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CNN Live Sunday

Text-Message Rescue; Pope 'Deeply Sorry' for Muslims' Reactions to Speech; The Fight for Iraq; Las Cruces Threat; GOP Showdown

Aired September 17, 2006 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Held hostage 10 days in a booby- trapped bunker. A 14-year-old girl sends an SOS from a cell phone.
And the tale doesn't end there.

Hello. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Our top story in a moment, but first this hour's headlines.

The pope says he's sorry that some remarks in a speech last week angered many Muslims, but rage continues to simmer in the Islamic world today. More on this story in a moment.

Rallies today in some of the world's biggest cities to call attention to the crisis in western Sudan. Activists are demanding a stronger world response to the ethnic slaughter in Darfur.

Drawn together by their fierce opposition to Washington, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez hosts a visit by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The two leaders just departed the Summit of Non-Aligned Nations in Havana.

A shocking attack in Pittsburgh. Five basketball players are shot on the campus of Duquesne University. Two of them have been hospitalized in critical condition. Police are still looking for the gunman.

And space shuttle Atlantis begins its return to Earth. Today the shuttle undocked from the International Space Station. Atlantis is scheduled to land on Wednesday.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SHERIFF STEVE MCCASKILL, KERSHAW COUNTY, SC: ... contacted the marshal service for some help in determining where the phone call came from...

WHITFIELD: Camden, South Carolina, for a press conference on the 14- year-old held in a bunker.

MCCASKILL: ... and who may have placed it. And after a lot of hard work from the marshal service we were able to determine where -- where it came from, and, in fact, who had the telephones. After that we were able to run some people down and talk to them and do some interviews with them, at which point we were able to determine that a good suspect in this case was indeed Vinson Filyaw. We then immediately served a search warrant for Mr. Filyaw's residence on Westover Acres Lane (ph) in Lugoff, where we found some bunkers, some pretty deep diggings that he has done by hand in his yard which gave us a good indication as to how he has been able to elude us. The investigation fanned out from there.

We had other agencies already working with us, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Richland County Sheriff's Office, of course the U.S. Marshal Service. We were all working on this case, and Friday afternoon when this broke we were able to do the interviews and get a good idea of who may have abducted Ms. Shoaf.

This went on Friday night. Of course, we set perimeters up and started looking. We looked with aircraft, we looked, of course, by, you know, riding -- keeping the perimeter going, questioning neighbors, talking with anybody that we may -- could obtain some information concerning the whereabouts of Mr. Filyaw.

We also, of course, stayed out around the clock, and Saturday morning decided to get out and do a man -- what we call a man drive in South Carolina, kind of like man driving for deer when we hunt deer. We stayed within eyesight of each other and we strung about 20 deputies from the sheriff's office out, going through the woods very slowly, looking really for a bunker, an opening to a bunker, at which time shortly after this proceeding began...

WHITFIELD: We're going to continue to monitor this press conference taking place out of Camden, South Carolina, as police reveal details about how this 14-year-old girl was abducted by the man allegedly on the right hand side of your screen and how she was able to call for help once she got access to this man's cell phone by reaching out to her mother. And then it led to being able to find the suspect.

We'll continue to watch that story.

Meantime, on to other news.

Now to Italy, where Pope Benedict XVI is trying to do some damage control. Today he spoke out for the first time since Tuesday, when he gave a speech citing a medieval text that criticized Islam.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The pope is trying to put an end to the angry Muslim protests around the world.

Here's our Faith and Values Correspondent, Delia Gallagher.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Pope Benedict said this morning that he was deeply sorry that his remarks on Islam caused offense to the sensibilities of some Muslims. The pope said a quotation he used from a medieval text which called Islam a faith spread by the sword did not in any way express his personal thought. He said his address in its totality was an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue with Islam.

Earlier in the day, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which had initially called the pope's apology sufficient, later said that it was not.

MOHAMMED EL-SAYED HABIB, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD (through translator): I'd like to emphasize that the statement which the pope issued today expresses a retreat in his position from what he said in his lecture on Tuesday in Germany. No doubt that this is a good step towards an apology but does not elevate to the level of clear apology to Muslims around the world.

