Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview with David Cohen; Baby Noor to Get Second Chance with Surgery In Atlanta
Aired December 31, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the global countdown has begun for marking the new year. You're looking a live picture of Hong Kong, where 2006 is, shoot, only, what, a minute -- less than a minute away?
And you're also looking at another shot of Taipei, the same situation. While in the City of Hong Kong, it promises a sound and light extravaganza from the buildings surrounding Victoria Harbor.
Let's listen in.
Happy New Year to all those friends and family in Hong Kong, because 2006 has now arrived. And in traditional fanfare, just like in Times Square, a familiar sight. In Times Square, just like in downtown Hong Kong, thousands, if not close to millions of people, crowd the downtown streets and they watch the -- what looked like an illuminated apple...
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Apple...
WHITFIELD: Yes, it counted down from 15.
KAYE: Just like the Big Apple.
WHITFIELD: That was fun.
And now you've got the revelers out there enjoying the start of the new year. And based on the lunar, calendar, however, they'll be celebrating the new year again January 29th.
KAYE: So this is just a warm-up. They'll be really good at it by the time that one comes around.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
Look at that.
KAYE: That's beautiful.
And it is still Saturday, December 31st, 2005, here at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
Good morning.
I'm Randi Kaye.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
Tony and Betty are taking the day off.
Thanks so much for being with us.
A look at our top stories.
The Iraqi infant who stole the human rights of American troops is expected to arrive in the States just a few hours from now. Three- month-old Baby Noor is heading here to Atlanta for potentially life- saving surgery. She has the birth defect of spina bifida and had been given only 45 days to live.
Well, these pictures were taken by photographs for the "Atlanta Journal Constitution" and they have been following this story from Baghdad to Atlanta, the journey, that is, and these are some of the images they've been able to share with us.
The man who shot President Reagan nearly 25 years ago could be released from a mental hospital for overnight visits only with his parents. A federal judge has OKed three overnight outings for John Hinckley, Jr. He could later be allowed an additional four visits.
The Justice Department could appeal that decision.
And a serious flu outbreak in four Western states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Arizona, Utah, California and New Mexico are all seeing widespread infections. According to the CDC, widespread is the highest destination for flu activity -- Randi.
KAYE: Our top story, the powerful storms that are pounding the West Coast this New Year's Eve. A massive amount of rain in Northern California is causing widespread flooding. Right now, firefighters are trying to rescue residents of a trailer park that's been inundated by water. And officials are urging residents along the rapidly rising Napa River to evacuate.
Mud slides are also a danger. Hillside homeowners are being told to prepare emergency kits and have an escape plan.
It is snow that's causing problems in parts of Washington State and the Sierra Nevada, several feet of it, in fact, and it's threatening to strand holiday travelers.
Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is tracking the storm systems from the CNN Weather Center -- and, Bonnie, tell us what's the latest?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Well, right now, we're very concerned about the river that you mentioned, the Napa River, near St. Helena. It already has crested to the highest level it has since 1986. And the last time it got above 18 feet, we had a tremendous amount of flooding.
The National Weather Service out of Sacramento has issued flood warnings and a lot of statements that say this is a serious situation. We're expecting even more flooding for Northern California. And as you can see on our radar picture, the rain just keeps on coming. A closer look shows you that a lot of this moisture has pushed a little bit further inland, but we're still getting that strong wind, like in San Francisco, for example, where the wind sustained is at 35 miles per hour. That blowing around the water certainly makes for poor visibility.
In Napa Valley, it is still raining. And this is an area of major concern for us for flooding, especially here in the valley areas, where we've already had some reports of that along the river, especially the Russian River, and into the Napa Valley area.
We'll be watching that throughout the day today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: And now to the story everyone is thinking about today -- New Year's. Parts of Asia rang in 2006 just moments ago. And Australians are several hours into the new year already.
In this country, revelers are still in preparation mode, gearing up for massive street parties tonight in several cities. One of the biggest, of course, New York's Times Square.
And security will be tight there. That's nothing new.
But that's where we also find CNN's Jason Carroll -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Fredericka.
