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U.S. Gulf Coast Prepares for Ivan; Baghdad and Baquba Police Targets of Bombings; Criticism Over Putin's Stance on School Siege Issue

Aired September 14, 2004 - 12:58 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.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anxiety over Ivan's approach, and the mess it will leave in its wake. LIVE FROM's got the storm covered for you.
KYRA PHILLIPS: Al-Zarqawi's terror team claims responsibility for one of two deadly attacks in Iraq. Horrified victims blame the U.S.

NGUYEN: A pushy power grab, or getting serious about the war on terror? Is President Putin moving Russia back in time after the Beslan school tragedy?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: ... made a number of statements relative to intelligence matters, many in the past year, that are highly, in my judgment, partisan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: In the hot seat -- former adversaries face off. A former spy tries to get the top job.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. It's Tuesday, September 14, and CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: New Orleans to Apalachicola, and all points in between and a few points beyond, they're all taking pains today to prepare for Hurricane Ivan, now a category four if you're counting, and taking aim at the northern gulf coast.

CNN's Sara Dorsey is watching the skies in Pensacola, while CNN's Jacqui Jeras sees all from our weather center upstairs. Sara, let's start with you.

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, a mandatory evacuation is underway in this area. The Barrier Islands just over this bridge will be closed to the public tomorrow. Also, people living in mobile homes or near storm surge areas are being told to leave, while people up and down the coast prepare for the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (voice-over): Hurricane Ivan is on its way toward the gulf coast, but forecasters say they can't be sure exactly where it will hit. The Florida panhandle remains a possibility, but with the storm's continuous northwesterly path, so are states as far west as Louisiana.

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: As of this morning, I have signed the official documents to declare a state of emergency in the City of New Orleans. We're still encouraging people to leave the city.

DORSEY: From New Orleans to Tallahassee, and many areas in between, are rushing to get plywood, batteries, and generators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if the storm doesn't come, we'll be ready for the next one. We'll have the boards cut and ready for the windows.

DORSEY: With all the uncertainty and projections changing constantly, stores are having a hard time keeping their shelves stocked.

SAM WALKER, LOWE'S: We've got some trucks on the way, but I couldn't even guesstimate when they might get it, because the thing now is not the stuff that's available, it's getting here. We can't get a truck to bring it in.

DORSEY: Ivan's power has already lashed Jamaica and Cuba, where heavy rains poured down and high winds toppled trees and buildings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY (on-camera): Governor Bush is telling residents here to take this storm very seriously and leave sooner rather than later. We're live in Pensacola Bay. Sara Dorsey, back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Sara, thanks so much. Let's check in now with Jacqui Jeras. What's the latest from there, Jacqui?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, well, you mentioned New Orleans. We want to take our viewers now live to a news conference taking place. The governor is speaking out of Baton Rouge. Now, if you live in New Orleans, or you have lived there, you know very well that this area does not take hurricanes very well.

Let's listen in and see how the governor's preparing.

(BEGIN LIVE NEWS EVENT -- JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: ... so anyone who has a place to go is urged to get out there and go.

Now, having said that, our highways are very full right now. Traffic is moving steadily at about 55 miles an hour, which is a very good thing. We ask all drivers to be very, very patient. Don't get involved or cause an automobile accident, because that just then creates more difficulty for all concerned -- for all of our citizens.

So, if you have a place to go, please start doing that as soon as possible. The later you wait, the more congestion there'll be on the highways and the longer it will take you to get to a safe destination.

We are -- we are in the midst of staying in close touch with FEMA, with the weather service. We're getting as much timely information as is possible to get. All of the -- all of our resources are focused.

And I want to urge one more thing, to everyone in their respective parishes: Your local officials are directly in touch with our offices and our office here of emergency preparedness. I want you to pay close attention to their suggestions, because they're doing a very good job, and they are on the frontlines of determining the best course of action for everyone in each local region.

So, please, I...

PHILLIPS: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco via our affiliate WBAZ there in Baton Rouge. Plain and simple -- she's telling folks in New Orleans to get out.

In just a few minutes, we're going to talk about hurricane recovery post-Charley, post-Frances, pre-Ivan, and we are also going to talk about New Orleans with FEMA Director Michael Brown. That's at a quarter past the hour, right here on LIVE FROM.

NGUYEN: Well, once again, Iraqi police and would-be recruits are in the crosshairs of terror, and once again, dozens are dead. A car bomb killed at least 47 today in the Baghdad district known as "Little Fallujah." Two hours later, 12 more were killed in a drive-by shooting in Baquba, which is 40 miles to the north.

