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CNN Live Today

Talk with President of American Red Cross; Classified Intelligence Report Paints Pessimistic Picture of Iraq's Future

Aired September 16, 2004 - 11:31   ET

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

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Hurricane Charley struck southwestern Florida a little over a month ago, leaving thousands homeless. Then Hurricane Frances hit Florida's opposite coast just three weeks later, creating a similar need for food and shelter. And now there's Ivan. The storm has set up the need for another round of disaster assistance, this time in southern Alabama and northwest Florida. The Red Cross is responding quickly to Ivan.
Marty Evans is the president and CEO of the American Red Cross. She joins us from Washington this morning.

Good to see you, Marty.

MARTY EVANS, PRES. & CEO, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Hello, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Unfortunately always under circumstances like this. You all really have your hands full. We're talking about parts of Mississippi, Alabama, the western Florida Panhandle, and parts of Georgia, and all of that compounded by what you've been dealing with over the past month with Hurricane Charley and Frances. What are the greatest needs? How are you tackling them right now?

EVANS: Well, you're exactly right. This has been an enormous challenge for us. And just last night alone, we had 275 shelters over with over 40,000 people in the shelters. So this has added on to a massive effort for Charley and for Frances.

Our biggest need now are financial resources. The Charley and the Frances efforts are going to cost about $68 million. It's too early to tell. People shouldn't even be out on the streets and in the neighborhoods yet to evaluate the damage from Ivan. So we're asking the public to help us by making a financial contribution.

WHITFIELD: Now are there certain places in the states that I mentioned that you preemptively set up, and others in which you still have yet to arrive to assess the damage?

EVANS: Well, we now are in the wake of the disaster at the very first part of where it hit landfall. And so today, as we speak, Red Crossers are working with the emergency officials are fanning out to the best extent that they can, given the hard -- the difficulty traversing the roads. They're fanning out to do disaster assessment. At the same time, we're watching the track of the storm as it goes north, and we know that we will be opening additional evacuation shelters as the extensive -- the terrific rains will cause flooding and tornadoes are being spawned. So it's both a disaster relief operation. At the same time, we're continuing with the evacuation phase as the storm travels north.

WHITFIELD: Wow, well, you mentioned the financial donations that you all really sorely need, but what about bodies? How about volunteer power? How are you able to recruit and get people trained and equipped to be at the ready for all of the people who are likely to be in need as this storm continues to move.

EVANS: Well, right now we have 3,000 plus Red Crossers on the job working, and they'll be replaced by additional Red Cross trained disaster volunteers, who'll be coming from literally the other 48 or so states. So we're encouraging people to contact their local Red Cross chapters. Those chapters are today responding to local community disasters, and that's how we develop our Red Cross training disaster volunteers; we give them experience in their community, and then they come to wherever the disaster is to help us. So there's always a need, seven days a week, in every community for disaster volunteers.

WHITFIELD: All right, Marty Evans with the Red Cross, thanks so much, and continued best wishes on these efforts that continue to just keep growing and growing by the day now.

EVANS: Well, thanks for your help in getting our messages out.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, Marty.

Let's get an update on conditions hours after Ivan's landfall. And we know about some of the conditions that Marty Evans just described.

Bill Hemmer is in mobile, Alabama.

And you've been seeing a lot of -- a little bit of wind and a little bit of rain, nothing like last night. But that's an incredible number, Bill, we're hearing from Marty Evans, 40,000 people in Red Cross shelters.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it is a large number. You're indeed right about that, Fredricka. I think it goes to the warnings really that went out about this storm. These people have very good memories. They remember Frederic. They remember Opal. They remember all the storms that came through this area, and they heeded those warnings, and for good reason, too.

Fredricka, for the first time, we're seeing the sun. Just breaking through the clouds above right now -- a little bit of (INAUDIBLE) and do me a favor, John, push on by me.

