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Aid Continues to Pour into Haiti; Republican Takes Senate Seat in Massachusetts; Wall Street Reacts to GOP Win

Aired January 20, 2010 - 07:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN HOST: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Thanks for joining us on this Wednesday, the 20th of January. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN HOST: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot of big stories we're telling you about in the next 15 minutes, including breaking news out of Haiti. Just eight days after the apocalyptic earthquake struck, another huge 6.1 magnitude quake rocking the island nation. The strongest since the initial earthquake more than a week ago.

It shook buildings that are only barely staying up at this point, and we're hearing that it sent people into the street screaming.

Already a chaotic situation, and even our Jason Carroll and our other crews along with Sanjay Gupta, all feeling this quake. We're going to be live in a few moments.

ROBERTS: Republican Scott Brown has turned Massachusetts red, at least one Senate seat, and that has health care reform on hold this morning. Straight ahead, how the GOP seized Ted Kennedy's seat from the Democrats, changing the political landscape of America overnight.

CHETRY: Also a CNN exclusive, one-on-one with an ex-patient of suspected Ft. Hood killer Dr. Nidal Hasan. You're going to hear from the former medic who says the military had no business allowing Hasan to treat him or anyone else and that he suspected the army psychiatrist was a terrorist within moments of meeting him.

It's a CNN special investigation you don't want to miss straight ahead.

ROBERTS: First, though, breaking news out of Haiti this morning, a huge 6.1 magnitude aftershock rocking Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. Our Jason Carroll was on the ground when it started shaking. He's live for us in Port-au-Prince. What did it feel like, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have to tell you, I was sitting just off camera and getting ready to go live with you guys, and all of a sudden it started to feel like one of the many tremors that we've been having here. The ground started to shake a little, and then it got very strong.

I could hear the buildings sort of moan and creek and move to both sides very slowly. I looked at my producer, Justin Dial, and I was wondering, should I come to the edge? I'm from California and you remember your earthquake training, get under a doorway or something sturdy. There was nothing near me.

So I sat there and looked above me to make sure things weren't coming down and waited it out. The people behind me who have been set up in these tent cities, many of them are homeless, many of them who do have homes are too afraid to sleep in them for obvious reasons, you could hear them screaming and moving about as the earth started to move.

They've called down now. Things are much, much calmer than they were just about a half an hour ago when the earth started to move. But it was frightening.

So you can imagine the people here, who have had to deal with so much tragedy, walking around through destruction every single day. Every single time the earth moves for these people they're reliving what happened when the earth originally struck.

So it was a very frightening moment as the earth moves here beneath us just about a half hour ago -- John.

ROBERTS: It is early in the day, Jason, but still we have lots of people out and about. Any reports of any damage as a result of this major aftershock?

CARROLL: Well, no reports that are coming in to us yet, but you've seen the images, John, and you've seen how much destruction is here. You've seen the homes that are barely standing.

This is the reason why many of the officials are going around and telling people don't sleep in your homes. Even if your home survived the earthquake, expect aftershocks. You don't know how stable your house is, so don't be inside. If you can, be outside.

And what we experienced this morning is the reason why emergency officials and Haitian officials do not want the people here sleeping inside their homes, especially at night.

ROBERTS: Jason Carroll for us in Port-au-Prince with the latest on the aftershock.

(WEATHER BREAK)

CHETRY: And also we have another big headline this morning, and that's this huge political upset that took place for Democrats. Republican Scott Brown taking the Senate seat held for 50 years by the late Senator Ted Kennedy, nearly 50 years.

It effectively ends the Democrats' 60-seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate. And as for Brown, he says he is ready to take on president Obama's health care plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BROWN, (R) MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR-ELECT: One thing is clear, one thing is very, very clear, as I traveled throughout the state -- people do not want the $1 trillion health care plan that is being forced --

(BOOS)

-- that is being forced on the American people. And this bill is not being debated openly and fairly. It will raise taxes, it will raise taxes, it will hurt Medicare, it will destroy jobs and run our nation deeper into debt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: So how is this playing at the White House this morning and how does it affect the president's agenda? Our Suzanne Malveaux is live. I'm sure they can't be happy the morning after this upset.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, I spoke with a senior administration official this morning who obviously says the president is disappointed and frustrated with what they're seeing happen here.

