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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Meteorologists Fear the Perfect Storm; Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma in Havana; Iraqi Constitution Ratified by Voters; 2,000 American Soldiers Killed in Iraq; Honoring the Fallen; World War II Era Soldier Found On Mountain; Private Zoo In Naples, Florida, Recovers From Wilma; Political Analysis Of CIA Leak Probe; Latest Poll On Iraq War

Aired October 25, 2005 - 23:00   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, again. This is NEWSNIGHT. At the end of an historic day, historic and wrenching.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The war in Iraq claims it's 2,000th U.S. serviceman. What does it mea to troops fighting the war?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I shed a lot of tears over it. My heart's broken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A look behind the numbers of war.

A nor'easter hits while Hurricane Wilma swirls out into the Atlantic Ocean. Meteorologists fear the perfect storm could be next.

This is NEWSNIGHT. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, here's Aaron Brown.

BROWN: More on the wicked weather. Getting an assist from Wilma shortly, but first a look at what's happening at this moment. Florida residents in Miami lining up for water and ice, precious commodities in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma. Relief agencies say getting food and water to those in need is their top priority right now.

Millions of people in Florida spending a chilly night in the dark. A day after the storm, homes and businesses in 17 Florida counties without electricity. Utility company officials warn it could be weeks before all the service is restored.

Mum is the word at the White House today about a "New York Times" article linking Vice President Dick Cheney to the CIA leak investigation. The newspaper reported the vice president gave the CIA agent operative's name to his Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby. What is not clear is if the vice president -- or Libby, for that matter -- knew the woman who worked undercover. It does raise questions about some of the vice president's public statements.

Americans are watching the leak investigation closely. A new CNN/USA Today Gallup poll shows the majority of the public -- big majority -- eight out of 10 believe officials in the Bush administration acted either illegally or unethically in the case. Take away all the other pieces of the day, and you've still got stories of tens of millions of lives. People stranded in Mexico, people homeless tonight in Florida, people in the dark. We're on the tail end of the hurricane season and on the verge of winter. Neither, it turns out, is a wonderful place to be.

We begin tonight in New England, where CNN's Chris Huntington is out by the shore -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, good evening. We're in Hull, Massachusetts, which is a town -- a beachfront town about 15 miles south of Boston. I'm on what's called Nantasket Beach. It's considerably calmer now than it was a few hours ago. It is colder. The wind is still coming from the north. But the folks here are very happy that they dodged what meteorologists feared would be, in essence, a perfect storm -- a combination of Wilma, another tropical depression in the Atlantic called Alpha and another system that was coming in from the west. Had those three combined into the "bomb," if you will, that meteorologists feared, this whole situation could have been a lot different. As it was, it was a very nasty day along the coast of New England.

Here in Hull, waves were crashing over the sea wall that goes along the frontage road, crashing into and above houses here along the beachfront road. All along Cape Cod, and the miles and miles of beachfront there, there were homes that had power knocked out. The ferry service to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket was suspended all day That rarely happens. You had flooding in New Jersey. You had snow in the west, up and down the Appalachians from as far south as Virginia, up through Pennsylvania, New York and its continuing on up into New England now.

The fact is, though Aaron, that this was a glancing blow to this area. Folks treated today's rough weather as something more of a spectacle perhaps than the truly serious situation that it could have become. But the locals here in Hull, and literally watching the water levels, said that it got right to about where they would have been quite concerned. Any higher, and we would have had a serious situation here -- Aaron.

BROWN: Just by and large, are we talking about people's summer homes or are these full-time residents of the area?

HUNTINGTON: No, these are full-time residents, Aaron. This is in essence a commuting community -- a better community in some respects to Boston. Neighboring Kingman (ph) is a town that a lot of folks commuting to Boston from. So this is not just a summer beach town. These are year-round residents. We spent some time with a gent who was carefully watching his house as it was literally being washed into by the waves at high tide, about 6 p.m., this evening.

