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American Morning

12th Straight Night of Mayhem in France; President Bush: Campaign Asset or Liability?

Aired November 08, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. The 12th straight night of mayhem in France. Rioters burning 1,200 cars. Police are saying, though, that's actually a sign of improvement. We're live in France where police are being given new powers today.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. In Australia, a street brawl outside of the court as authorities make their case against 17 suspected terrorists caught with weapons, documents and the ingredients for powerful bombs.

S. O'BRIEN: And President Bush, campaign asset or liability? Two very important off-year elections today. And the results could be critical for the White House, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Those pictures of that brawl in Australia outside of the courthouse, pretty incredible.

M. O'BRIEN: It is. It is incredible. One of the many stories we are looking at this morning. And it's good to be back, by the way.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Side by side. It's been a long while.

S. O'BRIEN: I know, it has been a while. You were traveling, and then of course I had the torture -- I mean, the interesting task of interviewing in kindergarten.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't if everybody out there understands what it's like to get kids in kindergarten in New York. Some day we'll do a story on that.

S. O'BRIEN: A 15-parter.

Other stories to talk about, though, this morning. In all seriousness, as we've been reporting from France, a 12th night of rioting and arson, straight night, 1,200 cars burn. Now local government -- or local authorities, rather, are getting permission from the government to impose curfews. The rioting spreading from Paris all across the country. Two-hundred cities and towns are now involved. Jim Bittermann is live for us in Paris this morning.

Jim, good morning.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. In fact, people here, the authorities here, were saying that the rioting had diminished overnight, but the numbers really don't portray that at all. In fact, more than 300 arrests were made, nearly 1,200 vehicles burned, as you mentioned. In the worst single incident, a city bus was stopped by rioters. The passengers were ordered to get off, and then the bus was set on fire.

And as you said, the rioting has spread across the country. The government is quite alarmed. They're trying to impose order, but without much success.

The latest move took place this morning during an emergency cabinet meeting. Jacques Chirac, the president, ordered the cabinet to enact -- reenact, rather, a 1955 law which was put into place during the time of the Algerian Revolution, when there was a great deal of fear about contagions spreading here to France. And that law permits local mayors to enforce curfews. Already, even before the law was reenacted this morning, in fact, at least two mayors enacted curfews, imposed curfews in their areas. And in some areas, there are restrictions against the sale of gasoline in potable containers. This because of the number of molotov cocktails that have been thrown in the various suburbs -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, Jim, you look at these pictures, and I've got to tell you, anybody who's thinking about traveling to France, or anyone who would do business in France or anyone thinking anything about France has to be concerned. What's the impact been?

BITTERMANN: Well, I think this is what concerns a lot of French the most. I mean, the fact it does with any kind of a situation. You see the picture, you see the most dramatic things in the news reports. Life goes on as normal most everywhere else. So it is very damaging for the images.

And I talked to a sociologist this morning. And he said, yes, absolutely, this is a very image-conscious country. But one thing that should be said is what's being revealed here is the same sort of thing that's been revealed in other countries. In New Orleans, when there was the flood, people realized that there was underclass in the United States that had been suffering for many years. And then the bombs go off in London. The British model of integration doesn't seem to have worked. Same thing is being talked about here, that basically a lot of countries, the way people handle immigration has failed -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we'll see if they're able to bring it under control because, obviously, as things continue on, the message certainly here and in other parts of the world is not a positive one.

Jim Bittermann is reporting to us from France today. Thanks, Jim -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A little closer to home. Survivors of Indiana's deadly tornado getting a look what is left this morning. What's left, in many respects, just bits and pieces; 600 homes either heavily damaged or destroyed outright, 22 are dead. Most of the dead lived in the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, just north of the Kentucky state line in Evansville, Indiana. Ed Lavandera is there.

Ed, what's the scene there this morning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Well, the sun is starting to come up this morning, and we're back out here at this mobile-home park. And we've been restricted to -- we are actually not allowed to go in there, so this is the best vantage point we can provide to you.

But yesterday afternoon, the sheriff did walk us in and we walked through the damage, and it was clearly devastating. In places where these mobile homes once sat, in many places, no signs of the homes even exist. They're just shattered into bits and pieces, and all that's left is the concrete slabs where they once stood. The search continues for a couple of people. They say they have whittled down the list of those unaccounted for to about four or five people. That is down from the number of 200 which we had Sunday night. So things moving faster there.

