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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Millions of Floridians Without Power in Wilma Aftermath; New York Hit by Nor'easter; Republicans Under Fire; Major League Baseball Cries Foul Over New Milk Commercial
Aired October 25, 2005 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. We are high and dry tonight, though barely. Not everyone can say the same.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Though Hurricane Wilma spent only over a few hours in Florida, the devastation she left behind will take months and billions of dollars to clean up.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Six million people in the state don't have power right now.
ANNOUNCER: And, as residents there dig out, an early-season nor'easter dumps 10 inches of snow in Upstate New York.
If ever there was a missing-persons cold case mystery, this is it, a frozen body found in a glacier high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains -- a clue, he has an unopened parachute, but no plane wreckage.
See if you can guess why so many are so mad about this commercial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The substance, said to help rebuild muscles and maintain bone strength, was found in the hitter's locker before game time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The substance? Not steroids, but milk. Major League Baseball says it's a cheap shot about pumping up sales.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEWSNIGHT. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, here's Aaron Brown.
BROWN: Well, good evening, again.
We will get to Wilma, the storm that won't go away, in just a moment or two.
First, here's a look at what's happening at this moment. Today, the U.S. military reported that three more U.S. troops have died in Iraq, which brings the death toll to the 2,000 mark. Certainly, there have been more casualties in other conflicts, 58,000 in Vietnam, a much longer war, 290,000 in World War II, a much larger war. But 2,000 is a big number, 2,000 families shattered. And the country and the counting hasn't stopped yet.
President Bush tried to win back some support for the war during a speech today. The president again said the best way to honor the fallen troops is to complete the mission. The president says setting a date for troop withdrawal would aid the enemy's cause. Polls out tonight show most Americans don't expect the U.S. will leave Iraq with a stable, democratic government in place.
Tourists trapped in Cancun, Mexico, including thousands of Americans who are trying to get out, but with little luck, they packed the city's international airport today, after local officials announced that 27 flights would be leaving, only to later find out the flights were reserved for organized tour groups. The tourists are certainly frustrated, after spending the last five days in hot and dirty emergency shelters.
And, at the international airport in San Diego today, a cookie and a child's toy led to the evacuation of a terminal. Screeners had mistaken the harmless items for bomb-making materials. The bomb squad was called in. The terminal reopened about 90 minutes later.
Out west, the new normal -- back east, "Groundhog Day," but, just about by any measure, a miserable one, flooding in New England, a snowstorm in Upstate New York, power outages from Maine to Miami and the Keys -- some of it the legacy of Hurricane Wilma, which rolled up the Eastern Seaboard today, nearly as fast as a cop will give you a speeding ticket for -- offshore, yes, out of the game, not exactly.
We have two reports tonight, north and south, beginning with CNN's Chris Huntington, who is in New England.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It could have become the perfect storm, one of those historic nor'easters that makes for frightening tales in seaside taverns.
But this one became more bluster than bar tale. Weather watchers had feared Hurricane Wilma might combine with the developing nor'easter off the Carolina coast, a classic case of a low-pressure system marrying hurricane winds to create a storm of terrific proportions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't get any bigger than that. If it stays like that, when high tide comes in, we're going to get a lot wetter if it stays like that.
HUNTINGTON: Instead, Wilma's 105 mile-per-hour winds sped swiftly northward and stayed off the Massachusetts coast, and the nor'easter delivered an early snowfall to parts of Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts.
There were no stranded fishing boats nor devastated coastlines this time. But there were downed power lines and wind-swept streets and the jitters that come when another bad blow is predicted during a record storm season.
RAY BREWER, NEW CASTLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENT: We didn't have any major flooding issues from that. Right now, the wind has been picking up with some pretty severe gusts. We expect to see some wires down during the day. We're just keeping an eye on that, changing -- seeing how the changing conditions are through the day.
HUNTINGTON: So, locals were thankful that it was just another nasty day in New England.
KEN PATTERSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENT: There's not really much you can do to make up for it, you know? You can't -- all our work's outside, the equipment. So, you can't maintain the equipment. Really, it's a lost day.
HUNTINGTON: And a day to be wary, as more than a month remains in this record hurricane season.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTINGTON: Aaron, I'm standing down on Nantasket Beach in town of Hull. It's about 15 miles south of Boston. It is considerably calmer here now than it was a couple of hours ago.
When we first arrived here, the waves were crashing well above, frankly, where I'm standing here, well above well above my head level. it was high tide about 6:00 p.m. And there's a seawall here that you cannot see, but it was awash with -- with spray and foam.
