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CNN Live Sunday

A Woman's Experience Post Brown V. Board; Cambridge City Hall Begins Handing Out Marriage Liscenes To Same-Sex Couples At Midnight

Aired May 16, 2004 - 18:00   ET

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

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


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN SUNDAY is just ahead, but first these headlines. Secretary of State Colin Powell is heading back to the U.S. after criticizing the Arab world for not expressing more outrage at the beheading of an American in Iraq.
At a refueling stop in Ireland, Powell also expressed doubts about the viability of reopening Middle East peace talks soon.

An American soldier was killed last night when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Another soldier, in the same vehicle, was wounded. A second U.S. soldier died today from the wounds he suffered in a firefight south of Baghdad Saturday.

Al Jazeera Television has broadcasted new video of 2 men it says are Russian hostages in Iraq. CNN is working to get its own confirmation of the report. Russian officials, though, are concerned about the rising violence in that country. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is meeting with Russian president Vladamir Putin in Moscow.

And I'm Carol Lin. Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Robert Pelton is most famous for interviewing Taliban American John Walker Lindh. But Pelton has traveled to the world's most dangerous places, including Iraq. I'm going to be talking to him about the dangers Americans face in Iraq and why Pelton would want to go back.

And the mystery of General Kyd. Investigators in L.A. are doing door to door, offering a $50,000 reward for its safe return. Why would a Cello be worth a $50,000 reward? Wait till you hear how much it's actually worth and how it disappeared.

Meantime, up first, angry denials from the Pentagon. There is a scathing report in tomorrow's "New Yorker" magazine claiming, that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set up a secret interrogation team at Abu Ghraib prison. CNN's Kathleen Koch leads our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The "New Yorker" article alleges that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expanded to Iraq a clandestine operation used against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The goal, get more intelligence about the growing insurgency.

SEYMOUR HERSH, NEW YORKER: The instructions were, let's get tougher. Let's use much more coercion, let's use sexual intimidation, because in the Arab world, that's an easy way to make somebody talk. KOCH: Hersh writes that a former intelligence official told him the rules of the operation were, quote "grab whom you must. Do what you want." Pentagon spokesman, Larry Direda calls the story outlandish and completely false.

Quote, "No responsible official of the Department of Defense approved any program that could conceivably have been intended to result in such abuses as witnessed in the recent photos and videos."

Meanwhile, the "New York Times" obtained a sworn statement by Private First Class Lynndie England, charged in the allege abuses. "We thought it looked funny so pictures were taken" England told investigators. The soldier repeated previous claims that MPs were told to do the things they did.

Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted the administration has found no high level condonement of the prison abuses.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't see any indication that there was a command climate problem higher up.

KOCH: Calls intensified through the weekend for a full congressional investigation.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, (D) CONNECTICUT: There has to be a search for the truth and it has to take us as far and as high in the chain of command as it goes.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: I've never believed this was just a few rogue MPs, but I'm not willing to indict everybody in the system until I have more evidence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: It's unclear how the new allegations will impact the cases of the seven soldiers charged in the alleged abuses. Court martial proceedings against three of them begin this week -- Carol

LIN: Kathleen, though, have the new allegations intensified the calls for the secretary of defense to resign?

KOCH: Carol, they certainly turned up the heat on the secretary, who just roughly 10 days ago vowed he would not resign under political pressure. But unlike those very graphic photos of these alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison, these allegations go directly to Rumsfeld himself, to his decision making process as secretary. So the question now is, can they and will they be proven?

LIN: Thank you very much, Kathleen Koch live at the Pentagon.

Well, the Secretary of State has been in the Middle East trying to repair the damage from the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. But Colin Powell says he also expects more from the Arab world. Here is White House correspondent Dana Bash. Good evening.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Carol. The secretary said the United States has a black eye around the world, because of the Iraqi abuse scandal. But he also said the administration is trying to keep its eye on the ball. And that ball is staying at its timetable to transfer sovereignty back to Iraq, just weeks away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): The Secretary of State brought the U.S. apology for what happened at Abu Ghraib directly to those most publicly enraged by the abuses: the Arab world. But after weekend meetings with Arab leaders in Jordan, Secretary Powell expressed his own outrage about what he didn't hear in return: widespread condemnation of the videotaped beheading of American civilian Nicholas Berg.

