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Louisiana National Guard Brings Troops Home for Katrina Recovery Efforts; Ex-Tyco Executives Sentenced

Aired September 19, 2005 - 14:30   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And a scramble for power is underway in Germany. This after voters denied a major victory either to the party of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder or that of conservative opposition leader Angela Merkel. Now both say they are seeking coalition partners in a struggle that could last weeks.
While residents and tourists ordered to evacuate the Florida Keys, a National Guard C-130 cargo plane sent to retrieve hospital patients. And now Governor Jeb Bush declares a state of emergency. Florida obviously isn't taking any chances with Rita, a tropical storm that continues to gather in strength.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: We want to get back now to New Orleans. And standing by with our continuing coverage is CNN's Kyra Phillips. Hi, Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Betty. Going to talk to you a little bit about a unique piece that we were able put together yesterday, and it's concerning General Russel Honore, as you know, that John Wayne dude that the mayor likes to refer to around here. I've known the general for a while. He's definitely the real deal. I think we saw that as soon as he touched base here in New Orleans.

But he's having a really hard time with all the media, all this press coverage, all these requests for profiles and people talking about him. And I told him, I said, America is embracing you right now because of what you did, and you're going to have to learn to deal with that. At the same time, he really wants to get out of the limelight. And I mean that. I know that he talks to us and he talks with other journalists, but he really wants to downplay his role right now. And he wants Admiral Thad Allen to really shine and be in the limelight because he is the one that is -- he's in charge right now, he's the top guy.

Anyway, I found out another connection with the general and that was that his son, Mike Honore, was serving in Iraq for the past year. And I got word that he was on his way home. The Louisiana National Guard was finally bringing another 300 soldiers back from Iraq here to Louisiana to help serve in the Hurricane Katrina effort. When I talked to the general and I said, hey, I want to go along. I understand you're going to go meet your son, you're going welcome the soldiers back. I know what you -- how you feel about the Louisiana National Guard. Can we come along? And he said, Kyra, no, I don't want to focus on my family anymore. So I did some negotiating with the general. I said, OK, I will focus on the National Guard. I realize how important that is. But I also want to talk about the fact that you're excited for your son to come home. And he said, all right, Kyra, let's roll. Here's the piece.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): It takes a lot to pry General Russel Honore out of New Orleans, but this is a very special mission. A homecoming for members of the Louisiana National Guard who have been serving in Iraq for the past year. Honore wants to greet them in person.

As we fly over Louisiana, he seems almost enchanted by the landscape of his home state.

GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, NEW ORLEANS: Just to the west of us is a river called...

PHILLLIPS: These are General Honore's roots.

HONORE: One of the strongest currents of (INAUDIBLE) waterway.

PHILLIPS (on camera): Why is that?

HONORE: I have no idea. God made it that way.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): As the plane taxis in...

HONORE: We're so proud of you. Thank you. Welcome home.

PHILLIPS: ... and the troops pull out, Honore greets every single one of them with a salute and handshake. Except this one. This young sergeant gets a hug.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to hug the next general you see, all right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: Sergeant Mike Honore is a member of the 256th Brigade Combat team, but he's also General Honore's firstborn son, a connection they like to downplay.

(on camera): I notice you made the general hug his son, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You bet. That's one milestone his son had to do before he could get through the gauntlet here.

PHILLIPS: I know you're proud.

HONORE: Very proud.

PHILLIPS: Does it feel good?

HONORE: Yes, these are the heroes. We got the home game. They had the away game.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Sergeant Mike Honore is just one of 300 soldiers relieved to finally be back. It was tough, they say, to watch on television from thousands of miles away as their state was battered by Hurricane Katrina.

MAJ. GEN. BENNETT LANDRENEAU, LOUISIANA ADJUTANT GENERAL: The soldiers went from knowing their families were worried about them to them worrying about their families.

PHILLIPS: Twenty-two of their comrades died in Iraq. Four hundred of them lost homes to the hurricane. A difficult year by any measure, but tonight it's all about the homecoming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm excited. I can't contain myself right now. I'm so happy he's coming home.

PHILLIPS: It's been a year and a half since Samantha Collins (ph) has seen her husband Kevin. Her two sons can barely wait another minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love him so much. I can't wait 'til he comes. I'm so nervous right now.

PHILLIPS (on camera): Are you nervous?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very nervous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why he's holding on to me.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): As the guardsmen arrive...

(CHEERS)

PHILLIPS: ... the words they've all been waiting for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dismiss these soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dismissed!

PHILLIPS: Within second seconds, the Collins family shares one giant hug.

