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9/11 Families Upset Over Memorial Ceremony Changes; Baghdad Social Club Provides Temporary Retreat from War; Republican Candidates Focus on Security Threats
Aired August 06, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: The other story we're watching for you this morning, Afghanistan, the first battleground in the war on terror, now sometimes called the forgotten war. Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is looking to shore up his alliance with the United States. He is meeting with President Bush this morning at Camp David.
Mr. Karzai's government is besieged by crisis, tops among them a resurgence by the Taliban. The group has unleashed its worst violence since the U.S.-led invasion toppled it from power nearly six years ago.
The U.S. says the Taliban provided sanctuary to al Qaeda as it plotted the 9/11 attacks.
And another reminder, presidents Bush and Karzai are to hold a news conference this morning at Camp David. It is scheduled for 11:25 Eastern Time, and we've got it live for you, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HEIDI COLLINS, CO-HOST: Ground Zero debate: 9/11 families in a fight with city hall over next month's remembrance ceremony.
CNN's Jim Acosta has a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Standing among the scores of visitors at the site of the World Trade Center, Deputy New York Fire Chief Jim Riches will always be drawn to Ground Zero. His son Jimmy was one of the more than 300 firefighter who died when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11.
DEP. CHIEF JIM RICHES, FDNY: We found my son's body March 25, 2002. And we went down there, we took his body out of the pit and walked him up that ramp.
ACOSTA: On the anniversaries since that day, authorities have allowed the victims' families to walk down that ramp to remember their loved ones. This year may be different.
Construction is under way to build the skyscrapers that will replace the trade center. Mayor Michael Bloomberg may block the families from entering Ground Zero, saying it's no longer safe.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, MAYOR OF NEW YORK: We don't have much choice just because of the physical location. The road isn't wide enough anymore where we used to have it. It doesn't work. You know, we just got to used to the fact that there are -- there's a lot of construction going there.
ACOSTA: Riches is not buying it. He points out construction is supposed to come to a halt for 9/11 ceremonies this year.
RICHES: All we want to do is walk down the pit, we pay our respects where our loved ones died and spent their last hours and go down there and honor them.
ACOSTA: Officials want the families to gather at this park just steps away. Not good enough, says Riches. He notes more than a thousand families still haven't recovered the remains of their loved ones, remains that are quite possibly still here.
(on camera) Chief, do you realize that there will come a day when you won't be able to walk down in there, as you have these last few years?
RICHES: We have -- right. You have to be reasonable, yes. There's going to be buildings there. And we know that. To me it will always be a cemetery.
ACOSTA: Chief Jim Riches' son answered the call. Now he says it's time for the city to answer his.
Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: An oasis in Iraq. Families find a refuge from the horrors around them, but they can't escape the fear. CNN's Arwa Damon has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Moments like this are stolen: rare and treasured. We can't tell you the name or location of this social club, because everyone here is afraid of an insurgent strike.
Within these walls, the carefully guarded illusion of normalcy. Fatma (ph) and Amal (ph) are neighbors, here with their families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We wake up in the morning. There is no power, no water.
DAMON: Their lives so ridiculous they have to laugh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Haven't you heard the expression it makes you laugh and cry? That's how we live. We deceive ourselves, but there's something crushing us inside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's not like what we have seen is nothing. All the killing, murder, the explosions. It's not easy.
DAMON: For Amal's (ph) daughter, Gornad (ph), coming here temporarily takes away the gruesome images in her mind of people dying.
"At home, I'm bored and scared and lonely. It makes me sad," the 7-year-old, says. "But when I come here, I'm happy."
That happiness is what these families risk their lives to come here for.
But this oasis, like the tough front the two friends put forward, is a facade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's been three years since I was able to visit my parents and my childhood home. I wish, I wish, I wish I could just go and sit in my house, go back to the old days.
DAMON: In the old days, this members' only club would be packed with Baghdad's elite.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): During Bush's war, most of my neighbors left, and I said, I will not leave Iraq. I will not dessert Iraq. If I die, I will die in my house. No how many times my husband says, let's go, I won't.
DAMON: But many have. Now, on a good day, what's left of them show up. Two of the pools sit empty. The gardens, deserted. And the club's old days are what Fatis Abdurrahman (ph) talks wistfully about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see so many -- full of families here. And they are happy and they are joking, and they are playing cards and they are...
