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The Situation Room
Possible Deal in Nuclear Standoff With Iran; Is U.S. Ready for Another Katrina?
Aired June 01, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: To our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you tonight's top stories.
Happening now -- a deal and a possible deadline in the Iran nuclear standoff. It's 1:00 a.m. Friday in Vienna where world powers now have a plan to try to get Iran to back down. We'll have a live report on the latest developments and a new timetable for Tehran to respond.
Also this hour, new warnings on the first day of the hurricane season. It is 6:00 p.m. in New Orleans where they learned lessons about the storm safety situation the hard way. Is America ready for another Katrina? I'll ask the top hurricane expert and the new FEMA director.
And it's 7:00 p.m. in Gotham City where the comic book hero is making a comeback but the comic book superhero isn't the woman she used to be and it is quite a controversy. I'm Wolf Blitzer and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Right now six major world powers are giving Iran an ultimatum. And one U.S. official says Iran has weeks to stop the nuclear showdown. After intense negotiations in Vienna, Austria, the six nations offered Iran this deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGARET BECKETT, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: We are prepared to resume negotiations should Iran resume suspension of all enrichment related and reprocessing activities as required by the IAEA and we would also suspend action in the Security Council.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And the British foreign secretary says that the Iranians will suffer if they don't accept this deal. No specifics, presumably though, they are going to go back to the U.N. Security Council to try to impose sanctions.
Though Iran will receive benefits if it does stop its nuclear activity it will face the consequences, she says, if Iran does not. Today Iran's foreign minister told the nation's state run media Iran flatly rejects yesterday's U.S. offer to return to multilateral talks and that prompted this flat response from President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to solve this problem diplomatically and I want to solve it peacefully. And the best thing for Iranians to understand is that if they choose not to suspend and if they continue their obstinance, if they continue to say the world we don't care when your opinion is then the world is going act in concert. And the next step of acting is to go to the United Nations Security Council.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Our White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is keeping track of the White House strategy but there are also fresh developments this hour in Vienna. Let's begin our coverage with CNN national security correspondent David Ensor. He is on the phone joining us from Vienna. David, what are you hearing?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Wolf, a senior U.S. administration official has been talking to some reporters here giving us a bit and fleshing out this story a bit for us. He says within a matter of days Iran will be presented with this package of incentives and disincentives and it is expected to respond.
It will be required to respond within weeks. Not months. He said that by the St. Petersburg summit, G-8 Summit in mid-July there definitely needs to be an answer.
The official said the U.S. was very satisfied with the results of this. It is a document, Wolf. It is five or six pages long, I'm told. It is written down. They are particularly satisfied with the way Russia and China have supported taking punitive measures if it comes to that which are, in fact, detailed in the document we're told.
Undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns said on the record that the United States is very satisfied by the results. He called it a step forward. Wolf?
BLITZER: David Ensor on the scene for us in Vienna. Let's go to the White House right now. Our correspondent Elaine Quijano is getting reaction from there as well. Elaine?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the White House is remaining notably quiet on this announcement but this is the image that officials here wanted to see. A scenario where the United States is now able to stand shoulder to shoulder with key allies in presenting this offer to Iran. A united front, if you will.
Up until now there had an open question as to whether or not Russia and China which opposed sanctions had changed their minds. Now we hear the new developments from David Ensor. We know that President Bush himself personally lobbied the leaders of Russia and China earlier this week. What is interesting to note with this announcement is simply the physical space, if you will. Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state not the one who made the announcement as we saw just a moment ago. In fact it was the British foreign secretary. That seemingly meant to underscore United States message that essentially although it is willing to come to the negotiating table this in fact is not an issue simply between the U.S. and Iran and that in fact the world community is concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Elaine, thank you very much. What does the Bush administration hope to gain from this deal and these negotiations? Our senior national correspondent John Roberts is here in THE SITUATION ROOM with more on the White House strategy.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Wolf.
This is a very high stakes game of chess. The prize is the support of Europe, Russia and China. And with Iran's insistence it will not agree to talks with preconditions attached to them, the United States for the moment at least appears to be winning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): Iran's rejection of the White House offer was not just expected, it was part of the plan. According to administration officials the entire goal of this new overture was meant to heighten awareness of the world to Iran's intransigence.
KENNETH POLLACK, SABAN CENTER BROOKINGS INST.: In the eyes of Europe, China, Russia and in many other countries, it is going to look like Iran is the problem, like Iran that doesn't want to see a peaceful resolution to this process.
