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American Morning

Katrina: Two Months Later; White House Focus; Deadly October in Iraq

Aired November 01, 2005 - 09:01   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is just one hour away from announcing his plan to combat bird flu. Seven billion dollars on the table and communities all across the country affected. We're live in Washington this morning.
Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito back on Capitol Hill with more senators to meet this morning. Will Republicans stick together to get him confirmed? One of the leaders speaks.

And New Orleans, two months after Katrina. Those broken levees, is the plan to fix them broken as well? We're live in New Orleans 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: It's shaping up to be a beautiful day in New York City. Look at that lovely shot of Central Park.

We're watching what is happening in Washington, D.C. this morning. We're going to hear from the president, as I mentioned, in just about an hour.

And we have a split show this morning. Miles is reporting from New Orleans.

Hey, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

Take a look at this old VW Bug. Pretty well trashed here in the Lakeview section of New Orleans. We're in a neighborhood that's about two, three miles north of where we were yesterday. You'll recall yesterday we were along Canal Street, sort of main street in downtown for the city of New Orleans.

We've come three miles north, close to Lake Pontchartrain, and this -- right near the breach in the 17th Street levee which sent water from the 17th Street Canal just rushing into this neighborhood. Right where I'm standing now is the remnants of a house. There's not much here left, as you can see.

And what's happening here today is there's a lot of work under way over by the levee to try to come up with a -- well, basically a way of buying time for the city, coming up with an at least pre- Katrina level of safety for the levees by June 1, which would get us into the next hurricane season.

In the meantime, there's going to be a lot of thought, a lot of discussion, a lot of studying about what to do to make this city hardened for a Category 5. That's not going to be an easy task. It's going to be expensive. And in some cases, might be impractical for some neighborhoods.

Lots of questions lie ahead -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Lots of obstacle, too. All right, Miles. Thanks. We'll talk about that a little bit later.

To Washington now. And the White House clearly trying to move past the political problems of last week. This morning they're focusing on the bird flu.

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken at the White House for us this morning.

Hey, Bob. Good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We don't want to be too technical about this, Soledad, but we could describe this week as the week of, from the administration's point of view, getting its act together. And this will include the president going to the National Institutes of Health in about an hour and outlining his proposal, a $7 billion proposal, for trying to get the world's arms around the possibility of a flu pandemic. That is something that covers large areas of ground, and it crosses international borders, as opposed to an epidemic, which is smaller.

The big fear is about the avian flu, although there could be other viral diseases that could have the same disastrous results. And the president is coming up with a plan from the White House point of view that will identify, contain and come up with ways to treat the flu outbreak.

That will include inventing the vaccines and getting them distributed. Also developing those vaccines, as I said, and the antivirals. That's a very tricky, very difficult task. It is still a work in progress, but that needs to be encouraged from the point of view of the administration and public health officials.

And then, there has to be a way to respond quickly to the flu outbreak. And there are some very, very delicate questions. What is the use of the military? What is the possibility of quarantine? How is this identified, and how is the response one that crosses international borders and goes through one set of laws and another?

All very delicate, but the type of thing, Soledad, that requires efforts that in the minds of many people should have begun at least a couple of years ago.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, certainly managing an outbreak is good -- or a potential outbreak, I should say, is good public policy, but how -- this could really help the president in other ways, too. I mean, sort of from a PR standpoint, right?

FRANKEN: Well, we cannot read the minds of the people here. We know that the president has expressed his interest in this before. But as you point out, he also has an interest in trying to turn around which has been a horrible chain of very public setbacks in the last several weeks.

S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken is at the White House for us.

Thanks, Bob.

Not to mention, the president is going to speak about his plan at 10:10 a.m. Eastern Time. And of course we're going to carry that speech live when it happens.

Let's talk about Iraq now. Some very tough losses for U.S. forces in Iraq over the last month. Ninety-four military servicemen killed, the most in any one month since January.

It brings us right to Barbara Starr. She's live for us at the Pentagon.

Barbara, good morning to you. I mean, devastating news for military commanders, and, of course, all the families as well.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is indeed, Soledad. The news just seems to keep coming on this question of IED attacks. They appear, by all accounts, to be unabating. October turned out to be the worst month since January, when 107 U.S. troops died in Iraq.