The locals here were out treating it as something of a spectacle. Frankly, it was just, in their estimation, right up to the level of something that could have been quite serious -- Aaron.
BROWN: Where you are, there's power?
HUNTINGTON: There is power, Aaron.
But, throughout Massachusetts, we're told by officials that there are as many as 40,000 homes, most of them down along Cape Cod, that are without power. But this is -- I don't have to elaborate to you -- a hard-boiled lot up here in New England and they are, frankly, kind of taking this one as a glancing blow.
BROWN: Well, they're just get...
HUNTINGTON: AARP
BROWN: They're just getting ready for winter with this one.
Thank you, Chris -- Chris Huntington up in Massachusetts tonight. Now to Florida, where, in the last year or so, just about every corner of the state has been smacked one way or another. Tonight, insurance losses from Wilma are estimated at somewhere between $6 billion and $10 billion, a pretty healthy range there -- six million people in 17 Florida counties without power tonight. Miami-Dade County has opened 11 centers to distribute food and fuel. And there are long lines at area markets and at gas stations, too.
At least five people died in the storm in Florida, more in Cuba and Haiti and in Mexico. And, in Mexico, as many as 20,000 Americans remain stranded, some of them for the fifth straight day. That's the overview tonight.
A closer look from CNN's David Mattingly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Snowbirds Ken (ph) and Lillian Kern (ph) have been wintering in Florida's Broward County for 15 years and until Wilma had never seen a hurricane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's terrible. Terrible. I can't imagine what the people in Louisiana went through. I can't.
MATTINGLY: Losing part of a roof and some siding, they feel lucky compared to some of their trailer park neighbors.
Wilma left severe damage, extending more than 100 miles along Florida's east coast, high-rise windows shattered in cities and on beaches, private and commercial airports closed down, fishing and pleasure boats wiped out, more than a half-million people without electricity in Broward County alone. Many areas are without municipal water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, all I know for a fact is ice and water.
MATTINGLY: Storm victims lined up, waiting for distribution of ice and water, many surprised to find themselves suddenly in need of such daily essentials.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never thought it could happen. You can't never say never, because it happens, you know?
MATTINGLY: At this distribution site in Hollywood, hundreds waited for hours. With almost all stores closed, many, including Stephanie Ladrieu (ph), say they had no choice but to wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a tree on my house at the moment. And my brother and I are handicapped both. I just got him out of the hospital Saturday, so there's no help. Nothing.
MATTINGLY: And patience is already being tested. A noon distribution time was announced in error, turning a three-hour wait for many into an all-day ordeal. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're saying one thing and then the radio is saying something else, so I mean, what -- I mean, basically, do things decent and in order. You know, when you get people with directions, it can be followed properly. Otherwise, shut up.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And this is just the first day of the aftermath. So much is going to depend, Aaron, on how quickly the lights get back on here.
BROWN: I was struck last night -- I think it was the city manager in Hollywood, Florida, which is in that area, saying that some places, it might be a month before the power is back on.
MATTINGLY: That's right.
After Hurricane Katrina came in through this area, coming in from the Atlantic, lights in many areas were back on in a matter of days. No one is measuring this entire task being completed in days at all.
BROWN: Why is it so much more complicated this time?
MATTINGLY: Because it's so widespread.
This -- this hurricane was so large. Coming from the west, and staying as large as it was going east, it left damage from the Keys, all the way up to Melbourne, Florida. So, it's just the scope of this that people are having a difficult time and trying to figure out where they are going to be a priority in getting their lights back on, as opposed to the neighboring county or even the neighbors down the street.
BROWN: Well, it's a long time. David, thank you -- David Mattingly down in Florida tonight.
People in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are recovering from their own tropical hit, Tropical Storm Alpha. The record-breaking 22nd named storm of the season killed at least 16 people on the island. About a dozen remain missing tonight. Mudslides and overflowing rivers flooded streets and swept away homes. The number of victims could rise, as rescue teams search the remote areas of the island.
From Wilma, we turn out attention to the White House and a storm of a very different sort. The two-year investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity will end this week, perhaps as early as tomorrow -- there's certainly lots of chatter about that -- and, perhaps, criminal charges against some very powerful people.
We begin our coverage with CNN's Joe Johns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOE JOHNS, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With all the problems facing the Republican Party these days, the last thing anyone wants to talk about is the possible indictment of top administration aides.
(CROSSTALK)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I don't know what they did. I don't know who did what. All I know is what I get from my always reliable sources in the media.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: But, today, it was unavoidable.