ROBERTS: What looks on the surface like a softening of the U.S. position, the offer of face-to-face talks, is actually just another play in the president's game of diplomatic hardball to force Iran to give up its nuclear program.
BUSH: If they choose not to suspend in a verifia -- if they continue their obstinance to say the world we don't care what your opinion is then the world is going to act in concert.
ROBERTS: The tricky part for the White House has been coming up with a set of punitive measures Russia and China could agree to. An oil export ban would have been the harshest, perhaps most effective penalty but sanctions experts Gary Hufbauer says because of its effect on the global economy that is off the table.
GARY HUFBAUER, INST. FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: If you put sanctions on oil experts I think the global pain is too great given they're already over $70 barrel and people are already screaming at the pump.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: One idea that's been talked about is possible an oil for food program like the one that was leveled in Iraq for years. More likely, though, says Hufbauer, would be sanction that would be targeted at Iran's ability to do business in the world such as freezing assets their abroad and denying visas and perhaps even sanctions that are personally aimed at Iran's elite such as denying their children entry into universities or private schools outside of Iran and maybe even denying them luxury items like Mercedes Benzes and air conditioners.
There's a lot out there they can do.
BLITZER: This is a tough decision for Iran right now to accept the conditions imposed by these six world powers.
ROBERTS: Considering that we don't know what the conditions are yet. We're kind of guessing at it. There is also that issue of what exactly did Russia and China sign onto. We won't know for a little while yet.
BLITZER: We'll get the details presumably in the coming days. Thanks very much, John, for that. Jack Cafferty is joining us from New York with the "Cafferty File." Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That oil for food thing didn't work so well in Iraq, did it?
BLITZER: Not so well.
CAFFERTY: Today is the first day of hurricane season and since fear is the coin of the realm and has been in this country for the last five years, well, it is time for all of us to start being afraid of something else. The media is littered with doom and gloom forecasts about death and destruction that's nowhere in sight and might not even come. It's never too soon to be afraid. What a joke.
That little rant aside, when Katrina crashed into New Orleans last year it wasn't just people who suffered and died. A lot of innocent animals were lost, as well. It is one thing if people choose to stay and shoot dice with the devil by remaining in the path of a hurricane. Presumably they have a choice but what about the animals? The critters?
They really do become helpless victims that are in many cases are overlooked and then left to die and that's just plain wrong. With that in mind the Humane Society which is one of the great charities in this country has organized something called the National Conference on Animals in Disaster. Officials say that pet care needs to be part of disaster planning or animal lovers will ignore evacuation orders and stay home with the critters. Here's the question. What kind of plans should pet owners make for the animals in the event of a disaster? Email your thoughts to caffertyfile@cnn.com or go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. We got a bunch of them around my house and it would be awful tough to walk away, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yeah, we saw tens of thousands of people who refused to leave because of their dogs or cats or other animals. The story resonates with a lot of people out there, Jack.
CAFFERTY: I'm sure; 358 million pets in this country.
BLITZER: Thank you Jack Cafferty.
Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the realities of fighting an insurgency. A group of U.S. marines now under investigation for a possible massacre in Iraq. Were they prepared for what they faced on the ground? We're taking a closer look.
And the forgotten war. We'll take you to the front lines of Afghanistan where the Taliban is making a comeback.
And with hurricane season now officially underway is the federal government ready for the next big one? I'll ask the head of the National Hurricane Center and the head of FEMA. And Anderson Cooper is standing by to join us live from New Orleans.
Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. The U.S. military is investigating whether or not U.S. marines killed 24 innocent Iraqi civilians in Iraq last November. Right now there are new developments to the story. U.S. military officials say troops will retake a course on military's legal, moral and ethical standards. Let's get some more specifics. Brian Todd is in the newsroom with details. Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the spokesman for the multinational force in Iraq put it bluntly. A U.S. service-member is not going to engage someone unless that person is what he called a hostile force. But many are asking are these new orders realistic on the battlefield?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): As they try to piece together what happened at Haditha, U.S. military officials say they are determined not to let it happen again. Announcing a new program, what they call core warrior values training.
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE/IRAQ SPOKESMAN: The legal, moral, and ethical standards that every military member should be adhering to on the battlefield.
TODD: But from Iraq to Vietnam combat veterans we spoke to say marines and soldiers have already gotten training in ethics and morality on the battlefield and have strong opinions on how this new program may work in situations like Haditha.