GALLAGHER: Demonstrations against the pope were seen in several cities in Iran today, and so far this weekend there have been attacks on at least five Christian churches in the Palestinian territories. The Vatican said yesterday that the pope's comments were meant to be reflections on the theme of religion and violence in general and not a comprehensive study of Islam.

I'm Delia Gallagher for CNN in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Screams of horror after a series of deadly bomb attacks in Kirkuk. Four in the space of just three hours.

Is Iraq in the middle of an all-out civil war? It's a question that will undoubtedly be debated more in the coming days if sectarian violence continues to surge. This week was an especially brutal one for Iraqis and U.S. troops.

CNN's Cal Perry reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): The week here in Iraq ended just as it began, with the two major concerns for authorities, insurgent and sectarian attacks taking their bloody toll. Sunday brought a series of car bomb attacks to the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. Four bombs in less than three hours kill at least 23 and wound some 66 others.

The week began Monday with a suicide attack on the Al Muthanna airfield. Thirteen dead here, all Iraqi army recruits.

Tuesday brought the grim discovery of over 60 bodies. The stunning total for the week, more than 180 bodies found. All showing the signs of sectarian violence, according to police.

Wednesday, back to the Al Muthanna air base for another insurgent attack, plus a car bomb and a roadside bomb kill more than 20 and wound more than 80.

Thursday it was the American military that was hit hard. An insurgent blows up a truck outside a fixed position of the 4th Infantry Division in Baghdad. Two dead, one missing, 25 wounded.

Friday, two more U.S. troops die. One in the Al Anbar province, another south of Baghdad from a roadside bomb.

And on Saturday, two separate explosions kill three, leaving more than 25 wounded in the capital.

(on camera): The situation is so dire, in fact, that earlier this week the Interior Ministry floated an idea to dig trenches around Baghdad, part of the overall security plan for the capital. The idea, limit entry points into the city from the countryside. A move many here see as dramatic, but perhaps necessary due to the current level of violence.

Cal Perry, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Some dramatic video to show you right now. It's a funnel cloud that formed Saturday in Minnehaha County in South Dakota, and there's more severe weather in eastern Minnesota.

The town of Rogers saw a heavy storm sweep through, killing a 10-year- old girl. Seven others were injured and hundreds of homes were damaged.

Lots of bad conditions elsewhere. Let's check in with meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, it was a really rough night last night across the Dakotas and into Minnesota.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JERAS: Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

Want to take you back to Camden, South Carolina, where Sheriff Steve McCaskill is taking questions about this 14-year-old girl who managed to escape her captor while she was in a bunker.

MCCASKILL: This individual was wanted. We had been chasing him since November of last year for criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree that he committed upon a stepdaughter. And we had been chasing him and, of course, been in and out of the house searching for him. And we feel like he's using these bunkers to hide and elude law enforcement.

He even put a two-foot-square hole in his bedroom in his mobile home and had a mattress and carpet over it. And when the deputies would come in to try to serve the search warrant, his common-law wife would let them come in, they'd search. Of course, couldn't find anything.

Well, all he would do is pick it up, raise the mattress, pick it up, pick up the carpet, drop under the mobile home and put everything back in place. And he was sitting there watching -- you know, watching us. He had holes in the siding of his mobile home, we were later able to determine where he could watch -- he was actually watching and listening to everything.

He's very good at living off the land. We found a fifth bunker that he had dug below the bunker that he was holding Ms. Shoaf in. And it had filled up with water. And it was just about as big as the -- the one he had Ms. Shoaf in.

QUESTION: And Sheriff, nobody knew about these bunkers?

MCCASKILL: No. Nobody knew about them. He had them very well camouflaged.

We'd been flying over them. Nobody had seen him. And if we hadn't gotten in the woods walking we would have never found them. And they were in very thick places.

I mean, they weren't hard -- they weren't easy to find. The door that he had over the main bunker that he was holding Ms. Shoaf in, he had a long piece of plywood, and he had fitted netting over it and packed leaves, rotted leaves on top of that, so when he got in, he could take his rope and pull it in behind him. And you couldn't see it. I mean, it was -- it just blended in perfectly with everything.

QUESTION: What do we know about this guy other than he's an unemployed construction worker?

MCCASKILL: Well, he's got some record. He has been charged with burglary and did -- was on probation for Florence County. He's got several public disorderly conducts, public drunkenness charges, and he's also been locked up for DUI.

