Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Much of St. Bernard's Parish Still Abandoned; Frist Calls Closed Session a Stunt; Roadside Bombs a Growing Threat in Iraq; Thousands Endangered by Pakistan Earthquake; Which Hurricane Damaged Homes are Worth Saving?

Aired November 02, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: They're playing hardball politics in the Senate. Democrats force a secret session on Iraq. They infuriate Republicans. It's back to work this morning, but can the two sides work together? We've got a live report just ahead.
A developing story out of Iraq as we learn details of a U.S. helicopter that went down near Ramadi. That news as U.S. troops face a new threat in Iraq: hidden bombs with much more power and a possible link to Iran and Syria. We've got a live report just ahead.

And thousands of homes destroyed. New Orleans waiting for the bulldozer, or maybe not. Beneath the mold and the ruined sheetrock there are some signs of hope. We'll tell you about all that, ahead on 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, everybody.

We are focusing from here in New York on Washington, D.C. Miles this morning is in St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana, not very far from New Orleans.

Miles, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Good morning, Soledad.

Forty-two thirty-seven Florida Avenue in St. Bernard Parish is where I am right now. And as you can see, this is a home that was literally swept off its foundations.

In the distance, you can see the levee that was designed to protect it from the storm. Katrina, of course, came through, and this house was no match for it at all.

Some of these homes wiped clean. Some of them heavily damaged, will have to be destroyed, have to be bulldozed. This street among the hardest hit streets anywhere, but this entire St. Bernard Parish remains a series of ghost towns. Nobody really back to their homes at all right now.

Let's tell you where I am, big picture here. We began the week very near the French Quarter in New Orleans off of Canal Street. And you recall we showed you there some signs of what seemed to be normalcy. Power was on. Had -- able to get a hot coffee at the Starbucks there, that kind of thing. But as you move out in concentric circles from there the picture becomes more grim.

Seventeenth Street levee we stopped off on Tuesday, where they're repairing those breaches, trying to come up with sort of a permanent, yet temporary solution to the problems there.

And then this morning, we're about nine and a half miles from the French Quarter, St. Bernard Parish, where there is so such, as you put it a moment ago, Soledad, there's so many issues on top of each other, so many things that have to be done. It's difficult for them to sort it all out.

And at the root of it is this whole issue of whether people can come back here and begin the process of rebuilding. No one has given these people here a clear sign that -- those levees will be fortified in such a way that they can safely rebuild here.

That and the fact that there isn't any temporary housing for people has left this street pretty much just as you saw it when you were here at the end of September, and it's kind of sad to see it that way, quite frankly, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And I've got to tell you, Miles, it looks bad where you are and where I've been, and it's so much worse in person. You know, the pictures -- one case where the pictures do no justice whatsoever to what it really looks like.

All right, Miles. We'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning.

Let's turn to talk about the Senate now. Everybody knows on both sides of the aisle there's never been a ton of love for each other. However, there is open hostility in the Senate this morning.

It started on Tuesday with Democratic complaints about an investigation of the White House and pre-war intelligence. And then it escalated when the Democratic leader, Harry Reid, invoked the rarely used Senate Rule 21.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Mr. President, enough time has gone by. I demand, on behalf of the American people, that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted and, in accordance with Rule 21, I now move the Senate go into closed session.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I second the motion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: OK. Go into closed session. Here's what that means. It means cameras turned off, the public is locked out. Well, as you can imagine, the Republican majority leader, Bill Frist, not at all happy about the move. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Every other time, and again, we'll have to go back and look at the history, there has been at least consideration for the other side of the aisle before a stunt -- and this is a pure stunt that is being performed by Senator Reid, Senator Durbin and their leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is at the White House this morning.

Good morning to you, Bob. How come no real word on this from the White House?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think they want to stay as far away from this as possible. First of all, the serious reason is the issues that were involved, which is the Democrats' complaint, bitter complaint that there has been a stonewalling by Republicans in the investigation into alleged misuse of intelligence in the time leading up to the war in Iraq. So this would be a no-win situation for the White House to comment on.

And meanwhile, it was quite interesting to watch the Senate doing this. For just a very brief period of time, it actually became unboring.

S. O'BRIEN: You can say that because you certainly have covered Capitol Hill for enough time. You know, Senate Rule 21 is rare. I know everybody was scrambling to kind of look up what the heck that meant. But the showdown really, in all seriousness, is also pretty rare, isn't it?