GARETT REPPENHAGEN, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: This ethical training that they are talking about right now is a temporary Band-Aid.
TODD: Garett Reppenhagen was an army sniper in Iraq. In battle zones like Baqubah, he says, his unit was ambushed several times. He says he killed civilians he thought were targeting his unit but turned out to be unarmed and he says moral and ethical training often breaks down in battle.
REPPENHAGEN: You're dealing with guerrilla warfare in a heavily urbanized environment where the combatants and the noncombatants are dressed the same way. You are being attacked by weapons with no distinguishable enemy.
TODD: In Vietnam, Rick Weidman served as an army medic in the same division as Lieutenant William Calley, who was convicted of murder in the My Lai massacre. Soldiers frustrated by the loss of five of their own entered a village of My Lai and killed hundreds of civilians. Weidman was not at My Lai but his unit was booby trapped and ambushed repeatedly with civilians often in the mix. Mention battlefield ethics to him and he recall as time he worked on a Vietnamese girl of about 12, wounded by American troops. The girl, he says, had no nose left. He was furious with his unit.
RICK WEIDMAN, VIETNAM VETERAN: Until I found out that they had pulled her out from -- She had opened up on our troops and killed four guys and wounded three others. So who is the enemy?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: But Weidman, Reppenhagen and other vets we spoke to were just as quick to say none of this stress excuses the marines alleged conduct at Haditha. They say morality training can work if it works with leadership of officers or combat team leaders in the field who can pull their troops back from these situations.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Brian, thank you very much.
Iraq isn't the only place where U.S. forces are facing an insurgency. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is in Afghanistan right now where the Taliban are fighting to make a comeback. Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is the war that is not Iraq but there are some similarities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Four and a half years after U.S. troops first came to Afghanistan this war is now being called an insurgency. The very word that has come to define that other war, the war in Iraq. The top U.S. military commander says now that the Taliban are fighting the legitimately elected government there is no choice but to call it that. This insurgency is unique.
LT. GEN. KARL EIKENBERRY, U.S. COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: We're talking about not a nationwide insurgency. We're talking about very localized insurgency.
STARR: It is mainly being fought in pockets across the most remote regions of eastern and southern Afghanistan where there are few police and troops. In those regions the Taliban are as brutal as ever in their terror tactics.
EIKENBERRY: We have seen over the past several months an increase on the attacks, for instance, on schools, burning schools down, killing school teachers, killing moderate mullahs.
STARR: For U.S. troops it is vital to understand the code of honor among the tribes in these mountains. First Lieutenant William Mariani was in a firefight just half a mile from the Pakistani border.
LT. WILLIAM MARIANI, 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION: Part of that belief system is that if you have a family member that may be involved with insurgent activity, they are not going to turn them in. If they are in that village they won't be, like, my brother or my cousin. They are not going to do that. They may do it in an indirect way by saying that -- they will come up and say there's an IED in the road up there. I can take you up to it.
STARR: Eikenberry plans to step up combat operations in the region but he's well aware that Taliban are just likely to appear in another area of the country. There is disturbing evidence these insurgents are in the fight for the long haul.
EIKENBERRY: We have seen an increase in the number of Taliban fighters. Sometimes formations of 50 Taliban fighters. Perhaps up to 100 Taliban fighters with better command and control than they've had in the past and with perhaps more fighting skills.
STARR: Complicating the security picture, the rioting here in Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: It's not clear the rioters were in any way linked to the Taliban or other insurgents. But this is the one place everyone thought was stable and the unrest here only adds to challenges for the coalition and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Wolf?
BLITZER: Barbara Starr doing some outstanding reporting for us from the scene in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai is condemning the use of gunfire by U.S. forces in Kabul on Monday. A U.S. military spokesman says soldiers fired in self-defense after rioting broke out when a military vehicle crashed into a crowd allegedly after its brakes failed. The Pentagon now investigating the incident.
Still to come tonight in THE SITUATION ROOM, the director of the National Hurricane Center, Max Mayfield. He is in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Plus the new head of FEMA also joining us. Is the federal government ready for the next major disaster? We'll ask some tough questions and go to Anderson Cooper who is live on the ground in New Orleans. We'll see if reality matches up with the official word.
Also, playing to the base. Immigration and same-sex marriage become hot topics to get out the vote. Jeff Greenfield looking into this story. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Tonight the politics of gay marriage and the culture wars. President Bush is planning a rose garden ceremony on Monday to try to promote a constitutional amendment banning same- sex marriage. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the issue next week. Some Republicans hope it will help close the widening cracks in conservative base but will it? Here is our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield.