QUESTION: And as you said, he was wanted for a long time now, since November, for...

MCCASKILL: He's been on the run.

QUESTION: ... sexual assault.

QUESTION: That's different from the charges that you listed earlier? So he...

MCCASKILL: That's totally different. That's right.

QUESTION: ... charged with that, too?

MCCASKILL: That, too. And that's in another case.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

MCCASKILL: He had a long hunting knife, he had a pellet pistol and a Taser. And we were able to find the handcuffs that we believe he used to Ms. Filyaw (sic) when he abducted her. Things of this nature.

QUESTION: Just to make sure I understand, Sheriff, you don't think he's done this before?

WHITFIELD: We're going to hear more from the sheriff, Steve McCaskill, there in Kershaw County, South Carolina. Right now he's detailing how the suspect in the case of the abducted 14-year-old girl whose call for help eventually won her release had a cleverly- constructed bunker where he kept the 14-year-old, a bunker so perfectly camouflaged that it was unseen by neighbors and even authorities until now.

We're going to continue to monitor this story and bring you details as we hear them there out of Camden, South Carolina.

Well, coming up, an American city under siege. Leaders there told to pay up or get shot? The scare in New Mexico coming up next.

Plus, Obama for president? Could this junior senator be gearing up for a presidential run? He's in Iowa today. And so is CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It allows one officer or two officers to monitor, six, eight, 10, 15 different areas at one time and then send chase cars out there to apprehend those people that are involved in criminal activity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Super surveillance taking a high-tech crack at crime, and it could be coming to a city near you.

This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Police in Las Cruces, New Mexico, say they are not taking any chances. Someone's been sending out letters threatening to shoot people at random. While it may be a hoax, they can't afford to ignore it. It's not something they can ignore.

Natalie Swaby has the story from CNN affiliate KOAT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE SWABY, REPORTER, KOAT (voice over): A letter-writer making big threats is on the loose in Las Cruces.

MARTHA MAURITSON, "LAS CRUCES SUN NEWS": It was written in a very unusual, very distinctive hand-printed style.

SWABY: Martha Mauritson is the assistant manager editor at the "Las Cruces Sun News." And she says the paper received a letter on Friday. She says it stated that if the city did not pay a large sum of money by a certain time people would be shot at random. MAURITSON: "If bodies start falling, you'll know that our demands have not..."

SWABY: Mauritson says after reading that they decided to call the FBI, and hours later that same day an emergency press conference was called where Las Cruces Police Lieutenant Randy Lara (ph) announced the city has received threats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can call it what it is. It's an extortion attempt.

SWABY: Lieutenant Lara (ph) says two letters have been sent to the city recently. The latest arrived Friday afternoon. Police won't say how much money is being demanded or when the deadline is to deliver, but we do know local and federal law enforcement agencies are working together to keep the public safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're using every -- every tool that we can think of to get the word out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't stop living. You've got to carry on. So we're going about our normal routine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully it will just be empty threats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And local police say they will remain on heightened alert. State and federal officials are still helping.

This is the third day in the search for a baby girl in Missouri. Week-old Abby Woods was abducted on Friday after a woman apparently entered the child's home and stabbed her mother repeatedly. The mother now is out of the hospital.

A couple from Maine accused of abducting their pregnant teenage daughter, Lola (ph) and Nicholas Camp (ph), allegedly bound the daughter with rope and were driving her toward an abortion provider when arrested in New Hampshire.

And Pittsburgh police are searching for the man who shot five college basketball players. Two of the players are in critical condition. The shooting happened overnight on the campus of Duquesne University.

Coming up, he wows the crowds and sways votes, but can Senator Barack Obama make it to the top spot? He's making his Iowa debut right now. And CNN is there.

And blistering Bush. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez speaks to CNN one on one about the president. Wait until you hear what he had to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Illinois Senator Barack Obama is attracting a lot of attention in Iowa. The freshman Democrat attended an annual steak fry hosted by fellow Democrat, Senator Tom Harkin. So what's the big deal? Well, this, the senator's appearance at such a high-profile event in such a politically-critical state, has tongues wagging. And they're all asking, is Senator Obama eyeing the White House?

Reporting from Indianola, Iowa, CNN's congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's one word to describe what we're seeing at these fairgrounds here in Iowa, star power. More than 2,000 people coming to catch a glimpse, maybe even shake hands with Senator Barack Obama, a fast-rising star in the Democratic Party.