Joining us now from Baghdad, CNN's senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers. It's been a very deadly day there, Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's true, Betty. Both of those attacks on Iraqi police in Baghdad and Baquba, taken by themselves, would have been criminal together. They were horrific. More than 60 people died in both of those incidents.

The worst was Baghdad. About 10:00 o'clock this morning, a horrendous car bomb explosion. It was in a crowded market area, but the target seems to have been a police station nearby, where a number of recruits, young Iraqi men, desperately needing jobs, willing to risk their lives on the police force, lined up for the jobs.

Then there was a terrible, terrible explosion. It blew flesh up onto electric wires. There were shards of bloody clothing everywhere in trees, pools of blood on the ground. The responsibility claim came later in the day. It came from a group called the Unification Jihad, affiliated with Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born al Qaeda operative if you will.

The interesting and ironic thing is that none of the Iraqis are blaming their fellow Muslims in this, their fellow Islamists. Rather, they blame the American. Around the site of that bombing, you could hear people shouting, "Damn you, Bush, damn the Americans, and damn the Jews." They'll blame anybody but people here for the responsibility of this car bomb attack.

Again, it was horrendous. Forty-seven people died there. More than 100 were hospitalized with wounds. And it was just as bad later in the day in Baquba. Two bands with police officers returning home from work -- the officers were being delivered to their homes. Suddenly, insurgents in two cars pulled up beside the police vans, sprayed those vans with automatic weapons fire. There the toll was another 12 Iraqi policemen.

If anybody's counting, there have been more than 700 Iraqi police and security officials killed in the last 13 or 14 months -- Betty.

NGUYEN: So much violence. Walter Rodgers, thank you so much for that report.

This was supposed to be the first day back at school in the Russian town that was shattered emotionally, and otherwise, by the hostage ordeal at middle school number one, which happened two weeks ago. But only 15 minutes before the opening bells, skittish officials decided to take a little longer searching all of Beslan's schools, and school properties, for explosives. Classes probably will start tomorrow -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The terror ordeal that many Russians see as their September 11th has prompted Russia's president to take steps that some, Colin Powell among them, see as undemocratic.

CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty joins us with more on this. I guess, Jill, there's a lot of soul searching going on with regard to President Putin.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: There really is, Kyra. You'd have to say that the president is grappling right now with what went wrong, similar in a way to what the United States went through with 9/11. What went wrong? How can you prevent this type of thing?

But he's also moving in another direction politically, which is what has some people here worried. Essentially, on the what went wrong and how can we fix it front, he's talking about creating something that might be perceived as a Department of Homeland Security, as you have in the United States.

He hasn't given many details, but that's what it sounds like. And other measures too -- he's putting a very close confidant in charge of that area, in particular, as kind of a presidential representative. But the thing that people are worried about is Mr. Putin is also saying that the governors throughout Russia that are now directly elected should no longer be directly elected, that he should nominate them, and then the local legislatures would either approve or not.

Well, of course, they probably would approve, since the president nominated them. And then, another step is he wants members of parliament not to be elected individually, but to be elected by party. And that would concentrate more power in his hands. And Kyra, several people, you know, people from the democratic or the Western-leaning side would say that this is a rollback of some of the democratic steps that they have had here in Russia.

PHILLIPS: I mean, you listen to that and it brings flashbacks -- I mean, back to the USSR, and it sounds so undemocratic. And I thought that the way things were moving -- and you look at these meetings that Putin has had with President Bush -- that this sort of turns everything upside down and goes backwards.

DOUGHERTY: Well, yes. And that, in fact, is what people are saying, including Secretary of State Colin Powell. But I think if you look at what President Putin seems to have in mind, he feels that they need a radical restructuring of everything, the security services, and also politically. They have made the argument, the Kremlin has made the argument that in those regions, there is a lot of corruption, a lot of people who should not be in those positions.

What they want is reliable Kremlin friends in positions of control, like the governors. But again, it does smack of the centralized control of the old Soviet Union.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's a little bit of irony here too. My final question for you, Jill. If Putin is coming forward saying, "I'm going to wipe out terrorism, I'm going to rein back, I'm going to take more control," but isn't it a little ironic, if he wanted to wipe out terrorism, Chechnya is a small place, why didn't he just take care of it?

DOUGHERTY: Kyra, that's exactly what people here are asking. If the government had really been serious -- you know, the war in Chechnya has been going on for 10 years -- why didn't they stop it? Now, in fairness, President Putin was not the president during all that period. But it really is a very good question, that instead of saying that they want to strike terrorists where they may be in the world, people here are saying they ought to strike terrorists where they really are, and that is in Chechnya and that surrounding area.

