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CNN Live Saturday
Friends, Family Mourn Latest American Hostage Killed In Iraq; Floridians Take Cover In Wake Of Hurricane Jeanne
Aired September 25, 2004 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is 2:00 p.m. in Marietta, Georgia, 1:00 p.m. in go Gonaives, Haiti.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, stocking up and taking cover. Thousands of residents along Florida's eastern coast are bracing yet again for a potentially devastating storm.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Candiotti. Thousands of people in Palm Beach County are seeking shelter. We'll have a live report from on of those shelters coming up.
WHITFIELD: And family and friends are gathering to bid a final farewell to Jack Henley, one of two Americans killed this week in Iraq. We'll take you there life. Those stories in a moment, but first, here are other stories making the news.
(NEWSBREAK)
WHITFIELD: Florida is battening down the hatches yet again as another powerful hurricane heads toward the state. Jeanne's expected landfall along Florida's east coast is hours away and millions of people have been told to pack up and head to higher ground. We've got extensive coverage of Hurricane Jeanne this hour. CNN's Susan Candiotti is in West Palm Beach and meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is keeping an eye on the storms track. She's in the weather center.
Jacqui, let's begin with you.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The impact already being felt here along the Florida coast, from Central Florida coast extended all the way down to Miami, and some of the outer bands making their way on shore and also some gusty winds, 30-mile-per-hour gusts are pretty common at this time.
And one of the biggest concerns with Jeanne, which is packing winds of 115 miles per hour now is the flooding potential. The rainfall expected to be very heavy on the order of five to 10 inches ease, with some isolated amounts, possibly up to a foot. And this ground is already very saturated.
This is our VIPIR forecast, estimating up to nine and half inches of rain in Orlando by Sunday evening. You can see up towards West Palm Beach, five to seven inches are to be expected there. And as the storm tracks northwards it's going to be spreads along the Georgia coast and then back up into the Carolinas through your Monday.
There are flood watches already in effect all across the state of Florida, extending up into the Carolinas for that flood potential. Some areas already have had over 10 inches above normal for the month. Forecast track has it making landfall late tonight, probably between the hours of 10:00 and midnight, and then tracking its way on up to the north. Hurricane warnings remain in effect from St. Augustine, extending down towards Florida City. And then you can see hurricane watch extending northward from there.
Tropical storm warning in effect all across the east coast of Florida because the tropical storm force winds extend out quite a ways, about 200 miles from the center of the storm. The hurricane force winds extend out about 70 miles from the center of the storm.
This is the wind forecast, as it makes landfall. Here you can see between now and Sunday morning those strong winds already moving on shore. Tropical storm force winds should be arriving within the next couple of hours and then the hurricane force winds should be arriving by this evening, maybe by 7:00, 8:00 or so. And you can see it's going to be moving across the Central Florida peninsula and then heading to the north after that.
Another big concern with the system is the potential for power outages. These are forecast power outages you can see the extremity of it indicated by color. You can see it's focused unfortunately in a familiar area from Frances, from around Melbourne, extending over towards the Orlando area and then the impact not quite as much as it weakens as it moves northward.
However, still very strong right now. It has been strengthening, a category three hurricane, so that makes it a major hurricane, Fredricka. And we're not seeing any signs of weakening before making landfall.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Jacqui.
WHITFIELD:: Well, mandatory evacuations are now applying to nine Florida counties. Hundreds of thousands of people along the state's st coast are heading for higher ground. Shelters are open and already starting to fill up across the region.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is with us now from a shelter in West Palm Beach -- Susan.
CANDIOTTI: Hello, Fredricka.
Yes, thousands are getting out of Jeanne's way. One of the ways, the question is how do you get comfortable as you're trying to do that? Well, we have met a lot of people here at this Red Cross shelter who have taken all kinds of things with them. This man, directing them where to go to the check-in counter. And we're seeing people bring in blankets, pillows, mattresses and the like. So far at this Red Cross shelter and others in Palm Beach County, about 8,000 people have shown up so far. That's about almost half as many as they did for Hurricane Frances about three weeks ago. However, as the hours go on, authorities here do expect many more people to show up. Among them, a professional pianist, who is trying to keep her fellow refugees entertained.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: Now, all of these people are part of a mandatory evacuation order, from flood-prone areas, and those living in mobile homes. Others simply feel safer here than they do at their houses, even though they boarded up their homes. One of those people is Carlos Francisco, who brought his wife and ban baby daughter here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basic stuff for the baby, you know, baby wipes, pampers, you know, food. You've got water. Everybody has...
CANDIOTTI: Some snacks?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some snacks, you know, they're providing us with pretzels, like the airlines, not bad. And batteries --, you got to keep that TV going, you know?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: People here are already feeling tropical storm force winds outside. That is why the people who run the shelter, the people here at the Red Cross think that many more will be showing up as the evening wears on, and it is expected to be a very long night -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.
WHITFIELD: Well, before Florida, though, Hurricane Jeanne has been battering parts of the Bahamas. Radio journalist Jerome Sawyer has been riding out the storm and he's joining us on the telephone from Nassau.
And Jerome, what are you experiencing now?
JEROME SAWYER, JOURNALIST: The islands in the northern part of the country specifically Abaco and Grand Bahama are in the midst of the worst part of the storm. The eye of the storm is passing over Abaco as we speak. There are reports coming from both islands of localized flooding. There have been evacuations as well. Also coastal flooding, there are reports the floods as high as five feet at this point. We're also receiving reports of storm surge of about four feet. Also there have been reports of roof damage and power lines are down, phones are down as well.
WHITFIELD:: Well, Jerome, are there enough shelters to accommodate the many people who were unable to evacuate, get off the island and instead stay there?
SAWYER: Well, there are adequate shelters. What has happened, though, as a result of Hurricane Frances about three weeks ago, a lot of the homes are structurally unsound, the structures were compromised during the hurricane. So, what happened is, the shelters are seeing more people than three weeks ago with Hurricane Frances. Also keep in mind, these islands in the north were hit heavily during Hurricane Frances. These people would have gone through this just three weeks ago. So, there are adequate shelters however they're still in the process of evacuating people who did not take the initial evacuation orders.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, given that folks have been unable to recover completely from Frances, what about any kind of aid that has been offered to the people there?
Has there been enough aid and now, with this other storm, are they further strapped, the government there?
SAWYER: Well, there has been a tremendous hurricane relief coming in from the private sector into a hurricane relief fund and in the early days, the difficulty was getting food and water out to the islands. Keep in mind Nassau is the capital so everything had to be dispatched from here. But there has been international aid coming in as well. But they've been doing an excellent job trying to keep the communities together at this point. Three weeks is not even a lot of time to even rebuild. They've been trying to stabilize the communities and try to get in and restore power and restore phone and essential services and water, things like that, in these three weeks.
So it's been very difficult to even think about rebuilding, but to go back to your question, there has been significant aid coming in. The test and challenge will be now to deal with this all over again after this storm passes and there will be even more relief needed in these islands.
WHITFIELD: And how much longer do you all expect to be, you know, battered by the tail end of this storm?
SAWYER: Well, the local forecasters are telling us that by late this evening, we should be seeing the final and -- the tail end, I should say, of the storm. It is now in Abaco, the eye of the storm that is, and moving towards Grand Bahama, which is the northernmost point, at this, for the storm to move out of the Bahamas. So, we're looking at several more hours. But the storm is stretching over two islands as we speak. Much better than Frances, which lingered for a very, very long time. This storm is moving relatively quickly and that's possibly the only good news at this point, is that the storm is moving fast and will not affect the islands for as long as Hurricane Frances did.
WHITFIELD: All right. Possibly good news for the folks in the Bahamas, potentially not such good news for the folks along the east coast of Florida.
Jerome Sawyer, thanks so much, a radio journalist joining us from Nassau.
One week ago Jeanne swept across Haiti, the situation in the flood ravaged city of Gonaives is chaotic. Storm victims have been looting aid trucks and mobbing food distribution centers in desperation over the slow pace of the relief there.
CNN's Karl Penhaul has the latest on the situation from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They survived the storm. They've lost loved ones. And they're homes have been destroyed. Now, they're hungry and thirsty. Hours of waiting under blazing sun, scuffles to get a place in line, no guarantee of filling their bellies tonight.
The water took all of our stuff. We can't stand it anymore, she says. Hunger, frustration, desperation, an explosion waiting to happen. Soldiers from the United Nations force are looking to restore political stability fire into the air and lob tear gas canisters. They fear a riot is about to erupt and people are getting crushed. The crowds have pulled back for now, but the Argentineans troops here, know it's going to be a battle to maintain law and order. They also think somebody in the crowd may have a gun. Troops on the ground call urgently to comrades on roof tops to identify armed gang members among the hungry.
"I think gangs want to take advantage and loot the food and provoke riots to discredited aid effort," he says.
Tempers fray even the lucky ones who manage to receive their rations. These women almost came to blows as they try to share out food in a small bucket.