Now, Senator Obama is only 45 years old. He's only been in the U.S. Senate for two years. And when he first ran two years ago he very clearly said he would not seek the presidency in 2008. But now there are clear signs he's cracking the door, at least a little bit.

First of all, he no longer definitively rules out running for president in 2008, and on this trip here in Iowa he has somebody with him who is raising some eyebrows, and that is a senior Democratic activist in this state, somebody who ran former vice president Al Gore's campaign here in the year 2000.

Now, to be fair, the official reason Senator Obama is here is to help a friend in the Senate. This is Senator Tom Harkin's steak fry, an annual event that helps raise money for him and his campaign committee.

And you might say each senator is helping each other. Senator Harkin is getting help by having the star power in Senator Obama, helping to bring the big crowds and raise some serious cash. And as for Senator Obama, he's getting help from Senator Harkin because he is able to meet for the first time some important Democratic activists in this very important first caucus state, people he might need if he does in fact decide to run in 2008 or some time after that.

Dana Bash, CNN, Warren County, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A worldwide call to end what's being called a genocide in Sudan.

Shanon Cook joins me with more on that -- Shannon.

SHANON COOK, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, Fredricka, thanks very much.

It's been called the Global Day for Darfur. Rallies are taking place in cities around the world to bring attention to the conflict and to urge the United Nations to send peacekeepers into western Sudan despite resistance from the Sudanese. Let's begin in London at a demonstration there. Protesters took their message to the Sudanese Embassy, calling for immediate action to stop the conflict in Darfur. You can see the participants are wearing blue berets which are similar to the ones worn by U.N. peacekeepers.

Now, that rally was followed by an interfaith prayer outside Prime Minister's Tony Blair's residence on Downing Street in London. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders said prayers for the millions of people affected by the conflict. Three years of ethnic violence have killed more than 200,000 people and driven more than two million others from their homes.

Now, in Toronto, Canada, another rally here. Among the participants, a senator and retired general who have had an ill-fated U.N. mission during Rwanda's genocide.

And take a look at this. In Cambodia -- maybe not -- there we go. In Cambodia, students held a candlelight vigil to remember the victims of Darfur. The event in Phnom Penh is particularly emotional for these people as the country is still haunted by the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge. So they're really sympathizing with people in the Darfur region.

Now, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright lent her voice to the cause at a rally in New York's Central Park. The rally wrapped up about 10 minutes ago. Olympic gold medallist speedskater Joey Cheek also made an appearance there, and Cheek spoke to CNN earlier today about the urgent need for U.N. troops in Darfur.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY CHEEK, OLYMPIC SPEEDSKATER: I think the people in the U.S. care. Everyone I've talked to about this situation, everyone who knows the -- excuse me, the facts of it, say over and over again that this is something that we think is worth trying to put a stop to. And it's not just the United States. The United Nations passed a resolution at the end of August saying that we needed up to 22,000 troops. And that's not -- you know, that's the United Nations troops on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOK: Joey Cheek there.

Fredricka, you may remember that when Cheek won the gold medal in the winter Olympics not very long ago he donated the $25,000 bonus that went with winning the gold to charity and specified that that money go to the Darfur region. So clearly it's a cause that's near and dear to him.

WHITFIELD: Yes, he was very generous, and at the same time he inspired a whole lot of other people to pitch in and help as well.

COOK: Sure did. WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Shanon.

Well, coming up in the 6:00 p.m. hour, Shanon mentioned that the former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, was among those speaking on the Darfur issue. Well, she will be in the 6:00 p.m. hour as well.

Also, coming up, bucking Bush. It's the president versus Republican top brass over the treatment of detainees. The showdown heats up.

Plus, Iran and Venezuela teaming up. They get ready for a showdown of their own.

And it's one of America's most dangerous streets. Now police and community members are fighting to take it back. But will the watchful eye work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Senators John Warner, John McCain, along with South Carolina's Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, rarely do you see three staunch Republicans locking horns with their fellow GOP commander in chief, but that's exactly what has happened. They're at odds over the legal rights of detainees captured in the war on terror.

The latest we're hearing is that there may be a meeting of the minds between President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress on that controversial issue.

CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House with more on that -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it was a tough week for the president. The Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee, as you pointed out, defied Mr. Bush, going ahead and passing its own legislation that would give suspected terrorists basically the same protections as prisoners of war, and seeming at least at that point to be far from agreement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (voice over): When it comes to the secret CIA prison program for terrorists, President Bush has been adamant.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Congress passes a law that does not clarify the rules, if they do not do that, the program is not going forward.

KOCH: But top senators in his own party remain just as insistent that reinterpreting Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to define what CIA interrogators can and can't do could free all nations to do the same and endanger U.S. operatives.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Suppose the Iranians captured an American and they decided that they would modify the Common Article 3 to suit their purposes... KOCH: The White House is now voicing flexibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to find a way so that we can do this without changing or modifying what's called Common Article 3. That is what Senator McCain thinks is so important.

KOCH: And Republican senators who challenge the president now say they want to give him clear rules for U.S. interrogators.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I will give him all the tools that I know how to give him that are constitutional that will make us safe, but I don't want these tools to become clubs to be used against us.

KOCH: Rather than tweaking an international treaty, balking senators proposed to change U.S. law. McCain suggests amending the War Crimes Act of 1996 which defines war crimes and the penalties for committing them. Still, some aren't convinced that would give CIA interrogators enough protection in a court of law.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), Texas: I do think it's going take more than amending the War Crimes Act because when the Department of Justice passes judgment on whether an interrogation technique is lawful or unlawful, they're going look at the whole -- whole range of laws.

KOCH: Even if both sides are willing to compromise, a House committee has already passed its own version.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: And that version is far different from the version that the Senate committee just last week passed. So, basically, a compromise will have to be worked out between all three parties. And Fredricka, that would be a tall order with Congress leaving in just two weeks to campaign for the midterm elections.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch at the White House.

Thanks so much.

KOCH: You bet.

WHITFIELD: Well, it is called the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. Today in Havana, the 118-nation summit wrapped up with members approving Iran's right to develop nuclear power. Noticeably absent from the summit, its host, 80-year-old Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who continues to recover from abdominal surgery more than a month ago.

Castro's closest ally, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, minced few words in expressing his feelings toward President Bush. Many in the non-aligned movement blame Mr. Bush for much of the world's problems.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Relations with the U.S. are bad, terrible. We would love to improve them.

With Clinton I had good relations. There was never a lack of respect on either side. We even debated with him, or with the secretary of state, or with ambassadors openly about oil, Colombia, drug trafficking, terrorism.

With this guy we can't even have a conversation. He walks throwing stones. Attacks issues (ph) from the hip with a machine gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited President Chavez earlier today in Caracas, Venezuela. Both men seemingly strengthening their friendship and their collective distrust of the United States. Chavez repeat Iran's right to develop nuclear power. Previous common interests between the two countries were limited to oil production and exports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is not just another story about homelessness. This is the story of Skid Row, the darkest, most desperate 50-block stretch in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Coming up, it's also one of the most dangerous. Up next, citizens and police team up to combat crime in an exposed L.A. neighborhood. But can it work?

And she is set to make history in just a few hours, the world's first female space tourist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think if we don't get a handle on it now it's probably going to get worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't understand why it's taking so long. It's the same procedure they used before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security is good and everything, but I think we've just got too much security here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technology can't tell what's actually in somebody's heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't see how you classify who is acting like a terrorist. They look just like me or you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It used to be a joy to fly, but now it's nerve- racking. It's hell.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It all began here five years ago, here at the site of the World Trade Center. Airline travel has not been the same ever since, but are the layers of security we have added really making us safer? Could we be missing something important?

(voice over): Psychologist Paul Eckman (ph) says we may be focusing too much on screening bags while not paying enough attention to the body language of a terrorist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your emotions are a manifest primarily in your facial expressions. Those are innate, and many of them are involuntary and hard to prevent.

O'BRIEN: Eckman (ph) has discovered 3,000 universal facial movements that can reveal a person's concealed emotions. He says screeners could be trained to spot those telltale signs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you go back through the records of the 19 9/11 hijackers, some of the people who saw them on the very day they committed their act thought there's something off. But they hadn't been trained in exactly what to look for and what it meant.