DAMON: An image people here have a hard time believing will come to life again.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: An alarming number of Americans supplied weapons now missing in Iraq: 190,000 assault rifles and pistols given to the Iraqi security forces, now unaccounted for. That from a General Accounting Office report.
A senior Pentagon official tells "The Washington Post" those weapons are probably being used against American troops.
A previous estimate put the number of missing weapons at 14,000.
HARRIS: Emergency measures in place in Montana. Wildfires raging across much of that state. Firefighters hoping the weather will help give them the upper hand. Right now, one blaze near Missoula is dangerously close to homes. Residents have been evacuated. At least one house destroyed. Evacuation orders are in place in other places in Montana, as well, the state's governor urging people in threatened areas to head to safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN SCHWEITZER (D), MONTANA: Pack up. Get out. It's time. We're serious this time. We've pulled the ground crews off at this moment. You need to evacuate. And everybody in Montana say a prayer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Some of the fires in Montana are burning near popular tourist spots, including Glacier National Park.
COLLINS: Jacqui Jeras is joining us now. Jacqui, I spent some time out there in Glacier. Any time you see fire in that area, it is so sad because it's just gorgeous there.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Beautiful, beautiful country.
You know, the potential today for rapid fire growth is just incredible. And, most of the fires that are burning across the U.S. right now are focused in this very small area. There are literally dozens of fires across western Montana and central and southern parts of Idaho.
And today, this is our highlighted area by the storm prediction center, where we're expecting critical fire conditions because of dry thunderstorms. So more lightning expected today. Gusty winds in those thunderstorms and, unfortunately, no rain to go along with it.
Now, we are expecting to see temperatures a little bit cooler here across parts of the west. We have an upper level system coming in. That's what's bringing in the strong winds and the dry thunderstorms, but it's also helping keep the temperatures down a little bit.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JERAS: Heidi, this is not the kind of weather you want to be golfing in.
COLLINS: It's not the kind of weather you want to golf in, like it was on Saturday. The big CNN tournament on Saturday, you know.
JERAS: Congratulations.
COLLINS: I was paired with your colleague, Rob Marciano.
JERAS: You got that medal?
COLLINS: Remarkably, I have it.
JERAS: Go figure.
COLLINS: See, Rob was supposed to be here with me. We were to wear them around our necks and have a good time. It's the third place medal, Jacqui. It was 96 degrees.
JERAS: You know, the heat index was higher than that. Oh, you can bite it.
COLLINS: It was nasty. But it was really, really fun.
JERAS: But you survived.
COLLINS: We survived. We got a medal.
JERAS: And succeeded.
COLLINS: It was very exciting.
JERAS: Congrats.
COLLINS: Jacqui, thanks so much.
HARRIS: Republican presidential hopefuls staying on message, attacking Democrats and each other. Here's CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider, part of the best political team on television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): What the Republican candidates wanted to talk about was terrorism.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In four Democratic debates, not a single Democratic candidate said the word Islamic terrorism.
SCHNEIDER: Asked about abortion, John McCain's answer was about terrorism.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also firmly believe that the challenge of the 21st century is the struggle against radical Islamic extremism.
SCHNEIDER: Here's how they intend to defend the Bush administration's record.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I know they've made mistakes, but they have kept us safe these last six years. Let's not forget that.
SCHNEIDER: You know how all the other Democrats are taking swipes at Barack Obama for his foreign policy statements? Romney couldn't resist.
ROMNEY: I mean, in one week, he went from saying he's going to sit down, you know, for tea with our enemies, but then he's going to bomb our allies. I mean, he's gone from -- he's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week.
SCHNEIDER: Sometimes they were forced to talk about other subjects, like the war in Iraq.
MCCAIN: We are winning on the ground, and there are political solutions being arrived at all over Iraq today. Not at the national level.
SCHNEIDER: Asked about their mistakes, they've made a few.
GIULIANI: Description of my mistakes in 30 seconds?
SCHNEIDER: But then again, too few to mention.
GIULIANI: Your father is a priest. I can explain it to your father, not to you. OK?
SCHNEIDER: Giuliani's the Republican's national front runner. And Romney's the front runner in Iowa. Both exposed their vulnerability on abortion.
ROMNEY: I changed my position.
SCHNEIDER: A flip flop?
ROMNEY: I get tired people that are holier than thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have.
SCHNEIDER: Giuliani spun his support for choice as an anti- government position.
GIULIANI: But I think ultimately that decision that has to be made is one that government shouldn't make.
