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CNN Live Today

New Orleans Aims to Reopen Sections; Fishing Community Hit Hard by Ophelia; Groups Work to Save Abandoned Animals; Senators Discuss Relief Efforts

Aired September 16, 2005 - 12:37   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush joins Americans leaders at the National Cathedral in Washington for a prayer service which takes on added significance in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Well, just one day after unveiling a massive federal recovery program for the Gulf Coast, President Bush leads the country in a national day of prayer and remembrance at Washington's National Cathedral.

CNN's Dana Bash joins us from the White House with the latest -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty.

Well, you know, the president, some of them here, believe that of all the speeches he gave after 9/11, whether it was the impromptu moment on the rubble or the address before Congress, it was the speech in the National Cathedral that they think was perhaps the most powerful in terms of the way he brought the country together.

And you can tell by listening to the president just a few minutes ago that you can understand why. People understand that the president is a very religious man. And the church is his comfort zone. And what he tried to do is to talk about the future, but to talk about it in terms of rebuilding society, rebuilding faith, rebuilding belief in America and in what can be possible.

He also made an interesting, expanded on something that he said last night and that is talking about the injustice in society, perhaps racial injustice. He said he hopes that when they clear away the debris of the hurricane, they clear away the legacy of inequality.

So that is what we heard from the president here at the cathedral. Last night, of course, he made a major address talking about more tangible ways that he wants the federal government to recover, to rebuild. A number of initiatives that he announced, including what he called what would be the largest reconstruction effort the world has ever seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: All who question the future of the Crescent City need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans. And this great city will rise again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, in order to, as he said, help that great city, and the rest of the Gulf Coast rise again, the president announced that there would be several initiatives including job training, including helping people who are out of homes find homes, lots of initiatives. And a lot of people here in Washington today are asking how the president is going to pay for that.

Well, the White House today is saying essentially that the recovery will be paid for by the federal taxpayer. And they are admitting that it will be added to the deficit. They are not saying here that they are going to cut any programs in order to pay for that. And that is going to be a large part of the debate in the next coming days and months as exactly not only what the kind of commitment will be, but exactly how the government is going to pay for it.

And there you see President Bush and Mrs. Bush making their way out of the National Cathedral after this -- after this ceremony. This is a day that President Bush called a national day of prayer in honor of the victims of Katrina. And that's what we heard from him and from several members of the clergy from all faiths before Mr. Bush spoke.

NGUYEN: And in both honor and remembrance of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Dana Bash at the White House, thank you.

There were prayers in New Orleans as well. And Mayor Ray Nagin predicts some residents will start returning to their homes next week. He thinks a quarter of a million people could be back in the crippled city some time in the next three to six months.

CNN's Sean Callebs joins us now live from New Orleans with details on the city's progress.

Have you see some of that progress as of yet, Sean?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly in the areas that the mayor is talking about there is tremendous progress, especially the French Quarter. If you go down there, the streets are clean. Power is slowly coming back on. I even saw a few traffic lights last night for the first time.

But where we are now emergency crews are just now beginning to touch. If you look out you see the waters of Lake Pontchartrain. And you'll see in the distance a levee. It's about 25 feet high. The height of the storm rose over that. It came through.

And if you look at this marina to my left here, the water was up well above where those -- that bar is running in a horizontal fashion. So, you just look at these boats down here, these pleasure crafts. Louisiana bills itself as a sportsman paradise. But these boats are basically trashed. You can tell that marine recovery and salvage crews are out here right now. There are about 200 boats in this kind of condition out here, so.

And it's more than just an inconvenience for sportsmen. They tell us this is also a health hazard, because you think about these boats. They all have sewage systems. They all have oil, fuel oil, things of that nature.

The names are also catching our attention. This is the Elusive II, but it wasn't too elusive at the time of the storm. In the distance there also is Bally's Casino. Basically, all the casinos in the New Orleans areas are closed down because of the storm. That ship actually blew up on top of a pier, just smashed it.

We talked with someone with Bally's a short while ago, and they said that they want to get it open as soon as possible, but it's going to be some time.