I don't know if you can see this or not, Fredricka, trying to get you as close as we can. This is flooding right now, next to the convention center in downtown Mobile. Now the flooding, we want to relay to our viewers her, but the flooding is not nearly as extensive as they thought it might be, and that's a very, very good thing, very low-lying area here. In fact, the highest elevation point of all in Mobile is about 27 feet below sea level -- or, excuse me, above sea level, which you know is not very high, especially when you're talking about that wall of water, that storm surge. That's a good sign, actually. It's the only area we've been able to find here for flooding in Mobile.

Want to show you videotape overnight last night of (INAUDIBLE) Mobile during the storm. (INAUDIBLE) 30 mile-an-hour winds whipping around them. They allowed this home to burn to the ground. They could not save it. It is tough duty fighting a fire without a hurricane around you. But golly, you throw in the winds, 130 miles an hour, they were lucky to do what they did last night.

The power, we are told, is still out largely throughout Mobile, about 80 percent of the customers here, Fredricka, are without power.

And as far as the damage goes throughout the area, here's the one thing you have to keep in mind about Mobile. It's an old city, it's a beautiful city. And so many of these large trees line up and down the streets in the downtown area and the residential areas. You have huge live oaks throughout the area.

When those trees start to feel the impact of these winds, the trees hit the power lines, the power lines go down, and that's why you have so many folks without electricity today. They're working hard to get it restored, but oftentimes this could take days, even a week, before people get full power back.

I want to paint another silver lining of what happened here in Mobile, Alabama quickly. The storm, at the very last moment, seemed to edge eastward, and take not a right-hand turn, but a little to the northeast, which put the most intense winds toward the east bay and away from the city here of Mobile. That's good news for this town. It's not so good news for the people in the east bay, down in others like Gulf Shores, Alabama. Still trying to get down there, get an accurate assessment of what happened overnight for the damage there and the flooding.

We hope to have that for you sometime this afternoon. Gary Tuchman and his crew, working so hard all night long, and really taking the brunt of that storm when the eye came ashore about 1:00 in the morning local time here in Mobile. The winds are kicking up, they're still here, but Ivan's not going to be around much longer here in Mobile. Look out Montgomery, look out Atlanta, because Ivan's coming your way.

Fredricka, back to you, by the way, in the city of Atlanta.

WHITFIELD: All right, so many people working exhaustively overnight and into the morning, trying to bring us the latest pictures and information.

All right, thanks so much, Bill.

Well, there is other news to bring you. Coming up, two Americans and a Britain kidnapped in Iraq. We'll go live to Baghdad, coming up next.

Plus, more on Hurricane Ivan. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A classified intelligence report prepared for President Bush in July paints a pessimistic picture of Iraq's future. It covers possible scenarios in the country over the next 18 months: worst case, civil war or a long-term insurgency; the best, dicey stability and political economic and security terms.

The tone of the new estimate appears at odds with statements coming out of administration as of late. Officials, including President Bush, continue to publicly portray a rosier outlook for Iraq.

Well, in Iraq, a bold kidnapping in Baghdad earlier today. Senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joins us with more -- Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

If you had any doubts about the siege mentality under which westerners live in Baghdad, you have only to consider this latest kidnapping.

At about 6:00 this morning, two Americans and a Briton living in a house in the Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad were abducted. The Americans have been identified as Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, both working for Gulf Services. The British have yet to publicly identify the Briton who was abducted.

As I say, it happened at about 6:00 this morning. Two vans pulled up outside the house in which these private contractors were living, and they just sat there and waited. Now, what happens is that there was supposed to be a security guard at that house. The Iraqi security guard just inexplicably disappeared overnight.

One of the people living inside the house, either one of the two Americans or the British subject, came outside to fire up an electric generator to supply power for that house and 12 others in the neighborhood. That was obviously the trigger for the abduction.

The kidnappers then moved quickly. Six of them went over, grabbed the person who came out to fire up the generator, went inside, grabbed the other two westerners who were inside that house. The other five were outside, and they were sitting in another vehicle and they were obviously acting as sentinels and guards outside.

