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American Morning

In Pakistan, U.S. Diplomat, Three Others Killed in Explosions; More Questions About Crisis Management at White House Day Before Katrina Hit

Aired March 02, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: More questions about crisis management at the White House on the day before Hurricane Katrina hit. What did the President know, and when did he know it?

COSTELLO: President Bush in India right now, and he has a new agreement in hand on nuclear technology.

O'BRIEN: An American diplomat in a deadly ambush in Pakistan. Security concerns ahead of the president's arrival there.

COSTELLO: And Oklahoma residents forced TO flee as wildfires rage across the plains.

O'BRIEN: And Randy McCloy, the lone survivor of the Sago mine tragedy is recovering. His wife tells us how he is doing here on AMERICAN MORNING in just a little bit.

We begin this hour in Pakistan, where a U.S. diplomat and three others were killed in a pair of explosions. It comes two days before the president is planned to visit Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. The explosions in Karachi just minutes apart in a Marriott parking lot next to the American consulate. About four dozen people were injured in those blasts. President Bush says terrorists and killers won't prevent him from visiting Pakistan.

We get more on this attack and how it is affecting the president's schedule, perhaps. Right now, the president is in New Delhi, India. That's where we find CNN's Elaine Quijano.

Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles. And President Bush is not canceling his trip. In fact, he says the attack in Pakistan shows that the war on terror continues, and that countries have to come together to fight terrorism.

Now, the president is, of course, here in the region to strengthen ties with India, Pakistan, and as we saw yesterday, Afghanistan as well. His visit is taking place amid some heavy security and despite the attack in Pakistan, the president says he will not be deterred from visiting that country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan. It's -- my trip to Pakistan is an important trip. It's important to talk with President Musharraf about continuing our fight against terrorists. After all, he has had a direct stake in this fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: And those internal problems for Pervez Musharraf are a big part of the reason President Bush wants to make a point to go there. He wants to ensure that in the face of such strong opposition that Pervez Musharraf remains a strong ally, and that Pakistan remains an ally that the White House can count on in the terrorism fight -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Elaine, the president and the Indian prime minister announced a historic nuclear agreement. Tell us about it.

QUIJANO: Well, there has, of course, been some controversy about this. Critics are saying that this is to reward India's bad behavior, as they see it. A longstanding concern is that India will not sign on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. India won't give up it's nuclear programs. Those programs aren't going to be subject to inspection.

Nevertheless, this deal for civilian nuclear energy purposes has moved forward. Here's a look at what the deal includes. The United States will share nuclear know-how and fuel with India. Also, India will be required to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs, and India will have to take steps to ensure safeguards through the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA.

Miles, the Bush administration basically insisting here that this deal is progress. They say that it will encourage India to perhaps think about its nuclear weapons program in a different way -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano, thank you very much -- Carol.

COSTELLO: More politics now. Six months after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, more evidence of the apparent government confusion about it. The details come in a newly released videotaped, videotaped transcripts of conferences held August 28th and the 29th, the day Katrina roared ashore.

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken live in Washington to tell us more.

Hey, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

There's some new material, particularly in the transcripts that came out of a meeting at noon on the 29th of August. The president was not in attendance, but there was a lot of congratulation going on. State and federal officials trading terms like "just outstanding," responding to the hurricane, and "an excellent job." That's right, an excellent job. And the governor of Louisiana saying, quote, "We have not breached the levees at this point of time." So there was kind of a bit of confusion at that meeting.

Now on tape of the meeting the day before where the president did attend by video conference, we saw some misplaced optimism at the very highest levels, optimism that turned out to be premature.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepared.

FRANKEN (voice-over): The president's reassurances as Hurricane Katrina roared closer to shore were in sharp contrast to the warnings he was getting.

MAX MAYFIELD, NATL. HURRICANE CENTER: I don't think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but that's obviously a very, very grave concern.

FRANKEN: In the months of recrimination, the administration insisted it had insufficient warning. There was, as the homeland security director has since put it, "the fog of war obscuring chaos on the ground."

MICHAEL BROWN, FMR. FEMA DIR.: Kind of gross here, but I'm concerned about MDMS and medical and demort assets and their response to a catastrophe within a catastrophe.

BROWN: I don't buy the fog of war defense. In fact, if anything, it was a fog of bureaucracy.

FRANKEN: The president's defenders insists these tapes, that have been seen before, demonstrate that he was not, as often depicted, out of the loop, but "fully engaged at all times," as a White House spokesman put.