Jeff?
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST: Wolf, it is the political megatheme of the moment. Republicans are said to want to gin up their unhappy base for the midterm elections by pounding away on hot button social issues like gay marriage and flag burning. OK. We'll play. Is it a plausible strategy? Has it worked in the past? Can it backfire? Let's check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD (voice-over): In 2004 the issue was gay marriage. After the Massachusetts Supreme Court ordered the state to sanction same-sex marriages 11 states voted on election day to define marriage as one man and one woman.
BUSH: The great state of Ohio.
GREENFIELD: Ohio was one of those states and the measure was credited or blamed for turning out enough social conservatives to give President Bush the state and thus the White House.
This year six states have same-sex marriage bans on the ballot but only one of them, Tennessee, has what can remotely be called a competitive senate race. For the record, Democratic candidate Harold Ford Jr. voted for a ban on same sex marriages. It is hard to see this swelling conservative turnout in other states.
While the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a constitution amendment banning gay marriage it will likely fail by a wide margin in the full Senate, taking a good bit of steam out of the issue.
OK. How about the flag? It clearly does pack an emotional political punch. Back in 1988, the first George Bush roundly criticized opponent Michael Dukakis for not requiring Massachusetts teachers to lead kids in the pledge of allegiance. Trips to flag factories were regular parts of Bush's campaign day.
But as for flag burning today, while most Americans find the idea highly offensive it has more or less disappeared from the protest landscape. One protect the flag group found a grand total of 33 acts of flag desecration in the last five years.
We certainly have seen hot button ballot issues affect elections in the past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They keep coming.
GREENFIELD: In 1994 California Governor Pete Wilson embraced proposition 187, crackdown on immigrants as part of his successful re- election strategy. Although it has cost Republicans heavily among Hispanic voters since.
And this year one of the California Democratic governors (sic), Controller Phil Angelides, is embracing a ballot proposal to hike tax on big oil companies.
But sometimes the ploy can backfire. In 1982 in California, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley backed a very tough gun restriction ballot proposal, and narrowly lost his bid for governor in part because of a huge turnout among gun owners.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: Now, it can happen that these kinds of issues can gain traction without any political strategy at work. For instance, if New York State's highest court decides there is a constitutional right to gay marriage, that could put the issue front and center again. Which is right where some Republican strategists want it.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Jeff Greenfield. Thank you.
And in another effort to appeal to his conservative base the president hosted a swearing in ceremony for a controversial and conservative new U.S. Appeals Court judge, Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh is a former White House aide who once worked for independent counsel Ken Starr during his investigations of President Clinton. Kavanaugh won confirmation despite critics saying he was too political and inexperienced for the bench.
Just ahead, New Orleans on alert as hurricane season begins. Anderson Cooper will join us live from the city still recovering from Katrina and I'll speak with the National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield about the storm warnings for this year.
And get this. Batwoman reveals her secret identity. She's not taking her mask off. She's coming out of the cave, or closet. The comic book controversy. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to THE SITUATION ROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. The National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield coming up in just a moment.
First though let's check in with our Zain Verjee once again from the CNN Center for a closer look at other important stories making news.
Hi, Zain. ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf. We're following a developing story this hour on a potential deal to end the nuclear standoff with Iran. The U.S. and five other world powers agreed to offer Iran incentives if it gives up its nuclear activities. Iran would face penalties if it does not stop manufacturing nuclear fuel.
Iran has always maintained it has a right to manufacture nuclear fuel. The diplomatic solution was announced after a meeting today in Vienna between the secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and foreign ministers from France, Germany, Russia and China.
President Bush is warning members of Congress that they have no excuse not to reach a compromise on immigration reform. House and Senate negotiators preparing to try and reconcile their vastly different bills.
Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Bush defended a measure opposed by the business community. It would essentially hold employers accountable for hiring illegal immigrants.
Tonight Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is ordering California National Guard troops to help patrol the Mexican border. After initial reservations, Schwarzenegger says he'll sign an agreement to supply 1,000 troops for President Bush's border security plan. The federal government will reimburse California for the cost. The governor also plans to sign a separate executive order to set an end date for the mission of December 31st, 2008.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is taking aim at Washington again. At an OPEC meeting in Caracas today, Chavez criticized what he called U.S. imperialism. He called President Bush, quote, "a threat to the world and he demanded that U.S. troops leave Iraq." Chavez also informally pushed for OPEC to reduce oil production and set a minimum price of $50 a barrel. OPEC ministers rejected that. Zain?
