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Congress Investigates Hurricane Preparedness; Massachusetts Double Murder Suspect Arrested in England; Interview With Former U.S. Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer; New Videotape Of Abducted Journalist Jill Carroll Released
Aired February 09, 2006 - 14:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Worldwide fury over newspaper cartoons may seem extreme, but it illustrates the gravity of imagery to Muslim faithful.
Scholars tell CNN the controversy needs context.
CNN's Brian Todd looked for some.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For many Muslims, the outrage goes beyond the derogatory depiction of their prophet. Experts say the Koran does not specifically ban images of the Prophet Mohammed, but you likely won't find a painting of Mohammed in any mosque, as opposed to churches, where likenesses of Jesus Christ abound.
Islamic scholars we spoke to say it's their teachings that have traditionally frowned upon these images, and not just those of Muslim spiritual leaders.
CHAPLAIN IMAM YAHYA HENDI, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Muslims believe that those prophets and messengers have to be honored, have to be respected, must not be insulted, whether they are Mohammed or Moses or David or -- or Jesus Christ.
TODD: But images of Mohammed are found in art museums in New York and Washington, even at the Supreme Court, where the prophet is carved in stone sculpture right above the justices' bench.
The court's Web site calls this well-intentioned, and says it bears no resemblance to Mohammed. Still, this sculpture has drawn protests. One scholar says, the general view is, these symbols can become a distraction.
PROFESSOR KARIM ABDUL BANGURA, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: The teaching says that, when you start associating a picture of such symbols, then people will start either worshipping those symbols or selling those symbols for profit, and then that you -- your attention becomes diverted from the only supreme being you're supposed to worship, which is God.
TODD (on camera): Two Muslim scholars sought to put the current protests into perspective, saying, when the recent movies "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "The Passion of the Christ" came out, they were banned in several Muslim countries, in part, they say, because it was believed those films insulted Jesus.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Ray Nagin called him that John Wayne dude. You know him, Russel Honore, the shoot-from-the-hip lieutenant general who oversaw military rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina and made quite a name for himself in the process.
Today, Honore was front and center on Capitol Hill for a hearing on hurricane preparedness.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, was listening -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the -- General Honore, months later, very reflective on the situation in Hurricane Katrina, and the role of U.S. military forces there.
He was pretty restrained, and offered a number of recommendations on how he thought things could be done better next time. One of the central issues that General Honore has focused on, literally, from day one, has been communications, that that storm wiped out communications, really hit everybody over the head with the fact that everything they thought they had to communicate in a crisis was basically taken out by the storm.
Listen to General Honore for just a minute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIEUTENANT GENERAL RUSSEL HONORE, COMMANDER, FIRST U.S. ARMY: While this storm set back technology 80 years -- the American people need to understand that, that this storm beat us. I have been beat before, but not this bad.
This storm beat everything that we pride ourselves in, our transportation system, our airline system, our ability to communicate, our ability to take care of Americans with the proper health care. This storm beat us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But not the will to survive.
HONORE: Not the will to survive -- but it beat us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Very somber words from the general, who is making no excuses, who says there were problems here.
His recommendations were very well received by the committee. Some of what he talks about is the fact that various elements of the U.S. government just have to work better together in a more coordinated fashion -- the general saying that a hurricane is not the time for people to start exchanging business -- business cards and find out who does what -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So, Barbara, did the issue come up about the military getting involved in domestic disasters? You know, there are so many different levels and chains of command, going through Homeland Security, all the way to the president. The military can't just respond.
STARR: Well, that's right.
One of the issues on the table that he and other commanders are addressing is whether there needs to be a change in the law, so that U.S. military forces, essentially, can be on the treats of the United States in a law enforcement role, perhaps if there is a massive terrorist attack, a pandemic, a natural disaster, beyond the capability of National Guard forces to cope.
General Honore and virtually all other senior U.S. military commanders we have spoken to are not anxious -- not anxious -- to see a change in the law. It would be a very sobering matter for U.S. military forces to take to the streets of the United States. They think the law is just fine. They want to see more work done in inter- agency coordination, and all those tiresome bureaucratic things that we don't like to pay a lot of attention to.
Most commanders think there's still plenty of work to be done in coordinating, especially if there is a terrorist attack or a pandemic, an outbreak of the bird flu, for example. They are not looking for a change in the law at this point -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, live from the Pentagon, thanks.
Newly declassified details of an al Qaeda plot to crash a plane into the tallest building on the West Coast, the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles. According to the president, terrorists from Southeast Asia planned to use shoe bombs to hijack a commercial plane and fly it into the skyscraper in 2002.
That plot was broken up, the president says, after a raid by a Southeast Asian country he didn't name. The reason that happened, he says, is because of cooperation of U.S. allies in his war on terror. He first mentioned the plot last year as one of the 10 the U.S. had destructed since 9/11. But the White House refused to give any details.
