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72,000 bodies collected so far in Haiti:

January 20th, 2010
07:37 PM ET

Filed under:  1 • Haiti

Tom's Take:

January 20th, 2010
12:58 PM ET

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/09/art.amanpour.writer.jpg caption="Sr. Writer Tom Evans"]

On AMANPOUR. today, we continue to examine the aftermath of last week’s devastating earthquake and the prospects of recovery. Is this the chance of a lifetime, as former President Bill Clinton characterized it, to build a true modern state in Haiti?  Will all the relief pouring in now translate into a sustainable blueprint for a stable country?  And in our look at the Obama Administration one year on, we examine torture in a post-9/11 world where national security concerns compete with international law.  Should those responsible for reinterpreting the law and sanctioning harsh interrogation techniques be held accountable?  So please watch our show today. Now here are some perspectives on some headlines in the news today.

Tom Evans
Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.

HAITI – How soon before there will be enough doctors, nurses and medical supplies available to treat injured survivors?

–         Strong aftershock hits Haiti as a U.S. hospital ship approaches the country with nearly 550 doctors, nurses, corpsmen, technicians and support staff on board

–         Thousands of wounded people still awaiting treatment at Haiti’s remaining medical facilities, which are desperately short of supplies

–         U.N. estimates three million Haitians still in need of medical assistance, food, water, and shelter

QUESTION: Why is it still taking so long to get badly needed supplies out of Port-au-Prince airport?
FULL POST


Filed under:  1 • Tom's Take

U.N. chief asks Haitians for patience

January 19th, 2010
09:44 PM ET

(CNN) - The supply line to Haiti is clogged by airport congestion and blocked roads, forcing thousands of earthquake survivors to scrounge for food and emergency aid. But the head of the United Nations is calling for calm among the increasingly desperate populations.

"I know that there is a frustration amongst Haitian people, but when I met them, from their faces, I have seen that they have great hope and they are a great, resilient people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN's Christian Amanpour in an exclusive interview Monday.

Ban visited the impoverished island nation - the poorest in the Western Hemisphere - over the weekend. "I told them that to be more patient, because [the] whole world [is] standing behind them."

But that is easier said than done, as spurts of violence and looting have popped up in the capital of Port-au-Prince and elsewhere. Millions of dollars of aid are pouring into Haiti, but aid workers are struggling to deliver the food and supplies nearly a week after the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck January 12.

On Sunday, Ban said, "We cannot waste one minute, one dollar and one person. We cannot have vital supplies sitting in warehouses."

Still, victims are running out of patience, fueling tensions in the streets and confrontations with local police.

FULL POST


Filed under:  1 • Haiti

And now your feedback:

January 19th, 2010
09:38 PM ET

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/17/feedback.jpg caption="Christiane – all ears for the feedback."]

AMANPOUR. viewers showed an extreme amount of concern regarding the Haitian tragedy and its consequences.  While many felt no efforts were enough in light of the circumstance, others profusely thanked the nations that initially helped and continued to help in many ways.  Most wished Haiti a prompt recovery and a healthy start toward development and growth.  The minority continued to focus on the tragedies of this disaster and commented they could not understand such misfortune.  Overall, viewers from all religious backgrounds, race and countries around the world expressed sympathy and willingness to help in any way possible.

What are your thoughts? Please share your thoughts with us! In addition, if you missed the show go to http://www.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/amanpour/ for more information.

Below, you will see some opinions from viewers like yourself. We would love to hear what you think.

Haiti’s 50% of children don’t go to school according to a UNICEF director

Nargis Kelley Has any of the "Islamic" countries sent any help?.

Ricardo Meneses Pilonieta Eso es terrible... parece inhumano y hasta terrorífico. pero la prevención sanitaria y la gravedad de las circunstancias, hacen que cosas como estas sucedan lamentablemente. Saludos

Greg Yohn I fail to understand why truck convoys are not arriving from the Dominican Republic!  They have a port there and the supplies could easily be divided into smaller parcels to fill up small and large trucks travelling to Haiti!

