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CNN Live Sunday

Rosa Parks' Body On Way To Capitol Rotunda

Aired October 30, 2005 - 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: An Indian news agency says an Islamic militant group has claimed responsibility for yesterday's deadly bombings in New Delhi. At least 59 people were killed and 210 were wounded. Authorities are busy checking out leads. And the government says the investigation is going well.
Someone put gasoline -- at least a gasoline can near an air intake vent at a Maryland building used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some people got sick from the fumes. Thirty to 40 workers were taken to the hospital. A couple hundred employees were evacuated.

Now two our top story. The nation is remembering a civil rights legend right now. You are looking at live pictures of Rosa Parks' casket -- hopefully right there -- arriving in Washington, D.C. It's going to head to the Capitol Rotunda where Parks will lie in honor today and tomorrow. She is the first woman ever to do so. Our Gary Nuremberg is in Washington.

GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Carol. It is not lost on the organizers of tonight's event that Rosa Parks' remains are returning to the Washington area through the newly renamed Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, recently renamed for the former Supreme Court justice who first made a mark on American history arguing civil rights cases before the Supreme Court. Argued the landmark Brown Vs. Board of Education decision in 1954, less than a year before Rosa Parks and her moment of defiance also helped change civil rights history in the United States.

As Carol said, this is a singular honor. She is the first woman in American history to be allowed the privilege of resting in honor under the Capitol Rotunda, only the second African American. Is it a privilege normally reserved for high military leaders or government officials. This is indeed a unique tribute.

The dean of the House of U.S. Representatives, John Dingle, calls Rosa Parks one of America's greatest heroes. And it took the House and the Senate very little time last week to approve the measure necessary to allow this honor to take place.

Here on the west front of the Capitol this evening, security personnel are now screening thousands of American citizens who want to file by Mrs. Parks' casket later this evening. They began assembling here earlier this afternoon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NUREMBERG (voice-over): They waited in the falling sun of an autumn afternoon in Washington, waited by the thousands to pay tribute to a woman who changed American history, who changed the future for 8- year-old Dakota Brooks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She helped, like Martin Luther King, to get this all figured out that the whites -- that the blacks don't have to give up their seats or anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things were pretty tough in 1955. It is hard to imagine now, but they were tough. But at least it started that movement and got people courageous enough to stand up to a system that did not recognize them as equal citizens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NUREMBERG: Standing up to a system that did not recognize equal rights for its citizens. Tonight there are thousands of people standing up, standing in line, waiting to pay tribute to Rosa Parks.

When her casket arrives here at the United States Capitol, among the first to pay tribute will be President Bush. I keep thinking about Dakota Brooks, Carol, that 8-year-old whose future has been changed by Rosa Parks, that's why she's here tonight, that's why the country is paying tribute. We'll be here through the evening and bring you updates as they approach.

LIN: You bet, Gary. It is remarkable that she will be met by the president, the governor of Maryland, actresses like Sicily Tyson, but also the ordinary public that has celebrated her life in so many ways. In fact, even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the other day that she would not be secretary of state if it wasn't for Rosa Parks.

So the secretary and others paid their respects earlier in Montgomery, Alabama. That was where in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man violating the Jim Crow laws. Her arrest sparked a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. A year later the buses were integrated.

Now, we are going to be dipping in and out of live coverage at the Capitol Rotunda. President Bush will be laying a wreath later this hour. We are going to bring you all the highlights as America pauses to reflect an honor the woman who sparked the civil rights movement, often called the mother of the civil rights movement.

Now, President Bush is back at the White House after spending the weekend at Camp David. It follows a challenging week for his administration, most notably, the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak investigation and continued scrutiny for the president's top political adviser Karl Rove.

Now some are wondering if the shake-up is in the works. Well, let's see what our Dana Bash has to say at the White House. DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, a senior officials tell us that the president is not going to do anything rash when it comes to his staff, but he is taking stock and trying figuring out if and when change will be needed. But meanwhile, what the White House is hoping to do is fall back on what is really a tried and true trick in politics and that is change the subject fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): Hope he can finally start digging out from under the slew of political problems that threw his presidency into crisis.

The Bush cleanup campaign is expected to start Monday by announcing a new nominee to the Supreme Court to replace the embattled Harriet Miers. Aids hope to calm conservatives with a pick that has a clear judicial record unlike Miers.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN, (R) TEXAS: I think, unfortunately, we're at a time in our nation's history when you have to have a demonstrated track record of a particular judicial philosophy that says that judges should not legislate from the bench. In other words, a traditional judicial philosophy.