PHILLIPS: Jill Dougherty live from Moscow, thanks so much. Straight ahead, state of emergency -- a trio of hurricanes might be just the beginning of Florida's woes. The looming fight over resources could get nasty too. And will Bush break his silence on his National Guard service with the National Guard today? What's his wife got to say about the "60 Minutes" documents also?

Oh, yeah, she's still running hot. Later on LIVE FROM, she's famous for her new attitude. Patti LaBelle joins us to talk about her new focus and how she stays on top after 40 years in the biz. LIVE FROM gives a diva her due right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Well, Hurricane Ivan may be losing a bit of its punch, but that is providing little relief to storm-weary Florida. Two hurricanes in a matter of four weeks have caused billions of dollars in damage. Perhaps the worst damage from Hurricane Charley was in the city of Punta Gorda.

Ed Roberts from CNN affiliate WTSP shows us how one family there is recovering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED ROBERTS, REPORTER, WTSP (voice-over): At the Ross home in Port Charlotte, progress is measured one shingle at a time.

LAURA ROSS, HURRICANE CHARLEY VICTIM: Slowly but surely, it's coming back to normal.

ROBERTS: Key word "slowly," because while roofers work, much more remains.

ROSS: You can pull it out and it's just -- well, you can see.

ROBERTS: Water damage has left Laura Ross' house unlivable.

ROSS: It's not healthy.

ROBERTS: So, for the next six to eight months, home will be here.

ROSS: This is it, our home away from home.

ROBERTS: There's a master bedroom, a dining table, even a television.

ROSS: And this is our kitchen.

ROBERTS: But for a family of four, it's tight.

ROSS: We have to be patient. We have to learn to respect each other's feelings a little bit more, because it's a stressful time.

WAYNE SALLADE, CHARLOTTE CNTY. EMERGENCY MGMT. DIR.: We made great progress the first two weeks after Charley.

ROBERTS: Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Wayne Sallade.

SALLADE: We had power restored to those who could accept it. All water was restored. Many of the essential services were back.

ROBERTS: Then came Frances, now Ivan.

SALLADE: And that has really slowed our recovery.

ROBERTS: Especially in places like Riviera Lagoons, where Gary Anderson and Jamie Lambert continue living in a trailer outside their mangled mobile home, without electricity.

GARY ANDERSON, RIVIERA LAGOONS RESIDENT: It's very difficult.

JAMIE LAMBERT, RIVIERA LAGOONS RESIDENT: It's just a lot of stress that you just have to learn to live with. It's just a different way of living.

ROBERTS: Indeed, as the sun sets on this one-month milestone, much work remains, as people here look toward brighter days ahead.

ANDERSON: The only thing you can control is the future and the present -- just have to forget about the past, you know?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And no doubt, Punta Gorda is hoping to be spared from the brunt of Hurricane Ivan -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Federal relief workers are still at work in Florida, as you know. And if the state gets pummeled again by Ivan, will there be enough resources to even go around? Here with me today, FEMA Director Michael Brown. Great to have you with us. I guess that's what everybody wants to know. You look at Charley, Frances, Ivan -- is there enough money, and is there enough to spread around?

MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: There's plenty of money. President Bush went to Congress on Labor Day and said FEMA needs $2 billion more, because we were near the end of the fiscal year. The president's going back to Congress today and saying we need $3.1 billion, part for FEMA, part for the other departments that are helping us respond to all these hurricanes.

PHILLIPS: So, you pretty much get what you want. When you come forward and say, "Look, Mr. President, we're desperate here, and we've got to help these people," it's never really a huge tug of war.

BROWN: It's really not. I mean, the president fully supports FEMA, and all the members of Congress have always been very supportive of us. So, I've never really worried too much about the financial resources, as long as we do a good job with it.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting now, looking to New Orleans. Now, I lived in New Orleans. Oh, my gosh, I've experienced the hurricane, the lack of a drainage system. It gets crazy there with the flooding. As you look at this area, it's sort of ironic, because you just did an exercise there not too long ago with catastrophic training, right?

BROWN: Right. And in fact, that was one of the things I really wanted to get started in FEMA, was to do catastrophic planning. What do we do if a true catastrophic event occurs, where you have literally thousands of lives lost and people not able to get back in their businesses for a long time? So, we chose New Orleans, because it is so susceptible to natural disasters.

PHILLIPS: So, tell me how the exercise went. What did you learn? Were you able to fix some things, make some things better in sort of preparation for what's about to happen there?

BROWN: Well, I think so. I mean, I think the exercise went exceptionally well, and I think the state and the federal government both learned that the way to continue to prepare for these things is to make certain, one, the states have the resources they need, two, that we have a good partnership between the state and the federal government, and then that we exercise that partnership.

Because you can talk about it all you want to, but if you don't exercise it, then when the real thing happens, you're kind of stumbling around. That's what made us stronger now for Louisiana.

