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Major Offensive Launched in Iraq; National Security Report Released; Healthy Volunteers Sickened in U.K. Drug Trial; Hawaii Fights Back Floods

Aired March 16, 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.
Swarmer n Samarra, a major operation, the largest air offensive since the start of the Iraq war three years ago this week under way in the Sunni Triangle. More than 1,500 American and Iraqi troops, more than 50 aircraft and many more details from senior international correspondent Nic Robertson in Baghdad -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it appears that the operations will slow down a little bit overnight. The focus is to search the area, search it thoroughly. One of the officers close to the operation said that what they would want to do would be to wait for daylight tomorrow. That would be perhaps about eight to 10 hours away from now and then they can better, more thoroughly, comb through the area and search all the different premises that they want to search for.

Iraqi security forces, we're told, they say that the operation is focused on three different areas. They say that there are Arab fighters there, Iraqi insurgents living in a farmland-type area in the three particular villages, and they say that this area has become very dangerous for insurgent killings and for lootings, just lootings, checkpoints on roads, looting the local population as well as killings, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Nic, this assault came as Iraq's new parliament was sworn in today. Let's talk about the timing.

ROBERTSON: Certainly political process on one hand, military process on the other. There's a very keen awareness in this country of rising sectarian tensions from the destruction, the blowing up of that Shia mosque, Shia shrine several weeks ago in the town of Samarra not far from this operation.

So clearly, a military necessity and pressure to deal with whoever was behind the blowing up of the shrine. Perhaps this area where the operation is going on right now and the political necessity in a vacuum, three months since the government, the country went to the polls. The government has yet to be formed here. The parliament hasn't even met.

So the politicians under pressure to meet today to show the country that they can move forward politically, and that they hope they would reduce the sectarian tensions. We're seeing the military and political play out side-by-side right now, Kyra. PHILLIPS: Do we know how many, if any, Iraqi troops were involved in this operation?

ROBERTSON: We're being told that it's 1,500 both Iraqi and U.S. troops, and we're being guided towards the fact that it is more Iraqi troops than U.S. troops involved in the operation. We're being told that some of the Iraqi troops had only recently completed their training in the area, and this is symptomatic of the way that operations have been going.

If there's a greater component of Iraqi troops in this operation, that would -- that would be a sort of changing of the balance. Of course, there's a lot of pressure on the Iraqi army, the Iraqi police to build up to such a level that the U.S. forces can take a step back from the front line of this fight.

I asked Iraq's foreign minister a few hours ago when the Iraqi army would be ready to take over completely. He said he didn't know. It would be a long process, but this operation is an indication, I think. And certainly from the information the army is providing us at the moment, the information they're providing very clearly shows from what they're telling us, that the Iraqi army is taking a significant role in this. More of their troops are involved in it, though, clearly, an air assault, Iraqi forces do not have significant air assets.

The photographs we saw showed many, perhaps as many as 20 101st Airborne -- well, helicopters, Black Hawk helicopters, presumably waiting to be used by 101st Airborne troops to go into that -- to go into that area.

So the air assets, the sort of heavy lift capability, as it's been described to us here, still relying very much on the U.S. military. But as we've been told the intelligence, a lot of the intelligence provided for this operation, we're told, provided by Iraqi sources.

Very often in operations like this it's been a combination of both Iraqi information and electronically-gathered information that the air assets, perhaps aircraft flying overhead picking up signals, have been able to pinpoint insurgent activity or where key insurgents are.

But this operation, we're being told -- and again, specifically, the information very clearly tells us that the Iraqis have provided some of the intelligence here, that they're providing more than half of the troops, and this is an operation they're taking a significant role in, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

I want to bring in now retired brigadier general and CNN military analyst David Grange.

General, I just want to ask you about the Iraqi troops that apparently have participated in this -- in this assault, do Iraqi troops have air assets now or is that just U.S. military?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: They have some air assets. But the ones used in this operation are U.S. military helicopters. The Black Hawk, and obviously, they've received a good bit of air assault training in preparation for this mission.