Obviously we're looking at the one-year anniversary since the inauguration of President Obama. He is facing a number of setbacks going into this coming year.

First of all, as we know, the Massachusetts Senate seat held by a Democrat since 1953 is now gone, widely seen as a referendum on the president's health care agenda, a big loss from the independents, as well as an expression of fear and frustration from Americans, some Americans who see bigger government, more government, but their lives are not getting any better.

Now, what happens to health care reform? Well, clearly, the White House, the president's aides are going to put their heads together and try to come up with something more modest. They do not believe that it is dead, but certainly it does look like it is on life support.

And this brings up a very important issue, Kiran, and that is the question whether or not the president can move forward on other priorities on his domestic agenda, whether it's energy, climate, cap and trade, immigration reform, financial regulatory reform, these kind of things.

There are a lot of Democrats who are wondering, look, if you can lose and sink the Massachusetts Senate seat for the Democrats, one of the most liberal states, what is going to happen when you take a look at those more competitive race when's it comes to the midterm elections?

And finally, Kiran, the president is also looking at a lower approval rating. We're talking about 65 percent when he first took office. Our poll this morning showing -- CNN showing that that number is now at 59 percent.

So this is a country that in some ways is in a sour mood that is looking for some good news. We have yet to see that bipartisanship, that change in Washington that the president had promised. And so clearly he's got a lot of challenges when it comes to this upcoming year -- Kiran.

CHETRY: And so when we mark this first year for the Obama administration, it wasn't all bad news.

MALVEAUX: Well, absolutely not. Not all bad news. You have to be fair here. The $787 billion economic stimulus package widely regarded as helping the economy, really, from getting into a major depression here. So there were jobs that were saved, or created, as the White House likes to say.

The 30,000 U.S. troops, additional troops that went to Afghanistan, are being deployed to Afghanistan to try to take on terrorist Al Qaeda.

And finally the president did initiate at least trying to close Guantanamo Bay prison.

So those are some things he has accomplished in his first year. But the president, aides are telling me, is that he doesn't want to dwell necessarily, he wants to move on, figure out some sort of health care reform that's more modest and at the same time turn the page, turn the corner, deal with the economic situation with creating more jobs.

So some accomplishments, but clearly a lot of work that's ahead here, Kiran.

CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning outside the White House. Thank you.

ROBERTS: The relief effort in Haiti, we've been hearing about bottlenecks over the last week in getting aid out there. One of the questions some people are asking is who is in charge? We'll put that question to two very important people on the ground there in Haiti coming up.

It's 10 minutes now after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

As we've been telling you this morning, we're following breaking news out of Haiti this morning. They're trying to assess the damage and injuries after a magnitude 6.1 aftershock. It's the strongest since the initial earthquake hit more than a week ago.

And so again, we're not sure about the damage or the injury assessment right now, but we are following the latest on the ground.

Meanwhile, in the wake of all this, there are still huge problems when it comes to getting aid to the streets in Haiti. More and more survivors are becoming victims every day. In fact, the group Doctors without Borders is claiming it's had planes filled with desperately- need supplies cannot get permission to land at the airport.

So who gives that order, who is in charge, and what are the some of biggest challenges when it comes to the aftermath of this quake in Haiti? Joining us now from the United Nations is U.N. emergency relief coordinator undersecretary John Holmes, thanks for being with us, and also live in Port-au-Prince, we have General Ken Keen, the commander of joint task force Haiti, thanks for being with us as well.

Let me start with you, General Keen. You're at the helm of this enormous U.S. military effort. And even as the U.S. is sending more troops, dropping more aid, many survivors are still not getting life saving medical treatment, food and water. What are the biggest limitations you're facing right now?

LT. GEN. P.K. KEEN, COMMANDER, JOINT TASK FORCE HAITI: Well, transportation on the ground is certainly a limitation, but I would say that we're moving forward very quickly in that effort.

Yesterday was a very good day. We delivered over 200,000 bottles of water to the people, and over 600,000 rations. And that's just what the joint task force delivered, not including what, of course, the U.N. forces and all the organizations that are here from the international community.

So every day we reach out farther, we touch these different pockets of where the injured and the suffering are at. I was at the general hospital yesterday, which is a hospital near the presidential palace, and spent some time with a doctor looking at the situation there.

