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Australian Miners Rescued; Florida Firefighters Battle Wildfires; President Bush Nominates New CIA Chief

Aired May 08, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, an angry mob storms a U.N. vehicle in a Darfur refugee camp. One of the people inside was CNN's Nic Robertson, who caught the images and sounds of that clash on his cell phone. The crowd was trying to attack an interpreter who they thought was a spy. They first tried to grab the man. Then, they broke a truck window as it tried to drive away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, stop, stop. Stop. What is happening? What is happening? What is happening?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the door. Shut the door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the door. Shut the door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drive. Drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drive. Drive. Drive. You have to drive. Drive. Drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drive quickly. Drive. Drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the door. Shut the door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't. I can't get to the door.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Go. Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep driving. Keep driving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is happening?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. They are suspecting him to be a government spy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out. Get out. Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got to get out -- we have got to get out of this car. We have got to get out of the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is in the car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just keep going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quickly now, go, go, go, quickly, quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That videotape is -- is what Nic captured on his cell phone.

This is the man right here that the outraged crowd of Sudanese refugees thought was a government spy. This whole situation happened during a visit by the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who also had to flee for his life. Nic was inside this van with one of the workers here with the U.N.

Over the past three years, we have been telling you about the thousands of Sudanese that have been killed in the Darfur region, the civil war that has been taking place. Millions of people have been forced from their home.

Our Nic Robertson is there covering what is happening in Darfur.

And, as you can imagine, Darfur is also on the mind of President Bush.

Let's get straight to the White House and CNN's Kathleen Koch.

Kathleen, what is the administration saying? And I'm curious to see if, indeed, they react to this video that we just got in from Nic Robertson via his cell phone. It's pretty powerful stuff.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Kyra, but I don't believe that the White House had a chance to see this before the president came out this morning, shortly before noon, to make what was perhaps some of his most detailed remarks on the topic of the Darfur region of Sudan.

First, the president praised the peace accord that was reached on Friday, said that he had spoken over the weekend to the leaders involved, spoke this morning with the president of Sudan. And he praised that agreement as the beginnings of hope in the war-torn region.

The president called for the speedy deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to the region, said that he -- he did certainly press hard the -- the president of Sudan this morning to agree for those peacekeepers to come, to be deployed. And the president also pledged an immediate and dramatic increase in U.S. food aid to the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America will not turn away from this tragedy. We will call genocide by its rightful name. And we will stand up for the innocent, until the peace of Darfur is secured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, the president is also looking to see more help for the African Union forces there on the ground in Darfur. He called for them to get better help with plannings, logistic, intelligence, and that -- that's the kind of aid that the U.S. would like to offer.

And, again, when it comes to the U.N. peacekeepers, the president said he's sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the U.N. Security Council tomorrow to introduce a resolution to get those U.N. peacekeepers there on the ground as soon as possible. But, still, administration officials, in a background briefing phone call this afternoon for reporters, said that kind of a deployment of forces, which would be roughly 14,000, that could take six, perhaps to nine months -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Something else on the minds of the president and also his administration, this letter from the president of Iran -- it's been 26 years that a letter of this sort was written. Is it a gesture? Is it just posturing? How is the White House responding to it? And what is behind it, do they think?

KOCH: Kyra, the White House is aware of the letter. It's unclear whether they have actually physically received it. And it is certainly, again, a would-be historic first, the first time that these two leaders have personally communicated since diplomatic ties were severed during the Iranian hostage crisis back in 1980.

But the top U.S. intelligence officer this morning said, well, there may be a reason that the Iranian president now wants to appear very cooperative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN NEGROPONTE, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR: Certainly, given the fact that the issue of Iran is before the United Nations at this time, certainly, one of the hypotheses you would have to examine whether and in what way the timing of the dispatch of that letter is connected with trying in some manner to influence the debate before the Security Council.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOCH: National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley this morning said that, no matter what this letter contains, that the international community has made it very clear to Iran what it needs to do to stop its nuclear program, to cease the enrichment of uranium, and to really look toward a diplomatic solution to ending the standoff -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kathleen Koch, from the White House, thanks so much.

