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Katrina Response Failures; Dick Cheney's Secrets; China's Big Brother

Aired February 15, 2006 - 13:59   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Passive, not aggressive; reactive, not proactive; distant, not involved. Choice words from a select House committee describing Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff before, during and after Hurricane Katrina.
Let's get straight to Capitol Hill and our Congressional Correspondent Ed Henry.

Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.

That's right. You know, Secretary Chertoff has really taken a beating today. He's getting hit hard from both sides of the Capitol. And what's interesting, it's Republicans leading the charge.

First of all, on the Senate side, meeting and testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the chairwoman, Republican Susan Collins, was hitting him very hard, declaring that the Homeland Security Department's response to Katrina "must be judged a failure." She also ripped into the secretary personally, calling his actions "puzzling," saying also that he was "curiously disengaged in the immediate aftermath of Katrina."

Now, here on the house side of the Capitol as well in the next hour we're expecting the official rerelease of this report by a House committee led by Republican Chairman Tom Davis, offering a scathing report of over 500 pages also ripping into the Homeland Security Department, as well as government on all levels, frankly, not just the federal government in terms of the response not being strong enough.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today used all of this to say that this proves, she believes, there should be an independent commission to get to the bottom of exactly what went wrong. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Many more lives were lost, livelihoods gone, housing disappeared, schools unserviceable to children because of the inadequacy of the response which we will never know until we have an independent look at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, in his testimony, Secretary Chertoff today acknowledged many missteps by his department, but that's not good enough for the critics. People like Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid yesterday calling for Mr. Chertoff to resign. It's important to note, though, that Senator Reid had previously called on Mr. Chertoff to resign for a separate issue. The fact that the Homeland Security Department has taken Las Vegas off one of its top terror target lists, that's frustrated Senator Reid, who is from Nevada.

I can tell you, Republicans up here watching the political situation for Secretary Chertoff very closely, but in the words of one top Republican, he told me earlier, "The secretary is on some thin ice, but I don't think the ice is cracking." And I think that's important to note.

So far, Republicans are sticking with this secretary, and they say if he implements some of the changes recommended in this House report that's going to be released later this hour, the secretary could be in good shape here on the Hill, at least among Republicans, and could keep his job because he still has their political support -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed, we're going to continue talking about this 520- page House report. We're going to take it live if we are able to get reaction and conversation about it, also talk with Falkenrath, too, about it.

But just for a second, because we got new video of Vice President Cheney at the White House, what's the buzz on the Hill about Dick Cheney, as we talk about the missteps of Katrina, I guess a missed shot when it comes to hunting? Are they talking about it? Do they think that he should come forward and talk?

HENRY: Yes, I can tell you everybody is up here talking about it, Democrats and Republicans. I was talking to one Republican senator before who was pointing out that he's been watching very closely all the late-night comics and following it just as closely as a lot of people may be at the water cooler all around the country, and really looking and digging into this issue.

But that's what they are saying in private, that they are following it. But publicly, a lot of Republicans, maybe surprisingly, because we've heard a lot of critics saying, oh, the vice president should have come out sooner and addressed this. A lot of Republican senators up here, I can tell you, are saying publicly and privately that, while they are following this case, they think the vice president is OK, that this was an accident. And they feel that the national media is making too much of it.

In fact, House Republican whip Roy Blunt a little earlier today went on camera to say, look, the bottom line, it was an accident. Sure, maybe it could have been addressed sooner, maybe the details should have come out sooner, but a lot of Republicans up here don't even think the vice president should address it, should not have a press conference as Democrats have been calling for.

He is obviously going to be doing a television interview today, but a lot of Republican lawmakers here are actually circling the wagons and saying they don't think he really needs to address it. It will be interesting to see whether that will backfire politically, that kind of advice. But they are saying they think that the vice president is in good shape up here.

So a little bit different, certainly than we're hearing from the Democrats -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ed Henry on the Hill.

Thanks so much, Ed.

HENRY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Back to Katrina now. If you're appalled by the thought of 10,000 mobile homes sitting empty in a muddy field in Arkansas, wait until you hear what FEMA could have bought with the $300 million dollars those homes cost.