POWELL: There ought to be outrage. There is anger in the Arab world about some of our actions, but that is no excuse for any silence on the part of any Arab leader for this kind of murder.

BASH: The head of the Arab League responded.

AMR MOUSSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL: No, sir. We are against this -- such acts of extreme violence and despicable attitudes towards human beings.

BASH: But frustration with most Arab leaders for not decrying a grisly murder is a sign of U.S. challenges in enlisting support where their blessing will be needed most. Still evolving plans to transfer sovereignty to Iraqis just six weeks away.

As Secretary Powell lobbied Iraq's neighbors, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice spent the weekend working other parts of the globe. Before a meeting with European leaders, a first stop in Russia looking for crucial international support for a new U.N. resolution backing the handover of power.

Leaders of the temporary caretaker Iraqi government said to take over June 30, have not been chosen. And Bush officials are trying to battle skepticism they will simply be hand-picked by the U.S. and U.N. with no real authority.

In Sunday's "Washington Post," Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain argue there is a way to prove to Iraqis U.S. occupation is really coming to an end, "we should strongly consider moving up the date of the planned elections from January to this fall," they write. Powell dismissed accelerated elections as unrealistic, but took pains to emphasize the political occupation is almost over.

POWELL: Is this a government that's going to have sovereignty? Is it going to have authority over its land? And the answer is yes, because the coalition provisional authority is going away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And the secretary tried to clarify comments he made last week that the U.S. military would pull its 135,000-plus troops from Iraq if asked by the new government. He said, it's hypothetical. However, American troops would leave. But he also said that given the great security challenges in that country, it's very unlikely that that request would be made -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Dana Bash live at the White House.

Well, southern Iraq is still a big problem for coalition forces. They are still going after the loyalists protecting a radical cleric. The fighting is fierce. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The government building in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, under new management. Gunmen loyal loil to militant Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr took over the local headquarters of the Iraqi facility's protection service, a coalition-established force tasked with protecting oil pipelines and other critical infrastructure.

Outside the city, a truck carrying supplies for the coalition burns after an ambush. Convoys have become regular targets for the insurgents. Daily clashes between U.S. troops and Sadr's Mehdi Army have turned the holy city of Karbala, normally bustling with Shiite pilgrims, into a city gripped by fear. The schools are closed and, as usual, civilians caught in the middle pay the price.

Until when will this continue? What is happening to our future, asked Hussein Ali, injured in the fighting. We don't know who is right, Muqtada Sadr, or others.

In Najaf, Shiite Islam's most holy city, more funerals for those killed in the fighting. More than two dozen have been killed over the weekend. The coalition claims most of the dead are gunmen.

And in Baghdad, an attack on the headquarters of the patriotic union of Kurdistan, is caught on tape. Responsibility for the attack was later claimed by a group loyal to Muqtada Sadr.

(on camera): As Sadr's revolt continues, the first court martial in the prisoner abuse scandal is scheduled to begin here Wednesday. Yet another front where the U.S.-led coalition is under fire. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And now al Jazeera Television is reporting that an Islamic group has kidnapped more hostages in Iraq. The Arab network aired pictures and said the men are Russian. CNN is still working to independently verify the tape, but the group, which calls itself the Army of the Victorious Sect, demands all countries withdraw troops from Iraq. Russia, which opposed the war, does not have any official military presence in that country.

Right now, we want to check stories across America. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: 160 passengers on a gambling cruise weren't betting on this kind of excitement. A half hour after setting sail, the fire broke out in the engine room today. The crew put it out by closing the airtight doors. No one was hurt.

In Agora, California, an animal rescue with no harm, maybe except to the dignity. That animal that the helicopter hoisted a horse to safety yesterday after a rider and mount tumbled down a bank. Both escaped injury.