SCHNEIDER: Both front runners have a problem, as their rivals were eager to point out.
TOMMY THOMPSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Republican {arty is a party of pro-life. So anybody that's not pro-life is going to have difficulties.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): The Republican candidates did not seem eager to defend President Bush. Except on one issue: keeping the country safe.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And this reminder: send in your questions for the Republican candidates to CNN.com/YouTubeDebates. That event is coming your way this fall.
COLLINS: A long retired police officer nearly 90 and still chasing the bad guys.
HARRIS: Surviving the Dead Sea. What an amazing story this is. A young boy found after floating alone for hours.
COLLINS: There you have it. The opening bell ringing on this Monday. Let's check it out, huh? Fifty-five up. This is good. We like that plus sign, right? Thirteen thousand, two thirty-six right now. Friday, boy, that was nasty, wasn't it? Two hundred and eighty- one points down. Closed at 13,181.
We're going to be watching all of the stories for you, business wise, today. Coming up with Susan Lisovicz just. That's a little bit later in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
HARRIS: How about this one? On New York's Long Island, a robbery suspect picked the wrong victim. John McMullen is a retired Suffolk County police officer. He is 87 years old, but he didn't let his age stop him from going after a man who knocked him down and robbed him after McMullen cashed a check.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCMULLEN, ROBBERY VICTIM/FORMER POLICE OFFICER: When I got hit, and pushed into that bush, I knew that I was in for a scrap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Wow! Despite his injuries, McMullen chased the suspect, with the help of another senior citizen. The suspect ran into a nearby apartment complex. Police arrived and arrested a 33-year-old man.
HARRIS: Oakland police say they have a murder confession, a 19- year-old man admitting he killed a prominent journalist last week. We talked about this story on our air here. The investigation focuses now on a local restaurant.
CNN's Dan Simon explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Your Black Muslim Bakery was a well-known business in Oakland, and not just for its unusual name. Its founder, now deceased, had been implicated in a rape scandal. He died a few years ago, shortly before trial.
More recently, his son and some associates had been charged in the vandalism of Bay Area liquor stores.
Chauncey Bailey, a 57-year-old Oakland newspaper reporter, had been working on a story about the shop. His boss described him as a tenacious journalist.
PAUL COBB, PUBLISHER, "OAKLAND POST": We used to call him the James Brown of journalism, the hardest working man in journalism. Just like they say James Brown was the hardest working man in show business.
SIMON: Bailey had recently become the editor of a community weekly. On Thursday he was gunned down, murdered in plain sight as he walked to work.
Paul Cobb got a phone call from police at the murder scene, asking if he knew the reporter.
COBB: And I said, yes, he should be there covering it for us. And the police said, "No, he won't be covering anything."
I said, "What are you talking about?"
He said, "Well, we're talking about Chauncey Bailey." And I just -- I thought it was a joke.
SIMON: Did Bailey's investigation into the shop lead to his murder? Police wouldn't comment on the motive, but during raids on several locations, including the bakery, one day after Bailey's murder, investigators say they discovered a powerful link: a gun used in the killing of the veteran journalist.
ASST. CHIEF HOWARD JORDAN, OAKLAND POLICE: This investigation does not involve Muslims under the leadership of the honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. It should not be seen as an investigation of any faith tradition.
SIMON: And it wasn't Bailey's murder that led police to the store.
(on camera) Police had been investigating the bakery for several months. The raid had been planned well in advance. So authorities really did not know that they were going to find evidence allegedly implicating the group in Bailey's murder.
(voice-over) Police say they had been investigating the shop and its operators in connection with two other Bay Area murders.
LT. ERSIE JOYNER, OAKLAND POLICE: During our investigation, Chauncey Bailey was murdered, and it turns out that evidence in that case also links the same individuals we were looking at in the other two prior murders.
SIMON: At least seven people connected to the bakery have been placed under arrest. Chauncey Bailey's instincts, that there was a story worth chasing, had apparently been right.
Dan Simon, CNN, Oakland, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still ahead, a star in the east.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): But this 25- year-old veteran is used to pressure. She's been training since she was just 7 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Man. Going for the gold in '08 and in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Also, a canyon near Tucson, Arizona, a death trap after heavy rain. Hikers lose their lives in a rush of water.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Podcasting. Yes. We are podcasting for your enjoyment later today. Well, I was about to say there the team is working, but there seems to be some hijinx going on there. But we are putting together -- trust me -- unique stories that we will bring you in the podcast later this afternoon, as we do every day.