We have troops there that are helping provide food and water to the hospital, and we will be evacuating casualties out of that hospital today, moving them to hospitals in the north part of the country that have the excess bed capacity, as well as looking and working with the minister of health who I spent about an hour and a half with last night in discussing all these challenges that they face.

Because today, of course, we have the USNS Comfort that is going to be here, and we're going to be transferring patients to her, as identified by the minister of health, in order to take pressure off both the fixed facilities that we have in place that are operating as well as our field hospitals. So we're moving in the right direction.

But, as you noted, this is a tragedy of epic proportions, and we have a long way to go to meet the needs of the people. But we are moving in the right direction.

CHETRY: And Secretary Holmes, let me ask you about this aid group Partners in Help released an urgent statement yesterday basically saying that tens of thousands of earthquake victims need emergency surgical care now. They claim that 20,000 people are dying each day who could be saved by surgery.

And we also have these anecdotal stories of doctors needing to buy saws in, you know, in marketplaces because they don't have the personnel and equipment. Why is it not getting there fast enough?

JOHN HOLMES, UNDERSECRETARY GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR: Well, I think we're beginning, as the general said, to turn the corner. We're beginning to get more supplies out, food, water, tents. But there is a major priority, which is medical supplies, doctors, field hospitals. There are already four or five field hospitals operating and coming since the emergency. Another four or five are on the way.

It's very frustrating that it takes so long to get as many supplies, as many doctors, as many hospitals are needed. But again, I think we are making progress. But I think there is a major issue here of people with those injuries who got infected wounds, who need operations, who are not getting as many as they can. That's the major priority for the next few days.

CHETRY: And you talk about prioritizing. And General Keen, I want to ask you about this. The U.S. military has come under some criticism about the prioritization of flights in Haiti, and we know that you have increased capacity. Doctors Without Borders though has been highly critical saying that urgently needed surgical equipment, drugs on these planes have been turned away, they say in one case five times. How are these priorities for flights being made and what are they?

LT. GEN. P.K. KEEN, COMMANDER, JOINT TASK FORCE HAITI: Is that to me, Kiran?

CHETRY: Yes, general.

KEEN: Yes, well, the priorities are set by the government of Haiti, and obviously they're working that in conjunction with the United States, the United Nations, and all the organizations here. We take those priorities and we work with the incoming flight that we have, and we put them on the ground as quickly as possible.

There are issues involved if flights come in and are delayed on the ground, then obviously that delays those coming in. Yesterday, we had over 160 flights come in. That included both fixed-wing and rotor wing. About 115 of those were fixed-wing.

CHETRY: Do you know about this Doctors Without Borders claim, though? About them saying that these big cargo planes filled with life-saving supplies are being turned away. Do you know what the situation is with that?

KEEN: Well, they're only turned away if there's no parking space on the ramp, and they don't have sufficient fuel to hold in their holding pattern. And basically the air traffic controllers are putting all the flights they can on the ground.

Again, there's a couple issues involved here. If the air traffic controller knows what's on the plane and what the tail number is and he has three planes stacked up and he knows one of them has got medical supplies on it and that's the top priority identified by the government of Haiti, then that plane is going to come in. But if he does not have that information, then he has no way of knowing that that plane is carrying critical supplies.

CHETRY: OK. KEEN: That's not to say that the planes that you've mentioned, that was the case. But we have found that to be the case. And last night we had a plane that was turned away, had to return to the Dominican Republic that, in fact, we should have put on the ground but we did not know what was on it because it was not posted and didn't know them. And so there are challenges involved.

CHETRY: Right.

KEEN: Our coordination with the entire international community is important to make sure we put the right stuff on the deck at the right time.

CHETRY: Right. And Undersecretary Holmes, let me ask you about that coordination effort. Is this being led by the United Nations? I mean, we seem to have a lot of aid and we seem to have a lot of need, but connecting those two together is proving to be the biggest challenge.

HOLMES: Yes, the United Nations has the central coordinating role for all the humanitarian organizations, whether from the U.N. or NGO, who work very closely with the Red Cross as well. And then we try to coordinate as closely as we can with all the bilateral donors, particularly, of course, in this case the United States, which is making such a massive effort. And I think that coordination, the systems we have in place, tried and tested systems, is beginning to work reasonably well.

