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Much of St. Bernard's Parish Unlivable; Judge Roberts Stands Up Under Questioning; Residents of Gentilly Neighborhood Optimistic; Group Works to Reunite Children, Families

Aired September 16, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: I'm Miles O'Brien live in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana where the devastation is utter and almost complete. The president of prime time saying the choice is clear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no way to imagine America without New Orleans and this great city will rise again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: We'll have a live report and give you a full assessment of the devastation here just east of New Orleans in a moment -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: I'm Soledad O'Brien. We are also watching Tropical Storm Ophelia still hovering off North Carolina. The storm pounded the Outer Banks for a day and a half. We'll take a look at the destruction there.

And some breaking news out of Iraq. Within the last hour, another deadly car bombing in Baghdad. Casualties mounting from three days of attacks on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. We're going to have much more on the president's speech in just a moment. We're going to get right back to Miles, though, first. He's in St. Bernard Parish, which is just east of New Orleans.

Miles, good morning to you. We saw a minute ago some shots behind you of what the parish looks like. We see people gathering. Who are they, Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, we have a few representatives of the sheriff's department here, as well as the president of the parish, who's been with us this morning, and then us. Other than that, this place is completely unpopulated, Soledad.

As a matter of fact, the parish tomorrow will begin an opportunity, zoned opportunities if you will, for people to come in and take a look at what awaits them. And really, the truth is until you lay your eyes on this, until you walk through one of these houses until you really experience the odor of this really, quite frankly, toxic mud, you really can't fully appreciate what has happened here.

And people here in the parish are very concerned about what the implications are of this and how people will react to it. Obviously, going to be a very emotional time.

We're talking about an area of about 70,000 people, about 30,000 structures. And the feeling is here they've been under water for so long and that the situation is so toxic, throw in a few oil spills, 10 feet of water right here that these structures, all of them, will need to be bulldozed.

And right now, the viability of this parish is on the line. The school system is shut down, teachers no longer being paid. The hospital is shut down. The staff there has been pink slipped. St. Bernard Parish is completely on the ropes.

Last night, the president was in Jackson Square, about 4 1/2 miles from here in the heart of the French Quarter. The president offering a prime time address. And he, today, will do more on this front, going to the National Cathedral to speak on behalf of hurricane victims. Last night he offered a very ambitious proposal to try and rebuild.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Four years after the frightening experience of September 11, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation I, as president, am responsible for the problem and for the solution.

Throughout the area, hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives.

(END VIDE CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: The president did not put a dollar figure, a price tag on all the cleanup. He did address some other issues as well, such as the underlying issues of poverty and race that came to the fore in the wake of Katrina, issues that he feels the federal government, all of us, should be addressing, as well -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks a lot.

Much more coming from Miles in just a few moments. We're going to talk a little bit about some of the damage that has been done. And as Miles talked about, people are now on the verge of coming back to their homes, how they have no idea just how bad it is. That's ahead.

First, though, three days now questioning the Senate Judiciary Committee deciding whether to recommend confirmation of John Roberts as the next chief justice of the United States. But as Bob Franken reports, lawmakers walked away with lots of unanswered questions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When all was said and done, Judge Roberts had one more thing to said.

JUDGE JOHN ROBERTS, SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE NOMINEE: that I'm not an ideologue.

FRANKEN: What Democrats were trying to determine was who exactly was John Roberts? Was he the man who, more than 20 years ago, wrote provocative memos to his Reagan administration colleagues, questioning, for instance, the underpinning of the Roe vs. Wade decision, the private to privacy, which he referred to back then as "the so-called right to privacy"?

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), CHAIRMAN, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Do you believe today that the right to privacy does exist in the Constitution?

ROBERTS: Senator, I do. The right to privacy is protected under the Constitution in various ways.

FRANKEN: But when it came time for specifics like abortion rights...

ROBERTS: I feel the need to stay away from a discussion of particular cases.

FRANKEN: ... presidential power...

ROBERTS: I don't want to answer a particular hypothetical that could come before the court.

FRANKEN: ... the right to die...

ROBERTS: Well, that's getting into a legal question.

FRANKEN: ... time and again, he would say he would respect precedent and apply the law, a multipurpose answer.

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: He's filibustering, sir. Well, OK, go ahead.

SPECTER: No, he's not. No.

BIDEN: That's a bad word, senator.

SPECTER: That's what we use.

BIDEN: Go ahead. Go ahead and continue not to answer.

FRANKEN: To his supporters, Roberts came across as a very smart, accomplished lawyer. Others wondered whether he had a heart.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: And I guess what has begun to concern me a little bit is Judge Roberts, the legal automaton.

FRANKEN: For that, Roberts had a response.

