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Farris Hassan's Day Off Ending with Flight Home; Oklahoma Fighting Wildfires; More Violence Strikes Iraq; Justice Department Launches Investigation Into NSA Leak

Aired December 30, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's the stories we're working on for you right now.
This Florida teenager has some explaining to do after he takes a trip to Iraq without telling his parents. We'll talk with the reporters who found him in Baghdad.

Heading to America. The Iraqi baby in need of life saving surgery begins her journey.

And live pictures from Times Square, where preparations are under way or a big party.

All that and more straight ahead. CNN's LIVE FROM begins right now.

They all said Farris Hassan would go far, and they were right. And now he's coming home. Hassan is a bright and ambitious and, his mother says, driven 16-year-old prep school student who lives with his Iraqi-born parents in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Earlier this month, the teen's heritage, his intellect, his interest in politics and his social conscience and a recent class in so-called emergent journalism inspired him to visit Iraq, on his own, even though his parents said no.

And it's a really dangerous place. Long story short, Hassan flew to Kuwait, took a cab to the border, was turned away, went instead to Beirut, Lebanon, flew to Baghdad, and then had second thoughts.

We'll pick it up there in a moment. But first, a little more on the back story from Hassan's mother on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHATHA ATIYA, FARRIS HASSAN'S MOTHER: He asked me. We discussed it the past four or five months. He was telling me that he had an interest to go there and to see it firsthand, how are things transpiring back in Iraq. And he wanted to see the people feeling about democracy and the war in Iraq.

And I told him, fine, you know, this -- not bad idea but wait a few months. Hopefully this summer, if things are stabilized, I would be happy to accompany him. So when he heard my negative response, he decided to take things in his own hands, I guess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: His own hands, indeed. When he realized those hands were full, Farris Hassan contacted the Baghdad bureau of the Associated Press. Specifically, Patrick Quinn and Jason Straziuso, both of whom join me from their offices in the Iraqi capital.

And I understand he walked into the door, Patrick. You were the first once to see him. What did he say to you, and what did you say to him?

PATRICK QUINN, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Well, I was a little shocked, because he introduced himself as a 16-year-old American high school student from Florida. And, I have to admit I was a little stunned. I recall telling Jason here that it was -- I would have been less surprised if little green men had walked into the office.

And he actually announced to us that he wanted to join us and become a journalist, and I was quite stunned by this whole thing.

PHILLIPS: Patrick, did he seem frazzled? Was he very self confident? What did -- what did he say to you?

QUINN: Well, I would describe -- I think the word that would best describe it is blissfully ignorant of his surroundings and where he was. Farris walked into the most dangerous city on this planet, especially if you are an unaccompanied American, let alone a teenager who doesn't speak any Arabic.

I'm really -- I'm really stunned that he ever thought of coming here. This -- I don't think he quite comprehended the severity and the seriousness of the situation he was in.

PHILLIPS: Now Jason, you sat down with him. You talked a number of hours with him. You -- both of you even sent us an essay that he had written back home before he came to Iraq.

He said, "I feel guilty living in a big house, driving a nice car, going to a great school. I feel guilty hanging out with my friends in a cafe without the fear of a suicide bomber present."

For 16 years old, not only does he have a... (AUDIO/VIDEO INTERRUPTED BY COMMERCIAL)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: "... millions of people there that mildly prefer my demise merely because I'm an American. Nevertheless, I will go there to love and help my neighbor in distress. If that endangers my life, so be it."

It seems, Jason, he knew what he was getting into, danger wise.

JASON STRAZIUSO, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Yes. That essay says, "I accept the risks." And when he said -- when he sat down with us, he said, "I know how dangerous it is."

But I got the impression over time, over the hours that I spent with him, that it's one thing to say, "I accept the danger" when you're sitting in Florida and you're writing this essay and you're thinking about, "I want to make the world a better place." It's another thing when you're here.

There was that scenario that he got himself into where he was at a Baghdad food stand. He doesn't speak Arabic. He pulls out a phrase book, draws a lot of attention to himself that he didn't want. And he said, at that point, he got freaked out.

One of the last things he said to me in one of our final conversations was, "Now that I've been here, I realize that if I walk down the wrong street, that I seriously could get kidnapped."

So it's one thing to say, "I accept the danger" when you're back home and you're being idealistic. It's another thing to be here and know that the danger is all around you.

PHILLIPS: Well, when it comes...

QUINN: I don't think Farris realized how dangerous it really was -- go ahead.

PHILLIPS: No, no, no. Go ahead. Finish your thought.

QUINN: I don't think Farris realized how dangerous this place is until he actually talked with a couple of people. He was brought here pretty much directly from the airport, so he was kind of insulated from the reality that is Baghdad. I think he started realizing, after talking to us and other people, that this place is not what he thought it was.

