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Senate Intelligence Report Lays Blame on CIA for Iraq Intelligence Failures

Aired July 09, 2004 - 14:30   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the CNN Center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM. I'm Miles O'Brien.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

Here's what's all new this half hour. The Senate Intelligence Committee speaks out on its findings on intel leading up to the war in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: But the committee members don't get the last word of course. Robert Boorstin and Bob Barr standing by to weigh in.

First, here's what's happening now in the news.

PHILLIPS: Another turn in a mysterious tale. U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun left Lebanon and is now in Germany for a medical check-up and debrief. He landed there just a short time ago. The 24-year-old translator turned up at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut yesterday after he was reported missing in Iraq on June 19th. He was originally listed as captured, but that has been changed to returned to military control.

Bad grapes for the nation's spies -- the Senate Intelligence Committee has issued a scathing report on U.S. intelligence gathering capabilities in the run up to the Iraq war. It says the decision to go to war was based on, quote, "unreasonable and largely unsupportable intelligence."

Call them the also-rans -- former Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean and independent candidate Ralph Nader debating right now. Live pictures of the third parties in national elections. The event is at the National Press Club in Washington and it's being hosted by National Public Radio's "Justice Talking" program.

The Kerry-Edwards ticket heads to West Virginia this afternoon. Live pictures as the Democratic presidential duo are in Beckley. Analysts say that Kerry doesn't want to repeat the mistakes of 2000 when Al Gore lost the predominantly Democratic state to George Bush.

Now keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

O'BRIEN: That congressional report on U.S. intelligence in the run up to the invasion of Iraq is a real bombshell. And while it lays the blame squarely on the door step of the CIA, there are some who say there is plenty of culpability to spread around elsewhere for that colossal failure. Here to talk about, Robert Boorstin, who is senior vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, and Bob Barr, a CNN contributor and former Republican congressman from Georgia.

Good to have you both with us, gentlemen.

ROBERT BOORSTIN, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Nice to be with you, Miles.

ROBERT BARR, FORMER GEORGIA CONGRESSMAN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Bob, let's begin with you.

There are a lot of people saying this was a whitewash designed to protect the Bush administration in an election year.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, I should have said Bob Barr.

Go ahead, Bob Barr first.

BARR: Well, if this was a whitewash, it's different from any one I've ever seen.

I think this is a very, very critical report and even though it side steps one of the primary issues, and that is, did the agency and the intelligence community lose its objectivity -- which I think it did -- it is a very, very critical report.

And this ought to be a wake-up call, not just to this administration, but to the Kerry-Edwards ticket, which stands a chance at winning in the election in November, and our entire government.

We had better get a handle on what's happening in our intelligence community -- get new leadership, new vision, new management there, or we're going to have very serious problems in the future.

This is a very serious report.

O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Boorstin, what do you think? Do you think it's a whitewash? Does it go far enough? Is there some blame that should be pointed, some fingers pointed at the White House on this?

BOORSTIN: Well, I do believe that it is a whitewash directly for the White House. I mean, what you don't have in this report is very much as important as what you do have in this report. There is no discussion of the separate intelligence channels that led the vice president to help the president lead us to war.

I mean, this was a war of choice and they chose the intelligence to begin that. The other thing about this report that is important, Miles, is that it really is an insult to the American people's intelligence. The American people know and 80 percent of them say that the president misled or hid information from them about why we went to war, and that's just wrong.

And what you have here is an attempt to divert attention from the real culpability. This really shouldn't be a question of intelligence. This is about policy and the lack of leadership on the part of this White House.

O'BRIEN: Bob Barr, in addition to that allegation, there is something that the report seems to be fairly clear on, no clear evidence of an al Qaeda link to Saddam Hussein.

BARR: Well, there are -- this report points out some very serious substantive mistakes that were made. You mentioned one of them, and that is indeed something that the American people from a policy standpoint and from a political standpoint ought to be concerned about and ought to be asking questions about during this political season.

But the real problem here, I think, and we ought not to lose sight of it, is the fact that for three presidencies now we have had a foundering, listless, visionless intelligence community trying to provide intelligence in a very, very dangerous world out there.

And this indicates a systematic failure by both parties. Going back to the days of the Bush one administration, continuing through the Clinton administration and now through this first Bush term.

And unless we get a handle on this and have some folks in this Congress and this administration start paying some attention to restructuring our intelligence agencies and giving the intelligence community some vision and new management, we're going to have these problems far into the future.

O'BRIEN: Bob Boorstin, that's a good point.

