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CNN Live Sunday
Bush Trying to Mend Fences In Europe
Aired February 20, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: It's 11:00 a.m. in Atlanta and 5:00 in Brussels where the president will soon arrive to begin a week-long trip to Europe. Hello everyone, I'm Andrea Koppel at CNN's global headquarters in for Fredricka Whitfield. Ahead this half hour, mending fences. How will the Europeans embrace President Bush's visit? Also CNN security watch, protecting our ports. How these divers helped keep you safe aboard cruise ships. Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say? Who couldn't be in love with this kid?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOPPEL: He's a U.S. Army veteran who brought home more than memories from the war in Iraq. We'll bring you this incredibly heartwarming story. But first, a check of the headlines in the news at this hour.
The Israeli cabinet voted today to authorize evacuating Jewish settlements in part of the west bank and Gaza beginning in July. They're also expected to give a green light to rerouting Israel's so- called security fence in the west bank. The move would leave about 10,000 Palestinians on the Israeli side.
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II read his entire address today. Observers say he had a relatively strong voice, 10 days after being taken to a hospital in Rome with respiratory problems. An aide had to finish the 84-year-old pope's address last week.
The Marine Corps is reacting to Marine recruit Jason Tharp's death, suspending five Marines and putting another on administrative duty during its investigation. Tharp drowned on February 8th, the day after a camera crew from CNN affiliate WIS captured video of a drill instructor striking him.
We begin with a mission to repair a frayed relationship, President Bush's five-day trip to Europe. Mr. Bush is now in the air and on his way to Brussels. He and the first lady left Andrew's Air Force base about three hours ago. Mr. Bush's stop in the Belgium capital includes meetings with leaders from the European Union and NATO. Wednesday, he flies to Mainz, Germany for talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Then it's on to Bratislava for the first visit by an American president to the Slovak Republic.
While the president will be stopping in only three countries, CNN senior White House correspondent John King explains the president's mission has a much broader scope.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Off to Europe where the goal is setting a new tone for the second term. The challenge rooted as much in a personality clash as it is in the many policy differences.
RICHARD PERLE, FMR. PENTAGON ADVISER: The Europeans don't like the president's style. They're comfortable with Jacques Chirac. OK. He's not my taste, but they've carried this disapproval of the president's style to an extreme.
KING: Not that there aren't numerous policy divides that make fence mending difficult, lingering tensions over the Iraq war. Mr. Bush won't join negotiations about Iran's nuclear program and wants the Europeans involved in those talks to take a tougher line. The White House opposes European plans to resume arm sales to China. Europeans can't fathom why Mr. Bush won't join the Kyoto climate change treaty. Just back from a big conference in Germany, Senator John McCain sees a desire on both sides of the Atlantic for a more friendly tone, yet he sees little movement on the policy divides with France and Germany.
SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) ARIZ: In the case of the Germans, Mr. Schroeder, a little straight talk is interested in his re-election. He played an anti-American card last time and it helped him so it shouldn't surprise me. The case of the French, as long as many French leaders believe in their words that they are counterweight to the United States of America, it's hard to forge a close alliance.
KING: The Iraq war is the biggest, but not the only source of anti-Bush sentiment across much of Europe.
WOLFGANG ISCHINGER, GERMAN AMB. TO US: Some of it has to do with style. Europeans, Germans and others may have some difficulty with this open, frank manner.
KING: How these differences are conveyed can be remarkably personal, portrayed as an ape in Britain's guardian newspaper. Elsewhere in Europe, flipping a coin before marching or dancing off to the next war or in this German cartoon, as a biblical figure bent on reshaping the world.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D) CONN: They've got to stop scapegoating George Bush as a person. They've got to deal with America. He's the president of the United States. He's been reelected. His policies reflect, more or less, the will of a majority of the American people and the Europeans have to deal with that.