PHILLIPS: Whether he realized what he was getting into or not, Patrick and Jason, Jason, maybe you can respond to this, 16 years old, making a trip like this, writing an essay like that, I mean, he's going to make one hell of a reporter if he sticks this out and doesn't get grounded until he's 18.

STRAZIUSO: Well, that's right. I mean, the words that have come to mind that I like to describe him with are he's curious and he's courageous. Now, if he could just wait a couple more years, add a little bit of life experience, then I think it's great for him to do these kind of things.

You know, guys who do this for a living, they start to venture off on their own at 20, 21, 22. But at 16 it's just kind of crazy.

QUINN: I don't think I'm going to experience something like this again. At least I hope not. I mean, a 16-year-old walking into my office in a war zone is just like -- it's completely, completely bizarre.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's given us all a pretty interesting story to write about. Patrick Quinn, Jason Straziuso with the Associated Press, thanks, guys.

QUINN: Thank you.

STRAZIUSO: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, before we move on, we know you're assuming, especially if you have kids of your own, that the dangers of Baghdad will seem like nothing to Farris Hassan once his parents get him home safely. Grounding is pretty much a given.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIYA: As far as being punished for going to Iraq? I think he's going to lose some of his autonomy for awhile. He's going to lose his passport, for sure. And his access to, you know -- money is going to be pretty limited and he has to be under close supervision for awhile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Could be a tough time for him. By way of illustration now, we offer this parallel from the animal kingdom. Panda cub Su Lin being kept on a very short leash by her mother at the San Diego Zoo. Su Lin made her public debut yesterday. And don't worry; she, like Farris, isn't going anywhere any time soon.

California's getting hit today with all Mother Nature can give it. Heavy rains are swamping the northern part of the state, which is raising a danger of mudslides. Live picture now from the Golden Gate Bridge. But it doesn't really tell the whole story.

To the south, there are reports of huge waves coming ashore, and a major winter storm that's looming off the coast hasn't even hit full force.

Chad Myers, what's going on out there?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right. Chad, we'll keep chatting. Thanks so much.

Dry, strong winds are returning to Texas and Oklahoma and that could spell trouble. Already today, at least one grass fire has sprung to life, and conditions are pretty ripe for more.

Joining us live from Oklahoma City, reporter Alex Cameron of CNN affiliate KWTV.

Alex, tell us what the conditions are like now.

ALEX CAMERON, KWTV CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, things have improved here today after three terrible days. Conditions are actually better, which actually means we're less likely to see an outbreak of wildfires today.

The winds have shifted around out of the northwest. Temperatures have dropped. The humidity is up. So that's all very good news.

But as you say, the winds are up about 20, 25 miles as hour. It's still extremely dry here in Oklahoma, so there certainly is a possibility that we could have some more wild fires. In fact, we just heard within the last hour of one that just popped up southwest of the metro -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Alex, what about damage totals? Do we know anything yet?

CAMERON: Well, the latest information we're getting from the state Department of Emergency Management is that they're saying about 25,000 acres have burned here over the past three days, and they're saying that's a very conservative estimate.

They're putting the number of structures that have burned, homes and businesses, between 80 and 100 and certainly many more outbuildings, sheds, trailers, that sort of thing that have been burned to the ground.

PHILLIPS: Now, most of these volunteers -- or these firefighters are volunteer firefighters, right? So how are they handling it? Are there enough of them?

CAMERON: Well, it's pretty tough. You know, the departments like Oklahoma City, they have multiple shifts that -- so they rotate their firefighters in and out. But a lot of the rural fire departments are completely volunteer, so these guys have been out here every day this week.

So it's been taking a toll on them, and a lot of them are very grateful for the reprieve they're getting so far today.

But the thing is, they're all getting geared up for what looks to be maybe the worst day in all this is Sunday. That's when the conditions look like they're very bad again. Temperatures will be back up about 70 degrees. Winds out of the south and continued very dry. So they're trying to -- hopefully they're going to get a break today. Expecting that it's going to be bad again come this weekend -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Alex Cameron with our affiliate KWTV. Thanks, Alex.

Straight ahead, random chance determined she'd be born with a severe birth defect but random chance may also save her life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt a burden to take care of this little girl, because she was a 3-year -- 3-month-old baby that deserves a second chance at life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Coming up, we'll go live to Baghdad to talk with the Army medic who was in the right place at the right time for Baby Noor. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Turning now to one of the most serious problems in Iraq today, allegations of widespread atrocities against minority Sunnis by Iraqi police commando units.

The "New York Times" reports that the U.S. military to attempt to do something about it by greatly expanding the number of U.S. soldiers advising the Iraqi commandos.

"The Times," quoting an unnamed senior U.S. military commander in U.S., reports the total number of U.S. advisers is expected to be increased by several hundred.