The men disappeared, the abductors and the abductees all disappeared without a trace. And in case you're counting, there are now eight westerners in Iraq in the custody of kidnappers: two Italian aide workers, two French journalists, the two Americans, and the one Briton today, plus an Iraqi-American businessman -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, Walter, these very detailed descriptions of what took place, which begs the question: Then who are the witnesses who watched all of this unfold? RODGERS: The witnesses, of course, were the neighbors. And the reason they were alerted was that, at 6:00 in the morning when the house in which the abducted individuals lived, they were supposed to fire up the electrical generator, and everybody in the neighborhood was supposed to get electrical power.

Of course, that didn't happen. There was an abduction. There was no electrical power, and that alerted the citizens of neighborhood, the Iraqi citizens of that Mansour neighborhood, that something was awry, as indeed it was -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Wow. And still no word from the hostage-takers. All right. Walter Rodgers, thanks so much.

Well, up next, your morning's most complete political wrapup. Plus, of course, more from the path of Hurricane Ivan. CNN LIVE TODAY is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Senator John Kerry is preparing to follow in the president's footsteps, appearing at a National Guard convention in Las Vegas later today. When Bush was there on Tuesday, he did not mention the flap over his own service in the Guard. Will Kerry?

"INSIDE POLITICS" anchor John Woodruff -- Judy, I'm sorry -- Judy Woodruff joins us now from Washington. Too many J's in this story, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": That's right, Fredricka. It's OK.

WHITFIELD: Well, what do we expect to hear from John Kerry?

WOODRUFF: Well, Fredricka, we don't expect that he is going to bring up the specifics of what we've been hearing from the Democrats about President Bush's National Guard service. But he is going to, in the words of his campaign, they say he's going to tell the truth -- in their words -- about Iraq.

Among other things, they're going to -- they say that he's going to point out more than 1,000 Americans have been killed. He's going to say instability is rising, violence is spreading, extremism is growing. He's going to point out there are now havens for terrorists that were not there before.

In other words, John Kerry -- this is really part of an effort by the Kerry campaign to try to put Iraq front and center in the campaign. He'll still continue to talk about domestic questions, about the economy, about health care. But they're watching the same news that you and I see, Fredricka, from Iraq, and they think that it's time for the candidate to start talking more candidly about it.

WHITFIELD: Which begs the question, then, for President Bush: What's on his campaign agenda for today? WOODRUFF: Well, he is not talking about Iraq. He's going to defend the administration policy. But for the most part, the president's in Minnesota. He's in a state that Al Gore won by just a couple points in the last election.

Right now, the Bush people feel good about Minnesota. Their numbers show the president's numbers up a little bit. The president's on a bus tour visiting three different cities.

But he's going to focus on the economy. He's going to talk about simplifying the tax code, perhaps expanding a little on what he said at the Republican convention. And he's going to talk a little about creating new jobs and what needs to be done.

So from the president, primarily an economic message, a domestic message, but I'm sure he won't shy away from Iraq.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder if he will be pressed any further on the contradictions of this intelligence document that's been released or reported on about the grim outlook on Iraq, and President Bush and others within the White House, trying to really paint a rosier picture of Iraq?

WOODRUFF: Fredricka, there's no question that the story, front page "New York Times" this morning, that there has been for some time now, an estimate out of the American intelligence community, what they call the national intelligence estimate, that the future in Iraq is bleaker, is going to be tougher, than what the administration has been saying openly. There's no doubt in my mind that reporters will try to get a question to the president. I'm sure reporters at this hour are trying to get comments from the White House spokespeople and also from the Bush/Cheney campaign spokespeople on that. So we're going to be looking into that today, following up on "INSIDE POLITICS," and other programs throughout the afternoon and evening.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Judy.

WOODRUFF: You're welcome.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Well, the U.S. takes on Europe in golf's Ryder Cup competition this weekend.

