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Bolton Takes Short Cut to U.N. Position; Astronauts May Need to Repair Shuttle; Nigerians Pray for Hunger Relief; Rafael Palmiero Suspended for Steroids

Aired August 01, 2005 - 14:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News," bound for the U.N. John Bolton is going with full confidence of President Bush, but not with that of Congress. His appointment, made by President Bush while Congress is in recess. More on that in just a moment.
Britain wants him, Italy has him. And for now, he has been charged -- Hamdi Abu Isaac -- with international terrorism. He's one of four men suspected in the botched bombings in London July 21st. A source close to the investigation says Isaac is talking, spilling names and details.

Homegrown gangs, a big target for law enforcement. Federal officials unveiled today the arrests of nearly 600 alleged gang members, many of them for street crimes. Officials note most apparently are in the country -- most of them, I guess, are in the country illegally. That's what we're trying to say.

And a steroid shocker. Baseball superstar Rafael Palmeiro tests positive for the drug and is suspended 10 days without pay. Testifying before Congress in March, the Oriole slugger flatly denied using steroids. Today, Palmiero said that he couldn't explain how the drugs got into his body. We're going to have more on that developing story in just about 20 minutes.

An ambassador with baggage. John Bolton, stalled by the Senate over management issues, intelligence issues, temperament issues, is packing for U.N. headquarters nonetheless, having received a recess appointment from President Bush. That's a constitutional, even commonplace maneuver that ends the five-month battle over Bolton's nomination, at least temporarily, while presuming all the bad blood -- preserving all that bad blood, I should say.

CNN's Bob Franken watching all things from the White House. Probably pretty positive, everything coming from the White House, Bob. Not a lot of bad blood there.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there certainly hasn't been an awful lot between the White House and the Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The new United Nations ambassador will have to use his baggage when he goes later today to New York to try and ease into a job that has been anything but easy for him to accomplish, as evidenced by the recess appointment when the administration was not able to overcome Democratic -- mainly Democratic resistance and get Bolton confirmed in the normal way. John Bolton was not able to get Senate confirmation, so the president did this recess appointment, an appointment while Congress was in recess, allowed by the Constitution.

The problem is -- is that Bolton's term will end before the administration does, specifically at the end of next year.

Nevertheless, the president said there should not be a credibility problem, that Bolton has his full confidence. Certainly doesn't have the confidence of Democratic critics like Joe Biden, who said that this was a deeply disappointing move by the president. Deeply disappointed was Biden's reaction.

Even Republican Senator George Voinovich, who had opposed this nomination, said he was disappointed.

As for the press secretary at the White House, he says that he knows of no plans by Bolton to change his ways.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Ambassador Bolton is someone who has sometimes used a blunt style, but is someone who brings passion and experience and a results-oriented approach to the position. That's exactly the kind of leader we need at the United Nations during this time of war and time of reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: What he will also have to discover, according to his many critics, is a diplomatic style necessary to go through the very complicated, delicate dance that involves diplomacy at any level but certainly at the United Nations -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Bob. I'm trying to test my memory, and I don't want to put you on the spot, but I'm trying to -- I'm trying to remember the lass recess appointment.

FRANKEN: The last recess appointment.

PHILLIPS: I know. I put us both on the spot.

FRANKEN: I don't know -- let me put it -- no, you haven't put me on the spot.

PHILLIPS: OK.

FRANKEN: I can finagle my way out of this one.

PHILLIPS: Excellent.

FRANKEN: OK, first of all, in the Clinton administration -- I'm going to be a regular Cliff Claven here -- there were 140. However, none of them rose to the level of this one, mostly used for judges, et cetera.

So the fact is that recess appointments are not that unusual, but they are in this situation. And, of course, are not what so many people think. A recess appointment is not somebody who's been appointed to be a playground monitor.

PHILLIPS: There we go, live television. We just, you know, that's genuine Q&A. Bob Franken, live from the White House. Thank you so much. Great numbers. You hammered it out. All right.

Well, reaction U.N. headquarters today in a word, diplomatic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It is the president's prerogative and the president has decided to appoint him through this process, for him to come and represent him. And from where I stand, we will work with him as the representative of the president and the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth, has been reading between the lines. Richard, let's talk about what awaits the new ambassador. But just as I listen to Kofi Annan there, we hear him say, "We await him. We await to work with him." You tend to wonder what could happen to Kofi Annan, considering what's happened with the oil for food scandal among other issues. Is Kofi Annan safe?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kofi Annan is as safe as long as the next reports from an independent official investigating all of this does not really come up with major new evidence against either him or his son or call into question his ability to run the organization.