CNN's Tom Foreman adds it up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): A hospital reopens downtown. The cost, $92 million. But it's priceless in this city right now. So imagine what could have been done with the $300 million spent on the empty trailers sitting in Arkansas.

Realtors say for $300 million, almost 2,500 permanent homes could have been built and sold for $120,000 each to working class people. Then, the money could be turned around to build even more.

The New Orleans school board has spent $20 million from its operating budget to reopen 20 schools. Educators say with $300 million, every school in town might be back in session.

A new ten-acre roof for the Superdome, $33 million.

The Convention Center, before Katrina, it brought in almost $2.5 billion a year to the local economy. It's being refurbished now on insurance money. The cost, $100 million.

Debris removal, police supplies, levee repair, public transits, the needs in New Orleans are endless. And many locals will tell you, so is the frustration over every wasted cent.

(on camera): No one knows if all those tax dollars spent on that ghost town of trailers would have otherwise gone to needs on the Gulf. But, still, it is an awful lot of money that certainly could have been used elsewhere.

(voice over): What could you do with $300 million? No kidding. You could lay a carpet of dollars more than five feet wide all the way from New Orleans to Washington. Or maybe you could buy trailers in the right place, for the right folks, just trying to rebuild.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We want to get back to that conversation we were having about the vice president's hunting accident, except the vice president, he's not really talking about it. As a matter of fact, he hasn't talked at all. That's about to change, though.

Dick Cheney has agreed to do his first TV interview since the shooting that sent his companion to the hospital. That companion, meanwhile, is recovering from a minor heart attack.

CNN's Ed Lavandera outside his hospital in Corpus Christi.

We were listening to that live event, Ed, with one of the doctors and the administrator of the hospital talking about the fact that he's still in ICU, but for privacy reasons, not necessarily for his health.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I was told by some security officials here yesterday afternoon that there was a situation where they had found some people trying to get on to the floor where Mr. Whittington was yesterday. If that had something to do with it, we're not exactly sure, but they say that this isn't abnormal, that this is exactly the kind of thing they would do for anyone in a high- profile situation.

As for Mr. Whittington, he is doing well. He is alert. He is talking. In fact, doctors say he was going to be working on some of his law work from his hospital room this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BANKO, HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR: He's in stable condition in our ICU right now. He is actually in our ICU strictly due to personal privacy reasons. They are not -- he is not there due to his medical condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And like I said, Mr. Whittington doing very well.

Doctors say they have also pinpointed exactly where the BB is on his heart, but as of now, there are still no plans to go in there and take it out. They say a major surgery of that kind would be too intrusive for Mr. Whittington and that he will be fine and be able to live with that as long as everything stays stable. He will stay here still another six days while doctors continue to monitor him around the clock -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera.

Thanks so much.

Politics and privacy don't usually go together, but the vice president is passionate about both.

CNN White House Correspondent Dana Bash looks beneath the surface at Cheney's secretive style.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Dick Cheney went to Capitol Hill Tuesday. We can't show you a picture. His office did not let journalists know he was going.

Standard operating procedure for a vice president with a penchant for secrecy, which makes this all the more unusual, a statement from the vice president's office with remarkable details of how he learned of Harry Whittington's heart scare.

"Passed him a note at about 12:30 p.m. Doctors would brief in Texas about 1:00 p.m."

At about 1:30 p.m., the vice president called Mr. Whittington and asked if there was anything he needed.

Those who know Mr. Cheney well foresee little long-term change in the way he does business. Scant details of regular workday meetings, even less information on hunting and other personal trips. And though heart problems make his health an issue, he does not always immediately reveal when he has medical procedures.

VIN WEBER, FMR. REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: Let me tell you, that's Dick Cheney. He is not particularly concerned how that affects his public image.

BASH: It is a departure from the way his recent predecessors, like Al Gore, did business.

MICHAEL FELDMAN, FMR. SR. ADVISER TO AL GORE: The vice president's office felt it was incumbent upon them to notify the press and the public as to the vice president's general location.

BASH: This vice president makes light of the mystery here just after being released after medical treatment on his ankle.

RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm a little hobbled up today. I'm not ordinarily carrying a cane like that, but Don Rumsfeld has been chewing on my ankles.

BASH: Playful, yet another reminder the vice president keeps secrets, carefully deciding what he will and will not talk about, like the time here in the mountains of Pakistan when I asked him about Osama bin Laden.

