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CNN Live Today

Hussein Uses Court as Bully Pulpit to Blast Bush Administration; New Airport Screening Rules Taking Effect Today

Aired December 22, 2005 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To Iraq. There are more distractions to tell you about today in the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven members of his regime. Hussein used the court as a bully pulpit to blast the Bush administration.
CNN's Aneesh Raman has been inside the Baghdad courtroom, and he has this update.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORERSPONDENT (voice-over): He was in one of his tirades, speaking to the judge and to the court, but especially to the cameras in the courtroom, Saddam Hussein saying the White House has lied once again, it is a liar, the number-one liar in the world, because it said there are chemicals in Iraq and Iraq has relations with terrorism. He said that later we found nothing of the sort in Iraq. It is what Saddam Hussein, and he spoke often of himself in the third person, said was not true. He went on to talk, as we heard yesterday, of these allegations of abuse, that he's been beaten, that he has bruises to prove them. He also went on in this tirade to say he has seen a number of American medical groups in two places, that they documented injuries he suffered, and that some of the injuries sustained to this day some three years, he said,k after they were incurred during the invasion.

So it's a battle, again, that we saw yesterday at the end of the session, where Saddam was sedate for most of the day, and then at the end lashing out at the Americans today, again, doing so, and the court giving him incredible latitude. We just had a press conference from the court spokesman, who said the court has extreme patience for these proceedings. The question is whether the Iraqi public does as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And right out of that report, we do have Aneesh live from Baghdad.

Aneesh, you're just out of the courtroom yet again.

RAMAN: Yes, Daryn. And we've just exited. There's a helicopter going overhead. I hope you can hear me.

The court went into closed session some moments ago, and essentially what we expect is soon the court to reconvene just to adjourn itself. We expect that adjournment to be for about a month. The closed session was about information that Barzan Hassan Al Tikriti, Saddam Hussein's half brother has. It was deemed by the judge to be secretive and highly classified, and that's why they closed the curtains in the media gallery without much notice and told us we had to exit. There are some media waiting to see if the court reconvenes tonight.

But all along, Saddam Hussein using this court as his own platform, coming out viscerally against the White House, specifically against George Bush, saying that they are liars, bringing into question the notion of chemical weapons in Iraq, as well as any link to terrorism, and the judge is giving these defendants extreme latitude in order to embark on these diatribes, really not pushing them to stay relevant to the case. That is something the prosecutors today more than any other day tried to combat. They kept reminding the judge this is relevant, wholly irrelevant to the proceedings.

The judge, though, still allowed Saddam and his half brother to really speak at will -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman live from Baghdad. Aneesh, thank you.

Some of the top brass in the Iraq war are making a pre-holiday visit to the troops. British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited a logistics base in Basra today. He said the security situation has improved there in the southern part of the country, but he refused to set a timetable for withdrawal of British troops.

And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is on an unannounced trip to Baghdad, fresh from Afghanistan. He said that Iraq is entering the next critical phase of government building.

Sometimes dreams really do come true, especially poignant when it happens around the holidays. You can just ask the family of a Pittsburgh area serviceman.

When he comes home from Iraq, he'll have his own house to move back into.

Reporter Cindy McGrath from our affiliate WPGH has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my goodness!

CINDY MCGRATH, WPGH REPORTER: Rosalynn Martin (ph) couldn't believe her eyes, a four-bedroom home wrapped in a big red bow, a Christmas present for her baby brother, with no strings attached.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to cut the ribbon first.

MCGRATH: Forty-year-old Sergeant Kevin Martin is a transportation specialist. He drives supplies from Kuwait to Baghdad, a dangerous job, and Martin's teenaged sons know it.

DEVIN MARTIN, SON OF SOLDIER: I can't get it out of my mind, because like he just got two friends over there, they just got killed.

MCGRATH: When Rosalynn learned about the home giveaway, she wrote a letter nominating her brother, a father of five, who was having a hard time supporting his family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With finances so scarce, he resorted to the only thing that he had ever known, and as a National Guardsman he volunteered for active duty.

MCGRATH: The letter clinched it. When Rosalynn found out her brother won, she called him on the phone. It was midnight in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it sounded like he had to get up and turn on the light. He's like, am I dreaming? And I said, no, you won, and he just went to screaming and hollering. I probably woke up half the troops.

MCGRATH: The home giveaway was the brainchild of Jim Toner, a real estate investor with close friends serving in the military.

JIM TONER, DONATED HOUSE: I wanted to make a big impact on somebody. I wanted to change the life. I wanted it to be something that we'll remember forever, and maybe they'll take that and they'll do it for somebody else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This house will be the best home homecoming gift for this family and bring them together.