PHILLIPS: So, the governor, as we saw just a few minutes ago, from Louisiana, came forward and just plain and simple, she just said, "Get out, pack you car up and leave."

BROWN: Good.

PHILLIPS: So, this training that you did in New Orleans, the catastrophic planning, once people leave, how does this training go into place? What will happen next? Is it sort of wait and see what happens, and then start to rebuild so people can come back quickly, deal with the flooding issues?

BROWN: Well, that is exactly what happens, is if we can get people to listen to what the governor says, not just in Louisiana, but in Mississippi, and Alabama, and Georgia, and Florida also, and to follow those evacuation orders, that allows all the emergency responders to get in more quickly and respond and help save lives.

And that's why people really need to listen to these local officials. When they say, "Do something," the best advice I have for them is to follow that recommendation or follow that order.

PHILLIPS: Well, I've got to ask you -- we've seen less deaths, when you look at all these -- if you look at Charley, Frances, and Ivan, of course, on its way, so far, totally different from Hurricane Andrew. A lot more people lost their lives. Why is that? Are people listening more? Did they learn the lessons from Andrew, and so now they know, OK, we'd better listen to FEMA, or the governor, or whomever?

BROWN: I think it's all of those things, Kyra. In fact, I think what happens is as long as we keep pushing the awareness and preparedness message, people are listening to it. And then when you take -- I'll pick on all these southern governors right now, but you take Jeb Bush, when you take Haley Barber, when you take Governor Riley, you take all these governors and you say, "Look, we want to exercise and train well together," they put together incredibly good emergency management systems.

So, when we have to face a crisis like this, we're playing as a team, we know what their capabilities are, they know what our capabilities are, and we can work together as a team to respond.

PHILLIPS: So, where are you headed to next? BROWN: Well, I'm going to go to Orlando, because you know, we've had people in Florida, for literally a month now, working on Hurricane Charley and the Frances victims. We've spent almost $400 million just on individuals. That's not counting...

PHILLIPS: Now, is this getting them their check?

BROWN: This is...

PHILLIPS: They're filing their paperwork, and you're cutting them a check.

BROWN: Yes. In fact, we've processed over 400,000 people in Florida, $400 million on the street to those individuals. That does not even count the money that we'll spend on rebuilding infrastructure.

PHILLIPS: Do you make recommendations? I mean, do these states ever come to you and say, "OK, did we do things right? Are we spending the money properly? What do you think about this plan? Should we rebuild this, fix these streets, fix this drainage system?"

BROWN: Well, they will. And in fact, when they come to us and they want to spend the billions of dollars that we'll put in there -- of course, we have some parameters within which we want them to work. So, we will. We'll work with them as a team to make certain that, one, things are built back properly, but two, what can we do to mitigate the damages from future hurricanes.

PHILLIPS: Michael Brown, director of FEMA -- busy man, no doubt. Thanks for stopping by today.

BROWN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Whiz kids from "The Apprentice" whip up a dreamy ride for kids. Will it zoom off the shelves or morph into oblivion? Later on LIVE FROM, we'll talk to the nuke hunter -- looking for the truth behind North Korea's mushroom cloud, and Iran's veil of secrecy. As the killer Hurricane Ivan looms in the gulf, checkout the latest technology for tracking monster storms. LIVE FROM takes you behind the scenes tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: News across America now. The FDA is considering tightening restrictions on who can prescribe antidepressants to children. Health advisors are meeting for a second day to look into whether antidepressants increase suicidal tendencies in children. One health advisor says she is appalled that psychiatrists are signing prescriptions written by social workers and pharmacists.

A state criminologist is back on the stand this hour, testifying for a second straight day in the Scott Peterson murder trial. Yesterday, the woman told jurors that little blood was found in Peterson's home, and that no blood was found on Peterson's boat cover. Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his wife in their home, then used his boat to dump her body.

Will Barry Bonds hits 700. The San Francisco slugger will be chasing history tonight as he tries to join Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth as the only players to ever hit 700 in their careers. Bonds hit number 699 Sunday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Well, they aren't winners, according to Donald Trump, just yet, but they are to Mattel. The toy maker says it will manufacture a toy car designed by the winning team on last week's premiere of "The Apprentice 2." The prototype remote-control car will be sold under the name "Morph Machines." Mattel says the cars will be in stores early next year.

And "Apprentice" fans will want to keep it on LIVE FROM. On Thursday, Bill Rancic, the winner of the first season of "The Apprentice," will join us to talk about his experience on the show and what he's doing now. Again, that's Thursday, 1:00 o'clock Eastern.