The problems don't come from coordination. The problems come from logistic challenges that the general has been talking about. Getting the aid into the airport fast enough but even more crucially, getting it from there, having the right trucks, the right fuel and the right escorts because security is an issue here. And the peacekeeping mission is doing that and will be helped increasingly by the U.S. as the Marines arrive. That's a challenge too. Getting all that in place, the right distribution points, getting that aid out -- those are the challenges.

The U.S. military, World Food Programme (ph), these are champions of the world in logistics, and they've been struggling.

CHETRY: Right.

HOLMES: So that gives us an illustration of how difficult it's been given the collapse of so many systems before we started.

CHETRY: Absolutely. And, you know, it's easy to sit back and criticize. I know there are so many people, you know, pouring their heart and souls and they're trying to help people in Haiti. Both of you included. And thanks for your time this morning, you and Undersecretary John Holmes, as well as General Keen, the commander of Joint Task Force Haiti. Thanks so much.

KEEN: Thank you.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, a CNN exclusive. Drew Griffin of our special investigations unit talked with one of Major Nidal Hasan's patients and says the military should never have let Hasan treat patients. We'll have that report coming right up for you.

It's 20 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Twenty-three minutes past the hour. It means it's time for "Minding Your Business" and Christine Romans joins us this morning. And we're talking more just in general about how all of this is playing out on Wall Street.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, wow yesterday, the number 41 was the big number on Wall Street yesterday even before Scott Brown won in Massachusetts because there were bets going on in the health care sector that this was going to mean a stalemate for health reform. And if you look at the Dow it hit a 15-month high yesterday in part because of components like Pfizer and other drug stocks that were helping this go up. So a 50-month high for stocks yesterday.

Look at how Wall Street reacted ahead of time to what was going on in Massachusetts. Insurance stocks rallied strongly here. I think Humana was up like seven percent. Pharmaceuticals, a big, big gain yesterday. And hospital stocks down. Why? Because health reform was seen as a net positive for the hospital stocks in part because some of these hospitals are really struggling because they don't get paid for all of their patients and they have a lot of costs that would be helped and managed by health reform. So Wall Street really, really betting ahead of time that this was going to happen.

Look, on Wall Street there's a saying, gridlock is good. It's good for a lot of different industries. They don't like -- they don't like Washington kind of mucking up the works for them. And so banking, health care, deficits, the dollar, immigration reform, all of these things, the big Wall Street strategists are trying to figure out what this new landscape is going to look like for all of these things. Just about everything you can think of they're trying to figure out. Hmm, things just got a little more interesting.

ROBERTS: All right. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning, thanks.

ROMANS: Sure.

ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes after the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. The late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat belongs to the Republicans this morning, giving health care reform in America well, actually a lot of questions as to whether or not health care is going to -- reform is going to even happen.

Scott Brown pulled off the improbable upset last night in a special election in Massachusetts. A stunning five-point victory over Democrat Martha Coakley, and the Republican senator-elect calling the outcome the start of a White House overhaul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR-ELECT: I hope they're paying close attention, because tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken. From the Berkshires, to Boston, from Springfield to Cape Cod, the voters of this commonwealth defied the odds and the experts. Tonight, the independent majority has delivered a great victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: John King joins us now live from the state House in Boston this morning. And, John, it looks like Scott Brown successfully tapped into a wave of disenchantment with Washington.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He did, John. And the question is now, how big is that wave beyond the borders of Massachusetts? That is the question Democrats across the country are asking themselves in this midterm election year.

Scott Brown in a state that Barack Obama just 14 months ago carried by 26 points, ran against the president's stimulus plan, ran against the president's health care plan, said the Democrats, including the president of the United States, were spending too much money. Not doing enough to create jobs. He ran in a state again that Senator Kennedy held that seat for 46 years. Senator Kerry won re-election not all that long ago. President Obama carried it handily, but Scott Brown tapped into deep discontent and anxiety among independents.

Not just in Washington, also with the Democrats who ran the State House you see behind me. But a populace message, an "I want change message, not all that dissimilar to what Obama ran on in '08, John. Now the question is what is the impact not just on health care but the mood of the Democratic Party in this critical midterm election year.

ROBERTS: So when it comes to health care, John, what does the White House, what does Congress do about it now? Do they go forward, have the House pass the Senate bill then fix it through the reconciliation process? Maybe thinking about scale things back? What's the mood out there?

