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CNN Live Today

A Burst of Car Bombings in Iraq After Possible Breakthrough on New Constitution; Look at Efforts to Contain Possible Human Flu Outbreak

Aired October 12, 2005 - 11:30   ET

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

(NEWS BREAK)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Iraq now. A burst of car bombings today after a possible breakthrough on the new Iraqi constitution. To Baghdad now and our correspondent Aneesh Raman with details.

Aneesh, hello.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

The residents of Talafar, that northwestern Iraqi town, again today grieving the dead. A suicide bomber with an explosives vest detonating at an Army and police recruitment center in the town center. At least 30 people now confirmed dead, some 40 others wounded. It comes just a day after a suicide car bomb detonated at a marketplace in that same town. That incident killed at least 30 people and wounded, again, some 45 others. It is part of an increase in insurgent attacks that we have seen in these Sunni-dominated areas ahead of Saturday's vote, an attempt clearly to keep Sunnis away from the polls.

All indications are that they will try to come out to vote. The indications before today, Daryn, were that they would vote no, but a deal has been reached in the capital to attempt the opposite, to get Sunnis more involved in the political process. It's a deal between the Shia/Kurd coalition, and one, not all, but one major Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic party. The deal essentially isn't about specifics in the constitution, but rather on the constitutional process. It allows far new constitutional committee to come into power within four months of those December general elections. That committee could then re-evaluate any or all of this draft document, and then another constitutional referendum potentially could take place six months after the December vote.

There are huge questions, though, following this deal, Daryn. First and foremost, will it impact the Sunni vote? We are just days away from Saturday's referendum. And only one, not all of the Sunni parties is endorsing this deal. So how it will effect not just Sunni turnout, but how Sunnis vote is yet to be seen.

But secondly is what this means for Saturday's referendum. If the track is now set for another referendum next year, it greatly minimizes this importance for this vote on Saturday. The constitution then an ever-changing ongoing working document. So big questions as we head toward Saturday's vote. The Sunni turnout of course is what we will be looking at most -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So, Aneesh, if I understand this correctly, no matter how the vote goes on Saturday, in a few months they are going to have to start over yesterday. If the referendum turns down, they will have to start over. What they are saying now is go ahead and vote yes, because we promise in a few months we'll start over.

RAMAN: Exactly. And it's credence to those who have said this entire process has been rushed from the beginning, that these are huge issues that the Iraqi leaders are confronting. They have every reason not to trust each other. None of them wants to demand too little, concede too much. So they will continually postpone as much as they can, as many of the contentious issues as possible. But what you point out is correct, if the constitution fails, a new national assembly is elected that then drafts a new constitution. If this deal passes and the constitution passes, then, again, a new constitution is drafted that could be completely different from the one we've seen voted on on Saturday, and that put forth in another referendum. So clearly, none of these issues will be resolved on Saturday -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman live from Baghdad. Thank you.

And then there's this news. A powerful figure in the Syrian government is dead, reportedly by his own hand. Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan ran Syria's military intelligence unit in Lebanon for 20 years. One hospital officials tells CNN Kanaan had a gunshot wound in his mouth. The interior ministry called it a suicide. Kanaan's death came after he was recently interviewed by U.N. investigators. They're looking into the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

And in an exclusive interview with CNN, Kanaan's boss, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad talked with our Christiane Amanpour. He says his government had no hand in the prime minister's death. He talked instead about his neighbor, Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT: We should re-evaluate what's going on in Iraq. What did we achieve? What did they achieve from that war in Iraq? It's a very simple question. Economically, politically, fighting terrorism, we didn't achieve anything. This is one example.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: You achieved the end of a dictator.

