Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

President Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan; Where Has Katrina Relief Money Gone?; 12-Year-Old Boy Defaces Million-Dollar Painting

Aired March 01, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where is the crime? That's what Saddam Hussein asked in court today, all while insisting he, and he alone, should be on trial and swearing he did nothing wrong.
CNN's Aneesh Raman has the latest from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, good morning -- good afternoon.

A remarkable difference in the demeanor of Saddam Hussein -- gone is the defiant defendant -- instead, a subdued Saddam that sat in court as a litany of documents were presented, evidence, essentially, that links him directly to the crimes he's charged with.

Now, the case at hand is about an assassination attempt that failed on Saddam Hussein in the village of Dujail in 1982. After that, Saddam's regime had at least 146 villagers from Dujail executed without really any court process.

So, the prosecutors have been presenting the papers that Saddam signed that allowed for this process to go forward. One of the documents, didn't bear his signature, but the prosecution says has his handwriting, discussed what had to do with some 12- to 17-year-olds that they wanted to execute. The fact that they were below the age limit of execution in Iraq at that time seemed to not be an issue.

Saddam, at one point, did stand up, called for unity, given all that's happening outside of the courtroom, said unity among Iraqis against the U.S. is now what Iraq needs.

But, as you also mentioned, he stood up and took responsibility. He said he was the man running the country. Why are other people being tried? As he did that, he turned to the other defendants in the docks. He said, Saddam Hussein does everything on his own.

Now, he didn't admit guilt, because he says it was all legal, that he survived an assassination attempt and summarily had a number of people prosecuted for trying to kill him.

He did admit explicit guilt, though, in the destructions of people's homes in Dujail, which also followed that assassination attempt. Saddam said it was done to modernize the landscape, a farcical argument. But he went on to say that only the people who were convicted in trying to kill him, and many of those who really had no involvement, had their landscape modernized -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, Aneesh, all of this happening with the backdrop of a lot more violence leading to many more deaths.

RAMAN: Yes, some 34 people killed throughout the country in various attacks, mortar attacks, assassinations, roadside bombs -- the deadliest attack, though, coming in the capital, a neighborhood called New Baghdad, a car bomb detonating there. At least 20 people were killed in that incident alone.

Just 100 meters or so from where that car bomb went off, just 24 hours ago, within the same period of a day, another car bomb had detonated. The attack yesterday killed at least four -- this while Iraq's government says over 400 people now have died in sectarian violence since last Wednesday's attack on that sacred Shia mosque -- Fredricka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Aneesh Raman reporting.

Another war zone, another surprise visit -- President Bush made one such stop in Baghdad in 2003. Today, it was Afghanistan, where he rallied U.S. troops and met with President Hamid Karzai in a visit lasting just over four hours. The U.S. invasion in 2001 defeated the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, but failed to kill or capture Osama bin Laden.

At a news conference, Mr. Bush deflected a question about the upsurge in violence, but vowed not to give up in the hunt for bin Laden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am confident he will be brought to justice. What's -- what's happening is, is that we have got U.S. forces on the hunt for not only bin Laden, but anybody who plots and plans with bin Laden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: From Kabul, Mr. Bush traveled to India for two days of high-level talks on the country's controversy nuclear program and booming economy.

Before his arrival, tens of thousands of anti-Bush protesters, most Muslims, took to the streets of New Delhi. Mr. Bush is scheduled to visit Pakistan on Saturday.

Well, one issue President Bush is not likely to focus on in India, the outsourcing of U.S. jobs -- critics argue it is robbing Americans. Defenders say it is necessary in today's global economy.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux visited with one transplanted American who is sold on outsourcing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the old India to the new. Two-thirds of all Fortune 500 companies have set up operations here, a unique corner office view for 36-year-old American Michael Jansen, whose design company is headquartered in Chicago, but operated out of New Delhi.

MICHAEL JANSEN, COMPANY OWNER: Started our business in the third bedroom of my apartment six years ago. Aside from myself, they're all Indian.

MALVEAUX: There are 200 employees here, most under 30.