Others, however, see and hear something quite different.

MYR. RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: Well, the realization that there was full awareness prior to the storm, and that there was a promise to do whatever it took, and I did not see that executed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And there's strong evidence, Carol, that this day, even six months later, still has not been executed.

COSTELLO: OK, I've questions, Bob. First of all, why did this tape suddenly pop up? Who had it? Who released it? And why are they getting so much attention now?

FRANKEN: Well, first of all, it re-popped up. This is something that has been seen over the months on CNN, have broadcast reports about parts of it.

But the reason for the attention now is that this is the six- month anniversary of Katrina. There's been a tremendous amount of attention paid. The Congress and White House even have talked about the mistakes that were made, so in that context, it becomes newsworthy again.

Bob Franken live in Washington this morning, thanks.

O'BRIEN: Two days after Mardi Gras, a grim scene in New Orleans. In the devastated Ninth Ward. A search resumes. Teams with dogs trained to sniff out bodies head out this morning. Keith Oppenheim live in the Ninth Ward with more on this.

It's now been six months since Katrina, Keith. What is the purpose of this search now?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, today they're going to have a group of 60 firefighters with cadaver dogs, Miles, and they want to search for the dead before demolition begins. They'll be going through places like the one you see behind me, and searching for potentially dozens of dead bodies either in homes or under piles of debris.

Now, I'll take you back to video from the fall when there were similar searches with cadaver dogs, but now there's some urgency to this specifically, because demolition could get under way in the Lower Ninth Ward over the next few weeks. And as a result, the state medical examiner, Louis Cataldie, has assembled a team from Maine, from Georgia, and Missouri, as well as local firefighters, and he explained how they go about it and that they are going to look through painstakingly on this very tough task.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LOUIS CATALDIE, LOUISIANA MEDICAL EXAMINER: Our function is to go in, to recover the human remains, to put those human remains in a body bag, and bring them back for identification. We do have chaplains in the field, and they will be saying a universal prayer of thanks of each remain that are found, the same prayer utilized at the World Trade Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: Miles, after the Lower Ninth Ward body searches are done, probably an eight-week process, two other New Orleans neighborhoods, Gentilly and Lakeview, are also up for more body searches. And Cataldie explained to us that sometimes it can take a day and a half just to go through one house, because, as you can see behind me, the rubble is all on top of itself, and it's very tough to find the remains.

Back to you.

O'BRIEN: Keith Oppenheim, the Ninth Ward, thank you - Carol.

COSTELLO: Some fitful for residents of Miami, New Mexico, as firefighters fought to contain a 12,000-acre wildfire. Residents of the farming and ranching community back in their homes this morning after firefighters contained about 20 percent of the fire. Dry conditions have increased dangers of wildfires.

Talking about wildfires, in Oklahoma, residents are getting out of the way at grassland fires. Two firefighters were caught in the fires and burned. One is in critical condition this morning. More than 500 people have been forced out of their homes in Duncan and the nearby town of Meridian.

Live now to CNN's Christopher King in Duncan.

Chris, bring us up to date.

CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. As you said, more than 500 people have been evacuate from their homes and towns, like Duncan and Meridian and the surrounding areas.

Officials tell us most of those people are back in their homes. They say the fires are under control. A Duncan spokesman tells us that officials believe that arson may be at work here. One person is in custody. Another person is being sought.

Now, take a look at this over here. As you can see, these are live pictures, these are live flames. As you can see, these flames are still burning here in Duncan. Smoke was billowing up into the air. As we swing the camera over here a little bit, we can see the fires are about maybe 50 yards away from somebody's home over here, but these folks who say they're not too worried because they believe that the fires are being contained by some cement around that fire. There are now many homes that have been destroyed.

A local air ambulance service tells us that one person had to be medevaced out. A Duncan township spokesman tells us that that one person was a firefighter. Now, another firefighter they say had just suffered burns, and he is in satisfactory condition right now.

A lack of rain and high winds are fueling these fires. High temperatures, of course, are fueling the fires as well. The temperatures have reached up to about 90 degrees, but it's a little bit cooler out right now.

Now, this part of the state, southern Oklahoma, had been hit a couple of months ago, back in December, by wildfires. Back then, dozens of homes were destroyed and thousands of acres were burned -- Carol. COSTELLO: Christopher, you say arson. You say one suspect is in custody. Do we know who that suspect is, and how exactly he allegedly started the fire?