FRANKEN: Well, that kind of showdown is. I mean, the Senate operates on the sort of facade of politeness. It is very important to the operation of the Senate. They call it comity. And what we had yesterday was really kind of comedy. It was not the type of thing that the Senate likes to have displayed in the open.

S. O'BRIEN: We know that the nominee, the Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, back on the Hill third day now in a row. How big of a fight do you think the White House is going to face?

FRANKEN: Well, I think that the White House is going to face a big fight. Now, the White House tactic is going to try and be to divide and conquer, try and divide those Democrats from the other Democrats who might be in states where it's a little sensitive to oppose Alito.

And at the same time, the White House is going to have to try and make sure that there aren't defections within the Republican Party, particularly the so-called moderates.

S. O'BRIEN: Everybody is looking at their strategy today. Bob Franken is at the White House for us this morning. Thanks, Bob. Developing story out of Iraq to tell you about this morning. Two Marine pilots are dead after their helicopter crashed near Ramadi.

Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon.

Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you, Soledad.

No cause of that crash announced yet by the Marine Corps, but they are confirming two Marine pilots were killed when their Cobra gunship helicopter did crash near Ramadi. That's west of Baghdad in western Iraq.

The recovery effort by other helicopters and forces in the region is now underway. The area is secure, and they are looking to recover the remains of those two pilots -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, you've got those insurgent roadside bomb attacks, which seem to be getting more frequent and they're getting more devastating to those who are injured and then killed by them. What do you know about these devices?

STARR: Soledad, we've heard for so many months now about improvised explosive devices, IED's. But now these bombs are becoming more powerful, more sophisticated. It is a major concern.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): Senior U.S. military commanders confirm to CNN that a new generation of sophisticated roadside and suicide bombs has appeared in southern Iraq in recent weeks.

These bombs, although small in number, are causing great concern. They have explosive charges that can penetrate armored vehicles, including the up armored Humvees on which the U.S. Army has spent billions of dollars.

In a closed door congressional briefing, senators were told the powerful new bombs can be made with materials bought off the Internet and that insurgents are also getting outside help, possibly from Iran and Syria. After that hearing, the head of the military task force talked about the insurgents.

BRIG. GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL, IED TASK FORCE DIRECTOR: He's varying the methods that he's using to initiate them. He's varied the employment techniques that he's -- that he's employing them with, and he started to bury the targets that he is -- that he is going after.

STARR: The number of attacks by improvised explosive devices, IED's, has risen, but officials say the attacks are less effective.

GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The numbers of casualties per effective attack has gone down. That said, there are more overall IED attacks by the insurgents. STARR: In October there were about 100 attacks per day, compared to 85 to 90 attacks a day in September. About half of all attacks are IED's.

EA-16 aircraft have now been outfitted with an onboard electronic jammers to stop some type of IED detonation. Thousands of jammers on vehicles have also been sent to Iraq. The Army's chief of planning offered remarkable candor about just how worried military leaders now are about declining public support for the war.

LT. GEN. JAMES LOVELACE, ARMY DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: I think that's something that we think about all the time. But as you share, as the polls start to reflect, it's something that we do concern ourselves with. It's probably a little bit more prevalent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Now Soledad, military officials say they are finding about half of all the IED's that are laid out by the insurgents and disarming them, essentially rendering them safe, but that means, of course, they're not finding the other half and they are killing U.S. troops, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Terrible news to talk about this morning. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you for that update.

Other stories to talk about, as well. Carol has a look at those.

Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

The story we're following all morning long, a final tribute to Rosa Parks. Take a look. Thousands already lining up to attend her funeral at Detroit's Greater Grace Temple Church.

You can see gospel singing outside of the church. The ceremony itself is a memorial service, I should say, starts at 11 a.m. Eastern. CNN will carry parts of that ceremony live for you.

We have new pictures this morning of pallbearers carrying Parks' casket inside the church. Now, this church seats about 4,000 people; 2000 of these seats will be for the public, which is why people are waiting in line. Sixty thousand people have already paid tribute at memorials in Alabama, Washington, and Detroit.

We believe this will all wrap up in a few hours after the 11 a.m. memorial service begins and she'll be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. Only family members will be allowed there.