JANSEN: In this company, we make drawings.

MALVEAUX: For the Trump Tower in Vegas, the MGM Hotel, and the Shimao in Shanghai, architecture and engineering firms from around the world contract out Jansen's studio, which provides designs for offices, hotels, and even animation.

Operating out of India, Jansen says, cuts his client's production costs by 60 percent.

JANSEN: To stay in a city like New York, an average staff salary would be about $70,000 for a -- a functional architect today, whereas, here, it might be $10,000 to $15,000 a year.

MALVEAUX: And while Jansen is sensitive to the controversy brewing in the United States over outsourcing American jobs, he is unapologetic.

JANSEN: The world is changing. Guys who used to join my company came on bicycles, and later on they came on motorcycles. Today, they own cars and homes.

MALVEAUX: And they are comfortable with their status.

KAS CHATTERJEE, EMPLOYEE: I don't know of a single instance where we have actually taken away jobs from a client.

MALVEAUX (on camera): When you hear that Americans could be paid much, much more than they're paying you, do you want to ask for a raise?

(LAUGHTER)

ANKUR MATHUR, EMPLOYEE: That's a tricky one.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): But living here is not for the faint of heart. Consider the traffic.

JANSEN: We took a client from the U.K. here, pulled up to a light, an elephant pulled up next to us. And the elephant just slightly shifted his weight and he hit the car, and the whole care rocked, and this guy was grabbing on for dear life. And, needless to say, he never came back.

MALVEAUX (on camera): India is the world's largest democracy, and, in a dozen years, is expected to be the fastest growing economy, clearly a force to be reckoned with. President Bush comes here hoping to turn around the $10 billion trade deficit the U.S. has with this country and, at the same time, reassure Americans that their jobs are not going overseas.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, New Delhi, India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, New Orleans is cleaning up again, but on a much smaller scale and under happier circumstances than it is used to.

Mardi Gras ended at midnight, with a parade of police on Bourbon Street. And this year's celebration was smaller and less rowdy than usual, as reminders of Katrina loomed rather large.

Now it is cleanup time for a city that is still clearing debris from the hurricane. A shortage of workers means some cleaning crews are arriving from other states.

In an ordinary year, Mardi Gras brings about $300 million into New Orleans. This year, it may be closer to $200 million, just when the city needs every cent it can get. With all the talk about billions in Katrina relief funds, we have been wondering where it has all gone.

Here is CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the outpouring of donations after Katrina, charities took in $3.6 billion, but more than half has been spent on just meeting the basic needs of a population set adrift, not even starting the rebuilding -- that according to Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy.

Gene Tempel is the executive director.

EUGENE TEMPEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INDIANA UNIVERSITY CENTER ON PHILANTHROPY: Food, shelter, clothing, medical care, those kinds of things that -- that will be consumed by the family, and there's nothing left to show for it, except a family that might -- that might be better off than it were if the -- if that money hadn't been there.

FOREMAN: So far, about 25 billion federal tax dollars have been spent, again, largely on immediate concerns, housing, medical care, debris removal, disaster loans, and payouts under the National Flood Insurance Program.

All that spending has given some in the Gulf reason to celebrate. Property values in many areas are soaring above pre-storm levels, as residents return much faster than anticipated. AMY LIU, CENTER ON URBAN AND METROPOLITAN POLICY DEPUTY DIRECTOR, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Well, I think, at the six-month anniversary, there are some promising signs that families are really eager to come back to this region. But there are also troubling signs that rebuilding is really stalled.

FOREMAN: That's the catch. Analysts say, for long-term success, many billions more are needed to move along levee rebuilding, to complete the cleanup and encourage housing reconstruction.

Only some schools, hospitals and shops are open. The tax base is a shambles. That's one reason Mardi Gras matters.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, TULANE UNIVERSITY: This city has been losing since the Katrina about $15 million a day in the tourist industry. And they needed to show that this is still a big tourist town.

FOREMAN: Simply put, a new phase of fund-raising and tax spending is starting, focused on long-term commitments, especially for the hardest-hit places.