CECILY BRYANT, CARE INTERNATIONAL: At the moment it's very difficult to assess exactly what the impact has been -- how profound it has been. I mean, most of these families, down here, have very little anyway, and so this is kind of pushing them right over the edge with having something like this happens to them again.
PENHAUL: A short drive away from the chaos of the food handout, parts of Gonaives are still under water. Residents try to push mud out of the church that is now their shelter. Like thousands of others, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) home is destroyed. Some of the neighbors were among the more than 1,200 who died. She escaped with her two children.
"We haven't eaten," she says. She's one of 700 people crammed in the church. She says she's received no food aid and is surviving on scraps.
Back in the food distribution center, aid workers say Haitian authorities have done nothing to help the needy. Shortages of drinking water are fueling fears of the outbreak of disease. As if the survivors of Tropical Storm Jeanne don't have enough misery to contend with.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PENHAUL: Fredricka, we've been in downtown Gonaives talking to some of the residents here. It's been a week since the tropical storm has lashed through the city and there's still a lot of mud lying around. A lot of water has receded, but the mud is the big problem now. That's the main focus of cleanup operation as far as the residents are concerned. We asked them what aid they had from their Haitian government, because all the aid so far that we've been seeing distributed, has been from the United Nations and also from independent organizations.
They said they hadn't seen hide nor hair of any government officials at all. And that criticism the United Nations are also leveling. They're saying that the Haitian government has failed to step up to the plate, has failed to take responsibility for the coordination of the relief effort. It's not clear why that has been so. We did hear that convoys were sent by the Haitian government was en route from the capital of Port-Au-Prince to Gonaives today. So far, we haven't seen that yet there.
WHITFIELD: Karl Penhaul, thanks very much for that report from Gonaives, Haiti.
Well, CNN is the network to stay with coverage of Hurricane Jeanne. We'll keep you up to date on the storm with extensive coverage throughout the weekend.
A community in mourning for a friend lost in Iraq. A memorial service is being held at this hour for Jack Hensley, the American killed in Iraq this week. You're looking at a live picture there right now. We'll take you there a little bit later on as well.
Also, still no official word on the British hostage taken hostage along with the two American's kill this week. A live update when CNN LIVE SATURDAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: You're looking at live pictures out of Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta for a special memorial service for beheaded American hostage, Jack Hensley. His family members along with loved ones honoring the life the 48-year-old man who was beheaded just days before his 49th birthday in Iraq.
Meantime, still no word on the fate of British hostage, Kenneth Bigley, kidnapped in Iraq nine days ago. The two other Americans also kidnapped and held along with Bigley, as I reported, were beheaded earlier in the week.
CNN's Brent Sadler is in Baghdad with the very latest.
And Brent, why is this so difficult to determine when an Islamic Web site has reported he has been beheaded, however, no official confirmation, correct?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct, Fredricka.
We saw that posting on the Web site earlier today, the British foreign office largely discrediting the claim that Kenneth Bigley, age 62, from Walton, Liverpool, in the northern part of England, had been killed in similar fashion to his co-workers, Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong. Now, what we know today in terms of what efforts Kenneth Bigley's family are making and they have been relentless over the past few days has been the appearance in a newspaper here in Baghdad. If I can hold that up for a moment, showing a picture of Mr. Bigley and in Arabic writing above that photograph, appeals from the family, from the heart very much to the kidnapers themselves to show mercy for Mr. Bigley, even after we already know the fate of his two co-workers who were killed, beheaded earlier this week.
Also the family have been flooding parts of Baghdad with 10s of thousands of pamphlets in similar fashion, appealing to the kidnapers, thought to be led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most notorious terror suspect here in Baghdad to release from Mr. Bigley.
In addition, two leading members from Britain's Muslim Council have arrived in Baghdad a few hours ago and they're making top level contacts with political and religious leaders in the hope that Mr. Bigley may still be alive. As far as the governments of Iraq are concerned and Britain, no go whatsoever they say whatsoever on any negotiations -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Brent Sadler, thanks so much, from Baghdad.
Hundreds of Iraqis gathered in the Iraqi town of Baqubah today for a unity conference. The convention hopes to come up with ways to stop the growing insurgency across the region.
A recent U.S. intelligence estimate warned Iraq could fall into civil war if the insurgency does not end. Liam Anderson is the author of the "Future of Iraq: Dictatorship, Democracy Or Division?" He is in Dayton, Ohio, where he teaches political science at Wright State University. Good to see you.
LIAM ANDERSON, WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY: Hi, good to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, recently, intelligence documents indicated that civil war was merely inevitable in Iraq. Do you see it that way?
ANDERSON: My money would be on a civil war at some point in the future, yes. I've always thought that the problem with Iraq is it's always needed a strong central leader to hold it together. Once you lose the strong central leader, then you kind of take the -- uncork the bottle and all of these forces come out. And holding Iraq together now is going to be a very, very difficult achievement I think.
WHITFIELD; And particularly, if sources are correct, we heard our Bob Novak report this earlier today, and as well in a column earlier in the week, saying that if Bush were to be reelected, it is his plan that there would be a U.S. military pullout in the year 2005, and if indeed that were the case, that might almost certainly set a stage for a civil war.
ANDERSON: Yes. I think an election in January 2005, I find it very difficult to believe. If it goes ahead that the government that's elected will not be elected on a platform of asking the United States to leave. So in other words, that may be an exit strategy of sorts. The first legitimately elected government of Iraq invites U.S. troops out. But I think at that point, without U.S. troops there, unless of course that is the dilemma, but without U.S. troops there I don't think there's enough to hold Iraq together.
WHITFIELD: Sorry. When you bring up the issue of the January elections, and Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani said as well earlier in the week that he doesn't believe the elections should take place, because there's no Shiite representation, that mostly the representation among those who would be up for election are almost all exiles, and almost all have been hand selected by western forces. Do you think that he makes a legitimate point? How influential is his point of view?
ANDERSON: Well, I think that the sort of political parties we're talking about here, like Allawi's Iraqi National Court Accord and the still existing Iraqi National Congress that used to be led by Chalabi, are clearly going to be more pro-American than the religious parties like the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. And therefore, it would be the United States' interest to help these political parties win in the elections in January, 2005.
But I see a far bigger problem, which is that in a sizeable chunk of the country, including many of the major cities, I can't see how it's possible to hold an election, in the Sunni parts of the country. And if they don't participate in the election, we're going to elect a government that has no Sunni representation and that's only going to increase the resistance as far as I can tell.
WHITFIELD: All right. Liam Anderson, author of "The Future of Iraq: Dictatorship, Democracy or Division?" Also political science professor at Wright State University, thanks so much for joining us.
ANDERSON: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, other hot button issues in this country's presidential race: a growing federal deficit and the economy influx. Straight ahead,- a closer look at issues that could swing the race for the White House.
And inching closer towards a major league milestone: We'll meet the Seattle Mariner who is close to rewriting the record books.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well after a busy week, here's what's happening on the campaign trail this weekend. President Bush is at his Texas ranch, he's getting ready for the first of three presidential debates set for this Thursday in Coral Gables, Florida. John Kerry is also staying in this week. He's at his home in Boston, also working on preparing for the debate.
The vice presidential candidates, however, have more time to prepare. Their debate is scheduled for October 5. Democrat John Edwards is off the trail today as is Vice President Dick Cheney.
Well, questions over the ballooning federal deficit concern many potential voters. The candidates take those concerns seriously enough to offer their own plans to deal with the deficit. National correspondent Kelli Wallace checks out the candidates' promises.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First the big picture, the big deficit picture that is.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So I can say to you that the deficit will be cut in half over the next five years.
WALLACE: Senator Kerry says he can do it in four.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We believe it's time for Washington to live within a budget, just like you do.
WALLACE: But cutting in half a federal budget deficit expected to reach a record $422 billion this year, translates into a case of simple arithemetic. To keep all of their campaign promises, the candidates need to cut spending, raise your taxes, or both.
BUSH: We got to keep your taxes low.
WALLACE: The president promises to make permanent across the board tax cuts said to expire in 2010, but that would mean $1 trillion in lost government revenue. He also proposes allowing younger workers to invest Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market. How will President Bush bring down the deficit? He promises to restrain the growth in spending and make cuts to offset any spending inincreases.
KERRY: We're going to cut taxes for the middle class.
WALLACE: Senator Kerry for his part promises to lower taxes on 98 percent of Americans, says he would raise taxes only on the wealthiest 2 percent who make more than $200,000 per year. This would bring in $860 billion over ten years, his campaign says.
He promises to use that money to pay for new programs. $200 billion for education, $650 billion for healthcare. So how would the Senator cut down the deficit? He promises to impose spending caps, and offset spending increases with mandatory spending cuts or tax increases.
