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FBI Raid Fallout; Remembering Fallen Heroes of Iraq
Aired May 29, 2006 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A power struggle, a turf battle now about face on Capitol Hill. It's the FBI's search of a Congressman's office and the resulting array of demands, threats and second thoughts.
CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry puts it all together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist broke with senior House Republicans declaring the raid of Democratic Congressman William Jefferson's office was OK.
SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: There is no individual in the House or Senate that can be or should stand above the law. It's a matter of how the law enforcement is carried out, and I think it is appropriate as I see it today.
HENRY: Different from what Frist said at the beginning of the confrontation.
FRIST: The Constitution has a speech and debate clause in it, and the whole idea of separation of powers does need to be addressed. So I remain concerned.
HENRY: While the Frist camp denies it, a senior Republican strategist charged the change of heart is "... all about Bill Frist running for president," afraid of a public backlash for standing up for a congressman under a cloud.
House Republicans insist they are not excusing the conduct of Congressman Jefferson, accused of keeping $90,00 in bribes in his home freezer.
REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R-WI), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I don't think it would be right for a House committee to issue a subpoena to the president's office and send the Capitol Police rummaging through files, taking everything, and then deciding what wasn't relevant by themselves and returning it to the president. And that's what the Capitol -- or what the FBI did in Congressman Jefferson's office two weeks ago. A separation of powers and checks and balances is very important.
HENRY: CNN has confirmed three top Bush officials, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, threatened to resign if the president forced them to give the documents back to Congress. The president diffused the tension somewhat by ordering a 45-day freeze on the documents while the legal issues are sorted out.
But Republican Chuck Hagel charged the Bush administration handled the raid awkwardly, and says the party is upset about the White House being cavalier with Congress on other issues, like the NSA domestic surveillance program.
SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: There's some frustration. Sure there is. And I think that you're seeing that played out on both sides.
HERNY (on camera): But the heat is still on the White House, with Congressman Sensenbrenner planning a Tuesday hearing, entitled, "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress trample the Constitution?" With a title like that, House Republicans are not about to back down.
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
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(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: For three brothers in Arizona, no kicking back on Memorial Day, they're packing up for Iraq. Their story coming up. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear soldier, I'm very startled by the amount of bravery and courage you have shown to your country. You are a shining star to all children and to me, too. Your sacrificing your life for others. That, to me, is the most courageous thing in the world. Thank you. Your friend, Alex.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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PHILLIPS: Well, this Memorial Day, a proud, but anxious time for one American family. Three brothers are putting on Army uniforms and heading to Iraq for a 15-month tour of duty.
More now from Joe Dana of CNN affiliate KPNX in Phoenix.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE DANA, KPNX AFFILIATE (voice-over): On Monday, Jackson Rogers will lace up his boots and pack his gear for 15 months in the Iraqi battlefield.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard. I mean, I'm not going to lie to you. But mean, I'm not going to lie to you, but I think going on with two of my brothers is going to be a lot easier.
DANA: That's right. Three brothers of this patriotic family of six boys will go to battle together. Jackson and Wesland got the call first. Their older brother Hank was on a track scholarship at ASU but dropped it all and is now at boot camp back east.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When this all came up, he came to first and said, hey, you know, it's not a chance you guys are going over there by yourselves. When he first told me, I was like, dude, you're graduation in two months, and just -- he's like, dude, I don't care about school. I don't care about track. I'm not married. I've got to go protect my little brothers.
DANA: Their last weekend filled with baked goods from their aunt and grandmother. She is still trying to come to grips with their deployment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess if I'm honest, I have to say it's more -- it's three times the worry. I don't know how practical it is. I know that they think they're going to watch each other's back, and that's wonderful.
DANA: Their oldest brother keeps the mood light.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ever since we were little boys, my dad would take us to the barber, and this is how our haircut was, so it's no big deal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: A moving tribute right here in Atlanta, Georgia. For Memorial Day, a couple turned the front yard into a big American flag. It's made up of hundreds of cards, each bearing the name of a service member killed in Iraq. The yard belongs to Alissa Gambino (ph) and Neal Brockman (ph), both former colleagues of ours right here at CNN.
Well, America isn't the only nation to salute the war dead, but the way we do it, well, it's strictly American.
Here's a CNN fact check.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Memorial day is the nation's official salute to America's war dead. But now is a national holiday began informally to honor fallen troops from the civil war by adorning their graves with flowers.