(on camera): Samantha, what is it like to have your husband home?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't even talk right now. I'm so happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK, it's OK.

PHILLIPS: After the tension, the trauma and the uncertainty here and in Iraq, Louisiana families are back together, teaming up for an urgent mission on the homefront.

SGT. MICHAEL HONORE: And I got a feeling that we're going to get back on track. The state's going to recover good from this. PHILLIPS: Like father, like son, believing in the future of Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And, Betty, as we were all loaded up in the van, headed back to the helicopter, the first phone call that the general made was to his wife. And he passed the cell phone back so his son could talk to his mom and let her know that he was home. And then, of course, right after that, the general turned around and said, son, I want to talk about that volunteer work coming in to help with Hurricane Katrina. So we'll see what Sergeant Mike Honore does in the next couple of days, as he has time to relax.

But overall, looking at the Louisiana National Guard, I mentioned, 400 of these soldiers lost their homes, and they were very concerned about what was happening overseas and here. And now they're coming home to rebuild their homes, be back with their families and see what the next duty is, of course, for them -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Yes, but we are so happy to hear that. So many of them did come home safe. That's a great story, Kyra. Thank you for that. Thanks for sharing that.

There's more LIVE FROM coming up, right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Back here live in New Orleans, as LIVE FROM continues.

We've been talking so much about the people of New Orleans and getting back into their homes and getting business up and running. We've been talking about all the players here, with regard to the joint task force, dealing with health issues, security issues. But we haven't really talked about CNN and our bureau here in this building that I'm standing on top of.

We've decided, as an organization, that we're going to invest in this city, we're going to invest in this region. And we're going to be here for a couple of years and we're going to cover all the issues. And hopefully, the progress from here on forward and this city getting up and running to be like it was, even better than before. And, of course, the other areas, too, affected in Mississippi, in Alabama.

So I wanted to sort of take all of you, the viewers, on a little bit of a tour of our new building here and inside our new news room. So that's what I did.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (on camera): All right. Well, had is the outside of our bureau. I'm sort of going to give you the lay of the land and then we'll go inside. Right here are all the RVs where a lot of our staff are staying and working out of and living.

And you'll notice, you've got to leave a note everywhere you go, especially if it's in plastic bags. "Laundry in front of R.V., no trash please." This is just a small example of all the laundry that needs to be washed. You can just imagine where it's been in the past couple of weeks.

Then we've got the natural gas setup. Hello there, how you doing? That's OK. Natural gas setup that helps our field kitchen keep up and running so we're able to get hot meals, believe it or not. That was exciting, to get our first hot meal just in the past couple of days.

And this is our building on Catania (ph) Street. Our news room is actually on the second floor. We've got the entire floor. You'll see that in just a second. And let me bring you over here. I'll actually show you where the generator is. Obviously, it's really loud, so I'll just show you for a minute. It's the big green box, you see back there. It's pretty amazing. That's how we get all our -- that's how we function. It was so nice to actually have some air- conditioning and be able to make phone calls and go onto our computers.

And then this is actually our storage area. Everything's canned. Canned tuna fish, anything you can imagine. A lot of power bars. But this is it. This is our whole supply center. Anything you basically need, water, paper towels, and medical supplies, as well. I'll tell you one thing we cannot live without, and that's anti-bacterial things for wiping our hands and constantly keeping clean. Baby wipes. That is the main source of keeping clean. And, of course, soap and aspirin and, you know, what can I tell you, dum-dums. Plastic gloves. Vitamin C, chewable Vitamin C. You name it, we've got it in here.

Believe me, this menu is a true luxury. Because let me show you what we were dealing with prior to having a hot meal. This was basically all our food. This is what we ate for days and days and days. Peanuts, soup, canned beans, Spam. That's -- I didn't go there. Microwaveable food, without the microwave, but we finally got that. Tons of power bars, granola bars, crackers, canned peaches. That was pretty good for us, too, Georgia peaches. We were excited to have that. And the works.

And this was sort of like a medical table, with all our band-aids and soap and, you know, things that we need to keep clean, because you're constantly washing your hands. All right. Let's go upstairs.

And this is it. This is the CNN New Orleans Bureau. Everybody, giving LIVE FROM a little tour of the bureau here. Say hello. Thank you very much. They're busy. What are you working on, Buzz (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Working on doing -- I'm making sure the correspondents are covering the stories that we all want them to report. All the shows like you. Making sure that you have all the other (INAUDIBLE) you need.

PHILLIPS: And that LIVE FROM has everything we need.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that LIVE FROM has all the resources they need to put on a great show. PHILLIPS: Thank you, Buzz.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Of course, they're just saying this for the camera. But now you're getting a feel. We've got maps on the wall. We've got, of course, hot coffee, that keeps us going.

