Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Bush Sounds Off on Palestinian Elections, Wiretapping, Iraq; Hamas Wins Majority in Palestinian Parliament; Woman Reports Child to Police, Sex Offenders Arrested; No Answers on Car Accident Tragedy; Partisan Politics Prefaces State of the Union

Aired January 26, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILIPS, HOST: Hello everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips in CNN's B Control. First on LIVE FROM, President Bush in the lion's den, facing tough questions at a White House news conference today. Mr. Bush gave as good as he got on domestic wiretaps, the war in Iraq and the Palestinian elections, throwing in a stern warning for the big winner.
CNN's Elaine Quijano has all that and more from the White House.

Where do we start, Elaine?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kyra.

Well, first, let's start with the Palestinian elections. President Bush, really, Kyra, is trying to cast those elections as more about the old Palestinian leadership than about Hamas. Now, the president said today if there was corruption in the Palestinian leadership, that he wouldn't be surprised that people would want to do away with that.

Here's what President Bush had to say in that morning news conference earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you give people the vote, you give people a chance to express themselves at the polls. And if they're unhappy with the status quo, they'll let you know. It's a great thing about democracy. It's -- provides a look into society.

And yesterday, the turnout was significant, as I understand it, and there was a peaceful process, as people went to the polls. And that's positive. But what's also positive, is that it's a wake-up call to the leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, of course, Hamas' ascent to political power certainly creates a dilemma for the Bush administration, for the United States, which has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization.

Now, President Bush of course fully engaged in a war against terrorists. At the same time, though, Kyra, it was just a year ago that President Bush was outlining that one of his major foreign policy goals would be to help support democracies around the world, particularly in the Middle East and now, Kyra, here you have, elected through a democratic process Hamas, taking a large portion of the government, the new Palestinian government -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The president also continuing to push hard with regard to the NSA and eavesdropping program.

QUIJANO: That's exactly right. In fact this news conference was really a chance for the president to continue with that full-court press the White House has been engaged in for the past few days. The White House is really seeking to push back against critics of that controversial NSA, National Security Agency, surveillance program.

Today, we heard the president, again, outline why he believes the program is both legal, under the Constitution, he says, and necessary. The president calling it essential in the fight against terrorists, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Something else that happened in the past couple of days. These pictures surfacing of the president with Jack Abramoff. We know the trouble Jack Abramoff is in, this lobbyist. Is he talking about their relationship or lack of a relationship?

QUIJANO: Well, he is Kyra. In fact, the president said today, point blank, "I don't know him." Meaning he doesn't know Jack Abramoff. Now, whether or not there are pictures, the president saying that he wasn't going to release them because it could, in fact, be used for political purposes. Of course, we are in an election year.

But President Bush, pointing out that it is not at all uncommon for him to take photographs with any number of people that he doesn't know. It's part of the presidential duties, Kyra. And he said, again, he just doesn't know Jack Abramoff.

PHILLIPS: Elaine Quijano, live from the White House. Thanks, Elaine.

Palestinians celebrating, Israelis on the edge, and the Bush administration, as you just heard, keeping its options open. The final results of parliamentary elections in the West Bank and Gaza came less than an hour ago and the party of Yasser Arafat is on its way out. In its place, a radical party with no experience in governing and a resounding mandate. What, then, for the peace process?

CNN's John Vause joins us from Ramallah.

A lot of people talking about the fate of that peace process, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the peace process has really been stalled for the last couple of years. So the question now is, does it get worst from here with Hamas in power?

The official results have come through. If anyone's interested, Hamas, 76 seats out of 132 in the Palestinian parliament. Whichever way you look at it, it is an overwhelming landslide win for the Islamic militant group.

Now, they have said all day long that they will not negotiate with Israel. They will not disarm. They will not recognize Israel's right to exist. And before this election took place, the acting Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said there was no way they would not trust a leadership in which Hamas plays a dominant role.

But there is some wiggle room in all of this. The Palestinian Authority is a presidential democracy. Real power still rests with the president, Mahmoud Abbas. So in theory, Abbas could, if Israel was, in fact, willing, continue peace negotiations. If he did secure a deal, he could then take it to the parliament. And the parliament would then have to either approve it or reject it.

