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CNN Live Today

Looking for Answers; Katrina Fatalities; The War on Terror

Aired September 28, 2005 - 12:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
President Bush is back in Washington after touring damage of Hurricane Rita. And this morning he turned his attention to the war on terror.

He gave a speech in the Rose Garden, where Mr. Bush said American and Iraqi forces are winning the battle against terrorists in Iraq. He warned there will be an upsurge in violence in Iraq ahead of next month's elections. But he says the terrorists will fail.

In Iraq, five people were killed when a woman set off a suicide bomb in the northern city of Tal Afar. More than two dozen other people were wounded. It's believed to be the first such attack by a female during the insurgency.

Judge John Roberts appears to be just hours away from being confirmed as the next chief justice of the United States. The Senate is expected to vote on his nomination tomorrow morning. Roberts is expected to pick up the support of almost three-quarters of the Senate.

Those fluctuating gas prices are down again, but just slightly. AAA says the national average for a gallon of self-serve unleaded is about $2.81. That is down just a fraction of a penny from Monday. Less than a week after Hurricane Katrina, the national average hit a record, just over $3 a gallon.

I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Welcome to the third hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.

A quote for you here. "We are looking forward, not backward." That is what Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco told a Senate panel this morning as her state looks to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina. But backward, namely what went wrong, is still very much on lawmakers' minds.

And for more on that, let's bring in our congressional correspondent, Ed Henry. He is following today's hearing and he joins us live.

Ed, hello.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Daryn. That's right. Certainly a lot of looking back once again today about what went wrong in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. But in fact, not quite as many fireworks before the Senate Finance Committee, where, as you mentioned, Governor Blanco is testifying this morning, along with two fellow governors from Mississippi and Alabama.

They are looking more at what's ahead, the challenge of rebuilding the economies in their states. But clearly on the mind of Governor Blanco some very tough talk.

Yesterday, where there were obviously a lot of fireworks, Mike Brown, the ousted FEMA director, basically taking direct aim at Governor Blanco, as well as Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, saying at one point -- Michael Brown said -- that his biggest mistake as FEMA director right before Katrina struck two days before, in fact, was not realizing, in his words, that Louisiana was dysfunctional.

That obviously enraged last night Governor Blanco. She put out a very tough statement saying that his testimony was basically full of untruths. She said that it was outside the realm of reality. And today she was given a chance by Senator Kent Conrad to respond directly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: I saw, Governor Blanco, you were criticized yesterday heavily by Mr. Brown. I just give you a chance here, if you would like to, to respond to that.

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: Senator Conrad, I appreciate that. But today I came really to talk about job creation. I think there'll be plenty of time to talk about...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good for you, Governor Blanco. This is not about blame. This is about how to get the job done here. I appreciate your response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: You can see there obviously Governor Blanco trying to stay away from the blame game. Perhaps now that is in part because her name is popping up, not just Michael Brown. A lot of people looking at the state and local government as well. But what she said is she basically put the challenge ahead on the economy in very stark terms, saying that one-quarter of her state's economy was wiped out by Katrina. And now that has increased to about one-third completely gone in the wake of Rita as well -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Henry, question of the hour here. These credit cards that so many federal employees have as part of this recovery, incredible to learn that the credit limit up to $250,000? That looks like it's just asking for abuse.

HENRY: Well, obviously, as we spoke a little earlier this morning about the fact that there has been a press by some senators like Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins to get some sanity to this, and, in fact, get some sort of an outside inspector general, some overseer, if you will, to make sure that this is held in check. There are a lot of potentials for abuse. And clearly, not just with credit cards, but with the contracts that are being handed out, billions and billions of dollars. That's why you are seeing a strong push to get some sanity, some oversight -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Ed Henry at our bureau in Washington, D.C. Thank you.

HENRY: Thank you.

KAGAN: It is, if you look at the calendar, almost a month after Hurricane Katrina. The death toll continues to climb.

In Louisiana alone, it's risen by 11 in the past day to 896. In all, the storm killed 1,130 people in five states. This makes Katrina the third deadliest storm in U.S. history. The latest death toll numbers is what the Louisiana coroner is talking about now, holding a news conference in Baton Rouge.

Let's listen in to that for a bit.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DR. LOUIS CATALDIE, LOUISIANA MEDICAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: ... whisked away from their homes in such traumatic events. And it's constantly ruminating and stressing. It may be a storm-related death. So that's something we have to determine on an individual basis.