Paula Lima I'm disappointed on these posting Christiane. They focus on the gruesome aspects of this tragedy. Don't we have enough misery in the world already? What does this achieve? I would rather see the news of the many kind acts people are doing to help in Haiti. That is more motivating and may get more people engaged. I expect more of your coverage of this sad episode.


Filed under:  1 • Feedback

Gaza – one year after war:

January 19th, 2010
05:49 PM ET

Looking back one year after the war in Gaza, do you still have the same opinion you held during the war? Tell us here:


Filed under:  1 • Gaza

Tom's Take:

January 19th, 2010
01:03 PM ET

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/09/art.amanpour.writer.jpg caption="Sr. Writer Tom Evans"]

AMANPOUR. today will again focus on the frustrated efforts to distribute aid in Haiti. We turn to the U.N. relief officials on the ground in Port- au-Prince responsible for coordinating distribution and logistics. Why is the flow of aid still at a trickle – one full week later?  And we continue to look at the global challenges facing U.S. President Barack Obama as he enters his second year in office. How has the world changed since his outreach to the Muslim World? Now here are some perspectives on some of the day’s top news stories.

Tom Evans
Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.

HAITI – Who’s in charge of the relief effort one week after the devastating earthquake?

–         Charity Medecins San Frontieres says hundreds of lives are being put at risk as planes carrying vital medical supplies are turned away from Haiti because of congestion at airport

–         French government minister involved in scuffle with U.S. military officer in airport control tower and afterwards says, “This is about helping Haiti, not occupying it”

–         U.S. military says congestion and distribution problems are easing, even as it sends a cargo plane to Haiti to airdrop bottled water and food to victims for the first time

QUESTION: How soon before the harbor in Port-au-Prince will be reopened so supplies can be brought in by ship?
FULL POST


Filed under:  1 • Tom's Take

Livni willing to face arrest over UK warrant:

January 19th, 2010
10:11 AM ET

By George Lerner; Producer, AMANPOUR.

(CNN) - Tzipi Livni, leader of a key Israeli opposition party, said Monday she would be willing to face arrest to challenge the validity of war crimes charges reportedly filed against her in a British court.

"For me, this is not a question," Livni told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, when asked whether she was willing to face arrest. "I mean, yes, the answer is yes. I am."

A British court last year issued an arrest warrant for Livni, leader of Israel's Kadima Party. Details of the warrant were never made public; the warrant was reportedly later dropped.

"I would like this to be, in a way, maybe even a test case, because I'm willing to speak up and to speak about the military operation in Gaza Strip," Livni said.

FULL POST


Filed under:  1 • Israel

Dispatches from Disaster:

January 18th, 2010
10:22 PM ET

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/19/vladhaiti.jpg caption="AMANPOUR. 's Vladimir Duthiers is in Haiti helping report and translate for Anderson Cooper"]

Our production assistant Vladimir Duthiers is in Haiti, helping to report and translate with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We are keeping track of his updates from the ground with photos, a video diary and text messages:

Dr. Sanjay Gupta with Etienne Lebien, a 15-day-old baby with a head wound injury. We came across Mr. Jean Fritz Logicel who was carrying little Etienne in search of a doctor:

A body on the streets of Port au Prince. In the early days after the quake struck, many survivors carried bodies out of destroyed homes and left them on the side of the road.

We discovered a mass grave where bodies that were picked up from the streets by earth movers and carted away in dump trucks. They were then placed in massive, freshly dug holes at least 50 feet deep on the outskirts of Port Au Prince. We did not notice anyone trying to identify the bodies. At this point, a few days after the quake, most bodies were bloated and unrecognizable. Still, I can only imagine what it will be like for the hundreds, perhaps thousands of families who will never know the final resting place of a loved one.

The mass graves were being placed a few feet away from a what our driver thought was a grave for victims Hurricane in 2008. One person told me that they felt that Haiti was "made to suffer."

Manouchka Polynice waits for word on weather the Los Angeles County Fire Department is able to find her 10-year-old daughter Laika whom she believes is alive underneath the rubble of a daycare center. Sadly, after almost nine hours of digging, the search is called off. Manouchka tells us she knows in her heart that Laika is alive and begs us to return to the next day. This happened almost four days ago on January 16. With survivors as young as 5 and as old as 69 being found as of January 20, I can't get Manouchka's pleas out of my head.