(on camera): Have you been following this Valerie Plame business? Do you know the...
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: How is it possible not to?
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS (voice-over): The buzz was about a "New York Times" report that, for the first time, dragged the name of the vice president into the story. "The Times" reports, Dick Cheney told his chief of staff that the wife of former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was an early critic of the administration's rationale for getting into the Iraq war, worked for the CIA.
Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, is now under threat of indictment in the case for possibly disclosing her name to at least one journalist. Knowingly disclosing the name of a CIA operative is illegal.
But Senator Orrin Hatch, former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, says, even if Cheney and Libby did talk about it, so what?
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: ... both fully class -- they're both fully classified and -- and can handle classified materials. Man, I'd be surprised if they didn't talk about a whole wide variety of classified information.
JOHNS (on camera): So, you don't think the law was broken here?
HATCH: Well, that's hard to say. I mean, it appears to me that what's left is either false statements, perjury or obstruction for -- obstruction of justice. And these are the potentials that might be there. But I think it's really stretching it.
JOHNS (voice-over): As for Cheney's involvement, the prevailing view here is that he will be fine.
JOHNS (on camera): Do you think the vice president's in trouble, Senator Lott?
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: No. No. JOHNS: No?
LOTT: No.
JOHNS (voice-over): Party strategists are telling Republicans not to worry about possible indictments. Why not? They say voters are far more distracted by even worse news, the high cost of energy and the slow-going in Iraq. Stay with me here, because, in a way, that bad news is good news, because those strategists say Republicans can tackle gas prices and Iraq before the 2006 congressional elections.
(on camera): Worst-case scenario, though, how do you get through to the midterm elections if somebody is indicted? What do you do for the party?
SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA: I'm not going to -- I'm not going to deal with worst-case scenarios. The bottom line, regardless of what goes out on out there, regardless of what happens, we have a responsibility to -- to talk to the American people and show them, hey, we can get -- we get things done.
JOHNS (voice-over): Still, the hardest part is the waiting. One senator we spoke said it's taking its toll on Capitol Hill and the White House. In other words, no news is not good news, no matter how you spin it.
(on camera): Are you sick of this thing? Would you like to see it over?
REP. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Well, I think everybody's tired. It's -- it's -- it preoccupied us, sucks a lot of the energy and a lot of oxygen out of the atmosphere here. And there a lot of us who think we need to be focusing on the agenda. So, I hope that, some time this week, we will at least have some closure with this.
JOHNS (voice-over): The problem is, if there are indictments, the questions will only get louder.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: It does appear that some Republicans have already launched a preemptive strike, in the event that the grand jury issues indictments.
Consider Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. This weekend, she said she hopes the charges are not for some -- quote -- "perjury technicality," you know, the same sort of technicality President Clinton was impeached over.
At Tom DeLay worried over what he called the criminalization of politics. Clearly, the GOP is not waiting for the fallout. Neither are the Democrats.
Here's CNN's Ed Henry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Democratic sharks are circling, even before the possible indictments of top White House aides.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: What I have talked about is the culture of corruption and cronyism, and it is raging in Washington, D.C., on the parts of the Republicans.
HENRY: Democrats see the CIA leak case as the perfect political storm. They say it highlights alleged corruption within a Republican Party already reeling from the indictments of Tom DeLay and investigations of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
But it also gives Democrats another chance to challenge how the U.S. went to war with Iraq in the first place.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: This is all about the Iraq war, the disclosure of a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency because her husband disagreed with the baseless, it appears now, assertions that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
HENRY: And they pounced on a sobering milestone in Iraq, 2,000 U.S. military deaths in a war that Democrats call a costly disaster.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: It has emboldened our enemies, as it has become increasingly apparent that the most powerful army in the world cannot stop a determined insurgency.
HENRY: But Republican John McCain, not always a friend of this White House, is giving President Bush some cover.
MCCAIN: I would hope that the sacrifice made by young Americans would not be used for political reasons.
HENRY: And, not surprisingly, other Republicans say Democrats are pursuing a flawed, and perhaps even dangerous, political strategy.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: They're trying to sell a political line, including risking undermining the public resolve supporting our men and women who are in the battlefield as I speak. And, to me, that's not responsible. I think people need to be very careful about what they say and the impact it has on the encouraging our enemies.
HENRY: White House allies add, it's easy for Democrats to criticize the president without offering an alternative Iraq plan.
Not true, says Democrat Russ Feingold, who does have an alternative. For months, he has been pushing a flexible timetable for troop withdrawal.
SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: A timetable is not about domestic politics. It's about undercutting insurgency recruiting and unity, encouraging more Iraqi ownership and responsibility. HENRY: Not about domestic politics? Well, maybe not. But the sharks are circling.
The special prosecutor may be prosecuting. And the midterm elections are just one year away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Republicans know there's blood in the water. And I can tell you, tonight, they're bracing for anything from this special prosecutor.
But Republicans also draw some strength from the fact that they believe there may be a backlash against the Democrats for so blatantly trying to exploit these 2,000 deaths for -- in a war that many Democrats, let's not forget, supported in the beginning -- Aaron.
BROWN: Just starting at that point, the -- sitting here, the problem for the Democrats has been, politically, that they don't really present a clear alternative, a united alternative. If Iraq is going to be a great election issue in a year -- and it may be -- the Democrats need a much clearer message. This is a question. It doesn't sound like it.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: Don't the -- don't the Democrats need a much clearer message than they're throwing out there these days?
HENRY: Absolutely. You put your finger on it.
Over the last couple of election cycles, Republicans have had other stumbles, maybe not all of these stumbles all at once. But the Democrats have not proven yet that they can capitalize on these mistakes. And the major reason, even Democrats privately admit, is, they have not really come up with a coherent plan, alternatives of their own, not just on Iraq, but on a whole host of other issues.
And that's why we are starting here noise from Democrats that, in this election cycle, they're finally going to, dare I say, offer some sort of a contract with America, like the Republicans when they were out of power did in 1994. It worked for Newt Gingrich. Democrats laughed at it then, but it worked. And now they may try to do the same -- Aaron.
BROWN: Ed, thank you very much -- Ed Henry in Washington tonight.
Still ahead on the program, if you didn't know there was a grand jury investigation and indictments on the way, perhaps, indictments that could reach as high as the second high in command at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, you might think it was business at usual at the White House. It's not.
Also tonight, the mystery of a missing airman moves from the High Sierras to Hawaii. And a family in Ohio thinks it may have finally found a missing family member more than 60 years later. We will take a break first.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Well, in fairness to the president, those unnamed candidates always tend to do better than the known ones in these polls.
Want to know just how important Karl Rove is to George W. Bush, consider this. Mr. Rove doesn't have just one title under his name. He has three, assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff, senior adviser. He's also helped his friend of 30 years-plus become the governor of Texas and then the commander in chief twice.
Now there's talk of indictment. And the question is if this master of control has lost control.
From Washington tonight, CNN's Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... the Cabinet about Hurricane Wilma...
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The look of business as usual in the Monday-morning Cabinet meeting, Karl Rove sitting behind the president. They have been in the bunker before, these two.
BRUCE BUCHANAN, PROFESSOR, UNFORTUNATELY OF TEXAS: That's part of the strategy that he and Rove concocted as the way you deal with a difficult environment, is, you act like it doesn't bother you and like nothing is wrong and just press ahead.
CROWLEY: The Rove watch is subtle stuff, like watching paint dry. He recently canceled a couple of fund-raisers and a speech. No one will say exactly why. But, back at the White House, they insist, in unusual times, it's the usual stuff.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: But what we got to do is keep our energies focused on those things that we can get done. And that's what we are doing.
CROWLEY: And, outside the White House, they say the same thing.
CHARLIE BLACK, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: My impression is that -- that Karl's working just as hard and effectively as he ever had. Maybe he has to go spend an hour now and then on the special prosecutor's proceedings. But it hasn't been a distraction to him.
CROWLEY: It seems unlikely that a guy whose career and future are in the balance is not at all distracted. But, according to conservatives in touch with Rove, he is in the game. He's still on top of key stuff, said one source, talking policy on the phone and via e-mail.
Still, there are signs of stress fractures. In a White House built on message control, they have little of it.
MCCLELLAN: Well, the president made it clear that we're not going to have any further comment from the White House while the investigation continues.
QUESTION: He'll let surrogates do it?
MCCLELLAN: Go ahead.
No. I didn't say that. You said that.
CROWLEY: In a White House where negative leaks are verboten, there are some, a "Daily News" story about a bitter, testy president.
One Bush insider is quoted as saying, "The president is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about."
While Karl keeps cool and the White House puts fingers in the dike, those who have watched Rove for two decades are surprised and not.
WAYNE SLATER, COLUMNIST, "THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS": In this case, the thing that's different is not that Karl was involved in talking to reporters and advancing a leak, however it turns out legally. He's done that for 20 years. The thing that is different is, he left fingerprints.