Today, he spelled out a number of those details in a speech in Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We now know that, in October 2001, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September-the-11th attacks, had already set in motion a plan to have terrorist operatives hijack an airplane, using shoe bombs to breach the cockpit door, and fly the plane into the tallest building on the West Coast.
We believe the intended target was Liberty Tower in Los Angeles, California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Mr. Bush misspoke on the name of that target. The White House immediately corrected him, saying the intended target was the former Library Tower now known as the U.S. Bank Tower.
You know it exists. You know why it exists. You know why the House -- White House -- didn't want you to know it exists. But you don't know many of the details behind the domestic spying undertaking -- undertaken in the wake of September 11. You and we may never know, actually. But, after refusing for weeks, the White House is now giving certain members of Congress more information.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales led a briefing today for the Senate intelligence Committee, just as he did yesterday for the House Intelligence Committee. A senior Democrat on the House panel calls it a welcome start. The U-turn comes after the Republican chairwoman of that panel that oversees the NSA called for a congressional inquiry.
Phone-tap evidence from seven years ago may help send a terrorist to prison for life. A jury in Britain sentenced radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to seven years in prison this week for soliciting murder, and other terror-related charges.
"The New York Times" reports, the U.S. will use the bugged conversations to try Masri here, if he is extradited. A U.S. indictment alleges, al-Masri supplied a satellite phone to a gang that kidnapped 16 Western tourists in Yemen. He's also charged with sending recruits to al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan trying to train terrorists in the U.S.
It may have been a murder-suicide attempt that only got as far as the murders. Police in London arrested Neil Entwistle today, after he was charged in Massachusetts with killing his wife and baby daughter. Twenty-seven-year-old Rachel Entwistle and 9-month-old Lillian were shot to death last month at their home in suburban Boston. The DA says there is evidence Neil Entwistle was having money problems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirty seconds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA COAKLEY, MIDDLESEX, MASSACHUSETTS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It may be that Neil Entwistle, having entered into some debt obligations in England, having moved to this country, with his new wife and child, attempting to start businesses, which, as many of you know, were not effective, on the Internet, on eBay, and, also, undertaking a lease and other financial obligations, may have found himself in financial difficulty.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Entwistle is British and apparently left for England around the time of those killings. He was arrested at a London subway station this morning, and appeared in court this afternoon.
CNN's Jason Carroll takes a look at the Entwistle case from the very beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The mystery began here, at Priscilla Matterazzo's home in Carver, Massachusetts, when Matterazzo spoke to her daughter, Rachel Entwistle, on Thursday evening, January 19, for the last time.
Investigators have not said how long they talked or what they talked about. The next thing we know in this story happened here at Boston's Logan Airport.
(voice-over): Early Saturday, January 21, Rachel's husband, Neil Entwistle, walked through terminal E at the airport. He appeared on a passenger list for an 8:15 a.m. British Airways flight to London's Heathrow Airport.
Officials, however, are not saying definitively whether Neil Entwistle was on that flight, could have been on another flight at another time.
(on camera): Later that same night, several of Entwistle's friends show up here at the Hopkinton, invited for an informal dinner party. But no one answers the door. Rachel's family, who had been unable to reach her, are concerned and call police.
(voice-over): Sunday morning, January 22, Entwistle's family and friends check inside the home. They, too, look in the bedroom upstairs and notice the unmade bed, but they see nothing out of the ordinary and file a missing-persons report.
(on camera): In response, that same Sunday night, police reenter the Entwistles' home and detect an odor. That's when they discover the bodies of Rachel and her baby, Lillian, under the disheveled covers in the bedroom upstairs.
(voice-over): The death certificate says Rachel Entwistle died from a gunshot wound to the head. It says her death was immediate. Baby Lillian died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Her death occurred within minutes.
The medical examiner cannot pinpoint the exact time of deaths. Investigators say, it appears to have been some time between Thursday and Saturday. That does not explain how both family and police missed the bodies in previous checks of the home or whether there's some chance Rachel and her baby were shot in that bedroom after those checks.
Monday, January 23, police find Neil Entwistle's BMW at Logan Airport. The Middlesex County district attorney holds her first press conference, labeling Entwistle a person of interest.
MARTHA COAKLEY, MIDDLESEX, MASSACHUSETTS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: No, I have not labeled him a suspect. We do not label people suspects. He is somebody we would always be interested in talking to, in that he's the husband of two people who have been killed.
CARROLL (on camera): January 24, Rachel's family get a phone call here from Neil Entwistle, who is staying with his parents in Worksop, England. The British tabloid "The Sun" reports, Entwistle told Rachel's stepfather -- quote -- "I can't remember how I got to England. Is it true Rachel and Lillian are dead?"