PHILLIPS: As the Southeast braces for its third big hurricane in a month, some economists say the effects will be felt by the national economy, no doubt.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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Aired September 14, 2004 - 12:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anxiety over Ivan's approach, and the mess it will leave in its wake. LIVE FROM's got the storm covered for you.
KYRA PHILLIPS: Al-Zarqawi's terror team claims responsibility for one of two deadly attacks in Iraq. Horrified victims blame the U.S.

NGUYEN: A pushy power grab, or getting serious about the war on terror? Is President Putin moving Russia back in time after the Beslan school tragedy?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: ... made a number of statements relative to intelligence matters, many in the past year, that are highly, in my judgment, partisan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: In the hot seat -- former adversaries face off. A former spy tries to get the top job.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. It's Tuesday, September 14, and CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: New Orleans to Apalachicola, and all points in between and a few points beyond, they're all taking pains today to prepare for Hurricane Ivan, now a category four if you're counting, and taking aim at the northern gulf coast.

CNN's Sara Dorsey is watching the skies in Pensacola, while CNN's Jacqui Jeras sees all from our weather center upstairs. Sara, let's start with you.

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, a mandatory evacuation is underway in this area. The Barrier Islands just over this bridge will be closed to the public tomorrow. Also, people living in mobile homes or near storm surge areas are being told to leave, while people up and down the coast prepare for the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (voice-over): Hurricane Ivan is on its way toward the gulf coast, but forecasters say they can't be sure exactly where it will hit. The Florida panhandle remains a possibility, but with the storm's continuous northwesterly path, so are states as far west as Louisiana.

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: As of this morning, I have signed the official documents to declare a state of emergency in the City of New Orleans. We're still encouraging people to leave the city.

DORSEY: From New Orleans to Tallahassee, and many areas in between, are rushing to get plywood, batteries, and generators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if the storm doesn't come, we'll be ready for the next one. We'll have the boards cut and ready for the windows.

DORSEY: With all the uncertainty and projections changing constantly, stores are having a hard time keeping their shelves stocked.

SAM WALKER, LOWE'S: We've got some trucks on the way, but I couldn't even guesstimate when they might get it, because the thing now is not the stuff that's available, it's getting here. We can't get a truck to bring it in.

DORSEY: Ivan's power has already lashed Jamaica and Cuba, where heavy rains poured down and high winds toppled trees and buildings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY (on-camera): Governor Bush is telling residents here to take this storm very seriously and leave sooner rather than later. We're live in Pensacola Bay. Sara Dorsey, back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Sara, thanks so much. Let's check in now with Jacqui Jeras. What's the latest from there, Jacqui?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, well, you mentioned New Orleans. We want to take our viewers now live to a news conference taking place. The governor is speaking out of Baton Rouge. Now, if you live in New Orleans, or you have lived there, you know very well that this area does not take hurricanes very well.

Let's listen in and see how the governor's preparing.

(BEGIN LIVE NEWS EVENT -- JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: ... so anyone who has a place to go is urged to get out there and go.

Now, having said that, our highways are very full right now. Traffic is moving steadily at about 55 miles an hour, which is a very good thing. We ask all drivers to be very, very patient. Don't get involved or cause an automobile accident, because that just then creates more difficulty for all concerned -- for all of our citizens.

So, if you have a place to go, please start doing that as soon as possible. The later you wait, the more congestion there'll be on the highways and the longer it will take you to get to a safe destination.

We are -- we are in the midst of staying in close touch with FEMA, with the weather service. We're getting as much timely information as is possible to get. All of the -- all of our resources are focused.

And I want to urge one more thing, to everyone in their respective parishes: Your local officials are directly in touch with our offices and our office here of emergency preparedness. I want you to pay close attention to their suggestions, because they're doing a very good job, and they are on the frontlines of determining the best course of action for everyone in each local region.

So, please, I...

PHILLIPS: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco via our affiliate WBAZ there in Baton Rouge. Plain and simple -- she's telling folks in New Orleans to get out.

In just a few minutes, we're going to talk about hurricane recovery post-Charley, post-Frances, pre-Ivan, and we are also going to talk about New Orleans with FEMA Director Michael Brown. That's at a quarter past the hour, right here on LIVE FROM.

NGUYEN: Well, once again, Iraqi police and would-be recruits are in the crosshairs of terror, and once again, dozens are dead. A car bomb killed at least 47 today in the Baghdad district known as "Little Fallujah." Two hours later, 12 more were killed in a drive-by shooting in Baquba, which is 40 miles to the north.

Joining us now from Baghdad, CNN's senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers. It's been a very deadly day there, Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's true, Betty. Both of those attacks on Iraqi police in Baghdad and Baquba, taken by themselves, would have been criminal together. They were horrific. More than 60 people died in both of those incidents.