But this is how we keep track of the various areas in New Orleans and where we have crews and what we're covering. So there you go. This is the New Orleans CNN Bureau. It's small. It's comfortable. And it's great to be here, because we've made a commitment to stay rooted in New Orleans and cover all the stories until this city is back on its feet. And, of course, the other parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So there you go, Betty, a little inside look at the bureau. Of course, there was a lot more to that interview, but I think a lot of the correspondents that I interviewed were nervous about being on television, because I caught them off guard. Imagine that.

NGUYEN: No one wants to be caught off guard. And you know, I see the excitement about the food being there. Because when I was in Houston a couple weeks ago, many of the crews who had come from Biloxi, who had come from New Orleans, were still eating MREs stashed in their cars. They were eating tuna fish day after day after day. And, of course, you know, it doesn't compare to what people have lost, but when you're trying to cover a story, it's so important to stay well-fed and make sure that everything is fine and dandy so you can be out there and healthy to do this story.

And, of course, you mention, you know, antibiotic -- anti- bacterial soap. That is so important, because you're out in the field and all that you're being able to see and smell. Give us a sense of that. Is New Orleans coming back to life? The little bit that you've been able to see?

PHILLIPS: Well, you bring up a good point, just about the anti- bacterial. We actually have an RV right across the street from our bureau. We have a doctor on call 24/7 and also a nurse. And we've been getting our shots, so -- hoping that we're not going to get sick. Of course, we couldn't take a shower for a long time. We were able to take our first shower just a couple days ago, because of the E. coli in the water.

So health concerns -- we've been talking so much about that. It's not only the people of New Orleans, but we have to keep healthy also so we can continue to cover all these stories. So we've been very lucky to have those resources here at our disposal if, indeed, we've needed them -- Betty.

NGUYEN: So good to hear that everyone is staying healthy out there, taking those precautions. And I loved seeing the cars behind you, because it is evidence that people are coming back into the city and things are starting to get back on track. Kyra, thank you.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

NGUYEN: Well, prosecutors call it a shocking spree of self- indulgence, while lawyers for Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski surgery are asking for leniency. We have those details on sentencing day, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We're continuing to watch Tropical Storm Rita, because there's a possibility that this could be a very powerful hurricane in the days that are coming. It could even be on track very similar to Katrina. Now, the path in which it could hit is very large and it could possibly include Galveston. We just got word from a transportation official, Steve LeBlanc, in Galveston, talking about a possible evacuation preparation that's under way there. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE LEBLANC, GALVESTON, TEXAS OFFICIAL: The city of Galveston has activated its emergency management plan. We called a mandatory meeting of our department heads this morning. I instructed each and every one to begin preparation for the possibility that Rita could hit Galveston. Even though it's planned to be a Category 3, we plan for a Category 4.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: And, obviously no one is taking any chances after Katrina hit and all the damage that was caused by that storm. We'll keep you posted with Tropical Storm Rita, which could become a hurricane in the coming days.

In other news, jail time was handed out earlier today in a notorious corporate fraud trial. Susan Lisovicz has the details of the Tyco sentencing in the LIVE FROM New York Stock Exchange studio. Hi, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty.

A lot of drama today in state supreme court here in lower Manhattan. Former Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz had been each sentenced to eight and 1/3 to 25 years in prison. They've also been ordered to pay restitution and fines totaling $239 million. Kozlowski and Swartz, you may recall, were convicted in June of taking hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal bonuses and forgiving loans to themselves, in addition to manipulating the company's stock price.

The case exposed the executives' extravagant lifestyle, which included a $2 million birthday party for Kozlowski's second wife on a Mediterranean island and an $18 million Manhattan apartment with a $6,000 shower curtain. All of this charged to the company. Both men were led from the courtroom in handcuffs. A very different lifestyle awaits them -- Betty.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

NGUYEN: Take a look at the radar. We are continuing to watch Tropical Storm Rita, which has gained in strength within the last hour. It now has winds of 70 miles per hour. That is just four miles per hour shy of hurricane strength. So it could become a hurricane very shortly.

Now, the governor of Florida has already declared a state of emergency, and there is also the worry that after it passes over parts of Florida, including Key West, that Rita could move into the Gulf of Mexico and threaten areas already damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

So obviously, we are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Rita, which is just four -- has four miles per hour -- winds of four miles per hour short of being a hurricane. We're going to stay on top of that for you.

But for now, that wraps up this Monday edition of LIVE FROM. I'm Betty Nguyen at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Now, Wolf Blitzer is live in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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