CNN sports reporter Larry Smith joins us from Oakland Hills Country Club, outside Detroit, in Bloomfield Township, Michigan.

And, Larry, we'd love to say the U.S. is going into this with an advantage, but we'd be lying, wouldn't we?

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, we probably would. Fredricka, it's a rich 77-year history that continues this weekend in suburban Detroit, as you mentioned the Ryder Cup. It is a biannual golf tournament that pits the USA versus Europe. It tees off tomorrow. And once again, the U.S. does go in as the favorite. Though as we mentioned, that has meant little recently. The Americans have won only once in the last decade in Ryder Cup competitions.

One thorn has been the usually rosy Tiger Woods -- eight major championships, but just a 5-8-2 record in Ryder Cup play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: I don't go into a tournament thinking that, it would be great to lose, no. I think it would be asinine to think that way. And you guys know how competitive I am and I go out there with intent to go out there and win points for the U.S. team.

HAL SUTTON, RYDER CUP CAPTAIN: You're the one who chose to be as great as you are. They're going to judge you by this. This is going to be another barometer of success for you. So let's be prepared for this. Let's give it all we've got. Let's lead this team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: And Tiger's boyhood idol was Jack Nicklaus. He was never on a losing Ryder Cup team in six tries. His teams went 5-0-1, though. to be fair to Tiger that, was in a different era.

Twenty-eight total matches, beginning with tomorrow morning's four-ball competition. And, Fredricka, the number to keep in mind, 14 1/2 -- that's the minimum number of points needed to win the Ryder Cup, come Sunday afternoon.

Let's go back to you.

WHITFIELD: Now what about the crowd out there?

SMITH: Well, the crowd is going to be huge, and you know, it will be a lot of chanting, USA, USA here in Detroit.

WHITFIELD: It's almost going to be like being at the Olympics again, isn't it, Larry?

SMITH: It really well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, thanks again.

Well, this is the Olympics of golf, so to speak, at least.

All right, thanks a lot, Larry.

Well, I'm going to turn this over to Carol Lin, who'll be taking over for the next hour, in today for Wolf Blitzer.

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Aired September 16, 2004 - 11:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Hurricane Charley struck southwestern Florida a little over a month ago, leaving thousands homeless. Then Hurricane Frances hit Florida's opposite coast just three weeks later, creating a similar need for food and shelter. And now there's Ivan. The storm has set up the need for another round of disaster assistance, this time in southern Alabama and northwest Florida. The Red Cross is responding quickly to Ivan.
Marty Evans is the president and CEO of the American Red Cross. She joins us from Washington this morning.

Good to see you, Marty.

MARTY EVANS, PRES. & CEO, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Hello, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Unfortunately always under circumstances like this. You all really have your hands full. We're talking about parts of Mississippi, Alabama, the western Florida Panhandle, and parts of Georgia, and all of that compounded by what you've been dealing with over the past month with Hurricane Charley and Frances. What are the greatest needs? How are you tackling them right now?

EVANS: Well, you're exactly right. This has been an enormous challenge for us. And just last night alone, we had 275 shelters over with over 40,000 people in the shelters. So this has added on to a massive effort for Charley and for Frances.

Our biggest need now are financial resources. The Charley and the Frances efforts are going to cost about $68 million. It's too early to tell. People shouldn't even be out on the streets and in the neighborhoods yet to evaluate the damage from Ivan. So we're asking the public to help us by making a financial contribution.

WHITFIELD: Now are there certain places in the states that I mentioned that you preemptively set up, and others in which you still have yet to arrive to assess the damage?

EVANS: Well, we now are in the wake of the disaster at the very first part of where it hit landfall. And so today, as we speak, Red Crossers are working with the emergency officials are fanning out to the best extent that they can, given the hard -- the difficulty traversing the roads. They're fanning out to do disaster assessment. At the same time, we're watching the track of the storm as it goes north, and we know that we will be opening additional evacuation shelters as the extensive -- the terrific rains will cause flooding and tornadoes are being spawned. So it's both a disaster relief operation. At the same time, we're continuing with the evacuation phase as the storm travels north.