Now the bottom line. The assessment from independent analysts, that both candidates' promises would likely increase the deficit, not reduce it. Kelli Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, despite increasingly negative news coming out of Iraq, President Bush says the U.S. will stay the course, and Iraq's interim prime minister says elections will take place on time. Senator Kerry continues to pound on problems in Iraq on the campaign trail. What happens between now and election day? Well, "L.A. Times" Ron Brownstein and CNN political analyst joins me now to talk more about this. Good to see you, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, L.A. TIMES: Hey, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, we've heard Allawi and Bush saying this week progress is being made. Kerry very quickly came out and said both are misleading the American public. This kind of criticism of an ally, might this be a shot in his foot?
BROWNSTEIN: Unusual. Look, Allawi made quite a splash in the American political election this week, Prime Minister Allawi, probably as much as I can remember a foreign leader making. He came here and he echoed on points large and small, the president's case on Iraq, both his assesstment of how things are going. The prime minister gave a very upbeat assessment. And his broader contentions that Iraq is a central front in the war on terror.
Now with John Kerry basing so much of his campaign on challenging those arguments from the president, his campaign made the unusual determination to go after Allawi as well and to challenge his credibility, both in Kerry's language and some sharper language that one of his senior aides gave to me in the story in the "L.A. Times" last week.
The Republicans came right back and attacked Kerry. Was this a mistake? I don't know it certainly was unusual. In the end what Allawi does in Iraq and what happens in Iraq is likely to be more important than anything either side says about him while he is here.
WHITFIELD: But interestingly enough the Democrats have been pressuring Kerry to give up stronger language, be more aggressive. He is demonstrating that he's doing just that and his message really is on par with what we're seeing in the headlines, isn't it? I mean we are seeing the car bombings. We are seeing the hostages, the beheading of hostages. So he's not painting an unrealistic picture.
BROWNSTEIN: Well those are two questions. First I think many analysts here feel the credibility of both Allawi and the president in their portrayal of Iraq, obviously faces strains with what Americans are seeing every day in the headlines. And in fact in the "Time" magazine poll that came out yesterday that did show the president ahead in the overall race, a majority of Americans said they felt he was misrepresenting conditions there.
Your second point I think is even more important. Which is this week was a turning point for John Kerry. In his speech Monday at NYU and then Friday at Temple University. He moved much closer to the argument made earlier in the year by people like Wesley Clark, Richard Clarke, Bob Graham, essentially making -- trying to make the case that the war in Iraq has set back our interests on the war on terror, by diverting attention from Al Qaeda, alienating allies and radicalizing the Arab world against us, it puts him in a position to have a much more of a head-on collision with President Bush over the war when they meet this Thursday in Florida. WHITFIELD: And it will be interesting to see just what happens in Thursday. Are we seeing that the stage is being set for the kind of tone we're likely to see out of Kerry and Bush?
BROWNSTEIN: I think so. Look, Iraq really has been the central issue in the last few weeks of this campaign and more broadly, I do think that more than anything else, this election is turning on whether Americans believe that George Bush's response to 9/11 broadly defined, including the war in Iraq has made us safer or not and whether John Kerry could do a better job.
So it's entirely appropriate that the first debate turn on these issues. Because if John Kerry is going to get back into this race he is going to have to reduce the advantages that President Bush has reestablished since the Republican Convention on all questions related to security.
WHITFIELD: And meantime this debate taking place in Florida, a pivotal state in the 2000 election but the folks in Florida may not be thinking about politics, instead they're thinking about a very real different kind of storm, these hurricanes, you know, this is going to be difficult for these camps, the Kerry and Bush camps to appeal to Floridians isn't it, given these people are distracted.
BROWNSTEIN: Sure, Florida has been sort of off of the map in the presidential race for the last several weeks. Maybe if the candidates will come help them clean out their basements. But I think that you know in the end, Florida and all of the other states rise and fall on the national tides. Perhaps a bad metaphor in the wake of a hurricane.
The fact is that unless John Kerry can move the overall national race more in his direction, the state by state differences don't matter that much. It is when we're close, that the kind of at the margin race that the small carry and thrust individual states can affect the outcome. He's not there yet. He has some positive trends but he still has a way to go to bring President Bush back within his sights.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ron Brownstein of the "L.A. Times," as well as our own political analyst. Thanks so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well now a look at the latest developments. Let's begin with that hurricane threatening parts of Florida, Hurricane Jeanne headed right for the Eastern Coast and that could be tonight, right after raking the Bahamas. Top winds are at 115 miles an hour, making it a major hurricane. Jeanne is expected to strike some of the same areas ravaged by Frances just a few weeks ago.
Iraqis gathered for a unity conference today in the town of Baquba. They're looking for ways to calm the growing insurgency across Iraq. Even as the conference got under way an Iraqi police captain from Baquba was shot and killed in a drive-by attack north of Baghdad.
And in suburban Atlanta this afternoon, you're looking at live pictures right now of a memorial service for Iraq hostage, American Jack Hensley, he was killed Tuesday and he was the second American hostage put to death in Iraq last week.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Time for a check of stories across America today. A lawyer for Private Lynndie England says the army will announce it will court-martial the pregnant reservist. England was seen in photos taking part in prisoner abuse inside Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The lawyer says a military trial could be held in January.
Three children were killed in a house fire in Chicago last night. Fire officials say a teen was critically injured and later died in what they described as a suspicious blaze. A fire department spokesman says no parents were found at the scene.
The mayor of Flint, Michigan wants people working, not reading. He's banned city employees from reading non-work material during work hours. A newspaper carrier was detained this week trying to deliver a paper to City Hall. The mayor has relented a bit saying he'll allow deliveries but the reading ban stays in place.
Ichiro Suzuki picked up two hits in the Seattle Mariners 8 to 7 win over the Texas Rangers last night. Those hits moved him past Ty Cobb and into sole position of seventh place on the all-time hits list. That leaves Ichiro needing only eight hits to tie George Sisler's major league record set in 1920. Larry Smith looks at the chase.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Since joining the Seattle Mariners four years ago, Ichiro Suzuki has quietly come to the doorstep of breaking one of baseball's most elusive records. George Sisler's 257 hits in a single season, established in 1920.
PAUL MOLITOR, MARINERS HITTING COACH: It's a remarkable record in terms of consistency over a long grinding season, and you know, it's a fact that it stood as long as it has shows you how difficult it is to approach it.
SMITH: Ichiro is nine hits away from breaking Sisler's record with nine games remaining. But the thing that has left an indelible impression among his teammates has been his mental approach to the game each day.
WILLIE BLOOMQUIST, MARINERS TEAMMATE: He does the same thing pretty much every day and his goal is to hit the ball in the line or on the ground and use his feet to speed it out. He never tries to do too much, he just stays within himself and I think a lot can be said for that.
SMITH: At this point in his career Ichiro is not surprised by his accomplishments. In addition to try to break Sisler's record, he finds himself only seven hits away from becoming the all-time hits leader in the first four years of a major league career, with 918, a record that's been on the books since 1932.
And he's already eclipsed the single season record for singles set in 1898. The media attention given Ichiro's quest pales in comparison to the circus that follows Barry Bonds while he chases the all-time home run record. Had Ichiro begun his career in the majors, putting up the same type of numbers, he would be on pace to a 3,000- hit hall of fame career.
Larry Smith, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: One note on the all-time hits chase, George Sisler set his 1920 record of 257 hits during a 154-game season. Ichiro is playing in a 162-game season.
The lead investigator in Scott Peterson's double murder trial took the witness stand this week. Straight ahead in our "Legal Roundtable" we'll examine what impact, if any, his testimony might have had on the jury.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The jurors in the Scott Peterson murder trial get a look inside the life of Laci Peterson through video. Prosecutors who are close to wrapping up their case against Peterson show video of his wife before her murder. Did the images have an effect on the jury?
We'll discuss the case with our guest Anthony Locascio, a criminal defense attorney joining us from New York. Pamela Bethel is a civil attorney and a former federal prosecutor and joins us from Washington. Good to see both of you.
ANTHONY LOCASCIO, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you.
PAMELA BETHEL, CIVIAL ATTORNEY: Good to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right Pamela, ladies first I always like to begin that way. Lets begin with you. We saw a video of Laci Peterson in happier times. How impactful might that have been for the jurors?
BETHEL: Well that has got to have an impact Fredricka. What they're trying to do is they are trying to personalize who she is, how happy she was and in indicate that this life was snuffed out and that's got to be a plus for the prosecutors.
WHITFIELD: However, Anthony, the prosecutors did put forth testimony from a detective, Craig Grogan, who testified that you know, he had some suspicions, as well as other detectives from the very beginning. When it came down to arresting Scott Peterson, they arrested him on a golf course, and he wasn't wearing a wedding ring.
LOCASCIO: That is correct, but more importantly, with regards to that arrest, Grogan also testified that when he told Scott Peterson that your wife and child have turned up and the remains and they are dead. Which was a lie, kind of to entrap Scott Peterson. He also noticed Scott Peterson started to cry, that as well as the transcript from a tape recording between Scott Peterson and this detective of January 29, 2003.
