY, ARMY MEDIC: OK. Basically, we were doing a basic knock-and-search about three weeks ago and the village out in Abu Ghraib, and we asked all the usual questions that we usually do when we search peoples' houses, and we asked if they had had any problems or anything things like that, and they brought out Baby Noor and showed her to the leader, and he called me over and I took a look at her, and she had a big tumor on her back.

And so, I told the family that I'd do what I could about it. I took a picture, and took it back to my company commander, and asked him if we could do anything about it.

PHILLIPS: Well, of course, we've seen where that has led now. So there were doing this knock-and-search, you're looking for insurgents and any kind of intel, you come across this baby. Did you have any idea that it was spina bifida? Were you able to detect that? Or did you just know it was a tumor, and there was something you had to do about it, something more?

DONNELLY: Yes, ma'am. My original thoughts were basically there's a tumor on this little girl's back and it's pressing against her spinal column. That may be why she can't move her legs. I didn't have any idea that it was spina bifida. The pediatrician made that diagnosis.

PHILLIPS: Well, tell me how the little baby has really captured all of your hearts in your battalion and really given you a lot of meaning to your mission, right?

DONNELLY: Yes, ma'am. Just to be able to go out in sector and actually show these people that we're here to help them, and that we're not just there to make their lives miserable is a really, one, a really big help for the war effort, and, two, this little girl is only three months old, and I really wanted to help her as much as possible. So what I did was all I could do really, and see what happened from there. I mean, instantly, the CO and the first sergeant fell in love with this little girl, and everybody else after that just was amazed by the -- her -- how tough she was.

PHILLIPS: Well, Justin, what did family members say to you, when you told them, look, I realize something is wrong. I'm going to try to figure out how to help your little girl. What did they say to you? How did they react?

DONNELLY: Sorry. Could you repeat that, ma'am?

PHILLIPS: Yes, the family of Baby Noor, how did they react to you when you told them, look, I'm going to try to get help to your child?

DONNELLY: Basically, the biggest thing that I noticed was the tears that came to the mother and grandmother's eyes when we came back and, you know, got information for -- for the little baby about her family, basically all the stuff we needed for a visa. And the tears that came to the mom's and the grandmother's eyes just were really -- it really showed what we had done for this family.

PHILLIPS: What do you hope for this baby, Justin? I know another one of the men in your battalion said that, who knows, she could be the next president of Iraq. I know a lot of you have very high hopes for her future.

DONNELLY: Yes, ma'am. I hope that really she just can go on from this and live as normal of a life as possible. She can go to school, get an education, and really by doing this, we've pretty much given her a second chance at life.

PHILLIPS: Do you hope to keep in touch with her and her family, even when you come back home, Justin?

DONNELLY: Yes, ma'am. I think that would be very great, just to be able to keep track on her success and how she's doing, how she's progressing in her health. Just from the time we went there and brought them formula for the baby, the next time I went back she already looked a lot healthier than she did when we first saw her.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'm curious. You go on these knock-and-search missions on a regular basis, obviously to track down the insurgents. What do you think, as you go into each home on these various missions, throughout the day and through the night, are you going to be curious to what else you may come across or who you may come across, or do you think this is pretty unique?

DONNELLY: Yes, ma'am. We have come across many cases where somebody needs help. This just really stood out. I mean, this little girl by no fault of her own had this condition and really needed our help, and that's what really, I feel like god put me here to help this little girl so that was -- that pretty much makes my whole trip here worth it.

PHILLIPS: Well, you're doing just that, and we praise you for that. Private First Class Justin Donnelly, also Army medic, thank you so much for your time, Justin.

DONNELLY: No problem, ma'am.

PHILLIPS: Of course, we're going to stay on this story. You can log on to childspringinternational.org. And this is the organization -- we talked with executive director last week, along with the doctor from the children's hospital here in Atlanta, who will be doing this surgery for free once baby Noor gets here, and we'll following the story, Childspring, how it's helping the baby, keeping track of the baby, and also the doctor that will be performing the surgery.

And also, stay with us as we continue to bring in new pictures and new video as baby Noor makes her way here to Atlanta, Georgia.

Coming up next on LIVE FROM, we're going to go to New York to check in on the big party preps. Time Square isn't the only place they drop the ball on New Year's Eve. It also happens anywhere. The average joe tries to sing "Len Syne" (ph). We'll hum a few bars as LIVE FROM continues.

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PHILLIPS: Well, another new year and another drop of the ball. The Big Apple is gearing up for New Year's celebrations. It's trademark crystal ball is getting a final once over. It's going to drop at the stroke of midnight tomorrow to usher in 2006.

Our Allen Chernoff there right now watching all the preparations. Alan, tell me how it's going, and then I understand I have a few tidbits about the ball and the event. I'm going to test you.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, very well. Well, Kyra, we are ready to party here in Time's Square, so ready, in fact, that the ball that you're referring to only five minutes ago, it actually dropped. Would you believe it? It was only a practice run. They've been practicing for the last hour and a half, and it looks like it's working just fine. I wish we were up there right now to show you, but it's looking good. They've got a huge soundstage set up here, scaffolding all throughout Times Square, lots of cables up in the sky, giant speakers on every street corner. We are ready for a big party, and of course, it will all culminate at a minute to 12:00 midnight tomorrow when that ball begins dropping for real.

Now let's talk about that ball -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, here we go. How many pounds does it weigh?

CHERNOFF: Oh, boy. I think it is 1,070 pounds.

PHILLIPS: See? Yep.

