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Earthquake Relief Once Again Flowing into Pakistan; In New England, More Rain and Possibly More Flooding Predicted

Aired October 12, 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, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Earthquake relief once again flowing into Pakistan, after torrential rains slowed things down a little bit. But is too little too late? A live report is ahead.
In New England, more rain and possibly more flooding predicted for the already hard hit areas. We're live as rescuers are still searching for missing people.

And for the first time ever, the president of Syria speaks to an American news agency. He's talking to -- who else? CNN's Christiane Amanpour 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.

M. O'BRIEN: A dreary morning here, Columbus Circle. Also, we just learned a short time ago, speaking of Syria, that the interior minister, who was also in charge of military intelligence for 20 years in Lebanon, committed suicide amid a United Nations investigation on the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister. So you can't quite connect those dots just yet, but it is interesting that that comes as Christiane Amanpour speaks with the president.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Certainly. And the timing of the investigation into Hariri's death, as well.

We're going to talk about all of that ahead this morning.

But we're going to begin, though, in Pakistan. Relief workers there are really in a race against time. They're using a break in the weather to reach earthquake victims in the mountains of Pakistan. Plane loads of supplies from 30 countries are now coming into that area, including help from India.

India and Pakistan obviously have a long history, and violent history, sometimes. They've gone to war twice over Kashmir, which is, in fact, where most of the quake damage was done. Federal officials say at least 20,000 people are dead. Local officials, though, are saying it could be more than 41,000.

The United Nations asking for $272 million to pay for food, water and medicine. And with the bitter winter already setting in, cold weather tents and blankets are needed, as well.

Becky Anderson is live in Islamabad this morning for us -- Becky, good morning. Are they still pulling people out of the rubble?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are. This is certainly into one of the worst humanitarian crises ever the world has seen. But just behind me here at this apartment block in Islamabad, they have been pulling people out in the past 24 hours alive.

Now, I want to show you some pictures now of what happened at lunch time yesterday, Tuesday, when a 75-year-old woman and her 55- year-old daughter were pulled out of the basement of this building.

British search and rescue guys who have been on the ground here for some 72 hours working non-stop -- and these guys are voluntary workers, they're not paid for what they're doing -- vowing that they will continue until there is no more hope.

And there are miracles happening at this site. These two pulled out of the basement of this building. As I say, it was a 10-story building. It collapsed at 8:50 on Saturday morning, when the earthquake struck.

But elsewhere, this is no longer a rescue effort. It's very much a relief effort. We're seeing the U.S. and other countries' helicopters. The Chinooks are flying above us regularly now, going up north. The weather has improved in that area and there is relief now beginning to get into some of the most remote regions.

Alongside the U.S. forces and their crews, their helicopters and their aid, Condoleezza Rice arriving in Pakistan today from Afghanistan. She was there on a scheduled trip to see the president, Hamid Karzai. She decided to come here and this is what she said before she landed here in Kabul. She said that the international community and the people of the United States are with the Pakistanis at this terrible time. She vowed to mobilize long-term international support to help Pakistan recover from this devastating earthquake.

So, as I say, the international relief effort is now gearing up much better than it was in the initial phases. But many, many people in many areas in this part of the world absolutely devastated -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It's good to hear, though, that some of the aid is finally getting to some of the people who need it.

Becky Anderson for us this morning.

Thanks.

Carol Costello has a look at some of the other stories this morning -- hey, Carol, good morning again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, this just in to CNN, a deadly suicide bombing in Iraq. The attack taking place near Tal Afar. That's outside of an army and police recruiting center. Officials say at least 24 people have been killed.

In the meantime, a new political deal could help get Iraq's proposed constitution approved in this weekend's election. The deal would make the constitution temporary, to be reevaluated and voted on again next year. Iraq's national assembly is considering the proposal.

A top official in Syria is dead this morning. We told you about this in the last hour. CNN has confirmed that Syria's interior minister is dead. He apparently committed suicide. Ghazi Kanaan was head of Syria's military intelligence in neighboring Lebanon. He was one of the people questioned by investigators after an attack on former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The February bombing sparked massive outcry throughout Lebanon, forcing Syria to withdraw troops after almost three decades of military presence.

