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Hurricane Ivan Already a Killer; In Los Angeles, Thousands of Government Employees Conducting Evacuation Test

Aired September 09, 2004 - 13:00   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Death and destruction in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, the menacing category five storm that has Floridians wondering, when is this going to stop?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Frank Buckley, live in downtown Los Angeles, where some 9,000 people across seven buildings are being evacuated right now. It's all part of a terror drill. We'll take you there live, coming up.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Days before the third anniversary of September 11, America's mayor is in Russia, as that country continues to mourn its own terror tragedy. We're live from Beslan with the latest.

O'BRIEN: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. It's Thursday, September 9. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

O'BRIEN: Everybody out of the Keys, with Hurricane Ivan now a category five, sustained winds of 160 miles an hour, and Jamaica in its crosshairs, the tip end of Florida taking no chances. Scenes behind me are assumed to be Ivan's handiwork in Grenada, back when it was still a category three storm. Visitors are being told to leave the Keys now. Mobile home residents tonight, everybody else tomorrow morning -- there you see those scenes.

It's still impossible to know how close Ivan will come to Florida or anywhere else north of Cuba. But you don't wait for certainty when only one road links your scattering of the islands with the mainland. Joining us now with more on all this is Orelon Sidney, who's watching yet another big killer storm from our weather center. Orelon...

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, Ivan is already a killer. At least 15 deaths are being blamed on the strongest hurricane to ravage the Caribbean in a decade -- Barbados, Tobago, even northern Venezuela were battered. And then, there's Grenada, where reports indicate 90 percent of the houses are damaged or destroyed, as is the island's 400-year-old prison. The inmates are also on the loose.

Well, do you remember Frances? If you live in North Carolina, or Virginia, or Pennsylvania, or New York, the former hurricane is still a fact of life. All those states report huge amounts of rain, 16 inches in parts of North Carolina, with the inevitable result. In New York City, the subway floods of yesterday receded today, but 10 counties in western North Carolina are still in states of emergency.

Now, right now in Los Angeles, thousands of government employees are streaming out of city hall, the federal building, police headquarters, and the county courthouse. But hold on. It's only a test. CNN's Frank Buckley tells us who's testing whom, and why. Hi, Frank.

BUCKLEY: Hey, there, Kyra. This is the first time in Los Angeles that they've done this kind of a thing. It's a multi-building evacuation, some 9,000 people being evacuated right now from seven separate government buildings here in downtown Los Angeles. Right here, one of the buildings, the blue one behind me, Parker Center, that many of our viewers know is where the police are headquartered.

And I'll just show you some of the other buildings. Right next to it, that's city hall east -- just beyond that, the icon of downtown Los Angeles, the civic center building, city hall also being evacuated. And we'll come around here and show you what's happening on this side, just around the corner. This is the federal building, one of the federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles that's being evacuated.

All of this taking place under a scenario that, as we approach 9/11, is very familiar. It is a scenario in which a plane is headed to downtown Los Angeles, to the civic center area, and people have the order to evacuate. Joining me now to talk about that a little bit, assistant chief Terry Manning. Chief, that scenario, so close to 9/11, what do you want people to get out of a day like this?

TERRY MANNING, ASST. CHIEF, LA FIRE DEPT.: Right. What we want to see today is really to exercise our entire response system, as well as our civilian volunteers, and our employees, to really understand that the importance of training and preparedness is truly the difference between life and death.

One thing we see out of the 9/11 event that truly, between '03 and the preparedness measures in '01, the difference that they constantly will bring to bear is the training, how it's really made the difference and saved lives.

BUCKLEY: And Chief, we're showing our viewers right now this helicopter coming overhead. Part of the scenario calls for rooftop evacuations. Tell us why that's important and what you hope to learn with the helicopter landing her at Parker Center.

MANNING: Yes, what you'll see here today is we will bring major air resources to bear, including all Los Angeles City Fire Department helicopters and LAPD helicopters. What we're doing is showing our capabilities and exercising basically a unified operation in the sky, how in a worst case scenario, we can effectively do rooftop rescues with our helicopters.