O'BRIEN: Eckman (ph) says the idea has been tried in pilot programs and it is efficient and effective.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they saw someone who showed one of the things on the checklist, they didn't have to take them out of the line. In less than 60 seconds, in almost every case, they were able to clarify that there was no problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The Los Angeles area has more homeless people than any other U.S. county. Many share the same address, Skid Row, a desolate and dangerous part of downtown L.A.

CNN's Randi Kaye has this story you will only see on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice over): This is not just another story about homelessness. This is the story of Skid Row...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): We're at war.

KAYE: ... the darkest, most desperate 50-block stretch in the country. It looks and feels like the third world. But this is downtown Los Angeles, the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody cares about us. Throw them some food. Give them some clothes. They take the desire for you to want to do anything. They take it out. You lose this.

KAYE: On any given night more than 2,000 homeless sleep on the streets of Skid Row, a human wasteland.

We had two deaths in the Porta-Potty. One, some lady got her throat slit. The other guy OD'd. KAYE: Drugs are easier to buy on Skid Row than a loaf of bread. Addicts sleep wherever they pass out and feast on the high.

CAPT. ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.: It amazes me sometimes, honestly, that in 21st century America we have a place like this.

KAYE: Captain Smith has seen his share of drugs and violence.

SMITH: A little narcotics transaction going on here.

KAYE: But what he saw one night in September really alarmed him.

SMITH: I saw an outside agency dropping off an individual who didn't live in this area.

Who's this guy?

KAYE: It's been rumored for decades that Skid Row's population is rising because other communities and agencies in L.A. County are unloading their unwanted, dumping their homeless, mentally ill drug addicted on the streets of Skid Row.

Out on patrol, Captain Smith says he saw two L.A. County sheriff's deputies drop off a man he described as confused.

SMITH: I watched them pull to the curb, open the door, and take a hand-cuffed prisoner out, unhandcuff him, hand him a bag of his property and begin to leave. So I, of course, stopped him and tried to figure out what was gong on.

KAYE: Smith says the man told him he had not requested to be dropped downtown, but a spokesman for the sheriff told CNN the man just released from jail had requested food and shelter, both available on Skid Row. The spokesman said deputies did not dump that man or anyone else.

According to Smith, Skid Row offers more social services than all 13 western states combined: food, shelter, medicine, even prenatal care. It's a unique setup borne from good intention, but critics now worry the free handouts are leading to dumping.

ORLANDO WARD, THE MIDNIGHT MISSION: I had a guy in our courtyard three days ago. He had a hospital gown on. He had -- the IV was still attached. So I went and asked him. I said, "How did you get down here?" And he said that the ambulance dropped him off a couple of blocks down in front of a mission.

I said, "Well, did you go in?" And he goes, "Well, they just dropped me off."

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), LOS ANGELES: A great city can't be a place where we're leaving so many people behind.

KAYE: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says dumping has been going on for years. Captain Smith's 145 officers can hardly make headway here. The streets are unsafe. San Julian Street, otherwise known as "Heroin Alley," is like a giant block party where everyone brings an illegal drug.

WARD: It's a cultural genocide. We're losing a whole -- whole generation of people to this despair and ultimately death.

KAYE: The same society that's allowing people to live on Skid Row is also allowing them to die on Skid Row. That is no way to fix the problem.

Randi Kaye, CNN on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, might Los Angeles have found a way to capture some of the sources of the problems on Skid Row by catching it all on camera?

Joining me now, Captain Andrew Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department. We saw him in Randi's report. Also, Estela Lopez, executive director of the Central City East Association.

Good to see both of you.

SMITH: Thank you.

ESTELA LOPEZ, EXEC. DIR., CENTRAL CITY EAST ASSN.: Hello.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's first spell out exactly what you have in place -- a $200,000 sophisticated surveillance system which includes putting cameras up throughout this 50-block area.

So, Ms. Lopez, let me begin with you. This is something that your civic organization helped put into play with the cooperation of the city. How desperately needed were the -- did the merchants say this kind of system was?

LOPEZ: Well, what we have in Skid Row, what you just saw on your video, is decades of failed social policy. We have a very, very serious criminal problem in this 52-square block area.

Ten cameras are going assist the police to be able to do their job, their very thankless job better, but it's not the total solution. The narcotics trade that takes place there day and night is the problem. And we still need to get our arms around that.

