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Mardi Gras Lifts Spirits; Louisiana Senator Weighs in on Mardi Gras, Recovery; Sectarian Violence, Unease in Baghdad; Prisoners Riot in Afghanistan

Aired February 27, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
Le bon temps roule (ph). Let the good times roll. Against all odds it's a motto of spirit that's a live and well in New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2006. A lot of people still believe it's no way to mark half a year since Hurricane Katrina, though, but there are a lot of others facing Fat Tuesday with parties, parades and passion.

CNN's Sean Callebs is floating high above Bourbon Street right now.

And Sean, I know you've been tackling all the serious issues throughout the past six months. We'll get to those, but this has got to feel great.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it really does. And actually you said floating. Just come over here for a minute. This is what we have to endure. It has been so quiet you could hear a pin drop and now we get these guys who just kind of want to do a little buzzing. But just decided to let you know what was making the hideous noise.

And you saw last night some video of the parades and how much fun people are laughing, smiling. Well, look at it here. This smells as bad as you can imagine. Compared to the fun that people had last night, but we know -- we know the crews are going be out here and clean this mess up at some point. But really, it really was a great time last night.

We had a chance to talk with a lot of local folks and to a person, everyone saying not only are they having a great time this year, but they're getting a feel, a sense that this is a real family celebration this year.

Make no mistake about it, it had changed over the last decade plus, but we are out, had the pleasure of riding with in the Endymion Krewe, Kyra. Wish you would have been down here for this one.

We started out, made our way down St. Charles and then down Canal Street, just packed 20 deep on both sides, and this was the second massive super crew on the day. The Bacchus folks went down first and I had a chance to throw some beads.

And I want you to look up there and you see our good friend Dave Russkin (ph) getting ready to interview Senator Vitter. There we go. This is the first...

PHILLIPS: Can you get the senator to throw you some beads, Sean?

CALLEBS: We'll see. Come on, Senator, let's see what we've got. Good throw!

PHILLIPS: Notice, Sean, how I didn't say, "Show me something, mister." Sean said, Senator, give me whatever you've got.

CALLEBS: No. No, no. We're -- we're going to keep it nice here on Bourbon Street. Great crowd out here. Perfect weather, Kyra.

But you know, you talked about some real serious issues that they're coping with. We talked to Congressman last week and he said that one of the big concerns was this parade was going to wind its way through about the 20 percent of the city that wasn't flooded, coming down through. So he wondered if it really was an accurate depiction. Well, probably not.

If you go anywhere off the beaten path you're going to run into a debris field. You're going to run into frustrated people who don't know if the city is going to rebuild or how they are going to rebuild. But you know what? People say they needed to smile. They needed to laugh. They needed to have a good time and they've been able to do that. So let's just hope that Mardi Gras continues to keep on, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, Sean, what do you think? I was talking to a lot of locals last week, just getting their feel for the parades and the vibe there in the city, and they said it really isn't a lot of tourists this year. That it's just been mostly a morale booster for families and for the locals. Would you agree with that?

CALLEBS: Well, I think a big part of that is true, because if you think about it, they don't have the 38,000 hotel rooms they've had in previous years. They only had 28,000. At least 10,000 of those have been filled up with emergency workers who are out there.

But -- but, New Orleans Tourism Council tell us that a lot of those emergency workers brought their families down. So they're enjoying this as much as anybody. And we know that hotel occupancy was above 95 percent, so it's doing pretty well.

In the past Mardi Gras has done about a billion dollars in terms of revenue to this city. It's not going to make anywhere near that much this year. Maybe, maybe, $300 million if everything goes well.

But what people are taking away right now, Kyra, is the fact that it's going really well. There have been no serious problems. There was horrible weather on Saturday, but there was postponement -- postponement, not cancellation -- of the Endymion parade. But it went off yesterday. They went right behind Bacchus.

And what means, for the people who need a lesson in Mardi Gras 101, those were the two biggest parades. In Endymion alone, there were 60 floats, 2,200 people. The stuff we see out here. Twenty-two hundred people and at least 200 of those people lost everything. They lost their homes. They're rebuilding from scratch. But you know what? They smiled and they laughed and they had a good time.

Wednesday, it's going hit everything everybody again. Smiles are going fade. They're going to begin to go back and figure out how they're going to rebuild. They're going to worry about the levees. But right now, things are great and people here couldn't be more happy.

PHILLIPS: It's great to hear. We'll continue to follow those krewes as they role, Sean. And continue to check in with you and also talk a lot about the serious issues plaguing that city, still.

Sean Callebs, thank you so much.

Stay with CNN for continuing live coverage of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and around the Gulf Coast. CNN's Anderson Cooper in New Orleans tonight beginning at 10 p.m. Eastern. He's going to give you an inside look at Fat Tuesday parade preps.