So here's what you do. You go to CNN.com and then you download the CNN daily podcast. It is available to you 24/7 right on your iPod.
COLLINS: A star at the top of her game, ready for a big dive. The Olympics in 2008, she's going for the gold.
CNN's Andrew Stevens spoke with her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS (voice-over): They are the best of the best: an elite within an elite. In a country where Olympic sportsmen and women are a source of enormous national pride, China's divers are at the very top.
Six gold medals out of a possible eight in Athens in 2004, five in Sidney four years earlier. And this is their undisputed star, Guo Jingjing, the Athens Olympics double gold medalist and red hot favorite for more gold in Beijing in 2008.
CNN was given rare access to her in Beijing, as she prepares for her fourth and final games.
GUO JINGJING, CHINESE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST (through translator): I was planning to retire after the Athens games. But because Beijing won the 2008 games, I really wanted to have one last try. It would be very exciting in front of my home, my home crowd. So the feeling for these games is definitely different.
STEVENS: Her day begins and ends here, this unremarkable dormitory in central Beijing, which is now home to most of China's top athletes. We weren't allowed inside.
JINGJING (through translator): I usually get up at 6 a.m. and then start to do running and other morning muscle exercises by myself. Then, I will be back for breakfast at 7.
At 8:30, I'll be here at the pool to start my training exercises and head back for lunch and a nap at 11:30. Then it's back out here for training until 6, followed by dinner and then bed by 10 p.m.
STEVENS: With still one year to go before the names, she says she's training seven days a week. There's virtually no time for family or friends.
JINGJING (through translator): It is a hard time, but it is our job. As I've chosen to be a diver, I have to keep that schedule, even though it is tough.
STEVENS (on camera): In Athens in 2004, China finished second on the gold medal table with 32, just three fewer than the United States. Now, here in China, it's virtually expected that, come next year, they'll top that medal tally. And that's putting a lot of pressure on people like Jingjing.
(voice-over) But this 25-year-old veteran is used to pressure. She's been training since she was just 7 years old, when she was selected from a swimming class to be a potential diving champion.
In some ways, her entire life so far has been leading up to the Beijing games of 2008.
In the new China, Guo Jingjing is already cashing in on her popularity. She's dabbled in modeling and has been endorsing products ranging from Red Earth beauty products to food to Coke. Her actual earnings are a closely kept secret, but it's estimated to be several million dollars; but she only gets to keep half of that.
By order of the state, which still controls most aspects of her life, she must share the other half with her coach, her colleagues in the diving team, a state sporting fund. Even her home province of Hebei gets a slice.
But for the moment, thoughts of money are only in the background. Her immediate aim is gold in Beijing, and the focus is on training.
JINGJING (through translator): I hope I win another gold. It is my goal. Still, I have to work hard to get there.
STEVENS: Andrew Stevens, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still to come this morning in the CNN NEWSROOM, a dangerous mission getting some backup from Navy and FBI divers. Searching for victims in the Mississippi River. We will hear from the sheriff straight ahead.
COLLINS: Government surveillance, Congress expanding the government's powers. We'll tell you about that.
HARRIS: Also, surviving the Dead Sea. A young boy found after floating alone for hours. The story when NEWSROOM returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: An 8-year-old Israeli boy survives a long ordeal in the Dead Sea. He spent six hours floating at night in the water. The boy had been there with his father, two brothers and several other people when currents pulled him out to sea.
Searchers found him early Friday, about two miles from the shore. They'd all but given up hope. He was dehydrated but otherwise OK. One rescuer says the mineral-rich water helped keep him afloat.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.
Minneapolis bridge collapse: divers back in the water this morning, hoping to find the missing. We will talk live this hour with the man leading the dive teams.
COLLINS: The American and Afghan presidents answering reporters' questions, live from Camp David.
HARRIS: A thug mugs the wrong guy. An 87-year-old retired policeman fights back. He's got the bruises to prove it on this Monday, August 6. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins. Watch events come into the NEWSROOM, live on this Monday morning. It's August 6th.
Here's what's on the run down. Back in the water. Divers searching for eight people missing in the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Minnesota's governor will be live, with us, here in just a few minutes.
HARRIS: War in Afghanistan , Osama bin Laden, questions for Presidents Bush and Karzai. Their news conference this morning.