Scott continues to establish his innocent. Says, "I am a mess without her. I want her back and I will find her myself if nobody helps me." That's very important. That continues to establish his state of mind as an innocent person.
WHITFIELD: So they know, they don't have anything like an admission. There's very little physical evidence.
LOCASCIO: Correct.
WHITFIELD: Pamela it seems to really link Scott Peterson with the crime, instead the prosecution is trying to plant the seed of suspicion in the heads of the jurors, just like detectives and other investigators had, right?
BETHEL: There's no question. I mean, this is a very difficult case, and I have been critical of the prosecutors, and I think rightly so to some extent. But I want to make clear this is a very difficult case. What they have tried to do is to show that one, Scott was a schmuck, as I've said before, and secondly, that his actions at around the time that she was missing did not or do not comport it what most people believe, someone who has lost a wife or looking for a child would be doing.
The ordering of the "Playboy" channel, the hanging out with Amber, and the phone calls with Amber. Those are the kinds of things that they're trying to show that his conduct was a pattern of a man who was happy or at least glad or relieved that his wife was no longer with him.
WHITFIELD: But then at the same time, Anthony, Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos, really tried to set the stage and say, well, Scott Peterson was never combative. He was always cooperative.
LOCASCIO: Right.
WHITFIELD: When he was cornered by investigators, or talks, so he really had nothing to hide is what Peterson's attorney is trying to establish.
LOCASCIO: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Is he doing that effectively?
LOCASCIO: He is doing it very effectively. Because we've heard countless recordings, tapes, transcripts, they don't show anything but Scott Peterson establishing his innocence. Show me something else; show me somebody trapping him in a serious lie regarding her disappearance. Forget the fact that he's a philanderer and a cheater and what not, which he is and he's lied about that. It comes down to what Geragos has always pointed out. That yes he's a liar but it doesn't make him a murderer. And he's done a fantastic job of that. There is no concrete evidence at all, and I'll tell you, for once I agree with my colleague on the other side, former prosecutor, that this is a tough case. It's a brutal case for the prosecution.
BETHEL: It is a tough case. Let me just say one comment. To the extent that they've established that he's a liar, they then get to argue from that point that, well, if he lied about other things, he well, too could be lying about whether or not he killed her. I will say that I agree with Anthony --
WHITFIELD: They haven't stated it quite like that, have they?
BETHEL: No, they haven't stated it like that. We haven't heard oral arguments yet. I suspect that's the link they are going to try to make when they make the oral arguments and when they get to cross- examine Scott. Because I think he's got to take the stand.
LOCASCIO: That is the false in one false in all charge. That you are referring to.
BETHEL: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And surely Mark Geragos is not going to be advocating that he take the stand?
BETHEL: I don't know --
LOCASCIO: That's a tough, tough decision.
BETHEL: I think he has to take the stand.
WHITFIELD: OK, well --
LOCASCIO: I would be leery about that, in taking the stand. That's something that would really concern me, because now you're going to hear Scott Peterson basically admit on the stand that he was a liar.
WHITFIELD: All right, Anthony Locascio and Pamela Bethel, thanks so much for both of you for joining us.
LOCASCIO: Thank you.
BETHEL: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: And when we come back, more on a special memorial service that is right now under way, just outside of Atlanta. It is in honor of the former American hostage, who was killed earlier this week, Jack Hensley. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: We want to take you outside Atlanta right now to a special memorial service that is under way for American Jack Hensley. He was beheaded this week in Iraq. He, along with two others, an American also killed and a Britain whose status is still unknown. Were all abducted from their Baghdad residence about nine days ago. The Americans killed this week, Jack Hensley, among the Americans killed this week, rather, Jack Hensley right there who was 48-year-old.
This memorial service is taking place in his honor in Marietta, Georgia. Speaking right now, a good friend, Greg Smith, who is expected to be followed by Jack Hensley's brother, Ty, coming up next. So let's listen in.
GREG SMITH, FRIEND OF JACK HENSLEY: I said that was a good one, Jack! He goes no, you owe me $50 bucks, pal. So like all of my other debts to Jack, I never paid him. Uhm -- this is probably the part where you tell me to shut up, huh, Pat? I should -- you know, I thought that -- I mean I could go on and on about this, but I think there's only one word I need to say that makes everybody's memories just jump out in their minds.
How about the holidays? OK we're not just talking Christmas. Today he's go no, can't do it, it's Yom Kippur. We got to have a party. Jack, another true story, called me up; I'm going to try to be appropriate here. Jack called me up one day; first Jack and Patty called me. I had moved to Florida, and for any special event I was so honored they always wanted me to be a part of and some kind of a mouthpiece, I don't get that part.
But Jack had called and Patty had called and asked me to come up and do what was important to them and their people, the St. Patrick's Day annual party, which I will remember for the rest of my life. St. Patrick's Day is special to me because of those people, believe me, and we used to run what was probably now infamous, the dirty little limerick competition, and Jack, Jack called me up, and he said, "Greg I know you can't come and do it, so I just need some advice, cause by gosh, I'm going to do it." So Jack ran the dirty little limerick competition.
Of course Jack did it in a green, fuzzy wig, suspenders, and good thing, because that held his pants up, that's always good, and he did it, and I never heard -- all I told Jack for advice is, Jack, go up there and be yourself. People love you. That's all it will take. You go be you, and you'll do very well. I heard from so many people, "man, you should have seen Jack! He was all over it," and he loved that. He never said a word to me about it. I had to find out from other people, but that's just exactly how Jack was.
I think you all know that, and I you know, God, any time I need to smile, all I have to do is picture Jack smiling. It was so hard for me to think that I was going to get up here and speak to you people in such a sad time, and I thought what would Jack tell me to do and Jack told me that this all the time, hey, it's what you do. That's exactly what he would have told me. So here I am.
I love you guys very much. I love the Hensley's. I will for the rest of my life. I'm very lucky to be, as everybody in here, as part of your extended family. I love you guys very much. I would like to point one thing out that was said back here. In fact, Karen, god bless you, that was beautiful, and Karen said to me, and she was genuine, she said "you know what? I hope Jack knew how special he was, and what a special character he was to so many people," and I can't believe that my answer, you would think would be you know what he didn't." That is just it with Jack, he really didn't know.
We all know but what was important to him was us, not him. And that will live in infamy that is Jack Hensley. And God bless you guys.
(APPLAUSE)
WHITFIELD: That was a friend, Greg Smith a friend of Jack Hensley, who was speaking in this eulogy, and now, here is Jack Hensley's brother, Ty.
TY HENSLEY, BROTHER: Thank goodness I did not send Jack a lot of the e-mails that I thought about sending him. I feel better standing up right now, but there's a correction and an apology I want to make. The correction, although it's a mistake that went out to 20 or 50 million people, will start here, and about the tee ball game. Jack was the coach with the Tee Kay Reds, we played the Sluggers. Seven games in a championship game, Sluggers beat us, I don't know if we even got a run, seven games, we didn't win a game.
But we did win one game, it was the championship game, the game that mattered, and I'm sorry I let that out, but definitely he certainly deserves all the credit for that. Apologies to Sarah, I put pictures of her in a diaper for everybody to look at, and I'm sorry, I grabbed everything I could grab, and they were sweet pictures there, and a few little things. I tell you what it's like. I knew Jack before you all knew him, and now you kind of have become a lot closer, as I live further away from him, but I remember Jack -- I was told at a restaurant he wanted a hotdog, and I said what do you want on your hotdog? He looked and he said, "butter."
Anyway, Jack started college, probably where my memory starts of him, when I was about 5 years old, and I would listen to him talk to my father, and they were real big math people and 5 years old, I picked up some things, 2 plus 2 is 4, 4 plus 4 is 8, and I can go on up to 64 and whatever else I guess. But I learned that the square root of 9 is 3, the square root of 81, exact, is 9, and the square root of 289 is 17 and that came in handy on the first day of school, first grade because the teacher said, does anybody know what we're going to learn today?
She looked around, I'm like you know, I know what we're going to learn, and I stood up, and the mothers were all behind me, and I said, 2 plus 2 is 4, 4 plus 4 is 8, I went all the way up to I don't know what and the square root of 9 is 3, blah, blah, blah, the square root of 289 is 17. I sat down and the teacher almost passed out. The mothers -- my mother was just totally disturbed, because I just told them everything I knew on the first day of school.
It was true. I didn't get much further than that. But not only was he my tee ball coach, Jack did everything first class exactly what Greg mentioned. When he did something, he did it first class. When he first went overseas, I remember crying, I don't know if I was 8, 9, 10 years old, he went to Saudi Arabia for a year, but he sent back tapes, cassette tapes, and just he really, really spoke to me, and was wonderful. I mean, he does everything first.