KING: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was well-received on her recent trip to Europe. And in Germany Defense Secretary Rumsfeld tried humor to move past his controversial labeling of Iraq war critics as old Europe.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Oh, that was old Rumsfeld. KING: Now Mr. Bush takes his turn. One goal in Europe narrowing the policy divide, the other, recasting or at least softening his image. John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: Some startling admissions from a then Governor George W. Bush. Today's "New York Times" quotes tapes made secretly between 1998 and 2000 by Doug Wead, an old friend to Mr. Bush and a former aide to his father. The "Times" reports that from the tape, it appears Mr. Bush acknowledged trying marijuana. Quote, I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried, unquote. On another tape Mr. Bush mocked Vice President Al Gore for acknowledging marijuana use. Quote, baby boomers have got to grow up and say, yeah, I may have done drugs, but instead of admitting it, say to kids, don't do them, unquote. The White House did not dispute the authenticity of the tapes or respond to their contents in the "New York Times" report.
Two former presidents are witnessing the aftermath of the tsunami disaster. George Bush and Bill Clinton continue their tour of the tsunami-ravaged areas. A day after visiting Thailand, the former presidents today flew over the destruction in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. They spoke about the tour with LATE EDITION's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No distant picture can convey the enormity of the human tragedy and the environmental destruction until you see it.
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to be able to ensure the donors that the money is being spent wisely, that there's not a lot of overhead between what they give and how it gets to the recipient and that there's no corruption out there and the embassies are interested in this, the governments that we talked to, for example, the Indonesians are interested in it and everybody, I think, is concerned that it not happen and want to guarantee that it not happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOPPEL: You can see Wolf's complete interview with the former presidents next hour on LATE EDITION with Wolf Blitzer.
In our CNN security watch, protecting the nation's ports. They are a potentially vulnerable point of entry to terrorists. At the port of Miami, area authorities are helping reduce that risk by going under water. CNN's John Zarrella reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They wear wet suits not space suits. Unassuming guys with the right stuff who defend America from below. These Miami-Dade police divers are helping to protect the port of Miami, the largest container port in Florida and home to 18 cruise ships carrying four million passengers a year.
PAUL TOY, MIAMI-DADE POLICE DIVER: Since 9/11, it has become very critical. We have that terrorist out there and they want to try to disrupt something. A cruise ship is a good target.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, what we do is, I'll go in the water, Paul goes in the water, Paul goes down to the bottom.
ZARRELLA: Paul Toy has been diving since he was a teenager. He has been a police diver since the '80s. Today Toy and nine others search beneath the 881-foot cruise ship "Majesty of the Seas." It is called a hull search. The team is not acting on any tips or information. It's just an unannounced peek beneath the water line. That's the way they want it. No schedule for terrorists to track.
SGT. NELSON RODRIGUEZ, MIAMI DADE POLICE: We can be here two or three days in a row and not come for a week and then come back for two weeks in a row.
ZARRELLA: The divers line up along the entire length of the ship eyeballing every inch. Because visibility is about five feet, flashlights look like light sabers in the green tinted water. Paul Toy makes his way to the very bottom at the center line of the rope, 30 feet down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We learn what's supposed to be on the ship and when there is something that appears that's not supposed to be there, we can recognize it.
ZARRELLA: The dive can be disconcerting. The ship's sounds, the whirling of generators and throbbing of pumps filling the water. Not every diver can hack it.
TOY: The sound just vibrates through the ship and comes through you, so, you got to be in the right frame of mind to be able to get down there and do some things like that.
ZARRELLA: While the divers scour the hull, other police officers are in the engine room and on the bridge, making sure a propeller or one of these giant thrusters is not accidentally turned on. That would shred the divers in an instant. Diver Lewis Sierra is literally inside the thruster housing. This kind of danger goes with the territory. In 1996, Paul Toy dove the murky crater in the Everglades to bring up pieces of the crashed Value Jet airliner.
TOY: There was no visibility. It was all by feel. We call it diving by Braille.
ZARRELLA: Much of what they do goes unnoticed, but not unappreciated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people see you, the people on the ship and they love you because it gives them a good feeling like, our ship's OK. These guys are down there checking it out.
ZARRELLA: Cruise ships don't get all the attention. It could be a Navy cruiser like the "U.S.S. (INAUDIBLE Gulf," just pulling out. Toy and the other divers searched the seawall and bottom where the guided missile cruiser would dock. These divers believe in their work. They know that they are a deterrent and that they make a difference swimming in the shadows of the big ships. Jon Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: And there's much more on your security coming up on CNN SUNDAY NIGHT. How safe are you when you fly? Some airlines are now outsourcing repair work. Is this the safest way to go or just the cheapest? And only on CNN investigation tonight at 11:00 p.m.