It is another way out of these buildings. We realize all buildings in the City of LA, the high rise buildings, have heli-spots on the roof. We have helicopters. Now, we're coordinating that mission. And as you'll see today, we can be very efficient at that. BUCKLEY: It seemed as if one of the lessons learned from 9/11 was if you hesitated, that that was dangerous -- that the best thing was to do was to follow instinct and get out.

MANNING: Yes. And rather than following instinct, what we like to say is following your training. Train as if your life depends upon it, because it truly does. And we realize, in catastrophic events, people will revert to what they have trained upon. And that's why it's imperative that people participate in these exercises, as they're doing today -- that the City of LA showed the great leadership to support an exercise of this day and of the great value.

And so, we think when an event does occur in the City of LA, that our people, our employees, and our citizens are going to be much more prepared, because they have taken the preparedness seriously.

BUCKLEY: All right, Chief Terry Manning, thanks very much for your time, sir. This is the event that's going on in downtown Los Angeles right now, Kyra. They do expect some traffic delays as a result of this. Of course, again, all of this, what you're seeing, a drill designed to help people prepare for the event that we hope won't come. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: Frank Buckley, live there, downtown Los Angeles. Thanks, Frank. Miles...

O'BRIEN: Now, more charges and denials, records and recollections regarding a presidential candidate's long ago years in uniform. The candidate under fire last month was John Kerry, the Democrat, as you know. This month, it's George W. Bush, the incumbent, whose people insist his honorable discharge overpowers new claims that he shirked his commitment to the Air National Guard. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King with our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New questions about the president's National Guard service are shifting the campaign focus on Vietnam era conduct his way, and drawing an aggressive White House response. Mr. Bush, in June 1973, signed this promise to associate with a new Guard unit when he moved from Texas to enroll at Harvard Business School.

If not, he could face possible involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months. The Boston Globe says its investigation found Mr. Bush did not keep that commitment. But the White House cited documents released months ago that show Mr. Bush was reassigned in October 1973 to inactive reserve status with a unit in Denver, Colorado, and listed Harvard as his address.

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: The fact of the matter is that President Bush would not have been honorably discharged if he had not met his obligations.

KING: A former head of the Air National Guard who reviewed the records for CNN backs the White House. GEN. JOHN SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: He did everything right, everything in accordance with what he was supposed to do.

KING: The Pentagon says it recently discovered these records detailing Mr. Bush's early flight training in the Texas Air National Guard. Critics say still missing are logs of what, if any, drills Mr. Bush performed during a four to six month period in 1972, after he transferred to the Alabama Guard. A group calling itself Texans for Truth launched a new ad campaign, suggesting Mr. Bush never showed up.

(BEGIN COMMERCIAL CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That was my unit, and I don't remember seeing you there. So I called friends, you know... "Did you know that George served in our unit? No, I never saw him there."

(END COMMERCIAL CLIP)

KING: The White House says dental and pay records prove he did report for duty, and note that liberal Bush critics are bankrolling the ad.

BARTLETT: Their strategy is now... is President Bush is ahead in the polls, and we're going to try to bring him down. So let's recycle old charges.

KING: In a memo made public Wednesday, however, a commanding officer speculates that when he was trying to transfer to Alabama, Lieutenant Bush was, quote, "talking to someone upstairs." Another refers to a superior officer who wanted to "sugarcoat" Lieutenant Bush's evaluation. The memos were first reported by 60 Minutes. The officer who wrote them died 20 years ago.

(on camera): The Democratic Party's national chairman says those new memos contradict Mr. Bush's longstanding claim of receiving no special treatment, and call into question his credibility now, as well as his conduct back then. The White House says those memos prove nothing, and call the Democratic attacks recycled partisan garbage. John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, a former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives says he got George W. Bush into the Air National Guard as a favor to Bush's father, then a congressman from Houston. Ben Barnes tells 60 Minutes he did the same for lots of well connected fighting age men who didn't want to find themselves in combat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN BARNES, FMR. TEXAS LAWMAKER: I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list of people wanting to get in the Air National Guard or the Army National Guard. I think that would have been a preference to anybody that didn't want to go to Vietnam, that didn't want to... we had a lot of young men that left and went to Canada in the '60s and fled this country.