President Bush has stood by Kofi Annan. He's their man. In fact, Bolton and Kofi Annan are kind of, based on the schedule, almost in sync. Because Bolton's term will end at the end of 2006, give or take a few days, and the same with Kofi Annan.

Bolton is going to be is focused on the longer picture, the longer picture, the future of the U.N. as an organization and its ability to function. Yes, many people have criticized Annan's management style. Bolton will be going after the U.N. so-called bureaucracy, trying to whip that into shape and trying to also knock heads together so that the U.N. members stop worrying about who gets a new seat on the Security Council and worry about the performance of the U.N. as an organization.

The U.S., of course, was also at fault during the oil-for-food scandal. It knew very well what was going on overseas, where oil might have been bought or sold by Saddam Hussein. It preferred to look the other way at the time.

They're prepared to work with John Bolton here. They know they have to. As the Chinese ambassador said a few weeks ago, "We know who the big boss is," meaning George Bush.

And they've already said back in Washington, that Bolton will be, quote, "closely supervised." So yes, there will be some negotiating Bolton will do here, but they know that the real message and the instructions will come from Washington.

PHILLIPS: Well, you bring up a good point. Considering the scandals that have been looming over the U.N., many people are saying John Bolton is the guy. We need someone who's tough and ferocious to come in there and shake things up. So could we take a moment to talk about areas where you think John Bolton would flourish.

ROTH: He's going to flourish in that he's going to force decisions, which people at the U.N. don't like. They've been debating the expansion of the Security Council for more than 12 years.

He's not going to be able to do everything. Kofi Annan today said it is good that a new ambassador can come and push, but he has to recognize there are also 190 other ambassadors.

Kofi Annan -- this may be his third attempt at reform here, but he wants to have earlier financial buyouts of older staff, get people who really can function in a new world that the U.N. is now caught in.

Bolton will push, probably, for a quicker definition on terrorism. Many countries here are still blocking that, saying that national resistance movement should not be defined as terrorism.

Bolton can also go public, and the pressure of the U.S. ambassador here should not be underestimated. Richard Holbrooke was able to achieve great success here in terms of some financial payments that the United States would owe, what level.

Bolton can definitely be the bad cop while Condoleezza Rice back in Washington can be the good cop. We don't know what the strategy will be. Will he be the flamethrower here, or will he quietly work behind the scenes?

There are a lot of areas: improving human rights. Kofi Annan wants the human rights commission in Geneva to be junked. Bolton would certainly like that. He worked extremely well at getting rid of the Zionism, the racism resolution of the general assembly. So there are still several areas where Bolton will be able to flourish.

It will be interesting if North Korea or Iran, both key explosive nuclear issues, get referred to the Security Council. Bolton, of course, is not well liked by the North Koreans. He'd have to be very diplomatic on the Iranian front. He is an arms expert. He may be able to do very well inside the counsel in talking on those two issues, though how he is received would be requested, perhaps, by China and others.

PHILLIPS: Richard Roth, live from the U.N. Thanks, Richard.

Well, how will the president's action today affect the battle over the Supreme Court vacancy? Find out on "INSIDE POLITICS," beginning in less than 25 minutes.

Ultimatums, warning and appeals. Iran announces it will resume its nuclear activities, unless European countries come up with some new incentives not to, and soon. The U.S. says that Iran could face international sanctions if it does.

Iran's program has been off-line for the past nine months during those negotiations. U.S. Officials are urging Iran to give the Europeans more time.

Tributes and condolence are pouring in following the death of Saudi King Fahd. Finally, both Islamic hardliners and U.S. leaders -- he was friendly to both. The king had ruled in name only since suffering a stroke about 10 years ago. His half brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, has been in charge ever since. He's now being proclaimed king.

A celestial service call by Discovery's astronauts today. Two of them spent hours making repairs to the International Space Station. Their next task might be repairing a problem with the belly of their own ride.

John Zarrella at the space station there -- or in Johnson Space Center in Texas. Hi, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no such luck. I'm not on the space station.

PHILLIPS: I wish you were. That would be a great story, John, space walking with the other two. That would be great.

ZARRELLA: A lot closer to the action, that's for sure.

But it looks as if, at this particular point in time, that the mission management team is getting closer and closer to making a decision on going ahead and sending an astronaut as part of the third EVA, as part of the third space walk on Wednesday, sending them to the belly of the Shuttle Discovery and to -- trying to remove the gap fillers.

Now, what are these gap fillers? Well, they're exactly that. They are fillers between two of the shuttle tiles. Now the ones in question are below the nose gear. You can see on that graphic there. And one of the two gap fillers is exposed or protruding a little over an inch. The other one between 6/10 and 9/10 of an inch.