There was word a group of medical workers has been killed in Afghanistan. Officials say their vehicle was ambushed in southern Afghanistan. The workers were reportedly with the U.N. and U.S.- sponsored Afghan Help Development Services. They were on their way back from treating refugees.

Here in the United States, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay apparently trying to turn the tables on the prosecutor pursuing charges against him. DeLay's lawyers have subpoenaed the district attorney heading the case, Ronnie Earle. The subpoena asks for documents and other material between Earle's office and three grand juries in the case. DeLay denies all allegations and claims Earle's charges are politically motivated. The district attorney is a Democrat.

And New Orleans, it's officially dry once again. That is the word from the Army Corps of Engineers task force. They were working to drain floodwaters from the city after hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Temporary repairs to the city's levee system are done, but the system will not be back to full strength until June of 2006.

Let's head to the Forecast Center to talk about -- oh, we're not heading there right now, are we?

We're heading back to Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll get there eventually.

COSTELLO: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: It's in the forecast.

S. O'BRIEN: I'd like to see that, Miles doing the forecast.

M. O'BRIEN: We're forecasting.

S. O'BRIEN: Do tell.

M. O'BRIEN: Partly cloudy in some places; rainy elsewhere.

S. O'BRIEN: Rainy in New York.

M. O'BRIEN: We know that. And, of course, it's raining in New Hampshire, which is a big concern. Search teams are going out again this morning. They're hoping to find four people that are still missing after remnants of Tammy caused deadly flooding over the weekend. The hardest hit, the town of Alstead. It's about 50 miles from the capital of Concord. Three from Alstead were killed in the torrent. Three of the missing also from that town. Chris Huntington is in Alstead this morning -- good morning, Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning to you.

The folks here in Alstead are really concerned about those missing folks, for obvious reasons. I'm standing here on the banks of the Cold River. This is a river that, before the storm surge on Sunday, was only about 15 to 20 feet wide. It's about 100 feet wide now. It has swept out many businesses and a couple of homes, including the home and land of Leroy and Marlene Wade.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MARLENE WADE, FLOOD VICTIM: This was the entrance to our front porch, which was all glassed in. And then our house ran to the right of it.

HUNTINGTON (voice-over): That ramp she's standing on is now a ramp to nowhere. The surging waters of Cold River swept away the house that she and her husband had lived in since 1957, as well as their garage, their barn and virtually all of their land.

WADE: My son said later on, Ma, we don't have any land, and we can't rebuild here.

HUNTINGTON: Marlene is a diabetic. Her husband of 52 years, Leroy, has Parkinson's, and has been in a wheelchair since suffering a stroke two years ago. They were sound asleep on Sunday morning, unaware that the rising river was ripping out their foundation.

(on camera): Early Sunday morning, Marlene and Leroy Wade got the call from their neighbor that probably saved their lives. From the neighbor that lived in this house, on a house that now sits directly on the bank of a greatly expanded Cold River.

Marlene and Leroy's territory was cut back. You can see the line here extending under the shed, which is the only bit of their property that really exists anymore. They have absolutely nothing left.

(voice-over): They did have flood insurance years ago, but canceled it once they paid off their house. Now, they're relying on family, their friends and a lot of faith.

WADE: My feet are on the ground and I'm strong-willed anyway. But my faith keeps me going.

HUNTINGTON: And that faith is one thing the river could not take.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HUNTINGTON: Now Marlene Wade, like a lot of the folks in this town, is a hard-boiled New Englander, very stoic. She considers herself lucky, if you can believe that.

Miles, as you mentioned, there are still people missing from this community, this closely knit community. And, of course, with more rain on the way, the concern is about the culvert and then a dam about five miles up river from here.

Back to you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Those are big concerns.

Chris Huntington in Alstead.

Let's get right to Chad Myers -- Chad, the concern is more rain, perhaps as much as a foot of rain in some places, which means, of course, more flooding.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely.

