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CNN Live Today

Road to Democracy in Iraq; Military Suicides; Babies Behind Bars; New Orleans Votes

Aired April 24, 2006 - 10:58   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In world news, one after the other, seven times today, bombs sounded in Baghdad. At least eight people were killed in a string of bloody car bombings across the capital today.
Along with the ongoing violence, a step forward for democracy. Parliament chose some new leaders over the weekend. Among them, a prime minister, finally.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote is with me now, live from Baghdad.

Ryan, tell me about who this new prime minister is.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, his name is Jawad al- Maliki. He is a Shiite politician who has spent most of his life outside of the Iraqi public eye.

Back in 1979, he actually fled Iraq and went to Iran. And then he spent about 23 years between Iran and Syria in exile, most of the time as -- working in the resistance as an activist fighting against Saddam Hussein. He returned to Iraq in 2002 and has been known as very loyal to his party Shiite politicians since then.

In terms of his character, he's known as being a very strong- headed man, a man who knows what he wants, a man who is not afraid to speak his mind. But at the same time, some of the other political parties, the -- in particular, the Sunnis and the Kurds, say he appears to be someone that they could potentially work with, and that's, of course, how he got nominated this weekend, together with their support -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Which leads to my other question. Can he actually get anything done?

CHILCOTE: Well, that's a good question. We don't know what he can accomplish.

Obviously the biggest problem right now in front of the prime minister will curbing the violence. In particular, the sectarian violence, but also the insurgency. If he wants to do that he's going to have to work with the other groups.

So far, he is talking the talk. He's talking about building a government of national unity, of getting the militias that owe their allegiance to these sectarian groups out of -- out of the military. But if you look at some of his past decisions over the last three years, really, since he came back into Iraq after Saddam's fall, a lot of them were very sectarian in their nature. So, what really we're going to have to see is, is he prepared to work with the other groups?

And then, of course, lastly, obviously the insurgents, as the military likes to put it here, get a vote. If we see another attack on a mosque, like the Shiite mosque we saw back in February, that was a perfect example where we saw violence just go out of control with reprisal attacks nearly every day as a result of that. So, it's a relatively good opportunity right now in Iraq for a change, but there's a lot of factors there -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Ryan Chilcote live from Baghdad.

Thank you.

KAGAN: There's a troubling trend for American GIs in Iraq. The Army says the suicide rate is up and the stress of combat is not the only reason.

Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For a soldier in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, the stress is hard to imagine. Last year, 25 soldiers in the war zone could not cope. They committed suicide. That is nearly twice as many that committed suicide in 2004, when 14 troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan killed themselves.

Now, three years into the war in Iraq, military research doesn't indicate that combat itself is the sole cause of such tragedy.

COL. JOSEPH CURTIN, U.S. ARMY: The nemesis in many cases is failed relationships, financial problems, perhaps substance abuse, and other factors that are out there.

STARR: As the war has gone on, the Army has sent more than 230 mental health counselors into some front line areas. Commanders now are trained to look for signs depression in the ranks.

According to the latest statistics made available to CNN by the Army, in 2005 a total of 83 soldiers on active duty around the world committed suicide, or 12.9 per 100,000. That is up from 67 in 2004, or a rate of 11.0 per 100,000. In 2003, the first year of the war in Iraq, 76 soldiers committed suicide worldwide, 25 in Iraq.

The up-and-down statistical trend underscores the difficulty for the Army itself in trying to assess what this all means.

CURTIN: We really don't know why they go up and down from one year to the next.

STARR: The Army rate continues to be significantly lower than the rate of 19.8 per 100,000 in civilian society. The marker that the Army says is the closest comparison to its at-risk population, mainly young men between the age of 18-24.

(on camera): The 2005 suicide rate is slightly ahead of the 25- year average. Senior Army commanders tell CNN they are watching this troubling trend closely to see if it continues.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: On now to prison perks that a lot of people are not happy about. The BTK serial killer is getting them.