BROWN: Chris, thanks. It's been a long day for you. Chris Huntington up there, or down -- yes, no up there -- that's up there, Aaron, in Massachusetts.

Down there in Atlanta is Chad Myers, our severe weather expert. Because hot or cold, severe or still, he's still there. He's still working.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Still here. We have snow in New York and we have a hurricane finally now that it's no longer tropical, so we can't call it Hurricane Wilma anymore. We'll just call it the remnants of Wilma, moving way offshore.

We talked about could these things have come together? Yes they could have, but they did not. They split up -- one just staying over the United States, the other one heading quickly out into the Atlantic Ocean. But here's Nova Scotia, New Finland, way out here now. Look at some of the buoy reports from out there. Here's the buoy, here's Nova Scotia -- 21 foot waves out there. I know it's not the perfect storm, but could you imagine being out there in a boat at 21 feet? Even with the waves down here, the secondary buoy right there -- waves there, 17 feet at this hour. Water temperature of 55. Right now it is 41 in Boston. The winds are out of the north at 16 and it's raining. The wind chill factor, without the rain, without being wet, is 16 degrees. Here's the rain right there. Could you imagine what it would feel like if you were wet and out there? Oh my goodness, I can't even imagine.

There's the snow across parts of upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, all picking up between eight and 10 inches in the highest of elevations, but still Binghamton -- not all that high -- six inches there already.

And look at the wind gusts. Ocean City, Cap May right there at hurricane force gusts from the nor'easter -- not even from Wilma, as it moved quickly out into ocean -- Aaron. BROWN: Chad, thank you, very much. Please don't take this wrong, but I hope we don't see each other for a while.

MYERS: That's fine. I understand.

BROWN: Thank you, very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BROWN: In Cuba, the immediate legacy of Wilma is flooding. The memories, on the other hand, will be the famous old sea wall and the sea crashing over it. From Havana tonight, CNN's Lucia Newman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF(voice-over): Cuba's civil defense uses a rough terrain militant vehicle, used years ago in the Angolan War, to evacuate a group of Spanish tourists from their still wet hotel. They're off to the airport.

But for the Cubans who stayed behind, after the beluge (ph), comes the real nightmare.

Magali Rente, a retired public servant who lost everything she ever had during what Cubans call the storm of the century, back in 1993. Now, she's relived the experience. MAGALI RENTE, HURRICANE VICTIM: (Translated) We had everything up as high as possible. And I thought it would be safe. But the water came up so high, even higher than last time.

NEWMAN: The worst part is that Hurricane Wilma hit just as she was finally about to move to higher ground. I asked if she can replace all this. Don't make me laugh, she says. If it took me nearly a decade last time, how do you think I can do it now?

It's a sentiment shared by many Cubans who can barely make ends meet as it is and who, of course, have no insurance.

At least 2,000 homes were seriously damaged. All along the Havana shoreline, people try to pick up the pieces, or throw away some of those things they cherished. Like this man's piano. It belonged to my grandmother. It's from 1901 and it's ruined, says Christian (ph), a retired veterinarian.

In Old Havana, a civil defense distributes food to those who are still trying to make their homes inhabitable again.

At least the flood waters have receded, the sun is out again and people can put their things out to dry -- those things which can still be salvaged, that is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN: And Aaron, there are a lot of people here, too, cold and in the dark. Those people you saw, trying to put their homes back together again are without power at this hour. And a lot of people here also still holding their breath because even though the sea has receded, as we all know, there's still at least another five weeks left of this hurricane season -- Aaron.

BROWN: How does state-run TV in Cuba cover all of this? Do they cover all of this? Do they cover it politically in any sense?

NEWMAN: They cover it massively, politically and otherwise. Of course, they never stopped congratulating themselves about how well prepared they are to cover emergencies of this type. And I must say, one has to give them credit, even now, even when the sea came rushing into Havana when nobody expected it, they were well prepared, there with their boats, etc. But, apart from covering it politically, they're also giving people instructions, telling them what to do, where to evacuate from, where to go. It's about the only thing they really cover well -- Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you. Lucia Newman, who's in Havana tonight.