So, since I'm blind at age 40 -- Paul was struck down, so was I, I guess. I'll just give you the specific numbers that I have. I'm not a numbers person, because, you know, I think numbers kind of take away from the individual. But I'll give you what we have.

The folks who have actually entered the DMORT process, the DMORT process itself, we have 783 individuals that have entered that process. Of those individuals, as I said earlier, we are running about 50 percent on identification right now.

We have 340 who we have a presumptive I.D. Now, let me tell you, that's a presumptive I.D. And until we are 100 percent, until three individuals have reviewed that data, reviewed that material, and signed off on that, the last one being the coroner, that is not an I.D. That is not a positive I.D.

Albeit, the family assistance center will be notified that we have a presumptive I.D. Until a positive identification is made, the remains of that individual will not be released.

To date, we have released 32 individuals. We have done over 100 autopsies. Folks are asking about the causes of death.

They range. Certainly, there have been some overt-type situations of drownings. That may or may not require autopsies. The reason we are doing so many autopsies, of course, is that we are involved with the attorney general's office on some of these cases. We are seeing a lot of chronic illnesses, predisposing illness, ventilator-dependent patients. Acute mitochondrial infractions related to the stress and the trauma.

To date, that's to be expected, because most of the individuals that we have recovered in the initial process, of course, were people in hospitals, people in nursing homes. So it's expected that we would have a higher identification ratio at this point in time. It's also expected we'd see more chronic illnesses at this point in time.

So that's essentially where we are. We ask that our people who are concerned about lost persons contact the family assistance center. We certainly have the numbers.

And a lot of folks think it's a rather tedious process, and it absolutely is. You've got to answer about 40 minutes worth of questions. It's very tedious. But we've got to have a positive I.D., and we're not going to settle for anything less than that.

We won't take anybody out of the rotation or the process. To take one person out would corrupt the process. And so when folks say, can we speed up the process, the answer is, unfortunately, I can't speed up the process. I can't afford to corrupt the data or the process of the people.

Any questions?

QUESTION: Doctor, you said you only released 32 individuals to family members at this point?

CATALDIE: Actually, they are released to the funeral home of the family member's choice.

QUESTION: OK. So like (INAUDIBLE)?

CATALDIE: Yes, to what will. Again, to whatever funeral home.

QUESTION: And these are ones who have been identified three times or...

CATALDIE: Yes, those are positive identifications who may or may not have undergone an autopsy if it was indicated for whatever reason. But the attorney general's office.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)?

CATALDIE: The individuals in hospitals mostly we have I.D. on those particular individuals due to the identifying factors that they had with them in the hospital.

KAGAN: We have been listening in to Dr. Louis Cataldie. He is the medical incident commander in recovery of the deceased in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, giving some of the latest numbers. Also talking about the tedious process they have right now, and that, frankly, is identifying many of these bodies and also coming up with cause of death. And they say they will keep at it until they are through the entire process.

Also in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the embattled New Orleans Police Department is now facing a change in leadership. The chief, Eddie Compass, is stepping down, saying it's time to go in another direction. Compass will leave after a 30 to 45- day transition period.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPT. EDDIE COMPASS, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I have served this department for over 26 years. And I have had the pleasure to be superintendent for over three-and-a-half years.

I have taken this department through some of the toughest times in its history. And every man in leadership positions must know when it's time to hand over the reins to someone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: After Katrina struck, the New Orleans Police Department was racked by desertions and disorganization. Nearly a third of the department failed to show up to work. Responding to the resignation, Mayor Ray Nagin called Compass a hero and said his decision is a sad day for the city.

A warning for many of the people displaced by Hurricane Rita: don't come home yet. Ten parishes remain under mandatory evacuation orders. And Thad Allen, who is director of federal hurricane response, says there is still no electricity in much of southwest Louisiana. A half-million customers are without power after Rita and Katrina, 350,000 don't have phone service. The acting director of FEMA says fuel and electricity are on the way.

President Bush also reminding storm victims about the need to stay away from their homes. The president yesterday took a helicopter tour of areas damaged by Rita. His seventh trip to the region. He received briefings in Louisiana and Texas. He said he admires the courage of the people he has seen and understands the frustrations of those who aren't being allowed to go home yet.

And this morning President Bush gave an update on the war on terror in Iraq. He says American and coalition forces are adapting their strategies to meet those of terrorists. He also plans to send top commanders to Capitol Hill.

Our White House Correspondent Dana Bash has more on the president's remarks that we heard earlier today live here on CNN.

Dana, good morning -- or good afternoon.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Daryn.