Dennis Rader can now watch television and listen to the radio in his prison cell. Those are just some of the privileges he gets for good behavior. Kansas correction officials says it's a way to encourage model conduct in prison, but family members of some of Rader's 10 victims are not happy, to say the least.

And then there's this story, babies behind bars. A California prison warden believes that's exactly where some infants belong, with their incarcerated mothers instead of with a caregiver.

CNN's Kareen Wynter has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): She's six months pregnant, due in July.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know that the heart rate is at 145...

WYNTER: California inmate Lucinda Hernandez is counting down another date, when she gets out of prison in August. Until that happens, she won't be seeing much of her new baby.

LUCINDA HERNANDEZ, INMATE: Just because we're in here doesn't mean we're bad mothers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-four pounds.

HERNANDEZ: Oh, 44?

WYNTER: Hernandez has been in and out of prison all her life. She is 33, has seven children. The oldest 18. She's serving an eight-month sentence for theft.

She had her youngest child two years ago while facing another prison term. That infant ended up in state custody because there were no family members available.

HERNANDEZ: It was very hard because I -- she was with me my whole time, just like this pregnancy is. This baby's with me my whole term, you know. And then to be separated...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I got two, she got two.

WYNTER: Oleta Simmons is another mother who has lost custody of her children born while she was behind bars.

OLETA SIMMONS, INMATE: I built resentments, heavy resentments with myself.

DAWN DAVISON, WARDEN: It just broke my heart that when a woman, a pregnant woman went out, went to the hospital, that she had to give her baby up.

WYNTER: That's why warden Dawn Davison proposed building the region's first newborn unit here at the California Institution for Women, the state's oldest prison for female felons. Inmates will be able to care for their babies instead of being separated from them after just three days, like they are now.

DAVISON: They will be able to stay there with their child up to 18 months and have full wrap-around services. So this is really going to give them an excellent base to be able to have that relationship with their child.

WYNTER: There are two babies born from this prison each week. Not all inmates will qualify for the program, which begin in January. Only those with at least a year left in their sentence so they can complete parenting and drug treatment classes.

(on camera): What kind of hope does it give to other women who are in your position?

HERNANDEZ: I think it's good for other women as far as -- because it's hard to depart from a child. So there can be a bond, and that they can't just take your child away.

WYNTER (voice over): Kareen Wynter, CNN, Corona, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The prison partnered with the Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents and Homeland Inland Empire, a nonprofit organization that builds homeless shelters. construction on the 20- bed facility will begin this summer.

Some disturbing news about the baby blues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Those worries turn very dark and very frightening. Wendy became obsessed. Something or someone, even Wendy herself, might hurt the baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: It is called Postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and it's surprisingly common among new mothers. CNN investigates when LIVE TODAY continues.

Also, New Orleans voters speak. A runoff pits incumbent Ray Nagin against challenger Mitch Landrieu. We'll get the lay of the land from Louisiana's secretary of state coming up in the next hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: New Orleans Major Ray Nagin says he can't believe it, so many votes, he says, after all those crazy things that he has said in recent months. Nagin face a May 20th runoff against Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu. Nagin and Landrieu scored the most votes over the weekend but failed to grab a majority.

In many ways, the logistics of this election drew more attention than some of the candidates. Hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees were bussed in from Texas and Georgia to cast ballots.

Joining me from Baton Rouge is Louisiana's secretary of state, Al Ater.

Mr. Secretary, good to see you again.

AL ATER, LOUISIANA SECRETARY OF STATE: Good to see you.

KAGAN: So, looking at this election, just over 100,000 people cast ballots. How would you assess of how it went for a mayor's race?

ATER: Well, it was -- I think there was, like, 108,000 people that actually cast ballots, and it went exceedingly well. Everything went smooth and we did some very untraditional things. And every one of them worked just as we had hoped and as we had planned.

KAGAN: You certainly did some untraditional things. And I still don't understand one aspect of this. There were absentee votes, absentee ballots you could fill out.

ATER: Yes.

KAGAN: So, why did people have to get bussed in as well?