(voice-over): CNN's attempts to reach Entwistle or his attorney have been unsuccessful.
January 25, four Massachusetts investigators travel to England to meet with Entwistle. Two days later, Entwistle heads to the U.S. Embassy in London to meet with them, but, prosecutors say, under advice from his attorney, he does not answer their questions.
January 28, Rachel's obituary runs in "The Boston Globe." Neil Entwistle's name is not included.
February 1, Rachel's family lay her and Lillian to rest. Neil Entwistle misses the funeral of his wife and daughter. Today, he remains in England in seclusion.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Keeping vigil against violence -- some Alabamans are sleeping in their churches to protect them, while others remember all too well a string of earlier church arsons still unsolved. We are going to take a look back -- when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Nine churches burned -- dozens of investigators working all hours on precious few clues. It's an agonizing time in Alabama, and, for many people, an agonizing repeat of horrors they had hoped were put to rest.
Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steps and a handrail -- all that's left of Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Boligee, Alabama. Ten miles down the road, all this talk of church fires has shaken up Reverend Willie Carter of the Little Zion Baptist Church.
REVEREND WILLIE CARTER, LITTLE ZION BAPTIST CHURCH: I said, oh Lord Jesus, have mercy. I said, it -- it begin to start one more time. DORNIN: The recent fires have brought back memories of 10 years ago, when this church, the first Little Zion, was set ablaze. Three churches in Boligee were set on fire back then, three of more than 400 churches in the mid-'90s investigated for arson, bombings and attempted bombings.
(on camera): Does it make you fearful that...
CARTER: Well...
DORNIN: ... it might happen here?
CARTER: ... it make me fear that -- that we -- we might have it here again.
DORNIN (voice-over): After the fire, Willie Carter, then a parishioner, helped rebuild the church, brick by brick. It was a labor of love. His family -- all the way back to his great-great- grandmother -- had been church members.
The new Little Zion is up on a hill in the middle of the pine trees -- the closest neighbor, a cemetery.
(on camera): But, when we drove up, there was nobody here.
CARTER: Nobody here then, but...
DORNIN: It would be easy to -- for somebody to come here...
CARTER: But it.
DORNIN: ... wouldn't it?
CARTER: Yes. But it -- at -- at, nighttime, somebody is going to be around here.
DORNIN: It's easy to see how these churches can become targets. This is rural Alabama. There are no caretakers around, and there's often no one around for miles.
(Voice-over): Carter believes his church was burned in 1996 because the congregation was black. And he believes the same about the most recent fires, even though four of nine congregations were white.
(on camera): So, you think this new fire -- these new fires are -- are racially motivated?
CARTER: Yes, sir.
DORNIN (voice-over): Back at Morning Star Baptist Church, Governor Bob Riley wound up a tour of this week's church burnings. Riley says, he believes individuals, and not hate groups, are involved in the arsons, but admits, the isolation of these churches makes them especially vulnerable.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Boligee, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, the first lady drops in at the Vatican. We will have more on her meeting with Pope Benedict XVI -- just ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Looking for a new house? Looking to sell yours? No doubt, you have a price in mind, but is it realistic? A new Web site could help.
Before you log on, though, take a listen to CNN's Ali Velshi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The power behind Expedia, the nation's largest online travel agency, is taking aim at the real estate industry. Zillow.com is promising a free, fast and easy answer to the homeowner's biggest question: How much is my house worth?
RICHARD BARTON, CEO, ZILLOW.COM: You use it as a reference before you probably meet with a realtor to get smart, so, that, when you go into that meeting, and you sit down with a realtor, you are on a little bit more equal footing, and you can have a meaningful conversation about what I should list my home for.
VELSHI: Richard Barton founded Expedia. He says Zillow is an easy-to-use powerhouse, listing recent home prices and pricing trends on more than 40 million American homes. The company says the free Web site gives sellers the power to set the right price, and it helps buyers avoid overpaying.
Zillow also provides a tool for estimating the value of a home, even if it's been renovated, although the company admits a median margin of error of 7.2 percent. And it's more accurate in the West than in the East.
Our producers conducted informal tests on their own properties and found differences that were even greater than that. Still, it's unique. But will Zillow do to real estate agents and their $60 billion a year in commissions what online travel did to travel agents?
MARK LESSWING, CENTER FOR REALTOR VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS: The human side of looking at a property, you can see small things you can't just get from a computer. A computer can't tell you that, you know, the floors are not quite level, that, boy, really, the texture on this paint would need some reworking here.
(on camera): Now, we had trouble accessing the site for much of the first day. The company says it had a lot more traffic than it expected. We also found out it does not work equally well everywhere.
In D.C., for instance, the city keeps its records differently than other places do. And, here in New York, the apartments are all close together, and that affects valuations.
Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: The nation's biggest Spanish-language network could soon be up for sale. That could mean big business for other media companies.
Susan Lisovicz has the story live from the New York Stock Exchange.
I wonder who is going to buy.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, there's a lot of companies that you may have heard of, Kyra, because of the mucho dinero that it could bring.
Media companies want a piece of the lucrative Spanish-language market. And this could be their chance. Univision says it is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company. Reports say any such sale could be worth $10 billion. But the price tag may not hold back the suitors. Analysts say the auction could draw the country's media giants, including News Corp., CBS, and Time Warner, the parent company of CNN.
Univision owns the nation's biggest Spanish-language TV network, radio broadcaster, music company, and online operations. The company's shares are jumping 2.5 percent on the news.
Markets overall are higher, but, certainly, well off the highs of the session. Right now, the Dow industrials are up 40 points. They were at least double that earlier in the session. The Nasdaq has actually turned south, right now down 3.5 points.
Shares of AIG, a Dow component, are up nearly 1 percent right now -- this after it agreed to a landmark $1.6 billion settlement with federal and state regulators -- this to settle charges of a bid- rigging and improper accounting practices of the company, which is the world's biggest insurer by market value. The pact is the largest finance industry settlement by a single company in U.S. history.
And that is the latest from Wall Street. Join me at the end of the hour for the closing bell for a complete wrapup of the trading day.
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: For now, Kyra, in 30 seconds or less...
PHILLIPS: Yes.
LISOVICZ: ... back to you.
PHILLIPS: Yes, that -- that's all right. You can do more than -- I think we should go a step beyond mucho, though, and say muchisimo. That's how big it is, right?
(LAUGHTER)
LISOVICZ: Muchisimo.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: There you go.
LISOVICZ: You have got a name for that.
PHILLIPS: There you go. Infinity.
LISOVICZ: Excelente.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right, I will see you soon.
LISOVICZ: You got it.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Adios.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Well, what was it really like, those first days after Saddam Hussein? Our next guest knows. Paul Bremer tells all -- next on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Anger in -- in the Islamic world, it's still there, still aimed at the West, and still burning, but more of a smolder, now that public rioting in mostly Muslim cities has eased.
In Lebanon today, the leader of Hezbollah urged followers to keep up the protests, but without violence. He also repeated calls for European nations, specifically Denmark, to apologize for publishing images offensive to Muslims.
The cartoon uproar exploded in the past few days, but it simmered for months, fanned by frustration and fueled by the appearance that European leaders just didn't care.
CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Though the protests and violence ignited and then spread from Gaza 10 days ago, the truth is, the story really begins early last fall in Denmark.
(on camera): Incredibly, all this violence was sparked when a Danish author, writing a children's book about the Muslim faith, discovered he couldn't find an artist to draw a picture of the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's founder. He realized, they were afraid of offending Muslims, who consider such depiction sacrilegious.
FLEMMING ROSE, "JYLLANDS-POSTEN" CULTURE EDITOR: We had five, six cases in Denmark in the course of two weeks, all speaking to the problem of self censorship and freedom of speech, in terms of dealing and covering Islam.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): So, in a competition, Rose's paper asked artists to draw Prophet Mohammed. On September 30, they printed 12. Two weeks lapsed before Muslim demonstrators took to Denmark streets.
It was another week before ambassadors from Muslim nations complained to Denmark's prime minister. He ignored them.
Next, a delegation of Muslim leaders from Denmark carried a file full of the offensive cartoons to Cairo to plead for support from Muslim clerics there. But it wasn't until after mid-January -- in fact, after the hajj, the Muslim world's holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, that word really began to spread.
AHMED ABU LABAN, DANISH MUSLIM LEADER: Once the season was over, the scholars there started to -- to give attention to this issue.
ROBERTSON: Then, two weeks ago, on January 26, the Saudis recalled their ambassador to Denmark, and Internet sites did the rest.
ALI AL-AHMED, GULF INSTITUTE: There is actually a Web site dedicated to this issue, to the boycott issue, listing companies, products, and even fatwas, or religious edicts.
ROBERTSON: And that's when demonstrations ignited -- first, a flag burning in the West Bank, a takeover of a European Union office followed in Gaza.
Then, a week ago, the Danish government expressed concern to Muslims. But several European newspapers reprinted the cartoons.
That proved incendiary and led to critical mass. From Iran to Syria to Beirut, across the Arab and Muslim world, fiery violence brought deaths.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to -- to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it.
ROBERTSON: President Bush, in a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, called for an end to the violence. There's no indication that's about to happen.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, in the forefront, on the front lines, a front man for an unthinkably difficult enterprise -- Paul Bremer was told to set up a new Iraq, amid the wreckage of the old regime. And, so, he tried. And now he's back in the U.S., and here in Atlanta, to talk about his triumphs and his challenges, all spelled out in his memoir, "My Year in Iraq."