PHILLIPS: So will they get more helicopters? Do we see Iraqi troops eventually learning how to be strike fighter pilots and actually getting jets like Saddam Hussein's regime actually had years back? Because it seems an air assault, if you look at something like this, and if you look at the beginning of the war, is what really helps you get the upper hand on an operation like this?

GRANGE: Well, I think that the Iraqi forces, they already have some air mobility assets, both helicopter and fixed wing. I mean, we've assisted in training their pilots on some systems, but the idea here is you combine the ability for vertical envelopment. In other words, both three -- the three-dimensional aspects of a campaign, which this operation demonstrates.

PHILLIPS: Now, we've talked a lot about the airborne and the combat forces. But you look at all the other players involved, from infantry to hunters, to commandos. I mean, you used to strategize attacks like this. Kind of help us visualize the planning.

We're looking actually at training video right now. So maybe as we look at this training video you can tell me how all these various parts fit together in something like this? It's not just an air assault, but there are so many other factions.

GRANGE: Well, that's true. I mean, we're focused right now on the use of the helicopters in the reporting, but, in fact, it's helicopters tied in with movement of vehicles in concert. Very well- timed. Some are blocking position so insurgents cannot escape from the area.

Some are vehicles positioning to provide what they call maybe over watch, or to push insurgents out of an area into a position where they'll be either killed or captured. And so it's -- it's a lot of work that goes into the planning for an operation like this, and they rehearse it to detail.

And what's really unique I think, about this operation, regardless of what comes out of it, how many enemy or killed or captured, is the fact that it shows the Iraqi army is getting quite proficient. This is a great demonstration of that fact.

PHILLIPS: We just got some new numbers. And I want to get your response to this, because you're pointing out the progress of the Iraqi forces. This is a recent CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, and the question was what will happen in Iraq? And certain U.S. -- are you certain that the U.S. will win?

Right now, 22 percent say yes; 69 percent say, no. It seems like there's this increasing -- it's a pessimistic attitude that seems to be getting bigger? GRANGE: Well, you know, the pessimistic attitude is the one thing that will cause us to lose the war. When the will is gone, then there's no chance for the American G.I.s or Iraqi soldiers to possibly win. So hopefully, that won't happen much more.

You know, I just had the opportunity to talk to about 600 young captains and sergeants at Fort Benning, Georgia. And many of them just returning back from Iraq and Afghanistan. They think we're going to win. They're the ones on the ground. I think they may know the answer.

PHILLIPS: Why do you think the assault happened today? I asked Nic the same question. You know, he's there on the ground, but from a general's perspective, I mean, this assault came exactly at the same time Iraq's new parliament was sworn in today.

GRANGE: It may have been timed for effect. But the point is, it was -- a couple things. One, it was launched without a lot of people knowing about it. Personally, I like that.

It also was set up to achieve not only surprise but the quickness of sealing off areas and then going in on this operation. It also demonstrated that the Iraqi army will go where they need to go throughout Iraq and conduct operations, regardless of what you hear about the abilities of the insurgents. So it actually accomplished quite a few things.

PHILLIPS: Retired Brigadier General David Grange. Thanks for your time.

GRANGE: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: War in Iraq, nukes in North Korea. Yet Iran may pose the single greatest threat to the United States today. So warns President Bush in an updated version of his national security policy in which he defends his policy of preemptive attacks.

CNN Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House now with the latest -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, first on that, the air assault out of Iraq, of course. We -- most of the briefing focusing on that.

This is something that the president, of course, has staked his legacy on, the success out of Iraq, and is it is a very important issue for him. As you know, the poll numbers showing very little appetite from Americans in supporting this Iraq mission.

I asked Scott McClellan, essentially, to take us back to that day President Bush, May 1, 2003, when he stood in front of a "mission accomplished" sign and announced that major combat operations in Iraq had ended. Asked whether or not, in fact, that was still the case now, considering the scale and scope of today's air assault.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT MCCLELLAND, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There have been a number of operations that have been undertaken over the last several months, over the last year to go and root out the terrorists and to target the regime loyalists.