CROWLEY: In the end, it's not hard to believe that, while everyone else is talking about his journey to the edge of this precipice, Rove would focus on business as usual. What a hardball, take-charge, push-the-envelope guy is not good at is waiting for things beyond his control.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: So, the grand jury expires on the 28th. And there's lots of talk in Washington tonight that, either tomorrow or certainly Thursday at the latest, we will know are there indictments or not.
A quick check on some of the other stories that made news today.
Erica Hill joins us from Atlanta.
Good evening, again, Ms. Hill.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And good evening to you, Mr. Brown.
We Are going to start off tonight in New England, where the first nor'easter of the year is hitting hard, with plenty of help from Wilma, strong 70-mile-per-hour winds, 20-foot waves and heavy rain leaving thousands wet, cold and without power. The nor'easter also caused flight cancellations at Boston's Logan Airport. But New Englanders actually could have been much worse off. The National Weather Service says the nor'easter and Wilma just missed each over the Atlantic. Imagine if they had combined.
Also tonight, remembering Rosa Parks -- the civil rights pioneer was remembered today for her courage and her humility. President Bush called her one of the most inspiring women of the 20th century. Parks died Monday night in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 92. A memorial service is planned for her in Montgomery this Friday.
If you're still wondering where that 2004 tax refund is, well, the IRS might have it. In fact, it says it still has over $73 million owed to 84,000 people. Why? Well, refunds apparently weren't delivered because of problems with the addresses. So, if you think you might be one of them, you might want to try giving them a call -- the number, 1-800-829-4477. But, if you didn't have a pen for that, you could always log on to IRS.gov. Easy to remember.
And, finally, a remarkable achievement. After making an epic climb this summer, the Mars rover Spirit is getting ready to go exploring again. But, first, the six-wheeled rover has to climb all the way down from the Martian hill where it had taken a panoramic photo of the planet's landscape. And, while it made sound easy, it is not. Making it down the hill is actually going to take another two months, Aaron. It's a long trek.
BROWN: Well, it's a long way away.
HILL: Yes.
BROWN: I'm actually one of those people waiting on his tax refund.
HILL: Are you really?
BROWN: Uh-huh.
HILL: Did you give them the proper address, Mr. Brown?
BROWN: Yes, I did. But I didn't file until about three weeks ago.
HILL: Mmm, well, that could be why.
BROWN: That could be.
HILL: I don't think you're one of the 84,000, then.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: No, I don't.
Thank you. We will see you in about a half-an-hour.
Still ahead -- that's true -- from Key West to Maine, a live report on the wild weather systems up and down the East Coast. You're lucky if you live in the West these days.
Also tonight, honoring U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, a look at what the Army does at each and every funeral.
We will take a break first.
From New York and around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It's been wet all over the east. Talk about a blur of seasons, just as we were saying goodbye to another hallmark of summer and fall, a hurricane named Wilma, in comes one of those pesky storms normally associated with the winter a nor'easter and lucky New England getting a touch of both. CNN severe weather expert Chad Myers joins us from Atlanta. You have had plenty of work of late.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I certainly have. Yeah, no unemployment line for me right now. Very busy.
Back off to the east, Aaron, he storm named Wilma moving away from the coast. It gave a little bit of moisture to this nor'easter but this nor'easter existed without Wilma one way or the other. It really didn't matter that Wilma came in and moved out. In fact, look, Wilma's almost in the middle of the North Atlantic, only the shipping channels here and where the nor'easter is back into Boston, also into New York. Yes, snowing across the the Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Green and White mountains all the way up to Maine.
Here's pictures from Lake Placid on up into New York. The Adirondack Mountain area from Saranac Lake. There's the snow. Still coming down. Binghamton, you have six inches of snow on the ground and many inches on limbs. See what's going on here? The limbs are getting heavy. The heavy limbs are breaking and breaking right on the power lines. Lots of people without power up there and with another cold night in store for you, you could use power up there to keep warm.
Look at the snow totals. Norwich, New York now 10 inches, Sylvania, Pennsylvania at eight. Now look at the wind gusts that came with this thing. Hurricane force wind gusts. Ocean City and also Cape May, New Jersey, 74 miles per hour. And don't look now, Aaron, but there's another area of disturbed weather in the Caribbean forecast to grow into something more by the weekend. I digress.
BROWN: Yeah. Yes, you do. Do we know where it's headed?
MYERS: Right now, all the models, show you the spaghetti stuff all the time, , all the models taking it into Honduras and the other side because of the high pressure making the cold air. The morning low's 52 in West Palm Beach tonight and 95 percent of that county doesn't have power. That's going to be a cold night.