KOCH: You got it.

PHILLIPS: Let's get straight to Betty Nguyen in the newsroom, some great news coming out of Australia with regard to those miners. It looks like they have been rescued.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I tell you, very -- many times, we don't get to tell you good news. And this is a story of good news.

Those miners, two Australian miners who have been trapped underground for two weeks now, after an earthquake caused a huge rock to fall, leaving them trapped underground in a steel cage, well, they have been rescued today, rescued alive. Now, we don't know if they suffered any injuries, as of being underground for two weeks now.

But we do have CNN producer Hugh Williams on the phone, who is going to bring us up to speed on exactly what has transpired today.

Hugh, what a wonderful moment for those folks in Australia leading this rescue effort.

HUGH WILLIAMS, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, that's true.

We have -- we have just gotten word now that both Brant Webb and Todd Russell have been rescued from the cavity that has been holding them. That's according to Matthew Gill, the mine manager. And I have also gotten some independent confirmation from one of the paramedics that is one of the -- part of the rescue team on the site.

Now, it's going to be a while before we find out more information about their condition. But what -- what has transpired just now is that they have broken through into the cavity holding the miners, tunneled an area large enough to extract them from their prison that they have been in for 14 days.

Then, they have been taken through this 1-meter tunnel that they spent the last week drilling to an underground staging area, where they are being treated by paramedics, will be -- will be looked over, will be assessed to see if -- you know, what kind of injuries they have, to see, actually, even if they can walk, because these -- these two men have been in a lying position in a small steel cage for, you know, two -- almost exactly two weeks today.

So, it's not even known if they -- they can walk. The miners expressed a desire yesterday that, if they were in fact able to walk, they wanted to come out of the mine, you know, with some dignity, and they wanted to have a chance to have a shower before they emerged from -- from the mine.

And -- and, essentially, I have been told that, within the hour, we should be seeing them emerge out of the -- the mine shaft to the -- the waiting towns folk here.

NGUYEN: We were just looking at some graphics of that steel cage, where they were trapped underground for two weeks.

Talk to us -- remind our viewers of exactly how they were able to stay alive with oxygen and food and whatnot.

WILLIAMS: Well, essentially, what happened was, on the 25th of April, in the evening, there were a group of 17 miners working underground in this gold mine, quite deep, about one kilometer underground, which is -- is a very long way.

Now, what happened was a seismic event of unknown origin that caused a rockfall. And, essentially, what happened was, their workmate was killed in this incident. Fourteen of the -- of the 17 miners were able to escape. But, out of the three that were left, one of them was killed in the incident. And these two men were trapped by the rockfall in their steel cage, which was essentially like a cherry- picker.

The only reason they survived is because a chunk of rock the same size as the cage landed on them. If it had been small rubble, they would have been crushed to death and suffocated. So, after the rockfall, they still had ventilation through the rubble to allow them to breathe.

But -- but these two men -- I mean, not only have they had this incredible ordeal. But, at the beginning, they spent five days underground without any contact, without anyone knowing that they were even alive.

NGUYEN: Wow.

WILLIAMS: That, to me, is just -- is just amazing. So, I mean these guys are going to have some incredible stories to tell of their ordeal.

We're just going to have to see, you know, how things go, progress in the next couple of hours.

NGUYEN: Well, and just very quickly, too, not only do they have a great story to tell, but they were in good spirits, because they were saying at some point during this, while they were trapped, that they were looking for a newspaper. Somebody sent a newspaper in, because they were looking for want ads, trying to get a new job, wanting to leave the mining business.

These are two men who have quite a story to tell. They -- they were in good spirits throughout it all, have a sense of humor throughout just what a horrific ordeal that they have experienced. So, the good news is, they are alive today. We will find out a little bit later how well they are, what kind of injuries they sustained. But, Hugh Williams, we appreciate your time and your insight on this.