And it is really because those top two commanders, General Abizaid and General Casey, were here in town and actually here at the White House briefing the president in person on the mission in Iraq that Bush aides decided, maybe it's a good time for the president to come into the Rose Garden with them flanking him and talk about the progress that he insists is being made in Iraq.

And it helped to have something specific to point to, the killing over the weekend of Abu Azzam, whom U.S. officials say was al Qaeda's number two in Iraq. Now, the president said this guy's a brutal killer. That's what the president said about Abu Azzam.

There's a vote in Iraq on the constitution next month. And it's been a Bush pattern to get out in front of a political milestone and to warn that violence could spike. That's also what the president did in the Rose Garden today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The terrorists will fail. You see, the Iraqis want to be free. They proved that last January when over eight million citizens in the face of violence and threats voted.

The terrorists are going to fail this time. But we can expect they'll do everything in their power to try to stop the march of freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: But the bottom-line reality is that the death toll is certainly mounting when it comes to U.S. casualties in Iraq. It's now at 1,926. The White House is well aware what could happen in terms of public perception when or if it reaches the 2,000 mark.

They also understand that, in terms of public perception, there is a much greater call for U.S. troops to come home right now. So the president also did something interesting in the Rose Garden. He said that he is concerned that people in Congress, members of Congress, need to listen to what these generals have to say.

They are going to Capitol Hill later this afternoon. He did something very unusual. He said members of Congress should attend the briefings, listen carefully. This White House is obviously very concerned about the fact that public support is slipping, and they want members of Congress, particularly Republicans who are skittish, to have ammunition, if you will, to go back to their constituents with -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Dana Bash, live at the White House. Dana, thank you.

And this out of the White House, too. The president might be close to choosing Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement. Advisers say he has narrowed his list for a Supreme Court nominee to a handful of people. The list includes women, minorities and people who have never been judges. The president is expected to name his pick after the confirmation and swearing in of John Roberts as chief justice of the United States.

That Roberts' confirmation is, by the way, expected to happen tomorrow about this time. To many, she is a symbol of abuse at Abu Ghraib. Now prisoners in Iraq who suffered under Lynndie England and her colleagues react to her sentencing. We are live in Baghdad, up next.

Plus, are Katrina and Rita just the beginning? Scientists assess whether something manmade is at play and causing bigger, stronger hurricanes. But not everyone agrees.

Nor do they agree on the origin of life. The nation's first trial over intelligent design in public schools is under way in Pennsylvania. We'll tell you what's happening there a little bit later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A key figure in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal has been sentenced to three years in prison. Army Private First Class Lynndie England was also dishonorably discharged. She apologized at her sentencing yesterday.

England said she appeared in those now famous photographs with Iraqi detainees to please her boyfriend, Private Charles Graner, and the accused ringleader. He is already serving a 10-year sentence.

Some Iraqis who were incensed by the Abu Ghraib scandal are outraged all over again. They say Lynndie England's sentence is too short and it doesn't fit the crime.

CNN's Aneesh Raman live in Baghdad with reaction on that.

Aneesh, hello.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good afternoon.

The abuses at Abu Ghraib are almost permanently at the forefront of the Iraqi mind. And this day, Daryn, was no exception.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN (voice over): Far from the military courtroom where Lynndie England was sentenced, infamous moments of shame still haunt the abused. Hashim Lazim was in Abu Ghraib for two months before the torture began, before Lynndie England forced him to pose naked for those now notorious photos.

HASHIM LAZIM, FMR. ABU GHRAIB PRISONER (through translator): I saw Lynndie pointing her finger at us while we were naked, singing and laughing. I thought that she was supervisor. She was moving here and there where another woman was taking photos of us.

RAMAN: Brought to Abu Ghraib for carrying a gun, Hashim was released after four months. Released to a country, to a region where the humiliation he suffered is a fate worse than anything else.

LAZIM (through translator): Nothing can make up for what she has done to me. She didn't kill me, or cut a finger off my hand. She did worse. She did something that will last until I die.

RAMAN (on camera): Over a year has passed since those images angered the world. And while elsewhere the anger has moved on, in Baghdad the effects are clearly permanent.

(voice over): This is a culture still shocked by what happened. Abu Ghraib is perhaps one of the deepest scars in Iraq of this war. Morality was why Iraqis were told troops arrived. And it is that which they now question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Iraqis will never forget what they have done in Abu Ghraib prison when they mistreated prisoners. We are Muslims. What happened is not acceptable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What she did is worse than what Saddam did. She is worse than Saddam. This dirty woman did unbelievable things against prisoners. She deserves a life sentence, if not more.