Preparations underway here, as well, in New York City. Thankfully, the snow has let up. That's certainly a little bit of good news. All the hundreds of thousands of people who are going to be coming out here will be coming out to ring in '06, also, to check out that crystal ball.
Do you know lowering the ball has been a tradition, actually, since 1907. This year's ball designed by Waterford Crystal.
It takes about five days to actually prepare the ball.
And for a look at what's involved, you can see right now what was involved in trying to assemble the ball for past next year celebrations.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it ready, guys?
DAVID SULLIVAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FIRST NIGHT INTERNATIONAL: We actually begin bringing the New Year's Eve ball out from down underground. And we bring it up to the 22nd floor, where we have a steel winch. And they take out all of the pieces of the ball. You've got the two pieces of the inner core that hug the flagpole. On the inner core are the 432 Phillips light bulbs, as well as 96 high intensity strobe lights. That's all inside the ball. There's an additional three pieces. The external aluminum frame is in three sections. And then on that aluminum frame, 168 of these panels are then bolted. And on each of these panels are the Waterford Crystal triangles. And there are 540 of these Waterford Crystal triangles.
There's 168 of these politically light bulbs on the exterior ball. You add that to 208 clear light bulbs, there's a total of 696 light bulbs on the ball and 90 rotating pyramid mirrors actually reflect the light back into the audience in Times Square.
and the assembly takes five days to actually prepare the ball, test it, get it ready for New Year's Eve.
The ball travels 77 feet in 60 seconds...
UNIDENTIFIED SPECTATORS: Three, two, one.
Happy New Year!
SULLIVAN: I mean I've been doing this for years and it's amazing because everyone's counting down with the 500,000 or more people that are here in Times Square to be part of that euphoria, that feeling of just being together to count down a new year, it's amazing. People are coming together in a very spiritual way to be together to mark the coming of a new year.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CARROLL: Some 750,000 people expected to show up here tonight. Obviously, security a concern. New York City's police department have taken a number of measures, including the counter-terrorism units. They will be out on patrol. They will be patrolling the rooftops, the streets, as well as the subways.
Anyone entering Times Square will be expected to have their bag searched. In fact, police will be using metal detectors, as well. And what they're basically saying, Fredericka, is if you don't have to bring a bag, don't, because that's just an added hassle for a number of people coming out here.
Also, police say that they're accustomed to dealing with these types of large scale events and so this is just like another large scale event that they have done.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says that he will be here in Times Square to watch things as the ball is dropped at midnight -- Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jason Carroll, thanks so much, from Times Square.
And I hope by this evening you are wearing a hat, because it's cold looking out there.
CARROLL: Yes, it's chilly.
WHITFIELD: All right.
Well, we invite all of you to ring in the new year with CNN's Anderson Cooper. He'll be live from Times Square. You'll hear an eclectic mix of music from James Brown, Brooks and Dunn, the Barenaked Ladies, Harry Connick, Jr. and more. That's quite an eclectic array, indeed.
Plus, a look back at a turbulent year in news.
CNN "NEW YEAR'S EVE WITH ANDERSON COOPER," beginning tonight at 11:00 p.m. Eastern.
KAYE: The new year could bring a new chance at life for an Iraqi baby who is being rushed to the U.S. right now. Baby Noor left her embattled homeland yesterday for a fighting chance at life. She is scheduled to arrive in Atlanta this afternoon, where she will undergo surgery for spina bifida.
CNN's Christopher King reports U.S. troops made it their mission to save Baby Noor.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Doctors said she wouldn't live beyond 45 days. Little Noor, now about three months old, has so far defied the odds, living with a life-threatening disease. She was born in Baghdad with spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal column fails to close completely. Soldiers from the Georgia National Guard raided her parents' home in the Iraqi city, looking for possible insurgents.
Instead, they found the little girl's grandmother thrusting the baby toward them, showing the Americans the cyst-like purple sac protruding from her back. Iraqi doctors told the family there's nothing they could do, that Baby Noor will soon die. But U.S. military doctors disagreed and believed if she can get to the United States, she can be treated and saved.