And when he came back it was my birthday sounds familiar. And he took me and a friend to --
WHITFIELD: Just outside of Atlanta this is a special ceremony honoring the remembrance of American Jack Hensley, you were just now listening to Jack Hensley's brother Ty.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 25, 2004 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is 2:00 p.m. in Marietta, Georgia, 1:00 p.m. in go Gonaives, Haiti.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta.
Ahead this hour, stocking up and taking cover. Thousands of residents along Florida's eastern coast are bracing yet again for a potentially devastating storm.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Candiotti. Thousands of people in Palm Beach County are seeking shelter. We'll have a live report from on of those shelters coming up.
WHITFIELD: And family and friends are gathering to bid a final farewell to Jack Henley, one of two Americans killed this week in Iraq. We'll take you there life. Those stories in a moment, but first, here are other stories making the news.
(NEWSBREAK)
WHITFIELD: Florida is battening down the hatches yet again as another powerful hurricane heads toward the state. Jeanne's expected landfall along Florida's east coast is hours away and millions of people have been told to pack up and head to higher ground. We've got extensive coverage of Hurricane Jeanne this hour. CNN's Susan Candiotti is in West Palm Beach and meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is keeping an eye on the storms track. She's in the weather center.
Jacqui, let's begin with you.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The impact already being felt here along the Florida coast, from Central Florida coast extended all the way down to Miami, and some of the outer bands making their way on shore and also some gusty winds, 30-mile-per-hour gusts are pretty common at this time.
And one of the biggest concerns with Jeanne, which is packing winds of 115 miles per hour now is the flooding potential. The rainfall expected to be very heavy on the order of five to 10 inches ease, with some isolated amounts, possibly up to a foot. And this ground is already very saturated.
This is our VIPIR forecast, estimating up to nine and half inches of rain in Orlando by Sunday evening. You can see up towards West Palm Beach, five to seven inches are to be expected there. And as the storm tracks northwards it's going to be spreads along the Georgia coast and then back up into the Carolinas through your Monday.
There are flood watches already in effect all across the state of Florida, extending up into the Carolinas for that flood potential. Some areas already have had over 10 inches above normal for the month. Forecast track has it making landfall late tonight, probably between the hours of 10:00 and midnight, and then tracking its way on up to the north. Hurricane warnings remain in effect from St. Augustine, extending down towards Florida City. And then you can see hurricane watch extending northward from there.
Tropical storm warning in effect all across the east coast of Florida because the tropical storm force winds extend out quite a ways, about 200 miles from the center of the storm. The hurricane force winds extend out about 70 miles from the center of the storm.
This is the wind forecast, as it makes landfall. Here you can see between now and Sunday morning those strong winds already moving on shore. Tropical storm force winds should be arriving within the next couple of hours and then the hurricane force winds should be arriving by this evening, maybe by 7:00, 8:00 or so. And you can see it's going to be moving across the Central Florida peninsula and then heading to the north after that.
Another big concern with the system is the potential for power outages. These are forecast power outages you can see the extremity of it indicated by color. You can see it's focused unfortunately in a familiar area from Frances, from around Melbourne, extending over towards the Orlando area and then the impact not quite as much as it weakens as it moves northward.
However, still very strong right now. It has been strengthening, a category three hurricane, so that makes it a major hurricane, Fredricka. And we're not seeing any signs of weakening before making landfall.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Jacqui.
WHITFIELD:: Well, mandatory evacuations are now applying to nine Florida counties. Hundreds of thousands of people along the state's st coast are heading for higher ground. Shelters are open and already starting to fill up across the region.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is with us now from a shelter in West Palm Beach -- Susan.
CANDIOTTI: Hello, Fredricka.
Yes, thousands are getting out of Jeanne's way. One of the ways, the question is how do you get comfortable as you're trying to do that? Well, we have met a lot of people here at this Red Cross shelter who have taken all kinds of things with them. This man, directing them where to go to the check-in counter. And we're seeing people bring in blankets, pillows, mattresses and the like. So far at this Red Cross shelter and others in Palm Beach County, about 8,000 people have shown up so far. That's about almost half as many as they did for Hurricane Frances about three weeks ago. However, as the hours go on, authorities here do expect many more people to show up. Among them, a professional pianist, who is trying to keep her fellow refugees entertained.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: Now, all of these people are part of a mandatory evacuation order, from flood-prone areas, and those living in mobile homes. Others simply feel safer here than they do at their houses, even though they boarded up their homes. One of those people is Carlos Francisco, who brought his wife and ban baby daughter here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basic stuff for the baby, you know, baby wipes, pampers, you know, food. You've got water. Everybody has...
CANDIOTTI: Some snacks?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some snacks, you know, they're providing us with pretzels, like the airlines, not bad. And batteries --, you got to keep that TV going, you know?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: People here are already feeling tropical storm force winds outside. That is why the people who run the shelter, the people here at the Red Cross think that many more will be showing up as the evening wears on, and it is expected to be a very long night -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.
WHITFIELD: Well, before Florida, though, Hurricane Jeanne has been battering parts of the Bahamas. Radio journalist Jerome Sawyer has been riding out the storm and he's joining us on the telephone from Nassau.
And Jerome, what are you experiencing now?
JEROME SAWYER, JOURNALIST: The islands in the northern part of the country specifically Abaco and Grand Bahama are in the midst of the worst part of the storm. The eye of the storm is passing over Abaco as we speak. There are reports coming from both islands of localized flooding. There have been evacuations as well. Also coastal flooding, there are reports the floods as high as five feet at this point. We're also receiving reports of storm surge of about four feet. Also there have been reports of roof damage and power lines are down, phones are down as well.
WHITFIELD:: Well, Jerome, are there enough shelters to accommodate the many people who were unable to evacuate, get off the island and instead stay there?
SAWYER: Well, there are adequate shelters. What has happened, though, as a result of Hurricane Frances about three weeks ago, a lot of the homes are structurally unsound, the structures were compromised during the hurricane. So, what happened is, the shelters are seeing more people than three weeks ago with Hurricane Frances. Also keep in mind, these islands in the north were hit heavily during Hurricane Frances. These people would have gone through this just three weeks ago. So, there are adequate shelters however they're still in the process of evacuating people who did not take the initial evacuation orders.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, given that folks have been unable to recover completely from Frances, what about any kind of aid that has been offered to the people there?
Has there been enough aid and now, with this other storm, are they further strapped, the government there?
SAWYER: Well, there has been a tremendous hurricane relief coming in from the private sector into a hurricane relief fund and in the early days, the difficulty was getting food and water out to the islands. Keep in mind Nassau is the capital so everything had to be dispatched from here. But there has been international aid coming in as well. But they've been doing an excellent job trying to keep the communities together at this point. Three weeks is not even a lot of time to even rebuild. They've been trying to stabilize the communities and try to get in and restore power and restore phone and essential services and water, things like that, in these three weeks.
So it's been very difficult to even think about rebuilding, but to go back to your question, there has been significant aid coming in. The test and challenge will be now to deal with this all over again after this storm passes and there will be even more relief needed in these islands.
WHITFIELD: And how much longer do you all expect to be, you know, battered by the tail end of this storm?
SAWYER: Well, the local forecasters are telling us that by late this evening, we should be seeing the final and -- the tail end, I should say, of the storm. It is now in Abaco, the eye of the storm that is, and moving towards Grand Bahama, which is the northernmost point, at this, for the storm to move out of the Bahamas. So, we're looking at several more hours. But the storm is stretching over two islands as we speak. Much better than Frances, which lingered for a very, very long time. This storm is moving relatively quickly and that's possibly the only good news at this point, is that the storm is moving fast and will not affect the islands for as long as Hurricane Frances did.
WHITFIELD: All right. Possibly good news for the folks in the Bahamas, potentially not such good news for the folks along the east coast of Florida.
Jerome Sawyer, thanks so much, a radio journalist joining us from Nassau.
One week ago Jeanne swept across Haiti, the situation in the flood ravaged city of Gonaives is chaotic. Storm victims have been looting aid trucks and mobbing food distribution centers in desperation over the slow pace of the relief there.
CNN's Karl Penhaul has the latest on the situation from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They survived the storm. They've lost loved ones. And they're homes have been destroyed. Now, they're hungry and thirsty. Hours of waiting under blazing sun, scuffles to get a place in line, no guarantee of filling their bellies tonight.
The water took all of our stuff. We can't stand it anymore, she says. Hunger, frustration, desperation, an explosion waiting to happen. Soldiers from the United Nations force are looking to restore political stability fire into the air and lob tear gas canisters. They fear a riot is about to erupt and people are getting crushed. The crowds have pulled back for now, but the Argentineans troops here, know it's going to be a battle to maintain law and order. They also think somebody in the crowd may have a gun. Troops on the ground call urgently to comrades on roof tops to identify armed gang members among the hungry.
"I think gangs want to take advantage and loot the food and provoke riots to discredited aid effort," he says.
Tempers fray even the lucky ones who manage to receive their rations. These women almost came to blows as they try to share out food in a small bucket.