TEMPEL: It may be 20 -- 10 years, it may be 20 years before we fully get these communities back to -- to the state that they were in formerly.

FOREMAN: For six months, though it may not seem that way for storm victims, the money has been flowing like water on the Gulf. And if there appears to be little to show for it, that is a measure of how many more years the money may have to flow.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The storm that devastated New Orleans has done the same to its justice system.

Coming up on LIVE FROM, why thousands of accused criminals could go free.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It is one of the most alarming effects of Hurricane Katrina, the crippling of New Orleans' justice system. Courtrooms are ruined, documents destroyed, and there are not enough lawyers to defend the accused.

CNN's Randi Kaye reports, thousands of defendants could go free.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Timothy Henson, once homeless, now a confessed killer. Henson admits strangling a Japanese tourist in New Orleans nearly three years ago. Since then, he has been in the Orleans Parish Prison, waiting for trial.

And now, astonishingly, before the end of this year, Henson could walk. That's right, get out of jail free, even though he has admitted to murder.

By law, Louisiana must try a defendant within three years. And with the carnage and disarray Katrina dealt to the state's justice system, the same storm that killed thousands of innocent people could soon free thousands of dangerous criminals.

Public defender Dwight Doskey is Henson's lawyer, and knows the challenges of New Orleans' crippled court system firsthand. These days, Doskey works out of his pickup truck -- the passenger seat, his file cabinet.

DWIGHT DOSKEY, NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC DEFENDER: We were left with no office, no phones, no secretarial help, no case files, with clients who were scattered to over 40 different institutions throughout the state, and really no way to put the pieces back together again.

KAYE: It may cut both ways.

In the same prison as Henson sits another of Doskey's clients, Timothy Brooks, charged with beating a cab driver to death at this warehouse with a hammer and a two-by-four. Brooks says he didn't do it, that he was at his girlfriend's apartment, asleep, when the murder took place. So, Doskey must figure out a way to serve both clients, Brooks, who will languish in jail because he can't afford a private attorney, who may be able to get him a speedy trial and clear his name, and Henson, who, because time is on his side, may walk.

Both men would have their arrest records wiped clean without ever going to trial.

DOSKEY: I think it's a very real possibility. There will be people who are accused of murder. There will be people whose cases should be brought to trial. Those people will be released.

KAYE: In addition to Brooks and Henson, Dwight Doskey has an overwhelming number of other clients -- 700 defendants. Why so many? After the storm, the Public Defender's Office was forced to layoff 36 of its 42 attorneys, leaving just six public defenders, in a city where nearly 80 percent of the accused criminals use them.

Doskey says it would take him a full year just to interview all his clients, leaving no time to actually go to court.

DOSKEY: We're mishandling cases because we can't investigate a case. We can't prepare cases.

KAYE: In the meantime, the accused and their loved ones must wait, with no end in sight. Timothy Brooks' mother says her son is depressed and being treated in the prison's mental ward.

CASSANDRA BROOKS, MOTHER OF DEFENDANT TIMOTHY BROOKS: Like I said once before, I know he's innocent. But, like I say, I be so frustrated, me and my children also, you know. It has been so frustrating to the whole family. Everybody is cheering and everything. And every time I talk to his kids, my dad's coming home out of that place, Grandma. I say, yes, he is.

KAYE: Timothy Brooks is stuck, because the judge in his case refuses to hear any capital murder cases until the public defenders get funding, so that the accused might at least get adequate defense.

DOSKEY: He's an example of somebody who's severely disadvantaged by the judge ceasing the trials of the public defenders' clients. On the other hand, there are some people who might very well come out far, far ahead by the trial judge's actions.

KAYE: People who are guilty, which brings us back to Timothy Henson, who acknowledges he killed, but is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

In this confession, obtained by CNN, he admits to strangling this Japanese tourist with a strap from her purse. They had taken the ferry to Algiers together. That's where her body was found. Police say Henson told them he needed to be taken off the street before he killed again. So, is this confessed killer someone that should go free?