Hamas is saying at this very early stage that it would reject any peace deal with the Israelis. But, of course, as Colin Powell says, things always look better in the morning. So maybe we need to look at what people do, rather than what they say -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John, we talk about President Mahmoud Abbas but we haven't really put a face, an individual, one individual to who is leading Hamas. Is it -- there are three major leaders that I've been reading about. One in Syria, one in Gaza, another individual. Can we pinpoint who that one person is that's leading this party? And will the U.S. deal with that individual?

VAUSE: Well, essentially, no, the United States will not be dealing with Hamas. The organization of Hamas is split between those in Gaza and the West Bank, the inside Hamas if you like, and then those outside, the leadership in Lebanon, as well.

So as far as the leadership of Hamas, there is Mahmoud al-Zahar, the doctor down in Gaza. He basically is, for all intents and purpose, shaping up as being the main leader of Gaza.

Now the Hamas have kept their leadership pretty much in a state of a ambiguity because of Israeli air strikes. The leaders have been killed and targeted in assassinations over the years by Israeli warplanes and helicopters. So Hamas has kept this fairly ambiguous. That's why we hear quite often these statements coming from different leaderships.

But there was, in fact, a split within Hamas. Those outside of the Gaza and the West Bank did not want Hamas to take part in these elections. However, those in the Gaza and the West Bank were very keen to take part. And obviously, that is a strategy which has proved very successful to the results here tonight, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, now the future of Palestinian society, and of course, the fear that, whether it's overseas or here in the United States, we'll be observing more terrorist attacks, more suicide bombings. Is that a major concern? Or do you think Hamas will become more moderate? VAUSE: Well, the hope of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, is that Hamas in power will become moderate; it will be burdened by the responsibility of governing the day to day lives of millions of Palestinians.

But of course, the Israelis fear that Hamas in power will simply become emboldened, and every aspect of government, schools, the security forces, will become -- and obviously, the militant group -- all dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

It must be said, though, Kyra, that over the last 12 months, Hamas fighters have mostly kept to a ceasefire, a hudna (ph), which was agreed to with Israelis in February of last year.

And they are saying some moderate statements, even today, saying that they will accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. Basically, the premise of the Oslo Peace Accord. But what they say is that it is a long-term cease- fire. The struggle to continue to liberate all of Palestine, which means Israel, which be left for future generations, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John Vause, thanks so much. And like the Palestinian, Israelis are saying it's time for a change. Only they insist Hamas do the changing if there's any hope for peace.

CNN's Guy Raz is standing by in Jerusalem.

And Guy, is that a reality, Hamas, Fatah, Israel, actually sitting down at a table and talking?

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not a reality anytime soon, Kyra. And there's a simple reason why. Because Israel has demanded that any group it negotiates with must first recognize its right to exist and, secondly, it must disarm.

Now, this victory by Hamas raises a lot of questions for the future of the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority now to be led by a group that Israel regards as a terrorist organization, a movement that most Israelis associate with suicide bombings and not politics.

Now, the problem is, is that there is a lot of economic interdependence between Israel and the Palestinian territories. There is a lot of coordination. Even at the lowest point of the relationship, between Israelis and Palestinians, there were still low- level talks throughout.

It's extremely unlikely that Israeli officials will be holding any talks with Hamas officials, and extremely unlikely that Hamas leaders will want to talk to Israel. So what we can expect to see, over the coming few years, perhaps, is that any negotiations between the two sides will go into a deep freeze and perhaps the Israeli government, which is now vying for re-election itself, may decide to take unilateral action to determine its final and ultimate borders, Kyra. PHILLIPS: Looking at the history of Fatah, of course organized by Yasser Arafat. We always saw Yasser Arafat as the man that the Palestinians looked to. Looking at what happened now and the rising up of Hamas in these elections, are there members of the Fatah Party sitting back thinking where did we go wrong, how did we fail the people, why are they not happy with us?

RAZ: Absolutely, and they're circling their wagons right now answering those questions. What now appears to be happening is Fatah is dying. It's a party that will probably no longer exist. It was trounced in this election.