But those that could get in the reserves, or those that could get in the National Guard, chances are, they would not have to go to Vietnam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Republicans are calling Barnes a deep-pocketed Kerry partisan who can't keep his stories straight. So what we want to know is this: Do the charges and counter-charges about Mr. Bush's Guard service make any difference in how you plan to vote in November? Now, if that question sounds familiar to you, we asked almost precisely the same question regarding the other presidential candidate, John Kerry, just a few weeks ago.

So in the interest of balancing things out, we'd like to hear from you on this side of things. You may e-mail us at LiveFrom@CNN.com. We'll read as many thoughts as we can get on the air a little bit later. Stay with us for that.

PHILLIPS: Well, you think you can tell if someone's healthy just by looking at them? You could be wrong. Being thin doesn't exactly mean you're healthy. We'll explain. The 2004 state of hate, the U.S. -- after the death of its founder, we wondered, what's up with the Aryan Nation and other white supremacist groups now?

The tragic situation in Sudan has been in and out of American headlines today. Colin Powell weighs in on the issue. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A potential turning point in strife-torn Sudan. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Capitol Hill today to talk about the atrocities there in the Darfur region of that east African nation. Here's State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel with more. Hello, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Well, Secretary Powell surprised many when he said that he agreed with the determination made by the U.S. Congress in July, and said that he also believes that what is happening now in Sudan constitutes genocide. He said, quote, "I concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur, and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility, and that genocide may still be occurring."

Now, the Janjaweed Militia are Arabs who had been targeting primarily African, black African Sudanese in the western part of the country, in Darfur. In particular, what the State Department found through its teams of investigators that went out and met and interviewed a thousand -- about 1,100 Sudanese refugees, is that not only are they explicitly targeting black African ethnic groups, but there was the use of racial epithets during these attacks, saying things like, "Kill the salves, kill the slaves, we have orders to kill all blacks..." that there was the rape of women and girls. And finally, that in at least half of the refugees... had the experience that one person in their family had been killed. This is all important, Miles, in documenting when you're trying to make a legal determination whether or not genocide may have occurred. Now, Secretary Powell was asked by one senator whether or not he would put what was happening, and may still be happening in Sudan, on par with what was happening 10 years ago in Rwanda, and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not quite Rwanda. We have this Janjaweed force out there that is essentially committing these acts, as we now call them, of genocide, and they do it in a very horrible way. It's not quite as horrible as what happened in Rwanda with the actual lining up of people and slaughtering of people en masse.

But the lessons are, get involved early. The AU is getting involved. The AU has people on the ground. They want to put more people on the ground. So I think we have learned from Rwanda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: The African, the AU that Secretary Powell was alluding to there, African Union forces, somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 forces that the United States is hoping the United Nations will agree, and then will be able to force the Sudanese government to accept. They believe, Miles, if they can get those African Union monitors on the ground, they will be able to document and put more pressure on the Sudanese government, which is also being pressured, Miles, to rein in and to stop these Janjaweed attacks. Miles...

O'BRIEN: Andrea Koppel at the State Department, thank you very much. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're frustrated by the fact that no matter how much exercise you do, you can't lose weight, take comfort in a new study on heart disease. University of Florida researchers studied more than 900 women and discovered that it's better to be fat and fit than thin and sedentary. A lack of physical exercise was shown to be a stronger risk factor for developing heart problems than being overweight or obese.

Well, many young Americans are facing a serious health danger, and it's something they can't do much about: air pollution. Look outside. If you can see the air around you, that's not good for your kids. In an eight-year study, researchers found that about 8 percent of 18-year-olds raised in heavily polluted areas had less than 80 percent of normal lung function, while their counterparts raised in areas with the least pollution had a much lower incidence of reduced lung capacity.