ROBERTS: Judges never lose sight, or should never lose sight of the fact that their decisions affect real people with real lives.

FRANKEN: Roberts displayed an ability to bob and weave with the best of them for more than two days.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT), RANKING DEMOCRAT, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Judge, you're really going to miss us, aren't you? You're going to miss doing this every day. I mean, it's -- you're not even going to answer that one, are you?

ROBERTS: Well, it's a once in a lifetime experience, Senator.

FRANKEN (on camera): That's exactly what it's expected confirmation would be, chief justice for a lifetime.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The Senate Judiciary Committee votes next week followed by a full Senate note the week of the 26th. If confirmed, Roberts would take over the high court in time for the start of the full session, which begins in October.

There are other stories making headlines this morning. Let's get right to Carol Costello.

Good morning again, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CO-HOST: There are. Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, CNN now confirming at least 10 Iraqis have been killed in a suicide car bombing north of Baghdad. The blast coming just within the past hour outside of a Shiite mosque. More than 20 others are wounded. That's just one of several early attacks across Iraq today. In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire, killing at least 12 people in the span of an hour, a Muslim cleric among the casualties.

A plan to shut down 22 major military bases in the United States is heading to Congress now. President Bush approved the plan Thursday, signing off on the version he got from an independent panel last week. The proposal includes shutting down Ft. Monmouth in New Jersey. The plan will apparently save the Pentagon an estimated $37 billion over 20 years.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is reaching out to those affected by Katrina along the Gulf Coast. The secretary will be in Gulfport, Mississippi, today. He'll take part in a ceremony for the national day of prayer for the victims of the hurricane during his visit. And Tropical Storm Ophelia, downgraded from a hurricane, still churning off the coast of North Carolina. The storm never officially made landfall, but it sure downed trees and power lines in low lying areas across parts of North Carolina. Some areas got hit with as much as 18 inches of rain.

For more, let's head to the forecast center and Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Isn't it ironic? The storm actually the center of an eye of the eye never touched any part of the land. It was only the eye wall that has been on shore from Wilmington to Jacksonville and on up through Cape Hatteras.

Now the storm is actually picking up some speed. It has moved about. I just did a little track on this. It's moved about 18 miles in two hours. That's the fastest it's gone for days.

This entire thing, though, is going to make a run at the northeast. And there are some computer models that get it closer to Nantucket than the official hurricane center forecast.

Sixty-five miles per hour right now. By Saturday morning, big, big waves off the coast of the United States. A

And here are all of those models we talk about. Usually we call it the spaghetti map, but they are taking it a little to the east now and then possibly even up to, yes, Nova Scotia, Halifax by Sunday morning.

There are your tropical storm watches, from Plymouth back to Point Judith. If you're out here today or even all through the weekend you have to watch not so much that there's going to be a lot of wind, but the wave action there in the northeast this week is going to be dangerous to be in the surf at all.

Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad.

I'm walking down a street here in St. Bernard Parish. And it's really hard to take it all in. Everywhere you look, you see some other strange oddity that this storm has created here.

Look at that, that pole bent over there. There's a car underneath all that straw there kind of jammed into that house. Utter, utter devastation here.

The picture is a little prettier in some parts of New Orleans, however. The mayor there, hope against hope, perhaps, is trying to get people back in the city, in places where that is possible. Obviously, that's not going to happen here in St. Bernard Parish any time soon. But in parts of New Orleans, 4 1/2 miles away to the quarter here, they are beginning that process of trying to get people back in.

Yesterday, we took a look at one neighborhood where, in some cases, that might be realistic. In other cases, no.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHONDA ROLF, GENTILLY RESIDENT: I'm still here at the corner of Gentilly and Music. I haven't gotten out. But at least the water went down.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): In Rhonda Rolf's neighborhood, the recovery is real. There's heavy equipment in the streets of this high ground New Orleans neighborhood known as Gentilly Terrace. And Rhonda and the neighbor's dog she sheltered are stepping out again. She says the last three weeks have been like living an episode of "Survivor."

ROLF: There were seven or eight of us in this area that stayed through the storm and did not know them two weeks ago, I mean, other than to pass by their house. We pooled our assets and, again, my driveway became the neighborhood boat launch. That's how deep the water was!

M. O'BRIEN: Rhonda documented the waters rise with these pictures. No one had ever seen a flood that high. But 18 days after Katrina, this part of Gentilly Terrace is looking more like it should. What used to resemble lakes and canals are once again streets and lawns.

Cars have emerged, albeit worst for the ware.

This neighborhood is one of the lucky ones. Mayor Ray Nagin wants people who live in dry pockets like this to start returning home next week.