And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
In California, they're dreaming of an end to the rain that is flooding streets and homes. Rob Marciano will be along with a forecast while in Daytona it is warm and sunny for race day. Steve Overmyer has a preview. That's kind of a fun story for you, Steve.
STEVE OVERMYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. Certainly a lot of smiles out here from the fan's places at Daytona international speedway which is an incredible display of sights, sounds and smells. We'll tell you what the fans are up to coming up on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOPPEL: Storms are expected to continue drenching southern California. They've got heavy rains, which have flooded roads and communities and raised the risk of mudslides. Our Carol Lin takes a look at the rain-related problems.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need a rescue.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A welcome sound. The voice of rescuers just in time to save a woman trapped in quickly rising water in Long Beach. The woman's cell phone, the saving grace. She called 911.
CPT. JIM ARVIZU, KTLA: It's rough water rescue team paddled out, were able to get into the car, cut the seatbelt.
LIN: Rescuers using a surf board took the woman to higher, drier ground. Cars overtaken by the water remained in working condition, but with nowhere to go. The story is the same up and down the state. The rain keeps coming. Residents in Santa Clarita were forced out of this mobile home park as rivers of waters rushed through. In Los Angeles, homeowners started sandbagging, taking no chances with flooding. Crews in Burbank struggled to secure the Virgin megastore. The excessive downpours were blamed for collapsing the roof there causing $100,000 in damage. For golden state residents, enough is enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like rain, but so much is too much.
LIN: And with California receiving three times the normal rainfall, the fear now is of further mudslides. Carol Lin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: And so the question for many living in California is just how much longer is the rain going to last and hopefully for some answers Rob Marciano.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi Andrea. Right now it stopped a little bit across L.A. That's the good news. The bad news is that the storm is still out there. It's just that there's a bit of a break. Most of the action has shifted to the north, but the center of the low still sits out here. It will slowly pull on shore over the next couple days which will eventually change up the pattern somewhat, but until it does that, we'll be looking at the same old weather map over there which means a lot of wet weather.
All right. Another batch of wetness coming up across the central part of the country and this is turning to snow in spots, especially Chicago to say Cleveland and northbound. Underneath the clouds, highlight a couple of things. One, this was painted a lot more intensely yesterday. Thank goodness not much rain in Los Angeles up through San Francisco. It does turn to snow across the Sierra Nevada at about six to 7,000 feet. That's beneficial obviously for run off later on this spring and for the ski resorts.
Minneapolis and Chicago, we are seeing some snow, but that will be changing over to rain. It should be all snow in places like Detroit. Tomorrow, places like Philly, New York and Boston will likely see a fair amount of snow, as well. Temperatures today 36 degrees in New York City, 43 in Chicago, 63, feeling like spring in St. Louis. That's the latest from here, Andrea. Back over to you.
KOPPEL: Thanks so much Rob. It's expected to be sunny and warm for the great American race in Daytona Beach, Florida, today. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back to defend his title at the 47th running of the Daytona 500. CNN sports correspondent Steve Overmyer is standing by at a very noisy Daytona international speedway. Steve, I guess it's going to be kind of hard for you to hear over that.
OVERMYER: Yeah, no doubt about it. When the cars rev up, you definitely want to have your ear plugs in. It's amazing. Here we are fours away from race time and this place is already packed with fans who are undoubtedly arguing over who's going to win. Is it going to be Michael Walter for Dale Earnhardt Jr.? This team has won three out of the last four Daytona 500s or the hot driver right now, who's definitely got the hot car, Tony Stewart, or maybe going to be the hot head and Kevin Harvick (ph).
One thing all these fans can definitely agree on is that the major renovations they've done for the infield here at Daytona have been incredible and certainly highlighted by a new center for fans who want a new experience. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Daytona international speedway's infield has always been fan friendly, but fans just got an upgrade. Welcome to fan zone. A $50 million addition to the speedway built especially for fans. It features a big screen TV, a bird's eye view of pit row and windows to every garage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is incredible. I've been here the last 10 years and it wasn't anything like this.