And it was a movement, in some ways a personality cult around Yasser Arafat, especially for the last 10 years of Mr. Arafat's life. In the past five years, it's been beset by allegations of corruption, cronyism. Many ordinary Palestinians essentially regarded Fatah as having failed in governance. And so now they decided to punish the movement.

In fact, we spoke to some Palestinian officials from Fatah earlier today and they all told us that the movement really has to take a hard look at itself, if it is to survive as a viable Palestinian political party.

PHILLIPS: Guy Raz, thank you so much. We'll stay in touch with you and John Vause as we follow this story.

Another big story that we're following. Agonizing silence, mounting anxiety, what's happened to kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll? Not a murmur from her captors in more than a week. Carroll was taken off a Baghdad street almost three weeks ago by a group that's threatened to kill her unless the U.S. frees its Iraqi women detainees.

Today, the U.S. did release five Iraqi women but insists it has nothing to do with Carroll. Four Iraqi women are said to remain in U.S. custody. Muslim and non-Muslim groups across the world are appealing for Carroll's release.

Straight ahead, a lot of us tune out what's going on around us, but one woman was prompted by a little girl's face and felt she had to do something about it. It took her awhile, but her persistence paid off. We'll tell you how when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The empty look in a little girl's eyes. That's what made a Georgia woman feel something was wrong. No one would listen to her at first. But when they did, a shocking case of suspected child abuse came to light.

Tony Thomas of CNN affiliate WAGA has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRACIE DEAN, REPORTED CHILD TO POLICE: Every morning, I woke up. Every night, I went to bed. It's all I could think about.

TONY THOMAS, WAGA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For days, Tracie Dean says all she could think about was the 3-year-old girl she met in this Evergreen, Alabama, convenience store. She says the girl, shown here in the store surveillance video, had an emptiness in her eyes and simply acted like something was very wrong.

DEAN: I was thinking of her as like a little butterfly fluttering around the store with that little red cowboy hat. She was really cute. But it was just the fact she kept coming back around me.

THOMAS: Tracy says she called 911 but was told everything was fine. She continued to drive back to Atlanta, her mind still on the little girl. Over the following days, she kept calling local and state authorities. She searched missing person's web sites, hoping to find a picture of the girl.

Eventually, she went back down to South Alabama and looked at the surveillance tape herself. She finally convinced a local sheriff's deputy to look for the child.

(on camera) Did you have any idea what she'd actually stumbled upon?

DEAN: Well, I thought I was crazy.

THOMAS (voice-over): Conecuh County, Alabama, authorities have arrested Jack Lee Wiley, the man the child was with in the store, and a woman believed to be his wife, Glenna Faye Marshall. They face charges of raping the 3-year-old and sodomizing a 17-year-old boy also found in their home. But it apparently didn't stop there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She did say they picked some up, had sex with them and would simply -- by what she said -- drop them off at hotels or truck stops and simply leave them.

DEAN: It's scary to think what might be uncovered here, but, I mean, you know, what's scarier is to think that it took me, you know, four days and for me to actually do it myself, before anything got done. And I don't understand that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again, that story from Tony Thomas of our affiliate WAGA here in Atlanta.

In medical news, go in for heart surgery, come out with a bum kidney. A new study finds thousands of cases of kidney failure may be occurring each year from a drug that reduces bleeding during heart surgery. The study said that patients given Trasylol developed kidney failure at twice the rate of other heart surgery patients. They also had higher rates of strokes, heart failure and heart attack. Bayer, the drug's maker, disputes those findings, but the Food and Drug Administration is taking another look.

It's swell for making scrambled eggs, but it's a bummer for the environment. And guess what? Researchers say it's probably coursing through your bloodstream right now. It's one of the active ingredients of Teflon, PFOA for short, and we'll leave it at that. The Environmental Protection Agency wants it gone because of potential health risks, cancer risks, to humans. The EPA wants seven companies to slash emission and product levels of PFOA and similar compounds by 95 percent over the next four years.

Founding Father fights flu? German scientists say none other than George Washington may turn out to be an unexpected ally in the fight against a global flu outbreak. Cannot tell a lie. It's the kind of news you'll only find right here on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAL HOLBROOK, ACTOR: Follow the money.