Now on to Iraq. It's fitting that the day should be marked by a pair of milestones. There were enough "yes" votes to ratify the new constitution.

Also, today 2,000 Americans fitting -- not fair. How different this sad number might feel if WMD had been found in Iraq, if the country wasn't a security nightmare for not just American soldiers, but for Iraqis. How different the number 2,000 might feel if Iraqi soldiers were really trained and really fighting for their country. As it is, 2,000 is a milestone number that inevitably seems to lead to 2,500 and 3,000 and more. But the danger in the number is that you forget the individual. Despite a long cause, we haven't forgotten the individual and will note each of those honored -- those men and women by name in the program tonight.

First, though, the day's news. Here's CNN's Nick Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A stunted military news release about a Marine killed in action. But no mention that this incident marks a passing -- the 2,000th U.S. serviceman. Like so many U.S. deaths here, no cameras to record the moment. Likely, but by no means certain, the 2,000th to die. No name yet either until the family is informed. For now, anonymity. Simply the 2,000th to be announced dead.

Here pain and loss turns numbness back into men and women. Memorials like this, rarely witnessed. It's gut-wrenching. This memorial for numbers 367 through 383, killed aboard a helicopter, shot down in western Iraq November 2, 2003. Sgt. Ernest Bucklew, among the 16 killed.

SGT. SALVADOR RUEDA-CARABALLO, 3RD ARMORED CALVARY REGIMENT: He's the kind of person who was a tough kind of guy and we would just tell me, come on, Sal, you know. We can't stop right now. We just got to continue.

ROBERTSON: Commanders come intent on taking every soldier home. Captain Paliwoda was one such soldier. Much loved and respected. An insurgent mortar caught him down on January 2, 2004. He was number 487 -- maybe 490. Four U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq that day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday they fired from northwest.

ROBERTSON: But Lt. Colonel Nate Sassaman, his commanding officer, held him has he died. Sassaman also lost others.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two killed and 35 wounded. I shed a lot of tears over it. My heart's broken. The desire of most commanders -- to get even.

LT. COL. NATE SASSAMAN, 1ST ID: And I lost some soldiers. That was a starting point where we really got the resources and help from brigade and the higher command.

ROBERTSON: Perceived wisdom here is those who kill U.S. soldiers are killed or captured. To the family of soldier 2,000, that may be of some comfort this day. Likely, they are at the beginning of unspeakable suffering and possibly immeasurable pride.

Nick Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: Well, whatever the total number turns out to be whenever this is all over, it will in fact be felt one at a time. So that's how we'll remember the fallen throughout the week, starting now as we go to break. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Whoever heard of the expression IED before? As we told you before the break, the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq has now reached 2,000. That is a lot of lives lost. And for generals in the Army it is a lot of funerals to attend. It is a commitment by the Pentagon. Our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So many funerals. So much grief. The Army has been at war in Iraq for nearly three years and for those three years, it has been burying its dead.

MAJ. GEN. WAYNE ERCK, U.S. ARMY RESERVE: This particular funeral, Lt. Col. James was in my division, he was a battalion commander. So I knew him personally. I knew the family personally. And this is the only place I would want to be today, right next to him.

STARR: What is unusual, if not extraordinary, is the decision the Army made about honoring its dead. No matter the circumstances, no matter the rank, the Army assigns a general to attend every funeral. More than 200 Army generals have now journeyed, often on a moment's notice, to towns across America, meeting widows, moms and dads they may not even know, telling families the Army is sorry for their loss.

MAJ. GEN. GALEN JACKMAN, U.S. ARMY: There is not a general officer in the United States Army who would not drop what they're doing to participate in a funeral.

STARR: Major General Galen Jackman escorted Former First Lady Nancy Reagan to her husband's funeral, Ronald Regan, the president and commander in chief. But we found him here at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 60. These are some of the graves for the most junior soldiers who have died in this war.

JACKMAN: You see them. They are lance corporals and sergeants and private first classes and so most of these young men and women are probably anywhere from about 18 to 23 years old.