And so the soldiers, many of them parents themselves, were moved to act. But this time on a different type of mission -- that of saving this little girl's life.
LT. JEFF MORGAN, GEORGIA NATIONAL GUARD: So my heart just kind of went out to this baby and these parents, who are, you know, living in poverty and have no means to help their own baby. I thought maybe we could do that for them.
KING: Lieutenant Jeff Morgan is a single father of five. He sees his own children in Noor's tiny face. Morgan and his fellow soldiers in Charlie Company went to work, Morgan e-mailing anyone he could think of.
DEBBIE STONE, SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS CHURCH: And it started with an e-mail back in the middle of December just asking for help, if there was anything that I could do.
KING: One of those electronic messages went to Debbie Stone, a friend who belongs to the same church as Morgan.
STONE: I think we, as American people, we have our money going toward the war. But I think that the important part is that we want to make a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people.
KING: So the mission continued on the other side of the world. Stone spent hours putting out the call to get help for Baby Noor and her family. Relentless in her pursuit, failure was not an option.
(on camera): Why did you get involved with this? I mean what made you think about doing this?
STONE: You know, I don't know why I did it. I just did it because I wanted to help, you know? I wanted to do what I could do to help this child out.
KING: Stone hooked up with an organization called Child Spring International, a non-profit group that transports sick children to the States. With their help, a hospital offered up their facilities. A doctor was found to perform the surgery and a host family stepped up to care for Noor's family. All of this free of charge.
DR. ROGER HUDGINS, NEUROSURGEON: There's no question that we -- since we can help, we need to help. I mean these are our hometown guys. So they're over there doing the work for us. Why can't we do a little bit for them?
KING: Dr. Roger Hudgins is the physician who will be operating on Baby Noor. His area of expertise is spina bifida, an affliction affecting nearly 2,000 babies born in this country each year.
(on camera): Baby Noor will undergo surgery here at Children's Health Care of Atlanta. Doctors here say the little girl suffers what appears to be a severe form of spina bifida, leaving her spinal cord and nerves exposed. The neurological damage that can come from her disease includes paralysis, loss of bowel and bladder control and severe learning disabilities.
HUDGINS: Left untreated, I've seen a case or two in my life here in the States of untreated spina bifida. Most of the time the baby dies, actually from infection and from meningitis. It's a life- threatening situation both early on from infection and a life- threatening situation later, if untreated, from cancer.
KING (voice-over): Her journey has been fraught with danger. Deadly violence surrounds her every day as U.S. soldiers battle insurgents. Her parents, whose faces have been blurred for this story, fear reprisal if they're seen getting help from Americans. Getting passports and visas for the family has been difficult, but the difficulty, danger and risk may offer a large payoff.
HUDGINS: I think that her chances for living if we can get her over here relatively soon are good. KING: They were sent to Iraq to track down insurgents. These soldiers now hope their actions will help in the difficult task of winning of the hearts and minds of at least some Iraqis.
So, as the soldiers of Charlie Company continue their fight in Iraq, little Noor is fighting for her life. And, with the help of strangers from abroad, thriving against a backdrop of war.
Christopher King, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEO TAPE)
KAYE: And we will be following Baby Noor's story for you all day. CNN's live coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. Eastern with her expected arrival in Atlanta, just a few hours away.
WHITFIELD: Also ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, as we enter the new year, what's ahead for the victims of hurricane Katrina? We'll get a live update from New Orleans on how that city is doing four months after the storm hit now.
KAYE: And it's a class project that turned into a round the world trip. A 16-year-old boy from Florida has a story to tell. We'll share it with you, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Here's a quick look at the hour's top stories.
California is bracing to ring in the new year with nasty weather. Forecasters say a storm today could trigger widespread flooding and dangerous mud slides in northern sections of the state. Officials are urging hillside homeowners to prepare emergency supplies and an escape plan.
Rapper Obie Trice was shot earlier this morning while driving on a highway in Detroit. Police say someone in another car shot at Trice's vehicle. He was able to exit the freeway. His girlfriend, who was with him, flagged down police. The rapper was treated at a hospital and then released. Police have no suspects in that shooting.