WHITFIELD: Wow, well, you mentioned the financial donations that you all really sorely need, but what about bodies? How about volunteer power? How are you able to recruit and get people trained and equipped to be at the ready for all of the people who are likely to be in need as this storm continues to move.

EVANS: Well, right now we have 3,000 plus Red Crossers on the job working, and they'll be replaced by additional Red Cross trained disaster volunteers, who'll be coming from literally the other 48 or so states. So we're encouraging people to contact their local Red Cross chapters. Those chapters are today responding to local community disasters, and that's how we develop our Red Cross training disaster volunteers; we give them experience in their community, and then they come to wherever the disaster is to help us. So there's always a need, seven days a week, in every community for disaster volunteers.

WHITFIELD: All right, Marty Evans with the Red Cross, thanks so much, and continued best wishes on these efforts that continue to just keep growing and growing by the day now.

EVANS: Well, thanks for your help in getting our messages out.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, Marty.

Let's get an update on conditions hours after Ivan's landfall. And we know about some of the conditions that Marty Evans just described.

Bill Hemmer is in mobile, Alabama.

And you've been seeing a lot of -- a little bit of wind and a little bit of rain, nothing like last night. But that's an incredible number, Bill, we're hearing from Marty Evans, 40,000 people in Red Cross shelters.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it is a large number. You're indeed right about that, Fredricka. I think it goes to the warnings really that went out about this storm. These people have very good memories. They remember Frederic. They remember Opal. They remember all the storms that came through this area, and they heeded those warnings, and for good reason, too.

Fredricka, for the first time, we're seeing the sun. Just breaking through the clouds above right now -- a little bit of (INAUDIBLE) and do me a favor, John, push on by me.

I don't know if you can see this or not, Fredricka, trying to get you as close as we can. This is flooding right now, next to the convention center in downtown Mobile. Now the flooding, we want to relay to our viewers her, but the flooding is not nearly as extensive as they thought it might be, and that's a very, very good thing, very low-lying area here. In fact, the highest elevation point of all in Mobile is about 27 feet below sea level -- or, excuse me, above sea level, which you know is not very high, especially when you're talking about that wall of water, that storm surge. That's a good sign, actually. It's the only area we've been able to find here for flooding in Mobile.

Want to show you videotape overnight last night of (INAUDIBLE) Mobile during the storm. (INAUDIBLE) 30 mile-an-hour winds whipping around them. They allowed this home to burn to the ground. They could not save it. It is tough duty fighting a fire without a hurricane around you. But golly, you throw in the winds, 130 miles an hour, they were lucky to do what they did last night.

The power, we are told, is still out largely throughout Mobile, about 80 percent of the customers here, Fredricka, are without power.

And as far as the damage goes throughout the area, here's the one thing you have to keep in mind about Mobile. It's an old city, it's a beautiful city. And so many of these large trees line up and down the streets in the downtown area and the residential areas. You have huge live oaks throughout the area.

When those trees start to feel the impact of these winds, the trees hit the power lines, the power lines go down, and that's why you have so many folks without electricity today. They're working hard to get it restored, but oftentimes this could take days, even a week, before people get full power back.

I want to paint another silver lining of what happened here in Mobile, Alabama quickly. The storm, at the very last moment, seemed to edge eastward, and take not a right-hand turn, but a little to the northeast, which put the most intense winds toward the east bay and away from the city here of Mobile. That's good news for this town. It's not so good news for the people in the east bay, down in others like Gulf Shores, Alabama. Still trying to get down there, get an accurate assessment of what happened overnight for the damage there and the flooding.

We hope to have that for you sometime this afternoon. Gary Tuchman and his crew, working so hard all night long, and really taking the brunt of that storm when the eye came ashore about 1:00 in the morning local time here in Mobile. The winds are kicking up, they're still here, but Ivan's not going to be around much longer here in Mobile. Look out Montgomery, look out Atlanta, because Ivan's coming your way.