There is a new terror warning for Australia. That country's prime minister, John Howard, saying authorities have specific intelligence about a potential attack, but he did not give any details of the threat.

Back here in the United States, a new judge will be called in to preside over Congressman Tom DeLay's money laundering and conspiracy trial. Travis County District Judge Bob Perkins was removed from the case. DeLay's attorneys argue there could be some political bias, citing Perkins' financial contributions to the Democratic National Committee and the liberal group, MoveOn.org.

And they're officially still the team from New Orleans, but it looks like the Hornets may be enjoying their temporary home in Oklahoma City. New Orleans beat the Sacramento Kings 93-67 in front of a roaring, packed crowd last night. I'd call that a route.

Bear in mind this team was not only the lowest scoring team in the league last season, but it also had the lowest season ticket base.

New Orleans will play 35 home games in Oklahoma, and the NBA commissioner, David Stern, insisting the team will eventually return to New Orleans, just like the Saints.

And unpleasant reminder there. Both teams supposedly returning to New Orleans, but we'll just have to see, because you know nothing is sure.

Let's head to the forecast center to talk about something that's never sure, the weather, with Jacqui Jeras.

(WEATHER REPORT)

We don't want to hear that. I love having spring-lime temperatures in the middle of November! Thanks, Jacqui.

Ahead this morning, we will talk about Pakistan and just how bad things are there for the survivors of that terrible earthquake. Things could get much worse. The head of UNICEF says if the world does not act, thousands more people could die. She's going to join us right after the break -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All across New Orleans and really across the gulf region, Soledad, the question many homeowners are asking is, can this house be saved? I'm sitting on the windowsill of a place that most certainly is a goner. It's leaning over to its side. But in many cases there are gray area questions about whether a place is worth saving.

Coming up, we'll check in with our executive producer, Kim Bondy, whose house spent two and a half weeks in the waters of Katrina. And we'll see what the experts say about her place, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: We've seen some of these pictures from that crisis in Pakistan in the wake of that devastating earthquake there. The death toll was just upped. It was in the 50,000. Now it's 73,000 people now confirmed dead; 3.3 million people are homeless. Keep in mind that winter is fast approaching. These people have no homes and, in many cases, no tents whatsoever.

Ann Veneman is the executive director of UNICEF. She's back from a tour of the area.

Really it is -- what was it like? I mean, the pictures look so horrible. And the stories are just terrible.

ANN VENEMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF: Well, it was just devastating. We saw buildings that were just crumbled to the ground. I think the hardest thing was to see the schools that had collapsed and to know that so many children had died inside those schools. We estimate that over 17,000 children died in schools. And then I had the opportunity to visit so many of them.

S. O'BRIEN: And we're looking at your tour here in this videotape.

VENEMAN: Yes. I had the opportunity to visit with so many of the injured children, people that -- kids that had been in schools when they collapsed and, fortunately, you know, with severe injuries but they're going to be OK, most of them.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I guess. If, in fact, they really get the aid, because that's kind of the concern. I mean, 73,000 death toll, and you've got winter fast approaching and you've got disease problems.

VENEMAN: Absolutely. And one of the problems is so many of the hospitals collapsed. We heard stories that in some areas, 50 percent of the healthcare workers were killed. In one community, all of the doctors in the community were killed.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh.

VENEMAN: And so it's very important that healthcare get to these regions. We still saw, when I was there on Sunday, helicopters coming in with injured. This is three weeks and a day after the incident, and people are still being air-lifted into tent hospitals in the mountains. It's devastating, but people are getting assistance. They're moving into tent villages. They're getting immunizations, which is critical.

S. O'BRIEN: You feel, though, that they're not getting as much money as they need. I mean, there's this goal, I guess, of $550 million. And I've heard only 20 percent of the money -- are people just tapped out by other disasters?

VENEMAN: Well, there's been so many disasters this year. There's a fair amount of the aid that's going bilaterally to the country directly, not through the U.N. So the system is processing the money differently, but the money is needed.

One of the things that's most needed is to keep the helicopters flying, especially during this window of opportunity before the winter sets in, because the winter will be very harsh there.

S. O'BRIEN: There are rumors last week that some of the flights, in fact, had stopped. Was that true? Was that not true? Do you know?

VENEMAN: Some of the flights had been grounded for a few days at a time because of weather.

