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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
The Fallout Over Michael Brown's Testimony on Capitol Hill; No Schools Open in New Orleans; Eddie Compass Criticized
Aired September 27, 2005 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching a special edition of NEWSNIGHT, STATE OF EMERGENCY, with Aaron Brown and Anderson Cooper.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening again from New York. For those of you just joining us, I'm Aaron Brown and we welcome you to the second hour of NEWSNIGHT, STATE OF EMERGENCY.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Anderson Cooper, coming to you from New Orleans in the Lakeview section of the city.
We have a lot to tell you and show you over the next hour, including the fallout over Michael Brown's testimony on Capitol Hill. Today the former FEMA chief spoke under oath about what in his view went wrong and what went right in the days after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. We'll take a close look at exactly what he said and if he actually shouldered any of the blame himself.
Also tonight, it's not just household pets who are suffering. Cattle by the thousand left ownerless and helpless. They are starving and dying and in need of help. We'll show you what's being done to save them.
And later, a childless city. New Orleans slowly coming back to life, but the kids are not returning, not for a long time. There's no schools here. We'll tell you why that could make a huge impact on the rebuilding effort in New Orleans.
But first, here's what is happening at this moment.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass is retiring, saying it is time for him to go in another direction. We'll have more on his announcement in just a moment.
President Bush was back in Louisiana today where he got a firsthand look at the damage caused by Hurricane Rita. Part of his visit included a 'copter tour of some of the hardest hit areas as well as an offshore oilrig.
More news on that bus that exploded on its way out of Houston Friday killing 24 elderly evacuees. Records kept by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show that the company operating the bus has a deficient driver safety rating, but there are no records of mechanical safety problems. CNN could not reach the company for comment.
And Mississippi legislators today met in a special session to deal with Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. One issue on the table, whether to allow casinos to open on dry land. Current laws have kept the state's casinos on the water, but most of those were heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina and, in fact, some of them are already on land because that's where the storm deposited them.
As we already mentioned, Michael Brown appeared today on Capitol Hill to answer questions about the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Brown was combative and he was defensive, insisting most of the blame rests not with him or with FEMA but with Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Given that, we think it's important to check what he said against the facts. CNN Congressional correspondent Ed Henry investigates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Brown was grilled for over six hours and spent most of the time shifting blame.
MICHAEL BROWN, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional.
HENRY: Brown was referring to the weekend before Katrina hit, when Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin were slow to call for a mandatory evacuation. The former FEMA director charged that delay was a tipping point for everything that went wrong.
RAY NAGIN, MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: I think it's unfortunate. I think that for a FEMA director to be, you know, in Washington, trying to deflect the attention off of his performance is unbelievable to me.
HENRY: The reaction was just as rough in the hearing room, especially when Brown claimed he was merely a coordinator during the crisis.
REP. CHRIS SHAYS (R) CONNECTICUT: That's why I'm happy you left. Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job. I would have liked you to do a lot of it.
BROWN: I take great umbrage to that comment, Congressman.
SHAYS: Why?
BROWN: Because FEMA did -- what people are missing in this entire conversation is the fact that FEMA did more in Hurricane Katrina than it did in Charlie in Florida and the others.
SHAYS: Why is that relevant?
BROWN: We moved all of those in there. We did all of those things and things were working in Mississippi and things were working in Alabama.
SHAYS: But you see, why I don't --
BROWN: And so I guess you want me to be this superhero that is going to step in there and suddenly take everybody out of New Orleans.
SHAYS: No. What I wanted you to do was do your job of coordinating.
HENRY: Brown claimed that before the storm, he privately warned the Bush administration and unnamed lawmakers that FEMA was not getting enough funding. This led a Republican to charge the reason Brown is still on the federal payroll for another month is that he's being paid back for not going public with the budget problems.
SHAYS: And so I'm left with the feeling like the administration feels like they have to protect you because you warned them, but you didn't warn us.
BROWN: Well, you should come over here and sit in this chair and see how protected you feel, feel how it feels to be yanked out of where you were trying to do your damnedest to make something work and told to go back home and make the decision that you're going to quit because you're no longer effective and you're no longer effective because the media is spreading lies about a resume.
SHAYS: No, because you didn't do a good job is why you were let go. Because you were clueless about what was happening.
HENRY: Only two Democrats showed up for the hearing, with most boycotting because they say the Republican-led probe will let the White House off the hook. They want an investigation by an independent commission instead.
But Republicans did press Brown when he tried to dodge a question about his conversations with President Bush and top aides about Katrina.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Brown, excuse me. You discussed it with the "New York Times."
BROWN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I think at least what you shared with the "New York Times" I think you could share with this committee.
BROWN: I told them we needed help.
HENRY (on camera): Governor Blanco was blistering in her response, firing back that these falsehoods show that Mr. Brown is either out of touch with the truth or reality.
Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Michael Brown today blaming at one point the media, blaming also Kathleen Blanco, the governor here of Louisiana, and the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. There has yet to be to my knowledge one politician who has stood up and said this is what I personally failed to do, this is the mistake that I personally made.
The FEMA director has blamed the state and local officials here. He has yet to release a personal -- when asked what mistake he made, he said his mistake was not realizing that basically people in Louisiana were clueless, that the state was dysfunctional, in his terms.
It's a similar argument being made by Mayor Ray Nagin in New Orleans. When you ask him specifically, "What mistake did you make, Mr. Mayor?" he will tell you, "The mistake I made is thinking that the cavalry would come and relying on the federal government or the state to come in after two or three days. That was my mistake."
It's interesting, no politician has actually said a mistake that they have actually taken on their own shoulders. All of the mistakes that they have said that they made seem to be blaming other people. We still await some sort of conclusive investigation and people standing up and admitting what they have done wrong.
Clearly a lot of questions about Michael Brown remain. He is not the only one under the microscope. This afternoon New Orleans' top cop announced he was retiring. Superintendent Eddie Compass said it was just time for him to go. Mayor Ray Nagin said nobody forced him out, but his decision to step down comes following weeks of turmoil and second-guessing.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): New Orleans Police Chief Eddie Compass is a lifelong friend of the mayor. They knew each other as kids and in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina he's been the mayor's staunchest ally.
EDDIE COMPASS, NEW ORLEANS POLICE CHIEF: Mayor Ray Nagin is the real hero of all of this. You know, a lot of people are out there taking bows. Mayor Ray Nagin, the greatest man in the history of the United States, stood strong.
COOPER: But now Compass is under fire for statements he and the mayor made in the days after Hurricane Katrina. Statements that seem to have been based on rumors rather than facts.
This is what he told Oprah Winfrey.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: So are there still many dead people inside the houses, do you think?
COMPASS: Oh, thousands, thousands. I would say thousands.
WINFREY: Inside the Superdome he had seen horrors that will haunt him the rest of his life.
COMPASS: People had babies in there, little babies getting raped.
COOPER: Just yesterday, however, the New Orleans "Times- Picayune" published an article revealing that the soaring body counts and rape accusations were part of, quote, "scores of myths about the Dome and Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials."
Many police officers we talked to feel Compass didn't adequately prepare for the storm and they say they were left with little ammunition and no clear plan.
We spoke to one New Orleans police officer who didn't want to be identified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had nothing to work with in advance. The chief, I'm sure, I've met the man many times and he's a hard-working, very committed man. But no matter how hard-working and committed any of the people were beforehand or during, our poor planning really broke us down and I think cost some lives.
COOPER: Today when Compass resigned his old friend Mayor Ray Nagin hailed him as a hero, calling this a sad day for the city. As for the outgoing police chief, he says this is the right time for him to leave.
COMPASS: I will be going on in another direction God has for me. I want to -- I would ask you to respect my privacy, respect my decision, and just respect my right to be by myself. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Of course, despite that resignation, there are many questions remaining about exactly what happened here during those terrible days before and after Katrina struck, and those are the questions that still need to be answered, not only by the chief of police but by the mayor, by the state governor, by all officials, and a thorough review is what many people here want to see.
About 250 miles southwest of New Orleans is Cameron Parish. It's hard up against the border with Texas. Now, before Rita, everyone called it a sportsman paradise. There were dozens of miles of beaches and abundant wildlife and fisheries, vast tracks of unspoiled wilderness. Well, the wilderness is still there, but there is not much else still there.
CNN's Henry Schuster reports on the destruction he has seen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY SCHUSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the first things you see driving into Cameron is a church, its sides ripped off, steeple crushed, a dead cow lying where the pews once were. The floodwaters from Hurricane Rita are mostly gone now, but this town of 2,500 is almost completely leveled. Hard to believe no one died here.
JOHN LEBLANC, CAMERON PARISH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: You walk down Main Street and it looks like downtown Beirut, you know. Everything is a disaster.
SCHUSTER: This is John LeBlanc's hometown. Now he's sleeping in his truck, along with his golf clubs.
LEBLANC: I got a driveway. That's all I have is a driveway now. I don't even see pieces of my house.
All the landmarks that you used to know, you know, that you could pinpoint where you were at, are totally gone, devastated, especially, from the air. When I was flying around, from the air it was like hard to pick out where you were at, because there were no visible landmarks that you could recognize.
This was a hustling and bustling oilfield town, commercial fishery town, great residences.
SCHUSTER: All that's left here is the courthouse.
LeBlanc is deputy director of emergency preparedness. His job now is to start rebuilding.
LEBLANC: This was the investigator's building. This part stayed fairly well together, the investigator's building for the sheriff's department. This was a vacant lot, and across were some law offices. And as you can see, it's all just basically pushed across the road here.
This our (UNINTELLIGIBLE) office.
Test, test, one two.
SCHUSTER: Just getting a radio working was a small victory.