Lower lung capacity may not have immediate effects, but it ups the chances of adult illnesses and premature death. U.S. metro areas with the worst air ratings include Los Angeles, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Birmingham.

Next, with category five Ivan looming off the coast, can Florida's economy survive another hurricane? Later, they're calling it the painful truth -- self-criticism in the Muslim world after the terror in Beslan. And tomorrow, September 10th, three years ago, it was just another day. Has America already gone back to a pre-9/11 state of mind? We're taking it to the streets tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you agree with the slogan "a day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine," then there are plenty of gray skies ahead, and the story is even worse if you're fond of grapefruit. Thanks to the double whammy of Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances, Florida's citrus industry has been devastated, and others were hit hard as well.

Early estimates show now that Hurricane Frances might have damaged up to a billion dollars worth of Florida agriculture. Joining us from Tallahassee Florida, Agricultural and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Charles Bronson. Commissioner, you and I have become very good friends in the past couple of weeks.

CHARLES BRONSON, FLA. AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: Unfortunately, for us, yes, we have been talking quite a bit.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's update folks. I know you toured the area, I believe it was yesterday. What's the latest on the citrus, the oranges, the grapefruit, how it's going to affect our produce when we go to the grocery store?

BRONSON: Well, citrus has taken quite a hit, Kyra, and there's not much we can do about it right now except for hope that the water tables will drop, and that the fruit that is left on the tree will be available for later in the year, when it's normally picked. We hope that we get some type of picking crop off of them, but we'll have to wait and see.

PHILLIPS: How do you know which farmer gets more money, less money, which crops need to be tended to first? How are you prioritizing that?

BRONSON: Well, the USDA -- and we do, through the Florida Department of Agriculture, work with the United States Department of Agriculture in these situations, and there are formulas that are already set into place into the laws of this country, and in the rules and regulations at USDA. And we will be looking at all the industries and try to be as fair as possible in trying to help each of the industries in their times of loss here, and they have lost quite a bit.

Our numbers, unfortunately, are starting to add up higher than any calculator I have in my office. But both storms may be up to $2 billion in losses in agriculture in Florida alone.

PHILLIPS: We didn't get to talk about cattle last time. What's the latest on that?

BRONSON: Well, we have a real problem, as I predicted the last time we talked. North Florida started flooding; central Florida started flooding. Those rivers are starting to crest, and we have a lot of water in this state. Cattle are being, especially on the dairies, are under a lot of pressure right now. They've lost a lot of their structures.

We've lost 30 percent of the milking capability in our milk cattle, and they've had to dump over 350,000 gallons of milk simply because they had no place to take it.

PHILLIPS: And the nursery industry -- this is something else you mentioned last time -- that actually brings in more money than citrus.

BRONSON: Yes, it's about a 340 some odd million dollar more industry, more expensive industry right now, because of the amount of plants that they have. But that industry has been taking some wallops as well, and even all the way up into the Volusia County, where the fern industry does very well. They've taken some major hits all the way up to Volusia County.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know also the oyster beds, a lot of polluted beds there. And finally, we've got to ask you about the price gouging and the looters. Big numbers, average numbers?

BRONSON: Well, I think the looting situation, between the local law enforcement and the National Guard, they have managed to keep their hands around that. They've made a number of arrests, and I hope they keep making arrests, and I know they will. But price gouging, we get a lot of calls. Of course, the majority of those calls may not turn out to be really price gouging.

But people who are under this much pressure feel that maybe they've been taken advantage of, we do investigate every one of those. And the ones that do turn out to be price gouging, we're going to levy some very heavy fines on those people.

PHILLIPS: Florida's Agricultural and Consumer Affairs Commissioner, Charles Bronson, we sure thank you for your time again. We know how busy you are. Thank you.

BRONSON: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Miles...

O'BRIEN: Well, it's a mixed market on Wall Street today, this despite some upbeat corporate news. Fred Katayama is here to explain...