So, Kyra, wow. We don't get to tell you good news that often, but this is a wonderful story of survival. It truly is.

PHILLIPS: Can't wait to hear from them...

NGUYEN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ... once they get out of there, too.

Betty Nguyen, thanks so much.

NGUYEN: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, as a letter, it's historic. As a gesture, it may be even bigger. That letter to President Bush proposes new solutions to the standoff over nukes. And it comes as the U.N. considers possible sanctions.

Joining us with that angle of the story, CNN senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.

Richard, what do you make of this letter?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, some diplomats would think that this letter is an attempt to try to avoid a new Security Council resolution aimed at the leadership in Iran, getting tougher, threatening down the road, potentially, sanctions.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, scurrying through the hallway, declining to stop for reporters, says he hasn't even read the letter. The U.N. Security Council five permanent members, the big powers, huddled once again, following informal weekend talks. The debate and the deadlock on this resolution continues into this week.

There's a planned dinner tonight at a nearby hotel, Kyra, of the big five, plus Germany. The U.S. would have hoped that the resolution had been agreed to before the dinner, as sort of an appetizer, but, instead, no doubt, the ministers, including Condoleezza Rice, will be discussing some of the finer points of that resolution.

China and Russia think that this resolution opens the door to eventual sanctions or potential military force. That's really the big stumbling block, whether the U.S., Britain and France, on the other side, can finesse the language to please them to go forward with some sort of resolution -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Why a letter, Richard?

ROTH: The letter from Iran? Look, it's a -- it is something quite different, nothing since the last 27, 28 years, a letter from the Iranian leader to the U.S. president.

But the U.S. is not in a mood to be exchanging letters. They -- or having talks -- they want Iran to suspend the nuclear enrichment program. And they are going to hold the line on that.

PHILLIPS: Richard Roth, live from the U.N., thanks so much.

Well, more on the president's choice to lead the CIA, including what the Pentagon thinks of Michael Hayden.

The news keep coming. We will keep bringing it to you -- more LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's get straight to Betty Nguyen, working more on those Florida brushfires.

NGUYEN: I tell you what, and not just in one area, several areas.

Want to tell you about the fires that are working right now near Tampa. This is in Hillsborough County. Now, they don't know the size of this fire just yet. We got some live pictures coming up. You will see some of the smoke in just a moment.

But firefighters -- there you go. I mean, obviously, you can tell from these live pictures that, even though they don't have a number on the size of this fire, it's very large. You see, traffic is stopped. That right there is Interstate 75. Portions in both areas are closed because of the smoke coming from this fire.

But I do have to tell you that, even though you see a lot of smoke, a lot of flames right there, no mandatory evacuations as of yet. But this appears to be a very huge fire in Hillsborough County, which is near Tampa. In fact, Tampa is located in Hillsborough County.

So, the fire so far has stopped portions of Interstate 75, and it appears that this fire, according to local affiliates, has been jumping from tree to tree. And, of course, it is spreading. And -- and you see the smoke there. Firefighters are trying to get ahold of this, Kyra.

But this is just one of a couple of fires working in Florida today. We told you a little bit earlier about that 8,000-acre fire in Volusia County dealing, with New Smyrna Beach. And, so, folks have their hands full. And it has been a dry season.

And let's bring in Jacqui Jeras to talk about the weather situation there and why these fires are breaking out, and breaking out now.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well...

NGUYEN: Jacqui.

JERAS: ... we are really on the verge of a drought here across much of Central Florida.

The rainfall deficit since January is about a half-of-a-foot. Some areas are more than that.

I want to show you here on our radar, picking -- picking up this signature right here. I'm assuming this is the smoke plume. And there you can see I-75. I think this kind of near Brandon. So, it looks like it starts just west of 75, and then blows right on over the interstate, so, certainly a very big problem for these travelers, in addition to the other hazards.