Of course the one area of concern still remains this pond which is on the other edge of where we're standing of this mobile home park. It's a six-foot deep pond by about 100, 150 yards. Authorities wanted to drain that pond out to make sure there was no one in there. They had hoped that wasn't going to be the case, but yesterday afternoon, they found the 18th victim in that pond yesterday, so they will continue to drain it. It will take another four or five hours to do so. Of course, the hope is no more bodies will be found here, because all of this has already taken an exacting toll on law enforcement and the rescue crews out here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALE NAYLOR, ASST. CHIEF, KNIGHT TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPT.: It's been very tough on the rescue personnel -- EMS, fire, police. We are still running on adrenaline. We had a lot of guys that saw a lot of death, and a lot of agony and a lot of families that were separated. So it's going to take its toll.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Miles, nothing really brings home the devastation that you see here. You know, we were shocked by this we found yesterday, which is a birthday card from a great grandmother to her great grandchild, saying happy first birthday, and saying that in the card that she had included a silver dollar for her grandchild to keep. You know you see things like this lying around, and you wonder where that silver dollar is and whether or not these families will be able to salvage any of this so they can continue to have it for the future -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I would think just having the card is worth saving as well.

Ed Lavandera, thank you very much -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Well, it is Election Day, and President Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be watching the returns very closely tonight. No, neither man is on the ballot. AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace has more on that.

Obviously lots at stake for the two of them.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lots at stake indeed. And let's start with President Bush, because both parties, Democrats and Republicans, Soledad, will be looking at the results of the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia to see, hey, will this impact the congressional races next year? And also, does it say anything about the president's sagging popularity rating?

First, let's go to Virginia, where you have an extremely close race between the Democratic Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore, who is the former state attorney general. What's interesting here is Kilgore got some last-minute help from President Bush last night, a get-out-the-vote rally. The president going to Virginia on his way back to Washington from Latin America.

And, Soledad, what is interesting is that Kilgore a month ago did not attend a President Bush event in Virginia, so everybody was saying, does this mean he's trying to stay away from the president, who has some problems? His aides say that was sort of a nonpolitical event. But no matter what, by having President Bush there in Virginia, he could get some credit or the blame if Kilgore does not win.

S. O'BRIEN: Every analyst is watching that tonight, absolutely.

Let's talk about the race for governor in New Jersey. I mean, you've got two guys, both gajillionaires, and boy, is it getting ugly.

WALLACE: So nasty. Maybe one of the nastier races we have seen. You have had negative advertising for weeks. You have had allegations of extramarital affairs. Both men answering those questions. You have Democratic Senator Jon Corzine up against Doug Forrester, a race that is close, although Corzine is leading in most polls.

And what's interesting here, as well, President Bush a factor, because Corzine has been trying to die Doug Forrester to President Bush. He has been using that in advertisements. He has been saying the two men are linked together. Do you support President Bush? If you do, then you should vote for Doug Forrester. If you don't support President Bush, you should vote for me. This is a Democratic stronghold, New Jersey, so if Corzine loses, it would be a big upset.

And we should mention, for Virginia, which went Republican in 2000 and 2004, if it doesn't go Republican, there could be a question about President Bush's status there.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger, as we mentioned. He also is not up for election, but he's got some ballot initiative, and that's what people are going to be voting on today. WALLACE: Exactly, and he has pushed for the special election and called for these ballot initiatives. A couple of them include, number one, restricting state spending, giving the governor more budget power. Also deciding who should basically draw legislative boundaries for districts. And also an issue about union dues. Should unions or public employees have to get written consent of their employees before spending dues on public campaigns.

What's interesting here, Soledad, polls pretty much showing that his ballot initiatives not doing well. At the same time, his popularity has pretty much been plummeting. And so you have a lot of analysts saying, could he even win reelection. So political future very much on the line today.

S. O'BRIEN: Right, hangs on the balance of these union dues issues.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: Analysts are going to have a field day at the end of the night tonight, aren't they?

WALLACE: We do love Election Day, don't we?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you do.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Kelly, thank you very much -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Don't stay up too late now.

WALLACE: I won't.

M. O'BRIEN: U.S. and Iraqi forces going after insurgents near the Syrian border for the fourth day now. The fighting is street by street and house to house. One Marine is dead, 36 insurgents killed.

CNN producer Arwa Damon is in embedded with the U.S. troops in Husayba, Iraq. She joins us on the phone now.

Arwa, tell us what's going on there right, now?