BROWN: Ah, Chad, thank you very much. Take a break.
MYERS: Okay, I will. BROWN: Thank you, Chad Myers.
Still to come on the program thawing out a mystery. Why some people believe the iceman is the person they've waited more than 60 years to find. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Nobody knows his name or his history, at least not yet. We have the latest on a 60-year-old military mystery shortly.
But first a quick check on the stories following at this moment.
A grim milestone in the war in Iraq. The U.S. military reporting today that as of today, 2,000 U.S. servicemen and women died in Iraq since the war began. In an effort perhaps to soften the news certainly you anticipated the president told a gathering of military spouses today that defending freedom is worth the sacrifice.
In Washington, more pressure from the White House on the anti- torture legislation that's before Congress. Vice President Dick Cheney trying to drum up support for a proposal that would allow the president to exempt covert agents, namely the CIA, from a ban on abusing detainees held in U.S. custody.
Across South Florida, repair crews struggling to restore power to more than 6 million people. In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma. Residents are beginning the task many faced so often before of removing the debris, cleaning up the homes, opening their businesses, restarting their lives.
An update now on World War II and a World War II airman found frozen in the California mountains. His body on ice for some six decades. Forensic experts in Hawaii are beginning their work to identify him. The first step in a long journey to bring him home. All the while there are families waiting and wondering if the airman is a loved one they lost so long ago.
Reporting for us tonight, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): High in the Sierras at 13,000 feet, near the bottom of the glacier, a startling discovery by some ice climbers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is it?
GUTIERREZ: It reopened the missing persons' mystery. It is an unsolved cold case from World War II.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got some teeth so we do have a cranium.
GUTIERREZ: Preserved in ice and granite, climbers found the body of a young man. We now know he was a World War II soldier. He had light hair, he was still wearing a vintage military sweater but no dog tags and no wallet.
But here's what we do know. He was carrying a leather address book and a sewing kit and he also had a World War II era silk parachute and it apparently did not open. And there were no signs of plane wreckage. We also note the Sierra Nevada range a routine flight circuit for air force pilots training to go to war against Germany or Japan.
So who is this iceman? Where is he from? And who did he leave behind? One possible answer takes us to Pleasant Grove, Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We followed the story in the newspaper of the frozen airman who's been recovered after so long.
GUTIERREZ: For three sisters here, this is the message of all but lost hope. Louis Shriver (ph), Sarah Zayer (ph), and Jeanne Pyle (ph), all in their 80s have prayed they would learn the fate of their big brother Glen Munn (ph). Relatives called when they first heard the news of the iceman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could it be Glen? Could it be Glen?
GUTIERREZ: Ernest Glen Munn was 23 when he enlisted in the army. He was based in Sacramento. Seven months into the service, on November 18th, 1942, the army airman was in a training flight over the Sierras and then disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said the plane was lost.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said they were out on a training flight and never returned.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember mom fainting in the bathroom. She just couldn't take it.
GUTIERREZ: Newspaper reports of the time tell of an ill fated navigational flight. Search teams went out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they searched for a month and then they told us that the search had been called off. Five years after that, they declared him dead.
GUTIERREZ: The sisters say their big brother was their idol. They say Glen knew he was about to be drafted and so he enlisted and was the pride of the town.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And when he walked in, they said, oh, here comes the blond bomber. And I said, that's my brother.
GUTIERREZ: And they've been waiting for six decades to find out what happened to him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just believe in miracles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it was supposed the happen. Before any of us passed on. GUTIERREZ: The frozen airman was thawed and flown to a military forensic laboratory in Hawaii where scientists will study his skeleton, teeth and his shirt.
PAUL EMANOWSKI, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST: There was a badge above his shirt pocket but it is corroded. There's -- after we take it in and clean it up, might be able to look at it under an alternate light source.
GUTIERREZ: The military lists 25 different training crashes in the Sierras during that period so we don't know yet the answer to the frozen mystery in the mountains. The sisters hope this will finally close a painful chapter in their lives and if the iceman is Glen Munn they say they'll bring him home to Pleasant Grove home of his family after 60 years.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Pleasant Grove, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: That's a great story. As you saw at the end of the day this is neither a scientific nor a historical question. It is a family, though. Science will provide the answer. Overseeing it all is the Pentagon's Joint POW MIA Accounting Command and earlier tonight, we spoke with Chris McDermott, the division's historian about how many families contacted his office asking about the frozen airman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Mr. McDermott, how many families so far have contacted your office about this body?