So NASA is working right now to make a decision as to whether they need to go out there as part of this third EVA and remove those gap fillers. Cindy Begley, who is in charge of the space walk team here at Johnson Space Flight Center, says that, you know, they have a couple of options as to how to handle these gap fillers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY BEGLEY, SPACEWALK OFFICER: I don't have all the final details of what the team worked up, but I'll give you the gist of it. The first attempt is going to be to pull it out. We don't expect that to take a lot of force. If it seems to be taking a lot of force, then we will look at cutting it off. We have a number of tools. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: So they're going to be cutting it out, if they can't just pull it out. But, again, they do think that they'll be able to just pull these gap fillers out.

How did they come loose? Probably the vibration on ascent through the Earth's atmosphere. The problem that NASA is concerned about is heat build-up behind those gap fillers. Because they are protruding, there is no longer a smooth surface on the bottom of the shuttle. Thus, that would build up heat behind these gap fillers, and they don't know how exactly much heat will build up, probably a couple 100 degrees above the 2,000 degrees they already experience on re- entry.

But rather than worrying about it, if this is a simple EVA procedure, if any EVA can be considered simple, then this is what they'll decide to do, to go out there and remove those gap fillers or file them down, whatever the case may be.

Now today, the second of the space walks involving the two astronauts, what they did was to replace a gyroscope on the International Space Station. There are four. One of those was repaired on the second -- on the first EVA. This one was replaced. It went very smoothly. There you see Soichi Noguchi, the Japanese astronaut, with the gyroscope in his hands. It's about the size of a washing machine, but of course, weighs next to nothing in spate.

This, the second of the three EVAs, space walks, and this one went very, very smoothly, Kyra. But it does looks as if on Wednesday during the third EVA that NASA is -- it's looking more and more like they will attempt to do something about these protruding spacers between the -- between the tiles. And it's never been done before, so this will definitely be a first in space -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John Zarrella, thank you.

Straight ahead, steroids and baseball, a big name baseball player benched under a new Major League anti-doping policy. What does it mean for Rafael Palmiero's Hall of Fame aspirations?

Plus, there's food at the market so why are people still starving in Niger? We're going to explain the finances behind the famine.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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PHILLIPS: In the African nation of Niger, hundreds of thousands of people are inching closer and closer to death.

A devastating drought and the worst locust infestations in decades have decimated crops in that area. Now some 3.5 million people are on the brink of starvation. Children are the most at risk: 800,000 children under the age of 5 in Niger are suffering from acute malnutrition.

And what's worse, officials say it's a potential catastrophe that could have been avoided.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS DE TORRENTE, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: When you have people who are so poor and the price of food is so high that they cannot even afford to feed their children, to buy food for their children, and their children are starving to death. They can't go to the hospital, because you need to -- you know, you need to pay to get medical attention.

Then, you know, we need to override development strategies. We need to override these considerations and provide life saving support. And that's what the world international community failed to do until -- until now, when people -- everyone is scrambling to get food in, to get emergency medicine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Jeff Koinange has been bringing us shocking images and stories out of Niger for several weeks now. He says that right now many people are simply praying for a miracle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Praying for a miracle in a land where a devastating famine has killed thousands and threatens millions more. Christians make up a small percentage of Niger's nearly 12 million people, but that's not stopping them from seeking answers to the country's crises from a higher authority.

Father Jose Collado knows a thing or two about survival. He's lived and worked in Niger for nearly four decades and says he sees no end in sight to the suffering.

"This year has been very difficult," he says. "Many have died and many more are dying nearly every day, especially in the countryside."

Islam is the dominant religion here, and signs of the faithful performing their daily rituals are everywhere. Here, the faithful to admit these are tough times in any language or religion.

"This famine has made us completely useless as a people," he says. "Our dignity, our pride, everything is destroyed."

Despite the bruised egos, some here say they aren't too proud to ask for a helping hand

"The situation is catastrophic," says policeman Musa Jibu. "We urge the international community to help the people of Niger out of their misery. Please help us."

A short drive outside the main towns, and it's evident the famine is taking its toll. Man and animals find themselves competing for precious resources. Sometimes the razor thin herds of cattle get priority. Other times, humans find themselves having to dig a little deeper. Dry river beds like this can only mean more doom and gloom for the people of Niger.

And in village after village, it's the same story. Hunger has a way of making people turn to prayer in search of an elusive miracle.

"Our children are dying. Our elderly are dying. Look at us. We are all dying. We need help," he pleads.