Golden, Colorado. Interstate 70 is opened in both directions now that crews have removed a huge girder that fell across from an overpass, killing 3 people. Investigators don't know what caused it to fall.

It was a legal battle that stirred up mixed emotions across the states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the brick and the coca-cola bottle came through my window, I remember thinking to myself, oh, so this is how it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Living in the moment after the historic Brown versus Board of Education ruling. Our own Charlayne Hunter Gault recalls her experiences as the first African-American at the University of Georgia.

And, she is talking. Track star Marion Jones confronts the media about the drug scandal surrounding her name.

And later, traveling to the most dangerous parts of the world. Journalist Robert Pelton has been to Iraq and plans to go back. He's going to tell me how to survive in a country in wartime.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: At midnight tonight, Massachusetts is going to issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Massachusetts officially becomes the first state in the country to legally allow same-sex marriages. Gay and lesbian couples are already lining up at city halls. Sonia Pfeiffer with CNN affiliate WCBB joins us now from Boston.

Sonia, what do the lines look like there?

SONIA PFEIFFER, WCBB CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, as you can imagine, they're starting to grow right now. At about midnight last night, was when the first couple showed up. If you take a look behind, you can see now, maybe a couple dozen folks are up there.

City hall is not going to open until 10:30 tonight. When couples go in at 10:30, they'll get a number and go upstairs to a party the mayor is hosting. At 12:01 numbers will be called and couples can file their intentions to be married.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PFEIFFER (voice-over): The rain doesn't stand a chance of dampening this campout.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of our lives, we've never, ever imagined this would happen. In fact, we never imagined this would happen. In fact, we never imagined this would happen.

PFEIFFER: Well before the drizzle, Susan Shepard and Marcia Hamms took their places in front of Cambridge City Hall. They got here at midnight last night, the first in line to file for a same-sex marriage license.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To have the highest court in the state to affirm your right to be a family was wonderful. And it just gave you courage.

PFEIFFER: By midafternoon, Susan and Marcia had company. More eager couples, champagne bubbles and bouquets of flowers, stems stuck inside pockets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To me, it's like Christmas.

PFEIFFER: Anita Savo and Emily Kay have been together nearly 30 years. Their excitement over legalizing their commitment is not tarnished by the possibility of Massachusetts voters amending a ban to gay marriage in 2006.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I firmly believe that in two and a half years, after all of us are married, it's going to be a non-issue. The world will not come to an end and the word marriage will persist.

PFEIFFER: Cambridge City worker Jeff Walker is one of about a dozen volunteers who will file paperwork tonight. He expects 200 to 300 couples will line up.

JEFF WALKER, CAMBRIDGE CITY WORKER: Personally and professionally it absolutely is the right thing for us to be doing. And to connect with these people and talk to them and hear their stories, hear all the different kinds of plans that people are making it's really exciting to share that with them.

PFEIFFER: It's a sharing that many here thought would never happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PFEIFFER: Massachusetts state law requires a three-day wait before couples can officially be married, but there is a way to get around that. Tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., couples can come back to City Hall, file for a waiver, go in front of the judge, pay a fee and then be married. Carol, back to you.

LIN: Sonia, how tight is security there and are there any protests expected tonight? PFEIFFER: You know, we thought that there might be protesters early, but so far, there's been nothing. We showed up at about 9:00 a.m. It's been very calm. If anything, there's been an amazing show of support: neighbors, friends, people bringing coffee from local coffee places for folks who have been here since midnight.

There may be protesters later this evening. Security is not incredibly tight, although there are cops on every corner. I think everyone is ready for whatever happens here.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Sonia Pfeiffer outside of city hall there.

Well, tomorrow marks exactly 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled public school segregation unconstitutional. CNN's own Charlayne Hunter-Gault recalls how the Brown versus Board of Education decision paved the way for her to make civil rights history several years later.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The first elementary school I went to was in covington, Georgia. We used to -- my neighbors and I used to walk about a mile and a half to get there. And when we got there, it was our school. At the same time, it was a little black school in a very segregated society. Nothing compared with what the white students had across town.