CHRIS MCDERMOTT, HISTORIAN, POW/MIA ACCOUNTING: So far, I know of four families that have made contact either with our office or the county coroner's office there in California or the Department of Army.
BROWN: And, have you been able to eliminate any of them as the possible relatives of this person?
MCDERMOTT: Not at this point. What we're doing now is we have a most probable set of individual that is we're looking at but we'll also open to other possibilities, so we'll pursue each of the leads independently.
BROWN: How many people could we possibly be talking about?
MCDERMOTT: Well, there are four individuals and there are some other possibilities that we're looking at as we sort of widen the net. We don't want to rule anything out at this stage.
BROWN: But if you just widen the net out to its reasonable limit, would we be talking about something less than a dozen?
MCDERMOTT: Most likely. In that part of California, that would probably be correct. BROWN: So what -- let's just use for hypothetical purposes then the number 12. What has to be done in 12 cases to determine who in fact we're talking about?
MCDERMOTT: Well, what we'll do from here is we'll collect all available personnel records, especially biological, medical information, dental data on the individuals, anyone we think could be represented in the remains that have been recovered and we'll collect all that information provide that to the forensic scientific staff and we'll try to narrow down other possibilities through that forensic analysis.
BROWN: Is all that data still available? Sixty years is a long time.
MCDERMOTT: That's true but for all of the missing individuals and the deceased from World War II, there still is maintained basic biological and dental information on all those individuals.
BROWN: What could trip you up here?
MCDERMOTT: Well, one of the issues is that the kinds of records that are available are relatively limited and for a lot of loss incidents there isn't a lot of information to go on where the individuals ended up being missing. Because a lot of times in those circumstances, one of the reasons those individuals are still missing is that the records were always somewhat incomplete.
BROWN: So in this case, you know where the person ended up. You don't necessarily know exactly how the person got there. What day he got there. Or anything else. Is that it?
MCDERMOTT: That's true. And what we'll do from here is we'll use the record evidence that is there from a historical standpoint and at the same time we'll incorporate the material artifacts that were found and the skeletal and other biological analysis done by the forensic staff and we'll pull that data together to try to support a positive identification.
MCDERMOTT: Are you pretty confident you'll be able to come up with a positive identification?
MCDERMOTT: Yes, I think we are. In general, for this type of case, particularly where you have remains as complete as these, we have had very good success.
BROWN: And just finally, assuming this all reaches a successful conclusion, and we do assume that, what's the last step? Is there a military funeral?
MCDERMOTT: That's right. If there's a positive identification established, those findings will be presented to the family by the Department of the Army and then it will be up to the family to decide what type of funeral they would like to have and where that would be bit it would be accorded all the usual military honors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Just two quick notes on this. It could still take even though it's a relatively small universe of people they're talking about, six months to a year to come up with the positive I.D. And the center keeps records still on 78,000 men still listed as missing or unaccounted for in World War II; 78,000.
Still to come tonight, her one brave act on a bus in Montgomery Alabama, changed a country, gave birth to the civil rights movement. Tonight, remembering Rosa Parks. We'll talk with someone who knew her best.
And a milestone reached in Iraq though it's not one to celebrate by any means.
We take a break. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
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BROWN: It's a sad, sad day for Montgomery and a sad day for the world. Those words spoken last night by Bobby Bright, the mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, in response to news this Rosa Parks died at the age of 92. Ms. Parks, as surely as you know by now, was arrested in Bright's city nearly 50 years ago, December 1st, 1955, because she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man .
Montgomery then didn't treat her very kindly for that. She was convicted of a crime and fined, case made the way to the U.S. Supreme court. But today, the city mourns her death. There will be a service there on Friday. A sign of progress to be sure.
Though in Alabama and in the country as a whole, race remains the great American challenge. To many, Rosa Parks the mother of the modern civil rights movement. To our next guest, she was more. She was family. We're joined tonight by her niece, Rhea McCauley. It's good to have you with us.
RHEA MCCAULEY, ROSA PARKS' NIECE: Thank you.
BROWN: She was - Ms. Parks in the last several years of her life was not well. When she was younger, and you were younger, did she talk much about those times and that day?
MCCAULEY: No. As a matter of fact, Auntie Rosa never really discussed what happened during that time. There was an awful rich history, though. I mean, we always had reading material, you know, I knew all about Emmett Till and what happened with him. Met personally with his mother. Him and -- I mean, Auntie Rosa and his mother was very, very close. You know? Several people that we met through Auntie Rosa.