LEBLANC: Got the generator crank, got it going here, talking on the handset on the desk.
SCHUSTER: As he's outside, President Bush's helicopter flies overhead.
(on camera): If he could hear you up there, what would you tell him?
LEBLANC: Well, we need all the help we can get. We want the same support that New Orleans is going to get to rebuild.
One thing is, you don't want to tear that courthouse down. It stood through two major hurricanes, so I think that is a symbol of strength right there, if you look at the courthouse. It's a symbol of strength. I wouldn't want to do anything to it. Just wash her down.
SCHUSTER: LeBlanc is ready to start on a new house just as soon as he can get the parish government up and running.
LEBLANC: We're going to rebuild here. Don't count us out. We're going to come back stronger and better, so don't count us out.
SCHUSTER: Henry Schuster, CNN, Cameron, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, Aaron, certainly, the good news, if there is any to be had in those areas, the water is receding somewhat, and that is certainly going to help matters in terms of recovery and helping some of those animals that are just stuck there.
BROWN: It's a start. We don't know exactly what it's going to cost to rebuild all that was lost in Rita and Katrina, but this much is clear: this is going to be a staggering number.
Before Rita hit, Congress had already approved $71 billion to pay for Katrina, a down payment. But where exactly is that money going?
From Capitol Hill tonight, CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The varying estimates are enough to, well, make you feel overwhelmed, totally waterlogged. $250 billion, say Louisiana lawmakers. More likely $100 billion say others. Or maybe less.
SHAYS: I have no sense of what is happening with the money and that's the problem.
JOHNS: But with Congress up in arms over the potential cost, accounting still matters. Here is what we know for sure: FEMA got $60 billion from Congress. They've already committed $16 billion sketched out in weekly reports, breaking it down in categories -- human services, operations, administration, infrastructure. But critics say the reports are broad and vague.
REP. DAVID OBEY (D) WISCONSIN: I don't think we know where the money is going because I don't think they know where the money is going.
JOHNS (on camera): Do you have a sense of where the money is going?
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R) GEORGIA: I don't think anybody does at this point.
JOHNS: What are you doing on Katrina? Do you think they know where the money is going?
SEN. HARRY REID (D) MINORITY LEADER: Why don't you ask Brown? He still works there.
JOHNS: But what do you think?
(voice-over): That's Michael Brown, the recently resigned head of FEMA.
JOHNS (on camera): Is Mike Brown already here? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe so, sir.
JOHNS: Is there any way I could get a message to him, to ask him to come out and talk to us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on a second.
JOHNS: Thanks.
(voice-over): In fact, as you know, Brown was busy here on Capitol Hill trying to explain what went wrong with the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
BROWN: ... should have called in for the military at least 24 hours earlier.
JOHNS: And not so worried about what might go wrong with the flood of money to fix things.
We were also curious why FEMA had only spent $16 billion of the $60 billion, so we waited for Shays.
SHAYS: Take a picture of this. This is a sick man here.
This is a hell of a lot of money, and we're not talking millions, we're talking billions.
JOHNS: Over and over again, we heard lawmakers calling for a chief financial officer to take control of the money and a CEO to run things.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R) ARIZONA: Well, we should have, one, an overall administrator, someone like Rudy Giuliani, Jack Welch (ph), Lou Gershner (ph), Colin Powell. We need an overall administrator, the go-to guy, the guy that can tell everybody what to do -- or woman.
JOHNS: Many now dismiss the initial estimates as inflated. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's take.
NEW GINGRICH, FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: The first wave of appropriations was a panic appropriation designed to send a press release that said, gee, we care.
JOHNS: So the fiscal sky isn't necessarily falling, and those who said it was are taking some heat.
The "Washington Post" editorial page called the Louisiana senators, Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican David Vitter, who asked for a quarter-trillion dollars, the Louisiana looters.
(on camera): You might have read that "Washington Post" article that called you all Louisiana looters. What do you think of that?
SEN. DAVID VITTER (R) LOUISIANA: I think it's grossly unfair.
JOHNS (voice-over): Three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, most everyone agrees on at least a couple of things. We have no idea how much money will be needed and not much better idea of how it's being spent.
Joe Johns, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: But it will be your money.
Coming up, the toll Rita has taken on the cow country of Louisiana. What is being done to save the thousands of cattle left to roam in the floodwaters.
And the heavy-lifters. How the Coast Guard is coping with the burden of its tasks.
A break first. This is a special edition of NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to New Orleans.
We're in the Waveland section of New Orleans, at the corner of 40th Street and Bellaire, and it gives you a sense of -- you know, a lot of people have probably moved on from this story. They think, well, the worst is over, but this is what people have to return to. This is just a typical block here in Waveland. First of all, look at this, this is a transformer that has just fallen. It almost fell completely, but it hasn't, it's just hanging now over the street.