COLLINS: Wildfire within a mile of dozens of homes, evacuations in Montana, in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: At the top this hour, remembering those lost, getting back to every day life. Happening in Minneapolis this morning: Divers going back into the water. Another search for victims of the bridge collapse. Those who died, and those still missing in hearts and in prayers everywhere. Live now to our Susan Roesgen in Minneapolis.
Susan, good morning to you.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
You know, over the weekend the families of those eight missing people were allowed to go the bridge collapse behind me, to actually go to the scene, to see it for themselves. And also to see why it's been so hard for the divers who are searching those cars in the chunks of concrete, and the jagged metal underwater.
So the families got to actually look at the area, it gave them some peace. But also this weekend the police department here in Minneapolis released the names of the eight missing people. And, Tony, that's what I think is especially poignant. We started to hear the stories about those people. It could have been you or I on that bridge.
There was the woman who was going to a dance class to teach a Greek folk dancing class. And she had just left a voice mail on her cell phone saying that the traffic was heavy and she was going to be late.
Then there was the pregnant mother, pregnant, and she had a two- year-old daughter with her in the backseat. And there was a construction worker whose nickname is Jolly, because he was so cheerful.
And I think, Tony, the saddest story I heard was the mother and son, the son 21 years old, and had Down's Syndrome, and his family says they were always together. So just some of the people on the list of the missing. And really we believe presumed dead now, but the bodies have not been found -- Tony.
HARRIS: Susie, how emotional was yesterday? Sunday, church around the nation, certainly, for those folks in Minneapolis. I can't imagine just how moving it must have been?
ROESGEN: Well, you know, some 1400 people at this big interfaith service and what you heard a lot of was people asking each other were on the bridge, were you near the bridge? One man was on the bridge and felt so lucky because he believed that one of the people whose missing was in the car right ahead of him.
So, a lot of people trying to come together and sort of making a leap of faith today that the other bridges they cross in this town are safe, certainly safer than the one that was there. Tony, I have to tell you, five of the worst bridges in the state have been deemed to be right here in Minneapolis. So Minneapolis drivers know that they may not be safe on some other bridges, as well.
HARRIS: CNN's Susan Roesgen for us this morning in Minneapolis. Susan, great to see you. Thank you.
And a dangerous mission: Getting some backup from Navy and FBI divers, searching for victims in the Mississippi River. We'll hear from the sheriff straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Minnesota's governor promising a top-to-bottom review of his state's bridge inspections. The Governor Tim Pawlenty is joining us right now from Minneapolis.
Governor, good morning to you on this Monday. GOV. TIM PAWLENTY, MINNESOTA: Good morning.
COLLINS: I'm sure it was a pretty long and sometimes difficult weekend. Just updating everyone now quickly, eight people still missing. A very precarious situation out there for those trying to recover bodies and remove debris.
We know you attended the services over the weekend. There is a lot of emotion and a lot of anger in the twin cities. What are the residents telling you at this point about the situation? What are their concerns?
PAWLENTY: Well, I think first, the emotion is relates to the concern for the victims, of course, and the families who have loved ones who are still missing, or people who are injured. So there's been a lot of prayer and concern and compassion and an outpouring of people around the country and around the world.
Secondly, people want to know about safety. Are we all safe driving around on these bridges? And, of course, in Minnesota, I have ordered a top-to-bottom review of the inspection procedures, as well as a priority inspection of all the bridges in Minnesota. The state bridges, our county officials will be doing the local bridges, as well. And so we'll make sure that we double up on this inspection process.
But ironically, Minnesota has one of the better bridge inspection programs, and better bridge status records in the country. So that tells you how bad off things are generally, in terms of the country's infrastructure. And we're going to need to be addressing these issues.
COLLINS: We have heard that before, that the bridge inspection program in the Twin Cities is a good one. That being said, when you say top-to-bottom review, what exactly does that mean? And then, to go a step further and find, you know, if we see more reports of things that come back that will say structurally deficient -- if we get those reports, again, what now will be done differently?
PAWLENTY: Well, it's important to keep in mind, Heidi, we don't know what caused this bridge failure. We do know this bridge was repeatedly and regularly inspected and it was deemed fit for service. Obviously, something went horribly wrong. So we want to understand what that was.