STARR: For every general, this extraordinary journey begins with a phone call from Major Holly Gay. Her job is to make sure every family who wants a general to render funeral honors to their soldier, has a general.

How many funerals have you coordinated for?

MAJOR HOLLY GAY, U.S. ARMY: Too many. Too many.

STARR: Give me a ball park.

GAY: Well, you know, if it's been about 15 months, over 700.

STARR: In the next cubicle, Staff Sergeant Terrell Gant reads an e-mail from one general describing what happened at a funeral he attended in a small town.

STAFF SGT. TERRELL GANT, U.S. ARMY: Procession was at least a mile long. Graveside, pipes, drums played Amazing Grace. And a fine detail and bugle rendered honors.

STARR: Even after 2,000 deaths, the stories are all deeply personal.

GANT: And you see some of these young soldiers being in the Army for a year, couple of months. You see what's actually happened, how the sacrifice they've made and you just always think it could be you.

STARR: One reason for the effort, it keeps senior officers in touch with the grief of a life lost.

GAY: When you go to the funeral, you understand the sacrifices that the soldiers and their families are going through.

STARR: So how long will the Army continue with this extraordinary commitment? The answer, of course, is as long as it takes, as long as the war lasts.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Arlington National Cemetery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Two thousand so far.

Coming up, new fears, more animals killed, bird flu strikes again. We'll tell you where.

And later tonight, the Naples Zoo, ripped apart by Wilma; and now, this family-owned business struggling to reopen. We'll have that story when NEWSNIGHT continues, but first, again, we remember more U.S. troops who have died in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A milestone -- 2,000 deaths is certainly the story of the day. But there were other stories that made news. Erica Hill joins us from Atlanta with the latest.

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, we start off with word of another bird flu outbreak in China. This is actually the third one in a week. The one in central China killed 545 chickens and ducks and also prompted Chinese authorities to destroy more than 2,000 others. The bird flu has not killed more than 60 people in Asia, but there are still no reports of human cases in China. In New Jersey, sex offenders who face supervision under Megan's Law, will not be allowed to open the door for trick-or-treaters. And for the first time ever, the state is ordering a curfew for the offenders and they will have to be indoors on Halloween night by 7:00 o'clock.

A bomb scare today in San Diego International Airport. A terminal was evacuated and a bomb squad called in. After showing detectives what appeared to be bomb-making materials in someone's luggage. Well it turns out it was just a child's toy and a cookie.

And it keeps going and going -- the march over Spirit has now started heading down a Marsian hill, getting ready to do some more exploration. Now it reached the top of the hill this summer. Scientists call that a major feat. Spirit has been on the red planet now for more than a year and a half.

Aaron, that's the latest from "Headline News." Back over t you.

BROWN: Erica, thank you.

Two thousand soldiers dead in Iraq. What do we have to show for it? We'll take a look at where things stand more than two and a half years into the war.

And later, to most he's a scientific miracle, a mystery man in ice. But to one family, he could be a brother. That story and more when NEWSNIGHT continues, but first again, we remember those American heroes who died in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The family, a mother and a dad, or a wife associated with every one of those names that goes scrolling by. The U.S. death count in Iraq hit 2,000 and so all this week we'll remember the fallen again. Time now for a look at some of the other stories we're following at this moment.

Is someone you care about stranded out in Cancun, in Mexico? The State Department has set up a toll free number for you to call: 888- 407-4747. That is 888-407-4747. As many as 10,000 American tourists are now several days into their vacation from hell. The State Department says it is doing all it can to get them out of Cancun.

Florida residents in Miami are lining up for food and water. Precious commodities in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma. Relief agencies say getting food and water to those in need is their number one priority now.

The CIA leak probe could end, underscore, "could", as early as tomorrow. Conventional wisdom in Washington is that at least one person high up in the Bush administration will be indicted.

It is the kind of story that haunts military families. A loved on missing, fate unknown. The frozen body of a World War II flyer found in the California mountains, is at the heart of the latest such mystery.