The worst was Baghdad. About 10:00 o'clock this morning, a horrendous car bomb explosion. It was in a crowded market area, but the target seems to have been a police station nearby, where a number of recruits, young Iraqi men, desperately needing jobs, willing to risk their lives on the police force, lined up for the jobs.

Then there was a terrible, terrible explosion. It blew flesh up onto electric wires. There were shards of bloody clothing everywhere in trees, pools of blood on the ground. The responsibility claim came later in the day. It came from a group called the Unification Jihad, affiliated with Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born al Qaeda operative if you will.

The interesting and ironic thing is that none of the Iraqis are blaming their fellow Muslims in this, their fellow Islamists. Rather, they blame the American. Around the site of that bombing, you could hear people shouting, "Damn you, Bush, damn the Americans, and damn the Jews." They'll blame anybody but people here for the responsibility of this car bomb attack.

Again, it was horrendous. Forty-seven people died there. More than 100 were hospitalized with wounds. And it was just as bad later in the day in Baquba. Two bands with police officers returning home from work -- the officers were being delivered to their homes. Suddenly, insurgents in two cars pulled up beside the police vans, sprayed those vans with automatic weapons fire. There the toll was another 12 Iraqi policemen.

If anybody's counting, there have been more than 700 Iraqi police and security officials killed in the last 13 or 14 months -- Betty.

NGUYEN: So much violence. Walter Rodgers, thank you so much for that report.

This was supposed to be the first day back at school in the Russian town that was shattered emotionally, and otherwise, by the hostage ordeal at middle school number one, which happened two weeks ago. But only 15 minutes before the opening bells, skittish officials decided to take a little longer searching all of Beslan's schools, and school properties, for explosives. Classes probably will start tomorrow -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The terror ordeal that many Russians see as their September 11th has prompted Russia's president to take steps that some, Colin Powell among them, see as undemocratic.

CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty joins us with more on this. I guess, Jill, there's a lot of soul searching going on with regard to President Putin.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: There really is, Kyra. You'd have to say that the president is grappling right now with what went wrong, similar in a way to what the United States went through with 9/11. What went wrong? How can you prevent this type of thing?

But he's also moving in another direction politically, which is what has some people here worried. Essentially, on the what went wrong and how can we fix it front, he's talking about creating something that might be perceived as a Department of Homeland Security, as you have in the United States.

He hasn't given many details, but that's what it sounds like. And other measures too -- he's putting a very close confidant in charge of that area, in particular, as kind of a presidential representative. But the thing that people are worried about is Mr. Putin is also saying that the governors throughout Russia that are now directly elected should no longer be directly elected, that he should nominate them, and then the local legislatures would either approve or not.

Well, of course, they probably would approve, since the president nominated them. And then, another step is he wants members of parliament not to be elected individually, but to be elected by party. And that would concentrate more power in his hands. And Kyra, several people, you know, people from the democratic or the Western-leaning side would say that this is a rollback of some of the democratic steps that they have had here in Russia.

PHILLIPS: I mean, you listen to that and it brings flashbacks -- I mean, back to the USSR, and it sounds so undemocratic. And I thought that the way things were moving -- and you look at these meetings that Putin has had with President Bush -- that this sort of turns everything upside down and goes backwards.

DOUGHERTY: Well, yes. And that, in fact, is what people are saying, including Secretary of State Colin Powell. But I think if you look at what President Putin seems to have in mind, he feels that they need a radical restructuring of everything, the security services, and also politically. They have made the argument, the Kremlin has made the argument that in those regions, there is a lot of corruption, a lot of people who should not be in those positions.

What they want is reliable Kremlin friends in positions of control, like the governors. But again, it does smack of the centralized control of the old Soviet Union.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's a little bit of irony here too. My final question for you, Jill. If Putin is coming forward saying, "I'm going to wipe out terrorism, I'm going to rein back, I'm going to take more control," but isn't it a little ironic, if he wanted to wipe out terrorism, Chechnya is a small place, why didn't he just take care of it?

DOUGHERTY: Kyra, that's exactly what people here are asking. If the government had really been serious -- you know, the war in Chechnya has been going on for 10 years -- why didn't they stop it? Now, in fairness, President Putin was not the president during all that period. But it really is a very good question, that instead of saying that they want to strike terrorists where they may be in the world, people here are saying they ought to strike terrorists where they really are, and that is in Chechnya and that surrounding area.

PHILLIPS: Jill Dougherty live from Moscow, thanks so much. Straight ahead, state of emergency -- a trio of hurricanes might be just the beginning of Florida's woes. The looming fight over resources could get nasty too. And will Bush break his silence on his National Guard service with the National Guard today? What's his wife got to say about the "60 Minutes" documents also?