Now, the Bush administration continues, of course, to point to political progress in Iraq, but military commanders now are quite openly concerned about the level of violence. They are very concerned about some of the IEDs that they are seeing.

Commanders confirming, continuing to confirm, in fact, over the last many weeks that they are now seeing a new type of IED, improvised explosive device, and it is a roadside bomb that has something called an explosively formed projectile. That sounds pretty technical, but that is something you're going to hear a lot about in the days and weeks ahead.

These are new types of detonators and IEDs that the insurgents are using that are capable, in fact, of penetrating U.S. armored vehicles, including those up-armored Humvees that the U.S. has spent millions, if not billions, of dollars sending to Iraq to try and protect U.S. troops. Just -- just alone yesterday, six U.S. troops died in Iraq in these IED attacks. We don't know if those were these armored-piercing roadside bombs, but the violence does go on -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Barbara, let me ask you about this nomination for the Defense Department's chief spokesman. It's sort of causing this big controversy. What's behind that? STARR: Well, indeed. Now, there's another Bush administration nomination that, by all accounts, appears headed for a very difficult confirmation process. That is the chief spokesman for Secretary Rumsfeld here at the Pentagon.

The man who has been nominated for that job is a man named Dorrance Smith. He is a long-time news executive, he has also worked in the administration in the past. But he wrote a very controversial article talking about the relationship between American television networks, Al-Jazeera, the Arab television network, and Al-Jazeera's relationship with al Qaeda and the fact that Al-Jazeera has aired al Qaeda video, and therefore U.S. networks have aired some of that Al- Jazeera material.

All of that now a very brimming controversy on Capitol Hill. His nomination is not yet being reported to the Senate floor. And it is being watched very carefully around here. A real indicator that politics and the war in Iraq are very much swirling around the Pentagon hallways -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, we're watching it, too.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning.

Barbara, thanks.

We continue to stay in Iraq. There are other stories to tell you about, and Carol has those.

Good morning again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I do. Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

An American soldier is facing a court-martial and possible death sentence for a June incident in Iraq. Sergeant Alberto Martinez is accused of killing two of his superior officers in Tikrit. A military investigating the officer said today there is reasonable cause to support the charges in that Martinez may have had a personal vendetta against the men.

In the next hour, Britain's Queen Elizabeth will lead a memorial service dedicated to the memory of the victims in London's July 7 bombings. Four suicide bombers killed 52 people that day. Hundreds of people were injured in the attacks.

The service will be held at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Candle tributes will also be set up at each of the bomb sites.

Fire him. Former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson wants President Bush to oust of his top aide, Karl Rove. Rove has not been indicted, but he does remain under investigation for his alleged role in revealing the name of Wilson's wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame. It doesn't matter, though. Wilson says the White House should set an example now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE WILSON, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR: I think that Karl Rove should be fired. I think that this -- this idea that you can, with impunity, call journalists and leak national security information is repugnant. It is not fitting for a senior White House official. It is below any standard of ethical comportment, even if it is not technically illegal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In the meantime, Vice President Dick Cheney has reshuffled his staff, naming two replacements for Lewis "Scooter" Libby. As you know, Libby was indicted, and he resigned last week. He will be in court on Thursday.

Another political court battle to tell you about. Another court hearing this morning in the case against former House majority leader Tom DeLay. Congressman DeLay wants the judge assigned to his case removed. He claims there may be some political bias.

DeLay stepped down as House majority leader after being charged with criminal conspiracy and money laundering in an alleged campaign finance scheme. It is not clear whether DeLay will be at this morning's hearing in court. We'll keep you posted.

Let's head to Atlanta to check on the weather with Bonnie Schneider.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: We are now, of course, in the city of New Orleans. The Lakeview section of that city. In the shadow of the 17th Street levee which breached, and when it did, right -- post-Katrina, sent a torrent of water right down this street, causing the damage that you see behind me. That was nine weeks and a day ago.

It's been eight days now since Wilma. Six hundred miles away in southern Florida they felt Wilma as that storm came across the southern part of the state, west to east. And really, in many respects, surprised the east coast of Florida with the amount damage and the amount of power outages. Power outages that for a time exceeded those in the wake of Hurricane Andrew, which, of course, is the storm everybody remembers from southern Florida.

About 1,500 people still in shelters this morning. J.J. Ramberg is among them at one shelter in Fort Lauderdale, about 30 miles north of Miami.

Good morning, J.J.