KING: That latter point you just made, the latter possibility, scaling things back has started to gain steam. It's about interesting. About 72 hours ago when they saw the Democrats in Washington, this prospect of a Scott Brown victory on the horizon, there was all this talk of trying to convince the House to pass the Senate bill. Let's try to rush something through before Scott Brown can get to Washington. But the scope of his victory and the deep support among independent voters has Democrats who have other tough races all across the country scared. They do not want to cast more tough votes and anger independent voters in their own states right now. So after -- say two days ago you heard can we rush this through. Now what you're hearing among most Democrats, not all but most Democrats say, either we need to drop this altogether and get back to talking about jobs and the economy or scale it back significantly if we want to do it now.

CHETRY: Yes, and it was surprising to hear two of the most liberal congressmen, Barney Frank and Anthony Weiner, saying, you know, if Brown wins, health care is likely dead. So looking ahead to the midterm elections this November, what does it mean? Is this signaling a reshaping of the landscape?

KING: It certainly does at this point. You know, if so much can change between Obama's 26-point victory here 14 months ago and now, we need to caution everybody a lot can change between now and November.

But look, why were people mad in 2008? The economy was doing badly. Well, many believe it's still doing badly, if not worse. Why were they mad? Because all that money was going to Wall Street, people thought there's still more money. At least the perception that more money and more bonuses on Wall Street.

You have Barack Obama promised to change Washington and make it less partisan. I have visited all 50 states in the past year. I can tell you liberals and conservatives agree on that point that Washington doesn't look any better, doesn't look any more productive. In fact, it looks more partisan. There is this climate there for the independent voters who gave Obama his big margin of victory, they still want change and they're not seeing it in the Democratic administration in Washington.

That creates a huge opportunity for Republicans and the challenge for Democrats today and everyone in the party was talking about this last night, is how do we adjust to this? What can we do in the short term to try to tell those independent voters and conservative Democrats we get it, give us a chance. Don't run away from us come November.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. John King for us this morning in Boston. Thanks so much.

Meanwhile, we're crossing the half hour. It's time for this morning's top stories. The U.S. military sending more ships to Haiti, among them a debris-clearing vessel. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it could have the blocked harbor cleared within a couple of weeks so that ships can dock and also deliver critical supplies. Close to 11,000 U.S. troops are on the ground.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Up to three dozen Americans who converted to Islam in prison are in Yemen. That's according to a new Senate report. The report also says, "there is no public evidence of any terrorist action by these individuals but that several have dropped off the radar for weeks at a time."

CHETRY: And another major rainstorm is expected to hit southern California today and dump four to eight more inches of rain on parts of Los Angeles. Residents in the mudslide-prone areas have been told to evacuate. We're going to be checking in with our Rob Marciano in about 15 minutes. He's going to update us on the extreme weather that's once again heading straight toward southern California.

ROBERTS: They are Haiti's smallest victims, aid groups put the number of children orphaned by the Haiti disaster in the tens of thousand. Last Thursday less than 48 hours after the quake we spoke with Susie Krabacher. She is the co-founder of the Mercy and Sharing Foundation which cares for and helps educate Haitian children. At that time Susie was in Colorado desperately trying to book a flight to Haiti knowing little about the fate of the children and her facilities down there.

Susie arrived on Saturday and this morning she joins us live from the ground in Port-au-Prince. Suzie, it's good to see you this morning. So when you got there, what was the situation that you found on the ground with your facilities?

SUSIE KRABACHER, CO-FOUNDER, MERCY AND SHARING FOUNDATION: Well, it was devastation. We - we've been to all of our facilities and the clinic is completely gone. Our surgical suite looked like a pancake. All of our medical records, all of the birth certificates of the children, our bank documents, under the rubble. We have 32 children unaccounted for at the abandoned at the baby unit inside of the government hospital.

Staff there cannot tell us where they are. So today I'll be looking for those children. We're trying to become fully operational again in a place that is just absolutely impossible to move quickly in. Our schools are still standing. We know of at least three children who were killed in the earthquake at one of our schools, although the school is standing, that child was killed outside of the school.

We're going to go back to Cite Solei today and start looking for those students. All of our orphans have been moved out of Port-au-Prince into the area of (INAUDIBLE) which is 35 miles north of Port-au-Prince into a safer facility there. We're trying to get in over 100 tons of food that we have waiting to be shipped in. It's already been donated. Funds are very, very important now. Fuel is absolutely - impossible to get. We are nearly - we had to pull out guns yesterday to protect ourselves to get fuel.