And, of course, the ground is very dry. The vegetation has all been dried up. And we're getting some stronger winds beginning to pick up. You get into that peak daytime heating; 3:00 to 6:00 is really when we start to see that. And those winds will pick up, as we get more of a difference in temperature. So, as those winds gust higher, that can help spread the fire more.

And, Betty, I heard you mention tree to tree that this is beginning to go. What can also happen, when the winds are very strong, part of the tree could maybe break off, or part of the fire could get blown off a distance. And you can get additional fires sparking off of the one initial fire.

There are at least seven large fires burning now across the state of Florida, some as far south as near the Miami area. And then we saw the ones earlier, just south of Daytona Beach, near New Smyrna Beach. So, this is spreading all across the state.

We have got a frontal boundary kind of draped across the I-10 corridor. And ahead of that front, those winds are beginning to pick up. And we have got high pressure offshore, which is keeping sinking air in place. And when you have got sinking air, that compresses the air. It heats it up and brings those temperatures very high, keeps the humidity very, very low.

And when you have winds around 10, 15 miles per hour, we will probably see gusts a little bit stronger than that, I think, later on this afternoon, so, a very critical situation, with the weather helping to aid these fires and burning even further, and making it difficult for the firefighters to put them on out.

NGUYEN: Yes, the pictures say it all.

But, Jacqui, listen to this. According to the State Division of Forestry, more than 2,200 wildfires have burned over 44,000 acres in Florida since January 1. So, they need a lot of rain, and they need it now, apparently, as Jacqui said. Seven large fires are burning.

This one, right now, we don't have an exact number on how many acres. But, Kyra, what we know so far is that hundreds of acres are burning because of this fire in Hillsborough County.

And, of course, we will stay on top of all of these fires for you.

PHILLIPS: Sounds good. Betty Nguyen, thanks so much.

Is the war on terror now a battle over bureaucracy? It might seem that way, when you look at all the shake-ups the intelligence apparatus has gone through lately and the one it is going through now, the resignation of CIA Chief Porter Goss and the nomination of General Michael Hayden to replace him.

Here is our national security correspondent, David Ensor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First, there was the failure to stop 9/11, then, the mistaken CIA analysis that Iraq probably had weapons of mass destruction. Those failures prompted the president and Congress to order dramatic change, a new director of national intelligence, John Negroponte -- his job, to coordinate and manage the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. It meant he outranked CIA Director Porter Goss. That made it a difficult working relationship from the start.

Negroponte's plan to move people out of the CIA and into the National Counterterrorism Center caused Goss to push back, and led to Goss' resignation.

TIMOTHY ROEMER, FORMER 9/11 COMMISSION MEMBER: This is a critically difficult time for the country. We're in the midst of war with terrorists, and now we may have to go through a brutal confirmation hearing, talking about things such as the national security wiretaps, leaks and secret prisons. This is not good for the country.

ENSOR: When Goss, a former congressman, came in with his team from Capitol Hill, they quickly pushed out several top CIA operations officers. That led to bad blood, from which many professionals say he never recovered.

Officials close to Negroponte say he and others felt the CIA was not moving quickly enough to adapt to its new role under the umbrella of Negroponte's office, after, for so long, being the lead intelligence agency. With so much change and turmoil, CIA veterans say what's needed now for the agency to be effective is a period of stability.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The community has been relentlessly blamed for just about every national problem you can imagine. And very little attention has been given to its successes and its -- its needs. And, so, it is a community that, at this point, is under some stress and needs to nurtured.

ENSOR: General Michael Hayden is a seasoned and respected intelligence professional. But he has never run human intelligence- collecting.

(on camera): As former director of the National Security Agency, he could also face tough questioning in Senate confirmation hearings on the president's warrantless wiretaps program.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So, is General Hayden a Pentagon puppet, as some critics fear, or an independent thinker?

Let's head straight to the Pentagon, our senior correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

David Ensor actually saying, Jamie, that this might be one of Donald Rumsfeld's least favorite generals.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I don't think that's the case at all. I think that you will see that Rumsfeld and General Hayden will, at least publicly, have a very good relationship.