CECILY BRYANT, CARE INTERNATIONAL: At the moment it's very difficult to assess exactly what the impact has been -- how profound it has been. I mean, most of these families, down here, have very little anyway, and so this is kind of pushing them right over the edge with having something like this happens to them again.
PENHAUL: A short drive away from the chaos of the food handout, parts of Gonaives are still under water. Residents try to push mud out of the church that is now their shelter. Like thousands of others, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) home is destroyed. Some of the neighbors were among the more than 1,200 who died. She escaped with her two children.
"We haven't eaten," she says. She's one of 700 people crammed in the church. She says she's received no food aid and is surviving on scraps.
Back in the food distribution center, aid workers say Haitian authorities have done nothing to help the needy. Shortages of drinking water are fueling fears of the outbreak of disease. As if the survivors of Tropical Storm Jeanne don't have enough misery to contend with.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PENHAUL: Fredricka, we've been in downtown Gonaives talking to some of the residents here. It's been a week since the tropical storm has lashed through the city and there's still a lot of mud lying around. A lot of water has receded, but the mud is the big problem now. That's the main focus of cleanup operation as far as the residents are concerned. We asked them what aid they had from their Haitian government, because all the aid so far that we've been seeing distributed, has been from the United Nations and also from independent organizations.
They said they hadn't seen hide nor hair of any government officials at all. And that criticism the United Nations are also leveling. They're saying that the Haitian government has failed to step up to the plate, has failed to take responsibility for the coordination of the relief effort. It's not clear why that has been so. We did hear that convoys were sent by the Haitian government was en route from the capital of Port-Au-Prince to Gonaives today. So far, we haven't seen that yet there.
WHITFIELD: Karl Penhaul, thanks very much for that report from Gonaives, Haiti.
Well, CNN is the network to stay with coverage of Hurricane Jeanne. We'll keep you up to date on the storm with extensive coverage throughout the weekend.
A community in mourning for a friend lost in Iraq. A memorial service is being held at this hour for Jack Hensley, the American killed in Iraq this week. You're looking at a live picture there right now. We'll take you there a little bit later on as well.
Also, still no official word on the British hostage taken hostage along with the two American's kill this week. A live update when CNN LIVE SATURDAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: You're looking at live pictures out of Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta for a special memorial service for beheaded American hostage, Jack Hensley. His family members along with loved ones honoring the life the 48-year-old man who was beheaded just days before his 49th birthday in Iraq.
Meantime, still no word on the fate of British hostage, Kenneth Bigley, kidnapped in Iraq nine days ago. The two other Americans also kidnapped and held along with Bigley, as I reported, were beheaded earlier in the week.
CNN's Brent Sadler is in Baghdad with the very latest.
And Brent, why is this so difficult to determine when an Islamic Web site has reported he has been beheaded, however, no official confirmation, correct?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct, Fredricka.
We saw that posting on the Web site earlier today, the British foreign office largely discrediting the claim that Kenneth Bigley, age 62, from Walton, Liverpool, in the northern part of England, had been killed in similar fashion to his co-workers, Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong. Now, what we know today in terms of what efforts Kenneth Bigley's family are making and they have been relentless over the past few days has been the appearance in a newspaper here in Baghdad. If I can hold that up for a moment, showing a picture of Mr. Bigley and in Arabic writing above that photograph, appeals from the family, from the heart very much to the kidnapers themselves to show mercy for Mr. Bigley, even after we already know the fate of his two co-workers who were killed, beheaded earlier this week.
Also the family have been flooding parts of Baghdad with 10s of thousands of pamphlets in similar fashion, appealing to the kidnapers, thought to be led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most notorious terror suspect here in Baghdad to release from Mr. Bigley.
In addition, two leading members from Britain's Muslim Council have arrived in Baghdad a few hours ago and they're making top level contacts with political and religious leaders in the hope that Mr. Bigley may still be alive. As far as the governments of Iraq are concerned and Britain, no go whatsoever they say whatsoever on any negotiations -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Brent Sadler, thanks so much, from Baghdad.
Hundreds of Iraqis gathered in the Iraqi town of Baqubah today for a unity conference. The convention hopes to come up with ways to stop the growing insurgency across the region.
A recent U.S. intelligence estimate warned Iraq could fall into civil war if the insurgency does not end. Liam Anderson is the author of the "Future of Iraq: Dictatorship, Democracy Or Division?" He is in Dayton, Ohio, where he teaches political science at Wright State University. Good to see you.
LIAM ANDERSON, WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY: Hi, good to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, recently, intelligence documents indicated that civil war was merely inevitable in Iraq. Do you see it that way?
ANDERSON: My money would be on a civil war at some point in the future, yes. I've always thought that the problem with Iraq is it's always needed a strong central leader to hold it together. Once you lose the strong central leader, then you kind of take the -- uncork the bottle and all of these forces come out. And holding Iraq together now is going to be a very, very difficult achievement I think.
WHITFIELD; And particularly, if sources are correct, we heard our Bob Novak report this earlier today, and as well in a column earlier in the week, saying that if Bush were to be reelected, it is his plan that there would be a U.S. military pullout in the year 2005, and if indeed that were the case, that might almost certainly set a stage for a civil war.
ANDERSON: Yes. I think an election in January 2005, I find it very difficult to believe. If it goes ahead that the government that's elected will not be elected on a platform of asking the United States to leave. So in other words, that may be an exit strategy of sorts. The first legitimately elected government of Iraq invites U.S. troops out. But I think at that point, without U.S. troops there, unless of course that is the dilemma, but without U.S. troops there I don't think there's enough to hold Iraq together.
WHITFIELD: Sorry. When you bring up the issue of the January elections, and Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani said as well earlier in the week that he doesn't believe the elections should take place, because there's no Shiite representation, that mostly the representation among those who would be up for election are almost all exiles, and almost all have been hand selected by western forces. Do you think that he makes a legitimate point? How influential is his point of view?
ANDERSON: Well, I think that the sort of political parties we're talking about here, like Allawi's Iraqi National Court Accord and the still existing Iraqi National Congress that used to be led by Chalabi, are clearly going to be more pro-American than the religious parties like the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. And therefore, it would be the United States' interest to help these political parties win in the elections in January, 2005.
But I see a far bigger problem, which is that in a sizeable chunk of the country, including many of the major cities, I can't see how it's possible to hold an election, in the Sunni parts of the country. And if they don't participate in the election, we're going to elect a government that has no Sunni representation and that's only going to increase the resistance as far as I can tell.
WHITFIELD: All right. Liam Anderson, author of "The Future of Iraq: Dictatorship, Democracy or Division?" Also political science professor at Wright State University, thanks so much for joining us.
ANDERSON: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well, other hot button issues in this country's presidential race: a growing federal deficit and the economy influx. Straight ahead,- a closer look at issues that could swing the race for the White House.
And inching closer towards a major league milestone: We'll meet the Seattle Mariner who is close to rewriting the record books.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well after a busy week, here's what's happening on the campaign trail this weekend. President Bush is at his Texas ranch, he's getting ready for the first of three presidential debates set for this Thursday in Coral Gables, Florida. John Kerry is also staying in this week. He's at his home in Boston, also working on preparing for the debate.
The vice presidential candidates, however, have more time to prepare. Their debate is scheduled for October 5. Democrat John Edwards is off the trail today as is Vice President Dick Cheney.
Well, questions over the ballooning federal deficit concern many potential voters. The candidates take those concerns seriously enough to offer their own plans to deal with the deficit. National correspondent Kelli Wallace checks out the candidates' promises.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First the big picture, the big deficit picture that is.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So I can say to you that the deficit will be cut in half over the next five years.
WALLACE: Senator Kerry says he can do it in four.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We believe it's time for Washington to live within a budget, just like you do.
WALLACE: But cutting in half a federal budget deficit expected to reach a record $422 billion this year, translates into a case of simple arithemetic. To keep all of their campaign promises, the candidates need to cut spending, raise your taxes, or both.
BUSH: We got to keep your taxes low.
WALLACE: The president promises to make permanent across the board tax cuts said to expire in 2010, but that would mean $1 trillion in lost government revenue. He also proposes allowing younger workers to invest Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market. How will President Bush bring down the deficit? He promises to restrain the growth in spending and make cuts to offset any spending inincreases.
KERRY: We're going to cut taxes for the middle class.
WALLACE: Senator Kerry for his part promises to lower taxes on 98 percent of Americans, says he would raise taxes only on the wealthiest 2 percent who make more than $200,000 per year. This would bring in $860 billion over ten years, his campaign says.
He promises to use that money to pay for new programs. $200 billion for education, $650 billion for healthcare. So how would the Senator cut down the deficit? He promises to impose spending caps, and offset spending increases with mandatory spending cuts or tax increases.