Forensic experts working in Hawaii are trying to identify him. The first steps in reuniting him with his past, his family. Here's CNN Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): High in the Sierras, at 13,000 feet, near the bottom of a glacier, a startling discovery by some ice climbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is it?

GUTIERREZ: It reopened the missing persons mystery. It is quite literally an unsolved cold case from World War II.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a piece. 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have some hair here.

GUTIERREZ: 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. 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 that the Sierra Nevada Range was a routine flight circuit for Air Force pilots training to go to war against Germany or Japan.

So, who is this ice man? Where is he from? And who did he leave behind?

One possible answer, takes us to Pleasant Grove, Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We followed the story in the newspaper of the frozen airman who has been recovered after so long.

GUTIERREZ: For three sisters here, this is a message of all but lost hope. Louise Schriber (ph), Sarah Zaire (ph), and Jean Pyle (ph), all in their 80s, have prayed they would learn the fate of their big brother Glen Mun (ph). Relatives called when they first heard the news of the ice man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could it be Glen? Could it be Glen? Could it be Glen? GUTIERREZ: Ernest Glen Mun (ph) was 23 when he enlisted in the Army. He was based in Sacramento. Seven months into his service, on November 18, 1942, the Army Airman was on a training flight over the Sierras. And then, disappeared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said is plane was lost.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It said that they went 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 at the time tell of an ill-fated navigational training flight. Search teams went out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they searched for about a month. And then they told us the search had been called off. Well, 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, Here comes a 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: Well, I just believe in miracles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was supposed to 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 EMANOVSKI, FORENSIC ANTRHOPOLOGIST: There was a badge above his shirt pocket, but it is corroded. After we take it in and clean it up, we might be able to look at it under an alternate light source. The military lists 25 different training crashed in the Sierra's 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 Mun (ph) they say they will bring him home to Pleasant Grove. Home to his family after 63 years.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Pleasant Grove, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, someday we'll know. No doubt a number of families are hoping the identity of the airman could provide closure for them, as well as providing that name. That name is the sole responsibility of the joint POW/MIA accounting command in Hawaii.

Earlier tonight we spoke with Chris McDermott who is the divisions' historian, about the families who are wondering.

(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 probably set of individuals that we're looking at, but we're also open to other possibilities. So we'll pursue each of these 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 it's 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, 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 all of those individuals. Anyone that we think could be represented in the remains that have been recovered. And we'll collect all of that information, provide that to the forensic scientific staff and we'll try and 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 all the deceased from World War II, there still have maintained basic biological and usually basic dental information on all those individuals. What are the -- what could trip you up here?

McDERMOTT: uh, 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 whole lot of information where the individual has 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 analysis of material artifacts that were found. And the skeletal and other biological analysis done by the forensic staff. And we'll pull all of that data together to try to support a positive identification.

BROWN: Are you pretty confident you will 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 is 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'd like to have and where that would be. But it would be accorded all of the usual military honors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Christ McDermott, he told us that if things go fairly quickly, it will still take six months to a year to ID the person.

People in South Florida aren't the only ones who weathered the frightening onslaught of Hurricane Wilma yesterday. Hundreds of zoo animals huddled in cages, as trees fell, transformers exploded with blue fire around them. The Naples Zoo, it turns out, was heavily damaged by the storm. And a pair of its inhabitants did not survive. Reporting on the story tonight, CNN's Rob Marciano.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Naples Zoo, home to more than 200 animals, 70 species, and own by the Tetzlaff family since 1969.

DAVID TETZLAFF, The animals were brought in by my parents. So we've just been living here, growing this for 36 years and Mother Nature, decided to ungrow it for us, but we're doing our best to put it back together. MARCIANO: The zoo was ripped apart when Wilma tore through here on Monday. Lions, zebras, kangaroos, tigers. Most of the animals had to brave the storm in emergency containment shelters.

My dad designed these buildings, concrete walls, solid concrete roof. So, this is basically as hurricane proof as you can get.