BASH: Among those on the short list, appellate judges like known conserve at Samuel Alito. Michael Luttig, another long-time rank and file GOP favorite as well as Priscilla Owen and Alice Batchelder, also considered by Mr. Bush before.

The White House hopes a do-over debate in the Supreme Court, plus what aids call a back to basics focus on issues from the bird flu to the budget will help heal their political wounds.

But for rehabilitation, many allies are now going public with the long growing belief it's time to shake up a tired insular Bush staff.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: Five years now. Change is always good.

SEN. TRENT LOTT, (R) MISSISSIPPI: I do think that new blood quite often helps change the dynamics.

KEN DUBERSTEIN, FRM. WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: All second term presidents need some fresh blood, some new ideas.

BASH: One Bush adviser tells CNN the president is clearly disappointed in top staff for political debacles from hurricane recovery to the Miers' nomination. And senior aides say Mr. Bush will likely make changes replacing the chief of staff and others as soon as the end of the year. One top official saying the president does not want to do anything that looks, quote, brash or part of a PR effort.

Some outside advisers are already floating trade rep Rob Portman to replace Andy Card.

Deputy chief of staff Karl Rove escaped indictment for now. Sources say he did talk to reporters about a CIA operative. Some call the president's top political aide a liability.

SEN. HARRY REID, (D-NV) MINORITY LEADER: He's still around. He should be let go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now, the president has so far only given one short statement praising Cheney, former Cheney chief of staff "Scooter" Libby and also expressing sadness for his indictment. Some on both sides of the aisle say that Mr. Bush needs to give a broader public statement talking about the lessons he learned from the leaks investigation. But one senior official tells us that is very unlikely as long as the legal proceedings are continuing -- Carol.

LIN: Dana, thank you.

Well, the husband of the CIA agent at the heart of the leak investigation is speaking out. Former ambassador Joe Wilson vented his anger over the leak if an op-ed piece for yesterday's "Los Angeles Times." He wrote, "the attacks on Valerie and me were upsetting, disruptive and vicious. They amounted to character assassination. Senior administration officials used the power of the White House to make our lives hell for the last 27 months. But more important, they did it as part of a clever effort -- or a clear effort, rather, to cover up the lies and disinformation used to justify the invasion of Iraq. That is the ultimate crime."

Joe Wilson will be a special guest in "THE SITUATION ROOM" tomorrow. Please look for that interview at a special time, 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Now, another player in the CIA leak investigation is speaking out. "Time" magazine's Matthew Cooper was subpoenaed by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to testify about his conversations with Lewis "Scooter" Libby. According to "Time," Cooper characterized their chat as being brief, so he was caught off guard by Libby's indictment.

He writes, "I was surprised last week that the Libby indictment even mentioned me. But apparently his recollection of the conversation differed from mine in a way that led the prosecutor to think he was lying."

CNN.com has launched a special report with the timeline of the CIA leak investigation. There's also a profile of key players and the man indicted: Scooter Libby. Log on to CNN.com for more information on the CIA leak.

And now to a shocking story out of Southern California. Police say a teenager dressed in a black cape and a paintball mask went on a deadly rampage in his upscale neighborhood yesterday morning. CNN's Kareen Wynter is live in Los Angeles with more details.

Kareen do you know anything more about what happened or who this young man was? KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well police say according to the witnesses that they spoke with, Carol, they described this teen as very quiet, very reserved. As you can imagine, residents in this quiet neighborhood are still in shock over what detectives are calling a random shooting. Officials spent the weekend interviewing some of the victims' family members and say they still haven't determined a motive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER: Donning a black cape and helmet, investigators say the alleged gunman, 19-year-old William Friend left his house Saturday morning, not on a Halloween hunt, instead, a deadly mission, a shooting spree that would rock this upscale suburban Southern California neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just scary because this has never happened so close to home before.

WYNTER: Armed with a shotgun, officials say Friend drove about 70 yards to a neighbor's house and killed 22-year-old Christina Smith and her 45-year-old father. Both were shot in the upper torso. The bodies found on the staircase and in the family room.

Christina's brother heard the gunshots and escaped through the backdoor. Investigators say the shooting continued.

Friend shot through a neighbor's window and came face to face with another neighbor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect then pointed the shotgun at him, attempted to fire that gun at that potential victim. However, the shotgun misfired. Then the suspect apparently went home and then shot himself to death.

WYNTER: Neighbors described Friend as a loner. And just what triggered the shooting rampage has investigators baffled.