CHENEY: If I knew where he was, I couldn't talk about it.

BASH (on camera): You couldn't talk about specifics, but do you have a bet sense at all at this point?

CHENEY: I can't discuss it.

BASH (voice over): Friends say his first White House experience in the early 1970s with President Ford shaped his approach now. He was the youngest chief of staff in history.

WEBER: His job was to be supportive behind the scenes, and in many ways to stay behind the scenes, as far behind the scenes as you could get.

BASH: Most vice presidents spend their days as number two, positioning to move up. Not this one.

CHENEY: I have no ambitions.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Don't want to run in 2008?

CHENEY: No.

WEBER: And that gives you a little different job description than almost anyone that has ever had the job before.

BASH: That means big public speeches when the president needs help. But mostly, his work is behind closed doors, delivering tough news to world leaders, twisting arms on Capitol Hill, trying to protect presidential powers, and not spending much time worrying about those who disagree.

Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A third day of protests. Three people dead in Pakistan in the latest uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Protesters set fire to American and Danish flags, not to mention banks, cinemas and a KFC outlet in Peshawar.

Thirteen men on trial for plotting terrorism, nine men sentenced to death. A military court in Jordan today decided the latter group intended to carry out a suicide chemical attack in Amman. Among the condemned, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

He wasn't there, of course. He's a fugitive tried in absentia along with three others. This is the third time a Jordanian court has sentenced al-Zarqawi to die.

More post-election tensions in Haiti. Angry protesters of the free election front-runner say last week's vote was rigged and Rene Preval is the rightful president-elect. Preval supposedly came up just short of the majority to avoid a runoff, and his backers blame the shortfall on fraud. Some claim to have seen uncounted ballots in a trash dump. That's being looked into right now.

Yahoo! and Google in cahoots with China's big brother. They get a tongue lashing from some House members on that issue. That and their side of the story next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: There is an old saying in Asia, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. Centers (ph) in China can vouch for it, but that hasn't stopped a dozen former communist party big shots and scholars from attacking the government's closing of a prominent news journal, "Freezing Point." Their protest is part of growing backlash against Beijing's secretive propaganda department which is notorious for censoring newspapers, magazines, TV stations and Web sites.

Are Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google helping China's big brother? Yes, shout activists in China. We agree, say some members of Congress.

Reps from those three tech giants and Cisco Systems were the target of a verbal lashing today by the House International Relations Committee. Some lawmakers accused them of helping China muzzle dissent by filtering Internet information and, worse, turning over info from e-mail accounts that was used to jail dissidents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM LANTOS (D), INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE: In the future, when you type the word "oxymoron" in a search engine, you will find the names of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Cisco. These companies need to do more than show virtual backbone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Google, Yahoo! and the other Internet companies say they are doing nothing more than obeying Chinese law, something they insist they must do to become major players in China's booming Internet market.

So, what's it like to surf the net in China? Think cat and mouse.

CNN's Eunice Yoon takes us for a ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Most of China's 110 million Internet users are like 19-year-old Ms. Fan. Fan is a sales clerk in a store in Beijing who goes online to chat, play games and read the news.

MRS. FAN, CHINESE INTERNET USER (through translator): The Internet has opened my eyes. I feel connected to the rest of the world.

YOON: But when she's surfing the Web, she's not alone. China's 30,000 Internet police, like Jingjing and Chacha keep track of Fan's online activities. The cartoons, named after the word Jingcha, or police officer in Chinese, remind users the Internet is not beyond China's laws, and any foreign companies that want to do business there have to play the game.

MICHAEL CALLAHAN, COUNSEL GENERAL, YAHOO!: If a company is in the country, they have to abide by local law, which is why we want to take this away from an issue about just the Internet or an issue just about Yahoo! and make this a broader issue for a business doing business in China from the United States.

YOON: Companies like Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft face the U.S. Congress Wednesday to defend their dreams of expanding in the world's fastest growing economy. With pressure mounting to deliver higher profits, they say China is impossible to ignore. They also say the Web, even when controlled, generates a freer flow of information since some surfers can evade China's cyber cops.

