Many are Still Suffering from Last Year's Tsunami
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR, CNN: Welcome back. I'm Carol Lin. And here's what's going on right now. CNN confirms that government eavesdropping without court orders may be more extensive than previously reported. Two former officials with knowledge of the program confirm that large amounts of data are being collected by the National Security Agency with the help of telecommunications companies. The officials say the government is looking for patterns in an effort to thwart terrorism. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spreads holiday cheer in Iraq. Rumsfeld today brightened the mess hall in Mosul. And in a speech to U.S. troops, he said the United States will prevail in its mission to rebuild that country. Another American soldier has died in Iraq. The military says the soldier died today of wounds suffered in a rocket-propelled grenade attack. The soldier was assigned to the 205th military intelligence brigade. The attack occurred during a patrol in northern Iraq. The day after Christmas is a holiday for many. A time for reflection for others. Monday marks one year since a powerful earthquake triggered a massive tsunami that wiped out entire villages in south Asia. CNN's Atika Shubert revisits one of the most devastated areas still struggling to recover.</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Aceh is a broken land. More than 130,000 dead, more than 30,000 still missing and half a million homeless. More than $7 billion has been pledged to rebuild its shores. One year on is the Indonesian province finally on the road to recovery. This is Aceh's biggest reconstruction project, rebuilding more than 250 kilometers, or about 155 miles of road washed out to sea by the tsunami. It will become the link between rural areas and markets in the city, but it could take years to complete. We traveled down here to talk to communities alongside the road and ask them how the reconstruction process is really going. Construction has yet to start for the moment, the two-lane road is sometimes paved, sometimes not. More than 100 bridges need to be replaced. Building crews struggle to get through in the monsoon season. Ships deposited inland by the tsunami rust on the roadside. Tent villages are common, as are homes cobbled together from tsunami scrap wood. In one such village we find Zacharias. The tsunami swept away his home, wife and two young daughters. He calls them his pocket family.</s>ZACHARIAS (though translator): I only have photos left, he says. I keep them in my pocket and carry them wherever I go.</s>SHUBERT: This has been his home for a year now. Sleeping in a bed salvaged from the wood of destroyed homes. He says new houses will be built nearby, but he doesn't know when.</s>ZACHARIAS: (through translator) If you ask me, I think it's taking far too long, he says. I'd like to say I'll be moving into a new house this month like they told me, but I'd be lying. I also can't say that they are not building us homes because they say they are.</s>SHUBERT: There are many houses under construction, just not enough. More than 100,000 are need, only 20,000 have been built. Fewer than 20 percent of those displaced are in permanent homes. The rest remain in flimsy, temporary shelters. Aid officials say the situation is improving. But more work needs to be done.</s>ERIC MORRIS, UNITED NATIONS: Maybe a few months ago, the common question from the tsunami survivors is, where is my home? That's still the basic question. But now you're getting the same question, what can I do to take care of my family?</s>SHUBERT: This road was also an economic lifeline for communities here. In this village, more than half were killed, mostly women and children. The husbands and older brothers left behind are eager to work and forget their losses, but the broken road cannot provide jobs anymore.</s>ZACHARIAS (Through translator): It takes all afternoon just to get into the city to look for work now, not including the money for transportation, Zacharias says. With a home and some startup money, I would just as happy to learn to become a fisherman. Even fishermen have newly donated boats, but only rusty salvaged engines to work with. Life in Aceh seems to consist of living off the scraps the tsunami left behind.</s>ZACHARIAS (through translator): "I look for tsunami scrap all day because I can't sit still," Zacharias says. "I have no family. So I go into the fields looking for wood to build a house, and try to remember my wife and children." For Zacharias, like so many others, the road to recovery is far too long. Atika Shubert, CNN, on Aceh's west coast road.</s>LIN: Thousands of volunteers have lived in south Asia to help rebuild and get people working again. Craig Redmand, is Mercy Corps country director for Indonesia. He joins me on the telephone right now from Bali. Merry Christmas, Craig.</s>CRIAG REDMAND, MERCY CORPS COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR INDOESIA: Merry Christmas to you.</s>LIN: What is the biggest change you have seen in the last year?</s>REDMOND: I think the biggest change that we've seen in Aceh is the connection now between people and their businesses and their access to resources, so they can get their businesses restarted again. There's lots of evidence of entrepreneurs getting back to work and people able to pick up and rebuild their lives.</s>LIN: And Craig, there's a peace dividend there, too, right? Because this is the region where the rebels were fighting but now the Indonesian troops are starting to withdraw, and in a sense the people of Aceh have more opportunity now to rebuild?</s>REDMOND: Exactly. We draw a direct correlation between the ability of people to get back to work and the opportunity for peace to be maintained there. As long as people are busy, as long as people are being productive, there's much less chance that we'll see conflict flaring up again.</s>LIN: What about places to live? Do people have housing?</s>REDMOND: Yeah, housing continues to be an issue. A lot of houses have been built. But a lot more houses need to be built. But what we're doing now is looking at doing village by village these plans, so that communities have an opportunity to plan for themselves where they want their houses, where they want the infrastructure to go, how they'll tap into the road that's being built. This is a very important process.</s>LIN: Is that a problem in terms of who gets what piece of land?