A convent school in Leogane, Haiti where locals estimated that several hundred girls aged 10 to 17, were killed when the school collapsed. Written on one of the chalkboards in a classroom not damaged were the words "May God Receive You with Open Arms"

CNN cameraman Neil Hallsworth and I Racing to report on hundreds of Haitians looting a shop on Centre Street in Port Au Prince. Looters cart out boxes of candles which they then sell a few feet from where they were pilfered at inflated prices. With electricity out in most of the city, residents are all two willing to pay these prices. Store owners fire guns into the air to scare off the looters but they keep coming back.

  • January 26: I thought I was used to the stench of rotting human flesh, but today it was unbearable. Right at the foot of our hotel, locals managed to pull two bodies from the rubble of a building next door. As the trucks used to pick up the dead were perhaps slow in coming, people decided to burn them.  It's a sight and smell that I will never forget.
  • January 25: We spent the day reporting on efforts by groups like Save the Children and UNICEF to help and protect the thousands of children who have lost family members in the earthquake. Foreigners anxious to adopt Haitian children are circumventing the adoption red tape by trying to adopt kids directly. This has led to reports of child trafficking – a condition that existed in Haiti even before the quake. Many children are sold as domestic workers or worse. Bo Viktor Nylund, a Child Protection Officer at UNICEF, tells me that "whenever you have great poverty, there are risks of sexual exploitation." Nylund manages an Interim Care Center for children in the town of Lilavois, Haiti. We met some incredible orphans who have been through hell, yet still manage to sing and dance at a moment’s notice.
  • January 24: I visited the tomb of my grandparents. I was worried that the graves would be disturbed either by the quake itself or by people replacing those interred for many years with the bodies of quake victims. Thankfully, with the exception of a few crumbled blocks, it was undisturbed. It was an incredibly emotional moment for me as I never knew my grandparents. Standing in the midst of hell, I was able to taste a small slice of heaven.
  • January 23: I have been visiting several hospitals in Port-au-Prince over the last couple of days and the scene there is even more heartbreaking than it was during my first days in Haiti. Back then – and it really does feel as if it were a long time ago – we were confronted by the sight of dead bodies on the streets and sidewalks of the city. But for those people, the pain is over. For others left behind, judging by the screams in hospital and medical tents put up in the fields, it's only just begun. Some of the field hospitals are better equipped than others, but all are staffed by dedicated medical professionals. The best that I've seen thus far is being managed by the University of Miami near the Toussaint L'Overture airport. Dr. Dan Diamond of Medical Teams International tells us that he has never seen so many broken bones and amputations at a disaster site. However, he says that getting it up and running so quickly and efficiently was "divine serendipity."
  • January 21: At the General Hospital of Port-au-Prince, Sergeant First Class Daymond Graves, a 14 year veteran with two tours in Iraq under his belt with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, tells me that he hasn't seen much violence in Haiti except for the occasional drunk. His unit is posted at the hospital charged with providing 24-hour security. Sgt. Graves feels that the U.S. Army's presence has made foreign medical workers more comfortable, which in turn has led to an increase in medical personnel on the ground. Nighttime is especially wrenching. "People screaming all night long”, he says. Sgt. Graves also says the Haitian people are "really hurting right now. We are trying to get supplies in here which I know they don't have enough of. I wish I had medication to give them myself."
  • January 20: I was awakened by a significant aftershock approximately at 6am this morning. I felt the earth start to sway and the building creaking and groaning. I jumped and raced outside in my underwear. Across the street on the Champ de Mars. Hundreds of people who have been sleeping there since the quake it started to cry out into the morning dawn. It was unsettling and nerve racking.
  • Video diary from January 19:
  • January 19: After we discovered that the 69-year-old woman pulled out of the rubble of a building on the grounds of the national Cathedral was lying in afield hospital without a clear sense of when some crucial treatment might be administered to her, we were able to get a helicopter medical evacuation. They transferred her to the USS Bataan and will then take her to a hospital in Milot near Cap Haitian. See video below:
  • January 19: I've seen several UN soldiers in full body armor as if they expect an IED attack.
  • January 19: We are headed to Cite Soleil one of the poorest slums in Haiti. Miraculously left fairly intact after the quake since homes are just sheets of tin .
  • January 19: Standing in the middle of a mob of looters with gun shots ringing in the air, there is no sign of the UN or the US military or any kind of order whatsoever.
  • January 19: Today we decided to try to locate a young girl named Bea whom we saw pulled out of the rubble within hours of our arrival in Haiti last Tuesday. We wanted to see if she had received proper medical care and if her family was safe. As we got out of our pick up trucks, several shots rang out. We raced up the block to see what was happening and came upon a mob of several hundred Haitians looting a store. Initially, I thought they were after food but after speaking to several bystanders, I learned they were taking candles by the box. With Port-au-Prince still without electricity, you can imagine how valuable these are. So valuable in fact that as soon as a looter came out with a box, he set up shop directly on the sidewalk selling them at inflated black market prices. Anxious shop owners hired the Haitian police to stop the looters and from time to time officers fired shots into the air from their automatic rifles – provided by the shop owners since the police don't even have weapons these days – to disperse the crowd. It worked for only a few minutes. Looters would scatter only to return a few minutes later. In the midst of this chaos, I witnessed a tender act of kindness. A young man selling some kind of packaged food from a large burlap sack was haggling with a woman over the price. She asked if she could sample one before she paid for it and he agreed. He gave her a couple of packs and rather than taste one, she put them in her pocket and begged the man to give them to her as a gift. Smiling at her, he said no problem. "Consider it a gift," he said.  It was a sweet scene happening 10 feet away from a man swinging a wooden plank with nails in it for a chance to take what didn't belong to either of them.
  • January 16:  Searching for survivors with American firefighters from Los Angeles County and their rescue dogs.
  • January 15: A truck just arrived and dumped bodies into a mass grave where we estimate that several hundred bodies have already been dumped. It’s an area of unspeakable horror exacerbated by the fact that it doesn’t appear that anyone is keeping track of the names or who these people are. But they were someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, wife, husband and we are having to bear witness to their passing from this earth.
  • January 15: We have just come across several large pits filled with bodies. Bodies bloated and unrecognizable, we don’t even know if they have been identified yet.
  • January 14: Yesterday was horrible: dead babies rotting in the street, dump trucks filled with corpses. Horrifying and sad.