Oh, yeah, she's still running hot. Later on LIVE FROM, she's famous for her new attitude. Patti LaBelle joins us to talk about her new focus and how she stays on top after 40 years in the biz. LIVE FROM gives a diva her due right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Well, Hurricane Ivan may be losing a bit of its punch, but that is providing little relief to storm-weary Florida. Two hurricanes in a matter of four weeks have caused billions of dollars in damage. Perhaps the worst damage from Hurricane Charley was in the city of Punta Gorda.

Ed Roberts from CNN affiliate WTSP shows us how one family there is recovering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED ROBERTS, REPORTER, WTSP (voice-over): At the Ross home in Port Charlotte, progress is measured one shingle at a time.

LAURA ROSS, HURRICANE CHARLEY VICTIM: Slowly but surely, it's coming back to normal.

ROBERTS: Key word "slowly," because while roofers work, much more remains.

ROSS: You can pull it out and it's just -- well, you can see.

ROBERTS: Water damage has left Laura Ross' house unlivable.

ROSS: It's not healthy.

ROBERTS: So, for the next six to eight months, home will be here.

ROSS: This is it, our home away from home.

ROBERTS: There's a master bedroom, a dining table, even a television.

ROSS: And this is our kitchen.

ROBERTS: But for a family of four, it's tight.

ROSS: We have to be patient. We have to learn to respect each other's feelings a little bit more, because it's a stressful time.

WAYNE SALLADE, CHARLOTTE CNTY. EMERGENCY MGMT. DIR.: We made great progress the first two weeks after Charley.

ROBERTS: Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Wayne Sallade.

SALLADE: We had power restored to those who could accept it. All water was restored. Many of the essential services were back.

ROBERTS: Then came Frances, now Ivan.

SALLADE: And that has really slowed our recovery.

ROBERTS: Especially in places like Riviera Lagoons, where Gary Anderson and Jamie Lambert continue living in a trailer outside their mangled mobile home, without electricity.

GARY ANDERSON, RIVIERA LAGOONS RESIDENT: It's very difficult.

JAMIE LAMBERT, RIVIERA LAGOONS RESIDENT: It's just a lot of stress that you just have to learn to live with. It's just a different way of living.

ROBERTS: Indeed, as the sun sets on this one-month milestone, much work remains, as people here look toward brighter days ahead.

ANDERSON: The only thing you can control is the future and the present -- just have to forget about the past, you know?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And no doubt, Punta Gorda is hoping to be spared from the brunt of Hurricane Ivan -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Federal relief workers are still at work in Florida, as you know. And if the state gets pummeled again by Ivan, will there be enough resources to even go around? Here with me today, FEMA Director Michael Brown. Great to have you with us. I guess that's what everybody wants to know. You look at Charley, Frances, Ivan -- is there enough money, and is there enough to spread around?

MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: There's plenty of money. President Bush went to Congress on Labor Day and said FEMA needs $2 billion more, because we were near the end of the fiscal year. The president's going back to Congress today and saying we need $3.1 billion, part for FEMA, part for the other departments that are helping us respond to all these hurricanes.

PHILLIPS: So, you pretty much get what you want. When you come forward and say, "Look, Mr. President, we're desperate here, and we've got to help these people," it's never really a huge tug of war.

BROWN: It's really not. I mean, the president fully supports FEMA, and all the members of Congress have always been very supportive of us. So, I've never really worried too much about the financial resources, as long as we do a good job with it.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting now, looking to New Orleans. Now, I lived in New Orleans. Oh, my gosh, I've experienced the hurricane, the lack of a drainage system. It gets crazy there with the flooding. As you look at this area, it's sort of ironic, because you just did an exercise there not too long ago with catastrophic training, right?

BROWN: Right. And in fact, that was one of the things I really wanted to get started in FEMA, was to do catastrophic planning. What do we do if a true catastrophic event occurs, where you have literally thousands of lives lost and people not able to get back in their businesses for a long time? So, we chose New Orleans, because it is so susceptible to natural disasters.

PHILLIPS: So, tell me how the exercise went. What did you learn? Were you able to fix some things, make some things better in sort of preparation for what's about to happen there?

BROWN: Well, I think so. I mean, I think the exercise went exceptionally well, and I think the state and the federal government both learned that the way to continue to prepare for these things is to make certain, one, the states have the resources they need, two, that we have a good partnership between the state and the federal government, and then that we exercise that partnership.

Because you can talk about it all you want to, but if you don't exercise it, then when the real thing happens, you're kind of stumbling around. That's what made us stronger now for Louisiana.