ROBERTS: Let me ask you, Susie, let me go back to the abandoned baby unit. You say that there are 32 children who are unaccounted for. Did that unit itself sustain any damage?

KRABACHER: The unit is standing, the children are gone. The hospital staff do not know where the children are or are not telling us where they are.

ROBERTS: Now what about supplies -

KRABACHER: That would be my mission. I won't be leaving until I find them.

ROBERTS: What about supplies? And this has been a big problem for so many people over the last eight days, getting enough supplies out, getting through the bottlenecks at the airport or getting them over land from the Dominican Republic. How have you been able to do on that front?

KRABACHER: Well we have a very large warehouse that did not sustain any damage, and we've been moving our supplies from the warehouse around Port-au-Prince to the warehouse in (INAUDIBLE). Again, that area was not affected, so we have at the moment supplies.

However, when they run out, we need that port to be open and we need to be able to get our container loads of food. Like I said, we have 100 tons just waiting to come into the port.

ROBERTS: You also have feeding -

KRABACHER: But right now, water.

ROBERTS: Right. Water is a huge problem, there is no question. You also have feeding programs in the northern part of Haiti up toward Cap-Haitien. How are those programs doing?

KRABACHER: Those warehouses are full. Whether or not they sustained any damage, I do not know yet. I'll be going there the day after tomorrow. We feed 1,300 elderly and very, very sick children up there. So this is going to be a priority. We've obtained a couple of vehicles. It's very difficult to make your way around anyway. But to rent a vehicle, if you don't have them, then it's almost impossible. We had four vehicles here. Two were destroyed. We've managed to commandeer one and we're working on that issue as well.

ROBERTS: Susie, you seem so driven to continue on with your charity here, to find those 32 children who are missing from the abandoned baby unit, to get the supplies that you need, to get that aid out to the Haitian people. When you look at the amount of destruction that your charity has suffered, how do you maintain that strength?

KRABACHER: Those kids are like my flesh and blood and there's a lot of people out there for 16 years who have been helping us take care of these children. The children at the abandoned baby unit will be found. The odd thing is we had asked the government to give those children release papers in August. They were still there during this earthquake, they could have been safely at one of the orphanages Mercy and Sharing operates.

And unfortunately we were never given release papers. That is, for me, heart breaking. I will find them. I hope that I find them safe. But driven is not the word, it's - I can't tell you, I'm running on adrenaline, and I just want to see their smiles again.

ROBERTS: Now, in terms of orphans as well, there were so many in Haiti, I think it was about 350,000 to 380,000 as it was, there are many more thousands of orphans now as a result of this earthquake. If the death toll is to be believed. A lot of those children will be looking to you for help. Are you going to be able to supply this increased need?

KRABACHER: We are ready. We have a 27,000 square foot facility. We're working on preparing beds and hiring mothers to take care of those children. We're expecting hundreds more abandoned and orphaned children. And do I assume that many of them will be - we'll take permanent custody of those children, provided that we have the help from people back in the States. We're going to need help from you. And another thing you should know, 100 percent of every one of your dollars goes undiluted to take care of these children.

ROBERTS: Well, we certainly wish you all of the best, you're doing great work down there. Susie Krabacher for us this morning. Susie, thanks so much. It's 38 minutes now after the hour. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. In a scathing review about to be handed to the secretary of defense, the Defense Department says that repeated warning signs about the alleged Ft. Hood massacre suspect were missed or simply ignored by those who supervised and promoted Army psychologist Major Nidal Hasan.

Hasan stands accused of murdering 13 colleagues and injuring 32 others when he opened fire in a crowded troop processing center on November 5th at Ft. Hood in Texas. The military's own review found that even before Hasan was suspected of e-mailing a radical cleric in Yemen that his supervisors in the military medical community voiced concerns over his work ethic, over his judgment and his behavior.

Well, this morning, an exclusive interview with one of Hasan's patients, a former Army medic, who says that the military should have never have let Major Hasan try to treat him or anyone else. Here's special investigative correspondent Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was watching CNN that very day.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Nidal Malik Hasan, a major in the United States Army.

GRIFFIN: And was stunned when he saw this photo of the suspect. The suspect who was also his doctor.