ATER: You know, I don't know, but that's -- that's certainly their prerogative and their right in America. You know, they -- people could have voted by mail. We had early voting centers all over the state that people could have come to for a five-day, six-day period. But, you know, a lot of people, I guess, just want to come home on election day. And probably a lot of people use that as an opportunity to come back, check on their property, check on their houses, see relatives or something else.

KAGAN: OK. As we look forward to this runoff on May 20th, anything going to work differently? Are you still going to have the buses, still going to have absentee ballots?

ATER: Everything -- everything that we did on Saturday was as ordained by state law, the Justice Department, and by federal courts. Absent anything changing from one of those areas, then it will be done exactly the same way.

KAGAN: Mayor Nagin proposed and would support -- and also, I think Mitch Landrieu supports -- this idea of satellite voting centers. Why can't you set up voting centers, let's say, here in Atlanta or in Houston, where folks could vote there?

ATER: Well, the biggest reason is we don't have authorization from the state legislature. You know, I'm one of the people that way back in October and November of last year knew we were going to have challenges, and I suggested that idea to be explored. For whatever reason, it was never explored, never talked about until about two or three weeks ago, which is right before an election, and I hope it wasn't for political reasons that some people started talking about it.

But the fact of the matter is, it took us about four months to get ready for what was done last Saturday and executed perfectly. And I'm quite concerned that there's probably not enough time to do that. Besides, the federal court ruled on that issue and said it wasn't necessary to have a fair and open election.

KAGAN: And as you've explained to us when you visited with us in the past, you don't make the rules. You just -- it's your job to implement the rules that other people set up.

ATER: That's right. That's exactly right. We're the administrators, and I'm very proud of the entire staff and how hard they worked, that everything that we were instructed to do and supposed to do to carry out an election they implemented perfectly Saturday night.

KAGAN: I also know you're not a political analyst in this role. But how likely do you think this is a done deal on May 20th, or might there be another runoff? What does it takes to make a winner on May 20th?

ATER: Oh, no, there will be a winner on May 20th because there's only two candidates, and whoever gets more than half the votes on May 20th will be the new mayor of New Orleans. And that's the -- we have an open primary system over here. By that, I mean all candidates run. The two highest vote-getters, regardless of party, go into the runoff.

So, what we have are two Democrats that are in the runoff for the mayor's race. And when there's only two people in the race, one of the two will get more than half the votes.

KAGAN: And finally, Mr. Secretary, I know you have been public in your criticism about a lack of federal funds to help with this election.

ATER: Yes.

KAGAN: You point out that New York City had its mayor's election erupted on 9/11, it received federal funds to redo that election. What would you do if you did have federal money? I guess it would depend on how much, but what would you like to do with some federal support?

ATER: Well, I would like to be able to reimburse this state and the city for the tremendous costs that's associated with this election solely because of the hurricane. You know, that's my understanding of what FEMA is for.

A traditional race in New Orleans costs about $400,000. We spent probably $3, million, $3.5 million Saturday, up to Saturday, and now we have to have another election on May the 20th. And all of these things that we're doing, the 800 numbers, the extra personnel, all of those things are done directly related in cost because of the hurricane. And it would seem to me that if democracy is important in New York, which it is, then democracy should be important in New Orleans.

KAGAN: What kind of response do you get from FEMA and other federal officials when you ask?

ATER: Well, they first said they didn't have authority under the Stafford Act. And then they point to that they've reimbursed us for the cost of some equipment and whatnot.

The only trouble is, that equipment that was destroyed and that they're reimbursing us for is in St. Bernard Parish and Cameron Parish. The truth of the matter is, they haven't paid for anything in New Orleans, not one penny, because none of the equipment was damaged there.

But the equipment is not the factor here. What's the extra cost, just like picking up debris or anything else, is related with extra personnel, extra labor, extra polling places, extra advertising, I don't want to say advertising costs, but extra publication to make certain that people knew where their polling places were.