S. O'BRIEN: So nothing...

VENEMAN: But there is a threat that if more money does not come in, the helicopter flights could be grounded. Some of these areas are accessible now only by helicopter, because the roads were just completely wiped off the map by the earthquake. And so there are remote areas where you cannot get there except by helicopter, and it's very important, particularly, to move food into those areas.

S. O'BRIEN: What could people do if they see this and see some of these pictures? What do you do?

VENEMAN: Well, certainly, donations are still welcome. They can donate through UNICEF, through the web site that we have, UNICEF.org. Or to their favorite charity. Or to other U.N. organizations, but it is very important that we continue to get resources to address this very serious situation in Pakistan.

S. O'BRIEN: That's terrible. Ann Veneman, nice to see you in person. We never really get to talk in person.

VENEMAN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: We're usually talking by remote. Appreciate it.

Let's get right back to Miles. He's in St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana this morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Soledad.

To repair or to bulldoze? Those are the options many homeowners are facing right now in the New Orleans region, all throughout the gulf region in the wake of those storms. Coming up, we'll talk to a couple of experts who will give us real insights on whether a house can be saved.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Back live now in St. Bernard Parish.

Imagine what it would be like to come home to your home and see this. This is the reality of what happens in a flood, and in this case, a very devastating flood. This is someone's living room. And if you look up on the top there, you can see the high water mark there, about eight, nine feet above there, right in that tray ceiling there.

Just utter devastation. There's no question that this house cannot be saved. This is not even a gray area in this case.

But in many cases where houses weren't as close to the levees and there wasn't such a huge tremendous surge, in other words, just the flooding as a result of the breaches in the levees, many homeowners are now being faced with a decision: was the time spent underwater, was that enough to cause the house to be totaled? Does it have to be demolished, or can it be saved?

We've been following the progress of executive producer Kim Bondy, our boss, as she has tried to deal with the damage to her house in New Orleans, which was underwater for about two and a half weeks. Just the other day, she had some experts drop by.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIM BONDY, CNN, MORNING PROGRAMMING: This room was an addition to the house. It originally had paneling, and then when I bought the house in 2001, I had new walls put in. So this is all new drywall in here. So the mold growth is pretty substantial.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): The sunroom at Kim Bondy's house in New Orleans sure could use a little sun. Perhaps it might bake away the multilayered mold that covers the walls and fouls the air.

RUSTY AMARANTE, PROPERTY RESTORATION EXPERT: You've got so much moisture in here. So much damage. This -- the mold just feeds off of itself.

M. O'BRIEN: Kim invited veteran property restoration expert Rusty Amarante to tour her once upon a dream home, which sat in standing fetid water for two and a half weeks after the levees broke. Not a pretty picture, but Rusty Amarante has seen it all before.

BONDY: Would you recommend that a room like this be sort of torn down and start all over?

AMARANTE: I don't think you need to tear it down. I think you need to thoroughly gut it.

m. O'BRIEN: Gutting a house, stripping it to the bones like a Thanksgiving turkey, seems like a bitter pill for the average homeowner. But Rusty has a way of putting things in perspective.

AMARANTE: Really you're just talking about redoing the interior building envelope here. So as devastating as it is, you're really kind of fortunate, because once you take out the plaster, once you take out the insulation, make sure that the inside of the building is dry, the foundation is dry, you can really start the rebuilding process.

M. O'BRIEN: But what about the structure of the house? Any osteoporosis in those bones?

BONDY: From what I can see of the brick from the outside, it looks very solid.

M. O'BRIEN: For some answers Kim called in another expert, Elizabeth English, a professor who studies how buildings weather hurricanes.

ELIZABETH ENGLISH, PROFESSOR, LSU HURRICANE CENTER: Crawl space.

BONDY: Crawl space.

I've never even looked underneath there.

M. O'BRIEN: But Elizabeth did, and it looks pretty good.

ENGLISH: Still a little damp down here, and that needs to dry out. But, you know, you don't have a problem with rot at this point.

M. O'BRIEN: It was a cursory inspection, a few pokes and peeks.

ENGLISH: This is very good solid construction here.

M. O'BRIEN: But enough to make Elizabeth a big believer in the Bondy bungalow.

(on camera) If this were you your house, what would you do?

ENGLISH: I'd fix it up.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes?