And a sick Iraqi infant is only hours away from arrival in the U.S. American troops arranged for Baby Noor to come to Atlanta for treatment for spina bifida, a potentially fatal birth defect. Doctors say surgery could save her life.
WHITFIELD: And turning from the hope of life to the grief of death, a New Orleans family is finally going to be able to lay their mother's body to rest four months after she was killed by hurricane Katrina. What makes this story even more painful is that the family had to search for their mother's body on their own.
CNN's Sean Callebs reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Robert Green's brother, David, had enough. Two days ago, he decided it was time to leave Nashville to look for a his mother's remains somewhere in the decimated Ninth Ward.
ROBERT GREEN, SON OF HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIM: And he just said to hell with it, and he just decided to come down here. And we stopped at a Wal-Mart and bought shovels, hammers, picks and everything else. We were going to dig to find my mother's body.
CALLEBS: Robert was with his mother when floodwaters washed their home away at the height of the storm. Joyce Green had Parkinson's and was severely debilitated. The night Katrina blew in, Robert's family couldn't save her, and she drowned. Four months the family waited, constantly calling the coroner's office, hoping recovery teams and efforts led by Governor Kathleen Blanco would turn up his mother's remains.
GREEN: But we had to come out here because they didn't do their job. We had to come out here because Blanco didn't do her job. We had to come out here and find my mother's body.
CALLEBS: Finally, four months to the day since Katrina hit, Robert, not police or recovery crews, but Robert and other family members, found Joyce Green's remains in the splintered wreckage of the house where they left her.
GREEN: Even as far as how I found my mother's body, I politely and eagerly walked to where her body lay. I didn't have to climb anywhere. I didn't have to move anything.
CALLEBS: He had looked in this area before, but with no luck. This time, he noticed a landmark he remembered from the night of the storm and within minutes he found what had eluded authorities for such a long time.
GREEN: All that's left of my mother is her clothes, her stove and her skeleton. Now, they could have come and did the same thing just as easily as I did.
CALLEBS: It has been a cheerless four months since the storm tore this section of New Orleans to pieces. Robert's granddaughter, Chenae (ph), drowned the night the hurricane hit. The 3-year-old was buried November 19th. Authorities haven't officially confirmed the remains are his mother's, but he's convinced. Robert has been told identification could take up to two weeks.
He's not bitter. He's not angry. But there is a huge sense of loss.
GREEN: I don't see my baby no more. I don't see my mother no more. I don't see my neighbors no more. All I can do is just be happy that she is going to be buried. That's all I can do is be happy.
CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans. (END VIDEO TAPE)
WHITFIELD: It's hard to believe such tragic stories are still coming out of New Orleans more than four months after Katrina hit. Parts of that city are still in ruins. Other areas were unbelievably unscathed. So it's become something of a tale of two cities.
Joining us live from New Orleans to talk about the recovery situation is David Cohen, news director for WWL 870 AM Radio Station.
Good to see you, David.
DAVID COHEN, NEWS DIRECTOR, WWL 870 AM: Good morning, Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: Well, you got a chance to hear Mr. Green's story.
COHEN: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Is Mr. Green's story sort of a microcosm of the tribulations that many people are still experiencing there in New Orleans?
COHEN: It really is. It seems a bit more extreme than what a lot of people are dealing with. But in many cases, on different levels, maybe not more extreme. Everybody has just huge mountains still to climb here, in most cases.
Those people who were lucky enough to have homes in areas that were not devastated, they're trying to get on with their lives. But for folks who weren't so fortunate, it's still a huge struggle every day.
WHITFIELD: So are there moments where it seems like there are turning points, that all of these efforts of people who want to come back, who want to rebuild or who are discovering, you know, their homes haven't been touched or debris is still there and, you know, they want to come back and the school system isn't in place for their kids. The infrastructure just isn't there to live an ordinary life.
So are there kind of glimmers of hope that there are some real turning -- corners that are going to be turned, at least soon, for some of these people?