In 1954, my mother decided to join my father who was a military Chaplain in Alaska. And so in 1954, the year of the Supreme Court decision, it's sort of ironic in a way, I attended a white school.

I stepped into a classroom where I had to compete with white students who had traveled all over the world, being military children. They had attended some of the best schools. So in a way, that was a great preparation for what was to happen to me in January of 1961, when I entered the University of Georgia.

Of course, there was tension in the air. I had to live on campus as a female student. All of the anger and hostility and rage over our admission happened outside of my dormitory.

Then the university officials came and told us -- told me that I was being suspended for my, quote unquote, own safety. And up to that point, I had been relatively calm. My room was right on the first floor. All of the girls in the dormitory, the white girls, lived on the second floor. And they had been told to turn out their lights. So the only room in the whole dormitory with a light on was mine. So everybody knew where to throw the bricks.

So when the brick and the coca-cola bottle came through my window, I remember thinking to myself, oh, so this is how it is in the middle of a riot, because I was definitely in the middle of a riot. But I was still very calm until they came and told me that I was being suspended. And at that point, I burst go into tears, not because I was afraid, but because I couldn't think of any way to stop this on my own, and I kept feeling that I had failed. Obviously, it was worth it.

I think that even before the Brown decision, it's important to recognize that there were black doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, educators, civil servants who came out of black schools with black teachers, with the same crippling inequalities that I was exposed to. And somehow, they overcame.

In this year of celebrating a half century after Brown, I think it's worth saying once again that, you know, there is no progress without struggle: words of Frederick Douglass. And we have to continue to struggle, because we're not perfect. We're not there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Tonight, "CNN PRESENTS" looks deeper into the education gap in a special report called "The Gap: 50 years after Brown Versus the Board of Education." So, please tune in tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, tomorrow evening, Aaron Brown will host a special edition of "NEWSNIGHT: 50 Years After the Brown Ruling," Monday night at 10:00 Eastern. So, please join him then.

In the meantime, right here, still to come on CNN LIVE SUNDAY, staying in the fast lane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been challenging, you know. You don't want to have to talk about negative stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Up next, Marion Jones promises to fight back.

Plus, is there a place in the world where you'd dare not go? Still to come, meet a man who has traveled to some of the most dangerous places.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Now some other news from around the world. AIDS and Africa: Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson is trying to speed up the approval for cheaper HIV druggings so they can reach developing countries faster.

In India, Prime Minister Elect Sonia Gandhi and her new government are likely to be sworn in on Wednesday. Newly elected lawmakers chose her as their Parliamentary leader yesterday. Gandhi, who was born in Italy, is set to become the country's first foreign- born prime minister.

And Greece says Athens has passed a major security test. Greek officials say they're pleased with the results of Operation: Olympic Guardian II. It's a four-day drill designed to challenge the country's response to a terror attack during the August Olympic Games.

Gold medal sprinter Marion Jones says she'll go to court if she makes the olympic team, the U.S. olympic team and someone tries to stop her from competing at the summer games in Greece. Jones is one of several athletes who tested before -- testified before a federal grand jury in an illegal steroids case. She spoke about it today at a U.S. olympic committee meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARION JONES, TRACK STAR: I get my legal team together and we'll fight the process. We'll fight whatever they're trying to do. But no, we will not rely solely on the USOC if something like that were to come up. I mean, I think that pretty much, an athlete of my caliber or any athlete who is someone is -- someone who is trying to take away their livelihood will find the best resources to fight it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: She says it would be unfair to keep any athlete off the team who had not failed a drug test.

Well, he's traveled on perilous terrain and talked to some dangerous people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's a little bit of hysteria tone, Colombia is not that dangerous, but it does require doing your homework.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Still to come, whether for adventure or work, why would worldwide travelers want to travel to deadly parts on the planet?

Plus, some of the most graphic memories of 9/11. A look at what the victims' families will face this week.