We've run an 800 number 12 hours a day for six weeks that's received over 20,000 phone calls. We had over 300 people on the ground Saturday with laptop computers making certain people knew where their polling places were. And that's all things that you don't normally have to do and tremendously expensive for this state and for that city that's bearing the brunt of the worst national disaster in the history of America.

KAGAN: I can hear the frustration in your voice. Are you going get a day off on May 21st?

ATER: I hope so. You know, but the truth of the matter is, we'll immediately start planning for our fall elections because we have other areas that were affected by this hurricane. St. Bernard Parish, Plaquemines Parish, Cameron Parish, all of those parishes were affected, too, and we've got congressional elections in the fall that we'll have to immediately start getting ready and be able to assist them to have open and fair elections, also.

KAGAN: Well, hopefully you're learning some things as you go that will make those go more smoothly.

ATER: Yes, we really are. And thank you. Thanks, CNN, for all of the things you all have done to help keep people informed.

KAGAN: Thanks for making yourself available.

Al Ater, secretary of state of Louisiana.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

ATER: Thank you.

KAGAN: Good luck later in May.

ATER: Thank you. We need it.

KAGAN: We'll check in, see how it's going.

ATER: All right. Thanks.

KAGAN: Thank you, sir.

Well, Katrina, much more than a home wrecker. The storm left the city's medical infrastructure in critical condition as well. Saving Charity Hospital is ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: President Bush is in southern California today in the desert in Palm Springs. He is leaving there and heading for the coast to Irvine in Orange County. Later today he'll be giving a speech on immigration reform. We'll monitor that and bring you the latest.

Meanwhile, we go to the business trial of the century. It continues today with Enron founder Ken Lay taking the stand.

Jennifer Westhoven joins us from the New York Stock Exchange with the latest on his testimony.

Jennifer, good morning.

JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Thank you, Daryn.

Well, this is his first chance that he's really getting to publicly defend himself, taking that stand. Ken Lay said that going from a hard worker to someone who's been charged in court, he called it the American nightmare. He testified that he's anxious to tell the truth.

Now, Lay himself is facing six criminal counts, and his number two, Jeff Skilling, is facing a lot more. He's the former CEO.

Skilling just completed two weeks of testimony. Prosecutors charged that Skilling was encouraging and masterminding of fraud just before he quit, which was a few months before the company collapsed.

Now, when Skilling quit, that's when Lay got stuck sort of holding the bag. Pardon me. He came in as CEO. So, even the prosecutors believe that in this case, that Lay had a more limited role in this kind of collapse. They actually are charging, though, that Lay did end up lying to investors because, although he may have not had such an active role the way that they say that Skilling did, they believe that he kept up this kind of charade and lied to investors by pretending that things that Enron, financial speaking, were sunnier than they were.

KAGAN: And Jennifer, if they're convicted, how many years behind bars do they face?

WESTHOVEN: Well, I mean, they are facing different numbers of charges here. But legal experts are saying it could be somewhere between 20 and 30 years if they were convicted on all of the counts. And, of course, both of them say that they didn't do anything wrong and that they are innocent of any of these criminal charges.

But this is a big moment. Ken Lay, of course, a big leader in Houston and a big change there.

All right. Quickly to the markets.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

WESTHOVEN: That's the latest from Wall Street -- Daryn.

Oh, coming up, the hit TV drama "Prison Break" gets a spin-off show for your cell phone. That's later on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Celebrity babies, we've heard a lot about them this week. But as new mom Brooke Shields can tell, new come Katie Holmes, the joys of motherhood are sometimes followed by baby blues. And now we're hearing about a new type of postpartum depression. An article about the disorder appears in this month's "Self" magazine.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): Even before her daughter was born, Wendy Isnardi admits she was a worrier.

WENDY ISNARDI, SUFFERS FROM PPD: I always worry about everything. I would be afraid that I left like a window open or a door unlocked or the oven on or an iron. I would go to work, leave my job, come back home to make sure that I turned everything off, which I knew that I did.

FEYERICK: After giving birth to Madison (ph) four years ago, those worries turned very dark and very frightening. Wendy became obsessed. Something or someone, even Wendy herself, might hurt the baby.