This ground is so saturated now that it can't hold any more. And if it tries to hold more, you can actually get mudslides that happen because the ground gets what we call super saturated and those particles of dirt actually -- they come apart from each other and they can start to move.

So another five to six inches here not out of the question in many areas, like you said. And some spots already three overnight already. And we have 72 hours worth of rain to go.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Here's the rain we're expecting now, the rainfall forecast for the next 48 hours. Everywhere that you see white, that's at least three inches of rain. I mean look at the size. This is all the way from the capital district right on down to New York City and then some. And some spots in the middle of that white could see eight to 12 inches of rain. That's more flooding.

M. O'BRIEN: But up in New Hampshire, it's not white.

MYERS: Yes, not quite.

M. O'BRIEN: That's good, right?

MYERS: Not quite. Yes, the flooding actually is occurring right about here, Alstead.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

MYERS: And that, I mean, you know, this is...

M. O'BRIEN: It's on the edge.

MYERS: It's on the edge.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

MYERS: And probably two to three inches. And they could...

S. O'BRIEN: Which they don't need.

MYERS: ... they could, they need zero. They don't need two.

S. O'BRIEN: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: You know?

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a piece of New Orleans in Houston for kids who were forced to leave home by Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

We knew that it would be a good thing for the kids in New Orleans to be together in one school with teachers that were actually teaching them in New Orleans. So the idea sounded great.

So you started this school from scratch?

We started the school from scratch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to take you to a special school, where familiar faces are helping young evacuees deal with tragedy.

M. O'BRIEN: Plus, we'll take a closer look at some of the troubles facing the Republican Party.

Can the GOP recover from a series of controversies? That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Lots of big issues facing the Republican Party. For one, Karl Rove. He is expected to testify for a fourth time in the CIA leak investigation. Then there's former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. His lawyer firing a subpoena at the prosecutor in the money laundering case. And then you have Evangelical radio host James Dobson explaining just what Karl Rove revealed to him about the Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP FROM ONEPLACE.COM)

DR. JAMES DOBSON: What did Karl Rove say to me that I knew on Monday that I couldn't reveal? Well, it's what we all know now, that Harriet Miers is an Evangelical Christian, that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Republican Congressman David Dreier join us this morning to talk about all of these things.

Wow!

REP. DAVID DREIER (R), CALIFORNIA: That all sounds pretty overwhelming, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We've got a lot to get to, don't we?

DREIER: My gosh. Wow! I mean what can I say?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, let's just get going.

Let's start with James Dobson, in fact.

He's come out in support of Harriet Miers and...

DREIER: So have I.

S. O'BRIEN: ... fairly confidently.

DREIER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you think this nomination, first, is going to go through?

DREIER: Oh, I think it will. And I will tell you that I spoke with Harriet Miers just a few days before this nomination and I was speaking to her about part of her job as White House counsel, a potential judgeship for someone. And many people are dismissive of that very important role of White House counsel.

She's strong. As was pointed out, I saw earlier you had a clip from Laura Bush referring to the fact that she was the first woman to have...

S. O'BRIEN: Sort of a list of first, basically.

DREIER: Yes. I mean and she is an amazing person. She's unassuming, but very strong. And I think she'll be a great Supreme Court justice.

S. O'BRIEN: But my question is this, there are conservatives who have come out very vocally against her.

And do you fear that there is going to be a splintering of conservatives who say we were promised, we were sure we were going to get somebody else, who also might be very qualified, and we're mad about that and now we're out of here?

DREIER: You know, that's interesting is, Soledad, I think that the process of confirmation is one that has just begun. And I believe that when the American people, regardless of their stripe, see Harriet Miers before the Senate Judiciary Committee, they are going to be as impressed as those of us who know her are.

S. O'BRIEN: I know after each election cycle, you know, less than 24 hours goes by before you start looking for the next one. You've got the midterm elections coming up in 2006, and then, of course, the presidency in 2008. Karl Rove critical in both of those. And now he goes back to testify, some time this week, before the grand jury.

How much of a problem is this?

DREIER: You know, you were talking about the 2006 elections, it's a great question. And I've always subscribed to that view, as we are within the Republican team, that good public policy is good politics.