And it's no longer black and white. We take a look at the new browns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 16, 2004 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN SUNDAY is just ahead, but first these headlines. Secretary of State Colin Powell is heading back to the U.S. after criticizing the Arab world for not expressing more outrage at the beheading of an American in Iraq.
At a refueling stop in Ireland, Powell also expressed doubts about the viability of reopening Middle East peace talks soon.

An American soldier was killed last night when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Another soldier, in the same vehicle, was wounded. A second U.S. soldier died today from the wounds he suffered in a firefight south of Baghdad Saturday.

Al Jazeera Television has broadcasted new video of 2 men it says are Russian hostages in Iraq. CNN is working to get its own confirmation of the report. Russian officials, though, are concerned about the rising violence in that country. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is meeting with Russian president Vladamir Putin in Moscow.

And I'm Carol Lin. Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Robert Pelton is most famous for interviewing Taliban American John Walker Lindh. But Pelton has traveled to the world's most dangerous places, including Iraq. I'm going to be talking to him about the dangers Americans face in Iraq and why Pelton would want to go back.

And the mystery of General Kyd. Investigators in L.A. are doing door to door, offering a $50,000 reward for its safe return. Why would a Cello be worth a $50,000 reward? Wait till you hear how much it's actually worth and how it disappeared.

Meantime, up first, angry denials from the Pentagon. There is a scathing report in tomorrow's "New Yorker" magazine claiming, that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set up a secret interrogation team at Abu Ghraib prison. CNN's Kathleen Koch leads our coverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The "New Yorker" article alleges that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expanded to Iraq a clandestine operation used against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The goal, get more intelligence about the growing insurgency.

SEYMOUR HERSH, NEW YORKER: The instructions were, let's get tougher. Let's use much more coercion, let's use sexual intimidation, because in the Arab world, that's an easy way to make somebody talk. KOCH: Hersh writes that a former intelligence official told him the rules of the operation were, quote "grab whom you must. Do what you want." Pentagon spokesman, Larry Direda calls the story outlandish and completely false.

Quote, "No responsible official of the Department of Defense approved any program that could conceivably have been intended to result in such abuses as witnessed in the recent photos and videos."

Meanwhile, the "New York Times" obtained a sworn statement by Private First Class Lynndie England, charged in the allege abuses. "We thought it looked funny so pictures were taken" England told investigators. The soldier repeated previous claims that MPs were told to do the things they did.

Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted the administration has found no high level condonement of the prison abuses.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't see any indication that there was a command climate problem higher up.

KOCH: Calls intensified through the weekend for a full congressional investigation.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, (D) CONNECTICUT: There has to be a search for the truth and it has to take us as far and as high in the chain of command as it goes.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: I've never believed this was just a few rogue MPs, but I'm not willing to indict everybody in the system until I have more evidence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: It's unclear how the new allegations will impact the cases of the seven soldiers charged in the alleged abuses. Court martial proceedings against three of them begin this week -- Carol

LIN: Kathleen, though, have the new allegations intensified the calls for the secretary of defense to resign?

KOCH: Carol, they certainly turned up the heat on the secretary, who just roughly 10 days ago vowed he would not resign under political pressure. But unlike those very graphic photos of these alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison, these allegations go directly to Rumsfeld himself, to his decision making process as secretary. So the question now is, can they and will they be proven?

LIN: Thank you very much, Kathleen Koch live at the Pentagon.

Well, the Secretary of State has been in the Middle East trying to repair the damage from the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. But Colin Powell says he also expects more from the Arab world. Here is White House correspondent Dana Bash. Good evening.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Carol. The secretary said the United States has a black eye around the world, because of the Iraqi abuse scandal. But he also said the administration is trying to keep its eye on the ball. And that ball is staying at its timetable to transfer sovereignty back to Iraq, just weeks away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): The Secretary of State brought the U.S. apology for what happened at Abu Ghraib directly to those most publicly enraged by the abuses: the Arab world. But after weekend meetings with Arab leaders in Jordan, Secretary Powell expressed his own outrage about what he didn't hear in return: widespread condemnation of the videotaped beheading of American civilian Nicholas Berg.