I mean, this is something we all spend collectively $40 billion a year on. Fifteen separate agencies, they don't talk to each other. They stove pipe, as it is said, information. They don't even -- there's turf battles that run amuck and this is obviously all very counterproductive.

Is that in and of itself enough of an answer to this report, cleaning up that mess?

BOORSTIN: Well, surely, there are no good answers in this report yet. There are recommendations yet to come.

There is no question that Bob Barr is right when he says we have serious problems in our intelligence community.

The problem with this report is that the most important parts of it aren't going to be seen until after the election. Now, that's no coincidence here.

The important parts are, did the White House abuse the intelligence? Don't forget -- it may be a $40 billion intelligence budget, but we have now spent $150 billion on a war of choice in Iraq that need not have been prosecuted in the way that it was done.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Now, you're talking about the portions of the report that have been cut out, redacted for national security reasons; is that what you're saying?

BOORSTIN: But I'm also talking about the portions of the report that -- the parts of the things that weren't discussed. For example, no discussion of the intelligence unit in the Pentagon that was set up separately that channeled intelligence to the vice president directly.

Those are very important things that need to be discussed if we're going to get the whole picture of what went wrong here.

O'BRIEN: Bob Barr, why can't we have a discussion like that?

BARR: I think that that is a very, very good point and it raises a very troubling specter that we are in danger right now of having the military take over control of our intelligence in this country, and that is very, very dangerous.

The Central Intelligence Agency was set up specifically back in 1949 in the CIA Act following the National Security Act of 1947. Both of those acts were designed specifically to avoid the problems that we had seen in World War II and in the immediate aftermath of World War II to put intelligence in the hands of civilian authorities and objectivity rather than in the military.

And right now, the primacy of military intelligence is at the doorstep of our intelligence business, and if we allow the Pentagon to take this over, then we are not solving problems; we are creating more problems.

O'BRIEN: All right. Bob Boorstin and Bob Barr, unfortunately we're out of time. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

BARR: Thank you.

BOORSTIN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All day today we've been telling you about the -- we have a little audio -- there we go.

All day today we've been telling you about the Senate Intelligence Committee's report releasing some pretty scathing details about pre-9/11 intel. Pointing the fingers pretty much at the CIA. Let's bring in David Ensor live from Washington.

David, I understand you just attended a CIA briefing. I can imagine this was a pretty high topic on the agenda today.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's very unusual, Kyra, for the CIA to hold a press conference. I'm not sure I can remember the last time they held one as quickly as they did in response to this.

The 510 pages of very sharp criticism, of course. And some of it, no doubt deserved. The agency concedes that.

But the deputy director, John McLaughlin, who will be the acting director as of Monday, unless the president appoints someone else, wanted to come out and give the agency's version of how it thinks it did on Iraq weapons of mass destruction. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, ACTING CIA DIRECTOR: There were serious flaws in some of our pre-war intelligence on Iraq. We recognize those shortcomings and long before today's report have taken a number of steps to address them and to ensure they are not repeated. So my first message to you is a very simple one -- we get it.

Although we think the judgments were not unreasonable when they were made nearly two years ago, we understand with all that we have learned since then that we could have done better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: The agency defended its effort in some ways saying that it was right about the lack of a operational connection on terrorism between al Qaeda and Iraq. Saying that it was right about -- approximately right about the missile programs in Iraq. Admitting that it was wrong about chemical, biological and some aspects of the nuclear program, as well.

The deputy director was asked whether anyone is going to get fired for these mistakes. Here's how he answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: We are told every day that we must not be risk averse and we are not. I've told you officers who've put their lives on the line around the world. We are not a risk averse agency.

Think about that for a minute. What does it mean to take a risk? To take a risk involves the possibility of a mistake by definition, even the probability of a mistake when the risk is very, very high. I can think of nothing, I can think of nothing that would be more effective in generating aversion to risk than to hold an individual personally accountable for a mistake that might have been made by hundreds other intelligence agencies, in the private sector, in the media, in the academic world and the United Nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: That was McLaughlin's point, that the mistake was made, yes, by the CIA, but it was made by all the rest of us, too -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David, you talk about John McLaughlin, deputy director now stepping in to run things. What is the chances of McLaughlin becoming the permanent new head of the CIA? What type of competition does he have? When will we know indeed when the new true head will be running the department?

ENSOR: That has been a hot topic in this town for the last ten days ago. And rumors are ripe. It was originally said by administration officials that they would probably keep John McLaughlin on as the acting director at least through the election.