ERIN GIUDICE, ORANGE CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT: There doesn't seem to be any relationship with the victims, there's been no dispute. He doesn't have a record, not that we know of at this time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER: Autopsy results are expected today, but Orange County officials say the cause of death is obvious, Carol. Investigators say they don't expect to find drugs or alcohol in Friend's system, but they do say they are looking into his mental health condition.

LIN: So crazy. All right, Kareen Wynter, thank you very much.

I want to update anybody who has just been joining us. Our top story today, as Rosa Parks' body is being transported in a motorcade from the Baltimore airport to the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. It is normally about a 45-minute drive, but it could take double that amount of time because of the motorcade. So many dignitaries and many thousands of people are waiting for this procession to arrive at the nation's Capital. We're going to be dipping in and out of the ceremonies and the wreath laying and the loving words that people have to say about this woman, the mother of the civil rights movement, who refused to give up her seat back in 1955 to a white man on a bus. Please stay tuned. We are carrying this in and out for the next couple of hours live.

We're also following the disaster of Hurricane Wilma. Makeshift hospitals on American soil. That is where many of the injured from the hurricane have to go. And you are going to go there live.

And the death toll in Iraq rises. Iraqi victims are remember. We are going to take a look at the recent and the most attacks to show that each and every one had a name and a life and a family.

Plus, a personal mission for U.S. generals. They honor the fallen. You are watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Once again, live pictures of the motorcade carrying Rosa Parks' body to the nation's capital. They're traveling from a Baltimore airport to the Capitol Rotunda. It's going to be about an hour's drive. And once her body arrives there, it will lay in honor in the Capitol rotunda. She is one of just a handful and the only woman ever to be honored in this manner.

Once she arrives, President Bush will be laying a wreath. There will be songs and prayers and thousands of people are lining up to pay their last respects to Rosa Parks, the woman who was credited with sparking the civil rights movement back in 1955.

In our continuing hurricane coverage, it's been nearly a week since Hurricane Wilma hit, yet nearly a million-and-a-half customers are out of electricity in southern Florida. For some power may be out for weeks.

Twenty-one people died after Wilma made landfall. Medical care is scarce. With the latest from Pembroke Pines, CNN's Rusty Dornin down there. Rusty is it a desperate situation? How would you characterize it?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is not really that medical care is scarce, it's just that the emergency rooms are jammed with a lot of injuries that occur after hurricanes take place. We're here at Memorial Hospital Pembroke where we're actually in the parking lot of the hospital where they've set up a FEMA M.A.S.H. unit.

You are looking at a gentleman who has come in -- he actually doesn't have injuries related to Hurricane Wilma, but earlier this afternoon, people were jamming the waiting room here coming to get care for all sorts of things that happen when people are cleaning up after a hurricane. And some of the most common ailments are some that would take place right in your own backyard. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED WHITBREAD, FEMA: Chronic illnesses become exacerbated. But you're also getting cleanup injuries, chainsaws and asthmatics are a lot worse than usual. And illnesses from dirty water and things like that.

DORNIN (on camera): Most serious thing you've seen over the last few days?

WHITBREAD: We're getting more and more chainsaw injuries. And they tend to be pretty bad. People have been lucky, no amputations or anything, but a lot of stitches. Some back injuries that could be long lasting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: These are tents literally set up in the parking lot a la Hawkeye Pierce. These guys are part-timers for FEMA. They're all medics. A lot of them went to Katrina, they went to Rita. They set up these mobile units to help out the emergency rooms and really help sort of the walking wounded. If anyone is more seriously injured, of course, they are admitted toed to the emergency room.

This is one of those where you should have been here if a few hours ago, because it was jammed with people who had those chainsaw injuries and had fallen out of trees and that sort of thing. And they will be open 24, so we're expecting a few more people to be coming in -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Well, I'm glad we're not seeing a lot of people there. It means that perhaps fewer people have been hurt. But yes, most of the injuries during a hurricane actually happen later as people try to do the cleanup.

We want to update you on a situation now in Iraq. The latest violent death in Iraq include those of a U.S. marine in another bombing. And a brother of the country's Shiite vice president killed today by gunmen in the Iraqi capital.