And so this is another operation that is aimed at the area north of Baghdad and the Samarra area to go after some insurgents that are in that area, as the military pointed out in their statement, but no one said the combat operations weren't ongoing. Those operations continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Kyra, of course the question was about the timing of this operation as well as, you know, it comes as those low poll numbers. But it also comes in the midst of this campaign, a big P.R. campaign by the president to convince the American people to support the Iraq mission. It comes as we approach the third anniversary of the Iraq war.

Scott McClellan saying that this was not some sort of coordinated effort to actually use this strike as a way to prove that President Bush really is going after the terrorists -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne, tell me more what's in this new national security report that you've referenced?

MALVEAUX: Kyra, it was released earlier this morning. Essentially, it's 49 pages that focuses on two things.

One, strong, harsh words for Iran, saying that over the last 20 years or so that it's engaged in trying to cover up creating or trying to development a nuclear weapons program.

The other thing, of course, is the preemptive strike policy, again reaffirming that that is U.S. policy. You may recall, of course, that was -- that was the rationale for going to war in Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. It was a threat to the United States. We since know that that is not the case with weapons of mass destruction.

But they make the point here, saying that: "Our strong preference and common practice is to address proliferation concerns through international diplomacy in concert with key allies and regional partners. If necessary, however, under long-standing principles of self-defense we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack."

No apologies there, Kyra, when it comes to the preemptive strike, first this policy by the United States, was asked whether or not there were lessons learned. And he said, of course, the president is taking a second look at intelligence, that reforming intelligence is what they're focused on. Because of course, as we know, the intelligence was very wrong -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux from the White House. Thanks, Suzanne.

Big step today for Bob Woodruff. The ABC News anchor who was almost killed in Iraq left Bethesda Naval Medical Center for a rehab center in greater New York. The network expects several months of recuperation. Woodruff and his photographer, Doug Vogt, were riding in a convoy when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in January. Vogt left the hospital a few weeks ago and returned to his home in France.

Six healthy young men volunteer for a drug trial. What could go wrong? We're going to tell you when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Firefighters in Texas are breathing a little easier for the moment. The winds have shifted, moving this colossal fire away from six towns in the northeast corner of the panhandle. Nearly 900,000 acres have burned since Sunday.

Eleven people have died, including the sister of the Borger fire chief and the elderly couple she was trying to save. The governor plans to tour that area in a couple of hours.

Other risky by definition drug trials on human volunteers assessing risks and benefits before new medicines are sold to the general public. This week in London, one of those tests went terribly wrong, and a half dozen young and formerly healthy men, are fighting for their lives.

CNN's Robyn Curnow has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Raste Kahn was one of eight volunteers for a clinical trial for a new drug. He and another man got placebos instead of the drug, but six other young men received an anti-inflammatory drug being tested on humans for the first time. Labeled human guinea pigs by the newspapers, Rusty watched as the other volunteers became violently ill.

RASTE KAHN, DRUG TRIAL VOLUNTEER: The gentleman on my left started screaming, said his head was hurting, he was hot, and he couldn't breathe and he was hyperventilating. They had an oxygen mask on him. And then he was -- it was like someone was stabbing him in his back, because he was screaming, his back was hurting.

CURNOW: Here at this London clinic, two men are in critical condition, four others remain in serious condition. Doctors at the clinic say they're consulting specialists in the U.K. and elsewhere.

DR. GANESH SUNTHARALINGHAM, NORTHWICK PARK HOSPITAL: The exact sequence of what's happening here is obviously unique. There's no one has had this particular agent before, so they've not had this reaction to it before.

CURNOW: The new drug is made by German pharmaceutical company TeGenero.

THOMAS HANKE, TEGENERO: They're devastated about these developments, and it was absolutely unpredictable.

CURNOW: An American company, Parexel, was running the trial and says it followed guidelines and that cases like this are extremely rare.