BLITZER: Zain, thank you very much. See you here in Washington tomorrow.
This is the first day of hurricane season and no city is more apprehensive about the coming storms than New Orleans. CNN's Anderson Cooper is there, he's standing by to join us live in just a few moments. First though, we asked the government's point man for hurricanes when we can expect the first storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: We're joined by one of the country's top experts, Max Mayfield is the director of the National Hurricane Center. He's joining us from Miami.
Mr. Mayfield, always good to have you on the program. Would it surprise you, now that the official hurricane season has started, if there were a tropical storm as early as next week?
MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, not much surprises me any more, Wolf. We may not have it next week. About every other year we'll have something in the month of June.
But the start of the hurricane program, and we've at this carefully, there's not a really good correlation between the hurricane season actually starts and the amount of activity that we end up with, you know, throughout the year. So even if we don't have too much in June, but even in July, we still don't want to let our guard down here. The peak of the season is August through October.
BLITZER: We've done some research over the past 25 years, and the first storm with the letter "A," Allison in 1995, hit as early, you probably remember, as June 3rd. Andrew in 1992 hit as late as August 16. Andrew, very close to your heart because it hit your home, I seem to recall.
MAYFIELD: Well, about half the staff here at the National Hurricane Center went through the eye wall of Hurricane Andrew, so we can certainly identify with the folks living in temporary housing. I mean, my wife and three kids and I were in a mobile home after Andrew.
And I know that we have 110,000 families in temporary housing, most in these FEMA trailers in Mississippi and Louisiana. I know exactly what they're thinking about. They're thinking about getting their homes rebuilt, their insurance settlements completed and just their livelihoods and things for their families.
They're not really focusing on hurricanes. I understand that. But it's very important for them to know that they need to get plans. They'll be the first people likely to evacuated. You can't stay in a mobile home or a trailer in a hurricane or even a strong tropical storm.
BLITZER: Last year Tropical Storm Arlene formed on June 9, and we all know it was a horrible hurricane season last year. The predictions, all the forecasts showed, could be very bad this year, as well. Should we simply assume it could happen any day this month?
MAYFIELD: Well, for the first storm, sure. We, you know, don't know -- we don't see anything on the horizon right now, but you know, we don't want to just focus on that first storm either. We've got six months ahead of us, and we need to be prepared.
BLITZER: Good point. Hurricane season goes from June 1 to November 30. You have some new technology that you've developed to help the American people out there be better prepared. I want you to show our viewers what you have.
MAYFIELD: Well, we do have some new probabilistic products this year. Here's one example. We're going to be able to show probabilities. I'm talking about storm force winds and hurricane force winds. Based on example from Katrina, the yellow for example there represents a 30 percent probability of hurricane force winds, and that will take some of the focus off of that skinny black line.
BLITZER: The whole nature of the technology and the forecasting, the American public, I have relatives who live in Florida. You live in Florida. They seem to think you guys know any -- know everything. And it creates what I suspect is a false sense of security, that people just sort of become nonchalant even after the disasters of last year.
MAYFIELD: And Wolf, I'm really concerned that the bar has been raised so high here that the forecast on Katrina and Wilma. We're not going to be that good every time. You know, we do the best we can. We try to make a perfect forecast. The atmosphere is unbelievably complex.
We know that we can't do that and people need to factor that -- the limitations we have in there. Also, if I could just show one graphic behind me here, this shows all the tracks and the storms and hurricanes we've had since 1851. And it's a little hard even to see the coastline there, but I think most people will look at that and understand that the United States indeed does have a hurricane problem.
BLITZER: One final question, Mr. Mayfield, before I let you go. Warm waters make these tropical storms and hurricanes much more dangerous. Are the waters in the Atlantic Ocean right now, the Gulf of Mexico, warmer than usual?
MAYFIELD: Actually, the gulf's cooled off a little bit in response to the cold front. But it will certainly warm up here as we get further into the season.
The tropical Atlantic is indeed warmer than average. The good news -- or some of the good news is that it's not as warm as it was last year, but still above average. That's one of the things we'll look at, and that's one of the reason we're forecasting above normal activity.
BLITZER: Max Mayfield, thanks very much for coming in. Appreciate it very much.