CHERNOFF: It is pretty hefty. PHILLIPS: And it of course...

CHERNOFF: It used to be much smaller.

PHILLIPS: That's right. It did. How small was it, do you remember?

CHERNOFF: Well, back in the '80s, I was up on top of 1 Times Square, so I did see it once, and it was not, frankly, that all impressive. It was really about this big back then, very old- fashioned lights, didn't look high-tech at all. Totally different story right now, because it's got all these crystals, more than 500 of those Waterford crystals, triangular shapes and of course nearly 700 lights, 696, am I right, or 694? Which one is it?

PHILLIPS: Let's see. Oh boy, I was looking for that number.

CHERNOFF: In total.

PHILLIPS: Oh, here we go -- 504 Waterford crystal triangles. Now that's a big switch from the first Time Square ball made of wood and iron and was covered with only 100 light bulbs.

CHERNOFF: Right. Back then, this whole tradition started, it was actually 101 years ago. "The New York Times" originally was this in that building, 1 Times Square. This used to be called Long Acres Square. When the Times arrived, they lobbied the city. This was changed to Times Square, and in 1904 it was a big celebration. The Times actually had fireworks over there. For a couple of years, the city then banned the fireworks, and that's when the owner of the Times decided let's start dropping a ball. It was a big success and it has been ever since.

PHILLIPS: Now, Alan, I was also reading that 90 of this year's bulbs are going to be auctioned on eBay. Ten are going to be given away, and then the proceeds going to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

CHERNOFF: Right, going to be auctioned off on eBay. They're planning to make that ball even more high-tech. So they're going to replace some of those more old-fashioned light bulbs, and next year it will be even more advanced, but it really puts on quite a light show right now. You can see it from miles around all over the city.

PHILLIPS: Pretty cool stuff. Allan Chernoff there with all the preps for the big New Year's celebration. Allan, thank you so much.

CHERNOFF: Happy New Year's.

PHILLIPS: Happy new year. We'll be talking a lot, I'm sure, throughout the rest of the day.

Well, getting around to ringing in the new year in London could be pretty tough this year. A transit workers union plans a 24-hour strike beginning on New Year's eve, protesting worker reassignment. It's putting a serious crimp in party plans. The mayor wanted to make trains and subways free on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to encourage people to visit Central London.

PHILLIPS: And across Britain, indeed across much of Western Europe, the old year isn't leaving quietly. They're having some truly wacky weather over there.

To tell us more about it, CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney. She's in London.

Fionnuala, you're not used to this kind of weather.

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, down here in London, we're actually quite used to this wet weather, and I think really London has been spared a lot of freezing temperatures and icy snow plaguing much of Europe, but let's first of all turn to that impending strike there by the tube workers who midday tomorrow, New Year's Eve, are threatening to walk out for 24 hours in protest that they say new rostering arrangements, new staffing arrangements, which they claim makes the underground less safe for people traveling, and of course the people it's going to affect most are the hundreds of thousands of people who flock into London every New Year's Eve to go down to Trafalgar Square, down by the houses of parliament, near Big Ben, by the river Thames, to bring in the new year, to watch Big Ben chime in the new year.

And, of course, as you mentioned, the mayor, Ken Livingston, wanting to provide free public transport on the tube for a four or five-hour period around New Year's Eve, but now says he that the tube workers are really dampening the Londoners spirits, but I'm pretty sure that Londoners are used to kind of making their way into the center of town, and if has anything to do with having to do with a good time, they'll be here in spirit and in person tomorrow evening -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Fionnuala, we saw the strike in New York City and how it really just slammed the economy in New York and made life extremely difficult for all of those who take the subways. When was the last strike in London, and is there a concern that it'll take that kind of economic hit?

SWEENEY: No, not at all really, because it's only a 24-hour strike, Kyra. It's designed specifically to hit hardest over the new year period, when people would be using the underground, because they don't want to drive, for obvious reason, into the center of London, and there are periodic strikes. Mainly throughout the summers we find here in London. They tend to last for a certain amount of time. Union laws here meaning, Kyra, that the underground staff have to give a lot of notice before they can call a strike, and but this is one that's going to hit Londoners tomorrow quite hard.

But the thing really affecting people here in London has been the weather, because there's been plunging temperatures over the last few days, but forecasters now happily predicting that the worst of the cold snap, here in London at least, is over, although they are urging motorists, drivers in other part of the country, northern England and Scotland, to stay off the roads over the new year period -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Fionnuala Sweeney, thank you so much.

Coming up on LIVE FROM, you know the old saying, there's a lot of fish in the sea. But we've never seen someone take it so literally. A woman who flipped for flipper. We're going to come up for air in just a few.

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PHILLIPS: Well, in today's more dollars than sense department, date line Israel and the red sea resort of Eilat. They probably see a lot of brides here, but I bet you they aren't really like Sharon Hendler, 41-year-old millionaires from London determined the marry, yes, a dolphin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARON HENDLER, BOTTLENOSE BRIDE: The love story began 15 years ago when I came to Dolphin Reef when it opened, and the first dolphin that ever came to me was Cindy, and from that moment, I fell in love with him and I've been coming back for 15 years.

QUESTION: And?

HENDLER: And I'm going to marry him today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Oh, between kisses, the bride stuffed the groom's mouth with mackerel instead of cake. We really don't want to go beyond that, now do we?

(INAUDIBLE) chocks it all up to the King Kong effect. And as they say, this is what you really say is taking the plunge.

Well, rough weather out West. We're going to get a live report for the coast. It's happening right now. LIVE FROM's right after a quick break.

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