POWELL: There ought to be outrage. There is anger in the Arab world about some of our actions, but that is no excuse for any silence on the part of any Arab leader for this kind of murder.

BASH: The head of the Arab League responded.

AMR MOUSSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL: No, sir. We are against this -- such acts of extreme violence and despicable attitudes towards human beings.

BASH: But frustration with most Arab leaders for not decrying a grisly murder is a sign of U.S. challenges in enlisting support where their blessing will be needed most. Still evolving plans to transfer sovereignty to Iraqis just six weeks away.

As Secretary Powell lobbied Iraq's neighbors, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice spent the weekend working other parts of the globe. Before a meeting with European leaders, a first stop in Russia looking for crucial international support for a new U.N. resolution backing the handover of power.

Leaders of the temporary caretaker Iraqi government said to take over June 30, have not been chosen. And Bush officials are trying to battle skepticism they will simply be hand-picked by the U.S. and U.N. with no real authority.

In Sunday's "Washington Post," Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain argue there is a way to prove to Iraqis U.S. occupation is really coming to an end, "we should strongly consider moving up the date of the planned elections from January to this fall," they write. Powell dismissed accelerated elections as unrealistic, but took pains to emphasize the political occupation is almost over.

POWELL: Is this a government that's going to have sovereignty? Is it going to have authority over its land? And the answer is yes, because the coalition provisional authority is going away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And the secretary tried to clarify comments he made last week that the U.S. military would pull its 135,000-plus troops from Iraq if asked by the new government. He said, it's hypothetical. However, American troops would leave. But he also said that given the great security challenges in that country, it's very unlikely that that request would be made -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Dana Bash live at the White House.

Well, southern Iraq is still a big problem for coalition forces. They are still going after the loyalists protecting a radical cleric. The fighting is fierce. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The government building in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, under new management. Gunmen loyal loil to militant Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr took over the local headquarters of the Iraqi facility's protection service, a coalition-established force tasked with protecting oil pipelines and other critical infrastructure.

Outside the city, a truck carrying supplies for the coalition burns after an ambush. Convoys have become regular targets for the insurgents. Daily clashes between U.S. troops and Sadr's Mehdi Army have turned the holy city of Karbala, normally bustling with Shiite pilgrims, into a city gripped by fear. The schools are closed and, as usual, civilians caught in the middle pay the price.

Until when will this continue? What is happening to our future, asked Hussein Ali, injured in the fighting. We don't know who is right, Muqtada Sadr, or others.

In Najaf, Shiite Islam's most holy city, more funerals for those killed in the fighting. More than two dozen have been killed over the weekend. The coalition claims most of the dead are gunmen.

And in Baghdad, an attack on the headquarters of the patriotic union of Kurdistan, is caught on tape. Responsibility for the attack was later claimed by a group loyal to Muqtada Sadr.

(on camera): As Sadr's revolt continues, the first court martial in the prisoner abuse scandal is scheduled to begin here Wednesday. Yet another front where the U.S.-led coalition is under fire. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And now al Jazeera Television is reporting that an Islamic group has kidnapped more hostages in Iraq. The Arab network aired pictures and said the men are Russian. CNN is still working to independently verify the tape, but the group, which calls itself the Army of the Victorious Sect, demands all countries withdraw troops from Iraq. Russia, which opposed the war, does not have any official military presence in that country.

Right now, we want to check stories across America. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: 160 passengers on a gambling cruise weren't betting on this kind of excitement. A half hour after setting sail, the fire broke out in the engine room today. The crew put it out by closing the airtight doors. No one was hurt.

In Agora, California, an animal rescue with no harm, maybe except to the dignity. That animal that the helicopter hoisted a horse to safety yesterday after a rider and mount tumbled down a bank. Both escaped injury.

Golden, Colorado. Interstate 70 is opened in both directions now that crews have removed a huge girder that fell across from an overpass, killing 3 people. Investigators don't know what caused it to fall.