But in the last week to ten days there have been lots of trial balloons and rumors. There was one that Congressman Porter Goss, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee might be put in. Then Senator Rockefeller and other Democrats said they don't want a politician. Now there have been a number of other names floated.

Frankly, it's up to the president. And all he said publicly so far is that he hasn't made his mind up yet -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, nation security correspondent David Ensor. Thanks.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM... right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: How is this for good karma? A cleaning woman and grandmother of eight is America's newest multi-millionaire. Isn't that awesome? Talk about the perfect person to get this money.

O'BRIEN: Could central casting do any better than that? We're very happy for her. Trying to figure out how I'm going to write it. but that's another story.

John Kerry drops by "LARRY KING LIVE." His views on religion and running for president.

PHILLIPS: How about his wife?

O'BRIEN: Speaking of money.

PHILLIPS: There you go.

CIA takes a beating on the Iraq pre-war intelligence. Does the buck stop there?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: She lost her son to the war in Iraq and Dorien Kenney has become a mother of sorts to all U.S. troops serving in the war, especially those who don't have a family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORIEN KENNEY, MOTHER OF SLAIN SOLDIER: Jacob's Light Foundation was started in memory of my son who was killed in Iraq on November 14 in 2003.

Our mission is to get boxes of toiletries and foods and tastes of America to support our military. Our main focus is soldiers without family or support from home, although our boxes have ended up in the laps of everybody, which is wonderful.

The local American Legion has opened their doors so we could use their space. And the volunteers come down on Tuesday evening and will pack about 30 boxes, sometimes 40, sometimes 25.

The most important thing are the wipes. They really need the wipes. They need them for their bodies, they need them for their guns, I hear.

We send shampoo, soap, Q-Tips, some toilet paper and tissues.

Macaroni and cheese, which was my son's favorite.

We send cookies and cakes and cans of tuna.

And peanut butter and jelly for the spirit.

All of it is donated. We get funds come in and checks. So it's all by donation and people in the community helping. Not only in the community. Checks come in from all over the country and it makes this possible.

And I just start my shopping. And I know prices very well. I'm a very good shopper and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) utilized now.

$146.46.

It keeps me going.

We put them in towards the end of the packing.

Some I guess people pull the blankets over their head. And I don't judge any of that. But I needed to function, I needed to work. And that's what I did. And this takes a lot of work. That's best for me and my healing process.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 July 9, 2004 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the CNN Center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM. I'm Miles O'Brien.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

Here's what's all new this half hour. The Senate Intelligence Committee speaks out on its findings on intel leading up to the war in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: But the committee members don't get the last word of course. Robert Boorstin and Bob Barr standing by to weigh in.

First, here's what's happening now in the news.

PHILLIPS: Another turn in a mysterious tale. U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun left Lebanon and is now in Germany for a medical check-up and debrief. He landed there just a short time ago. The 24-year-old translator turned up at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut yesterday after he was reported missing in Iraq on June 19th. He was originally listed as captured, but that has been changed to returned to military control.

Bad grapes for the nation's spies -- the Senate Intelligence Committee has issued a scathing report on U.S. intelligence gathering capabilities in the run up to the Iraq war. It says the decision to go to war was based on, quote, "unreasonable and largely unsupportable intelligence."

Call them the also-rans -- former Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean and independent candidate Ralph Nader debating right now. Live pictures of the third parties in national elections. The event is at the National Press Club in Washington and it's being hosted by National Public Radio's "Justice Talking" program.

The Kerry-Edwards ticket heads to West Virginia this afternoon. Live pictures as the Democratic presidential duo are in Beckley. Analysts say that Kerry doesn't want to repeat the mistakes of 2000 when Al Gore lost the predominantly Democratic state to George Bush.

Now keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

O'BRIEN: That congressional report on U.S. intelligence in the run up to the invasion of Iraq is a real bombshell. And while it lays the blame squarely on the door step of the CIA, there are some who say there is plenty of culpability to spread around elsewhere for that colossal failure. Here to talk about, Robert Boorstin, who is senior vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, and Bob Barr, a CNN contributor and former Republican congressman from Georgia.

Good to have you both with us, gentlemen.

ROBERT BOORSTIN, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Nice to be with you, Miles.

ROBERT BARR, FORMER GEORGIA CONGRESSMAN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Bob, let's begin with you.

There are a lot of people saying this was a whitewash designed to protect the Bush administration in an election year.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, I should have said Bob Barr.

Go ahead, Bob Barr first.

BARR: Well, if this was a whitewash, it's different from any one I've ever seen.