If you walk down here, you get a sense of -- the canal is very close here, the 17th Street Canal. When that was breeched, the water just pushed up. Look, it just completely pushed over this fence. This is all debris that came up with the water. And if you look at the gutter, you can actually see the water line. That's how high the water was in this neighborhood, completely flooding these houses here, and it's just surreal.
If you look through, it completely blew out the window over there. You can see into the person's house. It looks like that was their kitchen right there. And then it somehow swept this car onto a tree and pushed it against the house, and now the car is just hanging here, sort of suspended in midair, and again, there are people's possessions just laying all around. Here is a -- this is a medal -- the Crescent City championship. It looks like it is for karate, third place. Look at that.
This is what people have to return to. I talked to a woman in this community who has lived here for 46 years and she said, you know, she came back to her house and started picking stuff up, but she just put it all back, because everything is just destroyed and what do you try to save? There is just nothing left.
This, of course, is from Katrina. There are people who are still suffering from Rita right now and the effects of that, there is still water in some communities, in particular in Cameron Parish. That's where CNN's Randi Kaye was today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cows of Cameron Parish are up to their ears in water.
CHARLIE BONSILL (ph), CATTLE RANCHER: Lucky enough I got all of my cattle out Wednesday night, and I got all my cattle out to higher ground.
KAYE: Charlie Bonsill (ph) had 100 cows at his ranch in Grand Chenier (ph), a community of about 400 in the parish. Just last spring he leased land on higher ground in case. All his cattle survived, but with 70 to 90 percent of the cows dead in Cameron Parish, Bonsill (ph) is doing his part to save the others.
Bonsill (ph) and the 82nd Airborne guided us in on roads impassable just yesterday. Cows littered the roadways, hoofs frozen since the hurricane. Some on the street, others in the water, all of them drowned. Their deaths and decaying bodies made our mission even more critical.
(on camera): How much time do these cows have? How critical is the need?
BONSILL (ph): Another two to three days and it's going to be real critical. If we can get them some fresh water, they'll be all right. The main thing now is to get them fresh water. If we can get fresh water to them, they will survive, and then we can get them out of these tight quarters.
KAYE: And what if you can't get the water to them, or many of them at least?
BONSILL (ph): Well, they're going to perish. They won't be able to stand, they're going to perish.
KAYE: Part of the problem in even getting to the cows is all of the debris in the road. This road here is covered with marsh, vegetation. There is actually a house blocking the street. They're going to have to move that before they can go in deeper and get to more cattle.
(voice-over): The plan is to drop hay and fresh water at a farm, one of the few still standing.
BONSILL (ph): When cattle have been distressed like that, if you can get them fresh water, they'll travel for a mile or so to get the water, they can smell fresh water and the same thing with that hay. If they get that hay, they'll come out to the hay.
KAYE: Time is running out. The cows can't stomach the salt water. It makes them weak, dehydrated. They become aggressive, like this one who charged our truck then ran away.
Bonsill (ph) says most of these cows are now blind from the surge of saltwater in the storm.
(on camera): How do you think that one is doing?
BONSILL (ph): She'll be all right. We'll get her out of there.
KAYE (voice-over): As we edged closer to the pasture to make our drop, the water grew deeper. Even in these trucks, the army wasn't sure we'd make it. Cows now swimming where they once grazed watched, hungry and hot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need a dozer or something to come through in here.
KAYE: Five hours after we set out, we reached a farm on the edge of the parish. Cows watched from a distance as we dropped the hay. Fresh water isn't far behind. We hope we're not too late.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
It turns out the water did not make it today, that fresh water did not make it, but the good news is we did take one step here in the right direction. If you look out there behind me, those are some huge tubs. Those were delivered today by a feed market and they will be trucked deeper into Cameron Parish tomorrow morning, Anderson, hopefully, to get these cows the fresh water that they need -- Anderson.
COOPER: Randy, such a horrible story. Thanks for that, appreciate it.
Earlier, I talked about the efforts to save these cattle with Dr. Maxwell Lea, the state veterinarian, and Bob Felknor, of the Louisiana Cattleman's Association. I started off by asking Mr. Felknor how many cattle are in danger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FELKNOR, LA CATTLEMAN'S ASSN.: We're still in the process of assessing the losses. There's about 35,000 female cattle in this particular parish, and estimating about 70 percent of those cattle have been effected by the storm.
Exactly how many are lost, they're still assessing that by air and by boat to try to determine the losses. Hopefully it's not going to be a large exorbitant number, but there will be some losses.
COOPER: Should people be cautious about approaching these animals?
DR. MAXWELL LEA, STATE VETERINARIAN: Yes, sir, they certainly should be. And of course the stress from the storm and the unusual circumstances make that worse, but these cattle are from a fairly tough environment, a tough area, and they're not always particularly friendly under normal circumstances.
COOPER: Bob, what is your number one priority in terms of trying to get these animals feed or water? I guess water would be the top priority, right?