KING: Yes, officials don't have many more details than that. All they can tell us so far is that one person is in custody. They didn't have an identity. They didn't have a name. They couldn't even tell us whether that person was male or female. They said that person is in custody right now being questioned, and that one other person is being sought after.

COSTELLO: Well, hopefully we'll know more about in 30 minutes, Christopher, because we're going to ask a spokesman for the Duncan Fire Department about how firefighters are handling those wildfires and, of course, we'll ask about that suspect and how he may allegedly have started that fire.

Let's head to the Forecast Center now to check on those high winds in Oklahoma to see if they've died down. Hello, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Chad, do you remember J-Mac?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: J-Mac? No.

O'BRIEN: J-Mac. You may not recall the name. You will remember the buckets. We will show you the streak right now. 17-year-old -- well, we'll show you in a second. Jason McElwain, he's back on the bench as the team manager. I don't get this. All-around motivator as well for his high school basketball team. That's the team in Greece Athena team of Rochester.

He has autism. He returned to the sidelines this week wearing the shirt and tie cheering on his teammates. Here is what we all remember J-Mac for. There it is. Now you remember, Chad? Two weeks ago, 20 points in just four minutes got in at the tail end of a game. Six three-pointers. Set some records.

MYERS: There you go.

O'BRIEN: Yes. I mean, so we all were wondering and we continue to wonder why ...

COSTELLO: Why is he back on the bench?

O'BRIEN: Give that he kid a contract, right? I don't quite understand this. Maybe he can't play in the championships because he didn't play enough time in the regular season.

There's probably some little rule like that or something like that, but it has led to a flood of interest. Of course, Hollywood wants to tell his story, of course. Jason -- well naturally, right? You can't make this stuff up.

COSTELLO: It's one game. O'BRIEN: I know. Well, you can embellish that a little bit. Anyway, he is all about his team, and after winning in its semifinal, final game on Tuesday, they will be playing for the championship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MCELWAIN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I'm just so proud of these guys. Our dream was to get a section title all along so now we're in the finals, now is our chance. It's our chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. J-Mac has -- yes, we told you, he has autism. And he has talked with Soledad, and he is just -- he's so -- well, he is a charming kid.

COSTELLO: He is charming, and he is certainly a motivator, so hopefully they will make that movie. It'd be awesome.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Coming up, we're going to talk to the wife of the only survivor from the Sago Mine tragedy. It's the first time she's spoken nationally since he was moved to rehab. She'll give us the latest on his prognosis.

O'BRIEN: Plus, Andy biting your business. One state is taking legal action to stop one of the biggest pet peeves for shoppers.

COSTELLO: And later, Hollywood versus the Heartland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the Bible Belt. We're still looking for movies that have creative substance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: We'll look at why middle America isn't buying what Hollywood is selling. We're talking about the Oscar disconnect. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It's been two months now since the Sago Mine accident, and the sole survivor, Randy McCloy, we're told is doing much better.

Joining us now from Morgantown, West Virginia, Randy McCloy's wife, Anna, and two of his doctors, neurosurgeon Julian Bailes, and Russell Biundo, medical director of HealthSouth. Good to have you all with us this morning.

Anna, I would like to begin with you. How is Randy doing?

ANNA MCCLOY, RANDY MCCLOY'S WIFE: Very well. He has -- he talks in conversation, answers questions appropriately, has good humor, and his personality is coming through.

O'BRIEN: Well, that's great. Tell me what kinds of conversations you have? Just normal stuff? Has he talked about the accident at all?

MCCLOY: Just basic day-to-day conversation, and he does talk a little about the accident. I don't push him on it, and I don't ask him questions when he talks. I just listen and ...

O'BRIEN: What has he been able to tell you? What have you been able to learn?

MCCLOY: Just basically that, you know, he just told me that it just comes to him in bits and pieces. He doesn't remember everything and just talks about that it was tragic and about how he couldn't breathe.

O'BRIEN: And what has it been like for you going through this horrible ordeal?

MCCLOY: Very hard. Just sitting by his bedside just waiting for him to talk and to see something from him, and finally I have that. I have him talking. I have his personality coming, and that's what my main goal was, and I'm getting that.

O'BRIEN: It must be heartening to see. How are the kids doing?

MCCLOY: The kids are doing very well, especially now that he can talk and he recognizes them.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It must have been hard for them if daddy doesn't recognize you. That must have been tough, so that has got to be a big thing for them.