I think this is a very, very critical report and even though it side steps one of the primary issues, and that is, did the agency and the intelligence community lose its objectivity -- which I think it did -- it is a very, very critical report.

And this ought to be a wake-up call, not just to this administration, but to the Kerry-Edwards ticket, which stands a chance at winning in the election in November, and our entire government.

We had better get a handle on what's happening in our intelligence community -- get new leadership, new vision, new management there, or we're going to have very serious problems in the future.

This is a very serious report.

O'BRIEN: All right, Bob Boorstin, what do you think? Do you think it's a whitewash? Does it go far enough? Is there some blame that should be pointed, some fingers pointed at the White House on this?

BOORSTIN: Well, I do believe that it is a whitewash directly for the White House. I mean, what you don't have in this report is very much as important as what you do have in this report. There is no discussion of the separate intelligence channels that led the vice president to help the president lead us to war.

I mean, this was a war of choice and they chose the intelligence to begin that. The other thing about this report that is important, Miles, is that it really is an insult to the American people's intelligence. The American people know and 80 percent of them say that the president misled or hid information from them about why we went to war, and that's just wrong.

And what you have here is an attempt to divert attention from the real culpability. This really shouldn't be a question of intelligence. This is about policy and the lack of leadership on the part of this White House.

O'BRIEN: Bob Barr, in addition to that allegation, there is something that the report seems to be fairly clear on, no clear evidence of an al Qaeda link to Saddam Hussein.

BARR: Well, there are -- this report points out some very serious substantive mistakes that were made. You mentioned one of them, and that is indeed something that the American people from a policy standpoint and from a political standpoint ought to be concerned about and ought to be asking questions about during this political season.

But the real problem here, I think, and we ought not to lose sight of it, is the fact that for three presidencies now we have had a foundering, listless, visionless intelligence community trying to provide intelligence in a very, very dangerous world out there.

And this indicates a systematic failure by both parties. Going back to the days of the Bush one administration, continuing through the Clinton administration and now through this first Bush term.

And unless we get a handle on this and have some folks in this Congress and this administration start paying some attention to restructuring our intelligence agencies and giving the intelligence community some vision and new management, we're going to have these problems far into the future.

O'BRIEN: Bob Boorstin, that's a good point.

I mean, this is something we all spend collectively $40 billion a year on. Fifteen separate agencies, they don't talk to each other. They stove pipe, as it is said, information. They don't even -- there's turf battles that run amuck and this is obviously all very counterproductive.

Is that in and of itself enough of an answer to this report, cleaning up that mess?

BOORSTIN: Well, surely, there are no good answers in this report yet. There are recommendations yet to come.

There is no question that Bob Barr is right when he says we have serious problems in our intelligence community.

The problem with this report is that the most important parts of it aren't going to be seen until after the election. Now, that's no coincidence here.

The important parts are, did the White House abuse the intelligence? Don't forget -- it may be a $40 billion intelligence budget, but we have now spent $150 billion on a war of choice in Iraq that need not have been prosecuted in the way that it was done.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Now, you're talking about the portions of the report that have been cut out, redacted for national security reasons; is that what you're saying?

BOORSTIN: But I'm also talking about the portions of the report that -- the parts of the things that weren't discussed. For example, no discussion of the intelligence unit in the Pentagon that was set up separately that channeled intelligence to the vice president directly.

Those are very important things that need to be discussed if we're going to get the whole picture of what went wrong here.

O'BRIEN: Bob Barr, why can't we have a discussion like that?

BARR: I think that that is a very, very good point and it raises a very troubling specter that we are in danger right now of having the military take over control of our intelligence in this country, and that is very, very dangerous.

The Central Intelligence Agency was set up specifically back in 1949 in the CIA Act following the National Security Act of 1947. Both of those acts were designed specifically to avoid the problems that we had seen in World War II and in the immediate aftermath of World War II to put intelligence in the hands of civilian authorities and objectivity rather than in the military.

And right now, the primacy of military intelligence is at the doorstep of our intelligence business, and if we allow the Pentagon to take this over, then we are not solving problems; we are creating more problems.

O'BRIEN: All right. Bob Boorstin and Bob Barr, unfortunately we're out of time. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

BARR: Thank you.

BOORSTIN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All day today we've been telling you about the -- we have a little audio -- there we go.

All day today we've been telling you about the Senate Intelligence Committee's report releasing some pretty scathing details about pre-9/11 intel. Pointing the fingers pretty much at the CIA. Let's bring in David Ensor live from Washington.