MARCIANO: Evens till, one of the animals did not make it.

CONDRAD SCHMITT, CURATOR, NAPLES ZOO: The only loss that we incurred on this whole adventure. Which is parma (ph) wallaby, which is a small marsupial from Australia. And she had a joey in her pouch that we weren't able to get out or do anything with.

MARCIANO: But the biggest lost for Naples Zoo, is financial. The place was hammered by Wilma and will closed indefinitely as work crews tackle a big clean up job; clearing debris from paths and attractions.

But at least the animals, like these White Hanna Gibbons from Southeast Asia are back home in their habitats. Kelley Juarequi has been releasing primates all day. She's had some help and comfort from her dad.

KELLEY JUAREQUI, NAPLES ZOO: My husband had to fly out of town before the storm hit. And he came to help me at my house a little bit, help out here at the zoo. Emotional support, all that good stuff that dad's do.

Sorry, Dad. I lost your knife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you serious?

MARCIANO (voice over): Most of the animals fared well. Kenya the lioness got scraped up in her protective cage and has a few scares from Wilma. But now she's back with her partner Sabo and is jumping around like a cat that is very much alive.

Clearly, Tetzlaff has long days ahead to get his zoo, his father's legacy, back in business. He is sad, but optimistic about the zoo's future.

TETZLAFF: I've grown up here. This is my life. It's the only place I've known. The only place I've worked. So, it is heart wrenching, honestly, but at the same time, I can't sit and mope around. This is the worst that has happened to us, but it is not insurmountable. This will happen. We will reopen.

MARCIANO: At the Caribbean Gardens Zoo, Rob Marciano, CNN, Naples, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still to come tonight. The war in Iraq examined at home. New polls out tonight how the battle is going, political and otherwise. We'll tell you what Americans like yourself are thinking. But first we remember the fallen in Iraq, because this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The rest of the week we will remember the Americans who have fallen in Iraq. Today the U.S. troops killed in Iraq reached the 2,000. A somber milestone, indeed.

And tonight in a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows 42 percent of the people surveyed believe things are going well in Iraq; 57 percent say they are going badly. Asked if the U.S. will establish a stable government in Iraq, 40 percent of the people surveyed said, yes, they do; 56 percent disagreed.

Lots of questions about Iraq; lots of opinions as well. CNN Political Analyst Ron Brownstein joins us from Washington with more on that.

Let's start with Iraq. I'm going to talk a little bit about the leak investigation, too.

In the -- how does it play out as a political issue a year from now assuming that nothing markedly changes?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, it is interesting because we do have kind of a disconnect here. Where we have enormous public discontent that is really accumulated over the last year, over the direction of the war in Iraq. And yet we have very little alternative being voiced either by Democrats or for that matter, some of the Republicans who have been critical.

I do think that by and large the party in power bears the weight of public discontent over anything. So I think this will affect Republicans more than Democrats but it might not have as much affect as it would otherwise because there simply hasn't been a debate yet.

That could change, Aaron. There are some signs of it. For example, Paul Hackett (ph) the Democrat running for Senate in Ohio; the Iraq veteran who ran well in a special election last summer. Last summer when he was running in the House, he did not support a time table, now he's supporting a time table for removing troops. So, there is some evidence of the Democrats beginning to move to a sharper opposition, but it is still sketchy at this point.

BROWN: The Republicans seem to have a very simple message here, which is we can't cut and run. And if you used a phrase like that who is going to say, yes, let's cut and run. It is kind of an unappealing notion. The Democrats have trouble, it seems to me, coming up with a kind of bumper sticker slogan that they can campaign on if they are so inclined to.

BROWNSTEIN: I think the problem is even more fundamental. I don't think they have a beyond a bumper sticker I don't think they have fully fleshed out policy that they could try to reduce or condense into a bumper sticker. There is still talk about more -- trying to seek more international support. But by and large, the leading voices in Democratic foreign policy oppose the idea of setting any deadline, for the removal or withdrawal of American troops. There are some Democrats, as I say, who support that but they tend to be at the edges. And you do have a large disconnect.