Fredricka, back to you, by the way, in the city of Atlanta.

WHITFIELD: All right, so many people working exhaustively overnight and into the morning, trying to bring us the latest pictures and information.

All right, thanks so much, Bill.

Well, there is other news to bring you. Coming up, two Americans and a Britain kidnapped in Iraq. We'll go live to Baghdad, coming up next.

Plus, more on Hurricane Ivan. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A classified intelligence report prepared for President Bush in July paints a pessimistic picture of Iraq's future. It covers possible scenarios in the country over the next 18 months: worst case, civil war or a long-term insurgency; the best, dicey stability and political economic and security terms.

The tone of the new estimate appears at odds with statements coming out of administration as of late. Officials, including President Bush, continue to publicly portray a rosier outlook for Iraq.

Well, in Iraq, a bold kidnapping in Baghdad earlier today. Senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers joins us with more -- Walter?

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

If you had any doubts about the siege mentality under which westerners live in Baghdad, you have only to consider this latest kidnapping.

At about 6:00 this morning, two Americans and a Briton living in a house in the Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad were abducted. The Americans have been identified as Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, both working for Gulf Services. The British have yet to publicly identify the Briton who was abducted.

As I say, it happened at about 6:00 this morning. Two vans pulled up outside the house in which these private contractors were living, and they just sat there and waited. Now, what happens is that there was supposed to be a security guard at that house. The Iraqi security guard just inexplicably disappeared overnight.

One of the people living inside the house, either one of the two Americans or the British subject, came outside to fire up an electric generator to supply power for that house and 12 others in the neighborhood. That was obviously the trigger for the abduction.

The kidnappers then moved quickly. Six of them went over, grabbed the person who came out to fire up the generator, went inside, grabbed the other two westerners who were inside that house. The other five were outside, and they were sitting in another vehicle and they were obviously acting as sentinels and guards outside.

The men disappeared, the abductors and the abductees all disappeared without a trace. And in case you're counting, there are now eight westerners in Iraq in the custody of kidnappers: two Italian aide workers, two French journalists, the two Americans, and the one Briton today, plus an Iraqi-American businessman -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, Walter, these very detailed descriptions of what took place, which begs the question: Then who are the witnesses who watched all of this unfold? RODGERS: The witnesses, of course, were the neighbors. And the reason they were alerted was that, at 6:00 in the morning when the house in which the abducted individuals lived, they were supposed to fire up the electrical generator, and everybody in the neighborhood was supposed to get electrical power.

Of course, that didn't happen. There was an abduction. There was no electrical power, and that alerted the citizens of neighborhood, the Iraqi citizens of that Mansour neighborhood, that something was awry, as indeed it was -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Wow. And still no word from the hostage-takers. All right. Walter Rodgers, thanks so much.

Well, up next, your morning's most complete political wrapup. Plus, of course, more from the path of Hurricane Ivan. CNN LIVE TODAY is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Senator John Kerry is preparing to follow in the president's footsteps, appearing at a National Guard convention in Las Vegas later today. When Bush was there on Tuesday, he did not mention the flap over his own service in the Guard. Will Kerry?

"INSIDE POLITICS" anchor John Woodruff -- Judy, I'm sorry -- Judy Woodruff joins us now from Washington. Too many J's in this story, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": That's right, Fredricka. It's OK.

WHITFIELD: Well, what do we expect to hear from John Kerry?

WOODRUFF: Well, Fredricka, we don't expect that he is going to bring up the specifics of what we've been hearing from the Democrats about President Bush's National Guard service. But he is going to, in the words of his campaign, they say he's going to tell the truth -- in their words -- about Iraq.

Among other things, they're going to -- they say that he's going to point out more than 1,000 Americans have been killed. He's going to say instability is rising, violence is spreading, extremism is growing. He's going to point out there are now havens for terrorists that were not there before.