Now the bottom line. The assessment from independent analysts, that both candidates' promises would likely increase the deficit, not reduce it. Kelli Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, despite increasingly negative news coming out of Iraq, President Bush says the U.S. will stay the course, and Iraq's interim prime minister says elections will take place on time. Senator Kerry continues to pound on problems in Iraq on the campaign trail. What happens between now and election day? Well, "L.A. Times" Ron Brownstein and CNN political analyst joins me now to talk more about this. Good to see you, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, L.A. TIMES: Hey, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, we've heard Allawi and Bush saying this week progress is being made. Kerry very quickly came out and said both are misleading the American public. This kind of criticism of an ally, might this be a shot in his foot?
BROWNSTEIN: Unusual. Look, Allawi made quite a splash in the American political election this week, Prime Minister Allawi, probably as much as I can remember a foreign leader making. He came here and he echoed on points large and small, the president's case on Iraq, both his assesstment of how things are going. The prime minister gave a very upbeat assessment. And his broader contentions that Iraq is a central front in the war on terror.
Now with John Kerry basing so much of his campaign on challenging those arguments from the president, his campaign made the unusual determination to go after Allawi as well and to challenge his credibility, both in Kerry's language and some sharper language that one of his senior aides gave to me in the story in the "L.A. Times" last week.
The Republicans came right back and attacked Kerry. Was this a mistake? I don't know it certainly was unusual. In the end what Allawi does in Iraq and what happens in Iraq is likely to be more important than anything either side says about him while he is here.
WHITFIELD: But interestingly enough the Democrats have been pressuring Kerry to give up stronger language, be more aggressive. He is demonstrating that he's doing just that and his message really is on par with what we're seeing in the headlines, isn't it? I mean we are seeing the car bombings. We are seeing the hostages, the beheading of hostages. So he's not painting an unrealistic picture.
BROWNSTEIN: Well those are two questions. First I think many analysts here feel the credibility of both Allawi and the president in their portrayal of Iraq, obviously faces strains with what Americans are seeing every day in the headlines. And in fact in the "Time" magazine poll that came out yesterday that did show the president ahead in the overall race, a majority of Americans said they felt he was misrepresenting conditions there.
Your second point I think is even more important. Which is this week was a turning point for John Kerry. In his speech Monday at NYU and then Friday at Temple University. He moved much closer to the argument made earlier in the year by people like Wesley Clark, Richard Clarke, Bob Graham, essentially making -- trying to make the case that the war in Iraq has set back our interests on the war on terror, by diverting attention from Al Qaeda, alienating allies and radicalizing the Arab world against us, it puts him in a position to have a much more of a head-on collision with President Bush over the war when they meet this Thursday in Florida. WHITFIELD: And it will be interesting to see just what happens in Thursday. Are we seeing that the stage is being set for the kind of tone we're likely to see out of Kerry and Bush?
BROWNSTEIN: I think so. Look, Iraq really has been the central issue in the last few weeks of this campaign and more broadly, I do think that more than anything else, this election is turning on whether Americans believe that George Bush's response to 9/11 broadly defined, including the war in Iraq has made us safer or not and whether John Kerry could do a better job.
So it's entirely appropriate that the first debate turn on these issues. Because if John Kerry is going to get back into this race he is going to have to reduce the advantages that President Bush has reestablished since the Republican Convention on all questions related to security.
WHITFIELD: And meantime this debate taking place in Florida, a pivotal state in the 2000 election but the folks in Florida may not be thinking about politics, instead they're thinking about a very real different kind of storm, these hurricanes, you know, this is going to be difficult for these camps, the Kerry and Bush camps to appeal to Floridians isn't it, given these people are distracted.
BROWNSTEIN: Sure, Florida has been sort of off of the map in the presidential race for the last several weeks. Maybe if the candidates will come help them clean out their basements. But I think that you know in the end, Florida and all of the other states rise and fall on the national tides. Perhaps a bad metaphor in the wake of a hurricane.
The fact is that unless John Kerry can move the overall national race more in his direction, the state by state differences don't matter that much. It is when we're close, that the kind of at the margin race that the small carry and thrust individual states can affect the outcome. He's not there yet. He has some positive trends but he still has a way to go to bring President Bush back within his sights.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ron Brownstein of the "L.A. Times," as well as our own political analyst. Thanks so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Well now a look at the latest developments. Let's begin with that hurricane threatening parts of Florida, Hurricane Jeanne headed right for the Eastern Coast and that could be tonight, right after raking the Bahamas. Top winds are at 115 miles an hour, making it a major hurricane. Jeanne is expected to strike some of the same areas ravaged by Frances just a few weeks ago.
Iraqis gathered for a unity conference today in the town of Baquba. They're looking for ways to calm the growing insurgency across Iraq. Even as the conference got under way an Iraqi police captain from Baquba was shot and killed in a drive-by attack north of Baghdad.
And in suburban Atlanta this afternoon, you're looking at live pictures right now of a memorial service for Iraq hostage, American Jack Hensley, he was killed Tuesday and he was the second American hostage put to death in Iraq last week.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Time for a check of stories across America today. A lawyer for Private Lynndie England says the army will announce it will court-martial the pregnant reservist. England was seen in photos taking part in prisoner abuse inside Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The lawyer says a military trial could be held in January.
Three children were killed in a house fire in Chicago last night. Fire officials say a teen was critically injured and later died in what they described as a suspicious blaze. A fire department spokesman says no parents were found at the scene.
The mayor of Flint, Michigan wants people working, not reading. He's banned city employees from reading non-work material during work hours. A newspaper carrier was detained this week trying to deliver a paper to City Hall. The mayor has relented a bit saying he'll allow deliveries but the reading ban stays in place.
Ichiro Suzuki picked up two hits in the Seattle Mariners 8 to 7 win over the Texas Rangers last night. Those hits moved him past Ty Cobb and into sole position of seventh place on the all-time hits list. That leaves Ichiro needing only eight hits to tie George Sisler's major league record set in 1920. Larry Smith looks at the chase.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Since joining the Seattle Mariners four years ago, Ichiro Suzuki has quietly come to the doorstep of breaking one of baseball's most elusive records. George Sisler's 257 hits in a single season, established in 1920.
PAUL MOLITOR, MARINERS HITTING COACH: It's a remarkable record in terms of consistency over a long grinding season, and you know, it's a fact that it stood as long as it has shows you how difficult it is to approach it.
SMITH: Ichiro is nine hits away from breaking Sisler's record with nine games remaining. But the thing that has left an indelible impression among his teammates has been his mental approach to the game each day.
WILLIE BLOOMQUIST, MARINERS TEAMMATE: He does the same thing pretty much every day and his goal is to hit the ball in the line or on the ground and use his feet to speed it out. He never tries to do too much, he just stays within himself and I think a lot can be said for that.
SMITH: At this point in his career Ichiro is not surprised by his accomplishments. In addition to try to break Sisler's record, he finds himself only seven hits away from becoming the all-time hits leader in the first four years of a major league career, with 918, a record that's been on the books since 1932.
And he's already eclipsed the single season record for singles set in 1898. The media attention given Ichiro's quest pales in comparison to the circus that follows Barry Bonds while he chases the all-time home run record. Had Ichiro begun his career in the majors, putting up the same type of numbers, he would be on pace to a 3,000- hit hall of fame career.
Larry Smith, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: One note on the all-time hits chase, George Sisler set his 1920 record of 257 hits during a 154-game season. Ichiro is playing in a 162-game season.
The lead investigator in Scott Peterson's double murder trial took the witness stand this week. Straight ahead in our "Legal Roundtable" we'll examine what impact, if any, his testimony might have had on the jury.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The jurors in the Scott Peterson murder trial get a look inside the life of Laci Peterson through video. Prosecutors who are close to wrapping up their case against Peterson show video of his wife before her murder. Did the images have an effect on the jury?
We'll discuss the case with our guest Anthony Locascio, a criminal defense attorney joining us from New York. Pamela Bethel is a civil attorney and a former federal prosecutor and joins us from Washington. Good to see both of you.
ANTHONY LOCASCIO, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you.
PAMELA BETHEL, CIVIAL ATTORNEY: Good to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right Pamela, ladies first I always like to begin that way. Lets begin with you. We saw a video of Laci Peterson in happier times. How impactful might that have been for the jurors?
BETHEL: Well that has got to have an impact Fredricka. What they're trying to do is they are trying to personalize who she is, how happy she was and in indicate that this life was snuffed out and that's got to be a plus for the prosecutors.
WHITFIELD: However, Anthony, the prosecutors did put forth testimony from a detective, Craig Grogan, who testified that you know, he had some suspicions, as well as other detectives from the very beginning. When it came down to arresting Scott Peterson, they arrested him on a golf course, and he wasn't wearing a wedding ring.
LOCASCIO: That is correct, but more importantly, with regards to that arrest, Grogan also testified that when he told Scott Peterson that your wife and child have turned up and the remains and they are dead. Which was a lie, kind of to entrap Scott Peterson. He also noticed Scott Peterson started to cry, that as well as the transcript from a tape recording between Scott Peterson and this detective of January 29, 2003.