(MARKET REPORT)

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Aired September 9, 2004 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Death and destruction in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, the menacing category five storm that has Floridians wondering, when is this going to stop?
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Frank Buckley, live in downtown Los Angeles, where some 9,000 people across seven buildings are being evacuated right now. It's all part of a terror drill. We'll take you there live, coming up.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Days before the third anniversary of September 11, America's mayor is in Russia, as that country continues to mourn its own terror tragedy. We're live from Beslan with the latest.

O'BRIEN: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. It's Thursday, September 9. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

O'BRIEN: Everybody out of the Keys, with Hurricane Ivan now a category five, sustained winds of 160 miles an hour, and Jamaica in its crosshairs, the tip end of Florida taking no chances. Scenes behind me are assumed to be Ivan's handiwork in Grenada, back when it was still a category three storm. Visitors are being told to leave the Keys now. Mobile home residents tonight, everybody else tomorrow morning -- there you see those scenes.

It's still impossible to know how close Ivan will come to Florida or anywhere else north of Cuba. But you don't wait for certainty when only one road links your scattering of the islands with the mainland. Joining us now with more on all this is Orelon Sidney, who's watching yet another big killer storm from our weather center. Orelon...

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, Ivan is already a killer. At least 15 deaths are being blamed on the strongest hurricane to ravage the Caribbean in a decade -- Barbados, Tobago, even northern Venezuela were battered. And then, there's Grenada, where reports indicate 90 percent of the houses are damaged or destroyed, as is the island's 400-year-old prison. The inmates are also on the loose.

Well, do you remember Frances? If you live in North Carolina, or Virginia, or Pennsylvania, or New York, the former hurricane is still a fact of life. All those states report huge amounts of rain, 16 inches in parts of North Carolina, with the inevitable result. In New York City, the subway floods of yesterday receded today, but 10 counties in western North Carolina are still in states of emergency.

Now, right now in Los Angeles, thousands of government employees are streaming out of city hall, the federal building, police headquarters, and the county courthouse. But hold on. It's only a test. CNN's Frank Buckley tells us who's testing whom, and why. Hi, Frank.

BUCKLEY: Hey, there, Kyra. This is the first time in Los Angeles that they've done this kind of a thing. It's a multi-building evacuation, some 9,000 people being evacuated right now from seven separate government buildings here in downtown Los Angeles. Right here, one of the buildings, the blue one behind me, Parker Center, that many of our viewers know is where the police are headquartered.

And I'll just show you some of the other buildings. Right next to it, that's city hall east -- just beyond that, the icon of downtown Los Angeles, the civic center building, city hall also being evacuated. And we'll come around here and show you what's happening on this side, just around the corner. This is the federal building, one of the federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles that's being evacuated.

All of this taking place under a scenario that, as we approach 9/11, is very familiar. It is a scenario in which a plane is headed to downtown Los Angeles, to the civic center area, and people have the order to evacuate. Joining me now to talk about that a little bit, assistant chief Terry Manning. Chief, that scenario, so close to 9/11, what do you want people to get out of a day like this?

TERRY MANNING, ASST. CHIEF, LA FIRE DEPT.: Right. What we want to see today is really to exercise our entire response system, as well as our civilian volunteers, and our employees, to really understand that the importance of training and preparedness is truly the difference between life and death.

One thing we see out of the 9/11 event that truly, between '03 and the preparedness measures in '01, the difference that they constantly will bring to bear is the training, how it's really made the difference and saved lives.

BUCKLEY: And Chief, we're showing our viewers right now this helicopter coming overhead. Part of the scenario calls for rooftop evacuations. Tell us why that's important and what you hope to learn with the helicopter landing her at Parker Center.

MANNING: Yes, what you'll see here today is we will bring major air resources to bear, including all Los Angeles City Fire Department helicopters and LAPD helicopters. What we're doing is showing our capabilities and exercising basically a unified operation in the sky, how in a worst case scenario, we can effectively do rooftop rescues with our helicopters.