(on camera) Being involved in clinical drug trials is relatively common here in the United Kingdom. In fact, magazines like this one openly advertise, targeting students and travelers and other people who want to make money by being involved in tests for new drugs.

(voice-over) Guy Dickerson was unemployed two years ago when he signed up for a kidney drug trial run by the same U.S. firm, Parexel. He earned nearly $4,000 for a three-week stay in hospital and he says he was made aware of the risks.

GUY DICKERSON, MEDICAL VOLUNTEER: You were given a time to read through the information, but I certainly didn't give it a huge amount of thought, a ridiculous amount of thought. And whether, you know, the other people who were doing it did or not, I don't know. But I think it was all about the money.

CURNOW: Given what's happened this week, Dickerson says he would never volunteer for a drug trial again.

Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Governments around the world keep warning us about bird flu. So why aren't more of them buying up drugs to help humans? That story straight ahead.

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

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PHILLIPS: U.S. forces and Iraqi troops joining forces for one of the biggest operations since the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion. It actually, according to the military, is once of the largest air assaults since the war began. Operation Swarmer is what we're talking about. Apparently, it cleared out a suspected insurgent area northeast of Samarra, and its expected to continue over are the next couple of days.

We're going to have more on this operation. The Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, at the half hour.

Meanwhile, concerns about a worldwide pandemic of the bird flu are on the rise. Are governments doing enough to prepare? Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with the latest on that -- Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More rain, more flooding, maybe more dam breaks. As much as 106 inches of rain have fallen on Hawaii in less than four weeks. An earthen dam on the island of Kauai was crumbled under the weight in the water, and seven people were swept away, including a couple set to marry on Saturday. So far two bodies have been found.

Reporter Ron Mizutani of our affiliate KHON has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON MIZUTANI, KHON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): City crews and private contractors working together at Morita Reservoir. Their goal is to lower water levels at the swollen dam.

(on camera) It's nearly midnight now and these pumps have been going strong for about six hours, releasing about 20,000 gallons of water every 30 minutes. And that has lowered the water level here at Morita Dam significantly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe eight feet it's gone down.

MIZUTANI (voice-over): A second pump speeds up the process, and adds efficiency. Sunrise, and the Army Corps of Engineers would soon arrive. Over on the south side of the island, at Knudsen Gap on Kuhio Highway, contractors battle the clock, as well, working on a pesky mudslide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All night we work. The rain keeps up you know. A lot of dirt.

MIZUTANI: Traffic is down to just one lane for several hours. Their goal is to clear the area before the morning rush hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all backed up. Working all night to do better.

MIZUTANI: And if it's not mudslides, drivers are forced to maneuver through flooded roads and highways, but in some areas, like Poipu (ph), driving isn't even a possibility.

At sunrise, it's apparent the hard overnight work has paid off. Pumps have lowered water levels at Morita Dam by 20 feet and the dam is no longer a threat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have the green light to go ahead and do some construction, prepare the road and get this open.

MIZUTANI (on camera): Sometimes in television things can appear to be two-dimensional. So we wanted to give you a perspective of how tall, and how wide and how powerful this wall of water was that came over the Morita Dam.

This mountain of debris behind me is at least 30 to 40 feet high. That's how tall that mountain of water was that came over the dam. The width, at least 100 yards.

(voice-over) Sunrise also sheds light on flooding across the island. The coconut marketplace has no space for more water. And in Hanapepe, a thick sheet of mud blankets the town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mud, rivers on streets. Cannot handle this. First time I see this.

MIZUTANI: More flooding in Waimea. Residents evacuate after the Waimea River rises. It's hard not think about Kilauea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody suffers. It devastates the whole island. It's a big family here on Kauai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Hawaii's governor toured the devastation late yesterday. She admitted the state hasn't kept tabs on aging privately owned dams, 60 of which are on Kauai.

Let's get straight to Fredricka Whitfield. She's working, actually, an interview out of that area, about possible rescue operations -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, in that piece, you saw how they are working to lower the water levels, while the search for the seven reported missing intensifies. From

The Coast Guard, Captain Manson Brown is on the line with us.