And Miles O'Brien and Soledad O'Brien tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," live in New Orleans, beginning 6 a.m. Eastern Time.

Let's get straight now to Tony Harris. He's working a number of developing stories in the newsroom.

Tony, what do you have for us?

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Kyra, we've got a couple of things for you. You remember Don Knotts? I know you do.

PHILLIPS: Of course. We actually called him on his birthday. I think he was turning 79, and he was a hoot. I've got to tell you.

HARRIS: Great fun. "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," Barney Fife from Mayberry, those shows.

And then we learned over the weekend also that Darren McGavin, Kolchak from "The Nightstalker" show had passed away. So a rough couple of days for television stars in Hollywood.

And then we're just learning, Kyra, that actor Dennis Weaver has died. The actor, who was probably best remembered for his role as Chester Goode in the long-running TV western, "Gunsmoke." Kyra, that show ran for 20 years with James Arness as the U.S. marshal, Amanda Blake, Miss Kitty. Ken Curtis as Festus. Loved him.

He was also the star, Weaver was, of "McCloud." That show ran for seven years, from 1970 until 1977. Dennis Weaver was also a former president of the Screen Actors Guild. I did not know that.

Dennis weaver died on Friday from complications from cancer. He was 81 years old, and he died in Colorado.

Another story we're watching, Kyra, live pictures now from KTTV in Los Angeles. A mountain lion, Kyra, is asleep under some bushes on a property in Altadena, California, just outside of Los Angeles. East of Los Angeles. A sheriff's official is telling us that they're waiting for animal control to arrive on the scene to capture that mountain lion and take it back to where it belongs.

A nearby school, we understand, has been placed on lockdown as a result of what is going on now. You can -- we haven't made a visual on the mountain lion yet, Kyra, but we are watching it. You see police cars are on the scene there and animal control, we understand, is on the way. We'll follow that and bring you an update on that story, as well.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Tony. Thanks so much. We'll keep checking in with you.

HARRIS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: We've been talking a lot about Mardi Gras, of course, for the past couple of days. And for all the celebration, New Orleans is still a city largely in ruins. The focus now and for months to come, reconstruction.

Joining me now from New Orleans, U.S. Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana.

Senator, I know you're up there on the balcony, and Sean Callebs is down there on Bourbon. Thanks for tossing him some beads. I appreciate that. I hope you saved some for yourself.

SEN. DAVID VITTER (R), LOUISIANA: Yes, absolutely, Kyra. Great to be with you.

PHILLIPS: Well, you know, we've got a lot to talk about, Senator. I guess first of all I want to ask you: why did you decide not to run for governor?

VITTER: Well, I think I have the greatest job in the world, and it's particularly challenging and fulfilling now as we work on more federal health and response in terms of our recovery. I really think I dove into that and it's going pretty well, although we have a long, long road to go.

So I'm completely focused on that federal end of things, which is going to be very important in terms of the overall picture.

PHILLIPS: And Senator, you're a Republican. You've been pretty outspoken that you've been disappointed with the Bush administration. You wrote an op ed piece for the "Washington Post," saying the administration recently rejected legislation by Representative Richard Baker, a Republican from Baton Rouge...

VITTER: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... to create the Louisiana Recovery Corporation. But the Bush administration came back saying, "No. We're not going to -- we're not in support of this bill, because it doesn't talk about key elements, among them the decisions on where and when not to rebuild."

VITTER: Right.

PHILLIPS: Does the legislation need to go be more specific? Are you thinking about more specific legislation? Obviously, rebuilding is a huge priority right now.

VITTER: Well, what I said in the op ed was we need to come together from the state of Louisiana. We need to have a clear and coherent vision that speaks with clarity and a lot of detail about exactly how we're going rebuild right, including that tough -- what's called around here the footprint question: where to rebuild and where not to rebuild, because I get that question all the time from Washington. Folks want to make sure that we're rebuilding smart and right so that we don't rebuild in areas subject to catastrophic flooding again. Cash from...

PHILLIPS: so how do you decide that, Senator? How do you decide that?

VITTER: It needs to be a discussion that starts right here on the ground in New Orleans and in Louisiana. And that is what's happening with a lot of planning. But ultimately we need to have a plan coming out of Louisiana that's very bold and detailed, in that way to gain confidence and credibility in Washington.

From the Washington end, that needs to be married with the resources and with the commitment. And I think we're making strides in both directions, because since I wrote that op ed, the Bush administration's come out for another $4.2 billion for our housing needs and rebuilding needs.

PHILLIPS: Let's bring up, for example, let's say the Ninth Ward. Of course, this has been an area of discussion since the very beginning. You know, we both have lived there and spent a lot of time there.

VITTER: Right.