For that reason, it first was given the name "Decoration Day," when officially enshrined in 1868 by the head of the Group for Union Veterans, Major General John Logan. Logan implored communities to lavish soldier's graves with the choicest flowers of springtime. If you see lapels adorned with poppies today, that tradition dates back to the early 1800s, a symbol of the blood of those who died serving in war.
The American Legion say veteran groups raised some 2.5. million last year by distrusting decorated poppies, the money to help veterans in need.
This of course is a day for parades, the granddaddy of all in the nation's capital, where thousands of people also gather at the Vietnam Memorial to remember those who died in that conflict.
Finally, this sobering fact: According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, from the Revolutionary War through the current war in Iraq, more than 660,000 Americans have given their lives on battlefields around the world, in the service of their country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, it's the knock on the door that no soldier's wife wants to answer. Vernordia Fuller did answer, and today is observing her first Memorial Day without her husband by remembering the love of her life
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERNORDIA FULLER, WIDOW: Two guys came to my house in uniform. I let them in; they told me, Mrs. Fuller, could you sit down? They said that we believe that your husband Carper (ph) was killed in Iraq. That's what we believe, but we can't actually tell you. It has to be confirmed through autopsy.
I asked God in many, many prayers that I had to see him, and he actually came in my dreams. And -- but I just wanted to be able to hold him, because I wasn't able to do that, and tell him I love him. He just came out, and I was like, baby, what you doing here? And he was, like, I just wanted to surprise you. And it just faded away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
A green beret, a silver star, a father of two. An extraordinary life cut short on the streets of Iraq. On this Memorial Day, we remember and lift up Master Sergeant Kelly Hornbeck through the words of his parents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was his first deployment to Iraq, and this picture was snapped just as the statue of Saddam Hussein was being toppled in the city had been liberated. And he was quite proud. I think that he saw in the infantry a path he might follow that would allow him to do things in the outdoors, to be a soldier.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once I understood that this was something that was important to him, I have deep respect for all the military. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kelly's first four years in the army were there in the old guard under Reagan and Bush, Sr. And Kelly was the tallest one in the unit who had White House clearance, so it was his responsibility to open the door of the Oval Office or to put the president on the helicopter. And he liked speaking with Reagan.
Gorbachev came during that time so he held the umbrella over Gorbachev so he wouldn't be wet, because it was raining in D.C. He went to airborne school, he went to air assault school and he went to ranger school. Out of the old guard, he found out what he wanted to do and he went at it 100 percent, and he achieved success.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the last conversations when he was there was, keep your head down. And he said, well, you can't see where you're going and can't lead with your head down. OK, you got me. What can I say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The mission -- they were leaving the site, and improvised explosive device detonated. As the lead vehicle came across, Kelly was in the right passenger seat, in the front. The only injury he had was there on his head, but the Kevlar helmet was dented pretty badly.
Kelly died the morning of January the 18th, Sunday morning. I suppose that Kelly had thought through what might have happened, that the consequences of being in war could indeed be death.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Master Sergeant Kelly Hornbeck of the Special Forces was killed in action last January. To his parents back in Fort Worth, Texas, he wrote this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the Memorial Day speech at the tomb, the president used this letter.
"Dear Mom and Dad, if y'all are reading this, then I'm on my way to help do my part to help ensure the future security of our great nation. I am not afraid and neither should either of you be, for I trust in my God and my training. Two powerful forces that cannot be fully measured. I am who I am because y'all made me that way, and for that I thank you. If anything untoward should befall me, please ensure that the qualities you raised me with get passed on the my children. I love you both very much and intend to see you soon. Isaiah 6:8. Kelly."
Are we proud of Kelly? Well, yes, we're proud of him. He willingly went. I mean, there is no draft. And Kelly chose to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are lots of heroes that...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... that never get recognized necessarily. But those heroes don't do the things they do for decorations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of our military are heroes. We have national days to recognize them. Memorial Day. Veterans' Day. And perhaps by telling Kelly's story, maybe others will realize that it's these sorts of sacrifices that stand us apart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Freedom is expensive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: This hour, CNN is live aboard the USS Intrepid, the Sea, Air and Space Museum on the Hudson River in New York City. The Intrepid and the nation mark Memorial Day 2006.
LIVE FROM is remembering the men and women who fought and died for our freedom. The second hour of LIVE FROM begins right now.
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