Now yesterday a rampant killing shook a village north of Baghdad. CNN's Aneesh Raman reports it is another example of the staggering toll on Iraqi civilians. And we want to warn you, some of the content of this story may be disturbing to some viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid charred debris, they stand in disbelief. A small farming community crippled Saturday by a car bomb that killed nearly 30, that destroyed the central marketplace, that stunned generations. Grieving women huddled on the roadside as children stood next to the wheels of a blown out vehicle, witness to a sequence played out often in many Iraqi cities. A vehicle drove near to the mosque but there was nobody there. So it turned back to the market where many people were around and it exploded. It is virtually impossible to know the true civilian toll of these sustained insurgent attacks. But tucked away in a report to Congress last month, the Pentagon for the first time publicly estimated that 26,000 Iraqis have been killed or wounded by insurgents since the start of 2004, with an average of 64 civilian casualties daily by early September this year. The numbers can be numbing, but each time for each community, these attacks stopped time and fuel sectarian divisions.

TRANSLATOR: Why do they kill our children? (INAUDIBLE) Revenge them in this life and after life. God, send them to hell.

RAMAN: At the local hospital, the scenes are familiar as well. The wounded like 9-year-old Ali Nasser desperately tried to stay alive. His father turned away in anguish. Hours hater, Ali died, one of four children killed in the attack. And so as has happened before and as will happen again in Iraq, in the village of Wider (ph), the coffins were lined up, hasty burials carried out. The rising number of civilian deaths is the tragic drum beat of Iraq's insurgency. And while it will never be known how many have died in the past two and a half years, such a number would undoubtedly do no justice to the loss suffered by families throughout this country. Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well for every fallen soldier, somewhere a U.S. general has personally shared the grief. Their extraordinary mission ahead.

And the woman who changed a nation honored tonight at the nation's Capitol. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Once again, live pictures. Actually on the left you'll see there the motorcade bearing the body of Rosa Parks, 92-years-old who passed away last Monday. She is considered to be the mother of the civil rights movement after she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man back in 1955. And after that, a year later a series of protests ended up integrating buses in the south.

There you see mourners lining up outside the Capitol rotunda waiting for Rosa parks' body to lay in the rotunda to be honored. Thousands of people who will be able to see her over the next day from tonight 7:00 p.m. until midnight. And one of those people paying tribute to her tonight, the president of the United States, who will be laying a wreath in Rosa Parks' honor.

We will have continuing live coverage of this event as her body makes its way to the Capital Rotunda. So, please stay with us for this special coverage.

Now, every week we like to bring you the more personal stories from the frontlines. And today we want to tell you about the mission no one had in mind when they signed up for military service. The story from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So many funerals. So much grief. The Army has been at war in Iraq for nearly three years, and for those three years, it has been burying its dead. Since the beginning of the war, the Army has assigned a general to each funeral. Each time to render final honors.

MAJ. GEN. WAYNE ERCK, U.S. ARMY RESERVE: This particular funeral, Lieutenant Colonel James was in my division. He was a battalion commander. So, I knew him personally. I knew the family personally. And this is the only place I would want to be today right next to him.

STARR: It's an extraordinary mission for the nation's highest ranking officers. More than 200 Army generals have now journeyed often on a moment's notice to towns across America meeting widows, moms and dads they may not even know, telling families the Army is sorry for their loss.

MAJ. GEN. GALEN JACKMAN, U.S. ARMY: There is not a general officer in the United States Army who would not drop what they're doing to participate in a funeral.

STARR: Major General Galen Jackman escorted former first lady Nancy Reagan to President Reagan's funeral. He has now attended four funerals here at Arlington. This senior officer says the heartbreak of death so young is tough for everyone.

JACKMAN: You see them, lance corporals and sergeants and private first classes and so most of these young men and women are probably anywhere from about 18 to 23-years-old.

STARR: It begins with a phone call from Major Holly Gay whose job is to make sure there is a general for every family who wants one there. She says it's the hardest job she has ever had.

(on camera): How many funerals have you coordinated for?

MAJ. HOLLY GAY, U.S. ARMY: Too many. Too many.

STARR: Give me a ballpark.

GAY: Well, you know, if it's been about 15 months, over 700.

STARR (voice-over): The names and faces of the fallen are very personal even after 2000 deaths.

STAFF SGT. TERRELL GANT, U.S. ARMY: You see some of these young soldiers being in the army for a year, a couple of months and to see what's actually happened, how the sacrifice they have made, you always think it could be you.

STARR: One reason for the effort? It keeps senior officers in touch with the grief of a life lost.

GAY: Because when you go to the funeral, understand the sacrifices that the soldiers and their families are going through.

STARR: Confronting the last full measure of devotion, the generals say they will keep coming to each funeral for each soldier for each family.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Arlington National Cemetery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And with these losses, the news continues in Washington. The president is expected to pick soon his next Supreme Court nominee. When is he going to make that decision? Carlos Watson weighs in on some of those candidates.

And remembering Rosa Parks. We are going to be there live as President Bush pays his final respects. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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