PHILLIPS: This is an area where it was the only area that a large part of this population could afford to live, but we know it was in a low-lying area, and we knew it was prone to the type of disaster that we've seen. So, for example, the Ninth Ward. What about those people? Will they be able to come back? And what are your thoughts of making other parts of that city more integrated?

VITTER: Well, I think the exciting thing is, if we can do this right, we can give folks like that and folks elsewhere more recovery opportunity, more recovery in terms of their financial loss and they could possible have otherwise through well-structured buyouts and the like.

So I think folks in that position will accept a good plan, even one that reduces the footprint of the city, because it can give them more recovery than they can possible hope for otherwise, and they can rebuild their lives in a nearby part of a safer community. PHILLIPS: Let's talk about responding to disasters. Of course, in the past number of weeks we've been paying attention to the hearings on the Hill. General Russel Honore coming forward, talking about military intervention in natural disasters.

VITTER: Right.

PHILLIPS: What's your feeling about that? Does the military need to be involved from this point on? Does it play an important role? And also, what about the Louisiana National Guard? There's talks about cuts. And we saw how desperately we needed those men and women, while so many of them were overseas in Iraq?

VITTER: I think for disasters, including natural disasters of a certain size and scope, the U.S. military should absolutely be the lead agency from the get go. I think that's perhaps the single biggest lessons I hope we learn from Katrina.

After Katrina, when we finally started turning the corner in terms of the immediate rescue operations was about Friday and Saturday after the storm hit on Monday, when we had massive numbers of military boots on the ground in New Orleans.

And so I think that's a key lesson learned, that the U.S. military has to lead the way, not for every hurricane, not for every disaster, but those of such a size and challenge like Katrina that it takes that capability.

PHILLIPS: I want to make sure I ask you about schools. I know this is something that's close to your heart. I remember 10 years ago doing pieces on these schools where books were being destroyed by termites. The same schools dealing with those same problems a decade later.

Now many of these schools wiped out. Kids can't go back to these schools. What are you going to do to make sure the school system accommodates not only the wealthy that can afford to go to private schools, but what about the public school system and giving everybody equal opportunity to get a good education?

VITTER: Well, again, this is an exciting opportunity, but I hope it's coming out of this tragedy.

As you know, Kyra, before the storm, the Orleans Parish public school system was one of the most failed and dysfunctional in the country. Now because of the tragedy of the storm, we really have a clean slate ask, and we need to use that opportunity to build exciting charter schools, other innovative schools that can really get the job done.

I think we've begun to do our part in Congress. In December when we passed the big hurricane relief package, there was a major education component, and part of that component offers over half a billion dollars of start-up money for new, innovative charter and other schools. So we need to use that opportunity here on the ground to build a whole new system from scratch, particularly in Orleans Parish, where the public school system, quite frankly, was completely failed.

PHILLIPS: Senator David Vitter, thank you for your time, sir. I bet this New Orleans -- or this Mardi Gras season means a lot to you, no doubt, growing up there, yes?

VITTER: Absolutely. This is a very important Mardi Gras to boost our spirits, No. 1. Also, to jump start the tourist economy. And it's been a huge success on both counts so far.

PHILLIPS: Senator, thanks for your time.

VITTER: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Beads, parade, costumes and king cake, just some of the basics of Mardi Gras, but we want you to know all about the celebration, the early days, the rituals and the Charles Darwin connection. Mardi Gras unmasked, coming up on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The daytime curfew has ended. The violence goes on in Iraq. After dark in Baghdad, a bombing at a Sunni mosque reportedly kills four people. There was a daytime attack, as well. Deep unease after last week's deadly chaos.

CNN's Aneesh Raman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The curfew in Baghdad lifted today as the city tried to return to normal. Traffic on the streets, the shops were open, but the violence persisted.

A mortar attack on a Shia neighborhood left at least four killed, some 17 others wounded. And elsewhere in Baghdad suburbs, the sectarian tension remains incredibly high. There are a number of reports of Sunni armed men going into Shia areas and forcing Shia families to leave their homes. Equivalent reports of Shia militias doing the same to Sunni families in Sunni neighborhoods.

This as the government tries to restart talks on forming a unity government. Sunni politicians have said they are set to join talks with the Shia and the Kurdish leaders as long as the current government delivers on a number of issues that they are yet to do. So those talks, essentially, while in principle agreed upon, have yet to begin.

Also new word on the fate of American journalist Jill Carroll, kidnapped now since January 7. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, saying in an interview that the interior minister here has reason to have hope that Jill Carroll could soon be released, that there are talks going on with those holding her captive.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Stepping back from the brink in Afghanistan. Both sides make concessions in a deadly rebellion that broke out Saturday at Kabul's main prison. Journalist Tom Coghlan is there, joins us by phone.