FELKNOR: The number one priority right now is getting them fresh water, but at the same time we've got to get feed to these cattle, because some of them have been, you know, without feed for a number of days, and we're attempting to try and get hay flown into this area, to the cattle that are trapped. We're getting hay donated from all across the United States into this area.
But the number one priority right now is getting feed and water to the cattle that are still there and then try and get those cattle out as soon as possible so we don't have any more losses than absolutely necessary.
COOPER: Bob, we talked to Lieutenant General Russell Honore last night on the program, who basically sort of appealed to viewers if they had any ideas, and we got a lot of emails from viewers, and the basic suggestions or questions about saving these cattle were, one, can the cattle be airlifted out or, two, can tanker trucks of water be airlifted in.
FELKNOR: Yes, as far as bringing water in, we have done that in the Katrina effort and we'll do some of that here if it becomes necessary.
There was discussion in the Katrina effort at one point in time to try and airlift some cattle out, but these cattle are already stressed and it would not be practical in our opinion to go out and try to airlift the cattle out. Frankly, I don't know who would want to go down there and try to put the straps on them. You would have to tranquilize them, and I just don't think that would work. We'd probably end up losing more cattle than we would actually save by trying to do that.
COOPER: So, Dr. Lea, cattle can die of stress? Their hearts can go out?
LEA: Absolutely. A number of days without feed, a number of days without water, then you get them into an environment that they're afraid of and concerned about, and definitely they can get stressed out to the ultimate and die from that. Absolutely.
COOPER: Does this effect in any way the price of meat or the availability of meat?
FELKNOR: I really don't think that it will have an impact. You know, when we're right here, it seems like a large number of cattle to us, but when you look at the total volume in the United States, this is really a very, very small number. So I don't expect that any loss that we have here will have any impact at all on price.
I think if we see any impact on price at all, it might be as a result of secondary causes. It may be fuel cost or something like that as a result of the hurricane, but it won't be as a result of loss of animals.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Just ahead tonight, President Bush is calling on Americans to conserve gas by driving less, but he racks up quite a fuel bill each time he heads to the Gulf Coast.
Plus pets still in danger here in New Orleans, how they might be harming themselves.
This is NEWSNIGHT, STATE OF EMERGENCY, from New Orleans and New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: You're watching a special edition of NEWSNIGHT, STATE OF EMERGENCY, with Aaron Brown and Anderson Cooper.
BROWN: Today, the price of gasoline crept up above two dollars and eighty-one cents on average. More in some places, which is probably where you buy it.
How the price hikes are connected to Katrina and Rita is a matter of some considerable dispute. What is clear is that production in the United States has been compromised for the short-term at least.
Which is why the White House says Americans should cut back on their consumption. But is the White House practicing what it preaches?
From the White House tonight, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: For the first time, the former Texas oil man turned president called on Americans to conserve.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to think - I mean, people just need to recognize that these storms have caused disruption and that if they're able to maybe not drive when they - on a trip that's not essential, that would be helpful.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A polite suggestion that was immediately followed by an announcement that Mr. Bush would be traveling to hurricane country for the seventh time.
Tuesday a stop in Beaumont, Texas and an arial tour of the Texas- Louisiana border, where refineries produce about ten percent of the country's gasoline.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I saw first-hand how it's hurt.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Critics say the president's trips are no more than gas-guzzling photo ops, aimed at improving his image.
The White House says it's just the cost of doing business. DAVID GERGEN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: I do think there is value in the president going to the Gulf Coast as frequently as he has, and then calling for more conservation.
But if he really wants to get the nation's attention, then he's going to have to do serious things, hard things.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So what is the cost of moving the president? The White House won't say, but according to the Air Force, as of a month ago, the approximately 4,000 gallons of jet fuel needed to fly the biggest plane in the Air Force One fleet costs just more than $6,000 an hour, compared to about $4,000 an hour last year.
Once on the ground, the president's motorcade typically is made up of well over a dozen vehicles, including two presidential limousines, an ambulance, vans, and SUVs carrying Secret Service and the press.
The White House says that it's doing its part to conserve energy by directing staff to cut out unnecessary travel and to turn off lights and computers after hours.
The press secretary says even expect the president's motorcade to shrink. Curiously on this trip, it was one of the press vans that had to go.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Not easy being president. Kind of dammed if you do and dammed if you don't sometimes.
Coming up, roaming the streets like time may be running out for the animals left behind Katrina.
And returning to a city without children. Why New Orleans is a kid-free zone and how that could hurt the city not just now but for a long time to come. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. We're in the Lakeview section of New Orleans, an area destroyed by two hurricanes and a levee break.
Nothing is normal here and it's going to stay that way for a long time. But there are some signs of life in other parts of New Orleans - some hotels and restaurants are re-opening, and people are coming back slowly, a little bit day after day except of course for the children.
This is a childless city - there are no schools here and there are reasons for that. CNN's Adaora Udoji tells us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: After the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, Lin Kennedy, a New Orleans native, still wants to go home, but she worries about her three children.