J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, about 77 percent of the customers have power here, but still that leaves quite a few people without power. Some of them are staying here at this shelter. I'm at a school right now. There have been lots of people who are staying here, and more people coming.

Kind of the worst thing that could have happened today, and that is that it started raining really hard outside. And there are so many people who have damage to their houses, like windows broken, or ceilings that have caved in a little bit and have wires exposed. And so those people can't stay in their houses now. And so this shelter is expecting to see a few more people coming in.

Now, the people I've spoken to here, Miles, have a really fabulous attitude given what they've just gone through. They say they've built a community here, and they're so grateful for what the Red Cross has done. But a lot of them say they haven't made any plans for the future yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRONICA TURNBALL, WILMA EVACUEE: We are all so scared. We're trying to figure out what we're going to do now. We're trying to get the help that we can, I guess. (INAUDIBLE) because we can't go back to where we live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAMBERG: Now, keep in mind, a lot of these people have already been here 10 days, and so they don't even know where they're going to go next, because they can't go home. And the Red Cross is dealing with an issue now, too, Miles, because they're staying in a school. And schools are going to open soon, sometime, if not this week, then next week. So the Red Cross is going to have to move all these people somewhere else -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't suppose they want to audit any classes, do they, J.J.? All right. Thank you very much. J.J. Ramberg in Fort Lauderdale.

We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk to a former mayor of the city of New Orleans. We'll ask him what the key priorities are, the biggest stumbling blocks to rebuilding neighborhoods like this one -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Also, Miles, we're going to have more on the president's bird flu strategy. A closer look at whether or not it can prevent an outbreak.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: This is the scene a few feet below the 17th Street Canal, beneath the breach, the breach which you saw so frequently on television in the wake of Katrina. It flooded this neighborhood called Lakeview in the northern part of New Orleans, up near Lake Pontchartrain. And in its wake, many, many questions to be asked and answered by the residents, who in some cases would really like to come back here.

As a matter of fact, that is one thing about New Orleanians. They would like to return to their city.

The former mayor of New Orleans is joining us now to talk about all those things. Sidney Barthelemey was mayor from '86 to '94.

Mr. Mayor, good to have you with us. Being back here, it's got to be hard to just walk in these neighborhoods.

SIDNEY BARTHELEMEY, FMR. NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: Oh, it's heartbreaking to look at your city that, you know, you really love. And I know most of the people who are not here really want to come back, and would love to come back, but they need some answers.

You know, to the issue on the 17th Street Canal, are they going to repair it, are they going to make it so it can withstand a Category 5 hurricane? You know, we need housing. People want to come back, but there's no place to live.

The jobs. They want to have access to the jobs that are available now. But again, there's no place to live. So housing is critical.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's go back to the first point, though, this whole notion of -- it seems to me that so much hinges on some statement, probably at the federal level, that this city will be protected against a Katrina-like storm in the future. That hasn't happened yet, and as a result, you're in this chicken and egg situation, where people are reluctant to come in and spend a dime on their houses.

BARTHELEMEY: Right. Well, you can look at the houses that existed here before. They were expensive houses. So many people don't want to start spending a lot of money if they don't know that the levees are going to be fixed so that it can withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. This was an epic storm, a historic storm, and nine weeks is perhaps an understandable period of time. But it seems as if those answers, or at least a time frame for getting those answers, should be clearer to people by now.

BARTHELEMEY: Absolutely, Miles. I think there should be a coordination of leadership from the federal to the local level. They need to get together and make some decisions so people can make decisions and go on with their lives.

M. O'BRIEN: I mean, here we are, nine weeks and one day after the storm, and we're still talking about a lack of leadership. What does that tell you?

BARTHELEMEY: There is something, some big problem there. And I think if people have problems with one another, they need to get rid of it. Because this is a dire situation.

We're in a -- still in the crisis here. This city is tinkering on whether or not we're going to exist or we're going to be lost.

So they have to put aside all these other issues and get together and make some decisions, and tell the people, give the people information. They're dying to know what they should do.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's name some names here. You're talking about the mayor and the governor, primarily here, that haven't -- they can't work together well. And that's been a problem.

BARTHELEMEY: Well, not just the mayor. That's true. And the mayor and the governor have to get together, put aside their differences. But also the federal government.