Good to see you.
PAUL BREMER, FORMER U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: Nice to be with you.
PHILLIPS: Been a busy day for you.
BREMER: Oh, it's all -- oh, they are all busy.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Well, I told you, I promised I wouldn't ask you questions about fashion or Grammys. I was joking with you.
BREMER: Just as well...
PHILLIPS: And...
BREMER: ... unless you want dead air.
PHILLIPS: Yes. And what did Grant say again?
BREMER: Grant -- Ulysses S. Grant said he -- that he only knew two songs, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and all the rest.
(LAUGHTER)
BREMER: So, if you ask me about songs, that's about how far you will get.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: How about if we stick to Iraq?
BREMER: All right.
PHILLIPS: Perfect. And I'm going to go back a bit to 2004, when you had talked about the United States making two major mistakes: not deploying enough troops in Iraq, and then not containing the violence and looting immediately after the oust of Saddam Hussein. Now in 2006, do you still believe that?
BREMER: Well, in looking back, I think that's my view. If you are saying that we don't have enough troops now. I don't know the answer. I've been out of Iraq for a year and a half. One thing that has gotten a lot better since I left is the training of the Iraqi security forces.
You got 96 Iraqi battalions now. The Iraqis are basically patrolling Baghdad. They control cities like Fallujah and Najaf and Samara, Tal Afar. They are really in the fight now, in a way that they were not when I was there, which is when I thought we needed more troops. But the Iraqis are now beginning to step up, and that's good.
PHILLIPS: Well when you were there, as things started to unravel, was there a point where you thought, oh, boy, this is a lot deeper of a problem than I ever imagined.
BREMER: Only once a day.
PHILLIPS: Only once a day. That's pretty good. I thought it would at least be 50 times a day. Peter Pace and Donald Rumsfeld kind of had an impromptu news conference yesterday. I want you to take a listen to what they said and I want to get your response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: In December, the Iraqi armed forces held more independent operations than did the coalition forces.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Think of that. Think of that. That stands in stark contradiction to the myth that they're not capable of doing anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The myth that they're not capable of doing anything. But then it seems on a daily basis, how do you -- I mean, is it possible to say yes, yes, things are getting better. You're talking about troops being more well-trained, versus the realities of this insurgency and the number of deaths that take place daily.
BREMER: Well, you know, the insurgency -- insurgencies don't go away overnight. And now that the Iraqis are more in the fight and doing better, -- you know, one thing that my friend Peter Pace didn't mention, or at least in that clip, is there has been a dramatic increase in the intelligence that Iraqi citizens, average citizens are now turning into Iraqi police, Iraqi army. They're saying you know, the guys in the corner house are speaking with a strange accent. They're not Iraqis. That has increased tenfold in the last six months.
What we are beginning to see is the Iraqi people starting to turn very strongly against the insurgency and the terrorists. We're seeing Iraqi forces that are able to deal with it. This is good news. It doesn't mean it's going to go away overnight. We still got a lot of war left ahead of us.
PHILLIPS: Do you think if you would have had more troops in the beginning that the insurgency would not have reached this point?
BREMER: Well, I think we had two problems. The intelligence that we had in the beginning was directed almost exclusively at the search for weapons of mass destruction, which I thought was important to continue. But we needed to get more focus, also, on the insurgency. It took us a while, working with the military and with the CIA, to get that on the ground. It came to us by the end of 2003, and that helped us a lot. But in the end, the fact that the Iraqis are providing intelligence is really what's important. Because it's their country. They've got to help us find and destroy these insurgents and these terrorists.
PHILLIPS: Do you think the Iraqi military should have been dismantled?
BREMER: Oh, absolutely.
PHILLIPS: There's been a lot of controversy about that.
BREMER: Well, it...
PHILLIPS: About maybe it wouldn't have gotten so out of hand if it wouldn't have been.
BREMER: Well, let's be careful with the facts here. The fact is there was not a single Iraqi unit standing in place anywhere at liberation. There was no Iraqi military to disband. The idea was put forward that we should recall the military. But people need to remember, that military had conducted a genocidal -- decade-long genocidal war against the Kurds in the north, had killed hundreds of thousands of Shia in the uprising in 1991. To recall that army would have been to suggest to the Iraqi people we came to throw out Saddam, but to impose some other colonel on them.
PHILLIPS: So you thought you couldn't trust any one of those soldiers?
BREMER: I felt as a political matter we had to show we were willing to build a new security force, which is what we've done.
PHILLIPS: I got to ask you this question. Because you're very critical in this book about the administration's decisions that were made. Do you think this war was about oil? Was it about Saddam Hussein and his relationship with the Bushes? Do you think it was about weapons of mass destruction? Was it about democracy in this country?