WHITFIELD: So the cameras are going to be -- they're remote controlled, they're going to be controlled by the LAPD, as well as monitored.

So, Captain, how is this actually going to help get down to the problem? Because you already know just by driving or just by walking through Skid Row what the problem is. What's the difference that you now have it on videotape? SMITH: Well, the huge problem in downtown Los Angeles and in all of Los Angeles is that we're so short of officers. We're the most underpoliced major city in the United States.

So what this does, according to Chief Bratton, when you put in a video surveillance system like this, it acts as a force multiplier. One officer can look at as many -- now we have up to 36 cameras. One officer can look in 36 different areas and can actually make arrests and make observations, where in the past it would take an officer on every one of those corners.

So it's a tremendous asset for us.

WHITFIELD: So what happens once you have this on videotape, whether it's people who are shooting up, using drugs, or whether it's a mental hospital patient who is dropped off? What are you able to do to help people in this predicament? Because as we noticed from one of the women in the piece, she's saying that, you know, people are here because nobody cares about them anyway and they don't feel like they're getting any assistance to get out of the mess that they're in.

Ms. Lopez?

LOPEZ: There is a great deal of assistance. And I'll tell you, one of the things that the people who I represent, the business owners and the property owners, the employees in that area, know very well, and that is that many of the people in this area are offered assistance. There is capacity within the immediate area for some of these people to be housed.

WHITFIELD: But in the piece didn't we see that those services are actually helping to enable people, particularly who are dealing with the problem of not have any places to go or sleeping or sleeping or living on the streets there?

LOPEZ: I wish it were just an issue of capacity, but it isn't. Our entire system in Los Angeles is broken, the courts, the prosecutors. There isn't enough jail space. And certainly, as Captain Smith said, we're the most underpoliced city.

But what you have on these streets are folks that are offered help and very often refuse it. We do have also people on the streets who are mentally ill and don't know where they are and who they are, but the people who are there who are offered help, who are offered shelter every day and who refuse it, they are the ones.

What are we to do when someone is doing drugs and committing other criminal acts on the public right of way?

WHITFIELD: Well, and among those criminal acts you have to wonder whether any of these cameras will be immobilized or even vandalized.

Captain, what can you do about that?

SMITH: Well, these are very rugged cameras. They're actually bulletproof, so you can shoot them with a handgun and they would not be damaged.

We have -- we have 26 cameras up and operational. None of them has been damaged, none of them has been vandalized, none of them has been disabled. So it's working for us so far.

And I might add that so far, since the beginning of the year in the other areas where we have cameras in downtown...

WHITFIELD: Yes?

SMITH: ... made a total of 242 arrests based strictly on what we see in the camera. It's terrific to go into court with a videotape of an individual committing the crime that they're facing the music for.

WHITFIELD: Right. But you know a lot of critics are already arguing that doesn't really get to the source of the problem. That just displaces people to another area.

Captain Andrew Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department, Estela Lopez, executive director of Central City East Association, thanks so much for your time.

SMITH: Thank you.

LOPEZ: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Carol Lin is here joining us with a preview of what's ahead -- a lot.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up in the next hour -- yes, we've got a couple of big news conferences coming up, but a couple of interesting stories as well.

Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state, I did an interview with her about the situation in Darfur. The African Union meeting in New York City tomorrow. They can make a difference. They already have troops in Darfur, but their contract, their deadline runs out September 30th.

Once those troops leave, those millions of refugees are in jeopardy. There's no one to protect them.

WHITFIELD: Worry about what now.

LIN: Exactly. So I talked with Madeleine Albright about that.

Also, a really interesting, very exclusive club that you can join if you're willing to donate an organ. But if you ever need an organ, this group of organizations, your fellow members...

WHITFIELD: Yes?

LIN: ... would donate one to you. It's kind of a foolproof guarantee.

Kareen Wynter has found this story out West. WHITFIELD: Wow.

LIN: So, a couple of good stories. And also press conferences on the Amber Alert in Missouri, the missing 8 day-old baby.

WHITFIELD: Right.

LIN: And also, the latest -- we'll hear from the family of that 14- year-old girl that was held in a bunker.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very good. A lot ahead.

LIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot, Carol.

Well, coming up next, she's ready to blast off into history. The world's first female space tourist just a few hours away from a launch. That is next.

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