Human rights groups say that the Iraqi commando police may have murdered and tortured hundreds, perhaps thousands of Sunni Arab men of military age.

Well, another deadly day in the Iraq war for both Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops. At least five Iraqis killed in attacks in Baghdad. Two more U.S. soldiers die in combat.

CNN's Arwa Damon joins us now, live from Baghdad.

Arwa, give us the latest on those deaths.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Carol (sic).

Well, as you just mentioned, five civilians were killed and another 23 were wounded when a car bomb and a mortar round detonated within minutes of each other in a central Baghdad neighborhood. Now, the attack happened at about 4 p.m. in the afternoon. It was a very crowded time and it happened close to a bus station.

Elsewhere in the capital in the southern part, a U.S. soldier killed when his vehicle hit an IED, an improvised explosive device. To date, still the No. 1 killer of U.S. forces here in Iraq.

And to the west in Fallujah, a U.S. soldier attached to the 2nd Marine Division lost his life in a small arms fire. So yet again, Fallujah stays very dangerous -- Carol (sic).

PHILLIPS: Actually, it's Kyra, Arwa. But Carol is with us today, also.

DAMON: Sorry.

PHILLIPS: That's all right. I want to ask you about Baby Noor. We, of course, have been following this story from the very beginning. She's on her way here for that free surgery to deal with the spina bifida. The soldiers, of course, that came across her. They've been touched by her and her whole story.

But the family is very concerned about their security. Grandmother and father are coming with that baby but protecting their identity. Why? DAMON: That's right, Kyra. You know, it's still a very dangerous place here and even the slightest of affiliations with the U.S. forces, coalition forces could mean death for a family or for family members that are left behind now.

When CNN first visited this family in their home about eight days ago and we started picking up on the story, the grandfather literally made a slitting motion across his throat. It took us sometime, actually, to convince the family to allow us to film them and that we would not be disclosing their identities.

They're absolutely petrified of the insurgents. When the U.S. forces went to the house to take Noor, her grandmother and her father away, the family left the house after the U.S. Soldiers, snuck around, took a different route to get to them. There's a very genuine fear here, and there's a lot of intimidation in that neighborhood that is near Abu Ghraib just outside of Baghdad -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Arwa Damon, thank you so much. We're going to talk to the medic there in Baghdad who was the first to tend to little Baby Noor coming up later in the hour.

We may not recognize the pattern. A government secret gets out, an uproar, the administration goes on the defensive and the Justice Department investigates the leak. This time, it's the data mining of large volumes of international e-mails and phone calls without a court's permission that President Bush authorized in the wake of 9/11.

CNN national security correspondent David Ensor has all the details now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department leak investigation has been opened, officials confirmed, concerning a report in "The New York Times" December 16, which said the National Security Agency has been monitoring phone calls and other communications between people inside the United States and others overseas, since the president approved a top secret program after the 9/11 attacks and doing so, without warrants from a court.

The report raised a firestorm with critics charging the president had exceeded his authority and the program was illegal.

By law, intelligence agencies are required to refer to the Justice Department any possible leak of classified information. This investigation, like others, will be conducted by FBI agents and Justice Department officials.

Leak investigations are difficult. They often do not succeed, and "The New York Times" says it knew about the top secret NSA program a year ago but decided not to make it public after appeals from administration officials.

Publicly and privately, senior administration officials, present and former, have said that this leak did serious damage to national security.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And this week marks a year since the horrifying Asian tsunami killed more than 200,000 people, the majority in northern Indonesia. Aceh province was devastated and still, to a great extent, is.

CNN's Alex Quade was in the first wave of western reporters after that catastrophe. And this month she returned there. Then and now, she met three young siblings who lost their home, their parents, their possessions but not their faith or hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Everything is gone and there's only one tilted house.

ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten-year-old Eka (ph), 14-year-old Nanna (ph) and their brother, 16-year-old Marwadih (ph) return to their neighborhood for the first time. Four thousand people lived here. Few survived. The children take us and an uncle along to find their house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): There are a lot of houses here. Four full blocks. We lived over there at the end. There were a lot of stores on my right here and here there was a fish farm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When the earthquake hit Mama was so scared that she started praying. We looked towards the ocean and all of a sudden there was a wave. Dad told us to take the motor bike and run away. This was when we last saw him.

QUADE (on camera): The three children on their small motor bike raced down this road. The tsunami they could hear directly behind them. They fell off their bike several times. They even hit a pedestrian. They couldn't stop to see how he was. They had to outrun the wave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It was really tall. Taller than that tree. When we were on the bike here I looked behind me and saw a two-story house crashing down, hit by the really tall wave.

QUADE (voice-over): So they search through the rubble for some sign of their former life.

They finally see their home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This is our house!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is mom's room.

QUADE: And these were their rooms.

QUADE: Nanna (ph) wants to leave her mark. This was her room. But her pen dies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): You can't see it clearly.