You've been covering the stories of the devastation and the horrible earthquake in Pakistan, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, making sure that we bring about responsible spending cuts, doing everything that we can to keep this economy growing.

We have some very important public policy challenges, things that the American people want us to do. And we believe that if we can keep our eye focused on the priorities that the American people have, that our Republican agenda of a free economy, limited government, a strong defense and personal freedom will prevail not only in improving the quality of life for people across this country, but also when it comes to the election in 2006.

S. O'BRIEN: But, Karl Rove, as everyone knows, is a guy who's very heavily involved in both of those things. The midterm...

DREIER: Sure. And that process has begun. No, that process has begun. We know that the White House has been very open in dealing with all of the questions that relate to the whole Valerie Plame case and that'll be resolved.

But that is not going to in a way undermine our vigorous pursuit of dealing with the people's business.

S. O'BRIEN: Then there's Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader. It's always bad to have the word indictment next to your name, regardless of how it ends up. It's just generally a bad thing.

How distracting has his problems been -- have his problems been for the party? DREIER: It's interesting, I mean it's a great question. And frankly, it hasn't been, for a couple of reasons. It's actually played a role in rallying many Republicans because when you have the "Washington Post," Molly Ivins, Tavis Smiley, three very harsh critics of Tom DeLay, talk about how flimsy or weak the case is against him, many people are saying if this is the best you can come up with to criticize this guy, it looks as if people are simply out to get him.

And the deionization of Tom DeLay has been a great sport in Washington, not so much here in New York, but in Washington. It's been a great sport for a long period of time. And I think that we're in a position where we have -- we're working hard to pursue this agenda. He's still working with us on that argued, because he is a member of Congress. And Republicans are dedicated to making sure that we get our work done.

S. O'BRIEN: David Dreier, I know you're in town for the U.N.

DREIER: Always good to be with you.

Last night, you know, it was a great, great dinner honoring Ambassador Leonore Annenberg and Angelina Jolie. And we had a wonderful, wonderful time last night. And I'm on my way to Los Angeles, where I'm going to be campaigning with Governor Schwarzenegger to help put his reform plan through.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you're a busy guy, so we appreciate you stopping by to talk to us.

DREIER: Yes.

Well, we'll be there by lunch today.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, thanks.

DREIER: It's nice to be in the studio.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: That's an interesting dinner party -- Annenberg, Jolie and Schwarzenegger.

S. O'BRIEN: And you know who he was...

DREIER: He wasn't there. He wasn't there, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, he wasn't there?

DREIER: No, no, no, no, no.

S. O'BRIEN: That's today.

DREIER: I'm going to see him -- that's today. I'm having lunch with him out in L.A. today.

M. O'BRIEN: I want to be on that list. DREIER: Yes, thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: You just want to be next to Angelina Jolie.

DREIER: Come on.

M. O'BRIEN: Yea, right. I admit it. I admit it.

DREIER: Yes, come back to JPL any time, Miles.

We're always glad to have you.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll see. I always liked being there.

Good to see you.

DREIER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Up next, CNN's Christiane Amanpour with an exclusive interview with the president of Syria. It's the first time the president has spoken with a U.S. news agency and, of course, he turns to Christiane. See what he had to say just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Word from Syria this morning. The interior minister has committed suicide. Ghazi Kanaan was head of Syrian intelligence, military intelligence in Lebanon for 20 years, before becoming the interior minister. The Syrian government is under threat of being implicated in the murder of a Lebanese leader. That U.N. report, that investigation on the assassination of the Lebanese leader, Rafik Hariri, is expected in the next 10 days or so.

Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is live in Damascus.

She just spoke to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. That's an exclusive to CNN.

But before we talk about that -- Christiane, a lot of people trying to connect dots here between the suicide of the interior minister and this ongoing investigation. I assume it's premature to do just that.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's been a very dramatic day. Not just did we have this exclusive interview ahead of this U.N. report coming out, but about two hours after we left the presidential palace, the news that this senior interior minister, in fact, had committed suicide.