COHEN: Yes, most of them, though, are psychological turning points. When Congress, before going home for the holidays, approved the money needed to strengthen and rebuild the levee system, that was a huge psychological boost to a lot of people, particularly those people who were still not sure if they wanted to live here anymore or not, or if they wanted to move back here or not. Hearing that the levees will be strengthened was huge, huge news psychologically for a lot of folks.
Other than that, you know, many of the neighborhoods that were destroyed during Katrina still look much like they did the days after Katrina. Obviously, all the water is gone, but beyond that, the effort is still very slowly and methodically going along to try and pick up all of the debris. In many neighborhoods, there's still huge piles of debris and many neighborhoods still look like vast wastelands while the parts of the city that were largely untouched are really starting to thrive.
WHITFIELD: So these disparities have received, you know, a lot of blame in a lot of different directions. Some people are saying racism is to blame. Selectivism for other reasons might be a reason.
In your reporting, what are you -- what is your belief is really at the root here? Can it be overlooked or can it be over estimated that racism or selectivism is a culprit?
COHEN: Well, here there really is a mantra that the storm did not discriminate. And the feeling amongst most people in and around New Orleans is that the storm died not discriminate because if you go to some of the more well off neighborhoods, some of the predominantly white neighborhoods that were near Lake Pontchartrain and near the 17th Street Canal where the leave broke wide open -- the area called Lakeview, where homes are a million dollars or more, in many cases, that is still a vast wasteland where very, very few people are living because the homes there were destroyed.
The Lower Ninth Ward was predominantly African-American. That was also destroyed.
The parts of the city that are now inhabitable, the mayor says, the pre-Katrina census show they were a majority African-American...
WHITFIELD: Interesting.
COHEN: ... those areas where you said, you know...
WHITFIELD: So why is it that you've also said that now you've got a problem of a fear of racism? Decisions are being made or are not being made because people are afraid that racism may be applied or the thought of racism may be applied.
COHEN: Well, yes, it's that perception that you alluded to in your initial question about it, is that there is a perception out there across the country and around the world that there has been some discrimination in this story, that there has been some effort to help those who are well off and to deny those who are not of means. And, of course, that falls along race lines many times.
But when we look really close at the story, if we look in the outlying areas south and east of the city, St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, there have been many homes there that have already been demolished, largely in predominantly white areas.
But when the effort started to demolish homes in the Lower Ninth Ward in the city of predominantly black homeowners, there were lawsuits filed and efforts to stop it and there was an effort to say hold on, should we be demolishing these homes?
And I think much of that comes from the fear that what is done will be perceived as racist because there has been this idea out there that there has been racism involved.
WHITFIELD: All right, David Cohen of WWL Radio, thanks so much for being with us.
And best of luck to you and everyone else there in the New Orleans area trying to rebuild and reclaim in the year 2006.
COHEN: We'll be looking forward to it.
Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Thanks -- Randi.
KAYE: It's been a frustrating ride for some Amtrak train passengers. Find out why straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: In "News Across America," a derailed freight train the source of a lot of stress for hundreds of Amtrak passengers. The train got stuck on tracks near Savannah, Georgia, and that stalled three Amtrak trains packed with passengers for more than 24 hours. The Amtrak trains started rolling again yesterday and are expected to reach their destinations today.
Thousands of crime victims in Ohio are breathing a little easier today. Yesterday, they mistakenly received calls from the state telling them that prison inmates involved in their cases had been released. Officials say a computer glitch activated the victim notification list. The mistake was discovered after concerned victims called prison officials.
And in Rockport, Massachusetts tonight, well, they'll be ushering in the new year with champagne and other spirits for the first time in a very long time. Rockport restaurants have been banned from selling alcohol since 1856, except for a very brief period in the 1930s. The ban was lifted earlier this year.
WHITFIELD: Just in time, eh?
Well, searching for the leaker. We'll get an update on the fallout from the domestic spying story.
KAYE: And the Northwest is bracing for some rough weather. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider will update us ahead.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING, and we're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
>