MAYFIELD: My pleasure, Wolf. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And up ahead tonight, a hurricane season reality check. Is New Orleans ready for the worst and what about the federal government? Anderson Cooper is standing by to join us live from New Orleans. And we'll also speak with the new FEMA director here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
And get this, Batwoman like you've never seen her before. She's making a comic book comeback. Our Jeanne Moos will tell us why some people are not necessarily all that amused. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on the hurricane season officially beginning today. When the first storm comes, no agency will be more closely watched than FEMA, which was so heavily criticized for the government's failure to respond adequately to Katrina. I asked the new FEMA director, David Paulison, if the agency is now proposed for the coming storms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID PAULISON, FEMA DIRECTOR: We are going to be ready. Are we as ready as we want to be? Do we have FEMA where we actually want it to be? The answer is probably not. This is a long-term thing that you can't fix in just a few months.
We have taken all those lessons learned in Katrina, that we saw, that the Congress saw, that the IG's office saw, the GAO saw. We're taking all the reports. We've put things into several buckets, and the four primary ones is one, logistics; two, communications; situation awareness and victim registration. Those are the four big ones.
BLITZER: Let's talk about communications for a moment. After 9/11 we saw horror stories of first responders unable to communicate with each other. The left-hand of the U.S. government couldn't speak with the right hand. Local and state first responders couldn't speak with federal first responders. Have you worked out the radio frequency so that everyone, if there is another disaster, can talk to each other?
PAULISON: It was much more than that. It wasn't just the equipment or the frequencies or anything like that. That was part of it. But part of it was also protocols in place. How is the local community going to respond to the state, how is the state going to communicate with the federal government?
And even inside the federal government itself, between FEMA and Homeland Security, major communications breakdown in how we're going to do that. One of the big issues was a unified command post. Having everybody in the same room doing those 12-hour situation blocks of how we start planning going to go.
BLITZER: So the radio frequencies -- has that been worked out so that local, state and federal officials will be able to communicate?
PAULISON: We have a communication system in place that will allow interoperable communications, particularly in Louisiana. The National Guard is putting in a communications band in each of the parishes down in the south end of the state to make sure that they're going to have interoperable communications.
We have personally purchased satellite equipment where we can make sure that we can communicate with the state and we can communicate with each other back in Washington.
BLITZER: One final question. All those thousands of trailers that we saw parked in Arkansas that have sort of just been sitting there, are they still sitting there? Have you found out a way to use those in some sort of more productive manner?
PAULISON: Well, we've moved some of them out of there. I have several thousand still, though, that I want to keep there. I want them right there to use them because they're right in hurricane alley coming into the south end. So we can use them for next hurricane season and perhaps the one after that.
We've also moved some to the west and some to the east side to cover -- we have tornadoes. We have forest fires. We had flooding, where we can use those other trailers -- those mobile homes.
BLITZER: Good work. Let's hope everything works out for FEMA and for you.
PAULISON: Thank you, Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Let's check in with our Anderson Cooper. He's on the scene in New Orleans, getting ready to anchor a special edition of "A.C. 360" tonight.
What do you see, Anderson? You spent a lot of time there over these past several months. Are local, state and federal authorities in New Orleans and Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, ready for what might hit them?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that certainly is the hope. I mean, I talked to the mayor last night who said, you know, that they have got a plan that they're working on. What's interesting about the plan though is it still really does, in many ways, depend on the state and the federal government supplying enough buses.
You know, there are not going to be any shelters or shelters of last resort, as they call them, in the city of New Orleans this time around as there was last time. So that means it is all about, you know, people leaving.
They're not going to be able to forcibly evacuate people. They will have a mandatory evacuation earlier probably than they did before, but they're not actually going to be, you know, forcibly evacuating people.
So then it's a question of do they have enough buses to get people out, and the question is do they have enough bus drivers. And that's a real open question. There's no real plan in place for guaranteeing that there are going to be enough bus drivers, and then it's going to be up to the state and federal government to provide buses to actually get people out of the city of New Orleans.
There's a big question about whether there are enough beds in shelters throughout Louisiana. There are about 60,000 beds they say. There were more than 100,000 last year, so a lot of questions about the plan remain and devil is in details, as we all know.
BLITZER: And briefly, you visited some of the levees. Are the levees prepared adequately right now to withstand a storm?
COOPER: Well, they are as good as they could get them in this time. I mean, they are not as finished as they would like them to be. Certainly, that can be said. You know, last night I was on the 17th Street Canal where they have got these enormous 11-ton gates that they have been building, eleven of them across the canal. Those are going to be in place.