OVERMYER: At the heart of the new infield addition is the bistro providing culinary treats that may be new to some race fans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got crabs and it's green and it tastes good.
OVERMYER: Is that like a bearnaise sauce with it too?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd have to talk to the chef behind here. I don't know what he put in it. All I can tell you is that it was excellent.
OVERMYER: Even if your appetite won't be quenched by delicacies like days of chocolate thunder, you can always fall back on the classic, stuffed swine intestine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OVERMYER: See, you can get whatever you'd like here at Daytona but I'm telling you, if you want to go in fan zone for the race today, it's going to cost you about $85. 250,000 fans are expected here Andrea. I'm telling you, the infield here it's like the Memorial Day and Fourth of July party during the day and the new year's at night. So, let the party begin.
KOPPEL: I'll tell you $85 just to get in and then you got to pay for that stuffed swine intestine. Steve Overmyer, thanks from Daytona.
OVERMYER: Didn't exactly sound too good that way, did it?
KOPPEL: No, it didn't. Take a pass.
Well, the army captain who went off to war and came home with a little boy. We'll tell you about an unlikely bond between new best friends when CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOPPEL: RELIABLE SOURCES is coming up at the bottom of the hour. Howard Kurtz has a preview.
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR, RELIABLE SOURCES: Personal attacks, X- rated pictures. The blogosphere is a pretty rough neighborhood these days, especially for people like former White House reporter Jeff Gannon. Are bloggers providing a much needed check on the mainstream media or are they spinning out of control?
Plus, a conversation with "Time's" Matt Cooper about why he'd rather go to jail than squeal on his anonymous sources in the Valerie Plame investigation. It's all next on RELIABLE SOURCES.
KOPPEL: Look forward to it.
Baba -- it's what some Iraqi children call their fathers and it's what a 10-year-old Iraqi orphan now calls a National Guardsman who refused to leave him behind. CNN's Chris Lawrence now brings us this story of love and devotion from America's heartland.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPT. SCOTT SOUTHWORTH, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: Hey, buddy.
ALA'ADEEN: Hi baba.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why would a man --
SOUTHWORTH: Ready to go home?
ALA'ADEEN: Yes.
LAWRENCE: Single guy, just back from Baghdad basically adopt an Iraqi orphan with cerebral palsy.
SOUTHWORTH: I didn't choose him, he chose me.
LAWRENCE: Capt. Scott Southworth met Ala'Adeen a year and a half ago in a Baghdad orphanage.
SOUTHWORTH: And within a few short weeks began to call me baba or daddy.
LAWRENCE: Scott kept visiting every few days, even with his unit under constant attack.
SOUTHWORTH: I didn't know if I was going to make it out alive and I was afraid to promise him something and then get killed and then him not understand that.
LAWRENCE: After about a year, Scott's tour was up and the Army ordered him home but he discovered Ala was getting too old for the orphanage. He'd be transferred to an adult facility where with his cerebral palsy, he might not survive the lack of attention and medical care.
SOUTHWORTH: It was a devastating and frustrating moment for me.
LAWRENCE: Now, foreign adoption is illegal in Iraq right now, but after six months of work and mounds of red tape, he convinced Iraqi and American officials to grant Ala something called humanitarian parole.
SOUTHWORTH: You do it. You do it. Outstanding! LAWRENCE: It's a special designation that allows him to get medical help here in America with Scott acting as guardian. Do you ever think about what his life would be like if he was still in Iraq today?
ALA'ADEEN: Yeah.
LAWRENCE: It's a hard thing for Scott to explain, but the emotion makes it clear why he'd take this on.
SOUTHWORTH: People will sometimes say to me, you know, oh, what a great thing it is that you're doing. I always tell them, you know, honestly, he teaches me and gives back to me far more than I'll ever give to him.
LAWRENCE: Scott admits he went to Baghdad hoping to win Iraqis' hearts and mind, he just never expected a 10-year-old to win his. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: Tell you what, that gets you right in your heart.