And, captain, give us an idea how you are going about this search of seven people?

CAPTAIN MANSON BROWN, U.S. COAST GUARD: Fredricka, the Coast Guard's been involved in the search since the outset initially. Small boats from Station Kauai responded to the scene. One of the small boats recovered the first person that was found. Since that time, we've expanded the search based upon our drift model, and currently we're searching about 30 miles east-northeast of Kauai.

WHITFIELD: Captain, what makes this search so difficult? Because we're talking about in some parts water levels have gone down. So obviously, you're looking for bodies where there are debris mounds, as well as areas where there's still high water?

BROWN: Well, the coast guard is focused on the maritime portion of the search. And at this point, we're looking for survivors based upon the likelihood as projected by our computer search model. .

WHITFIELD: How concerned are you about these other 60 or so dams that the governor has said could potentially be very vulnerable?

BROWN: Again, the Coast Guard's focus is on the active maritime search and rescue. We've got a Navy peacery (ph), a Coast Guard C- 130, a control boat, and also special Kuai small boats engaged in that active search effort. I will refer you to state civil defense and the other local folks that are engaged in onshore activities.

WHITFIELD: So what are some of the biggest obstacles that you're facing?

BROWN: One of the big concerns we have is the amount of debris that came down with the floods into the water. There's a possibility that survivors could be clinging to the debris. So our search efforts are focused on sorting through that debris and then diverting any small boats we have on scene to investigate targets.

WHITFIELD: And how are you doing that? How are you able to negotiate the debris mounds when, obviously, your mobility is being hampered with such?

BROWN: Our mobility on the water is actually very hampered, but because we've got helicopters and fixed-winged aircraft, they're able to spot -- and particularly during daylight hours, we use small boat crews and very difficult work to try to navigate through the debris.

WHITFIELD: Captain Manson Brown of the U.S. Coast Guard, thanks for being with us. So, Kyra, the search continues for the seven reported missing. And as Captain Manson was underscoring, already two bodies have been found.

BROWN: All right, Fred, thanks so much. We'll follow that story.

And also more on Operation Swarmer. today's new and very large air assault northwest of Baghdad. The combat zone is not only insurgent hotbed, but it's also where the latest explosion of sectarian violence began.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins me now.

Barbara, we were talking a lot about the sectarian violence just within the past couple of days. The timing seems to fit?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It does indeed, Kyra. This operation, launched with tactical surprise, certainly catching almost everyone off guard, at least here in the Pentagon it did, but Iraqi officials saying that this had been in the works. They had been planning it, that they felt there was insurgent activity in this area north of Samarra. This is a relatively rural area, widespread, a number of villages there. So they are going to be very cautious moving through this wide area, trying to control who moves in, who moves out, making sure as they conduct their cordons and sweeps that they are cautious about any civilians in the area. Insurgents often engaging in the activity of putting themselves in villages, living with family, living with their own families to try and basically, if you will, hide in plain sight.

This is an operation with about 1,500 troops. It's kind of an even split between U.S. forces and Iraqi forces, helicopter assault led by the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. That is what they do. So it's unfolding as we believe as a pretty typical air assault operation. Troops loading up on these helicopter, moving to the area, being dropped off, others helicopters remaining overhead, conducting surveillance. And the troops basically moving through the area. The Iraqi troops moving through, doing the cordons and searches that they do after they move in by these Blackhawk helicopters that have brought them there.

There is very little information so far about what they have found. So far saying they have captured some weapons, some IED-making materials, the kind of thing you would expect to find in many places in Iraq. But what's interesting so far is we're not getting any word about any engagements, any shooting going on, any opposition forces. So it will remain to be seen who they capture, and to what extent will really make a difference on the ground to the security situation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: What do you think? How long is it going to last, Barbara?