DAJANAE KENNEDY, DAUGHTER: I have a lot of friends there and I don't know, I hope they're okay.
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: Forced from their city, Kennedy enrolled her 4-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter into new schools outside Atlanta. Her fiance's homeland security job moved with them.
LIN KENNEDY, MOTHER: I don't think that we'll have that in New Orleans - I mean I wouldn't let them play outside there - I'd probably be terrified.
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: Even Mayor Ray Nagin says children shouldn't return, the city is too bruised and too abandoned. He says right now it's not safe.
Life is at a standstill. Many blocks are eerily quiet, with barely anyone around. Barely any kids.
There's no electricity or water or garbage pickup or fully staffed hospitals.
Playgrounds are filled with dangerous debris, hardly a safe environment for children.
LIN KENNEDY, MOTHER: All these stories about E. coli and toxins and dead bodies; I just - it makes me sick just saying it. Just thinking about the fact that my kids wouldn't have clean water.
The schools couldn't possibly be the same.
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: Many schools reek of the rancid floodwaters that engulfed them for two weeks or more. They're empty, except for mounds of trash pulled in by the currents.
This is the courtyard at Jones Elementary School, just north of downtown. It's just one school where 900 neighborhood kids attended and it wants to clean up.
It was underwater; you can see the line all the way around the building marking exactly where the floodwaters stopped.
ROBERT ROBERTI, NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Once we have a lot of the unknowns answered, I think it'll be a lot easier for us to say, you know, when it'll be safe for children to return.
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: So for now, the already poorly performing school system is out of business. That's 65,000 children it can't teach, and 3800 teachers with no class rosters, no paychecks.
Officials are not sure when that will change and they worry those teachers will find jobs elsewhere. ROBERT ROBERTI, NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: The question really becomes how many of those children return if they're spread out over 48 states we know there are kids as far as Alaska.
LIN KENNEDY, MOTHER: I just know that it's just not going to be the same.
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN: Kennedy might be among thousands of parents who decide, as much as they want to go home, they can't. Leaving New Orleans childless at least for a while, while the city recovers from catastrophe.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You know, one of the strange things about being in a neighborhood like this at night is that you look around and you see sort of little things glowing in the dark and you realize those are the eyes of animals, of cats and dogs who are staring out at you too scared to come out and try to get help.
Just about everywhere you go in New Orleans you can find pets who have been left behind, some of them have already died. There are many right here on this street.
Dogs and cats abandoned now for over a month really and for the countless animals, time is running out. They are growing increasingly desperate, which makes the job of saving them more and more dangerous.
We found out following a man by the name of Lee Bergeron (ph), he's an animal rescue volunteer from San Diego, came on his own dime to come here and do this. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEE BERGERON (ph), ANIMAL RESCUE VOLUNTEER: There are not as many anywhere right now. They're either dying or they've gotten picked up so you don't walk every street and see them all over the place today. Of course this is about four weeks past the hurricane so they haven't been gotten to.
Hey buddy.
Crazy enough, though, we've got some addresses where dogs are in houses that, you know, they just want us to either to go feed them or pick them up.
Nothing.
Do you see any white house with gray shutters down there?
We've had three dead ends this morning; we haven't - we've been to three addresses we didn't find anything.
The problem is there's no centralized, organized group that is letting everybody know who shows up at an address, who doesn't. So we're all getting the same addresses from the police and National Guard. There's no way of knowing if someone has been there or not until we show up. So why waste the time?
Yep he's in - he's in there. Hey. Got him? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a long time.
They're just scared. It's all right; it's all right. Oh.
That's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) alive. Potentially a bad situation. Come on.
Not a happy camper. He's just a little bit over our heads. All right we've got to see if (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
They're not on the streets, they're not in packs everywhere, walking down the streets you don't hear them in the houses.
Five or six days ago the addresses we were getting were really clear. You know we'd go to a house there would be a dog there. We get a lot of dead ends.
We're going to a lot of houses there's no dogs that have already been gotten or they're dead.
There you go, buddy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up next tonight, the Coast Guard crews have saved so many lives; thousands of lives. Tonight they talk about the rescues and also the images that stay with the pilots, the images they can't get out of their minds of the people they couldn't help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're back. We are live in New Orleans.
The section or the town we are in is called Lakeview and it is just completely destroyed. It's very near the 17th Street Canal.
A lot of these homes are probably just going to have to be demolished.
Take a look at this. You know, you sort of try to figure out when you're on a street like this what happened. Obviously the water has come up, the water level. You can see it; it's about here on the houses, well over my head.
But take a look at this, this is the roof of another house which has - I don't know where this came from, it must have just been picked up and this has just been completely thrown into the side of this house. It - because this is not the roof from this house and it's not the roof from this house, either. And you can see - you can look in there - you probably can't see it's so dark. That's someone bedroom; the bed is still there.