That is it for CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Up next RELIABLE SOURCES. And on LATE EDITION, Wolf Blitzer talks with former presidents Bush and Clinton about their tour of tsunami-ravaged southeast Asia. And at 2:00 Eastern, PEOPLE IN THE NEWS profiles Rod Stewart and Carly Simon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 20, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: It's 11:00 a.m. in Atlanta and 5:00 in Brussels where the president will soon arrive to begin a week-long trip to Europe. Hello everyone, I'm Andrea Koppel at CNN's global headquarters in for Fredricka Whitfield. Ahead this half hour, mending fences. How will the Europeans embrace President Bush's visit? Also CNN security watch, protecting our ports. How these divers helped keep you safe aboard cruise ships. Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say? Who couldn't be in love with this kid?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOPPEL: He's a U.S. Army veteran who brought home more than memories from the war in Iraq. We'll bring you this incredibly heartwarming story. But first, a check of the headlines in the news at this hour.
The Israeli cabinet voted today to authorize evacuating Jewish settlements in part of the west bank and Gaza beginning in July. They're also expected to give a green light to rerouting Israel's so- called security fence in the west bank. The move would leave about 10,000 Palestinians on the Israeli side.
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II read his entire address today. Observers say he had a relatively strong voice, 10 days after being taken to a hospital in Rome with respiratory problems. An aide had to finish the 84-year-old pope's address last week.
The Marine Corps is reacting to Marine recruit Jason Tharp's death, suspending five Marines and putting another on administrative duty during its investigation. Tharp drowned on February 8th, the day after a camera crew from CNN affiliate WIS captured video of a drill instructor striking him.
We begin with a mission to repair a frayed relationship, President Bush's five-day trip to Europe. Mr. Bush is now in the air and on his way to Brussels. He and the first lady left Andrew's Air Force base about three hours ago. Mr. Bush's stop in the Belgium capital includes meetings with leaders from the European Union and NATO. Wednesday, he flies to Mainz, Germany for talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Then it's on to Bratislava for the first visit by an American president to the Slovak Republic.
While the president will be stopping in only three countries, CNN senior White House correspondent John King explains the president's mission has a much broader scope.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Off to Europe where the goal is setting a new tone for the second term. The challenge rooted as much in a personality clash as it is in the many policy differences.
RICHARD PERLE, FMR. PENTAGON ADVISER: The Europeans don't like the president's style. They're comfortable with Jacques Chirac. OK. He's not my taste, but they've carried this disapproval of the president's style to an extreme.
KING: Not that there aren't numerous policy divides that make fence mending difficult, lingering tensions over the Iraq war. Mr. Bush won't join negotiations about Iran's nuclear program and wants the Europeans involved in those talks to take a tougher line. The White House opposes European plans to resume arm sales to China. Europeans can't fathom why Mr. Bush won't join the Kyoto climate change treaty. Just back from a big conference in Germany, Senator John McCain sees a desire on both sides of the Atlantic for a more friendly tone, yet he sees little movement on the policy divides with France and Germany.
SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) ARIZ: In the case of the Germans, Mr. Schroeder, a little straight talk is interested in his re-election. He played an anti-American card last time and it helped him so it shouldn't surprise me. The case of the French, as long as many French leaders believe in their words that they are counterweight to the United States of America, it's hard to forge a close alliance.
KING: The Iraq war is the biggest, but not the only source of anti-Bush sentiment across much of Europe.
WOLFGANG ISCHINGER, GERMAN AMB. TO US: Some of it has to do with style. Europeans, Germans and others may have some difficulty with this open, frank manner.
KING: How these differences are conveyed can be remarkably personal, portrayed as an ape in Britain's guardian newspaper. Elsewhere in Europe, flipping a coin before marching or dancing off to the next war or in this German cartoon, as a biblical figure bent on reshaping the world.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D) CONN: They've got to stop scapegoating George Bush as a person. They've got to deal with America. He's the president of the United States. He's been reelected. His policies reflect, more or less, the will of a majority of the American people and the Europeans have to deal with that.