Here's a report from AC360° of a mother desperately searching for her children. Vlad is in the aqua colored shirt translating between the mother and Anderson Cooper:

Standing in the middle of a mob of looters with gun shots ringing in the air, there is no sign of the UN or the US military or any kind of order whatsoever.


Filed under:  1 • Haiti

Tzipi Livni @ 2100:

January 18th, 2010
05:50 PM ET

Just interviewed Israel's Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni. Interview airs at 2100 CET:

Israel's Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni
Israel's Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni

Filed under:  1 • Israel

Iran Jail Deaths:

January 17th, 2010
11:20 PM ET

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/17/irandr.jpg caption=""]

In Iran there has been a major development stemming from allegations of torture and death at a notorious prison.

In the protests that followed June’s disputed election. Iranian security forces detained thousands of people.

Now the Iranian parliament has issued a scathing report on the Kahrizak detention center.

An Iranian parliamentary committee has publicly blamed Tehran’s reviled prosecutor general Saeed Mortazavi – an ally of President Ahmadinejad – for the deaths of several men there.

And there are calls by conservative members of parliament for more such investigations – CNN's Ivan Watson has the details and after his video be sure to scroll down and watch a discussion about the deaths with Iranian professor Mohammad Marandi:

We asked anyone from the Iranian government to come on this program. We also asked prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi and Abdol-Hussein Ruholomeini - father of the protestor killed at Kahrizak. They all declined.

But we did speak to Mohammad Marandi, professor of North American studies at the University of Tehran about the significance of parliament censuring Mortezavi, the Prosecutor General:


Filed under:  1 • Iran
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