A lot of their possessions are all just laying out here with a large air conditioning unit.
And this is what people are going to be returning home to. You know we met a woman here who came by this street a little bit - a while a ago to find her belongings. She ended up just leaving everything. It was just too much for her to try to deal with.
Earlier today or earlier yesterday I should say we went out to the Coast Guard rescue station where they have been - the air station where they have been operating thousands of flights, saving thousands of people's lives.
Their motto is "Semper Paratus" - "Semper Paratus," which is always ready. And the men and the women of the Coast Guard have proved they have been ready over this last month. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: After Hurricane Rita's storm surge stranded residents in Southwestern Louisiana; Coast Guard choppers were once again called into action.
Now, however, floodwaters are receding. The command center at Air Station New Orleans is relatively quiet. Lieutenant Commander Tom Cooper (ph) finally has time to reflect on the people he's save and those he had to leave behind.
LT. COMMANDER TOM COOPER, COAST GUARD: Their images stay with you. You know even it's - you never get to talk to them, Anderson, because the helicopter is so loud - just verbal communication inside it's just almost impossible.
You know you hear them yell thank you every once in a while. But most of the communications was just done - you look in their eyes and you could just see, you know, that they were grateful that you came and saved their life.
It was like an out of body experience, you know, to see that.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: In the six days after Katrina, Coast Guard pilots out of Air Station New Orleans saved 6,471 lives. That's nearly twice as many as they'd saved here in the past 50 years.
It is truly a team effort. The choppers are flown by two pilots. There's also a diver lowered into the water by a flight mechanic.
LT. COMMANDER TOM COOPER, COAST GUARD: The flight mechanic will be up in this position here and they'll be operating the hoist; they'll have this hatch open. If I could lock it up here. They'll have the hatch open and they'll be controlling it using this hoist panel here and they'll sometimes use this.
Yeah, they'll sometimes use this as well.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: There were so many rescues after Katrina that after a while they began to seem routine when you witnessed them up close, however, they are anything but.
He's going down again, the rescuer is going down; we believe there may be at least two more people in the house.
He re-entered the water and then watches the house, wraps up in protective bindings around the people and then hoists them up. It is remarkable to see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everywhere you looked, you'd turn - oh, there's somebody over there, there's some body over there, you had to start sorting people out and saying oh there's kids and there's elderly - oh, I think they need medical attention over there.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Lieutenant Junior Grade Maria Rorick (ph) had just been certified as a Coast Guard pilot when Katrina hit.
LT. JR. GRADE MARIA RORICK (PH), COAST GUARD: Overwhelming and frustrating because you can't get them all. You know, you want to just scoop them all up.
When you see the look on people's faces, that's sort of really connects you and you go to bed at night completely exhausted knowing that there's still thousands of people out there.
It's very sad.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Sixteen of the Coast Guard personnel of this air station lost their homes. Now they are cleaning up, fixing the choppers and waiting to be called on again.
Hurricane season isn't over yet.
It is remarkable, Aaron, how many rescues they did just in six days more than they had done in the entire 50year history at that air station.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, as a former Coast Guard, albeit a very raggedy one, we take great pride in that.
In the first week after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was left under water and in fact under siege. We will never forget watching desperate people and the looting from the stores, people taking anything they could, sometimes what they needed, sometimes just what they wanted.
But tonight there are new charges, disturbing ones, that some of those looters including the very men who were pledged to serve and protect the city, the cops.
Here's CNN's Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: His account last week was shocking. Eight New Orleans police officers holed up on the tenth floor of his Canal Street hotel, drinking and eating by day, looting by night.
OSMAN KHAN, HOTEL MANAGER: Oh yeah, they probably leave about nine-ten at night and come back around 4:30 in the morning.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: And what did you see them come back with?
OSMAN KHAN, HOTEL MANAGER: Oh, everything from Adidas shoes to Rolex watches.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: Just lots of it?
OSMAN KHAN, HOTEL MANAGER: Oh, lots of it.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: After six days, Osman Khan says the officers' left.
OSMAN KHAN, HOTEL MANAGER: In their cop cars there was so much stuff that barely the trunk was almost hitting the ground so when they drove off, the - when they drove off, you could see like the car hitting the ground, that's how much stuff they had.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: And CNN has now obtained this videotape backing up parts of Khan's story. It is video taken on the Sunday after the storm, when the hotel was surrounded by water and the hotel engineer was telling a reporter about a threatening police officer on the tenth floor.
PERRY EMERY, HOTEL ENGINEER: No, that was - that's been the biggest problem. They - right now seems like we're being held hostage.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: The reporter from WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge and a photographer from WAFF-TV in Huntsville, Alabama decided to confront the officers.
They climbed ten stories up the fire escape. This is what happens next.