ROBERT REDFORD, ACTOR: What do you mean?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: How can we forget that? "Follow the money." It helped Woodward and Bernstein crack Watergate in "All The President's Men." It may also be the key to heading off a global flu outbreak.

That's what a bunch of German scientists are reporting in the journal "Nature." They went to the web site where -- George.com, WheresGeorge.com, rather, which tracks the path of U.S. dollars. Visitors to the site register their money before spending it, then they can come back to track their dollar's progress across the country or the world.

The scientists say the money flow could lead to more realistic models for tracking the spread of germs and perhaps even prevent outbreaks. What do you know? Penny for your thoughts, a buck for your germs.

Well, $36,000 per minute can add up pretty quickly. That's how much General Motors lost in the last three months of last year. Susan Lisovicz has more on the carmaker's bottom line. She's standing by live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Hey, Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A grinding crash, a hellish scene, an entire family devastated. Seven children from 20 months old to 15 years, killed instantly. The grandfather literally dies of a broken heart when he hears the news.

CNN's Rusty Dornin has more now from Lake Butler, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still no definitive answers as to exactly why the driver of that truck slammed into the car, instantly killing seven children and injuring five others on the school bus. Authorities say they believe the man wasn't paying attention, but they're doing toxicology tests as well as mechanical tests on the truck to make sure there wasn't any kind of brake failure.

Meantime, more horrific news for the family. The grandfather of the children, upon hearing the news, had a massive heart attack and died. The pastor of the church where the family were members say the grief has been unbearable.

PASTOR SCOTT FISHER, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: There aren't any -- hardly any words that you can say. We just cry with them. We pray with them. And we let them know that this community is strong, that we are all here, that they're not alone, that it's not just this community, but the whole nation mourns with them, the loss of these children.

DORNIN: The driver of the truck, Alvin Wilkerson, has been released from the hospital. Police are keeping in close touch with him. No charges have yet been filed against him in this case.

Meantime, the National Transportation Safety Board has sent eight investigators here. They're going to spend about a week looking at all the evidence.

Meantime, the community of Lake Butler is in mourning. There are grief counselors here at the Union County High School, where two of the victims were freshmen.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Lake Butler, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: What's the shortest distance between two points? In this case, it's straight down. Two tons of marijuana was found in a tunnel between Mexico and the U.S. at seven-tenths of a mile, the longest such tunnel ever found. The secret passage has its own lights and runs from Tijuana, Mexico, to Otay Mesa, California. The Drug Enforcement Administration says it looks like a drug smuggler's tunnel, but it might have been used to smuggle people, as well.

The State of the Union address is five days away, but Democrats are already issuing what some might call a prebuttal. At the hour -- at this hour, rather, in Washington, two top Democrats are critiquing the Bush agenda. Our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, is listening in -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, how are you?

It is kind of an interesting game back and forth. It used to be the president would deliver the State of the Union and the other party would do a rebuttal. As you mentioned, a couple years ago, Democrats starting doing a prebuttal a couple of days before the big speech.

This year, the Democrats tried to up the ante by doing a series of prebuttals, starting this past Tuesday with Senator Harry Reid, continuing today, and it's going right at this moment with Senator Dick Durbin. He followed, in fact, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who spoke a few moments ago.

The president tried to up the ante even further this morning, as you know, with his press conference, kind a pre-prebuttal to the Democrats. It's just this game back and forth to try to frame the State of the Union, what are going to be the hot issues.

We heard the president this morning making a very strong defense, in his eyes, for his domestic surveillance program, calling it a terrorist surveillance program, saying he's concerned about civil liberties, but this is about catching terrorists.

Democrats still have tough talk about that, raising legal questions. But they also have a series of tough questions about Iraq, as well as the domestic agenda, as well. Take a listen to Congresswoman Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: But on key policies, from health care costs to energy prices to tuition, to the budget deficit, to national security, the policies we have seen from the Republicans in power do not match the priorities of the American people. And the American people want to know why. They have tough questions and deserve real answers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Now, Pelosi and Senator Durbin also in their individual speeches really taking some tough shots at the Republican Party over these ethics scandals. Jack Abramoff and the rest we've heard so much about. This so-called culture of corruption is something we are talking about today, and we're going to hear it from now right until the midterm elections -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, the president has to convince a number of congressional Republicans as well.