AL-ASSAD: Yes, but what have you lost as a return? The hope of the people. The stability. No better democracy. No better economy. No services. No stability in the region. More terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The Bush administration has accused the Syrian regime of supporting the insurgency in Iraq. Syria has been on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror since the list was started back in 1979. Here are other stories making news overseas this morning.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says thanks, but no thanks. Mr. Schroeder is not interested in a job with Angela Merkel's expected incoming government. His party is set to get a majority of cabinet seats in the coalition government that is now being put together.

Rescuers have called off the search for bodies in Guatemala's Panaba (ph) village. Crews say it's just too risky to continue. Hundreds of people are feared buried in the town following last week's massive mudslide. It smothered the village with 40 feet of earth.

And the secretary of state stopped in Afghanistan today for a brief visit. Condoleezza Rice told the president, Hamid Karzai, that troops would stay as soon as they were needed, and in whatever numbers would needed. Rice then flew to Pakistan to offer U.S. support in the wake of Saturday's deadly earthquake.

We've heard the health warnings of a possible flew pandemic. Today the U.S. and the U.N. warned about the economic impact of such an outbreak. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt is touring Asian countries effected by an outbreak of bird flu.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at efforts to contain a possible human flu outbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Secretary Leavitt is on a ten day tour of several Asian countries to get what he calls a firsthand understanding of what's happening on the ground.

At this chicken farm in Thailand, Leavitt wasn't taking any chances. He put on protective clothing, rubber boots, a mask and a hat, seeing for himself how to protect man from getting the virus from chickens, at the very source.

MICHAEL LEAVITT, U.S. HEALTH SECRETARY: We need a comprehensive plan. It has to include surveillance, international surveillance.

GUPTA: For all the attention bird flu has received in recent days, it may still be difficult for those in the United States to understand why we should be concerned about a flu outbreak a half a world away in Asia.

GUPTA (on camera): We're sort of hearing a lot about avian flu. And mostly, it's not good.

DR. IRA LONGINI, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I know. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

GUPTA (voice-over): Emory University's Dr. Ira Longini developed a computer model to simulate how quickly the bird flu could spread in a country like Thailand if it went unchecked. Each yellow dot represents somebody being infected with the avian flu. LONGINI: And you can see as it starts to spread across the geographic space, we're now on day 52. We have 25, 28, you know, three, four, or five thousand cases.

GUPTA: But, if we add another model at day 16 where health officials start giving out Tamiflu and quarantining those already infected, within days new cases slow to a trickle. When you put them side by side, it appears that the massive spread of this flu could be contained.

Scott Dowell ran the CDC's field station in Thailand for the past four years. He says mathematical models like this one help illustrate how deadly a pandemic could be, but that preventing it is possible as well.

DR. SCOTT DOWELL, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CTRL.: We've never before even considered the possibility of stopping a pandemic. I think that what that mathematical modeling exercise has done for us in public health is it has laid out a challenge for us to see if we can address.

LONGINI: Is this supposed to be reassuring?

GUPTA (on camera): What this is saying is that, you know, with a good mobile stockpile and a good prepared response and good surveillance, that we have a very good chance of containing that potential strain of pandemic flu.

(voice-over): Of course, none of this will work without money, medicine, and a good plan to use them both.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: We want to show you pictures we are getting in from New Orleans. It concerns Robert Davis. He is the 64-year-old retired schoolteacher who was beaten by New Orleans police. That video was shot by Associated Press over the weekend. He faces charges of his own today. He pleaded not guilty. And this is him at his court appearance pleading not guilty to charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest and battery on a police officer and public intimidation.

By the way, those three police officers who also face charges of their own, plan to hold a news conference in a few minutes, and you will see that news conference live right here on CNN.

Also coming up next on CNN LIVE TODAY. UNICEF is bombing the Smurfs. It's a campaign aimed at shocking you into taking action. But are they going too far?

Plus, she's left prison. But has prison left her? Martha Stewart talks about her time behind bars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's talk Smurfs. They seemed to dominate children's TV in the 1980s. More than 400 episodes aired before the blue forest dwellers finally Smurfed out in 1990. Alas, Brainy, Jokey and Smurfette live on in worldwide syndication. And in fact, their native turf of Belgium, the Smurfs are meeting a new and violent end.