It was a legal battle that stirred up mixed emotions across the states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the brick and the coca-cola bottle came through my window, I remember thinking to myself, oh, so this is how it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Living in the moment after the historic Brown versus Board of Education ruling. Our own Charlayne Hunter Gault recalls her experiences as the first African-American at the University of Georgia.

And, she is talking. Track star Marion Jones confronts the media about the drug scandal surrounding her name.

And later, traveling to the most dangerous parts of the world. Journalist Robert Pelton has been to Iraq and plans to go back. He's going to tell me how to survive in a country in wartime.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: At midnight tonight, Massachusetts is going to issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Massachusetts officially becomes the first state in the country to legally allow same-sex marriages. Gay and lesbian couples are already lining up at city halls. Sonia Pfeiffer with CNN affiliate WCBB joins us now from Boston.

Sonia, what do the lines look like there?

SONIA PFEIFFER, WCBB CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, as you can imagine, they're starting to grow right now. At about midnight last night, was when the first couple showed up. If you take a look behind, you can see now, maybe a couple dozen folks are up there.

City hall is not going to open until 10:30 tonight. When couples go in at 10:30, they'll get a number and go upstairs to a party the mayor is hosting. At 12:01 numbers will be called and couples can file their intentions to be married.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PFEIFFER (voice-over): The rain doesn't stand a chance of dampening this campout.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of our lives, we've never, ever imagined this would happen. In fact, we never imagined this would happen. In fact, we never imagined this would happen.

PFEIFFER: Well before the drizzle, Susan Shepard and Marcia Hamms took their places in front of Cambridge City Hall. They got here at midnight last night, the first in line to file for a same-sex marriage license.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To have the highest court in the state to affirm your right to be a family was wonderful. And it just gave you courage.

PFEIFFER: By midafternoon, Susan and Marcia had company. More eager couples, champagne bubbles and bouquets of flowers, stems stuck inside pockets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To me, it's like Christmas.

PFEIFFER: Anita Savo and Emily Kay have been together nearly 30 years. Their excitement over legalizing their commitment is not tarnished by the possibility of Massachusetts voters amending a ban to gay marriage in 2006.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I firmly believe that in two and a half years, after all of us are married, it's going to be a non-issue. The world will not come to an end and the word marriage will persist.

PFEIFFER: Cambridge City worker Jeff Walker is one of about a dozen volunteers who will file paperwork tonight. He expects 200 to 300 couples will line up.

JEFF WALKER, CAMBRIDGE CITY WORKER: Personally and professionally it absolutely is the right thing for us to be doing. And to connect with these people and talk to them and hear their stories, hear all the different kinds of plans that people are making it's really exciting to share that with them.

PFEIFFER: It's a sharing that many here thought would never happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PFEIFFER: Massachusetts state law requires a three-day wait before couples can officially be married, but there is a way to get around that. Tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., couples can come back to City Hall, file for a waiver, go in front of the judge, pay a fee and then be married. Carol, back to you.

LIN: Sonia, how tight is security there and are there any protests expected tonight? PFEIFFER: You know, we thought that there might be protesters early, but so far, there's been nothing. We showed up at about 9:00 a.m. It's been very calm. If anything, there's been an amazing show of support: neighbors, friends, people bringing coffee from local coffee places for folks who have been here since midnight.

There may be protesters later this evening. Security is not incredibly tight, although there are cops on every corner. I think everyone is ready for whatever happens here.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Sonia Pfeiffer outside of city hall there.

Well, tomorrow marks exactly 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled public school segregation unconstitutional. CNN's own Charlayne Hunter-Gault recalls how the Brown versus Board of Education decision paved the way for her to make civil rights history several years later.

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CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The first elementary school I went to was in covington, Georgia. We used to -- my neighbors and I used to walk about a mile and a half to get there. And when we got there, it was our school. At the same time, it was a little black school in a very segregated society. Nothing compared with what the white students had across town.