HENRY: That's right. You know, in recent days, I've talked to some Republican senators who will say privately that they've been concerned over last year the president in their eye, as Republicans, they feel the president has kind of lost control of the congressional agenda. They believe it started shortly after the election in the State of the Union last January, where the president came out swinging on Social Security reform and tax reform. But those issues hit a brick wall.

The president, they also feel, lost his way a bit in the response to Hurricane Katrina, the Harriet Miers nomination.

Republicans on the Hill, though, feel a little bit better now, though, that he's turned it around. They feel very good about Judge Alito, who his fate is obviously being debated on the Senate floor as we speak right now, and Republicans feel very confident about that. They feel that was a better pick than Harriet Miers, and he's going to be confirmed. That's a victory for the president. But they still feel a lot is ride on the speech. They feel that the president, Republican senators do, feel that the president really needs to take the bull by the horns and assert himself again; even though he's a lame duck, he has to show the Democrats he's in charge -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: There's a lot riding on the speech?

HENRY: Absolutely. I think, clearly, heading into these elections in November, Democrats feel some momentum. The Republicans, though, note that the president's poll numbers have started creeping back in the last couple month. They feel when you look at the president's press conference this morning and some other recent speeches that he's starting to hit his stride again in the estimation of Republicans. They feel he has a golden opportunity next week to really reset the agenda and put the Democrats back on the defensive.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry, thanks.

HENRY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Antonio Villaraigosa is soon to get a starring role on the national stage, maybe even the international stage. The first Hispanic mayor in Los Angeles in 133 years will give the Democrat's Spanish-language response to the president's State of the Union next Tuesday. Another rising star, Virginia Governor Tim Kane, will give the English response. Hispanics make up a critical group of voters who usually lean Democrat.

James Frey hit the big-time when his memoir made Oprah's book club. Now Oprah has a correction of her own. Just ahead, the queen of daytime talk gives Frey a piece of her mind over "A Million Little Pieces."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight to the newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield working a few stories for us -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Kyra, a week of very bad accidents on America's highways. Early this morning, apparently, eight people were injured, six people killed, when a pickup truck loaded with people crash into a car carrier about 30 miles south of Alice, Texas in Jimswell County (ph) on Highway 281. The Texas Department of Safety, Representative Corporal Charlie Ramirez is on the line with us.

And, corporal, this sounds like a serious accident that took place at a very bad intersection. Did this involve a traffic light intersection or a stopway? What happened?

CPL. CHARLIE RAMIREZ, TEXAS DEPT. OF PUBLIC SAFETY: This is a T- intersection that runs into a county road, running into a U.S. road. Evidently, they failed to yield right away, the people that got hit by the truck.

WHITFIELD: And when this took place with this pickup truck loaded with people, I imagine many of the people were in the back portion, the cab portion of the truck as well?

RAMIREZ: Yes. The pickup truck was loaded with several individuals. They were six confirmed dead, five males and one female. There were eight injured, taken to several area hospitals. At this point, the crash is still under investigation. We don't have any names. But it appears that many of them were from Mexico.

WHITFIELD: And what about the person driving that car carrier?

RAMIREZ: The individual that was driving the truck that carries the vehicles, he was taken to the hospital but was released. He's OK.

WHITFIELD: Is this a fairly busy area there are just south of Alice?

RAMIREZ: Well, it's a busy U.S. highway. At that particular time, it happened 6:00 in the morning, you do have some traffic going through there. So you know, that could have been also -- it's a heavy traffic highway, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, terrible situation. Corporal Charlie Ramirez, thank you so much. That terrible accident killing six people, Kyra, and injuring eight others.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll stay on top of that story as well. Thanks, Fred.