PROF. YING CHAN, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: People figure out. You know, you do proxy servers. You -- it is blocked on one server, one service, and you move to the other. So it is a cat-and-mouse game.

YOON: Yet, that still might not be good enough for U.S. lawmakers.

REP. CHRIS SMITH (R), NEW JERSEY: Internet freedom is important. To stifle that, to be part of the effort of enabling dictatorship to perpetuate itself, I think is an unethical stand to take.

YOON: Eunice Yoon, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: An Iraq war vet drops out of a key Senate race in Ohio. We're going to find out what he's saying and how it prompted his decision coming up next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, here we go again. Death and taxes. And we are all still alive, so brace yourself for the IRS. We are in your corner here at CNN, dedicated to making your tax preparations as painless as possible.

So is Valerie Morris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): During the next eight weeks, we'll walk you through some of the key things you need to know to make tax time easier this year. Follow our countdown, and you will have your taxes done way before crunch time.

And crunch time this year is a little later than usual. Because April 15 falls on a weekend, the tax day deadline is the following Monday, April 17, except for half a dozen states and the District of Columbia, where the deadline falls on the 18th due to the Patriots Day holiday.

That doesn't mean waiting longer to get started. Start now.

The first step, gather all your paperwork.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Find all of your receipts, find all of those tax statements that you have been collecting over the last few weeks. Get all of your checkbooks, your pay stubs, anything that you think even remotely might have to do with taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: W2s and other information documents should have been mailed out by the end of January, so taxpayers should have their information documents available now.

MORRIS: It's a good idea to have last year's return on hand. Most people can use it as a guide. And make sure you have resources available to answer your questions during the process, a tax guide, a Web site like irs.gov, your financial planner or accountant, something or someone who can give you the information you need so you don't get stuck and, therefore, discouraged and be tempted to put off getting the job done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't try and rush it and get it all done in thirty seconds. You need time. You need space. You need to be able to concentrate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Concentrate and make it easier.

So guess what we're going to do? We are going to have a little Q&A with Valerie on Friday. We will take your questions on what you need to do.

Taxes@CNN.com. Go ahead and start e-mailing us. We will try to get to as many as we can with Valerie Morris live on Friday.

Well, you may associate Nike with sports star endorsements and running gear, but the company wants to reach out to a different sort of consumer.

To tell us about Nike's new step, Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us more.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Are you, we, the nation safer from disaster, natural or otherwise, than we were five years ago? No, says a special House panel that calls the government's response to Hurricane Katrina a national failure that should disturb all Americans.

So what now? CNN security analyst Richard Falkenrath joins us from the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Richard, good to see you.

We just got some sound in, too, from Representative Tom Davis. He was reading parts of the House report. Let's take a listen and then let's talk about it.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. TOM DAVIS (R), VIRGINIA: ... this report is issued with our continued thoughts and prayers for Katrina's victims. The families, their friends, the loss of life and property, of livelihoods, and loss of their dreams, it's been enormous. And we salute all Americans who have stepped to the plate to help in any way that they can.

The committee identified failures at all level of government that significantly undermined and detracted from the heroic efforts of first responders, of private individual organizations, faith-based groups and others.

The institutional and individual failures we have identified became all the more clear when compared to the heroic efforts of those who acted decisively, those who didn't flinch, who took matters into their own hands, when bureaucratic inertia was causing death, injury and suffering. But acts of leadership were too few and far between, and no one heard about or learned from them until it was too late.

The 9/11 Commission called that tragedy a failure of imagination. We believe Katrina was a failure of initiative. We found that while a national emergency management system that relies on state and local governments to identify needs and requests resources is adequate for most disasters, Katrina overwhelmed most aspects of the system for an initial period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Failure seems to be the overwhelming word there, as Representative Tom Davis continues to talk about this House report.

Richard Falkenrath, it -- we broke it down into certain areas, so I thought maybe we could try to hit each one. I've got about five or six here, and then maybe you can respond to what happens from here.

Of course, the levees were talked about. In the report it says there was a "failure of initiative to get beyond design and organizational compromises to improve the level of protection afforded." Do you think now those levees are going to be fixed once and for all, no matter what the cost?