KING: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was well-received on her recent trip to Europe. And in Germany Defense Secretary Rumsfeld tried humor to move past his controversial labeling of Iraq war critics as old Europe.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Oh, that was old Rumsfeld. KING: Now Mr. Bush takes his turn. One goal in Europe narrowing the policy divide, the other, recasting or at least softening his image. John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: Some startling admissions from a then Governor George W. Bush. Today's "New York Times" quotes tapes made secretly between 1998 and 2000 by Doug Wead, an old friend to Mr. Bush and a former aide to his father. The "Times" reports that from the tape, it appears Mr. Bush acknowledged trying marijuana. Quote, I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried, unquote. On another tape Mr. Bush mocked Vice President Al Gore for acknowledging marijuana use. Quote, baby boomers have got to grow up and say, yeah, I may have done drugs, but instead of admitting it, say to kids, don't do them, unquote. The White House did not dispute the authenticity of the tapes or respond to their contents in the "New York Times" report.
Two former presidents are witnessing the aftermath of the tsunami disaster. George Bush and Bill Clinton continue their tour of the tsunami-ravaged areas. A day after visiting Thailand, the former presidents today flew over the destruction in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. They spoke about the tour with LATE EDITION's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No distant picture can convey the enormity of the human tragedy and the environmental destruction until you see it.
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to be able to ensure the donors that the money is being spent wisely, that there's not a lot of overhead between what they give and how it gets to the recipient and that there's no corruption out there and the embassies are interested in this, the governments that we talked to, for example, the Indonesians are interested in it and everybody, I think, is concerned that it not happen and want to guarantee that it not happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOPPEL: You can see Wolf's complete interview with the former presidents next hour on LATE EDITION with Wolf Blitzer.
In our CNN security watch, protecting the nation's ports. They are a potentially vulnerable point of entry to terrorists. At the port of Miami, area authorities are helping reduce that risk by going under water. CNN's John Zarrella reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They wear wet suits not space suits. Unassuming guys with the right stuff who defend America from below. These Miami-Dade police divers are helping to protect the port of Miami, the largest container port in Florida and home to 18 cruise ships carrying four million passengers a year.
PAUL TOY, MIAMI-DADE POLICE DIVER: Since 9/11, it has become very critical. We have that terrorist out there and they want to try to disrupt something. A cruise ship is a good target.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, what we do is, I'll go in the water, Paul goes in the water, Paul goes down to the bottom.
ZARRELLA: Paul Toy has been diving since he was a teenager. He has been a police diver since the '80s. Today Toy and nine others search beneath the 881-foot cruise ship "Majesty of the Seas." It is called a hull search. The team is not acting on any tips or information. It's just an unannounced peek beneath the water line. That's the way they want it. No schedule for terrorists to track.
SGT. NELSON RODRIGUEZ, MIAMI DADE POLICE: We can be here two or three days in a row and not come for a week and then come back for two weeks in a row.
ZARRELLA: The divers line up along the entire length of the ship eyeballing every inch. Because visibility is about five feet, flashlights look like light sabers in the green tinted water. Paul Toy makes his way to the very bottom at the center line of the rope, 30 feet down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We learn what's supposed to be on the ship and when there is something that appears that's not supposed to be there, we can recognize it.
ZARRELLA: The dive can be disconcerting. The ship's sounds, the whirling of generators and throbbing of pumps filling the water. Not every diver can hack it.
TOY: The sound just vibrates through the ship and comes through you, so, you got to be in the right frame of mind to be able to get down there and do some things like that.
ZARRELLA: While the divers scour the hull, other police officers are in the engine room and on the bridge, making sure a propeller or one of these giant thrusters is not accidentally turned on. That would shred the divers in an instant. Diver Lewis Sierra is literally inside the thruster housing. This kind of danger goes with the territory. In 1996, Paul Toy dove the murky crater in the Everglades to bring up pieces of the crashed Value Jet airliner.
TOY: There was no visibility. It was all by feel. We call it diving by Braille.
ZARRELLA: Much of what they do goes unnoticed, but not unappreciated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people see you, the people on the ship and they love you because it gives them a good feeling like, our ship's OK. These guys are down there checking it out.
ZARRELLA: Cruise ships don't get all the attention. It could be a Navy cruiser like the "U.S.S. (INAUDIBLE Gulf," just pulling out. Toy and the other divers searched the seawall and bottom where the guided missile cruiser would dock. These divers believe in their work. They know that they are a deterrent and that they make a difference swimming in the shadows of the big ships. Jon Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: And there's much more on your security coming up on CNN SUNDAY NIGHT. How safe are you when you fly? Some airlines are now outsourcing repair work. Is this the safest way to go or just the cheapest? And only on CNN investigation tonight at 11:00 p.m.