MCCLOY: Yes, and trying to explain to them why daddy, you know, wouldn't -- couldn't talk to them and everything, that was the hardest.

O'BRIEN: That's tough. Yes. Let's shift it over to Dr. Bailes here.

Dr. Bailes, just give us a sense -- brain injuries are -- it's difficult to predict the prognosis, I know. I know we know a lot more than we did, but it still is tough. Give us a sense of where Randy is right now and where you think he is headed. Is he on a track toward greater improvement?

DR. JULIAN BAILES, NEUROSURGEON: Well, as you know, he is a very long survivor, one of the longest we know of ever, 42 hours in the mine, given all the conditions and the carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide affects and damages the white matter of the brain and it demyelinates it. It takes away its sheath.

Early on we began him on high doses of DHA, which is an essentially fatty acid, to rebuild that myelin sheath. I think maybe that's helped. we also have had excellent care from the nurses and doctors in the acute hospitalization, and now in rehabilitation. And what we're trying to do is get those white matter tracks to reconnect, and I think we have evidence that they are. It can affect his motor function, his speech, his personality, memory. All these things seem to be coming back really ahead of schedule.

O'BRIEN: Are there any limitations to his recovery at this point?

BAILES: I don't think so. I think he has exceeded our expectations thus far. I think Dr. Biundo, with his experience, can tell you that as well, but I don't see any limitations. Naturally we don't know. And carbon monoxide poisoning tends to have a lot of potential long-term effects, even slight effects, so we don't know the particulars.

But thus far, I think we can say without question he is way ahead of schedule.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Biundo, let's turn it over to you and talk about the therapy. How can -- how are doctors there helping hasten that healing process?

BIUNDO: Well, the rehabilitation process, it takes a group. It's a multi-disciplinary approach. We work very diligently with Randal. Randal is hardworking. He's made a miraculous recovery. He continues to improve. The therapist work with him. They help him stand. He's starting to ambulate. They work in terms of trying to facilitate his speech. He is able to articulate his needs. He's able to tell you if he is feeling pain. He tells you if he is hungry. And he tells you he doesn't like the hospital food.

O'BRIEN: That's a good sign. That's a very good sign there.

BIUNDO: That's the best sign in the world. Yes, sure is. So it's a whole team effort. The family is an integral part, and the skill and the experience of everyone involved and -- it's been remarkable. We still have a lot more work. He'll continue to improve. As I said before, day by day, step by step, we see glimpses of Randal and his personality. His humor is amazing.

O'BRIEN: That's great.

BIUNDO: And his sense of him, himself, as a as a father and as a husband.

O'BRIEN: Let's turn it over and finish up here with Anna.

Anna, there's a report out this morning. "The New York Times" compiled some of the safety violations and fines at Sago in particular, and the mines in general, and they said there were no less than 273 citations at that mine since 2004, but the fines exceeded. The greatest one was all of $460, which is just, you know, just a fraction of what the value of that mine is.

I'm just curious in general, if you have some concerns, and the more you learn about safety at Sago, if you have concerns that the company was not being carefully about safety for Randy and the others. MCCLOY: My main focus has been on Randy. But I have thought a little bit about the mines there and everything, and I believe they were safe as they should have been, and I don't believe that precautions were followed like they should have been before.

O'BRIEN: And so are you going to do something about that? Have you thought about that far? What are you going to do?

MCCLOY: I'm really unsure of what I'm going to do at this point right now. As I said, my focus is toward Randy, and I haven't though about anything else other than that.

O'BRIEN: And that is understandable. And we're glad to hear that things are going well for you and your family.

MCCLOY: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: And we wish you and Randy and everybody continued success there.

MCCLOY: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us. Anna McCloy, and doctors Julian Bailes and Russell Biundo, thanks for being with us on AMERICAN MORNING -- Carol.

COSTELLO And is "Minding Your Business" in just a minute. He'll tell us how one state wants to clean up one of the biggest pet peeves for shoppers, grocery store shoppers. Maybe you know what I'm talking about.

Plus, those troubling new transcripts from that Katrina video conference. The potential political fallout for the White House. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

SERWER: Coming up on the program, more on that FEMA video conference in the days before Katrina. It could be another major embarrassment for the White House. We'll look at the political fallout. Plus, Hollywood versus the Heartland. Why middle America just is not into gay cowboys, I guess. I don't know. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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