ENGLISH: Absolutely. Absolutely. This house is not -- is not a goner. This house -- this house can be repaired and brought back to life, and it's bringing the individual houses back to life that will bring the neighborhood back to life. And bringing the New Orleans neighborhoods back to life is what will bring the city back to life.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): This is a big concern for Elizabeth in the wake of Katrina. She took me to the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where she worries the century-old shotgun homes will be bulldozed unnecessarily.

ENGLISH: All of these devastated belongings can be removed, and the house itself can be salvaged.

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): So just speaking from a structural perspective...

ENGLISH: From a structural perspective.

M. O'BRIEN: There's no reason to bulldoze. There are many other reasons that may come into play?

ENGLISH: There may be -- there may be other reasons. There may be political reasons. There may be economic reasons. There may be other kinds of social reasons. But in terms of the structure itself, most likely, these houses can -- can be brought back.

M. O'BRIEN: And you would suggest should be?

ENGLISH: Absolutely. I would -- from my perspective, from the way I see New Orleans, I think it's imperative that these neighborhoods be brought back to life, because -- because it's -- it's the heart of New Orleans. And if we lose these neighborhoods, there's an aspect of New Orleans culture that will never be able to be regained.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Back live now in St. Bernard Parish with Kim Bondy.

Kim, you've had a chance to think about everything that was said there by those experts. Have you made a decision? Are you going to rebuild it?

BONDY: Well, I'd love to rebuild, I'd love to put it back together. I don't know if I can live in it until we get some real answers on the levees. But I think what is going to be key is, I still don't have answers from the city and the building inspectors still have to do their door-to-door and they'll give me a sense what's going to be required. Am I going to have to raise my house to, you know, flood level. But I say it had 9 1/2 to ten feet of water -- am I going to have to raise it 9 1/2 to ten feet? So, you know, access to a lot of information but, still, no clear-cut answers.

M. O'BRIEN: It's amazing how little information is available to homeowners. And at this point, you really can't even make a leap of faith. It would be foolish, wouldn't it?

BONDY: Yes. I mean, you know, I would love to be able to -- I mean, emotionally, I'd love to rebuild, but the reality of it is, I still some need more answers. And imagine, I have access to a lot more information than most of my, you know, fellow New Orleanians and even the people here in St. Bernard Parish do, so...

M. O'BRIEN: Elizabeth's point, that eventually, individually, house-by-house, that the decision's going to have to be made and people are going to have to be -- some people are going to have to be pioneers to make this happen?

BONDY: You know was I'm tempted to do? I'm actually tempted to go this weekend and powerwash my house and -- to sort of send of sign I'm willing to come back. And I think Elizabeth is right. It's going to take neighbors and homeowners in the neighborhoods to say we want to rebuild these houses. Why would you tear down a house like mine? How could you do it in good conscience?

M. O'BRIEN: All right, all right. Thank you very much, Kim Bondy. I will mow the lawn for you, how's that? We'll do a little landscaping. we'll make the place look good, and who knows what will happen there? Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, Miles, I'm sure she'll appreciate anything you can do. Thanks, you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: Absolutely. I'm good around the house.

S. O'BRIEN: Really? That's not what Sandy tells me! Ooh, finally, I got back at you.

M. O'BRIEN: Ouch. S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we are -- we're going to move on and continue to talk about the Senate showdown about that probe into pre-war intelligence. Charges are that Republicans are dragging their feet. We're going to talk to the GOP senator in charge, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. A beautiful day here in New York. A lot to talk about this morning as we get right into what happened in the Senate yesterday. A big slap over Intelligence Committee investigation. Some Democrats say Republicans are dragging their feet on the investigation, and the Democrats invoked Rule 21. Well, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said why he invoked this rule.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D), MINORITY LEADER: It was our way of getting to the bottom of something that was long overdue. That is, an investigation of what went on in Iraq and how the -- what went on prior to Iraq and how the evidence regarding intelligence was manipulated. It's simple as that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, it's a big question. Republican Senator Pat Roberts is the chairman of the Intelligence Committee and he joins us this morning. It's nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us.

SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS), CHMN., INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: It's my pleasure. Thank you. It's a nice day here in Washington, too.

S. O'BRIEN: And it's a beautiful day here in New York, too, as well. I guess the question for you is...

ROBERTS: Just a little politics flying around, but other than that, it's OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, right. How's the weather? And I'm not talking about the weather when you're talking about the Senate.