STARR: Officials tells us this will go on for several days. And, of course, one can expect, Kyra, as in many other areas, there will be some sort of leave-behind force, if you will, troops who will stay behind, trying to work with Iraqi security forces in the area and ensure that everything, once they do leave, remains in a stable condition.

But what people are also keeping their eye on at this point is Baghdad. There is sectarian violence there, has been very bad. It is Iraqi civilians in Baghdad who are suffering, and there has been some repositioning of both U.S. and Iraqi troops back into the Baghdad area to try and beef up their presence there and get a handle on the similar situation in the capital city -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Barbara Starr, live from the Pentagon, thanks so much.

It's one thing to sit here and analyze the war being fought around the Iraqi city of Samarra. Quite another to see the place with your own eyes.

CNN's Arwa Damon has. She joins me now live from Baghdad.

And, Arwa, I remember when were you here in Atlanta, we talked about this area. This has been pretty much been a breeding ground for insurgents for a while, right?

ARWA DAMON, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. And if you'd like, I'll take us back to October of 2004 when U.S. forces launched their first significant operation in Samarra. Now the city back then fell pretty fast, but since then it's not quite come under control. It's a very tribal area, both the city itself and the fields and farmlands behind it. Essentially it is run by the tribes. And it has been this way for quite some time, even under Saddam Hussein's rule. He never quite was able to control them. Instead, he just left them on their own now.

When we were back there on previous operation, villagers there in the surrounding areas, and the people of Samarra, flat out will tell you that they will not be controlled by any government or by anyone at all -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So what's your sense, then, Arwa? As you talk to your sources, you've been with troops, you even talked to the locals, was this air assault necessary to try and weed out, I guess, this lack of cooperation with what the new government is wanting to do?

DAMON: Well, that kind of takes us to the issue of, why was an air assault conducted? And that was likely for a number of reasons. First being that this was an airbone division that conducted the operation, and this is how they travel. This is their normal way of traveling, by air, carrying all of their gear and supplies on their back.

The second reason is that the territory which they are going into, these fields and farmlands, are very spread out. What we hear from resident there is that houses -- farms, rather, are about 300 meters apart, at least. So it's a huge stretch of territory. So it would make sense for an air assault to happen, that that they wanted to drop their troops in, spread them out as much as possible to cover as much ground as they possibly can, and of course there is the element of surprise -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So how long do you think this will last? Do you know -- you've been there on these strategizing sessions. You've seen how troops organize these type of operations. Does it look like it will be over within 24 hours? Or do you think this will continue on for a number of days?

DAMON: You know, Kyra, if there's one thing to be said, it's that nothing here in Iraq really turns out the way you would necessarily expect it to. You can sit in a briefing about an operation that's meant to last three days; it lasts for two weeks. You can sit in another one on an operation that's meant to last for a week. It ends up being over in a few days. So at this point, it's really hard to tell.

PHILLIPS: Arwa Damon, joining us from Baghdad, always a pleasure, Arwa. Thanks so much.

DAMON: Democracy in action Iraq-style. The Iraqi parliament, all 275 newly elected lawmakers took their oath today. And that's about it. The rest of the very brief session reflected perfectly the current political climate: division, disagreement and discord. New lawmakers have yet to name a president, two vice presidents and a speaker.

Tear gas and fires in Paris. Hundreds of thousands of young workers outraged over jobs. The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you.

More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The prospect of freedom, at least temporarily, for the college students who allegedly burned churches in Alabama. A federal judge ruled today the three accused arsonists, who supposedly set fires just for laughs, will be allowed to post bond. Over prosecutors' pleas to the contrary, the judge set bond at $50,000 each, along with a series of conditions. The suspects have to live at their parents' homes with electronic monitoring, they'll have regularly scheduled drug tests and they have to stay away from alcohol, home computers and one another.

The hunt is on in Daytona Beach, Florida, for a suspected serial killer. Three women have died so far, and concerns center on college students coming there for spring break. But police think the killer is targeting prostitutes.