CALVIN JOHNSON, CHIEF JUDGE, ORLEANS PARISH CRIMINAL DISTRICT COURT: The idea that -- that, as a result of this crisis, that I and my other judges may have to release people from jail who, in fact, committed heinous, serious crimes, and now will walk the streets of my city and yours -- and yours -- with -- without -- without any consequence, is horrible.

KAYE: District Court Chief Judge Calvin Johnson believes New Orleans' justice system is in crisis and has ordered an investigation.

JOHNSON: We need help. We -- we need the money sufficient to fund our system.

KAYE (on camera): You see, Louisiana is the only state in the country that relies on traffic tickets and court fines to fund its public defenders program. So, when Katrina brought life here to a standstill, nobody was driving or parking, and fines weren't being collected, the Public Defender's Office lost about 70 percent of its funding. That led to the layoffs.

JOHNSON: We have been in conversations with everyone we can possibly have a conversation with who can write us a check. But the fact of the matter is, Louisiana cannot write this check. That's a fact. New Orleans cannot write this check. That's a fact.

KAYE (voice-over): Judge Johnson says, the federal government should fund the public defender's program.

JOHNSON: America is going to have to pay the cost of this. It is the fault, with all respect, of the Corps of Engineers, which is an American piece. I know we're a Third World down here in New Orleans, and I know barely a part of America. They have failed. They need to come up with the bucks to give us the sufficient funds, so we can do what we have to do.

KAYE (on camera): In all your requests, what has been the response from Washington?

JOHNSON: With all respect to the government, but it's like the response from FEMA: "Help is on the way."

KAYE (voice-over): FEMA is offering to supply new computers, notepads, even desks. But that may be too little, too late for these two men and thousands of others, both innocent and guilty, waiting behind bars in New Orleans.

JOHNSON: A lot of us waited -- waited on the roof for help to come. And the help was late coming. And we're still, in some sense, still standing on -- on those roofs, waiting for help to come.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New Orleans, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And, coming up, a million-dollar painting and one rather mischievous little boy -- just another LIVE FROM story just waiting to happen, right? We will tell you about his devilish deed straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It left the stain the size of a quarter, but it could end up costing a lot more than that.

This is how Helen Frankenthaler's $1.5 million painting, "The Bay," looked before a mischievous 12-year-old got his hands -- or, rather, his gum on it.

You are about to see from our Detroit affiliate WJBK how it looks now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY HART, ASSISTANT CURATOR, DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS: It's about the size of a quarter.

BILL GALLAGHER, WJBK REPORTER (voice-over): It's a stain from chewing gum stuck on Helen Frankenthaler's abstract painting "The Bay." A 12-year-old male student from the Holly Academy committed the unholy vandalism. It happened last Friday during a school tour of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

HART: The guard glanced around and saw the gum on the painting. So, at that point, he called -- he stopped the group, asked them to -- to fess up. And this child raised his hand and said that he had done this damage to the -- to the object.

GALLAGHER: The dirty deed was not spontaneous.

HART: It seems to have been a planned prank. GALLAGHER: The student has been suspended from school. The 1963 painting is in the color field tradition of abstract painting, where canvases are painted entirely by large areas of solid colors.

Jackson Pollock influenced Frankenthaler's work. The DIA acquired "The Bay" two years after its completion.

HART: It was just a few thousand dollars.

GALLAGHER (on camera): And what is it worth now?

HART: Vastly more than that.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): One published estimate pegged the painting's value at $1.5 million. The DIA won't discuss the monetary value.

HART: It has value, in terms of -- as -- as a cultural artifact, but, also, as a part of visual culture and the history of contemporary art.

And that's really why we treasure this piece.

GALLAGHER: DIA art conservators are working on the best way to remove the gum stain without damaging the pigment.

HART: Doing some research into the what the substrate gum actually is. Based on that information, they will decide what is the best solvent to remove the stain.

In Detroit, Bill Gallagher, FOX 2 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Ouch.

Well, spring is already in the air in some parts of the U.S. -- record warm temperatures possible in the South. I feel like we're feeling it already -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, my gosh, not -- not even spring, Fredricka. We're talking summer temperatures...