BREMER: Well, it's certainly not about oil. I tell you, I was there for 14 months. I met with all of our top leaders. I attended hundreds of hours of meetings. Nobody ever said, you know, this is about oil. So that's just a complete myth.
If you go back and read what the president said before the war, and his top advisers, they said it's about two things. It's about Saddam's refusal to cooperate on coming clean about his weapons of mass destruction. He was in violation of 17 U.N. Security Council resolutions. And it's about one of the most brutal and awful regimes anywhere in the world, one of the most totalitarian. And therefore giving the Iraqis a perspective for a democratic, better future. And we've done that.
PHILLIPS: So we saw there were no weapons of mass destruction, or evidence thereof. But I don't think anybody can doubt the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. So looking at everything to this point, has it all still been worth going after the brutal regime?
BREMER: Absolutely. And I think it is very clear that our men and women and our armed forces are involved in a noble enterprise of helping the Iraqis rebuild their country. And we disserved the memory and the sacrifices of those 2,200 who have died by saying we should come home now before the job is done. We've got to finish the job.
PHILLIPS: You also write about Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, and that you thought a number of times he didn't listen to you, that he ignored you. Give me an example or two.
BREMER: Well, I don't think he ignored me. I think he disagreed with me. And I don't -- he's an old friend of mine. He remains an old friend of mine. Look, in government, I would think Americans would welcome the fact that on matters of life and death, the important subjects, advisers, the president's advisers, are free to disagree with each other. After all, that's what you want. You want a vigorous debate.
And he and I, old friends, disagreed on a number of things. They are laid out in the book. It doesn't affect my relationship with him. The disagreements I had were largely about the quality of the Iraqi security forces. In those days, I felt the Iraqi security forces were not yet professionally trained and able to replace Americans. And indeed, they collapsed in the spring of 2004, and that's what led us to redo the training programs. And that's why the Iraqis today are much-better trained than they were a year and a half ago.
PHILLIPS: We've talked about a number of serious issues, but there was something that we noticed in your book. And you talked about your wife. Francie (ph). Am I saying her name correctly?
BREMER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: And it was a tough time. You had to give a big speech and she called you up and said I just came from prayer group, I want to tell you about this verse in Jeremiah. Were you -- how did you take that, and did you use that verse and implement it when you addressed the people?
BREMER: Yes, I did. It's Jeremiah 29:11, where -- which is from the Old Testament,therefore it's acceptable to Muslims. I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to offend anybody. It talks about the Lord, who has the plan for the future, a future of hope. And it is the subtitle of my book, "The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope." And I talked about the future of hope in every major speech I made in Iraq from that day forward.
And what's interesting is the Iraqis have that future of hope before them. In every single poll that's been taken in the last three years, the Iraqis have expressed optimism about their future, which is much more important than the fact I'm optimistic, is the Iraqi people are optimistic. They've seen the political process go forward. They've seen per capita income double in the last two years. The great untold story is how well the economy is doing. PHILLIPS: But then just in "The New York Times," today, it talked about electrical generation capacity, hours of power available in Baghdad. Oil production, the numbers of Iraqi with drinkable water and sewage service. Not where it should be.
BREMER: Well, of course it's not where it should be. You don't fix 40 years of catastrophic economic mismanagement. There's no other word for what Saddam did to the country. Plus robbing them and stealing the money, the oil-for-food programs, all of these things. You don't fix that in two or three years.
The gap between what they need -- what they have and what they need is probably somewhere between $75 billion and $100 billion. They're not going to produce that overnight. And you can't build electric power plants in two years. It takes, in this country, four or five years to build one. So -- and then over there, you got insurgents attacking you. So of course it's hard. It's a lot harder than it would be here in this country, and it's going to take time.
PHILLIPS: Interesting timing here. Ambassador Paul Bremer, thank you so much. But I want you to stay with us for a minute, because I'm getting word that we're getting information about Jill Carroll, the journalist that had been held captive in Iraq.
Fredricka Whitfield in the newsroom working this for us. Fred, what do we know?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Kyra, chilling words and now new images of the American journalist being held hostage in Iraq, Jill Carroll, this tape aired today on Kuwaiti television station Al Rai. I understand the audio is not perfectly clear, so we're going to roll the tape for you and let you see and listen for yourself, and on the back end I'll give you a transcription of what we believe she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JILL CARROLL, JOURNALIST HELD HOSTAGE: Today is Thursday, February 6th -- February 2nd, 2006. (AUDIO GAP) I sent you a letter written by my hand that you wanted more evidence. I am sending you this letter now that to prove I am with the Mujahedeen. I am here, I am fine. Please just do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time. Please do it fast. That's all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, so once again, that new tape coming from a Kuwaiti television station that has now been provided to us. That is Jill Carroll on the tape. She says the date, February 2nd.