ARWA DAMON, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Miles, actually the frontline right now as we speak is quite quiet, although this can always change at any moment in time. U.S. forces and Iraqi army soldiers are continuing to push through the city. I'm watching the amtrax (ph) go by, the Humvees go by, the Marines and Iraqi army soldiers go house to house searching. They're uncovering weapon caches, as they have in other parts of the city.

And this morning, they found an IED factory of propane tanks packed with C-4 ready to explode at any moment.

Now let me point out, though, the battle here can change at any moment. Today's frontline is very different than yesterday. Yesterday's frontline was an ongoing battle, gunfire that rang throughout the entire city. U.S. forces and Iraqi soldiers coming under RPG attacks, small-arms fire, at times from locations as near as 100 meters, about 300 feet away right in front of them.

And let me just point out something that is interesting in this battlefield for viewers who might not be so familiar with what they're calling straight-up urban combat, is when an enemy fires upon advancing coalition forces from these close locations, the forces will fire back, but also, at the same time, they do continue to push forward. They will push forward toward that target building. And in this kind of urban combat, where the buildings are very close to each there other, where the streets are very narrow, it's oftentimes a very tense experience as they move forward towards these known enemy positions, never knowing what's waiting for them around the corner.

And the kind of enemy that they're fighting here are those that will fight to the death. There have been few instances where Marines and Iraqi army soldiers have gone into buildings, have cleared them, found one lost room, one lost door, gone to open it, and there's been an insurgent or two hiding inside to fire upon them -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Arwa Damon, embedded with U.S. troops as that offensive continues. Thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's turn to Australia now. Officials say a major terrorist ring is busted, 17 men under arrest, suspected of planning a terror attack, possibly bombings, they say. Police say they found the same chemical that was used in the London train bombings, as well as some guns and travel documents, too. And while prosecutors took up the case, there was a little bit of drama outside of the courthouse.

That scuffle there involved some of the associates of the men who are suspected in the case. Apparently, they thought reporters were getting a little bit too close and that is when punches, and furniture and other things started to fly. Quite a mess there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, more on that deadly tornado in Evansville, Indiana. We'll have an update from the sheriff on the recovery efforts there.

S. O'BRIEN: And then we're talking to Senator John McCain. The question, of course, that we're going to put to him, prewar intelligence about Iraq. What was known and what's happening now with secret prisons. Senator John McCain has written a book. We'll talk with him about all that just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And the meltdown of New Orleans 911 system. Congress set aside millions to fix outdated systems all across the country. So why wasn't any of it spent? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: When you look at these pictures, this is Evansville, Indiana, the Eastbrook Mobile Home. It is what it looks like now. Obviously just obliterated, almost wiped off the map. You can see just some of the places where the mobile homes were, and that';s it. That's all that's left. The tornado that hit there late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, killed 22 people in all. The tornado crossed the Ohio River from Kentucky, then slammed into Ellis Park. Three horses were killed there at a horse farm, then it went five more miles to the Eastbrook Mobile Home in Evansville.

The Vanderburgh county sheriff, Brad Ellsworth is there this morning, and he joins us with an update.

Sheriff Ellsworth, thank you for talking with us. Good morning to you.

SHERIFF BRAD ELLSWORTH, VANDERBURGH COUNTY, INDIANA: You're welcome. Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: The pictures over your shoulder look so bad. What's the status of what's happening? I know you're still searching for survivors hopefully. How many people are still missing? How many people are you looking for?

ELLSWORTH: Well, we really don't expect to find any more survivors. We'd love that, but we don't expect to.

The number of missing actually is fluctuating. Last night, about 9:00, we had nobody accounted for. And then after that news announcement, we got two more phone calls with about six more people that we'll have to look for. Any time somebody calls in and gives us a name or somebody we don't know where they are, we add them to the list and then try to find them so we can knock them back off the list.

S. O'BRIEN: So you're searching for six people right now.

ELLSWORTH: That's correct.

S. O'BRIEN: There was a pond that I guess you're in the process of draining. Where does that stand right now? I know you've found some bodies there.

ELLSWORTH: That's correct. We found four bodies originally back in this body of water that were just inside the water. Yesterday as we began to drain the lake, we did find the body of another victim of this storm, and so we're going to drain it all the way down to the mud, just to make sure there's nobody else in that water.

S. O'BRIEN: You got hundreds of homes across two counties that have been, I mean, as we can see behind you, just absolutely obliterated. I've heard some reports, though, that people are going to be allowed to come back to some of the homes that are less damaged or undamaged. Is that right? does That start today?