PERRY EMERY, HOTEL ENGINEER: Excuse me; I'm the engineer of the building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm staying here - hold on a second.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you a New Orleans police officer?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. We're staying here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a badge? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Keith. Keith! I'll ask you one more time to move. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I'll ask you one more time to move.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: That confrontation took place here on the tenth floor fire escape at this door. Osman Khan says while they were here an officer armed with a gun stood watch right at this fire escape.
Take another look - the man who identifies himself as a New Orleans police officer reaches down, grabs a gun, and then pulls the door shut.
Last week, New Orleans police captain Marlon Defillo called what happened a misunderstanding.
CAPT. MARLON DEFILLO, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPT.: The officers are saying that they were on the tenth floor, that this gentleman was on the second floor, that the officers are alleging that this person was taking food and taking other -essential items for his own personal gain with people that he was staying with.
So there's two sides to every story.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: Capt. Defillo also told CNN the hotel owner failed to file a report, even after he was asked.
CAPT. MARLON DEFILLO, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPT.: And I spoke to him personally and I asked him if he wanted to file a complaint against any police officer, and he said no.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: That is not Osman Khan's recollection of what happened. In fact, the video taken that Sunday matches Khan's account that he did report the looting to this commander with the New Orleans police but Khan says no one wrote anything down.
And did you file a police report with the state police?
OSMAN KHAN, HOTEL MANAGER: With the state police I did.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: And what happened?
OSMAN KHAN, HOTEL MANAGER: They told me they were not going to get into a hostile situation with the New Orleans police.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: Khan says within an hour the renegade police officers were leaving his hotel with their loot in tow.
Today, Osman Khan is standing by everything he said. He wants justice and he says the good cops of the New Orleans police are on his side.
OSMAN KHAN, HOTEL MANAGER: I mean the thing is the police officers that I know, that I'm friends with, they've - they've told me, you know, Osman, you know, we'll get these guys. These are the guys that just, you know, that deserted them that, you know, they did the opposite of what they should have been doing. DREW GRIFFIN, CNN: An official with the New Orleans Police Department confirms to CNN that the man seen in the video holding a gun on that tenth floor fire escape is indeed a New Orleans police officer while the official declined to name him.
CNN has no reason to believe the alleged police looting in this city is widespread. Even Mr. Khan admits most of the police officers he observed during this disaster did the right thing; even more reason to find those, he says, who did not.
Drew Griffin, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And that's the trouble. I mean you're talking about eight officers here or the 15 percent, 256 officers I think it is who didn't show up.
It tends to paint an - the entire department with a very broad brush and it's a department that over the years has had issues.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It is and - but a lot of - we spent a lot of time with police officers on duty and off here in New Orleans and they are really upset by that report in particular and by a lot of reports that they feel unfairly does paint them with a broad brush.
I mean, I think Drew did a good job of pointing out that, look, what - the allegations about eight officers in this case out of some 60 who were in that particular hotel and those 60 officers in that hotel most of them were working around the clock, their homes had been - were destroyed and yet they were still on the job.
We also want to point out that we've personally met a number of hardworking, dedicated police officers who are committed to rebuilding the city and staying with their jobs.
There's also one officer who has been shot in the head who is hospitalized I believe still in Houston and is going to have a long recovery and there are a number officers who are homeless.
And the police say if you'd like to donate to the officer's fund here, the police association of New Orleans to actually help those officers who are homeless you can.
Please make checks they say out to P.A.N.O. at 13544 Minou Avenue, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it's 70809.
Or you can call the number 225-756-2886.
Up next AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: has a look at the morning papers and a lot more here from New Orleans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, quick check of morning papers from around the country and I do mean quick. "Washington Post" where by you - by you town stood - only the bayou remains. That's a pretty good headline.
Up at the top, Brown defends FEMA's efforts. I did no such thing.
"The Washington Times" I - they got it a little more accurate; Brown blames Gov. Blanco. I think I may have done that at one point. Not that I should get involved in these things.
Attorney details defense strategy in Saddam trial. I would suggest a change of venue. "Christian Science Monitor."
Consumers turning wary. After Katrina and gasoline ordeals, consumer confidence takes its biggest fall in 15 years said one economist consumers are stressed.
Yeah, pretty much.
If you happen to be in Chicago tomorrow or around there according to "Chicago Sun Times" the weather tomorrow in Chicago sketchy.
We'll wrap it up from here and there in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: And that's it for us from New Orleans tonight, Aaron. We're heading to Mississippi tomorrow to revisit some of the towns that we first visited a month ago, towns like Bay St. Louis and Waveland, a town which felt that they were looked-officially forgotten in the recovery efforts for quite some time.
Also going to spending the day with John Grisham in Biloxi. He is trying to get some investment to rebuild some hard-hit areas Aaron.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: That whole part of the Gulf. Gulfport, Biloxi really smacked around.
Safe travels, have a safe travel back to Mississippi. We'll see you tomorrow night and we'll see all of you tomorrow night. Good to have you with us tonight.
"LARRY KING" is coming up next. Until tomorrow, good night for all of us.
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