It is another way out of these buildings. We realize all buildings in the City of LA, the high rise buildings, have heli-spots on the roof. We have helicopters. Now, we're coordinating that mission. And as you'll see today, we can be very efficient at that. BUCKLEY: It seemed as if one of the lessons learned from 9/11 was if you hesitated, that that was dangerous -- that the best thing was to do was to follow instinct and get out.

MANNING: Yes. And rather than following instinct, what we like to say is following your training. Train as if your life depends upon it, because it truly does. And we realize, in catastrophic events, people will revert to what they have trained upon. And that's why it's imperative that people participate in these exercises, as they're doing today -- that the City of LA showed the great leadership to support an exercise of this day and of the great value.

And so, we think when an event does occur in the City of LA, that our people, our employees, and our citizens are going to be much more prepared, because they have taken the preparedness seriously.

BUCKLEY: All right, Chief Terry Manning, thanks very much for your time, sir. This is the event that's going on in downtown Los Angeles right now, Kyra. They do expect some traffic delays as a result of this. Of course, again, all of this, what you're seeing, a drill designed to help people prepare for the event that we hope won't come. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: Frank Buckley, live there, downtown Los Angeles. Thanks, Frank. Miles...

O'BRIEN: Now, more charges and denials, records and recollections regarding a presidential candidate's long ago years in uniform. The candidate under fire last month was John Kerry, the Democrat, as you know. This month, it's George W. Bush, the incumbent, whose people insist his honorable discharge overpowers new claims that he shirked his commitment to the Air National Guard. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King with our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New questions about the president's National Guard service are shifting the campaign focus on Vietnam era conduct his way, and drawing an aggressive White House response. Mr. Bush, in June 1973, signed this promise to associate with a new Guard unit when he moved from Texas to enroll at Harvard Business School.

If not, he could face possible involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months. The Boston Globe says its investigation found Mr. Bush did not keep that commitment. But the White House cited documents released months ago that show Mr. Bush was reassigned in October 1973 to inactive reserve status with a unit in Denver, Colorado, and listed Harvard as his address.

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: The fact of the matter is that President Bush would not have been honorably discharged if he had not met his obligations.

KING: A former head of the Air National Guard who reviewed the records for CNN backs the White House. GEN. JOHN SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: He did everything right, everything in accordance with what he was supposed to do.

KING: The Pentagon says it recently discovered these records detailing Mr. Bush's early flight training in the Texas Air National Guard. Critics say still missing are logs of what, if any, drills Mr. Bush performed during a four to six month period in 1972, after he transferred to the Alabama Guard. A group calling itself Texans for Truth launched a new ad campaign, suggesting Mr. Bush never showed up.

(BEGIN COMMERCIAL CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That was my unit, and I don't remember seeing you there. So I called friends, you know... "Did you know that George served in our unit? No, I never saw him there."

(END COMMERCIAL CLIP)

KING: The White House says dental and pay records prove he did report for duty, and note that liberal Bush critics are bankrolling the ad.

BARTLETT: Their strategy is now... is President Bush is ahead in the polls, and we're going to try to bring him down. So let's recycle old charges.

KING: In a memo made public Wednesday, however, a commanding officer speculates that when he was trying to transfer to Alabama, Lieutenant Bush was, quote, "talking to someone upstairs." Another refers to a superior officer who wanted to "sugarcoat" Lieutenant Bush's evaluation. The memos were first reported by 60 Minutes. The officer who wrote them died 20 years ago.

(on camera): The Democratic Party's national chairman says those new memos contradict Mr. Bush's longstanding claim of receiving no special treatment, and call into question his credibility now, as well as his conduct back then. The White House says those memos prove nothing, and call the Democratic attacks recycled partisan garbage. John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, a former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives says he got George W. Bush into the Air National Guard as a favor to Bush's father, then a congressman from Houston. Ben Barnes tells 60 Minutes he did the same for lots of well connected fighting age men who didn't want to find themselves in combat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN BARNES, FMR. TEXAS LAWMAKER: I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list of people wanting to get in the Air National Guard or the Army National Guard. I think that would have been a preference to anybody that didn't want to go to Vietnam, that didn't want to... we had a lot of young men that left and went to Canada in the '60s and fled this country.