So parents, let me warn you here, you might not want your little Smurfs at home to watch this report.

Here now, CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think all Smurfs look the same.

COOPER (voice-over): Who doesn't love the Smurfs? Besides parents forced to watch them, that is. They're bouncy, blue, three apples high bundles of smug happiness, baffling the plots of the evil sorcerer Gargamel and his mangy cat Azrael.

Generations have grown up entranced by the coquettish Smurfette and the gruff but lovable Papa Smurf.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep on Smurfing!

COOPER: Who at the age of 542 looks pretty darn good.

But in a new commercial now running on TV in Belgium, all is not so Smurfy in the mushroom-filled town of Smurfville. One moment, the Smurfs are dancing around a campfire. The next, it's Smurfageddon. Their cute mushroom homes are blown up, and so are a number of Smurfs. The commercial ends with a child Smurf left crying amidst the wreckage.

Who would do this to Smurfs? Turns out the bloodbath is the brainchild of UNICEF Belgium. Belgium is the birthplace of Smurfs, after all. And they are blowing them apart to raise awareness and money to rehabilitate children, kidnapped and forced to fight as soldiers in the African country of Burundi.

Will seeing their little blue friends blown up send thousands of Belgian kids into shock? Perhaps, but UNICEF says the ad is meant for adults, and will be aired only at night.

For their part, the Smurfs aren't talking, but we are sure with their can-do Smurf spirit, they will be up and Smurfing in no time soon.

Anderson Cooper, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: All right, now into Martha Stewart. She is back with a vengeance, has if anybody has to tell you that. She's everywhere -- two TV shows, a new book, a job designing homes for a national builder. There's even Martha Stewart Radio on satellite radio 24 hours a day. And freedom. She's got that now after five months of prison time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART, ENTREPRENEUR: Actually, it wasn't as horrible as anticipated. You know, it is a total lack of freedom, a lack of being able to go where you want to go, do what you want to do. You are incarcerated. It is a very serious thing. I took it seriously. I served my time with dignity, I hope. I met many, many people there that I actually have great compassion for, and I don't regret my decision in any way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: But then there's this. About those TV shows? "Variety" is calling Martha Stewart's "Apprentice" the biggest bomb of the season. The ratings seem to bear that out. By the way, that sound courtesy of "LARRY KING LIVE." Thank, Larry.

A check on the markets along with your Wednesday weather forecast is up next.

Also, we want to hear from you, your e-mails, on whether New Orleans can ever be the same again. That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: For a few weeks now, CNN.com has been looking for your advice on rebuilding New Orleans. Now let's take a look at some of your e-mail.

"New Orleans will never be the same, so do something different," says this person. "Build the lowest parts of the city higher, on stilts, or create islands. Create canals like Venice, Italy. Create ornamental bridges over these canals. Create waterway expressways. Build floating areas on barges and create better seawalls and levees. Create water parks for snorkeling, diving, fishing, swimming, skiing, boating and to promote wetlands and wildlife." Those ideas from Billy Snider in Knoxville, Tennessee. Thank you, Billy.

And then there's this. "The people, music and architecture make this city and its tenacious spirit. The businesses and homes should be rebuilt to reflect the special character and culture of the local people. Vibrant, seasoned, exquisite, melodic and most of all, strong." And Melissa Colar of Palm Beach, Florida wrote that in.

To share your thoughts, read the latest on the relief efforts or electronically thumb through our galleries of images, visit our special Web site, CNN.com/katrina.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: We're going to keep our eyes on New Orleans. That's where we expect very shortly a news conference to begin with the police union there and the three police officers accused of beating a man in the French Quarter on Saturday night. You'll see that as soon as it begins live. Also, the third hour of CNN LIVE TODAY will begin after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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