And here's a transcription of what we believe was said. "I sent you a letter written by my hand that you wanted more evidence, so we're sending you this new letter now to prove that I am with the Mujahedeen. I'm here, I'm fine. Please do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time. Please do it fast. That's all."
Jill Carroll was abducted in Iraq more than a month ago. Her captors had said that she would be released if female prisoners in Iraq were released.
Deadlines had been set and now a third tape that we've obtained of Jill Carroll being aired this time on a Kuwaiti television station first. No reaction coming from Jill Carroll's family, nor from any representatives of the U.S. government or military -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Fred, thank you very much. As this word is coming in we are actually talking with Ambassador Paul Bremer about his book, "My Year in Iraq," and other things concerning Iraq. We are also going to bring in our Aneesh Raman from Baghdad.
Aneesh, why don't we get a quick update from you, and then I'll ask the ambassador a few questions about this?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, a number of interesting things about this tape. First, unlike the two previous tapes, we do not see the logo of the group that is holding Jill Carroll, the Brigades of Justice, burned in. In the previous tape, we saw a date -- January 28th -- burned in.
Al-Jazeera, who had aired the two previous tapes, did not choose to air Jill Carroll's audio. This network, which is a Kuwaiti-based network, called AlRai. It's really the first time we've seen them, as far as I can tell, air a tape like this. They say they have a copy of the letter that Jill Carroll speaks of, that they are handing that over to the authorities.
They did not give details as to what that letter contained. But if nothing else, the letter suggests that Jill Carroll's providing proof of life to the authorities. One can presume it's U.S. and Iraqi officials and, again, on terms of those demands, which we've heard all along since the first tape aired on January 17th, the release of all female Iraqi prisoners.
The last we've heard is that five Iraqi female prisoners were released after that first deadline came and went. The U.S. military and Iraqi officials quick to point out that was unrelated to the demands of those holding Jill Carroll.
We understand from Iraq's Justice Ministry there are still four Iraqi women in custody. Now we know next week there's some 450 prisoners said to be released. We are told not to expect any women in that group. But we have been told by the Justice Ministry that the women that remain in custody are set to be released some time soon.
So a number of questions again surrounding this videotape. Jill Carroll dates it herself at the beginning. Compared to the last tape where she was sobbing, she was clearly distraught, in this tape, as you saw, she seems composed. She ends the tape by saying that's all.
Again, in the last tape, there was no new deadline set. The first tape set a 72 hour deadline that came and went and we heard no word on Jill Carroll. The second tape, no deadline was issued, and in this tape very chilling words from Jill Carroll saying that essentially time is running out, that actions need to be taken quickly -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Aneesh Raman, live from Baghdad. Thanks, Aneesh.
Ambassador Bremer, you happened to be here when this news is developing. You know, you talked about this atmosphere of lawlessness. Back in 2004, I remember a quote. Looking at the situation with Jill Carroll, we've seen journalists that have been killed. It seems that she's still alive. What are your first thoughts about this new video tape?
BREMER: Well, of course, you -- first your sympathy goes to the family and how much pain these terrorists are causing not only their daughter, but the family. The tape is a week old. So we don't know exactly what's happened in the meantime with this week.
We don't know how long the letter's been there. We don't know what the letter says. We just have to hope that we'll find the people who are holding her and be able to free her.
PHILLIPS: It's hard when you see these videotapes. And then you listen to the strong, hard line from the government that look, we don't negotiate with terrorists. We are not going to do what they tell us they want us to do.
BREMER: Well they are absolutely right. They are absolutely right. To give in to the terrorists under any circumstances in this kind of a case would be simply to put the lives of every single American, not just in Iraq but everywhere in the world, at risk.
So if we did learn anything in Iran, in the Iran conflict 20 years ago, it should be that you do not give in to terrorists who are holding hostages. It's a terrible mistake.
PHILLIPS: Final question. If you were still there right now, how would you be handling the Jill Carroll case?
BREMER: Oh, I don't want to second guess my successors on that. They have got procedures and, again, what we hope is that we'll be able to free her safely.
PHILLIPS: Ambassador Paul Bremer. Thanks for your time, sir.
BREMER: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: En route to the Olympics, a pit stop with the pope. Laura Bush had an audience with Pope Benedict today at the Vatican, later telling reporters the pope wished her a peaceful visit as she heads to the U.S. Olympic Delegation. The first lady says they also spoke about the Muslim cartoon controversy and other issues of politics and faith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: We talked about religion. We talked about separation of church and state in religion. We talked about -- I talked about how many, many people in the United States are religious.
And -- but of course, we are diverse, a lot of different religions -- and that we respect the freedom of religion or the freedom not to worship if people choose that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The Vatican announced today that Pope Benedict will visit the predominantly Muslim nation of Turkey in November.