MCGRATH: A holiday homecoming with only one thing missing, Sergeant Martin's tour of duty isn't over yet, but well-wishers will gather again next month to say two long-awaited words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Welcome home indeed.

Thanks to Cindy McGrath from our affiliate WPGH for that story.

(NEWSBREAK)

KAGAN: You might say it's not playing fair. That's what the European Union says about Microsoft. We'll tell you what it could cost the company.

Also the story of some strangers and the gift they gave to a battle-weary 6-year-old boy. That's story is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Traffic did not budge this morning in New York City. Apparently neither are the two sides of the transit strike. Commuters are battling massive traffic jams, as the battle between union workers and the transit authority heads to court. Union leaders are threatening jailtime if they don't end the three-day strike. New airport-screening rules are taking effect today. Passengers can now take small scissors and tools on planes. The move is designed to give screeners more time to focus on potential bombers. Passengers may now face more random searches.

So with those new regulations taking effect, how about a quick look at what screeners have found in the last few years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): Airport screeners have confiscated about 30 million items since the TSA took over screening nationwide in February of 2002. The most popular confiscated item is the lighter, but scissors and tools make up about 25 percent of the items confiscated this year. A spokesman for the TSA says they still catch two guns a day on average at airport-security checkpoints nationwide.

You might recall one of the most disturbing examples, in July of 2003, screeners in Orlando found a handgun hidden inside a 10-year- old's teddy bear. Apparently a stranger had given the bear to the boy only a few days earlier. He and his family were released by the FBI, after it became clear they had no idea the gun was there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Story coming up for you about a man who lost movement in his arm after a motorcycle accident, but now thanks to a gift from his mother, he has a chance to get it back. We're going to meet with him and his doctor coming up next.

Plus we'll catch up with the Louisiana boy who's already enjoying a very special gift, this one from a group of strangers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Incredible story of an amazing gift that a mother gives to a son now. The patient and doctors won't know for months if a rare nerve transplant worked. A week ago, surgeons transplanted nerve strands into the paralyzed right arm of a 27-year-old man. Joe Melone received more than a foot of nerves from his mother. It was a seven- hour separation. The medical team was led by plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Elkwood. He and his patient join me now live from our New York bureau.

Gentlemen, good morning.

DR. ANDREW ELKWOOD, PLASTIC SURGEON: Good morning.

JOSEPH MELONE, NERVE TRANSPLANT PATIENT: Good morning.

KAGAN: Joe, let's start with you. This goes back to the summer, a nasty motorcycle accident, right? MELONE: Is this for you?

KAGAN: No, Joe, I'm talking to you.

ELKWOOD: Sorry, I couldn't hear.

KAGAN: I was asking about this started with a bad motorcycle accident.

MELONE: Yes, it started with a motorcycle accident I had about four months ago. I started out at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, and I had steel implanted in my legs and my arms, and that's where they also told me that I had a brachioplex injury, and they weren't going to be able to help me out. And I was lucky enough to find dr. Elkwood.

KAGAN: So, doctor, let's bring you in, just how badly injured was Joe's arm, and what was your idea to try to help him?

ELKWOOD: Well, Joe's arm was very badly injured. The nerves that come out of the spinal cord and the neck and go into the arm, there are five nerves, and each one was torn out of those was torn out of his spinal cord. our only goal -- our goal to try and help him to restore some function was to splice in some nerve to other nerves that are working. In his case we went to the opposite side, to his good arm. We took two nerves from Joe's legs, but that wasn't enough to do the work that we needed to do to help restore function for him, so we also took two nerves from his mother and transplanted them into Joe's arm.

KAGAN: Joe, how about your mom? That is quite a gift for her to give you.

MELONE: Yes, it's probably the best Christmas gift that anyone could ever ask for.

KAGAN: And how is your mom doing, after her operation?

MELONE: She's doing well. She's walking around and she's still able to make Christmas cookies and stuff like that, so she's doing pretty good.

KAGAN: The important things for mom. Doctor, what's the prognosis for Joe?

ELKWOOD: Well, what we hope for with Joe is a good helper hand, a hand that can hold the book when the other hand turns the pages or hold the fork while the other hand cuts the meat. If we get that, we think that will be terrific. We've had some patients that have had results that they're almost normal, but we do have to keep in mind that Joe had a really devastating injury and to date, it's the worst injury so far that we've treated with nerve transplantation.

KAGAN: So you're pushing the technology here.

ELKWOOD: Yes. We're cautious, but optimistic. KAGAN: Before the operation, your arm was hanging down by your side, you couldn't do anything with it?

MELONE: Yes, it was pretty much paralyzed.

KAGAN: And how long is it going to take, Doctor, to find out how Joe will do?

ELKWOOD: We might start having some inclination in three to six months, but we wouldn't expect him to have as complete a recovery as he is to have for at least a year. It's a slow process.