FALKENRATH: Well, I'm not sure. And it's not just a question of fixing the levees, making them stronger and higher. You really have to start reengineering the entire Mississippi Delta. They will try to get them at least to the standard that they were before Katrina hit, which is able to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, but to go above that, Category 4, Category 5, it's an enormous investment and one which the Congress has not yet decided to make.

PHILLIPS; All right. Evacuations, something else that was brought up. It said "despite adequate warnings 56 hours before landfall, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin delayed ordering a mandatory evacuation in New Orleans 19 hours before landfall." And, of course, we saw what happened specifically with those that had no means of transportation. What is going to be done now about a timeline or reaction or preventative maintenance, rather, went they see something coming? FALKENRATH: Well, I thought the report was particularly good on this issue. I thought they did a very good job analyzing the evacuation or non-evacuation of New Orleans. It wasn't just the time delay. Once they started the mandatory evacuation, they actually put people on buses to the Superdome rather than out of town, and so not really solving the problem.

At the federal level, there's very little that can be done at this respect except to prepare to provide better assistance prior to landfall of hurricanes. The problem is really at the state and local level. That's where the legal authority lies to actually order evacuations and where, generally, responsibility lies to make it possible to happen.

So the question is, how does New Orleans, Louisiana, other cities in the hurricane belt respond to this report? And we're not sure.

PHILLIPS: Rumors and false media reports -- it said "rampant false media reports contributed to unnecessary disorder and delay that hindered the recovery. The reports contributed to unnecessary anxiety at the Superdome, scared away truck drivers and others who could have otherwise provided relief efforts and supplies."

It's true, we were getting these stories, even from the police chief at the time, that the people were being raped in the Superdome, that it was just complete chaos, where we later found out that a lot of this wasn't true. How do you better organize media communications? Do you think they'll put something in place to where there'll be someone designated to hold live news conferences?

FALKENRATH: Well, they do need to make some reforms like that. You and I both remember on that day, there was a lot of misinformation. When I was in government and we had instance to manage, the first rule was always that first reports are usually wrong. You needed to be very suspect and careful about how you handled them.

It is partly an organizational reform. They need to have a joint information center where they can provide authoritative briefings to all the media. But it's also getting the underlying information. And the fact is, no layer of government had adequate situational awareness during Katrina. No one knew who was going on, and so the media were our primary sources. They had people in place, and we're hearing these things and reporting them.

PHILLIPS: Interesting section on the Red Cross. It said the Red Cross was dependent upon Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, and the Defense Department for supplies and was unable to fill the void with supplies and staffing as those agencies scrambled to respond.

Now, I thought the Red Cross had its own means of supplies and manpower, so why would Red Cross be dependent on these other agencies? I mean, there are so many -- this is such a big organization that receives so much money from people that donate annually. FALKENRATH: That's right, and the Red Cross has had a lot of problems lately. They do have some of their own supplies, and they certainly do have some of their own volunteers who help out in disasters. But certain large logistical systems they lack and they depend upon the federal government to help them with that.

They are, in part, in fact, a partner with the federal agencies in the federal response plan, or national response plan. They come to interagency meetings; they have an official duty, as it were, even though they are a private entity. And I thought the report did a good job by paying attention to their role, as well, not just focusing on the government.

PHILLIPS: Contractors. :Poor planning for emergency supplies such as food and ice contributed to waste and abuse in federal contracts." Why wasn't there more oversight on this? And what's interesting is, we're seeing this happening in Iraq, all these various companies coming in, taking advantage of the chaos, getting these contracts, and taking the money and not doing anything.

FALKENRATH: I think there are really three issues here. One is they were improvising. They were acting without a clear plan. Also the case in Iraq partly. And second, they were under incredible pressure to move things quickly in ways that were really unprecedented that they hadn't done. And when you combine these two issues, improvisation and time pressure, you get a lot of failure.

The third point, though, is also interesting. It turns out FEMA used -- relies on other federal agencies to do a lot of its contracting for it. For instance, the Department of Transportation or the Army Corps of Engineers. FEMA does not directly control these contracts in many cases. They outsource them to other agencies. And that contributed to a kind of confusion or loss of control in the system. I think the Department of Homeland Security will be trying to fix that in the months ahead.