But those that could get in the reserves, or those that could get in the National Guard, chances are, they would not have to go to Vietnam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Republicans are calling Barnes a deep-pocketed Kerry partisan who can't keep his stories straight. So what we want to know is this: Do the charges and counter-charges about Mr. Bush's Guard service make any difference in how you plan to vote in November? Now, if that question sounds familiar to you, we asked almost precisely the same question regarding the other presidential candidate, John Kerry, just a few weeks ago.

So in the interest of balancing things out, we'd like to hear from you on this side of things. You may e-mail us at LiveFrom@CNN.com. We'll read as many thoughts as we can get on the air a little bit later. Stay with us for that.

PHILLIPS: Well, you think you can tell if someone's healthy just by looking at them? You could be wrong. Being thin doesn't exactly mean you're healthy. We'll explain. The 2004 state of hate, the U.S. -- after the death of its founder, we wondered, what's up with the Aryan Nation and other white supremacist groups now?

The tragic situation in Sudan has been in and out of American headlines today. Colin Powell weighs in on the issue. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A potential turning point in strife-torn Sudan. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Capitol Hill today to talk about the atrocities there in the Darfur region of that east African nation. Here's State Department correspondent Andrea Koppel with more. Hello, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Well, Secretary Powell surprised many when he said that he agreed with the determination made by the U.S. Congress in July, and said that he also believes that what is happening now in Sudan constitutes genocide. He said, quote, "I concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur, and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility, and that genocide may still be occurring."

Now, the Janjaweed Militia are Arabs who had been targeting primarily African, black African Sudanese in the western part of the country, in Darfur. In particular, what the State Department found through its teams of investigators that went out and met and interviewed a thousand -- about 1,100 Sudanese refugees, is that not only are they explicitly targeting black African ethnic groups, but there was the use of racial epithets during these attacks, saying things like, "Kill the salves, kill the slaves, we have orders to kill all blacks..." that there was the rape of women and girls. And finally, that in at least half of the refugees... had the experience that one person in their family had been killed. This is all important, Miles, in documenting when you're trying to make a legal determination whether or not genocide may have occurred. Now, Secretary Powell was asked by one senator whether or not he would put what was happening, and may still be happening in Sudan, on par with what was happening 10 years ago in Rwanda, and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not quite Rwanda. We have this Janjaweed force out there that is essentially committing these acts, as we now call them, of genocide, and they do it in a very horrible way. It's not quite as horrible as what happened in Rwanda with the actual lining up of people and slaughtering of people en masse.

But the lessons are, get involved early. The AU is getting involved. The AU has people on the ground. They want to put more people on the ground. So I think we have learned from Rwanda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: The African, the AU that Secretary Powell was alluding to there, African Union forces, somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 forces that the United States is hoping the United Nations will agree, and then will be able to force the Sudanese government to accept. They believe, Miles, if they can get those African Union monitors on the ground, they will be able to document and put more pressure on the Sudanese government, which is also being pressured, Miles, to rein in and to stop these Janjaweed attacks. Miles...

O'BRIEN: Andrea Koppel at the State Department, thank you very much. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're frustrated by the fact that no matter how much exercise you do, you can't lose weight, take comfort in a new study on heart disease. University of Florida researchers studied more than 900 women and discovered that it's better to be fat and fit than thin and sedentary. A lack of physical exercise was shown to be a stronger risk factor for developing heart problems than being overweight or obese.

Well, many young Americans are facing a serious health danger, and it's something they can't do much about: air pollution. Look outside. If you can see the air around you, that's not good for your kids. In an eight-year study, researchers found that about 8 percent of 18-year-olds raised in heavily polluted areas had less than 80 percent of normal lung function, while their counterparts raised in areas with the least pollution had a much lower incidence of reduced lung capacity.