</s>REDMOND: It is. And in fact, we're now using satellite imagery to look at where houses were before, and what piece of property belonged to whom. This is a very complex process for sure.</s>LIN: But Craig, you know, we hear of tens of millions of dollars in aid money going to the rebuilding effort. Is that money being spent wisely? Because I would think with that amount of money, entire cities would be rebuilt by now.</s>REDMOND: Well, if you consider the impact on the infrastructure, not only water, electricity, all that, but also transport, which means that the bricks that you need in order to do the reconstruction, the timber that you need, safe, legal timber that you need to do the reconstruction, all the materials, all of that has to be rebuilt as well. So it's been a slow process. But I think we're getting there.</s>LIN: You've been there now for a year, living in the region?</s>REDMOND: Yes.</s>LIN: I'm wondering, Craig, on this holiday season if there's a story that will stand out in your mind for the years to come?</s>REDMOND: For me, it's the example of a village called Lapison (ph) which is not far from Bonda Aceh, down the south coast there. That's a village that was devastated by the tsunami. They came in; the tsunami came in and deposited all kinds of rubble, all over the fields. One of the first things that happened there was we went in with cash for work and community members, and they cleared off those fields and everybody was worried about salinity in the soil. But they went ahead and plowed it up and replanted anyway. And now if you go there, you see these incredibly lush, green fields that are ready to be harvested next week. So they're going to have their first harvest of rice. And for us, this is really a sign of hope and possibility there in Aceh. Craig, on this Christmas Eve, it sounds like you're talking about a miracle.</s>REDMOND: Sounds like it to me, too.</s>LIN: All right. Craig Redmond, you have a great holiday season. You're doing good work out there. We appreciate it very much.</s>REDMOND: Thank you very much. Happy holidays.</s>LIN: Happy holidays.</s>LIN: In our world wrap tonight, live pictures of the midnight mass in Bethlehem. Crowds are filling the streets of the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ. There has been less violence between the Israelis and Palestinians this year. Imposing the separation barrier and the entrance, though, to the West Bank town reminds us that the conflict is still unresolved. And will he go by George? Prince Charles' office is dismissing a newspaper report that claimed Charles was considering changing his name to George VII when he becomes a king. A spokeswoman for the prince called the report idle speculation. And good news in Germany. Literally. The best selling "Bild" newspaper did something special for its Christmas edition. The paper finds a positive angle to every story it covers. Stories about strikes ending and jobs being created or share prices going up. It's a big change from its normal tabloid fare on crime, greed and corruption. Some Georgian National Guard troops are on a mission of their own. They are trying to save an Iraqi baby from certain death if she does not receive immediate medical treatment. As CNN Aneesh Raman reports, it's a complicated mission that comes with its share of risks.</s>ANEESH RAMAN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It could be any night for these U.S. troops loading up to go to war, rapidly securing each location, but this night is unlike the others.</s>RAMAN: This night they are here to save a little girl's life. Her name is Noor, just three months old, born with a debilitating illness, Spina bifida. The Iraqi doctors in this poor Baghdad neighborhood gave Noor just 45 days to live. But then hope came from an unexpected source and at an unexpected time.</s>ANTHONY FOURNIER, CAPTAIN, U.S. ARMY: We originally came across the baby actually in a raid. We actually detained her uncle for a few days. But while we were in the house doing the raid, we saw the baby, and that all started.</s>RAMAN: Told of Noor's condition, told she needed emergency care as soon as possible to have any hope of surviving, care just not available in Iraq, Captain Anthony Fournier and his troops took on Noor's cause. They quickly arranged free flights to the U.S. for her and her family, and the free medical care Noor so desperately needs, in the soldiers' hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. In a war riddled with complexities, for Captain Fournier and his men this is blissfully basic.</s>FOURNIER: We can see, we're definitely making a difference here, at least in this one child's life. Where a lot of times when we're out there patrolling, doing raids, the rest of the people, the more violent times of it, we just needed an outlet like this.</s>ARCHER CLAYTON FORD, STAFF SARGEANT: U.S. ARMY: We do our jobs here as infantry soldiers because we have to. That's our job, and that's what we're asked to do. And we're happy to do it. But this is something that we want to do. This is something that we feel that we can give back to the country.</s>RAMAN: Noor and her family still need visas and passports. But Georgia's Senator Saxby Chambliss said that should happen in a day or two. There is an urgency to all this, and it's not just Noor's fragile health. Her family fears the revenge of insurgents. Off camera, Noor's grandfather draws his finger across his throat asking us not to reveal their identities. He and the soldiers know the dangers for his granddaughter are real, but so is the hope for everyone.</s>CAPTAIN THOMAS JARRETT, MENTAL HEALTH OFFICER: A lot of these guys have been out there a long time, and shot at, blown up, been out here. And to actually directly intervene and help a young child especially to see the family, how much it means to them, I think it's probably a great definition of hearts and minds.</s>RAMAN: In a corner a family member with prayer beads, their faith now in these U.S. troops, who in this holiday season are doing all they can to save a little girl named Noor. Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.</s>LIN: Well, just released from a German prison, a man involved in the murder of marine diver Robert Stethem in 1985. Washington vows to get him. Straight ahead on "CNN Live Saturday." > And we're going to pay a visit to an Army mom on a mission. Christmas gifts for her son and about 1,000 U.S. other troops in Afghanistan.