And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
In California, they're dreaming of an end to the rain that is flooding streets and homes. Rob Marciano will be along with a forecast while in Daytona it is warm and sunny for race day. Steve Overmyer has a preview. That's kind of a fun story for you, Steve.
STEVE OVERMYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. Certainly a lot of smiles out here from the fan's places at Daytona international speedway which is an incredible display of sights, sounds and smells. We'll tell you what the fans are up to coming up on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOPPEL: Storms are expected to continue drenching southern California. They've got heavy rains, which have flooded roads and communities and raised the risk of mudslides. Our Carol Lin takes a look at the rain-related problems.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need a rescue.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A welcome sound. The voice of rescuers just in time to save a woman trapped in quickly rising water in Long Beach. The woman's cell phone, the saving grace. She called 911.
CPT. JIM ARVIZU, KTLA: It's rough water rescue team paddled out, were able to get into the car, cut the seatbelt.
LIN: Rescuers using a surf board took the woman to higher, drier ground. Cars overtaken by the water remained in working condition, but with nowhere to go. The story is the same up and down the state. The rain keeps coming. Residents in Santa Clarita were forced out of this mobile home park as rivers of waters rushed through. In Los Angeles, homeowners started sandbagging, taking no chances with flooding. Crews in Burbank struggled to secure the Virgin megastore. The excessive downpours were blamed for collapsing the roof there causing $100,000 in damage. For golden state residents, enough is enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like rain, but so much is too much.
LIN: And with California receiving three times the normal rainfall, the fear now is of further mudslides. Carol Lin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: And so the question for many living in California is just how much longer is the rain going to last and hopefully for some answers Rob Marciano.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi Andrea. Right now it stopped a little bit across L.A. That's the good news. The bad news is that the storm is still out there. It's just that there's a bit of a break. Most of the action has shifted to the north, but the center of the low still sits out here. It will slowly pull on shore over the next couple days which will eventually change up the pattern somewhat, but until it does that, we'll be looking at the same old weather map over there which means a lot of wet weather.
All right. Another batch of wetness coming up across the central part of the country and this is turning to snow in spots, especially Chicago to say Cleveland and northbound. Underneath the clouds, highlight a couple of things. One, this was painted a lot more intensely yesterday. Thank goodness not much rain in Los Angeles up through San Francisco. It does turn to snow across the Sierra Nevada at about six to 7,000 feet. That's beneficial obviously for run off later on this spring and for the ski resorts.
Minneapolis and Chicago, we are seeing some snow, but that will be changing over to rain. It should be all snow in places like Detroit. Tomorrow, places like Philly, New York and Boston will likely see a fair amount of snow, as well. Temperatures today 36 degrees in New York City, 43 in Chicago, 63, feeling like spring in St. Louis. That's the latest from here, Andrea. Back over to you.
KOPPEL: Thanks so much Rob. It's expected to be sunny and warm for the great American race in Daytona Beach, Florida, today. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back to defend his title at the 47th running of the Daytona 500. CNN sports correspondent Steve Overmyer is standing by at a very noisy Daytona international speedway. Steve, I guess it's going to be kind of hard for you to hear over that.
OVERMYER: Yeah, no doubt about it. When the cars rev up, you definitely want to have your ear plugs in. It's amazing. Here we are fours away from race time and this place is already packed with fans who are undoubtedly arguing over who's going to win. Is it going to be Michael Walter for Dale Earnhardt Jr.? This team has won three out of the last four Daytona 500s or the hot driver right now, who's definitely got the hot car, Tony Stewart, or maybe going to be the hot head and Kevin Harvick (ph).
One thing all these fans can definitely agree on is that the major renovations they've done for the infield here at Daytona have been incredible and certainly highlighted by a new center for fans who want a new experience. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Daytona international speedway's infield has always been fan friendly, but fans just got an upgrade. Welcome to fan zone. A $50 million addition to the speedway built especially for fans. It features a big screen TV, a bird's eye view of pit row and windows to every garage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is incredible. I've been here the last 10 years and it wasn't anything like this.
OVERMYER: At the heart of the new infield addition is the bistro providing culinary treats that may be new to some race fans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's got crabs and it's green and it tastes good.