Lower lung capacity may not have immediate effects, but it ups the chances of adult illnesses and premature death. U.S. metro areas with the worst air ratings include Los Angeles, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Birmingham.

Next, with category five Ivan looming off the coast, can Florida's economy survive another hurricane? Later, they're calling it the painful truth -- self-criticism in the Muslim world after the terror in Beslan. And tomorrow, September 10th, three years ago, it was just another day. Has America already gone back to a pre-9/11 state of mind? We're taking it to the streets tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

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PHILLIPS: Well, if you agree with the slogan "a day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine," then there are plenty of gray skies ahead, and the story is even worse if you're fond of grapefruit. Thanks to the double whammy of Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances, Florida's citrus industry has been devastated, and others were hit hard as well.

Early estimates show now that Hurricane Frances might have damaged up to a billion dollars worth of Florida agriculture. Joining us from Tallahassee Florida, Agricultural and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Charles Bronson. Commissioner, you and I have become very good friends in the past couple of weeks.

CHARLES BRONSON, FLA. AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: Unfortunately, for us, yes, we have been talking quite a bit.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's update folks. I know you toured the area, I believe it was yesterday. What's the latest on the citrus, the oranges, the grapefruit, how it's going to affect our produce when we go to the grocery store?

BRONSON: Well, citrus has taken quite a hit, Kyra, and there's not much we can do about it right now except for hope that the water tables will drop, and that the fruit that is left on the tree will be available for later in the year, when it's normally picked. We hope that we get some type of picking crop off of them, but we'll have to wait and see.

PHILLIPS: How do you know which farmer gets more money, less money, which crops need to be tended to first? How are you prioritizing that?

BRONSON: Well, the USDA -- and we do, through the Florida Department of Agriculture, work with the United States Department of Agriculture in these situations, and there are formulas that are already set into place into the laws of this country, and in the rules and regulations at USDA. And we will be looking at all the industries and try to be as fair as possible in trying to help each of the industries in their times of loss here, and they have lost quite a bit.

Our numbers, unfortunately, are starting to add up higher than any calculator I have in my office. But both storms may be up to $2 billion in losses in agriculture in Florida alone.

PHILLIPS: We didn't get to talk about cattle last time. What's the latest on that?

BRONSON: Well, we have a real problem, as I predicted the last time we talked. North Florida started flooding; central Florida started flooding. Those rivers are starting to crest, and we have a lot of water in this state. Cattle are being, especially on the dairies, are under a lot of pressure right now. They've lost a lot of their structures.

We've lost 30 percent of the milking capability in our milk cattle, and they've had to dump over 350,000 gallons of milk simply because they had no place to take it.

PHILLIPS: And the nursery industry -- this is something else you mentioned last time -- that actually brings in more money than citrus.

BRONSON: Yes, it's about a 340 some odd million dollar more industry, more expensive industry right now, because of the amount of plants that they have. But that industry has been taking some wallops as well, and even all the way up into the Volusia County, where the fern industry does very well. They've taken some major hits all the way up to Volusia County.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know also the oyster beds, a lot of polluted beds there. And finally, we've got to ask you about the price gouging and the looters. Big numbers, average numbers?

BRONSON: Well, I think the looting situation, between the local law enforcement and the National Guard, they have managed to keep their hands around that. They've made a number of arrests, and I hope they keep making arrests, and I know they will. But price gouging, we get a lot of calls. Of course, the majority of those calls may not turn out to be really price gouging.

But people who are under this much pressure feel that maybe they've been taken advantage of, we do investigate every one of those. And the ones that do turn out to be price gouging, we're going to levy some very heavy fines on those people.

PHILLIPS: Florida's Agricultural and Consumer Affairs Commissioner, Charles Bronson, we sure thank you for your time again. We know how busy you are. Thank you.

BRONSON: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Miles...

O'BRIEN: Well, it's a mixed market on Wall Street today, this despite some upbeat corporate news. Fred Katayama is here to explain...

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