(on camera): When you first saw the shooting at Ft. Hood, before we knew anything, what was your reaction?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a (expletive) terrorist. Like nothing else went through my mind. That was the first thing that came to my mind.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): It was also the first thing that came into his mind, he says, when he first met Hasan in May of 2007.

(on camera): You mentioned over the phone that you thought, this guy could be a terrorist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did. GRIFFIN: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really did. I don't know why I thought that, but I did.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The former medic, who does not want to reveal his identity, says he was sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in May of 2007 for treatment of a shoulder injury and psychiatric treatment for depression and severe anxiety. The psychiatrist assigned was Major Nidal Hasan, and the medic says he rarely showed up for appointments, and when he did, seemed to care little for the soldier he was assigned to help.

(on camera): You say he seemed disinterested. Did he seem odd?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely seemed odd. Just like if you look at the pictures that have been done of him when he went into that grocery store, had he a big smile on his face. You never saw that smile when he was a doctor.

GRIFFIN: Grumpy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very harsh stare. Fire-burning eyes. As though he was disconnected completely from the patient. It was like nobody was there.

GRIFFIN: Like he was staring past you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

GRIFFIN: That can't be very comforting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. It wasn't comforting at all.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): According to the Defense Department report, this patient's view of Hasan is similar to others. One of many warning signs that he was incompetent as a psychiatrist.

(on camera): In a 12-year military career, Hasan repeatedly scored below average academically, had a poor attendance record, and needed close monitoring in emergency rooms.

In 2007, he even questioned why Muslim soldiers should be involved in fighting other Muslims. Suggesting that Sharia Muslim law trumped the U.S. Constitution.

(voice-over): Despite all the warning signs, in 2009 Hasan was given yet another recommendation to be promoted, and he was sent to Ft. Hood, Texas. According to this former patient of Hasan, the Army not only promoted an incompetent psychiatrist, but also allowed that incompetent physician to care for sick soldiers, like him.

(on camera): Do you feel at the time he was at Walter Reed he was not doing the job that he was assigned to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was not. There was no patient-doctor relationship there. May as well be just talking to a wall by yourself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: The medic says he never complained about Hasan, Kiran, but did repeatedly ask where his doctor was, especially after missing so many appointments. He never got an answer. He tells us that he was told by the staff that the staff knows about the problems and was taking care of them. Kiran.

GRIFFIN: ... was, especially after missing so many appointments. He never got an answer. He tells us that he was told by the staff that the staff knows about the problems and was taking care of them - Kiran.

CHETRY: It just seems unbelievable that all of that could happen, and it seems that the answer was to promote him out of Walter Reed and then send him to Fort Hood, basically to get rid of him.

GRIFFIN: That - that is exactly right, Kiran, and that's one of the big questions that Congress has right now, looking at this case.

Keep in mind, all this is happening, this bad doctoring, this bad psychiatry is happening, before they even get the information that he's - he's communicating with this radical Muslim cleric in Yemen. Yet, they continue to push him forward. It's another terror case where the dots are not connected, and it's something that the - Congress is now struggling with, and the Defense Department too, changing some - some rules and - and ways they handle these cases.

CHETRY: Drew Griffin for us. Great reporting. Thank you.

ROBERTS: We're coming up now on 46 minutes after the hour. Rob Marciano is going to have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.

CHETRY: Also coming up in 10 minutes, it's time for your "AM House Call". We're on the ground in Haiti with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He introduces us to two renowned surgeons in Port-au-Prince, and they're asking this morning, where is the aid? Where are the supplies? Some answers ahead.

Forty-six minutes past the hour.

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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

You're looking at brand-new video just in to CNN, taken just after a strong 6.1 magnitude aftershock hit Haiti. That was just a little more than an hour ago. The big worry now is that more buildings could topple over, or that some of those spaces that have kept people alive for the past eight days could collapse down, or that some of those shaky structures could collapse down on top of rescue workers who are struggling to get those people out.

This is the strongest aftershock to hit Haiti since last Tuesday's quake.

Well, it's 49 minutes after the hour, let's get a check of this morning's weather headlines, Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center this morning. Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Good morning, Kiran.

Again, as you mentioned, that - that quake, 6.1 and the same depth as the other aftershocks, for the most part. Now, we hadn't seen an aftershock in over two days, so quite possible that pressure had been building and these aftershocks are tough to predict. They can often last for days, months and, in some case - cases, even last for - for years.