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: On Wednesday, the zip code of 70115, 70115, those residents will be able to come back to their homes and abide by the curfew that will remain in effect for the duration. On Friday, 70118, the residential will be fully open for people to come back to their homes.

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): So what about the zip codes that the mayor didn't mention? Welcome to 70122. This is the Gentilly neighborhood. Just to get your bearings, the French Quarter is just a couple of miles that way.

Not that big a city but look at the difference here. Take look at this block. This place is devastated. The owner, when they come back, well, they're going to find that their house is a complete casualty. I can't even smell. This house is completely trashed.

And when you come here and you listen to the mayor, you have to wonder this whole notion of getting the city back to its natural rhythms, that's not going to happen any time soon.

(voice-over) But Rhonda Rolf shares the mayor's optimism. She believes in time the city will come back and so will the residents.

ROLF: People might be away from home but, you know, when they start thinking about gumbo cooking on the stove and red beans and rice on Monday, and beigniers and cafe au lait in the Quarter, they'll come back. You know, there's nowhere else they're going to find that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Of course, the devil is in the details. Think about this place. This is a town of 30,000 structures. They all have to be bulldozed. Where does all that go? Where does the waste go?

In just a moment when we return, we'll talk to an expert, someone who has been through a storm, not quite like this but a bad storm, Andrew, and ask him what's to be done with all the debris?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Back now live in St. Bernard Parish. We're in the Valrees Park (ph). This was a beautiful place where kids played Little League games just a few weeks ago. Obviously, not going to be the case any time soon, perhaps never. We don't know what's going to happen here in the community of Chalmette.

People come here because they love the water. They work in the petrochemical industry. And the water will still be here. The oil fields will still be here. So there will still be a draw. And this is a very busy port.

But right now, there's no place for them to live, not for very long. It will be quite some time.

Joining us now to talk a little bit about what's ahead for St. Bernard Parish, as well as what happened as Katrina hit is Major Pete Tufaro.

Major, good to have you with us. First of all, you, as the storm came in, Katrina, were involved in some rather heroic rescues involving a Jet Ski. Fifty, 60 mile an hour winds, pulling people off of roofs. Tell me about that.

MAJOR PETE TUFARO, ST. BERNARD SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Yes. It was pretty traumatic. Sheriff Stephens was receiving calls from multiple people by cell phone to try and get their children out. They weren't concerned for their own lives, only the lives of their children.

He asked for a group of volunteers. And a group of members from the sheriff's department left on Jet Skis. Chad Clark (ph) and myself were two of the people who initially went out. We rescued several small children.

I can recall seeing Captain Clark (ph) with a 3-month-old strapped inside of his life vest. I had five children on my Jet Ski when a blind man came through the roof and asked if I could please take one more. Not refusing, we tied them to the rear of us.

We made trips till...

M. O'BRIEN: You took the child, but you left...?

TUFARO: The parents stayed. There was no way to take two people that could not see in those conditions.

M. O'BRIEN: You don't know what became of them?

TUFARO: Do not know what became of them. We took the child to the courthouse. From there they were evacuated out of the area.

M. O'BRIEN: You had 6,000 to 8,000 evacuees to handle. And you really had no help at all?

TUFARO: Yes, we did. The only help we had was the leadership of the sheriff. Sheriff Stephens formed a plan to go to the river. Chief Hernandez went into the river and actually acquired some vessels with the assistance of the Coast Guard.

We took people, put them to collection points. From the collection points, we gathered them and brought them to our port. We have the only inlet port on the Mississippi in this area.

M. O'BRIEN: But people were dying while they were waiting to be rescued?

TUFARO: Yes, there were. There were as many as 2,000 people at a time in a holding cell. It was just a gigantic open shed. The wind was still blowing. The area was very rough. We had our deputies working at a frantic pace. You had to pace the line. As the National Guard started to come in with manpower, we told them we needed to evacuate people that were critical.

They brought in minimum supplies they could fit in the back seat of the first helicopters. We could load three people or four people at max. So we had deputies trained in EMS go through the crowds and make life determining decisions as to which people boarded.

M. O'BRIEN: Unbelievable scene. It's hard to imagine. I know you're going to try to write it down in a book. But let's talk about the chapter that lies ahead.

This is your neighborhood. And you've had to continue work. You and the other deputies have been on the job ever since, all of them suffering losses, every last one of them. Is it possible to put it into words what that is like?

TUFARO: It's traumatic to see what's going on. I was one of the first people to break down. By having access to boats and that, I entered my house at a very early state after the rescue situation was over. After three days, our rescue efforts were over, and we were starting to set up other sections.