You know, the real storms -- the real season usually starts toward the end of July, in, you know, August and September here in New Orleans. So they're hoping certainly by then all of the pieces will be in place, Wolf.
BLITZER: Anderson, we'll be watching your show tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern live from New Orleans. "A.C. 360" coming up.
Also in New Orleans, there were prayers inside the city's landmark St. Louis Cathedral and parade nearby celebrating the inauguration of the mayor Ray Nagin. He was sworn in for a second term today after winning an election that was largely a referendum on his handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
Up ahead, Batwoman comes out of the closet, the same-sex twist to an old comic book character. Jeanne Moos takes a closer look.
Also, happening now, a perilous walk through space. You are taking a look at live pictures right now. We're taking you online and out of this hemisphere. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: As Robin the Boy Wonder might say, holy comic book twists! D.C. Comics is reintroducing the character Batwoman next month, and as CNN's Jeanne Moos explains, the socialite turned crime fighter is revealing a secret about her sexual identity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Why come out of the closet when you can come out of the Bat Cave? No, it is not Batman who's coming out.
(on camera): This is the new, gay Batwoman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. OK, heavens.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New gay Bat -- that's nice. I guess they've got to have a Batwoman too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She looks hot. Good luck to her.
MOOS (voice-over): D.C. Comics is reintroducing Batwoman. She's been out of circulation since the late '70s.
DAN DIDIO, EXECUTIVE DIR., DC COMICS: This isn't about a lesbian superhero. It is about a character who is a superhero who also happens to be gay.
MOOS: The comic book world has gone multicultural, adding superheroes who are Hispanic, African-American, Asian and now gay Batwoman is due out in July, a far cry from the Batwoman of the '50s who looked more like a Playboy bunny and carried a purse while she fought crime. It reminds us of another pocketbook carrying character some assumed to be gay.
The old Batwoman had the hots for Batman. "If only he knew I'm Batwoman."
The new Batwoman, on the other hand, has an ex who was a female detective.
(on camera): Are we going to see any steamy Batwoman sex?
DIDIO: These are comics for all ages, and that's not really something we do.
MOOS (voice-over): Though you can expect to see Batwoman kiss another woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's a little too feminine to be gay.
MOOS (on camera): She's pretty hot, though, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not into gays, frankly, period.
MOOS: No, but I mean, just...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't care. Don't care.
MOOS (voice-over): Sock. Pow. That was blunt.
What do gay activists think?
ALAN VAN CAPELLE, EXEC. DIR., EMPIRE STATE PRIDE AGENDA: Congratulations to D.C. Comics for doing a great thing.
MOOS: D.C. Comics say they have been getting lots of emails, split 50-50, pro and con. It's the comic book culture war.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't stop someone being themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I know, but see, there's a purpose for all of us...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I know...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God had a purpose.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe in Jesus Christ myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you can't go -- when you go against...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe in Jesus Christ myself.
MOOS: Some prefer their superheroes' sexuality to remain a mystery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, because Catwoman, you always had that hint, what's going on with her? Is she into women? Is she into boys? Does she just love herself? MOOS: The folks at D.C. Comics -- maybe they should change it to AC/DC -- say Batwoman won't be all the way out.
DIDIO: She doesn't tell her family about her sexual orientation.
MOOS: What's wrong, Batwoman?
HALLE BERRY, ACTRESS: Cat got your tongue?
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: From out of the closet to out of the world -- out of this world, at least -- happening right now, one astronaut and one cosmonaut working together in outer space to fix the International Space Station. You can watch it all unfold online. Let's get details from our Abbi Tatton -- Abbi.
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, these are live pictures coming in from NASA. They keep changing to different camera angles. What we're seeing is two crewmen on the International Space Station. They're coming to the end of the first hour of what is going to be a six-hour space walk. They are doing routine maintenance. They are Pavel Vinogradov, the Russian, and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams. That's the second space walk of his career.
It keeps flashing back to the control rooms here, as they repair a valve on the oxygen generator. That's the most important task of this six-hour space walk.
We did hear at one point the Russian planned to hit a golf ball into outer space. That, we're told, has been postponed to a later walk -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Abbi, thank you very much for that.
Let's go up to New York, find out what's coming up on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Paula is standing by. Actually, she's not standing by. We'll get -- check in with Paula in a moment.
Actually, are you there, Paula? Not yet.
Ali Velshi is standing by. Let's check in with Ali on "The Bottom Line."