ROBERTS: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: You said it's a stunt and you and a lot of Republicans were very, very angry. Why is it a stunt to ask for a report that was really promised to happen to get results after the election?

ROBERTS: We started this report in February. We had our first business meeting on May 17th. We started to go down the entire list of all the statements of public officials and the administration and in Congress and compare it with the intelligence. I tried to get the Democrat members to go down that entire list and vote as to whether or not that statement was credible or backed up by intelligence. That's the exact thing that we wanted to do, and they balked. And they said no, we don't want to do it that way. We want staff to do it.

So we started in February, we had a business meeting on May 17. There are other provisions in page two. We've run into some problems there, as well. It's interesting to me that when our staff told the Democrat staff just two days ago that, as of this next week, we are going to finish phase two, regardless of the circumstances, we're going to get done with it, then they pulled this stunt.

There is nothing that hurts the truth so much as stretching it. And as far as I'm concerned, it was a blindside attack. That's not the way to run the Intelligence Committee. We have really politicized it, and I think that's most unfair.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me just clarify for people. Phase two involves a number, I think, like, five issues you've basically broken it down into. But the one that everybody's really watching for is, was the administration involved in any plan to misuse intelligence and to bring it to the American people? Want to essentially dissemble about the reasons to go to war in Iraq? I mean, that's what everybody is watching for right now. You say there was a plan November 14th? Was that date always on the table? Democrats say big victory, we now have a date for the report.

REID: We hope to get it done before November 14. That was just a sham situation where we say that we're going to have a process that -- we'll have several senators to report back to the leadership we're going to do it. But we were going to do it anyway. We already had the hearing already set up.

I think, quite frankly, what happened is they had a leadership meeting the night before, they looked at the Scooter Libby situation, they thought the situation was right, and so they pull a stunt like this, not letting anybody know they're going to go into a secret session. Certainly not attack me, which is the first time that that's happened and I take a personal affront at that. And so I think it was more politics than anything else.

Now, let me get to the manipulation part. We conducted a WMD inquiry that proved we had a worldwide intelligence failure.

S. O'BRIEN: Phase one?

ROBERTS: That was phase one. It was a seminal report that led to the Intelligence Reform Act, the new director of national intelligence, everything that's been going right now with intelligence. We interviewed over 250 analysts. We asked each and every one of them, was any part of their intelligence the recipient of any kind of -- any kind of politics or manipulation or anything like that? Did anybody ask them to change the intelligence for political purposes? Answer was no. And everybody agreed to that. There was a 17-0 vote. Well, now the issue is back up again. I tell you what I'm going to do.

S. O'BRIEN: What's that?

ROBERTS: There are a lot of public statements by members of Congress on the Democrat side that are more declarative and more aggressive than anything anybody ever said on the administration side. We're going to make those public statements public. And, now, the intelligence, we can't do that yet, because we got to go through phase two. As much as possible, I want to make this public, to prove to the American public that yesterday was a stunt and that basically that was not necessary and we have really politicized the committee. That's not the way to do business.

S. O'BRIEN: You certainly know we're interested in hearing all of those statements from either side of the aisle, obviously.

ROBERTS: Five hundred of them.

S. O'BRIEN: I -- fantastic. Bring them on. E-mail them to us. I'm curious to know, though -- you know, sort of allegations. And maybe that's word's too strong. But people say Republicans are dragging their feet. And there was a speech that you gave, and I've got sort of the notes from the speech...

ROBERTS: I've got my tennis shoes on. I'm not dragging my feet.

S. O'BRIEN: March 11th. You were giving a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

ROBERTS: Yes, ma'am.

S. O'BRIEN: And you're asked a question about, essentially, in a nutshell, whether the administration overstated Iraq intelligence when making public remarks. And you said, and here is a quote, "To go through that exercise, interviewing officials, who will say it was bad intelligence, we didn't see how we could do that and achieve any possible progress. I think everybody pretty well guessed it."

I think everybody pretty well guessed it. That's what you said. Could you see that being read as, well, that was back on March 11th. What's happened when you said that before your March 17th date you just gave me of starting the investigation to now?

ROBERTS: All right. We started the investigation on phase two in February. We had our first business meeting on March 17th. We started to go down all those names that everybody has mentioned and whether or not the intelligence was credible, and we tried two or three times to start down that and let members do it, not staff, let members do it, and they balked.