Scott continues to establish his innocent. Says, "I am a mess without her. I want her back and I will find her myself if nobody helps me." That's very important. That continues to establish his state of mind as an innocent person.
WHITFIELD: So they know, they don't have anything like an admission. There's very little physical evidence.
LOCASCIO: Correct.
WHITFIELD: Pamela it seems to really link Scott Peterson with the crime, instead the prosecution is trying to plant the seed of suspicion in the heads of the jurors, just like detectives and other investigators had, right?
BETHEL: There's no question. I mean, this is a very difficult case, and I have been critical of the prosecutors, and I think rightly so to some extent. But I want to make clear this is a very difficult case. What they have tried to do is to show that one, Scott was a schmuck, as I've said before, and secondly, that his actions at around the time that she was missing did not or do not comport it what most people believe, someone who has lost a wife or looking for a child would be doing.
The ordering of the "Playboy" channel, the hanging out with Amber, and the phone calls with Amber. Those are the kinds of things that they're trying to show that his conduct was a pattern of a man who was happy or at least glad or relieved that his wife was no longer with him.
WHITFIELD: But then at the same time, Anthony, Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos, really tried to set the stage and say, well, Scott Peterson was never combative. He was always cooperative.
LOCASCIO: Right.
WHITFIELD: When he was cornered by investigators, or talks, so he really had nothing to hide is what Peterson's attorney is trying to establish.
LOCASCIO: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Is he doing that effectively?
LOCASCIO: He is doing it very effectively. Because we've heard countless recordings, tapes, transcripts, they don't show anything but Scott Peterson establishing his innocence. Show me something else; show me somebody trapping him in a serious lie regarding her disappearance. Forget the fact that he's a philanderer and a cheater and what not, which he is and he's lied about that. It comes down to what Geragos has always pointed out. That yes he's a liar but it doesn't make him a murderer. And he's done a fantastic job of that. There is no concrete evidence at all, and I'll tell you, for once I agree with my colleague on the other side, former prosecutor, that this is a tough case. It's a brutal case for the prosecution.
BETHEL: It is a tough case. Let me just say one comment. To the extent that they've established that he's a liar, they then get to argue from that point that, well, if he lied about other things, he well, too could be lying about whether or not he killed her. I will say that I agree with Anthony --
WHITFIELD: They haven't stated it quite like that, have they?
BETHEL: No, they haven't stated it like that. We haven't heard oral arguments yet. I suspect that's the link they are going to try to make when they make the oral arguments and when they get to cross- examine Scott. Because I think he's got to take the stand.
LOCASCIO: That is the false in one false in all charge. That you are referring to.
BETHEL: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And surely Mark Geragos is not going to be advocating that he take the stand?
BETHEL: I don't know --
LOCASCIO: That's a tough, tough decision.
BETHEL: I think he has to take the stand.
WHITFIELD: OK, well --
LOCASCIO: I would be leery about that, in taking the stand. That's something that would really concern me, because now you're going to hear Scott Peterson basically admit on the stand that he was a liar.
WHITFIELD: All right, Anthony Locascio and Pamela Bethel, thanks so much for both of you for joining us.
LOCASCIO: Thank you.
BETHEL: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: And when we come back, more on a special memorial service that is right now under way, just outside of Atlanta. It is in honor of the former American hostage, who was killed earlier this week, Jack Hensley. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: We want to take you outside Atlanta right now to a special memorial service that is under way for American Jack Hensley. He was beheaded this week in Iraq. He, along with two others, an American also killed and a Britain whose status is still unknown. Were all abducted from their Baghdad residence about nine days ago. The Americans killed this week, Jack Hensley, among the Americans killed this week, rather, Jack Hensley right there who was 48-year-old.
This memorial service is taking place in his honor in Marietta, Georgia. Speaking right now, a good friend, Greg Smith, who is expected to be followed by Jack Hensley's brother, Ty, coming up next. So let's listen in.
GREG SMITH, FRIEND OF JACK HENSLEY: I said that was a good one, Jack! He goes no, you owe me $50 bucks, pal. So like all of my other debts to Jack, I never paid him. Uhm -- this is probably the part where you tell me to shut up, huh, Pat? I should -- you know, I thought that -- I mean I could go on and on about this, but I think there's only one word I need to say that makes everybody's memories just jump out in their minds.
How about the holidays? OK we're not just talking Christmas. Today he's go no, can't do it, it's Yom Kippur. We got to have a party. Jack, another true story, called me up; I'm going to try to be appropriate here. Jack called me up one day; first Jack and Patty called me. I had moved to Florida, and for any special event I was so honored they always wanted me to be a part of and some kind of a mouthpiece, I don't get that part.
But Jack had called and Patty had called and asked me to come up and do what was important to them and their people, the St. Patrick's Day annual party, which I will remember for the rest of my life. St. Patrick's Day is special to me because of those people, believe me, and we used to run what was probably now infamous, the dirty little limerick competition, and Jack, Jack called me up, and he said, "Greg I know you can't come and do it, so I just need some advice, cause by gosh, I'm going to do it." So Jack ran the dirty little limerick competition.
Of course Jack did it in a green, fuzzy wig, suspenders, and good thing, because that held his pants up, that's always good, and he did it, and I never heard -- all I told Jack for advice is, Jack, go up there and be yourself. People love you. That's all it will take. You go be you, and you'll do very well. I heard from so many people, "man, you should have seen Jack! He was all over it," and he loved that. He never said a word to me about it. I had to find out from other people, but that's just exactly how Jack was.
I think you all know that, and I you know, God, any time I need to smile, all I have to do is picture Jack smiling. It was so hard for me to think that I was going to get up here and speak to you people in such a sad time, and I thought what would Jack tell me to do and Jack told me that this all the time, hey, it's what you do. That's exactly what he would have told me. So here I am.
I love you guys very much. I love the Hensley's. I will for the rest of my life. I'm very lucky to be, as everybody in here, as part of your extended family. I love you guys very much. I would like to point one thing out that was said back here. In fact, Karen, god bless you, that was beautiful, and Karen said to me, and she was genuine, she said "you know what? I hope Jack knew how special he was, and what a special character he was to so many people," and I can't believe that my answer, you would think would be you know what he didn't." That is just it with Jack, he really didn't know.
We all know but what was important to him was us, not him. And that will live in infamy that is Jack Hensley. And God bless you guys.
(APPLAUSE)
WHITFIELD: That was a friend, Greg Smith a friend of Jack Hensley, who was speaking in this eulogy, and now, here is Jack Hensley's brother, Ty.
TY HENSLEY, BROTHER: Thank goodness I did not send Jack a lot of the e-mails that I thought about sending him. I feel better standing up right now, but there's a correction and an apology I want to make. The correction, although it's a mistake that went out to 20 or 50 million people, will start here, and about the tee ball game. Jack was the coach with the Tee Kay Reds, we played the Sluggers. Seven games in a championship game, Sluggers beat us, I don't know if we even got a run, seven games, we didn't win a game.
But we did win one game, it was the championship game, the game that mattered, and I'm sorry I let that out, but definitely he certainly deserves all the credit for that. Apologies to Sarah, I put pictures of her in a diaper for everybody to look at, and I'm sorry, I grabbed everything I could grab, and they were sweet pictures there, and a few little things. I tell you what it's like. I knew Jack before you all knew him, and now you kind of have become a lot closer, as I live further away from him, but I remember Jack -- I was told at a restaurant he wanted a hotdog, and I said what do you want on your hotdog? He looked and he said, "butter."
Anyway, Jack started college, probably where my memory starts of him, when I was about 5 years old, and I would listen to him talk to my father, and they were real big math people and 5 years old, I picked up some things, 2 plus 2 is 4, 4 plus 4 is 8, and I can go on up to 64 and whatever else I guess. But I learned that the square root of 9 is 3, the square root of 81, exact, is 9, and the square root of 289 is 17 and that came in handy on the first day of school, first grade because the teacher said, does anybody know what we're going to learn today?
She looked around, I'm like you know, I know what we're going to learn, and I stood up, and the mothers were all behind me, and I said, 2 plus 2 is 4, 4 plus 4 is 8, I went all the way up to I don't know what and the square root of 9 is 3, blah, blah, blah, the square root of 289 is 17. I sat down and the teacher almost passed out. The mothers -- my mother was just totally disturbed, because I just told them everything I knew on the first day of school.
It was true. I didn't get much further than that. But not only was he my tee ball coach, Jack did everything first class exactly what Greg mentioned. When he did something, he did it first class. When he first went overseas, I remember crying, I don't know if I was 8, 9, 10 years old, he went to Saudi Arabia for a year, but he sent back tapes, cassette tapes, and just he really, really spoke to me, and was wonderful. I mean, he does everything first.
And when he came back it was my birthday sounds familiar. And he took me and a friend to --
WHITFIELD: Just outside of Atlanta this is a special ceremony honoring the remembrance of American Jack Hensley, you were just now listening to Jack Hensley's brother Ty.
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