You know, there is a tension between the Pentagon and the CIA, because the Pentagon controls about 80 percent of the budget for intelligence-gathering, and uses a lot of those resources to gather what they call tactical intelligence, battlefield intelligence, that U.S. military commanders need in prosecuting operations around the world, whereas the CIA is concerned about threats to the -- to the country at home and sort of worldwide collection.

One of his first statements in the Rose Garden with President Bush this morning, General Hayden sought to reassure the employees of the CIA that he's going to be on their side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL MICHAEL HAYDEN, CIA DIRECTOR NOMINEE: This is simply too important not to get absolutely right. To the men and women of the Central Intelligence Agency, if I'm confirmed, I would be honored to join you and work with so many good friends.

Your achievements are frequently underappreciated and hidden from the public eye. But you know what you do to protect the republic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: And, you know, Kyra, a lot of discussion about whether it's wise to have a military man in charge of the civilian intelligence-gathering operation.

But other people argue that, you know, that one of the things you want from an intelligence chief is a -- an intelligence picture that's not colored by political concerns. And that's one thing that the military has a tradition of, is -- is serving no matter what the political stripes of the policy-makers are.

If there is a turf battle that is going on, it's probably more between the Pentagon and John Negroponte, the national -- director of national intelligence, because he's got to try to herd all of those 16 intelligence agencies, including some of those under the Pentagon's control, and coordinate them. And that's probably where you're going to see more of the tension between the Pentagon and the intelligence community as a whole -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: So -- so, Pentagon and CIA, it looks like there's already a pretty strong relationship. That's not necessarily the issue?

MCINTYRE: And that was the case in the past. Even -- you know, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld always said he had a good relationship with the previous CIA director, George Tenet, of course, who was there when the intelligence was developed before the Iraq war.

I'm not sure that Porter Goss was there long enough to develop such a relationship. And, as David Ensor pointed out, the ground shifted underneath his feet with the creation of this new office over him, with John Negroponte.

So, now Negroponte has put his own deputy in there, somebody he trusts. And I -- I think it's somebody, also, that the military has great respect for, too, because -- because General Hayden has a long history of intelligence and running intelligence operation.

And he has also professed a great respect for the -- for the respect of privacy of American citizens, even though he's caught up in the middle of that controversy about the listening-in on international phone calls that might be linked to al Qaeda.

PHILLIPS: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon -- thanks, Jamie.

It's a gruesome routine in the Iraq: keeping daily, sometimes hourly, track of the dead. At least seven Iraqis were killed today in two separate car bombings in Baghdad. Elsewhere, three Iraqi police commandos who were kidnapped Friday were found shot to death today just south of the capital. Six other bodies were found in various parts of Baghdad. Some showed signs of being tortured, all apparent victims of sectarian violence that claimed more than 90 lives this month alone.

The U.S. military says an American soldier was killed today by a roadside bomb just southeast of Baghdad.

Seventy-six U.S. troops were killed in Iraq last month, the most this year. We now bring you some of the names and stories behind those numbers.

We remember fallen hero Michael E. Bouthot. When the 19-year-old was a senior in high school, he had two wishes. He was determined to earn his diploma to make his mother proud. And he wanted to serve his country. He died two years after graduation, when a roadside bomb went off near his armored vehicle in Baghdad.

Army Sergeant Robert W. Ehney, also killed by a roadside bomb earlier month near Taji. His father says Robert was concerned about the younger soldiers in his unit and how they would handle combat. When Ehney joined the Army, at age 23, several of the younger soldiers affectionately gave him the nickname "Pops." He leaves behind a 4- year-old son, William.

Staff Sergeant Darrell P. Clay was also a father. He had three children and was on his third tour in Iraq. Clay had been a full-time soldier since the 1990s. He also leaves behind a wife.

These soldiers are just three of the 2,420 men and women who have died in the war in Iraq.

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