As an entire nation prays for more rain, a group of nomadic women performs a rain dance, but even they know that a country cannot survive on hope alone.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Maradi in southern Niger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Obviously this is an extremely important story, and CNN is devoting important resources to it today and tomorrow. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper will report live from Niger. You can watch him on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," 7 p.m. Eastern.

CNN's LIVE FROM will return right after this.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL PALMIERO, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER: I'll be brief in my remarks. Let me start by telling you this. I have never used steroids, period. I do not know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, that appears to be in question now that Rafael Palmiero has been suspended for testing positive for steroids.

It was just months ago the Baltimore Orioles slugger told Congress that he was totally against the use of the drug. So what's the story?

CNN's Steve Overmyer joins me now with details and reaction.

And of course, I was saying to you, how could this have possibly happened without him knowing? We talked about, well, Barry Bonds talks about rubbing a cream on him he didn't know. There's a lot of supplements out there.

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This has really become such a -- it's obviously the hot button topic in Major League Baseball right now. And right now, Rafael Palmiero has kind of changed stories a little bit, basically saying that he did take steroids, but he unintentionally took them. Rafael Palmiero did speak with the media a little bit earlier today. Let's hear his explanation as to how steroids got into his system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALMIERO: I went in front of Congress, and I was -- I was honest with Congress. And, you know, I've been through a lot of stress over the last -- since that day, actually. And there's no absolute reason for me to do anything at this -- you know, at this stage in my career. There's nothing for me to gain and everything to lose.

You know, this was probably going to be my last year. I knew that I was approaching 3,000 hits. I was not about to put everything on the line, you know, my reputation and everything that I've worked for so hard in my life to do anything like this. It just -- it made no sense. You know, it just makes no sense. You know, I didn't do this intentionally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OVERMYER: All right, here's the bottom line here, Kyra. The bottom line is the steroids were found in his body. Major League Baseball suspended him for steroids being found in his body. It doesn't matter how they got there.

It's know up to him, I guess, in the court of public opinion to prove that it was unintentionally taken or it was a drug that was put into his body that he didn't know about. That's up to him to prove that it was unintentionally put there. Bottom line is the steroids were found in his body.

PHILLIPS: All right. So obviously, there's a lot to prove. But there are other things on the line here. A ten-day suspension, I said to you, big deal.

OVERMYER: Right.

PHILLIPS: It should be stricter than that. But then you're saying, yes, but we're talking about it in the media. His reputation at stake here and his all-star power, Hall of Fame...

OVERMYER: His -- Sure. His Hall of Fame credentials are certainly in question. When you look at his numbers, by the numbers, he has 3,000 hits. There are only 25 men in major league history that have 3,000 hits. Of those guys that are eligible for the hall, all of them are in the hall.

He has 500 career home runs, at least 500. Of guys who have at least 500 career home runs, all of them that are eligible are in the hall. He's got both. He is -- should be a lock for the Hall of Fame.

Now you have to wonder, with these steroids, not necessarily -- not even allegations any more, with the revelations that steroids were in his body, you really have to wonder how this is going to affect his Hall of Fame credentials, when he does retire. And he's 40, so he's basically maintained that this is probably goig to be his last year. He might not feel the effects of this until five years down the road.

PHILLIPS: So Jose Canseco comes out in his book, names a bunch of names. Rafael Palmiero was mentioned in that book. You kind of wonder, OK, well, Jose received a lot of criticism, but now we're sort of seeing the aftereffects here. Wonder if there are any other individuals that will come forward or be tested positive for steroids?

OVERMYER: Well, that's still yet to be determined, but I will say this. When the book came out and Rafael Palmiero's name was used, it's almost as if we all scoffed at it, because Rafael Palmiero does not have the prototypical steroid user's body. He's not the big monstrous arms. He's only hit a maximum of 47 home runs in his career.

Though he is closing in his 15th straight season with 20 -- at least 20 home runs, so he's not, by the numbers, a home run hitter year after year. But he does put up good numbers. There still remains a question, though. You do spin it towards other players as to who, if any others, will be as big a name as Rafael Palmiero.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's hope it was a mistake. You know?

OVERMYER: Let's hope so.

PHILLIPS: Innocent until proven guilty.

All right. Thank you so much.

OVERMYER: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, that wraps up this Monday edition of LIVE FROM. Now to take us through "INSIDE POLITICS," Joe Johns.

Hi, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra.

With Congress on vacation, the president installs his man at the United Nations. I'll talk with senators from both sides of the aisle about the battle over John Bolton.

Plus, will today's appointment of Bolton as U.N. ambassador have an effect on the Supreme Court battle over John Roberts?

All this and much more when I go "INSIDE POLITICS" in two minutes.

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END

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