If you look at your own polls now, it has been pretty consistently, for a few months, a majority of Democrats or around half or sometimes even, as I say, a majority, support the idea of removing all troops from Iraq. And yet that point of view finds almost no expression in the upper reaches of the party.

BROWN: Let's move to the leak investigation. We seem to be at the end game. "The New York Times" has a report in tomorrow's edition and there is a similar Reuters report out as well. The special prosecutor is still interviewing witnesses centering on Karl Rove. Some speculation that he is still looking at what we have not come to call the underlying issue, whether in fact they outed a cover agent. What is your sense of how this is going to play?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I don't think -- I honestly don't know. I don't think anybody really knows the exactly what the special prosecutor is going to do.

BROWN: Does the fact that he's still talking to people --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BROWN: -- suggest to you, he doesn't know yet?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it may be. He's a very, very -- one thing we know about him is that he is a very, very painstaking prosecutor. And I think one of the interesting things that has happened in the last few days -- and this is the kind of role reversal we see in Washington whenever they chairs are moved around. You know you've had these Republicans beginning to say, well, if it is charges relating to obstruction of justice or perjury, rather than the underlying offense he was originally investigating, that that is somehow less severe.

And of course, the Democrats have immediately come back with reams of quotes from Republicans during the impeachment of Bill Clinton. A president who was, rather recently impeached on those very accusations of perjury and obstruction of justice so --

BROWN: I don't think that argument --

(CROSS TALK)

BROWNSTEIN: -- coming in the next week.

BROWN: I don't think that argument is going to work very well, to be honest.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) don't want to hear it.

BROWN: But is the country going to care? BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I do think so. Look the indictment of sitting White House officials is not something that happens very often. Somebody said we had a Ehrlichman and a Haldeman in the Watergate era. I guess they were already out of office, the people who were caught in the web of this sort thing.

Yes, I do think this will matter. I think it is not necessarily the end of the second term, as some people have argued. But you know, Aaron, it is coming at a point when the president is already struggling. He's at a lower approval rating at this point in his fifth year, than any re-elected president, except for Richard Nixon, who had that other scandal, Watergate.

So, yes, I do think it is just another brick in the load that he's carrying.

BROWN: Ron, it is good to see you. Thank you for your time tonight.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Aaron.

BROWN: Ron Brownstein.

Morning papers coming up. Take a break, we'll remember those who have fallen in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Quick check of the morning papers from around the country. The story of the day, to me, if I'm running a newspaper, is the country hit the 2,000 mark. It appears on most front pages, "The Washington Post" military has lost 2,000 In Iraq: Guard Reserves hit especially hard." And a picture of a funeral on the front page, as well.

"Bigger, stronger, home-made bombs now to blame for half of U.S. deaths", the insurgents have adapted, as the military says.

It is interesting to me that "The Washington Times" does not put it on the front page. This is the other story in Iraq today, and it is a perfectly appropriate front-page story, in my view. "Iraq voters approve new constitution, set stage for legislative elections in December". We ought to make note of both events today. They're both important.

"The Oregonian" -- but it's -- it makes sense, if 2,000 of your countrymen have died, that to me gets higher play. But that's me.

"The Oregonian", "U.S. losses in Iraq reach 2,000", also going on in Iraq.

"Teachers walk in Oregon Trail", there is a strike, in Sandy, Oregon, I believe it is. This is how the "Daily News" plays it in New York: "2000 Hero Falls" and this is how the "Daily News" in Los Angeles plays it. They listed every soldier who died in Iraq. Need good eyes but it's there. If you're in Chicago tomorrow, the weather is yet again, baseball oriented, "sluggish". We'll continue in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Good to have you with us tonight. Larry King is next. We leave you with the names of some of the American troops, some of the 2,000 American troops who have died in Iraq since the war began. Something we'll do for the rest of the week here on the program. We'll see you again tomorrow night, 10 o'clock Eastern Time. Good night.

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