Now what I meant by that comment was here you have statements, dating back to the first Gulf War, statements by public officials in the Clinton administration, statements by officials in this administration. Now these statements are two, three, four years ago.

We proved in the WMD report there was a worldwide intelligence failure. Not only the United States, but Great Britain, Israel, France, even Russia. Everybody got it wrong. It was an assumption train that after the inspectors left, Saddam Hussein would probably reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction. That evidence or that intelligence was wrong. That's what led to the 9/11 Commission, to the WMD Commission and also the reform that we passed in the Congress.

What I meant to say was that if you look back in the rearview mirror and the rearview mirror is a little cracked with partisan lines. You look back at what somebody said, maybe I said it, maybe Senator Rockefeller said it, maybe Harry Reid said it, or Dick Durbin, or anybody in the Congress said it. Three or four years ago it might have made sense because you believe the intelligence.

Now you prove the intelligence is wrong, what is relevant about bringing back all of these past statements? But if that's what the Democrats want, that's what they're going to get. We have a lot more important stuff to do in the intelligence committee, but we will finish phase two. We announced it to the Democrat staff that we were going to do it this very next week. That's when this stunt was pulled.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, I look forward to getting my 500 e-mails with the public remarks made, sir, now that you've promised them to me on national television.

Senator Pat Roberts, thanks for talking with us this morning, the chairman, of course, of the Intelligence Committee.

ROBERTS: Thank you. You bet.

(NEWSBREAK)

Ahead, one of Alito's biggest critics, Senator Barbara Boxer. She says the filibuster option is on the table. We'll talk with her next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back live now from Monroe (ph), Louisiana, the corner of Florida and Van Cleeve (ph). Take a look down here. Look at all the Mardi Gras beads. They're talking about having a Mardi Gras come February. It will be interesting to see how that all comes out.

Here and there, through these neighborhoods, although they're of course vacant; nobody is living here, you run into people like Brad Morales who is going through and gutting homes. Brad's family house is here. It's interesting, we originally thought perhaps 90-some-odd percent of the homes would have to be bulldozed. Now they're saying on the order of about 40 percent, and his family home is one that appears to be a home that can be saved.

Is your thinking you can rebuild?

BRAD MORALES, ST. BERNARD PARISH RESIDENT: Yes, depending on we still don't know with the levee, and if they're going to make people raise their houses, or even if they can build back in here, because, I mean, it really is like building on a swamp.

M. O'BRIEN: You've lived here all your life. What's it like coming back to these neighborhoods and seeing it like this? MORALES: A reality check. It really does hit you. I mean, you see everything on TV, but when you come here and actually look at it, that's where it kind of gets you.

M. O'BRIEN: And being in your house and stripping it down to the studs and the joints, which is what you got to do, that has got to be a very difficult and emotional thing.

MORALES: Right. It is. It's very. But we got to do it. If we want to come back. I mean, I want to come back. I love it here. I love everybody here, my friends, my family but this is, like my parents, this is their second home that they lost, and my grandparents.

M. O'BRIEN: They lost a house in Betsy, Hurricane Betsy back in the '60s, right?

MORALES: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow.

MORALES: I mean, I don't want to go through it again. I lost one; I don't want to lose another one.

M. O'BRIEN: You still would, though, live here again and take that risk, if you had to?

MORALES: I would. If I could get everybody back here, my family, my friends, I would.

M. O'BRIEN: Important that those levees be able to withstand a big storm though, I think.

MORALES: Yes, that's the key thing. I mean, if the levees can't handle it, then there's no way I will come back.

M. O'BRIEN: Your business is out of business right now, so you're doing this. The truth is if you want to gut houses, you got work here as long as you want.

MORALES: Yes, I mean, there's many people gutting out houses. It's not just a couple of people. I mean, there's a lot. There's a lot to be done.

M. O'BRIEN: Lot to be done. Brad Morales, good luck on your efforts, you and your family.

MORALES: Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks for dropping by.

Soledad, it's largely vacant here, but every now and then, you run across somebody like Brad. While, as he says, it's a reality check, there's still that kernel of optimism, that desire to come back here, live here. This way of life is something that gets in your system -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And once you've given up that kernel of hope, I mean, you've given up everything. If you don't have any hope you can come back to where your family's lived forever, I mean, what else do you have going for you? All right, Miles, thanks. That's a sad story to talk about.