A judge in Vermont takes a do-over on a controversial sentence. Judge Edward Cashman today sentenced Mark Hewitt to three to 10 years for sexually abusing a young girl over a four year period. Two weeks ago Cashman triggered outrage with his original sentence, 60 days, which he defended on the ground that he wanted Hewitt to get treatment, not just punishment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE EDWARD CASHMAN, VERMONT DISTRICT COURT: As stated during the sentencing hearing, however, punishment is not enough of a response in some cases. For the reasons stated in the first reconsideration order, this is one of those cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The judge says the state has agree to provide treatment for Hewitt while he's in jail.

Violence against the homeless, for the most part, an invisible crime against invisible victims. The expectation being attacks caught on tape like this one in Fort Lauderdale earlier this month.

CNN's John Zarrella spent an eye-opening night on the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steven Michaud is 43 years old. He's been living on the streets homeless for 15 years. He can't tell you why.

(On camera): How'd it start?

STEVEN MICHAUD, HOMELESS: I have no idea. Loneliness probably.

ZARRELLA: And he can't find his way out of this cycle. Even though he knows there is little safety in the alleyways and on the park benches.

(On camera): And have you been targeted in the past?

MICHAUD: Oh yes, I've got scars all on me now.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): The beatings of three homeless men here in Fort Lauderdale this month, one of whom died, brought renewed attention to the dangerous lives these people live.

Raymond Perez survived the attack on him.

RAYMOND PEREZ, HOMELESS: I was sleeping with my -- my body was covered up with a blanket and they woke me up and hitting with bats and everything.

ZARRELLA: And it doesn't just happen here, but across the country. In California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, HOMELESS: Somebody poured gas on me and just threw a match on me, I guess.

ZARRELLA: In Illinois.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, HOMELESS: That's where they jumped me. And all six of them. They surrounded me.

ZARRELLA: In New Jersey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, HOMELESS: It was mostly kids, with a pipe and a baseball bat.

ZARRELLA: Baseball bats, says the National Coalition for the Homeless, are a preferred weapon. In six years, the coalition says, there have been nearly 400 attacks on the homeless. That's just the ones they know about. More than 150 have resulted in death.

SCOTT RUSSELL, FORT LAUDERDALE POLICE OFFICER: I got a couple questions for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh huh.

RUSSELL: One of which is, are you homeless?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. RUSSELL: You are?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

RUSSELL: Okay. How long you been in town?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, about a year or so probably.

ZARRELLA: Scott Russell and Jamie Costas are Fort Lauderdale police officers. Their job, seek out the homeless and coax them into shelters.

RUSSELL: We try to be those good Samaritans, that pick them up and take them to where they can recapture and regain their lives, recover.

You want an MRE? Would you eat --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?

RUSSELL: The meal ready to eat, military version.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

RUSSELL: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There, I saved my dollar.

ZARRELLA: Russell and Costas say, sure, bad things happen to the homeless, and much of it goes unreported.

For the homeless, life on the street is constant risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's getting dangerous and I've got to make a decision to go.

ZARRELLA: Attacks by outsiders like teenagers grab the headlines. The National Coalition says numbers to be released next week will show attacks by outsiders are increasing. It's unclear why. In Fort Lauderdale most of the violence is homeless on homeless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's mostly, you know all of us together that are just robbing each other. You know, I mean, I can't say I ain't never grabbed somebody's bag before sometime in my life.

ZARRELLA: It happened to Timothy Brewster a few days ago in Miami. He was robbed four times. His backpack and all his IDs stolen.

(On camera): You can't trust anybody?

TIMOTHY BREWSTER, HOMELESS: No, they'll cut the bottom of your pockets open when you're asleep. They'll cut the heels off in your sleep.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Tonight, Brewster is sleeping under the lights at the bus station. It's safer.

Michaud is bedding down across the street in the bushes.

MICHAUD: Like it's all blocked of in the alley. I got it blocked off so nobody can come from that way, you know.

ZARRELLA: If they try, Michaud says he'll hear them and have a chance to fight back. He lights one more cigarette before closing his eyes. Another night on the street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Once again that was our John Zarrella.

Oprah Winfrey says that she made a mistake and she's sorry. Oprah interviewed author James Frey on her shows this morning. He recently admitted that he made up quite a few parts of "A Million Little Pieces," his memoir about drug addition and redemption.