So what I have ordered is an outside entity, a firm to come in, look at this particular disaster from stem to stern, give us a recommendations, but also to come in and review all of our procedures, our protocols, our technology, our timelines for how we do inspections in Minnesota, to make sure they're up-to-date and modern and robust and rigorous. And also I've directed our Department of Transportation to inspect our bridges in priority order, above the normal inspection schedule, starting with the ones of similar design of this bridge and also ones in troubled classification or problematic classification.
COLLINS: You know, governor, I have to tell you, we haven't heard much from MIN-DOT. I assume that you are talking with them on a regular basis. Certainly, this latest news that we've heard this morning about the possibility some of those construction workers doing that structural repair work, feeling the bridge wobble a few days before.
PAWLENTY: There are many theories relating to this bridge, Heidi. And we don't want to get ahead of the NTSB. I have confident they'll do a great job and get to the bottom of it. But there's theories regarding the original design of the bridge. There's theories regarding the construction that was taking place on the bridge itself, ironically. In this morning's paper in reference to, weight, dead weight. A lot of it being placed on the bridge. Other theories, as well, relating to the structure. We just don't know but what we know. But what we do know is this bridge was inspected in 2005, 2006, 2007 and while concerns were raised, it was deemed fit to use.
COLLINS: I know --
PAWLENTY: -- by the experts. And we have to rely own those experts. It wasn't deemed fit to use, by the mayor or the governor. It was deemed fit to use by engineers and scientists. We have to rely on them.
COLLINS: Yes, and as we look at those pictures, boy, just so heartbreaking -- all of it.
According to an editorial in Sunday's "Star-Tribune," you did veto a major transportation funding bill, included a bit of a highway gas tax of ten cents gas tax. And also, take a look at with me, if you would, supported a highway bonding program that was one tenth the size that transportation advocates said was needed to keep up with repairs and mounting traffic congestion.
First of all, is that true? And second of all, you know, we have heard about all of these bridges, more than a thousand are structurally deficient. Why if it's true would you make that decision?
PAWLENTY: Well, first of all, I had -- we all agree we need more funding for infrastructure and roads and transportation in Minnesota and elsewhere. I had a proposal to do that, which the legislature rejected, and I rejected their proposal. So we had a disagreement. But as to this particular bridge, there's no indication that increased funding in the last year or two, would have made any difference, or cost difference, because the folks we're talking about replacement, or overhaul way down the road. And there was no near-term imminent declaration from the technical experts that is this bridge need to be closed. If they would have indicated that, or that it needed to be redone, we would have closed the bridge. But that is not what happened.
COLLINS: You feel good about the progress in the future, and repairing the Twin Cities?
PAWLENTY: This is a community where people come together and rally around each other and tragedy and crisis, and they will again, and they are again here. So there is sorrow and grief and mourning, but we will restore and rebuild, and this community has had an outpouring of affection and response. And we are going to make sure we are respectful and make sure that we, with compassion, find these missing eight people. And then rebuild and get that bridge up as quickly as possible.
COLLINS: Governor of Minnesota, with us this morning, Tim Pawlenty.
Governor, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.
PAWLENTY: You're welcome. You're welcome.
HARRIS: A massive suicide bombing in northern Iraq this morning. At least 28 people killed, 50 others wounded. The truck bomb collapsed houses in the Shiite neighborhood near Talafar (ph). Many of those killed believed to be children.
COLLINS: Bomb or no bomb? Answers expected this morning in an explosive scare. Local and federal officials sorting out what happened in Goose Creek, South Carolina, this weekend. Police arrested two men identified as Yousef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed. Federal authorities say they are University of South Florida students. Both could face explosives charges.
We are waiting on a news conference 11:30 Eastern. We'll bring that to you live. Here's what we know so far about it. The men were in a vehicle stopped Saturday afternoon for speeding. A local law enforcement source says a bomb and bomb-making materials were in the car. Traffic was held up for 10 hours and materials were detonated but federal authorities say there was no bomb, and they don't know of any link to terrorism.
HARRIS: A deadly flood in the desert Southwest. Heavy rain in the Tucson area. A torrent of water washed over a waterfall and through a narrow canyon in a recreation area. Two hikers were swept to their deaths. The bodies now recovered and identified. Flooding also closed roads and prompted evacuations.
COLLINS: Jackie Jeras is watching that story, I'm sure, as well as this heat that we have been talking about for days and, today, really nasty.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Still ahead, remembering the victims of 9/11.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief Jim Rich's son answered the call. Now he says it's time for the city to answer his.