Now, it's understood that he had been among a few Syrian officials who had been questioned by the U.N. investigator who's charged with trying to figure out who was responsible and who to blame for the murder of Rafik Hariri last February.

U.N. you know, certain sources have said that they believe Syria will be implicated. And even before we heard about this Syrian minister's suicide, I asked the president, in our interview, what about this report? People are saying that you, your country, your government will be implicated.

He denied it strongly, as they have all along. But he did say that if any Syrian official was implicated, that if there was evidence to prove and back that up, that he would consider that person a traitor. He used the word traitor and treason several times. And he said that he would absolutely hand them over for trial internationally or punish them here in Syria.

But he did say that they would be punished, all along saying that he didn't believe Syria would be implicated and denying that Syria was responsible for the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

So this rather a dramatic development in all of this, as the world really is going to be looking to Syria and what the fallout will be once this report is published, we understand, October 25.

M. O'BRIEN: We're looking forward to seeing that.

Christiane, tell us about your interview with Assad. The first time he's spoken to the U.S. news agency. I understand kind of a wide ranging interview, of course. And he had some very strong opinions about the war in Iraq.

AMANPOUR: Yes. It is the first time he's done a major television interview, period, and the first time with the U.S. and the first time he's ever sat down and talked anywhere at any length publicly in English. And we were quite surprised by that, because we had been told that he wanted to speak in Arabic. But he said from the beginning that he wanted to, you know, to talk in English, to be as understood as possible by the American audience and by a global audience. And so he did that.

And he was quite clear about, as I said, about the Hariri investigation, but also very clear about the very deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Syria.

The U.S. extremely angry about what they say is Syria's support and facilitating and providing safe havens for Iraqi insurgents who are gathering, they say, over here and going back into Iraq to create mayhem over there.

The president denying it and basically saying no country can fully control its border, saying that we have told the Americans that. Even the Americans have problems, he said, controlling their border with Mexico. He said we've asked the U.S. for technical support and assistance and there are things that we have done, including arresting the half brother of Saddam Hussein.

So he was saying that, but also saying that he didn't know anymore what the U.S. wanted from Syria.

I mean there was a definite sort of disconnect between the way he viewed the U.S. and the way the U.S. viewed what they were doing. We asked him about regime change. As you know, there's been a lot of talk about the United States administration wanting a new leadership in Syria. And he said well, why not? Anybody can be eligible for leadership. But he said it won't be anybody who's picked from outside. It'll be somebody "made in Syria."

And after the interview, we did talk to him outside about the message he wanted to send to the American public.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

AMANPOUR: Sir, relations are pretty much at an all time low between Syria and the United States.

Do you have a message for the people of the United States?

PRES. BASHAR ASSAD, SYRIA: We look at the United States as a great power because of the innovation that they have, because of the creation and because of the development. So we're looking for a more constructive and objective role of the United States, not only politically, in supporting the development in the world. We can't let politicians put their interests ahead of the countries in the Middle East.

AMANPOUR: What do you mean?

ASSAD: Huh? No, I mean we should reevaluate what's going on in Iraq. What did we achieve? What did they achieve from that war in Iraq? It's a very simple question, what did you achieve economically, politically, fighting terrorism? They didn't achieve anything. This is one example.

AMANPOUR: Achieved the end of a dictator.

ASSAD: Yes, but what did you lost as a return? The hope of the people (UNINTELLIGIBLE). No better democracy, no better economy, no services, no stability in the region, more terrorism.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

AMANPOUR: So the Syrian president admitted that while they opposed the war in Iraq, they were interested, obviously, in seeing stability there, he said. He said the chaos there is fertile ground for terrorism. He said that will directly affect Syria. And he said that Syria, the Syrian government supports the political process in Iraq and supports the current government in Iraq. And he did say that Syria opposes the insurgents who are going in and killing fellow Iraqis.

M. O'BRIEN: CNN's Christiane Amanpour in Damascus with our exclusive interview with Bashar al-Assad.

Thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a conversation with Angelina Jolie, honored for her extensive humanitarian work. She talks about earthquake relief in Pakistan.

Stay with us.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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