This cannot be done only on the local level. It's got to be done with the federal help, with the federal government taking some leadership, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Congress is going to have to earmark many, many billions of dollars to make a decision to make this Category 5-safe. Is that an appropriate way to spend taxpayer money?

BARTHELEMEY: I think so, Miles. We're helping other countries throughout this world, we're spending money daily in Iraq. And this is America.

New Orleans is part of America. And a significant part of America. And if America doesn't stand up for New Orleans, then I don't see how we can hold our head up in the rest of the world and we don't take of our own.

M. O'BRIEN: Mayoral race in February. Are you back in?

BARTHELEMEY: No. No, Miles. I'm not.

M. O'BRIEN: Sidney Barthelemey. I gave him an opportunity, Soledad, to announce his candidacy right here on AMERICAN MORNING, and he -- I think he just about ran. He ran. He's gone.

S. O'BRIEN: I don't think I've ever heard a question answered quite so quickly, no.

M. O'BRIEN: It was definitive, I'd say, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Pretty much. All right, Miles. Thanks.

A short break. And then, ahead this morning, a closer look at the government's plan to fight the bird flu. Do you think officials waited too long to act? The "House Call" is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: In just about 45 minutes we will hear from President Bush as he unveils his administration's strategy for trying to deal with the bird flu.

Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is at the CNN Center. She's got a preview of what the president's going say today.

Good morning to you, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Soledad, that's right. That's happening this morning. The government trying to get prepared for a flu pandemic, whether it's caused by the avian flu or by some other flu virus.

Experts say it's not a mater of if, it's a matter of when. There will be another pandemic. All you have to do is look at the math.

If you take a look of when there have been pandemics in the past, in 1918 we had the Spanish flu. In 1957, the Asian flu pandemic. In 1968, the Hong Kong flu.

Look how closely those years are spaced together. There hasn't been a pandemic since 1968. That means, experts say, that we are long overdue.

What you are seeing here is birds. Birds, of course, are the animals that carry the flu that eventually does get spread person to person, sometimes. This particular avian flu does not spread easily person to person at the current time.

Let's talk a little bit about what President Bush is going propose. We've sort of been let in on what he's going to say.

A couple of major points. The first one is that there needs to be improved organization and communication.

For example, a lot of clinics, a lot of labs in this country aren't prepared to deal with flu specimens to figure out exactly what kind of flu there is. They don't always communicate very well with one another. So you have a lab with one strain in Minnesota, another in California. They need to talk to each other to see if they're looking at the same thing.

Flu cases need to be monitored. How many people are sick? What exactly are they sick with? That's all important when you talk about containing the epidemic.

People who are infected need to be isolated. Currently, there aren't enough isolation rooms for infected people.

Also, vaccines need to be stockpiled, and antivirals need to be stockpiled. Since there is no vaccine at this point in time for avian flu, the nation would be depending very heavily on antiviral medications that you give to someone once they've gotten sick.

Right now, there's not enough for everyone. And the public health system would have to make some very tough decisions about who gets the medicines -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know what's the scariest about all of that? Is that we're nowhere near being ready on any of those fronts you just showed.

COHEN: That's right. Unfortunately, that's what experts say, is that we're just not close to being ready. We don't have a vaccine, we don't have nearly enough antivirals, we don't have something as simple as isolation rooms.

Take New York City, where you are right now, Soledad. Each hospital has about five isolation rooms, where the person is put in there, they're sick, the ventilation is only within that room so that the other patients don't get sick. There's only five per hospital.

When people get sick, you're talking about thousands, upon thousands, upon thousands of people. What do you do with all of them?

Well, what you do is you get a college dormitory. You kick everyone out and you make -- you put those people -- you make that -- those then are isolation rooms. You try to come up with some plan like that.

But that's going to be -- that's going to be tough to do. That's not easy.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. A pandemic is obviously much bigger than just five people in five rooms in a small hospital.

All right. Elizabeth Cohen. We're waiting to hear what the president has to say.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

We're going to carry the president's remarks on bird flu. We'll take those live at 10:10 a.m. Eastern Time.

Coming up, we're going to talk about a flood wall in the levee repairs. And Miles has a look at that in New Orleans -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad, the question is, why did all those flood walls and levees fail? Each one has kind of a little different story to tell, but it's safe to say that there are ways they can be built better. The question is, could they have been built better at the time? We'll talk to an expert about this after a short break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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