BROWN: Why do you think she didn't talk about?
MCCAULEY: It was so painful. You know, the thought that humans can treat each other in such a detestable manner, you know, was just unheard of to her. And, she didn't understand it. BROWN: Did she -- did she see herself as I think most of us see her? And I suspect you certainly see her. As one of the great heroes of half of the 20th century.
MCCAULEY: Yes. And it's -- it's a dual relationship. I'm beginning to find out now even now the profound effect that she's had on the public. I only see her as my aunt. That is ...
BROWN: Yeah.
MCCAULEY: That is kind of difficult.
BROWN: It's -- I suppose in moments like this, you're asked to grieve for someone you loved and to also share her with the rest of us.
MCCAULEY: Absolutely.
BROWN: With the rest of the country. Who want to celebrate her life at the same time.
MCCAULEY: Yes.
BROWN: Is that difficult?
MCCAULEY: Very difficult. It is extremely difficult. I'm extremely nervous right now. I would not tell you a story but this is very important, it's a very profound personality that has grew up in the United States. I mean, Auntie Rosa actually did what she did during a dark time in our history. And because of that, I mean, she's laid forth and has actually broken through barriers for other people and this is international.
BROWN: Yeah.
MCCAULEY: I have heard from people from England and all over the world where they're interested in, you know, what she did.
BROWN: Well, you know, I mean, look. Your aunt changed your life and she changed our lives, too, and we express our condolences and I know that -- because we talked briefly before, she died peacefully and we're glad for that. And we look forward to seeing how the country reacts on Friday at this memorial service. It's an important event. Thank you for your time today.
MCCAULEY: Absolutely. Thank you.
BROWN: Thank you very much.
Still to come on the program tonight ...
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Home run hitter Dave Laden tested performance for a substance. The substance said to rebuild muscles and maintain bone strength was found in the hitters locker room before game time. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know how that got in there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Major League Baseball versus a California dairy group. Who said that milk and steroids don't mix?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: If there's anything as wholesome as a glass of milk, used to be Major League Baseball, then came the steroid abuse scandals. Superstar role models revealed to be all too human and club owners failed the step up to the plate test in our opinion. Coming under fire for what amounted to a don't ask, don't tell drug policy.
Now, the owners who for so long heard no evil and spoke no evil have at least seen some evil. In TV commercials. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It figures someone would try to milk the subject of steroids. And who better than the folks famous for saying ...
ANNOUNCER: Got milk?
MOOS: Got milk has injected steroids is five new commercials launched in the baseball playoffs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Home run hitter Dave Laden was pulled from last night's lineup after testing positive for a performance enhancing substance. The substance, said to help rebuild muscles and maintain bone strength found in the locker room before game time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know how that got in there.
MOOS: The ad agency was careful not to use real uniforms or real names in its parody commercials. Here, the guilty verb isn't inject, it is pour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This stuff is everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you pour?
MOOS: The ad agency, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners says that to prepare the creative people viewed news clips from the real steroids scandal.
JOSE CANSECO, FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER: I injected him and showed him the injection sights.
MOOS: From the real steroid user, Jose Canseco, to the parody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In fact, you claim to introduced home run hitter Javier Castillo to the substance and that you'd privately pour for him before games?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would pour from me, too.
MOOS: From the real, Orioles first baseman Raphael Palmeiro.
RAPHAEL PALMEIRO, BASEBALL PLAYER: I have never intentionally used steroids, never, ever.
MOOS: To the parody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, I never knowingly use that stuff, all right?
MOOS: But when it comes to the Got Milk ads, major league baseball is lactose intolerant saying "there's nothing humorous about steroid abuse" to which the ad agency says it's not about steroid abuse. It is about milk.
Milk and baseball had previous run-ins.
(on camera): Got milk? Got sick. Few months back, Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny bet a Florida Marlins bat boy $500 that he couldn't drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without getting sick. Not only did the bat boy fail, but the Marlins suspended for six guys for accepting the dare.
(voice-over): The bat boy ended up on Letterman while the pitcher that made the bet complained it's kind of ridiculous that you get a 10-game suspension for steroids and a six-game suspension for milk.
Good old milk as this carton proclaims, fat free from real cows. Are we to infer some milk comes from fake cows? If Jose Canseco can write a book on steroid use called "Juiced," what's next? "Milked?"
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York
BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, more rain, more snow. A view from the frozen north and the soggy south.
Rebuilding a family, human and animal. And throughout the program ahead, we will honor the men and the women who have died in Iraq. Two thousand so far. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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