Tarik Minor of CNN affiliate WKMG reports that some of those potential victims are taking no chances.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TANYA RICHARDSON, CONCERNED ABOUT SAFETY: We'll get him first. Yes, we're going to get him first.

TARIK MINOR, WKMG REPORTER (voice-over): Rather than run from the man labeled serial killer, streetwalkers are seeking him out, vowing to track down the person responsible for murdering three Daytona Beach women.

RICHARDSON: It's somebody that we don't even know and that we pissed him off. His old lady was a streetwalker and turned into a crackhead, so he's after us, as a payback.

MINOR: Tanya Richardson says the city's prostitutes, drug dealers and homeless are a lot closer than most realize. She's not the only one worried about the city's three unsolved murders. Ministers are also pounding the pavement.

DENISE HORSMAN, STREET MINISTER: We are asking them to buddy up, stay in lighted areas, get off the street if they can. If they can't, to you know -- just to do anything they to get off the street.

MINOR: It's a warning the city's prostitutes are heeding to, while detectives track down new leads. Police are now being assisted by the same criminal profiler who helped detectives track the killer of Lillian Martin (ph) and her grandson Joshua Bryant in 2001.

RICHARDSON: The average Joe, when they see somebody on the street, a prostitute or a homeless person, they turn their head and look the other way. They don't want to see that, they don't want to know that exists, but it does. And we're asking that person to take notice. I carry a switchblade with me now. Everybody else does, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: He spent decades swearing that he was innocent, but could a murder convict in Ohio convince a jury? You'll find out ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Let's straight to Fredricka Whitfield in the newsroom right now, working a story. A bomb threat in San Diego. Fred?

WHITFIELD: That's right, Kyra. And this comes just less than a week after there was express concern about any kind of security at some of the NCAA basketball games. Well, at San Diego State University, at Cox Arena, apparently campus police dogs picked up a scent of a suspicious package. Immediately following, all the people inside that arena were evacuated. It is on lockdown right now, and a bomb squad is on the way.

Cox Arena is hosting four games today. And in addition to today's games being hosted there, also a roster of games taking place on Saturday. But as of now, everything is on hold. All of those people inside Cox Arena have now been evacuated outside, as you saw in that live picture. Of course, when the bomb squad gets there, and when we get more information, we'll be able to bring it to you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Great. Fredricka Whitfield, thanks so much.

Well, angry French students hit the streets, fearing that's exactly where they'll end up. They're protesting a new law that makes it easy for employers to fire young workers.

CNN's Jim Bittermann joins us now live from Paris, with more on the outrage over job insecurity.

Not a new issue, Jim, that's for sure.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not at all. In fact, I mean, France has a tradition of protecting jobs and every time someone tampers with that tradition, it seems like they get into trouble. And the current prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, is in trouble today because of these large street demonstrations.

Basically, it's been peaceful this afternoon. There have been some problems, especially later on this evening, as evening came. In fact, there have been some pretty pitched battles between the police and the students who have been trying to reoccupy Sorbonne University. They were in there until the weekend. The police kicked them out because they had caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, Jim, let me ask you. It was just a couple months ago that we covering protests in the urban areas of France, talking about how they felt discriminated against, and they weren't getting fair wages and jobs. Is this two separate groups? Are these two different youth movements, or is this stemming from the same protests that we saw a few months ago?

BITTERMANN: No. In fact, the two are directly related, because after those riots back in November in the suburbs, those riots involving mainly disadvantaged young people in the suburbs, the government decided to try to do something, and one of its plans was this new law, this change in the law, that, in fact, marks it easier for employers to fire people in the first two years of employment.

If someone doesn't work out, it's easier for them to be laid off. As it stands now, it's very difficult for an employer to lay people off and the government figured that this would allow employers to perhaps take a chance and employ more young people.

Well, out of that, and out of this law now come these protests which are people against the way the government's approaching this. But no one's offering any other kind of solution. So the government is really between a rock and a hard place on this one. They're trying to do something about youth unemployment.