KAGAN: Well, we wish you well. Joe, are you done with motorcycles now?

MELONE: Yes, pretty much. They're pretty hard to ride with one hand.

KAGAN: Yes, that might be a good idea. And what are you getting your mom for Christmas?

MELONE: I'd like to keep it a surprise because she's watching.

KAGAN: That's true. Good idea, good thinking. Well, we'll say thank you on behalf of your mom, for your mom, for you. Joe Melone, good luck with your recovery. And Doctor Elkwood, thank you for sharing this technology with us today. We wish both of you well.

ELKWOOD: Thank you very much.

MELONE: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, from an acorn, a mighty oak tree grows. A metaphor for a story you first saw on CNN. The mighty oak is a New York man, his family, and a bunch of new friends. The acorn is a very sick Louisiana boy.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're doing great.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When we first told the story of Tony Nata, a 6-year-old from Slidell, Louisiana, who's battling leukemia, we had no idea what an impact it would have on this man, Jeff Parness, who lives more than a thousand miles away in New York City.

JEFF PARNESS, NEWYORKSAYSTHANKYOU.ORG: We saw a wonderful story on CNN about the family. My wife and I watched the video, and we just kind of looked at each other and said, "How can we not do something to help?"

COHEN: Tony has a 50/50 chance of survival.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take a big breath. You have a chocolate face, man.

COHEN: He needs more chemo, plus radiation, and a bone marrow transplant. He's getting the medical attention he needs...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An alligator.

COHEN: ... but he's doing it without a home. Hurricane Katrina devastated Slidell, including Tony's house and his fishing deck. Fishing is Tony's passion. And, at this point, it's the only sport he can do.

But now, Tony's living in a FEMA trailer far away from his fishing spot. That's where Jeff Parness comes in. Jeff lost one of his best friends on September 11th. To say thank you for all the kindness he and other New Yorkers received, Jeff founded NewYorkSaysThankYou.org. They travel around the U.S. helping other devastated communities. After seeing our story...

ROBIN NATA, MOTHER: Jeff flew down with his organization and a group of guys and decided to rebuild our decks for us.

COHEN: And he didn't come alone. He brought New York City firefighters with him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Glad to meet you.

COHEN: And residents from Utica, Illinois, came, too. Jeff's group helped their community after they were hit with tornadoes.

And this couple from San Diego. Jeff's foundation rebuilt their house after it was destroyed in the wild fires of 2003. And locals here in Slidell helped, too.

PARNESS: We had Slidell Lions Club, a whole bunch of 70-year-old men who unpacked this 18-wheeler yesterday, 750 pieces of lumber.

COHEN: They all gathered one freezing cold Friday morning tearing up what was left of the old deck and laying down the new. And then, Jeff had a surprise for Tony: His fishing idol, ESPN's Jimmy Houston...

JIMMY HOUSTON, ESPN FISHING HOST: Man, oh man.

COHEN: ... best known for kissing the fish.

HOUSTON: The biggest speckled trout. Show me about how long it is. Yes.

TONY NATA, FATHER: Jimmy was great. He was a class act. Tony doesn't speak to everybody. He's in his own little world.

COHEN: In just two days, they finished the deck. Tony drove in one of the last nails and then cast his line.

J. NATA: All of my heart, from all of our hearts.

R. NATA: Yes.

J. NATA: You know, this has been special. This is...

R. NATA: To Jeff, you know, we couldn't thank you more.

J. NATA: It's powerful.

R. NATA: Yes. Yep.

J. NATA: We're on our way. We're on our way back. You know, we're going to get back. That's special.

COHEN: Now, finally, Tony has his fishing spot back.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Let's go fishing!

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Slidell, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: That is really nice story. Elizabeth, thank you for that.

Keeping in the holiday spirit, let's show what's coming out of the White House. From the White House to your house -- well, look at Mrs. Bush! Looking lovely. The first couple have just released their holiday photo. The picture was taken in the Blue Room. In case you wondered, the tree in the background is a Frasier fir, decorated with white lilies. The theme is "All Things Bright and Beautiful." The official White House holiday photo.

We go to New York City. We are just minutes away from a court hearing regarding New York's transit strike. We're looking at a live picture from the courthouse. There's going to be a hearing on day three of this transit strike. Possibility here that if the union leaders don't show up, they are being threatened with jail time. So the judge in this case getting very serious, and New Yorkers losing patience with the difficulty in getting around in frigid winter temperatures. We will be going live to New York City at the top of the hour.

Also, if you're flying out of town, you're going to want to stick around. Details on some new screening procedures that you're going to find at the airport.

And then, four families tied together by tragedy. I'll have the chance to talk with the author of a new book detailing their lives after last year's deadly tsunami, as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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