WHITFIELD: Yes.

JERAS: ... at this point.

Last hour, we didn't have any records. Now we have at least three which have tumbled. And these are not just little records being broken. We are talking, it hasn't been this hot in at least 30 years for March 1 -- Wichita Falls, Texas, 98 degrees. If you get two degrees warmer than that, that will be the first time that we have ever hit 100 this early.

Dallas, Texas, you're up to 90 now, also 90 degrees in Oklahoma City. You couple that with an ongoing drought, extremely low relative humidity, and strong gusty winds, and you have got fire problems. And that's what's going on right now just north of the Wichita Falls area. We have got two grass fires being reported -- firefighters called out to the scene in Empire City, and also into the town of Marlow. They are about 20 miles apart from each other, kind of smack in between the two interstates right there.

That will be an ongoing concern throughout the day today. The winds will be shifting into the northwest behind a front -- the fire threat, though, tomorrow will be greatly reduced.

Look at these temperatures all over the place. And we're not just talking about Texas and Oklahoma here. This mild air extends all the way up into Nebraska and into Iowa -- mild air streaming in all across the Southeast.

And it cuts off pretty sharply once you get across the mid- Atlantic and Northeast. The Upper Midwest, you are warmer than you should be, but certainly not looking at record heat -- and temperatures a little bit cooler across parts of the West as well.

Temperatures for tomorrow will cool down a little bit, no more record temperatures. But we will still see things well above average in the South, and still holding pretty hot, especially into southern parts of Texas.

When you think of temperatures this hot this time of the year, you tend to think of severe weather, but the upper-level dynamics just aren't quite there. We get a lot of that freeze-thaw going on, and we're looking at the freeze now for tomorrow in parts of the Northeast. This is going to be a big concern. You are doing fine today.

You are doing fine tonight. But, when you wake up tomorrow morning, you have got that commute going into work, if you live in New York City, you live in Philadelphia, you live in northern parts of New Jersey, Upstate New York, very concerned about some freezing rain, into northern parts of Maryland, and then snow further to the north of that.

Mass Turnpike northward, we think you're going to be just fine -- Boston, a little bit iffy here, but, likely, going to pick up a nice swathe in this area of four to eight inches of snowfall -- real tricky forecast on this one, Fredricka, because we think there will be some mixing at times, but, overall, we're looking at a travel headache for tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh. What a mess, indeed.

All right, thanks a lot, Jacqui.

JERAS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Well, a lot of people try to soften the pain of filling out their 1040s by focusing on their ultimate goal, a big refund. But experts warn, that's not a good way to manage money.

With a new tip to make your tax time easier, here is CNN's Valerie Morris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Getting a tax refund from the government may seem like a cause to celebrate, but, actually, it is not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Conventional wisdom is, never get large tax refund. Plan it so that you owe them a dollar or they give you back a dollar, and that's all. You don't want to give the government an interest-free loan. It might be patriotic, but it's certainly not financially smart.

MORRIS: Even though many taxpayers feel rewarded when they get a refund check, getting money back from the IRS usually means you are having too much money taken out of your paycheck in the first place.

So, if you have experienced any life changes, marriage, a new baby, a new home, maybe even a new job, you better check your withholding, which is the amount of money your employer deducts from your paycheck to cover taxes, and try have your withholding match your actual tax liability.

You can factor in your latest situation and see if your withholdings are correct by using the IRS withholding calculator at www.irs.gov. You can change your withholding just by filling out a new W-4 form and giving it to your employer.

Although your goal should be no refund at all, meaning no money owed and no money refunded:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are those people who do not have the ability to plan. And they don't have the ability to save. And they may find that getting the refund at the end of the year is their only way they're forced to save.

MORRIS (on camera): Just make sure that, if this is your plan, whatever money you get refunded actually makes it into your savings account.

Making tax time easier, I'm Valerie Morris in New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Good advice.

Well, tense times for two major U.S. airlines, and potential trouble for thousands of travelers.

LIVE FROM has the news you need all afternoon. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com