Overall, youth unemployment in this country represents about a quarter of the young people who are unemployed, who don't have jobs. So you can see that something has to be done. You can also see why students are worried about their future -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: What about Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin? Any response? How is this going to affect him politically?

BITTERMANN: Well, this has really hurt him badly. The fact is that he managed to scrape through with those earlier riots back in November, but the protests over the last couple days here have really drawn down his popularity ratings, as much as perhaps nine points.

He, by the way, wants to run for president, oh, just over a year from now when presidential elections are held, and the -- basically the analysts here believe that he's been badly hit by this.

Now, maybe he'll have enough time to turn things around in that year and a month or so that he's got. But it may not work out that way and the big benefactor in some of this may be his interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been handling things pretty well out on the streets with his police forces -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jim Bittermann live from Paris. Thanks so much. We'll stay on that story.

Well, it took Tim Howard 26 years to get his conviction for bank robbery and murder overturned, another three to deal with a twist in Ohio law that made him prove his innocence before getting any compensation.

This week a jury decided that that issue, in the same courtroom where Howard was sentenced to death in 1977. Reporter Eve Mueller of CNN affiliate WBNS has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVE MUELLER, WBNS REPORTER (voice-over): For 29 years, Tim Howard wished for simple justice. On this day, he's found it.

TIMOTHY HOWARD, WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED: When you just tell the truth, then this is what you expect. And this is what happened. The jury was -- made the right decision, and that I feel very good today. MUELLER: What comes next is money. How much is the issue. The state allows a wrongfully imprisoned person to receive $41,418.91 a year. Multiply that by 26 years Howard was behind bars, and that's over a million buck, plus attorney fees, lost wages and interest on those wages. It's a total sum that's unknown, and for the Ohio Court of Claims to settle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things will take care of themselves from here on.

MUELLER: Howard's attorneys won't speculate on an amount still celebrating this victory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ecstatic.

MUELLER: Howard isn't looking too far ahead either. The money is not important.

HOWARD: The money is not the issue here. The issue here is that I'm innocent of the crime that I was -- spent all these years, I was sentenced to death for, spending almost all my life in prison.

MUELLER: Money won't give him back time with his two sons, both very young when he entered prison. Money won't erase the 29 years of a twisted life path that has forever changed him. Money won't grant him his ultimate wish.

HOWARD: I wish it never happened. I just wish it never happened.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, that was Eve Mueller of CNN affiliate for WBNS.

Well, you know not take wooden nickels, but if somebody offers you a billion dollar bill, I don't think you want to take that either. Under the dumb crooks heading, file the 250 counterfeit billion dollar bank notes found by customs agents who were investigating currency smuggling.

Agents say the bills looked good -- yellow and aged, dated 1934 with Grover Cleveland right there on the front. Seriously, though, the U.S. has never printed a billion dollar note. OK? Or even a million dollar note. Or even a trillion dollar note.

Coming up in the next hour, more on the developing story out of Iraq and Operation Swarmer that's underway.

Plus -- you know his name. More on the San Diego story, that bomb scare that's taking place, having to evacuate the Cox Arena right now. live pictures coming to us from KFMB.

And Mike Wallace -- he's outlasted journalists half his age in this hard-driving business of ours. We're going to talk to him about his semi-retirement as LIVE FROM stays on top of the news, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures out of San Diego, California right now. Evidently, a bomb scare at the Cox Arena, not far, actually, from where I grew up and where my parents are. And, Fred, my dad just called me saying that they were headed over there and friends were trying to divert them because of what's taking place.

But he's going to play reporter for us, and once he gets there he's going to call in. But, do you have any other information as you're working these lives pictures and working the wires right now? Do we know what's going on?

WHITFIELD: Well, we don't know except that a campus dog had picked up some sort of unusual scent, and immediately they evacuated people. You mentioned your dad being among the ticket holders. Well, he's one of the lucky ones because this 12,000 seat stadium is sold out for all of the NCAA games that are scheduled for today as well as Saturday. Four games were to begin there today, and at least two, possibly on Saturday.

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