PHILLIPS: So, the governor, as we saw just a few minutes ago, from Louisiana, came forward and just plain and simple, she just said, "Get out, pack you car up and leave."

BROWN: Good.

PHILLIPS: So, this training that you did in New Orleans, the catastrophic planning, once people leave, how does this training go into place? What will happen next? Is it sort of wait and see what happens, and then start to rebuild so people can come back quickly, deal with the flooding issues?

BROWN: Well, that is exactly what happens, is if we can get people to listen to what the governor says, not just in Louisiana, but in Mississippi, and Alabama, and Georgia, and Florida also, and to follow those evacuation orders, that allows all the emergency responders to get in more quickly and respond and help save lives.

And that's why people really need to listen to these local officials. When they say, "Do something," the best advice I have for them is to follow that recommendation or follow that order.

PHILLIPS: Well, I've got to ask you -- we've seen less deaths, when you look at all these -- if you look at Charley, Frances, and Ivan, of course, on its way, so far, totally different from Hurricane Andrew. A lot more people lost their lives. Why is that? Are people listening more? Did they learn the lessons from Andrew, and so now they know, OK, we'd better listen to FEMA, or the governor, or whomever?

BROWN: I think it's all of those things, Kyra. In fact, I think what happens is as long as we keep pushing the awareness and preparedness message, people are listening to it. And then when you take -- I'll pick on all these southern governors right now, but you take Jeb Bush, when you take Haley Barber, when you take Governor Riley, you take all these governors and you say, "Look, we want to exercise and train well together," they put together incredibly good emergency management systems.

So, when we have to face a crisis like this, we're playing as a team, we know what their capabilities are, they know what our capabilities are, and we can work together as a team to respond.

PHILLIPS: So, where are you headed to next? BROWN: Well, I'm going to go to Orlando, because you know, we've had people in Florida, for literally a month now, working on Hurricane Charley and the Frances victims. We've spent almost $400 million just on individuals. That's not counting...

PHILLIPS: Now, is this getting them their check?

BROWN: This is...

PHILLIPS: They're filing their paperwork, and you're cutting them a check.

BROWN: Yes. In fact, we've processed over 400,000 people in Florida, $400 million on the street to those individuals. That does not even count the money that we'll spend on rebuilding infrastructure.

PHILLIPS: Do you make recommendations? I mean, do these states ever come to you and say, "OK, did we do things right? Are we spending the money properly? What do you think about this plan? Should we rebuild this, fix these streets, fix this drainage system?"

BROWN: Well, they will. And in fact, when they come to us and they want to spend the billions of dollars that we'll put in there -- of course, we have some parameters within which we want them to work. So, we will. We'll work with them as a team to make certain that, one, things are built back properly, but two, what can we do to mitigate the damages from future hurricanes.

PHILLIPS: Michael Brown, director of FEMA -- busy man, no doubt. Thanks for stopping by today.

BROWN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Whiz kids from "The Apprentice" whip up a dreamy ride for kids. Will it zoom off the shelves or morph into oblivion? Later on LIVE FROM, we'll talk to the nuke hunter -- looking for the truth behind North Korea's mushroom cloud, and Iran's veil of secrecy. As the killer Hurricane Ivan looms in the gulf, checkout the latest technology for tracking monster storms. LIVE FROM takes you behind the scenes tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: News across America now. The FDA is considering tightening restrictions on who can prescribe antidepressants to children. Health advisors are meeting for a second day to look into whether antidepressants increase suicidal tendencies in children. One health advisor says she is appalled that psychiatrists are signing prescriptions written by social workers and pharmacists.

A state criminologist is back on the stand this hour, testifying for a second straight day in the Scott Peterson murder trial. Yesterday, the woman told jurors that little blood was found in Peterson's home, and that no blood was found on Peterson's boat cover. Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his wife in their home, then used his boat to dump her body.

Will Barry Bonds hits 700. The San Francisco slugger will be chasing history tonight as he tries to join Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth as the only players to ever hit 700 in their careers. Bonds hit number 699 Sunday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Well, they aren't winners, according to Donald Trump, just yet, but they are to Mattel. The toy maker says it will manufacture a toy car designed by the winning team on last week's premiere of "The Apprentice 2." The prototype remote-control car will be sold under the name "Morph Machines." Mattel says the cars will be in stores early next year.

And "Apprentice" fans will want to keep it on LIVE FROM. On Thursday, Bill Rancic, the winner of the first season of "The Apprentice," will join us to talk about his experience on the show and what he's doing now. Again, that's Thursday, 1:00 o'clock Eastern.

PHILLIPS: As the Southeast braces for its third big hurricane in a month, some economists say the effects will be felt by the national economy, no doubt.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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