PHILLIPS: Federal response. "Fifty-six hours before it hit, federal officials knew Katrina had the potential to flood 75 percent of New Orleans, killing tens of thousands of residents and trapping hundreds of thousands in up to 20 feet of water. "

This leads me to the question once again, separating FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. Richard, do you think that FEMA should operate on its own and not be under homeland security?

FALKENRATH: No, I don't. I think it needs to stay in the department, and I think it will stay in the department. There was an enormous failure of situational awareness, and Secretary Chertoff is testifying about that today in painstaking detail. There was an inability to get all the information up to the proper decisionmakers. We saw that the undersecretary, the director of FEMA, was actually willfully insubordinate in some cases in not providing the information -- providing the information to the secretary when he should have. There were additional problems at lower levels, and where the reports were going and were they e-mails and were they official? And the department readily acknowledges that there was a total failure of situational awareness while the storm was hitting, and they need to fix that. I believe they have come a long way in fixing that, and if we have another big storm like this, they will have adequate situational awareness.

PHILLIPS: Richard, final thought. Oprah Winfrey -- this is what the report said. "Oprah Winfrey and actor Sean Penn actually distracted personnel from their more urgent tasks when they showed up." Now, what's amazing is these people have so much money so that, of course, can help. But it seems like everybody flocks around them and gives them special attention, and it's distracting. So do they come or not, should they come or not?

FALKENRATH: They shouldn't come until they're really ready to be received. And this is a problem in major contingencies of this kind. And I appreciated the report for drawing attention to that fact. When you're an official running a major disaster like this, you don't want to be rude or churlish when a famous person comes to visit, but it really is not what you need at the time. And so the report did a good job by pointing that out.

PHILLIPS: Richard Falkenrath, thanks.

FALKENRATH: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: An Iraq war veteran drops out of a key Senate race in Ohio. Did his party push him to leave the race? We're going to find out what prompted his decision. LIVE FROM has all the news you need this afternoon. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New video of Vice President Dick Cheney returning to the White House just a few minutes ago. As you know, he hasn't spoken publicly about the hunting mishap that happened a few days ago leaving a friend, a hunting companion in the hospital in stable condition, we're told, at this point.

So we wanted to ask you, do you think Vice President Dick Cheney should speak out publicly about the hunting accident? Here's some of your responses. This coming from Rich, "Too many times the administration has been hiding from the press and the American people by not speaking out. It makes it harder to believe the story that is being told. What is Cheney hiding?"

Gina and Joe say, "I'm by no means a big fan of our vice president, but he shot a friend by accident. He must feel terrible. I do believe he should address the issue, but if I were in his shoes, I would be avoiding the media also. He is only human after all."

Madeleine in Austin, Texas, "Why not just say 'a regrettable accident happened, I feel terrible about it, as anyone would, and I wish my good friend a speedy recovery,' or something like that. How insulting to the person he injured and to the American people he purportedly serves and represents, to what? Act like nothing even happened?"

Ann says, "Much ado about nothing. I am surprised the press is desperate with all the other issues affecting the U.S. and world."

And this one coming from T.C., Columbia, South Carolina, "Yes I would like to hear this version and compare it with all the other lies that have been told. The first rule of bird hunting is never fire until the bird gets above the horizon. Madam Cheney should lock up all his weapons and give him a pop gun with a short string on his cork."

And finally, this one coming from Jesse, "It makes me nervous when his administration won't even give us adequate information about a hunting accident. I think that this is the right time, and that we have the right to know."

And of course we're getting word that Dick Cheney now is going to give an interview with another network. So finally we will hear something from him at some point.

Reinforcements from Britain on the ground in Afghanistan, 150 British Marines arrived in country today for duty in a southern province that's ripe with insurgents. They are the first of some 3,300 British troops who will eventually take over for U.S. forces. American troops will focus on the eastern part of the country.

Paul Hackett knows first-hand what it's likes to be under fire, but politics is something else entirely. This Iraq war vet and political hopeful now considers himself a casualty of friendly fire from those he thought would help him win a Senate race in November. Here's CNN's Bruce Morton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL HACKETT (D), OHIO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I think that the question that the American people want answered is, can we win this, and is our government being honest with us and being realistic on what it's going to take to win this?