When I entered my house, I broke down. I sent my son off with what little belongings we had to go up river, not knowing where he was going, no contact with my family for nine days. They were told entire St. Bernard Parish was wiped out and we were dead, my son and myself. This was told to my wife. She's in Memphis with my daughter and my granddaughter.

M. O'BRIEN: Will you rebuilt. TUFARO: I have to consider. If I can be guaranteed that this will not happen again, I will rebuild. The problem is that Mr. Go (ph) has allowed salt water intrusion to destroy our wetlands. Our wetlands changed from a fresh water marsh to a salt water desert. There's nothing out there to protect this from happening again.

We need levees 30 to 40 feet high. If that happens, all of St. Bernard will rebuild. The economy here is strong. This site, with the construction that will take place, is more than enough to overcome the damage that's here.

The construction jobs will change. People of St. Bernard are very versatile, they're very crafty and handy. They can do anything; any type of equipment, they can operate and build. This is a suburb area where you have a lot of blue collar workers. They live here, work in the city. But the work is here.

The problem we're having is we're seeing outside contractors at the higher level and in and scoop up all the prime jobs. The local contractors are getting jobs just barely over minimum wage.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot to sort out there.

TUFARO: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Major Pete Tufaro, we wish you well as you move toward possibly rebuilding.

A 30 to 50-foot high levee, Soledad. Right now there is virtually no protection here from another storm. As the parish president said just a few moments ago, we've got nothing to protect -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh. You can't even imagine something -- another storm were to come through. I mean, no one is thinking of that at this point.

Miles, thanks. We'll get back to you in just a little bit.

Still to come this morning, Hurricane Katrina's youngest victims. Thousands of children still unaccounted for in Katrina's aftermath. We'll take a look at what's being done to find them, and reunite them with their families. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has received nearly 16,000 phone calls since it started its Katrina missing persons hotline.

According to the center, the number of children still unaccounted for is just staggering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Ernie Allen is the CEO of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He joins us from Washington, D.C., this morning. It's nice to see Ernie again. Thanks.

ERNIE ALLEN, CEO, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Thank you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You have said that some 2,700 calls have come in to you for parents who are missing their children; 700 of those have been reunited. So what do you think has happened with the other 2,000?

ALLEN: Well, Soledad, I think there are a number of possible explanations. Certainly, we know that the number of children in the shelters has shrunk to a very small number.

Many of these children may be missing for innocent reasons, with neighbors or other family members. There may be some who have been taken for inappropriate reasons and, of course, there are some that we know did not survive the storm. So we are continuing to focus on every child and every case and we need the public's help.

S. O'BRIEN: The last time we spoke, the last time you and I spoke, you said the number was about 1,500 missing. So are you saying that number has grown by 500 kids? It almost seems counterintuitive. I would have thought a week later, the number would have shrunk.

ALLEN: The numbers of reports have begun to slow down. But we have been receiving calls from moms and dads every day telling us, "My child is missing." And so that total number has grown to 2,700. So has our number of recoveries, as you point out, to 700. But there's still 2,000 children who are unaccounted for and whose parents are continuing to search.

S. O'BRIEN: Such a terrible, terrible scenario. Of the 700 who have been reunited, how exactly does it work when a parent comes in? I mean, no one has I.D. I would imagine that some of the kids we're talking about are really babies and can't identify their own parents.

ALLEN: Well, I think the most important thing is that law enforcement and social services agencies in Louisiana and Texas and everywhere where these reunions have happened have been really vigilant, have used due diligence, have tried to use whatever tools are available to confirm that this is, in fact, the child's parent and that they link them through serious investigation.

S. O'BRIEN: We've been showing some pictures of some of the kids who are still missing, whose parents are still searching for these children.

The first lady is going to come and visit the facility in D.C. today. Give me a sense of what you're going to be showing her and what you're going to be talking about.

ALLEN: We're going to show her the process through which we're trying to track down these missing children as a result of Katrina. We're going to introduce her to the retired law enforcement officers who are doing this work. We're going to show her the imaging techniques and technology that we're using to help identify the unidentified deceased. And we're going to show her the photos. She is going to look at the pictures of these children who are still missing and for whom we're asking for help from the media and from average people across the country.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you think you're going to be able to reunite the bulk of these families, most of them?

ALLEN: Soledad, we are confident that we're going to do that, but we understand that while the numbers are overwhelming, you do this one child at a time. So we're -- it's going to take awhile but we're confident that we're going to bring these families back together.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh knows it's worth every moment for any family that you're helping. Ernie Allen is the CEO for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Thank you. Nice to see you.

ALLEN: Thank you, Soledad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, President Bush vowed to rebuild the Gulf Coast. Is that pledge enough for the communities that have been hardest hit by this storm? We're going to talk to the mayors of two cities devastated by Katrina, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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