RAMAN: These days, Hashim finds comfort only in his five children. Five people that have no idea what happened to him at Abu Ghraib, that have no idea who Lynndie England is. He has not told them, and says out of shame, he never will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAMAN: And Daryn, that's where the anger really stems from. These men have suffered something so humiliating that the legacy of what took place at Abu Ghraib will be here for quite some time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh, earlier today we heard President Bush talk about the war on terror and the war in Iraq. And he said he expects violence to increase in the coming months as Iraq faces two important elections. Is the feeling the same there in Baghdad?

RAMAN: Well, Iraqi citizens certainly expecting some spike in violence as we head towards that October 15 date, the referendum on the constitution. Some Iraqis actually leaving the country until this period passes.

We often see insurgent attacks rise around these big political benchmarks. The president suggesting that could happen again. But they've always said, in terms of the U.S. administration, as well as Iraqi officials, that these are necessary steps. And as they go forward, security becomes a greater possibility in this country -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman, live in Baghdad. Thank you.

We head back to the hurricane zone. Just ahead, looking at not just household pets suffering from hurricanes, cattle by the thousands left homeless and helpless. What's being done to help them in the flooded Louisiana countryside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Some heartbreaking images from the Gulf Coast have been of the animals killed or displaced by Hurricane Katrina and Rita. And it's not just pets. A lot of larger animals are also suffering.

Our Randi Kaye went along on a mission to bring relief to some of those.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The cows of Cameron Parish are up to their ears in water.

Luckily enough, I got all my cattle out Wednesday night out, and I got all my cattle out to higher ground.

KAYE: Charlie Bonsel (ph) had 100 cows at his ranch in Grand Chenier, a community of about 400 in the parish. Just last spring, he leased land on higher ground in case. All his cattle survived, but with 70 to 90 percent of the cows dead in Cameron parish, Bonsel (ph) is doing his part to save the others.

Bonsel (ph) and the 82nd Airborne guided us in on roads unpassable just yesterday. Cows littered the roadways, hoofs frozen since the hurricane. Some on the street, others in the water. All of them drowned.

Their deaths and decaying bodies made our mission even more critical.

(on camera): How much time do these cows have? How critical is the need?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another two to three days. It's going to be real critical. If we can get them some fresh water, they'll be all right.

The main thing now is to get them fresh water. If we can get fresh water to them, they will survive. And then we can get them out of these tight quarters.

KAYE: And what if you can't get the water to them, or many of them, at least?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they're going to perish. They won't be able to stand. They're going to perish.

KAYE: Part of the problem in even getting to the cows is all of the debris in the road. This road is covered with marsh vegetation. There's a house blocking the street. They're going to have to move that before they can go in deeper and get to more cattle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once they come in, we'll link up.

KAYE: The plan is to drop hay and fresh water at a farm, one of the few still standing. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When cattle are in distress like that, if you can get them fresh water, they'll travel for a mile or so. They can smell fresh water. And the same thing with that hay. If they get hay, they'll come out to the hay.

KAYE: Time is running out. The cows can't stomach the saltwater. It makes them weak, dehydrated. They become aggressive like this one who charged our truck, then ran away. Bonsel (ph) says most are now blind from the surge of saltwater in the storm.

How do you think that one's doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll be all right. We'll get her out of there.

KAYE: As we edged closer to the pasture to make our drop, the water grew deeper. Even in these trucks, the army wasn't sure we'd make it. Cows now swimming where they once grazed watched, hungry and hot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need a dozer or something to come through in here.

KAYE: Five hours after we set out, we reached the farm on the edge of the parish. Cows watched from a distance as we dropped the hay. Fresh water isn't far behind. We hope we're not too late.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: OK. Now another animal story. But this one has a kind of a warm fuzzy feeling.

Another case of hurricanes forging unlikely friendships. This cat is nursing a baby squirrel, along with her own offspring. The squirrel was evacuated, so to speak, when Hurricane Rita knocked over his tree in Texas. A family, ironically evacuated from their own home, saw him and took him in. He has since been adopted by the family and the family cat.

Love those pictures.

And it is pictures like these that have scientists scratching their heads. Why such strong hurricanes? And why so many so suddenly? Some say man is to blame. Others don't agree with that. We'll talk about that just ahead.

And later, the cost of cleanup. The bills after Katrina and Rita could be as devastating as the hurricanes themselves. So why are some companies being picked over -- picked over other companies to pick up the mess?

More on CNN LIVE TODAY after a quick break.

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