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Remember Paul Hackett, the anti-war democratic Iraq war vet who ran for Congress in a very Republican Ohio district and got 48 percent of the vote? He lost to Republican Jean Schmidt last year, but was encouraged to run for the Senate against incumbent Republican Mike DeWine.

But then, Democratic Congressman Sherrod Brown decided to run, and Hackett withdrew, saying party leaders had urged him to get out and were telling his fund raisers not to send him money. An Iraq and Afghanistan vets group today called his forced withdrawal an outrage, but Hackett has been a controversial candidate.

THOMAS MANN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: It's a very cold-blooded political calculation by state and national Democratic Party officials. They believe Paul Hackett is too hot for Ohio.

MORTON: He had attacked the president and compared religious conservatives to Osama bin Laden. The war is still unpopular. In the most recent CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll taken this past weekend, 55 percent think sending troops there was a mistake, 56 percent oppose the war. But Hackett is out, and the more moderate Congressman Brown will not face him a primary opponent.

MANN: Sherrod Brown is a strong candidate. They want to avoid a primary, and they're flexing their muscle. Painful, but probably the right decision.

MORTON: What about another run against Jean Schmidt, who barely beat him last year? "No," says Hackett. He gave his word to other Democrats running against her that he wouldn't, and his word is his bond. He'd have been different, that's for sure.

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well love is so exciting, people just can't stop talking about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking this was the perfectest (ph) couple ever.

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PHILLIPS: LIVE FROM has your invitation to the wedding of the year straight ahead.

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PHILLIPS: Well he's rocked with the Rolling Stones for more than 20 years but now keyboardist Chuck Leavell is rocking the newest addition to the band. You may remember Chuck told us that he had a grandchild on the way when we interviewed him here on LIVE FROM last week. Well here is the proud rocking grandpa with little Miles Everett Bransford (ph). He's no burden and he's no beast, he's absolutely adorable and he was born on Valentine's Day. Is that the perfect Valentine's Day gift or what?

He weighed in at seven pounds, eight ounces. That's the proud mama right there in the middle. Isn't she gorgeous? That's Amy. We're sure grandpa is ready to brag about the boy. In fact, if you start him up, he will never stop. I wonder if Mick will be the godfather. What do you think?

Well, Valentine's Day 2006 already a memory, including for the children and the chinchillas that you are about to meet. But, well, it was a day they'll never forget.

Tamar Maghdissian of our affiliate KNGN tells us why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TAMAR MAGHDISSIAN, KNGN REPORTER (voice-over): There's nothing quite like a Valentine's Day wedding, and for one Chico couple, the big day has finally arrived. Oh, and did we forget to mention this is a chinchilla wedding?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I announce you husband and wife.

MAGHDISSIAN: At Chico Oaks Adventist School, the first and second grade class decided their pets chinchillas were more than just good friends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was thinking this is the perfectest couple ever.

MAGHDISSIAN: And when first comes the love, marriage is not far behind. The class decided it was time for Chile and Chilette, named from the country the come from, to tie the knot. After all, who doesn't love a wedding? Even it is for a pair of rodents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of parents, once they heard about it, they just had tons of ideas, and they were all bringing flowers and food, and somebody ordered a wedding cake.

MAGHDISSIAN: Like so many great romances, it was not love at first sight for the blushing bride and handsome groom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they had to get used to each other.

MAGHDISSIAN (on camera): The class played matchmaker, putting their cages beside one another and letting them become used to each other's scent. They hope it's a love match for life.

(voice-over): The class had no trouble setting the wedding date. They just took a cue from cupid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's really good, because they love each other, and Valentine's Day is all about loving each other.

MAGHDISSIAN: Somebody may want to remind all the single ladies to love one another after the bouquet toss. After toasting the newlyweds and cutting the cake, it was time to give the happy couple some alone time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will be leaving tonight so they can be on their honeymoon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: OK.

What's big beautiful and bewitched? A shrub like no other. This delightful rose bush towers over any other in the world. It's fully authenticated by the Guinness Book of World Records at more than 13 unsupported feet. This sweet smelling hybrid tea rose is of the variety known as bewitched. Paul and Sharon Palumbo of San Diego are the proud owners. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL PALUMBO, RECORD ROSE BUSH OWNER: It's 12 foot 10 today, but when we broke the world record, there was a bud up here, so this is all cut back now.

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