OVERMYER: Is that like a bearnaise sauce with it too?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'd have to talk to the chef behind here. I don't know what he put in it. All I can tell you is that it was excellent.
OVERMYER: Even if your appetite won't be quenched by delicacies like days of chocolate thunder, you can always fall back on the classic, stuffed swine intestine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OVERMYER: See, you can get whatever you'd like here at Daytona but I'm telling you, if you want to go in fan zone for the race today, it's going to cost you about $85. 250,000 fans are expected here Andrea. I'm telling you, the infield here it's like the Memorial Day and Fourth of July party during the day and the new year's at night. So, let the party begin.
KOPPEL: I'll tell you $85 just to get in and then you got to pay for that stuffed swine intestine. Steve Overmyer, thanks from Daytona.
OVERMYER: Didn't exactly sound too good that way, did it?
KOPPEL: No, it didn't. Take a pass.
Well, the army captain who went off to war and came home with a little boy. We'll tell you about an unlikely bond between new best friends when CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOPPEL: RELIABLE SOURCES is coming up at the bottom of the hour. Howard Kurtz has a preview.
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR, RELIABLE SOURCES: Personal attacks, X- rated pictures. The blogosphere is a pretty rough neighborhood these days, especially for people like former White House reporter Jeff Gannon. Are bloggers providing a much needed check on the mainstream media or are they spinning out of control?
Plus, a conversation with "Time's" Matt Cooper about why he'd rather go to jail than squeal on his anonymous sources in the Valerie Plame investigation. It's all next on RELIABLE SOURCES.
KOPPEL: Look forward to it.
Baba -- it's what some Iraqi children call their fathers and it's what a 10-year-old Iraqi orphan now calls a National Guardsman who refused to leave him behind. CNN's Chris Lawrence now brings us this story of love and devotion from America's heartland.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPT. SCOTT SOUTHWORTH, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: Hey, buddy.
ALA'ADEEN: Hi baba.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why would a man --
SOUTHWORTH: Ready to go home?
ALA'ADEEN: Yes.
LAWRENCE: Single guy, just back from Baghdad basically adopt an Iraqi orphan with cerebral palsy.
SOUTHWORTH: I didn't choose him, he chose me.
LAWRENCE: Capt. Scott Southworth met Ala'Adeen a year and a half ago in a Baghdad orphanage.
SOUTHWORTH: And within a few short weeks began to call me baba or daddy.
LAWRENCE: Scott kept visiting every few days, even with his unit under constant attack.
SOUTHWORTH: I didn't know if I was going to make it out alive and I was afraid to promise him something and then get killed and then him not understand that.
LAWRENCE: After about a year, Scott's tour was up and the Army ordered him home but he discovered Ala was getting too old for the orphanage. He'd be transferred to an adult facility where with his cerebral palsy, he might not survive the lack of attention and medical care.
SOUTHWORTH: It was a devastating and frustrating moment for me.
LAWRENCE: Now, foreign adoption is illegal in Iraq right now, but after six months of work and mounds of red tape, he convinced Iraqi and American officials to grant Ala something called humanitarian parole.
SOUTHWORTH: You do it. You do it. Outstanding! LAWRENCE: It's a special designation that allows him to get medical help here in America with Scott acting as guardian. Do you ever think about what his life would be like if he was still in Iraq today?
ALA'ADEEN: Yeah.
LAWRENCE: It's a hard thing for Scott to explain, but the emotion makes it clear why he'd take this on.
SOUTHWORTH: People will sometimes say to me, you know, oh, what a great thing it is that you're doing. I always tell them, you know, honestly, he teaches me and gives back to me far more than I'll ever give to him.
LAWRENCE: Scott admits he went to Baghdad hoping to win Iraqis' hearts and mind, he just never expected a 10-year-old to win his. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOPPEL: Tell you what, that gets you right in your heart.
That is it for CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Up next RELIABLE SOURCES. And on LATE EDITION, Wolf Blitzer talks with former presidents Bush and Clinton about their tour of tsunami-ravaged southeast Asia. And at 2:00 Eastern, PEOPLE IN THE NEWS profiles Rod Stewart and Carly Simon.
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