Coming up this morning, the battle over Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. One Democratic senator already talking filibuster, and she's going to join us up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Democrats will not rule out a filibuster over the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Senator Barbara Boxer of California has criticized the president's choice. And she's written a novel. It's her first novel, and it's called "A Time to Run." It's about a controversial Supreme Court nomination.

Senator Barbara Boxer joins us this morning. Nice to see you.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Good to see you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Seven years in the making.

BOXER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And we're talking about the headlines that we're talking about now. I mean, it's what the book is about, too. A battle in this book over Supreme Court nominee, and in real life, too. Let's start with the real life battle.

BOXER: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you think of Samuel Alito?

BOXER: Well, I would describe him from this way, from what I know. A very qualified man, a very educated man, a very soft-spoken man, but with some very harsh decisions behind him. But, for example, he had one opinion where he said the Family and Medical Leave Act should not apply to state employees. Meaning if you work for a state and your kid gets really sick and needs to go through chemotherapy treatments, you don't get family medical leave. He said that a woman needs to notify her husband even if she fears...

S. O'BRIEN: Well, he said the law was not unconstitutional.

BOXER: Well...

S. O'BRIEN: He said that the family leave act, you couldn't sue. Which is not exactly the same thing as agreeing with it, just saying it's not unconstitutional.

BOXER: No, no, no. If you cannot enforce the law, the law has no weight. If you work as a state employee and your child gets sick and you believe you're covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act and you don't get it, and you sue, and the judge says you can't sue, you have no rights.

S. O'BRIEN: Does all this, in your mind, say it's going to be a filibuster?

BOXER: Well, it says to me that everything certainly is on the table. Because, look. When I was elected, I said to the people of California -- and by the way, this was at the same time George Bush was reelected, but I got elected and he got elected. And I said to them that I would fight for their rights, liberties and freedoms. And I will. If I feel that someone is going take away those rights, liberties, freedoms, I'm going to be right there.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the book, because it's really why we were -- had on you. And then there's just so much happening in the Senate that we kind of had to cover first. You got a female senator?

BOXER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Not named Barbara Boxer.

BOXER: No, no!

S. O'BRIEN: But it's not about you?

BOXER: No.

S. O'BRIEN: But she is investigating, really, a Supreme Court nominee.

BOXER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And it really is a story about political maneuvering and the deals that are done to get things done.

BOXER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: And maybe what's given up and what's won. Seven years to write this book.

BOXER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Why -- you have so much else going on. I mean, seriously, like, you're kind of a busy person. You know? Helping run the country and all. Why would you want to write a book?

BOXER: Well, that's why it took seven years. Well, you know, everyone in the Senate and everyone in the world and everyone in life has to have something they do to relax them and I love to write. I used to be a journalist. I've written a nonfiction book. And I've always had this dream of writing a story. And what I wanted to do is tell a story that would be a page-turner, which a lot of the reviewers say this is, knock on wood.

But also when you're done with it, you know more about the subject. People don't know how things get done in the Senate, really. They don't understand the pressures on us. The pressures, the wonderful moments, the terrible moments. The battle between liberals and conservatives, which I'm in every day, which is discussed in this book. Why do people become liberal? Why do they become conservative? All of that is explored in this novel.

S. O'BRIEN: So, the resolution, big mystery, won't give it away. What do you think the resolution's going to be for Judge Alito?

BOXER: Hard to say right now. You know, we're going through all of these opinions. There's one that really jumps out at me where he felt that Congress did not have the right to, in any way, control the sale of fully automatic machine guns to private parties. That is very far out of the mainstream, to say that Congress couldn't protect our families and our children in such a way. So we have to see where this all leads us.

Clearly, the president had a choice. He could of chosen someone like Sandra Day O'Connor, who would unite this country. Didn't do that. He went to the right, he turned right. He wanted to shore up his base, I think to the detriment of this country and to this president.

S. O'BRIEN: Senator Barbara Boxer, nice to have you. Congratulations on the book.

BOXER: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

BOXER: All right.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Soledad. In just a few moments, we're going to check in with the sheriff of St. Bernard Parish, Jack Stephens. He says he feels like this parish is being treated with benign neglect. We'll ask him about that, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com