David, I understand you just attended a CIA briefing. I can imagine this was a pretty high topic on the agenda today.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's very unusual, Kyra, for the CIA to hold a press conference. I'm not sure I can remember the last time they held one as quickly as they did in response to this.

The 510 pages of very sharp criticism, of course. And some of it, no doubt deserved. The agency concedes that.

But the deputy director, John McLaughlin, who will be the acting director as of Monday, unless the president appoints someone else, wanted to come out and give the agency's version of how it thinks it did on Iraq weapons of mass destruction. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, ACTING CIA DIRECTOR: There were serious flaws in some of our pre-war intelligence on Iraq. We recognize those shortcomings and long before today's report have taken a number of steps to address them and to ensure they are not repeated. So my first message to you is a very simple one -- we get it.

Although we think the judgments were not unreasonable when they were made nearly two years ago, we understand with all that we have learned since then that we could have done better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: The agency defended its effort in some ways saying that it was right about the lack of a operational connection on terrorism between al Qaeda and Iraq. Saying that it was right about -- approximately right about the missile programs in Iraq. Admitting that it was wrong about chemical, biological and some aspects of the nuclear program, as well.

The deputy director was asked whether anyone is going to get fired for these mistakes. Here's how he answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: We are told every day that we must not be risk averse and we are not. I've told you officers who've put their lives on the line around the world. We are not a risk averse agency.

Think about that for a minute. What does it mean to take a risk? To take a risk involves the possibility of a mistake by definition, even the probability of a mistake when the risk is very, very high. I can think of nothing, I can think of nothing that would be more effective in generating aversion to risk than to hold an individual personally accountable for a mistake that might have been made by hundreds other intelligence agencies, in the private sector, in the media, in the academic world and the United Nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENSOR: That was McLaughlin's point, that the mistake was made, yes, by the CIA, but it was made by all the rest of us, too -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David, you talk about John McLaughlin, deputy director now stepping in to run things. What is the chances of McLaughlin becoming the permanent new head of the CIA? What type of competition does he have? When will we know indeed when the new true head will be running the department?

ENSOR: That has been a hot topic in this town for the last ten days ago. And rumors are ripe. It was originally said by administration officials that they would probably keep John McLaughlin on as the acting director at least through the election.

But in the last week to ten days there have been lots of trial balloons and rumors. There was one that Congressman Porter Goss, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee might be put in. Then Senator Rockefeller and other Democrats said they don't want a politician. Now there have been a number of other names floated.

Frankly, it's up to the president. And all he said publicly so far is that he hasn't made his mind up yet -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, nation security correspondent David Ensor. Thanks.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM... right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: How is this for good karma? A cleaning woman and grandmother of eight is America's newest multi-millionaire. Isn't that awesome? Talk about the perfect person to get this money.

O'BRIEN: Could central casting do any better than that? We're very happy for her. Trying to figure out how I'm going to write it. but that's another story.

John Kerry drops by "LARRY KING LIVE." His views on religion and running for president.

PHILLIPS: How about his wife?

O'BRIEN: Speaking of money.

PHILLIPS: There you go.

CIA takes a beating on the Iraq pre-war intelligence. Does the buck stop there?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: She lost her son to the war in Iraq and Dorien Kenney has become a mother of sorts to all U.S. troops serving in the war, especially those who don't have a family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DORIEN KENNEY, MOTHER OF SLAIN SOLDIER: Jacob's Light Foundation was started in memory of my son who was killed in Iraq on November 14 in 2003.

Our mission is to get boxes of toiletries and foods and tastes of America to support our military. Our main focus is soldiers without family or support from home, although our boxes have ended up in the laps of everybody, which is wonderful.

The local American Legion has opened their doors so we could use their space. And the volunteers come down on Tuesday evening and will pack about 30 boxes, sometimes 40, sometimes 25.

The most important thing are the wipes. They really need the wipes. They need them for their bodies, they need them for their guns, I hear.

We send shampoo, soap, Q-Tips, some toilet paper and tissues.

Macaroni and cheese, which was my son's favorite.

We send cookies and cakes and cans of tuna.

And peanut butter and jelly for the spirit.

All of it is donated. We get funds come in and checks. So it's all by donation and people in the community helping. Not only in the community. Checks come in from all over the country and it makes this possible.

And I just start my shopping. And I know prices very well. I'm a very good shopper and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) utilized now.

$146.46.

It keeps me going.

We put them in towards the end of the packing.

Some I guess people pull the blankets over their head. And I don't judge any of that. But I needed to function, I needed to work. And that's what I did. And this takes a lot of work. That's best for me and my healing process.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com