In 1954, my mother decided to join my father who was a military Chaplain in Alaska. And so in 1954, the year of the Supreme Court decision, it's sort of ironic in a way, I attended a white school.

I stepped into a classroom where I had to compete with white students who had traveled all over the world, being military children. They had attended some of the best schools. So in a way, that was a great preparation for what was to happen to me in January of 1961, when I entered the University of Georgia.

Of course, there was tension in the air. I had to live on campus as a female student. All of the anger and hostility and rage over our admission happened outside of my dormitory.

Then the university officials came and told us -- told me that I was being suspended for my, quote unquote, own safety. And up to that point, I had been relatively calm. My room was right on the first floor. All of the girls in the dormitory, the white girls, lived on the second floor. And they had been told to turn out their lights. So the only room in the whole dormitory with a light on was mine. So everybody knew where to throw the bricks.

So when the brick and the coca-cola bottle came through my window, I remember thinking to myself, oh, so this is how it is in the middle of a riot, because I was definitely in the middle of a riot. But I was still very calm until they came and told me that I was being suspended. And at that point, I burst go into tears, not because I was afraid, but because I couldn't think of any way to stop this on my own, and I kept feeling that I had failed. Obviously, it was worth it.

I think that even before the Brown decision, it's important to recognize that there were black doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, educators, civil servants who came out of black schools with black teachers, with the same crippling inequalities that I was exposed to. And somehow, they overcame.

In this year of celebrating a half century after Brown, I think it's worth saying once again that, you know, there is no progress without struggle: words of Frederick Douglass. And we have to continue to struggle, because we're not perfect. We're not there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Tonight, "CNN PRESENTS" looks deeper into the education gap in a special report called "The Gap: 50 years after Brown Versus the Board of Education." So, please tune in tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, tomorrow evening, Aaron Brown will host a special edition of "NEWSNIGHT: 50 Years After the Brown Ruling," Monday night at 10:00 Eastern. So, please join him then.

In the meantime, right here, still to come on CNN LIVE SUNDAY, staying in the fast lane.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been challenging, you know. You don't want to have to talk about negative stuff.

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LIN: Up next, Marion Jones promises to fight back.

Plus, is there a place in the world where you'd dare not go? Still to come, meet a man who has traveled to some of the most dangerous places.

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LIN: Now some other news from around the world. AIDS and Africa: Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson is trying to speed up the approval for cheaper HIV druggings so they can reach developing countries faster.

In India, Prime Minister Elect Sonia Gandhi and her new government are likely to be sworn in on Wednesday. Newly elected lawmakers chose her as their Parliamentary leader yesterday. Gandhi, who was born in Italy, is set to become the country's first foreign- born prime minister.

And Greece says Athens has passed a major security test. Greek officials say they're pleased with the results of Operation: Olympic Guardian II. It's a four-day drill designed to challenge the country's response to a terror attack during the August Olympic Games.

Gold medal sprinter Marion Jones says she'll go to court if she makes the olympic team, the U.S. olympic team and someone tries to stop her from competing at the summer games in Greece. Jones is one of several athletes who tested before -- testified before a federal grand jury in an illegal steroids case. She spoke about it today at a U.S. olympic committee meeting.

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MARION JONES, TRACK STAR: I get my legal team together and we'll fight the process. We'll fight whatever they're trying to do. But no, we will not rely solely on the USOC if something like that were to come up. I mean, I think that pretty much, an athlete of my caliber or any athlete who is someone is -- someone who is trying to take away their livelihood will find the best resources to fight it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: She says it would be unfair to keep any athlete off the team who had not failed a drug test.

Well, he's traveled on perilous terrain and talked to some dangerous people.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's a little bit of hysteria tone, Colombia is not that dangerous, but it does require doing your homework.

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LIN: Still to come, whether for adventure or work, why would worldwide travelers want to travel to deadly parts on the planet?

Plus, some of the most graphic memories of 9/11. A look at what the victims' families will face this week.

And it's no longer black and white. We take a look at the new browns.

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