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Wolf. Well, we're getting...
BLITZER: Ali, you need your microphone.
VELSHI: Oh, well, it's 2006. I thought we did these things automatically now.
Wolf, we're just getting word now of a landmark deal. The New York Stock Exchange and a Paris-based Euronext have agreed to a merger as a $20 billion deal.
What does it mean? Well, it means that if regulators approve this deal, investors will be able to trade stocks 12 hours a day instead of 9:30 to 4:00 now Eastern time, and investors would be able to buy stock in companies that are based in other countries.
That's a big deal, because a lot of the hottest stocks and IPOs are not here in the United States.
Also, we're just getting word in that OPEC has voted to keep oil production near full capacity, not to make any cuts. The organization also says that oil is overpriced. One of the member nations, Venezuela, which is one of the world's biggest oil producers, had been calling for a cut in output. And it's those oil prices which have sparked this growing interest in ethanol as a replacement for gasline. Ethanol is made from corn and things that grow in fields, not from crude oil. Wal-Mart says it might start to offer E-85, which is gas that's made of 85 percent ethanol, at its gas stations. Wal-Mart has about 385 gas stations right now.
A small but growing number of cars sold in the U.S. can run on either gasoline or E-85, but only about 600 stations out of about 170,000 gas stations sell E-85.
Now, over to stock markets, Wolf. The Dow gained about 90 points to 11,260. Nasdaq up 40 points. And that's how we ended the day -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you, Ali, for that.
Still ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM, disaster planning for pets. What to do with your animals in case of a disaster? Jack Cafferty has your email. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's check in with Jack. He's got "The Cafferty File." Hi, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Wolf, with the lessons of Hurricane Katrina in mind, the Humane Society of the United States has organized something called the national conference on animals and disaster. It's designed to teach people how to save their pets.
So the question we asked is what kind of plan should pet owners make for their animals in the event of a disaster?
Some of the mail we got. Marie in Houston -- "First, do not expect any help from the government. Second, read up all you can about traveling with your pet. I work with rottweiler rescue. I have three rottweilers. I go by mini-van, bring camping equipment to be used when I am far away from the Gulf Coast. Bring your own food, water, pet meds, leashes, carriers, ground covers, et cetera, for the pets. The situation has not evolved enough to expect any help fro you or your pets yet. It's all still in committee." Matthew in Litchfield, Connecticut -- "Hey, Jack, I understand people's love for animals, and I think they should be saved during an emergency. However, I also believe that if saving a pet takes away time and resources from saving another human being, the animal should be left behind without question."
That would depend on who the human being is, I think.
Linda in West Hills, California: "Jack, this is the side of you I like best. Make certain you have everything you need to transport them, make sure you have a preplanned destination that's already agreed to accept them. A family is a family and every member deserves to be protected."
Susan in Moab, Utah: "The dogs should be just as important as humans. In fact, there are dogs I would save before humans. Include the puppies. We'll all be better off for it."
Dave in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts -- "There should be a national network focused on pet safety, run by local animal rescue leagues. In the case of impending danger, the network could coordinate locations that are not vulnerable closest to the affected area within a certain mileage, and pets could be transferred temporarily to these shelters."
And Debbie in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania: "Our government needs to check with Cuba. They have a hurricane evacuation plan where people take along their pets, food, medical personnel. You know, the stuff FEMA would never think of." Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you, Jack. I'll see you tomorrow here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
And we leave you with this significant development. A fire threatening homes in Arizona. Zain has go the details -- Zain.
VERJEE: Wolf, it is burning near Sedona, in Arizona, as you say. We want to show you some aerial pictures.
You see here white smoke rising and drifting toward the sky. A local affiliate reporting that it started at 3:15 local time. One home is believed to have been lost in the fire. There are reports of homes being evacuated. Forty acres have been affected. There are no injuries -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain, thanks very much. Let's take a look at some of the hot shots, pictures coming in from the Associated Press, pictures likely to be in your home town newspapers tomorrow.
In East Timor, Australian soldiers disarm a man with a knife during a sweep. More than 100,000 residents have fled the capital to escape days of violence and political unrest.
In Maryland, a gas tanker truck catches fire after a small car rams into it on the freeway. In Bombay, India, children dance in the waves during the season's first monsoon.
And finally, in Japan, twin bear cubs play in the water at a local zoo, escaping unseasonably warm temperatures.
Let's go to Paula Zahn in New York -- Paula.
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