ISNARDI: I was afraid that she would fall down the stairs. She would drown in the tub. Whether it was by me, by my husband, by somebody, I was just horribly -- I was horrified.

FEYERICK: The violent thoughts kept playing in her mind, getting worse and worse.

ISNARDI: Every time I would try to, you know, stop the thoughts, they would just come on strong and the anxiety would get stronger and stronger.

FEYERICK: It got so bad, Wendy was afraid to be alone with her own child.

(on camera): Did you think, oh, my God, could I be an Andrea Yates?

ISNARDI: Yes, of course. That was my worst fear. And I think that's what I kind of hid myself. I would just stay in my room and just be away from everything, because everything would be safe.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Andrea Yates is the mother who drown her five young children in the bath tub. Yates was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. Wendy was not. Her problem was different, something more common than most people realize. It wasn't just postpartum depression, but post-partum OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder triggered by the birth of her baby.

Doctor Shari Lusskin is a psychiatrist who treats mental illness in new moms.

DR. SHARI LUSSKIN, NYU MEDICAL CENTER: Up to 40 percent of mothers who have post-partum depression also have obsessive thoughts. And in general, in contrast to OCD in other situations, women who are post-partum have obsessions about the baby. So they worry in particular that they are going to do harm to the baby.

FEYERICK: That fear became so great, Wendy withdrew. Experts say that's a common reaction among new moms suffering from the disorder.

ISNARDI: I am scared to death. I didn't understand. I just cried.

FEYERICK: Wendy's husband, who is a police officer, and her mom, Pat, cared for the baby full-time for almost three months.

(on camera): Did you think that she could actually hurt the baby?

PAT GUTTILLA, WENDY'S MOTHER: Oh, no. No. I was more concerned that she would possibly hurt herself, not the baby.

SONIA MURDOCK, POST-PARTUM RESOURCE CENTER: The fears of OCD with moms are very, very real.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Sonia Murdock runs the Post-Partum Resource Center of New York, which is where she and Wendy first met.

(on camera): Do these women fear that if they share their concerns, their thoughts, that their child might be taken from them?

MURDOCK: Absolutely. That is one of the greatest fears of moms going through post-partum OCD. They are afraid that they are going to be judged as bad people, bad mothers. FEYERICK (voice-over): Murdock and other experts say many women don't seek help because they are so ashamed of their own thoughts. But the overwhelming question, could these violent thoughts lead a woman to harm her own baby?

LUSSKIN: The short answer is, absolutely not. The hallmark of OCD is that the patient recognizes that the thoughts are illogical and, therefore, they won't act on them.

ISNARDI: I was so afraid, and I wanted to love her and hug her and kiss her, but I was afraid of, I don't know what.

FEYERICK: The first three months of her baby's life went by in a blur. That's when Wendy, a self-described perfectionist, reached out for help. Through her lamaze coach, she got in touch with a therapist and a psychiatrist who put her on anti-anxiety medication.

ISNARDI: As soon as I started getting help and when I joined the group at the resource center, there were other women there, other mothers that were going through the same thing. And it made it more normal to me.

FEYERICK: Wendy now volunteers at the Post-Partum Resource Center, talking to other women about her own experiences. As for her daughter --

ISNARDI: Got to move out of the way when I come back, OK?

FEYERICK: The fear of really hurting her is all but gone.

(on camera): Do any of these thoughts come back?

ISNARDI: Not really, no. I mean if they do, it's just a thought, and I just am able to, you know, just let it pass, just like anything else.

FEYERICK: When you look at Madison now, are you afraid you're going to hurt her?

ISNARDI: No, never. I love her so much. She is my life.

FEYERICK (voice-over): A life so precious, Wendy and her husband are now talking about having a second child.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Patchogue, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Be sure to join Paula Zahn weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, on CNN.

To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest -- let's try that again. You will find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.

One of the most massive rebuilding efforts in the nation's history, that is what the next mayor of New Orleans will face.

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