The frequency, though, should begin to diminish, but that doesn't make what happened today any less frightening, out of (ph) 6.1.

All right, let's talk about what's going on out west, a couple of systems, three actually coming in. This is the second one now, driving into the desert southwest. Snow as far south as the Mexican border. This is what brought heavy rains to parts of California yesterday, and winds, even a couple of tornadoes, to Newport and Huntington Beach, doing some damage there and trees down from San Diego all the way up to San Francisco.

Already now, we're starting to see the third batch of rain come in. This one looks to be the strongest, raining moderate to heavily in San Francisco and beginning to fill in now across parts of Southern California and with four, five inches of rain already falling. That ground, you bet, is saturated.

This is the computer model for how much rain we expect to see over the next 48 hours, which brings anywhere from four to five, maybe even six inches of rainfall across Southern California into those burn areas, the big - big Tujunga Canyon across the - the station fire. They're evacuating people at 6 - at 9:00 this morning, mandatory evacuations of at least 600 people because they fear the - that that dirt is going to move.

Two other areas of concern today, areas - severe weather potentially across the south and mid-south, also some ice building up across parts of the Upper Midwest as cold air mixes with some of that moisture. Northeast looks to be relatively quiet compared to what's going on out west.

John and Kiran, back up to you.

ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much. CHETRY: Well, this morning's top stories just minutes away, including the top of the hour, Anderson Cooper's going to be joining us with the breaking news out of Haiti, the strongest aftershock yet, striking a little over an hour ago, adding to the chaos in the streets. We're going to get a firsthand look from Anderson.

ROBERTS: At 8:05 Eastern, Democrats asking how did this happen the morning after they lost Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat. Should the president be worried?

CHETRY: And at 8:50 Eastern, where is the love? Carol Costello on the hope and the harsh reality of the president's first year in office.

Those stories and much more coming your way at the top of the hour.

Fifty-one minutes past the hour now.

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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

It is 54 minutes past the hour right now. That means it's time for an "AM House Call" and today we're going to be showing you two of the most renowned surgeons on the ground in Haiti, in fact, they're twins, and they're providing desperately needed help to their friends, family, and their community.

Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta had a chance to catch up with the two men as they're trying to do their life-saving work in the midst of a crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was the end of the world.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You thought it was the end of the world?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

GUPTA (voice-over): They are Haitian surgeons, Jerry and Marlo Betton (ph). Yes, they're twins. And, at this community, they're also heroes.

When the earthquake hit, they stayed open for business.

GUPTA (on camera): These are two of the most renowned general surgeons in Port-au-Prince and trying to do everything they can, obviously, for patients. But the problem is what happens - even if they provide the best health care they can with the resources they have, there is no plan after that.

The international community say, look, we're providing a lot of aid to Haiti. We're providing a lot of money, we're providing a lot of resources. What do you say to that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't feel it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today it's six days after - six or seven days. One week. Honestly, I don't say they don't send, bring, but I personally don't feel it.

GUPTA (voice-over): But today, they have far more pressing matters than worrying about when international aid will come. Hardly any food, minimal water and not enough pain medications. Patients are literally screaming for help.

GUPTA (on camera): The sounds that you hear over here are sounds that you never want to hear again. There are children screaming, knowing that they are going to have so much pain as they try and dress these wounds. There's not much they can do for them. It's not much in the way of pain medications they can give to them.

And then all of the patients waiting, knowing that they're next, knowing that they're going to endure that same sort of pain. It's impossible to watch.

Oh, wow. That's obviously a young boy who has significant injuries. You can see his legs, he's got - this is a - a severe scar and this has a lot of - a crush injury here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

GUPTA: This leg you've decided to - to save, though...?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We save that. We save that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We save that. But this, we can't save it.

GUPTA: So what do you do? I mean...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a lot of patients waiting here. They finish operating, but Dr. - while - I cannot go to the street because I don't have - I don't have home. And I think to help, I, you know, ask everybody who help to think about how to put - thinking about house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have a house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't live without house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without house. They're on the street. And people, we give health care, they cannot go on the street. It's impossible.

GUPTA: And even near the end of the day, this is basically what continues to happen, trucks coming in with patient after patient after patient. This hospital is already full to capacity, but these two doctors are going to continue to take care of as many as they can. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And the top stories coming your way in 90 seconds. Stay with us on the Most News in the Morning.

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