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HARRIS: A father that lost his son hopes to win an emotional battle. The debate over how families pay respects at ground zero. COLLINS: Also parts of Montana on fire this hour. Jackie is watching this one for us as well. Families are forced from their homes, a state of emergency in effect.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He's a critical ally in President Bush 's war on terror. And Afghanistan's president is looking to shore up ties with the United States. I'm Elaine Quijano, live at the White House, I'll have more on the Camp David summit between President Bush and President Hamid Karzai coming up in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: And skip the canned green beans, at least, until you find out about the big recall. They may be tasty, but may also be toxic. The story ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. He tied the record. Tonight, he'll try to own it. Slugger Barry Bonds swinging for home run -- got it. Number 756, tonight.
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COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody. Afghanistan, sometimes called the forgotten war. Today, it tops President Bush's agenda. He's meeting with Afghan ally Hamid Karzai. We'll hear from both of them this morning. White House Correspondent Elaine Quijano is also setting the stage for us now.
Elaine, what are the nuts and bolts of this? President Bush and Mr. Karzai will be discussing, I'm sure, an array of topics. What will be the heart of it?
QUIJANO: Yes, the heart of it, you mentioned, Pakistan. The situation in Afghanistan's neighbor, Pakistan. There's been great distrust, of course, between Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially in recent months. Each side essentially pointing the finger at the other saying, look, you are not doing enough to fight terrorists.
Well, recently, that U.S. Intelligence Estimate, that report, found that Al Qaeda in fact established safe haven in Pakistan. So against that backdrop, we are having this summit at Camp David. Afghanistan, itself, has seen a resurgence of the Taliban. President Karzai is looking for signs, certainly, that President Bush will support Afghanistan's efforts moving forward as a security situation continues to deteriorate in Afghanistan.
For his part, President Bush is trying to send a message of his own by extending this invitation to President Karzai to meet at Camp David that President Karzai is a valued U.S. ally. That the United States wants to find ways to work with Afghanistan's government going forward. So a number of issues on the agenda, as we mentioned, fighting the Taliban, fighting the drug trade, which experts say is helping to fuel the Taliban's resurgence; and also the fate of those Korean hostages being held by the Taliban -- Heidi. COLLINS: You know, it is pretty interesting, too, over the weekend I saw an interview with Wolf Blitzer, where Karzai said Iran has been helper and solutionary when it comes to the situation in Afghanistan. How does the White House react when they hear that kind of a statement?
QUIJANO: Certainly, that is not what the White House wants to say from such a critical ally as Afghanistan is in the war on terrorism. Already we heard from Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying, look, Iran is essentially trying to play both sides of the street in Afghanistan. We heard from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday, as well, saying that Iran continues to present a major security challenge to the U.S.'s Gulf allies.
The bottom line, Heidi, when it comes to Iran, the United States could not disagree more with President Karzai 's assessment that Iran is a quote/unquote helper or part of a any kind of solution -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Elaine Quijano, watching this meeting alongside us today.
Thanks a lot, Elaine.
Presidents Bush and Karzai are to hold a news conference. We've been telling you about it, from Camp David this morning scheduled for 11:25 Eastern. We'll bring it to you live when it happens in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: So, let's take a closer look at Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai, the first Democratically elected president of that country. He has led Afghanistan since December of 2001. That is two months after the U.S. launched its post-9/11 invasion. Today, nearly six years later, still 25,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. More than 640 coalition troops, most of them Americans, have been killed.
COLLINS: Desperate for a normal life -- and social club, giving Iraqi families a place to escape the daily violence.
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: And Chrysler fulfills its first full business day as an American company again, after a few years. And it's first order of business to bring back an old model. I'll tell you about it when I come back.
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HARRIS: So, big reasons to celebrate for some of the biggest stars in the Big Leagues. Giants' slugger Barry Bonds is just one home run away from passing Hank Aaron in the record books. Got it, got it all. He hit number 755 over the weekend tying Aaron's career mark. Tonight, the record could fall with the Giants hosting Washington.
For Yankees slugger Alex Rodriquez, home run number 500. Take a look. Got it. Bonds might want to keep a watch over his shoulder. With that homer Rodriquez became the youngest player to reach 500.
And at Wrigley Field in Chicago, a new milestone for Mets' pitcher Tom Glavine, he became just the 23rd pitcher to win 300 games.