Once again, Tom, bring us up-to-date about these prison riots.

TOM COGHLAN, CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, this evening the situation is that the Afghan authorities are really taking a long view of this process (ph). They're not pushing for now the -- to break through. They're not trying to storm the prison. They're merely confining the prisoners with, according to police, and working for a long-term solution on this.

Really there are just too many prisoners in there, about 1,900 prisoners involved in this riot. They can't go in with -- with force and hope to break up this riot without risking heavy casualties amongst the prisoners. So they're just biding their time and hoping that the prisoners will come around and find some sort of solution to this.

PHILLIPS: Nineteen hundred prisoners. Can you sort of give us a feel for what type of prisoners we're talking about? Backgrounds, purpose and also the leaders of this revolt. What do we know about the leaders?

COGHLAN: Well, we know that there are three different types of prisoners involved here. They're basic criminals, a pretty hardened bunch of criminals. This is a high-security prison in Afghanistan. There is also a number of women prisoners. The women's block were taken over during the riots, maybe a hundred women prisoners in there, with children, as well.

Now there's a significant group within that 1,900 Taliban and al Qaeda-related prisoners. They're some of the most dangerous prisoners in Afghanistan and much of the leadership is coming from them. There are a number of senior Taliban commanders, one in particular, Mullah Mohammed Mahmed Jahid (ph), who's supposed to be a leader of this riot. So a number of Pakistanis militants in the Pul-i-Charkhi prison. They're supposed to be acting as leaders, as well.

And the authorities are saying that they're putting a lot of pressure on other prisoners to conform to their view of how this process, this riot should unfold and they really are the dominant force within the prison.

PHILLIPS: Are they able to, the prison guards, to separate the various prisoners? I mean, I hear that you talked about members of al Qaeda, and then you mentioned women and children. Is it a situation where everybody is within the same area or is it well divided?

COGHLAN: Well, the women's prison and the -- the block that contains what are being referred to as political prisoners -- hat's the Taliban and al Qaeda contingent -- are connected, and the prisoners have reportedly broken through from that political prisoners block into the women's block.

What's going on in that women's block is unclear. There are reports from Afghan officials that women have been heard screaming within the blocks. There are suggestions that there may be some sort of sexual violence from some of the prisoners towards those women. It's impossible to verify those reports at the moment.

The criminal block is separate, though, and it doesn't appear that they're able to get into the other blocks. They just rioted in support of the others.

PHILLIPS: Any sense if this can get under control and what this might call for, and is it possible that U.S. military could be called in to help?

COGHLAN: Well, I was at the prison today, and there are U.S. military personnel at the prison. They're very discreet. They're maintaining a low profile, and they're very key to stress that the Afghans are leading on this operation.

The solution that the Afghans are going for is clearly one of wearing the prisoners down, trying to -- trying to get from them, to negotiate them and ultimately to find a peaceful solution.

Now, whether they'll be able to do that in the face of some pretty extreme, fundamental elements -- fundamentalist elements within that prison body is unclear. So that's what they're going to try and do. And at the moment it's a relatively calm situation. The prisoners are contained. And they're just hoping that the endgame will produce a peaceful solution rather than the bloody one that everyone fears.

PHILLIPS: Tom Coghlan, live from Kabul, Afghanistan. thanks, Tom.

Terror suspects held by the dozen in wire cages, foam mats for beds, plastic buckets once the only latrines. "The New York Times" describes the holding pen for some 500 detainees at the U.S. Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The "Times" says the conditions are far worse than at the controversial U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.

And the U.S. military confirmed that some of the Bagram prisoners have been held for two or three years with no access to lawyers. Officials insist the prisoners are treated humanely and provided the best possible conditions.

A shoot-out in Saudi Arabia. Five suspected militants shot dead. It happened in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, three days after a failed attack on a huge Saudi oil complex in which all of the suspects are believed to have been involved. A sixth suspect was arrested.

Straight ahead, an update on that deal that would put an Arab company in charge of several U.S. ports.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Second look. Amid a boatload of second guessing, the Arab company that's poised to take over management of six major U.S. seaports is asking for another government review of that deal. It will take 45 days, and it will be done by the same panel that OK'ed that deal in the first place. That has Democrats doubting a second review will be any different from the first.

The company is pledging to keep its distance. Dubai Ports World says a London-based executive will control its U.S. operations during the probe. Also, Dubai executives won't try to control or influence any company business in the U.S.

And, in another attempt to keep the deal afloat, the company plans to make an American its security chief right here in the U.S.

The clock will be ticking for attorneys at the next Vioxx trial, quite literally. The judge presiding over the trial has a unique way of keeping verbose testimony in check.

Susan Lisovicz has that story from the New York Stock Exchange.

I haven't heard about this now, Susan. So you have my attention.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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