Rock, rap, country, everything in between and some of it all mashed up on display at last night's Grammy Awards.
(MUSIC)
PHILLIPS: U2 the big winner receiving five awards, including song and album of the year. The Irish rockers now have 21 Grammys. Green Day picked up record of the year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" off the "American Idiot" album.
And, in what was billed as his first public performance in 19 years, oh, yes. It's Sly Stone. He came on for a tribute to Sly and the Family Stone.
Other winners included Mariah Carey and John Legend after Jamie Foxx joined Kanye West on stage. And West, who won best rap album for the second year in the row saw not winning the album of the year as a challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KANYE WEST, GRAMMY AWARD WINNER: As a matter of fact, I'm happy I didn't get album of the year. As soon as my name wasn't read, I was like let's go back to the studio right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And we are going to go right back to a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Last we checked Steve Fossett was over Myanmar headed for southern China. He's a day into what he hopes is a three and a half day nonstop flight. And if he pulls it off, rewrite the history books. He will have flown nearly 27,000 miles solo on one fill-up. Take-off yesterday wasn't exactly textbook though. Fossett's funny looking experimental plane needed more runway than planned. He hit two birds and used a lot more fuel than expected. Its giving the team no room for error, and if the trip goes as planned, he will land Saturday outside London with another of many aviation milestones to his credit.
Steve Fossett's flight got us thinking about previous attempts at flight-distance records. Here's what we found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): It all started with the Wright Brothers and their 12-second flight in 1903. It crossed 120 feet over the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A generation later, Americans fascinated with flight would set one milestone after another in aviation's golden age.
Charles Lindbergh's 1927 crossing of the Atlantic was the most celebrated feat. It took him almost a day and a half to make the 3,600-mile trip from New York to Paris.
Exactly five years later Amelia Earhart set a distance record for women when she flew a shorter route across the Atlantic. She continued to rack up aviation achievements until her mysterious disappearance during her 1937 attempt to fly around the world.
After World War II, military aircraft began filling the record books. An Air Force B-52 crew set a distance record of 12,532 miles in 1962. It stood for more than 20 years until it was doubled by the Voyager team of Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeagar in 1986.
Fossett hopes to top their record by about 2,000 miles. He's also trying to best the 25,361-mile record for a balloon set by the Breitling-Orbiter 3 in 1999.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Let's check in with Wolf Blitzer. He's standing by in Washington to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour in THE SITUATION ROOM. Hi, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra. Thanks very much. Do President Bush and the fallen Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff have closer ties than you might have thought? We are going to take a closer look at this story. Plus, the mayor of Los Angeles firing right back at the White House today after President Bush's war on terror speech earlier today. The mayor says he never got a heads up. We are standing by for a live news conference with the mayor.
And Johnny Cash, U2, Aretha Franklin -- Kyra, get ready. Music by some of America's most popular artists, lost and now found. We are going to tell you, Kyra, where you can go and listen to that great music.
PHILLIPS: You don't want to tell me now?
BLITZER: Got to watch the show.
PHILLIPS: All of it? Every single minute?
BLITZER: Every single second.
PHILLIPS: I'm not going to move -- Wolf Blitzer. The news keeps coming, we're going to keep bringing it to you. So is Wolf. More LIVE FROM and SIT ROOM next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: After any nasty breakup, a make-over is in over. For Mattel's famously jilted by Barbie, Ken doll, only the best stylist would do. This is the result of Ken's extreme makeover. What do you think? It was unveiled today at New York's Toy Fair. Hollywood stylists to the stars, Phillip Bloch had a hand in it. Inspiration, he says, came in the superstar forms of Matthew McConaughey and Orlando Bloom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP BLOCH, STYLIST TO THE STARS: He's got this great little necklace and motocross jacket, a bag so he can -- and notice it's all about the little detail. Great braiding on the bag. Notice the hand- embroidered stitching, very Project Alabama on his T-shirt. Great jeans. These are the ones he picked up in Italy. As well as a couple of extra pants.
Now again, I just want to clear some things up. You know, his face is a lot more sculpted, but this was not due to the surgeon's knife. It was all about good diet, working out. Just, you know, Ken's a young guy, he still doesn't need all of that plastic surgery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well while LIVE FROM remains partial to the blonde Malibu Ken, we thought you'd enjoy a retrospect of the regular Ken's irregular looks through the years. It's hard to believe Barbie would tire of his ever-changing image. Mattel hopes for a happy reunion by Valentine's Day. That does it for us. The closing bell is about to ring. Susan Lisovicz standing by at the New York Stock Exchange. We'll see you tomorrow. I know, I was thinking of something to say, it wasn't coming to me, but you knew what I was thinking.
LISOVICZ: Yes, Phillip Bloch says Ken is no longer arm candy for the eyes.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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