Green beans recalled. The FDA says there may be a botulism risk. The manufacturer Lakeside Foods pulling 15,000 cases of French style green beans from store shelves. They were packaged in 14.5 ounce cans. The beans sold in 20 states and Canada under various labels. For more information, log on to fda.gov. No illnesses have been reported and no botulism found in ongoing tests. Symptoms of botulism include blurred vision, slurred speech, and muscle weakness.
COLLINS: Chrysler is back to being an American automaker but the choice of a new and controversial CEO clouds the car maker's new start. Boy, they got that right. Ali Velshi is here now "Minding Your Business" with us this morning.
Hi there, Ali.
VELSHI: Heidi, good to see you.
This is one of those situations where Chrysler has become a private company, it's not a public company. All these private equity deals mean that these companies don't answer to individual shareholders, like so many other companies do.
And what Chrysler has done is it's brought in Bob Nardelli as its new CEO and chairman. Bob Nardelli who is the guy on the left there used to be the CEO of Home Depot until about January of this year. He was there six years and kind of forced out because he was the poster child for overcompensated executives.
COLLINS: Yeah.
VELSHI: Got paid way more proportionally than the stock price went up and he was kind of forced out of there. Surprising to me that Chrysler, this is the best they could do. They snooped around and Bob Nardelli apparently was available to do the job. So he's going to be the boss over at Chrysler.
COLLINS: I'm just looking at the money. You mentioned -- jeez. $142 million stock and salary -- and then the pension plan of $210. He got like $352 million.
VELSHI: At Home Depot.
COLLINS: Yeah, at Home Depot, so now, he goes over to Chrysler. They're not going to pay him, though -- unless he does very well.
VELSHI: Correct. He's not going to get paid. There's some formula they're coming up with to pay him based on bringing Chrysler to good health. Which is, you know, fantastic. Those kind of arrangements to work well. And he is not hurting for the money at the moment.
That said, before he was at Home Depot, he was a senior executive at General Electric. And there's some people who say that with all the noise out of the way, the guy actually has some skills at running a company. So, we'll see. Not the best PR move, when you're a car company and you're talking about new and going forward.
But nonetheless, Chrysler is an American company, and Bob Nardelli gets to be the new CEO.
COLLINS: Yeah. What about -- what are they going to be doing first? Something about an old model they'll bring back?
VELSHI: Well, no. I think the old model they're bringing back is Bob Nardelli.
COLLINS: Bob Nardelli. I thought it was like a cool, funky car that we could all fall in love with.
VELSHI: Yeah. Look, they have been somewhat innovative in the last few years and there is some hope that they can come back. You know, we have some movement. We saw last week Ford and GM both profitable for the first time in a long time, but sales continue to drop for American car makers. They've got to cut costs, but they've got to make cars that Americans want to buy.
COLLINS: DiamlerChrysler, though, it just always sounded weird to me.
VELSHI: Now you don't have to say it anymore.
COLLINS: Yeah. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: See ya.
HARRIS: Still to come this morning, divers go back in the water searching for victims of the bridge disaster. Eight people still missing in Minneapolis.
COLLINS: A meeting of presidents, a sharing of common ground. We'll hear from them a little bit later this morning.
HARRIS: A California journalist gunned down, a brazen daytime ambush. Now police say they're finding ties to a restaurant, and a series of violent crimes.
COLLINS: And staying on message: Republican presidential hopefuls square off in Iowa, trying to sway voters their way.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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HARRIS: Coming up on the half hour, welcome back, everyone to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Among our top stories this morning, restoring and rebuilding. The pledge just moments ago right here on CNN from Minnesota's governor. Divers are heading back into the river this morning. They're searching for those people still missing after the deadly bridge collapse.
Federal investigators questioning construction crews: They used cement mixers and jackhammers on the bridge. Questions, this morning, now about weight loads on the structure.
The victims remembered in a prayer service last night. Eight people are still missing. Officials say that number could go up. The governor telling us this morning those lost in the tragedy will be recovered, quote, "respectfully".
HARRIS: The other story we are watching for you this morning, Afghanistan: The first battleground in the war on terror, now sometimes called the forgotten war.
Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is looking to shore up his alliance with the United States. He is meeting with President Bush this morning at Camp David. Mr. Karzai's government is besieged by crisis, tops among them, a resurgence by the Taliban. The group has unleashed its worst violence since the U.S.-led invasion toppled it from power nearly six years ago.
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