In other words, John Kerry -- this is really part of an effort by the Kerry campaign to try to put Iraq front and center in the campaign. He'll still continue to talk about domestic questions, about the economy, about health care. But they're watching the same news that you and I see, Fredricka, from Iraq, and they think that it's time for the candidate to start talking more candidly about it.

WHITFIELD: Which begs the question, then, for President Bush: What's on his campaign agenda for today? WOODRUFF: Well, he is not talking about Iraq. He's going to defend the administration policy. But for the most part, the president's in Minnesota. He's in a state that Al Gore won by just a couple points in the last election.

Right now, the Bush people feel good about Minnesota. Their numbers show the president's numbers up a little bit. The president's on a bus tour visiting three different cities.

But he's going to focus on the economy. He's going to talk about simplifying the tax code, perhaps expanding a little on what he said at the Republican convention. And he's going to talk a little about creating new jobs and what needs to be done.

So from the president, primarily an economic message, a domestic message, but I'm sure he won't shy away from Iraq.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder if he will be pressed any further on the contradictions of this intelligence document that's been released or reported on about the grim outlook on Iraq, and President Bush and others within the White House, trying to really paint a rosier picture of Iraq?

WOODRUFF: Fredricka, there's no question that the story, front page "New York Times" this morning, that there has been for some time now, an estimate out of the American intelligence community, what they call the national intelligence estimate, that the future in Iraq is bleaker, is going to be tougher, than what the administration has been saying openly. There's no doubt in my mind that reporters will try to get a question to the president. I'm sure reporters at this hour are trying to get comments from the White House spokespeople and also from the Bush/Cheney campaign spokespeople on that. So we're going to be looking into that today, following up on "INSIDE POLITICS," and other programs throughout the afternoon and evening.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Judy.

WOODRUFF: You're welcome.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Well, the U.S. takes on Europe in golf's Ryder Cup competition this weekend.

CNN sports reporter Larry Smith joins us from Oakland Hills Country Club, outside Detroit, in Bloomfield Township, Michigan.

And, Larry, we'd love to say the U.S. is going into this with an advantage, but we'd be lying, wouldn't we?

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, we probably would. Fredricka, it's a rich 77-year history that continues this weekend in suburban Detroit, as you mentioned the Ryder Cup. It is a biannual golf tournament that pits the USA versus Europe. It tees off tomorrow. And once again, the U.S. does go in as the favorite. Though as we mentioned, that has meant little recently. The Americans have won only once in the last decade in Ryder Cup competitions.

One thorn has been the usually rosy Tiger Woods -- eight major championships, but just a 5-8-2 record in Ryder Cup play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: I don't go into a tournament thinking that, it would be great to lose, no. I think it would be asinine to think that way. And you guys know how competitive I am and I go out there with intent to go out there and win points for the U.S. team.

HAL SUTTON, RYDER CUP CAPTAIN: You're the one who chose to be as great as you are. They're going to judge you by this. This is going to be another barometer of success for you. So let's be prepared for this. Let's give it all we've got. Let's lead this team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: And Tiger's boyhood idol was Jack Nicklaus. He was never on a losing Ryder Cup team in six tries. His teams went 5-0-1, though. to be fair to Tiger that, was in a different era.

Twenty-eight total matches, beginning with tomorrow morning's four-ball competition. And, Fredricka, the number to keep in mind, 14 1/2 -- that's the minimum number of points needed to win the Ryder Cup, come Sunday afternoon.

Let's go back to you.

WHITFIELD: Now what about the crowd out there?

SMITH: Well, the crowd is going to be huge, and you know, it will be a lot of chanting, USA, USA here in Detroit.

WHITFIELD: It's almost going to be like being at the Olympics again, isn't it, Larry?

SMITH: It really well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, thanks again.

Well, this is the Olympics of golf, so to speak, at least.

All right, thanks a lot, Larry.

Well, I'm going to turn this over to Carol Lin, who'll be taking over for the next hour, in today for Wolf Blitzer.

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