The book became a best-seller after Oprah chose it for her book club, and when Frey went on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" this month to defend himself, Oprah called in to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: I read and recommend books based on my connection with the written word and its message. And, of course, I am disappointed by this controversy surrounding "A Million Little Pieces" because I rely on the publishers to define the category that a book falls within and also the authenticity of the work.

But the underlying message of redemption in James Frey's memoir still resonates with me, and I know that it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and will continue to read this book.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Today, however, Oprah has a different view. "I regret that phone call," she said on today's show -- on the "Today Show" -- or on today's show, rather, her show.

"I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter, and I'm deeply sorry about that because that's not what I believe. I called in because I love the message of this book and at the time and everyday I was reading e-mail after e-mail from so many people who had been inspired by it, and I have to say that I allowed that to cloud my judgment. So to everyone who has challenged me on this issue of truth, you are absolutely right."

Frey acknowledged to Oprah today that, he, too, made a mistake. He also said he originally tried to sell the book to publishers as fiction.

Coming up on LIVE FROM, an award I hope you never receive. What does it take to win a Darwin? You'd be surprised. The makers of a new film hope that you'll be amused. Gallows humor from the Sundance Film Festival as soon as we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Sorry, but you are not eligible for a Darwin Award. But that's not a bad thing. To even qualify, you have to die and die stupidly. The dubious honor is long the stuff of Internet legend and now the subject of a movie that's hoping to find a long life at Sundance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh-oh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: One of the stars of "The Darwin Awards", Joseph Fiennes, and the director, Finn Taylor, join me now from Park City, Utah. All right, gentlemen, I know that both of you have stuck your arm up a machine like that in the past.

FINN TAYLOR, DIRECTOR, "THE DARWIN AWARDS": Yes. Have we done anything like that in the past, was that the question?

PHILLIPS: Yes, I know you've at least gone up for a soda or something that just hasn't fallen down after you put in your 50 cents, right? You can relate.

TAYLOR: Yes, I can relate. I think I have a Darwin Award about every other day, personally.

PHILLIPS: Now, Finn ...

TAYLOR: Somehow I'm still here, though.

PHILLIPS: Well, and it's a good thing because let me tell you, this movie is hysterical. And let me ask you -- I mean, I had to study up on the Darwin Awards. This is a big Internet phenomenon, right? People submit their crazy ideas of how individuals die in crazy ways -- I guess we should say stupid ways -- and this inspired you to make a movie?

TAYLOR: Yes, it's something that started sort of spontaneously about 15 years ago, and they've kind of become the folk tales of our modern era. You know, and it's people who have passed in such a way that is perhaps moronic enough that they're actually helping the gene pool by removing themselves from it.

PHILLIPS: So, Joe, was there a time where you were maybe working on one of the scenes and you stopped and paused for a moment and said, how can someone be so stupid?

JOSEPH FIENNES, ACTOR, "THE DARWIN AWARDS": Well, luckily, my character has a great -- during the film, during the course of the film has a great affinity towards these people, and however slapstick and comical they are, I think ultimately what Finn has done is he's made a lot of the characters very three-dimensional. And there's a wonderful pathos, actually, deep down to the characters. So there's -- I think my character draws a lot of affinity, and as an actor, obviously, you've got to really recognize the good parts of your character and love that. So I tend to love those people rather than laugh at them.

PHILLIPS: And could you relate to those people? Let me ask you that.

FIENNES: Not quite. I haven't been in any of those situations myself. But it's very slippery here with the ice at Sundance, so who knows, I'll get back to you.

PHILLIPS: And speaking of slippery and being in precarious positions, let's take a look at a clip. We've heard a lot about the shower scene. And after seeing the shower scene, I must say, I have many questions. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIENNES: Whoa! Help.

WINONA RYDER, ACTRESS: Sorry. And I didn't even think you knew how to have...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Joe, I don't know if I should ask you what the hell first or should I go to Finn and say, Finn, your mind goes to crazy places.

FIENNES: I tell you, I didn't do that for the money. I did that for the love of art. But I should have got danger money for that.

PHILLIPS: Yes, what did it feel like being in that contraption? Give us a little background here, no pun intended.

FIENNES: You go.