ELLSWORTH: It's actually going to start tomorrow and the next day. We're going to take a methodical method of taking them through there. They'll check in, will be allowed then to go in. And even the people that totally lost their homes, we know that's going to be an important part of this process, to let the victims back in here to try to find pictures, mementos, family albums, and just things that make them feel better, and so we're going to escort those people back in and give them a chance to come in and collect belongings. We think that's an important thing.

S. O'BRIEN: The scene is almost breathtaking in its scope. And then you read these stories about really generations. I mean, a grandmother, and a grandchild and a child all killed in these tornadoes. Give me a sense of how it looks where you are.

ELLSWORTH: Well, I mean, it's devastating. We know in natural disasters this is not on the level of Katrina. It's -- our area is very confined, and -- but it's devastating to this community. You know, young children. I know the firefighters, the original responders, they're shook up. This is their job. They do it. They do it because they love to help people, but when you pull a young child out of the rubble, or someone dies in your arms, it's devastating, and these guys need to be commended.

S. O'BRIEN: I got to ask you about the sirens, and you know there have been lots of questions about whether the sirens went off, were they as loud as they should have been? Some slept through them, because of course it happened from Saturday night to Sunday morning really. Are you investigating those claims right now?

ELLSWORTH: Well, we will look back. We know the sirens did sound. We have people, even volunteer firemen, that the sirens woke them up. I don't believe -- And we will look back at this and debrief all of that, but you know, there's a lot of counties (INAUDIBLE). In this situation, the way this dropped in, I'm not sure if you had a siren sitting in the middle of the mobile home park that it would have helped at this point. Eleven-minute warnings in this type community, in the middle of fields, I'm not sure where you would have gone with 11 minutes of notice.

It's just Mother Nature dealt us the most horrible blow here, and we are unfortunate it hit right here.

S. O'BRIEN: It's terrible. You hear people telling the story about how, you know, with 11 minutes to go, and as you say, you're out in the middle of a field, and they almost couldn't do anything. They didn't even know what the first step would be.

Sheriff Brad Ellsworth is with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department in Indiana. Thank you for talking with us. I know you're real busy this morning. We appreciate it -- Miles.

ELLSWORTH: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, you want to watch a little more AMERICAN MORNING? Put a quarter in the TV set. That's maybe what the world is coming to.

S. O'BRIEN: I like this idea!

S. O'BRIEN: Would you be willing to pay for TV shows that you get for free? Two networks are banking on that notion. The story is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: OK, this next segment will cost you 25 cents. Put it in now, please. Andy Serwer is here with business. Actually, Andy, you're worth 50 cents.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Thank you, Miles. You're worth 75.

M. O'BRIEN: We're talking about CBS and NBC, right?

SERWER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And they are going to offer up, what, 99 cents for a program for those of you who can't figure out how to work your DVR or your TIVO essentially, right?

SERWER: Yes, and this is a big deal, because it's the first time these two television networks are allowing for what amounts to pay- per-view, a novel idea, being able to watch your favorite shows when you want to do this. Here's how these two deals work. CBS is making a deal with Comcast, and that will allow you to watch shows like "CSI," and Survivor," and "The Amazing Race." You pay 99 cents, and you're allowed to basically rent them for a week after they air on the West Coast. NBC has a deal with Direct TV allowing you to watch shows on those networks, and you can see there...

M. O'BRIEN: With the commercials, right?

SERWER: With the commercials, but you can zip through them.

M. O'BRIEN: Which is of course part of the problem.

SERWER: Right, it challenges the whole TV business model, because it's partially funded by, or in fact completely funded by advertising. So it's a big deal. But you have to wonder, are they too late? Because if this is something you really have wanted to do, wouldn't you already have a TIVO or DVR?

M. O'BRIEN: One would think. And the whole notion of primetime, of programming, of stacking shows is just getting eroded step by step, isn't it?

SERWER: Right, and we saw this also with ABC, because they made a similar deal with iTunes, with apple, being able buy their show. So it really does call into business the whole business, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next couple of years. It's a big step, I think.

M. O'BRIEN: It's good we're live, don't you think.

SERWER: We are live.

M. O'BRIEN: Live, so you can't time shift that, can't you?

All right, Andy Serwer, thanks very much.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, did the White House twist intelligence to justify the war in Iraq? One of the senators investigating all that will join us. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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