QUADE: Nanna (ph), Eka (ph) and Marwadih (ph) must move on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): There's nothing left, I don't know where we'll go to school.

QUADE: No school, home, money or parents. Their future, uncertain.

One year later I find Nanna (ph), Eka (ph), and Marwadih (ph) at an uncle's, babysitting his four children in exchange for shelter. Nanna (ph) goes to a new school. So does Eka (ph), and they now wear Muslim head scarves. Marwadih (ph) goes to a new mosque.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have to struggle to survive because we lost those we loved. Allah gave us this challenge and we had to face it.

QUADE: They miss their old home. So we go back.

(on camera) What is it like to be back here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's very different now. There's nothing here. There should be new houses here by now, but the government doesn't allow the redevelopment, because it's too close to the sea.

QUADE: The little left of their house, taken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Someone took the toilet. There are people going through the rubble looking for things to take.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This is a broken plate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It was mama's plate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Why didn't the scavengers take it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What for? It's damaged.

QUADE (on camera): The children tell me that even a year later they still worry about stumbling across bodies. They found a skeleton here not too long ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Nanna (ph), I'm afraid to walk over here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm afraid when I see the ocean.

QUADE (voice-over): They don't like to go much closer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm also afraid. The other day I went out there after low tide and found many bones and skulls.

QUADE: It's been a tough year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I feel like I've replaced my father, because I have to take care of my sisters.

QUADE: Eka (ph) has taken their loss the hardest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I always remind Eka (ph) that we have no parents anymore. That's why we need to be tough and do everything by ourselves.

QUADE: Marwadih (ph) wants to be a doctor. Nanna (ph), a nurse, and Eka (ph) jokes, a hospital manager so she can boss them around.

A year after the great tsunami they have hope for the future which Eka (ph) sings about. And their smiles are back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I want us to be successful in our lives, to help others and I want us to live the way our parents wanted us to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Wow, those are some strong kids.

QUADE: They really are.

PHILLIPS: My goodness. All right. So how did you meet them and how did you find them a year later?

QUADE: It was very -- it was so difficult when we first got to Banda Aceh last year after the wave struck. There just weren't any children. The majority of the victims of the tsunami were children.

We looked at hospitals, what was left of the hospital, the schools, the markets. There was just nothing left. And slowly these children that managed to survive, to outrun the tsunami like these three, they came down from the hills. They came down from the mountains.

And we met Nanna (ph), Eka (ph) and Marwadih (ph, and we tried to keep up with them over the course of the year with the help of our CNN Jakarta bureau. And we went back. And we didn't know for sure if we would find them in the same place. They just happened to be in the same area, and we found them at an uncle's house.

PHILLIPS: They must have had pretty incredible parents, because they are extremely strong-willed. And they're taking care of themselves, living with an uncle. It seems faith, though, is playing a big part in their survival and looking ahead.

QUADE: It really is. And Marwadih (ph) was saying that Allah, their god, gave this them as a challenge and that it's a chance for them to do something right, to overcome this challenge. And they really -- they struggle every day with the grief for their parents, but they say that they feel such a duty to try to make successes out of their lives and to also help other people.

It's amazing to hear these young children who don't have very much at all say that they want to help others at some point.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So are they getting aid at all on a regular basis? And when they talk about, "I want to be a doctor. I want to be a nurse. I want to be a hotel -- or hospital administrator," what are the chances of that really happening?

QUADE: Initially, when we first meant to Banda Aceh and we found -- we found these children, they told us that they received no aid, that they were, in fact, turned from an aid station. They were looking for food and for clothing.

At that point, they only had the clothing that they wore when they left -- you know, when they escaped with their motor bike and each other and their motor bike. We went back to that aid station with our cameras rolling, and they were welcomed in and given a bag of clothing.

And a funny thing, Marwadih (ph), the eldest boy, he was so excited because he was given a T-shirt, some ratty old T-shirt that some American donated that had holes and sweat stains and it had a big logo that said University of Las Vegas, Nevada. He was so happy. He was just happy to have something, you know, something new to call his own.

And at this point, the aid groups are in in full force there, and so they are getting more, you know, more supplies and things taken care of.

And as far as their futures go, they are so serious about studying, about their education. And they're also very serious about trying to have careers. And they're learning the Internet and they're learning English and trying to really open up their educational opportunities.

PHILLIPS: Well, I think that's a sign from the University of Las Vegas. The chancellor, the president, needs to start working on the scholarships. What do you think?

QUADE: There you go.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll look for the follow-up. Thanks, Alex.

Well, straight ahead, new photos of Baby Noor. These just came in to CNN. We're actually going to talk to the army medic who was among the first to help the little Iraqi girl in just a few minutes on LIVE FROM. So stay with us.

The news keeps coming. We're going to keep bringing it to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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