TAYLOR: Well, Joe's character is so obsessed with trying to be completely safe in every situation that he actually gets himself in more trouble. He knows how dangerous it is to slip and fall in the bath when there is no non-skid surface, so he sets up this contraption to try and be safer and it ends up getting him in more trouble.

FIENNES: And he ultimately becomes nearly a Darwin award. For all of his safety and precautions, he probably becomes a Darwin award by the end.

PHILLIPS: But it had to be fun.

FIENNES: Well, upside down, in (INAUDIBLE), freezing cold temperatures...

PHILLIPS: Exactly. Absolutely.

FIENNES: It was great. It was great.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you, I mean, there's definitely a message here about those that love to risk their lives by pursuing -- doing something crazy. Finn, do you find in real life that this is something you live by?

TAYLOR: Well, you know, I think there's something very particularly American to the spirit of some of these Darwin awards. When you find out a guy mounts a military rocket to his Chevy and ends up going 400 miles an hour, you got to love that at some level, you know?

It's kind of the same -- you know, we justified going to the moon with all these sort of scientific theories and everything. But basically, we just wanted to strap three guys on top of a 300 foot rocket and see if they could touch that thing up in the sky we've been staring at millions of years, you know? I think it's sort of that kind of drive that makes me interested in these people.

FIENNES: Human condition. It's a great look at human condition.

PHILLIPS: That is very well put. And I can't leave before asking you both, obviously, within all the humor and fun of this film, Chris Penn, unfortunately, we lost him a few days ago. This was a big movie for him, as well.

I just want to give you both a chance just to give us a thought, a feeling, a shout-out, to someone who was absolutely hysterical in this film and was a very important part of it. Joseph?

TAYLOR: He was, I think, one of the great underrated character actors of the past 15 years. And what I remember about Chris how excited he was to be doing a comedy and the meticulous detail he put in his character, from the costume he would be wearing to the vehicle he would be driving, to his accent. He worked hard to get a Minnesota accent down.

And you saw what it takes for someone to be such a great character actor. And he really loved the idea of people making laugh in this role. That's what I'm going to remember about Chris, is his utter dedication.

PHILLIPS: And Joe, I think that everybody, including Chris, would want us all laughing as we look at this film and thinking about him with absolute humor.

FIENNES: Absolutely. I think this ultimately is, for him, a celebration of his work of his formidable actor and a wonderful gentleman. And he'll be dearly missed.

PHILLIPS: Joe Fiennes, Finn Taylor, "Darwin Awards" is the film. Thanks, guys.

Well, it's back to the Gulf Coast for Laura Bush. Her remarks to a group of school kids are coming up on LIVE FROM. Live pictures right now as we take you to break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Once again, live pictures right now from Chalmette High School. We're waiting for Laura Bush, the first lady, to answer questions at this school, just outside of New Orleans.

She dropped in on St. Bernard Unified School in Chalmette on her second day -- or, the second stop of the day. And then she's going to move on to Mississippi. So we'll continue to follow, of course, her trip. And as soon as she steps up to the mike, we'll take that live.

Well, the first lady's visit comes as New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast continues to struggle to rebuild. Here's an update on where those efforts stand right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE CORRESPONDENT: Three New Orleans public schools have reopened out of more than a dozen that existed before Katrina. Ben Franklin High School was the most recent. It actually reopened as a charter school. Officials say 533 students have returned for classes. That's about 57 percent of the school's pre- Katrina enrollment.

The city's infrastructure has come a long way. Electrical service has been restored to 95 percent of the customers in the city. Gas is restored to 81 percent. Though there are several neighborhoods where services are still almost entirely unavailable.

The Louis Armstrong International Airport is operating at 50 percent of pre-Katrina levels for arrivals and about 33 percent for departures. Almost all the roads of New Orleans have reopened, although at least one highway still remains flooded. And the I-10 Slidell twinspan bridge only has one lane open to traffic going both ways.

One sign normalcy is returning, watch where you park. Tickets are being issued again in the French Quarter and the business district.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We continue to monitor this live picture out of Chalmette there, just outside of New Orleans. Waiting for the first lady to speak to these students. We'll take it live as soon as it happens. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com