You talked about the areas that the mayor wants to open. Certainly, he wants to bring people back into the city. In the mayor's words, he wants New Orleans to breathe again. He wants to hear the sounds of jazz, not all the helicopters that are continually flying overhead.

He has plans to open up Algiers and the Central Business District by Monday, the uptown area Wednesday and Friday. And then what everybody's waiting for, the French Quarter to come back to life. That should happen a week from Monday.

But just how many people will come back? The mayor wants 182,000. He thinks the city can function with about a quarter of a million people for the coming months. But Betty, many of the people we talked to, and I know you are in Houston, made it clear that they don't want to come back. They're still traumatized.

But the mayor says he knows these people and he thinks they will indeed come back.

NGUYEN: It's a very good point, Sean. Many people I spoke to said with did indeed say they're going to make Houston their home. They can't go back; there's nothing to go back to.

But the mayor is definitely working to get more people into New Orleans.

We want to take a live look now, an aerial view of New Orleans and the Central Business District. We were seeing moments ago some of the buildings where windows are still blown out, boards are still up. I know that the plan is to get the Central Business District up and running by Monday. But it's going to take a lot of work.

Because look at the background here. In the middle of your screen toward the back of it, you can see the Superdome, and that top membrane of the dome is still missing. It's going to be awhile before all the clean-up can occur inside the dome and the work take place to get it restored.

This is city hall. Look at how it stands today. You can see some of the windows. I can't tell if they are exactly blown out or if the windows are open. But no doubt, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to get this Central Business District back up and running and get people back into New Orleans, get the business flowing and the city rebuilt. Of course we're going to stay on top of all of this every step of the way right here on CNN.

Ophelia is now a tropical storm, moving away from the North Carolina coast out into the Atlantic. As a hurricane, the eye of the storm never officially made landfall. But, some areas of coastal North Carolina have suffered heavy damage. One of them is Salter Path.

Our Rob Marciano is there amid all that damage behind you. Rob, what's the latest?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Betty, folks are now filtering in to try to pick up the pieces. They came in yesterday afternoon and started cleaning up.

And you know, the community actually coming together, because a lot of what you see behind me is shared in many ways by the community. This is a fishing village pretty much, a fishing community. Behind me you see a fish processing house. Fishing boats would come right in here and they'd drop off their catch. Mostly shuck and scallops right there.

That blue bricked building is the same deal. Look how that concrete slab, concrete blocks just completely blown in by wind, water and waves that came through the other night.

Piers out in front of these buildings that were once here completely gone. Just the moorings, just the pylons all left.

Continue to pan over towards the left. You see the white and red building with a big hole in it. And partially torn-off roof there. That's the Crab Shack. That is an institution. We tried to eat there the other night. I mean, it's known around this area for the best sea food in town. The owner has two got shrimping boats. He pulls in, he unloads his catch, and it's in your -- on your plate in a matter of minutes.

Look at the destruction all the way down. There's not a pier left. Just these pylons.

A 51 slip marina down the way completely gone. They got the boats out of here in time. But they couldn't move the buildings, that's for sure.

What about evacuations? This particular part of the county was not under a mandatory evacuation. This was a bit of a surprise for this water to pile up here. So we tracked down Joey Frost. He's the captain of the Salter Path Fire Department, to talk about what he had to do the night of the storm in order of rescues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY FROST, CAPTAIN, SALTER PATH FIRE DEPARTMENT: We went in to about six or seven different businesses and home to do the rescues. Three or four of them left. Two or three decided to stay. They started to telling us we'd done all we could do to try to get to them. We took four men in. We put chest waders on and started wading in the water with our flashlights and our survival gear to get to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Unbelievable to listen to Mr. Frost talking about having to rescue folks here.

Those folks who got out when they started seeing the water rise, they jut headed for higher ground. This kind of community, they just rapped on their neighbors' door and say, "Hey, this is getting crazy. Let me in." They just park it there overnight to ride out the storm.

You're looking now due east. This is Bogue Sound. This is on the safe side away from the ocean. But on either side of both banks where this island is are two inlands. And water was coming in with the storm surge, water was coming in with the tide.

The problem is, water had been getting piled up here for the past several days with that consistent east wind because Ophelia was such a slow mover. Then when Ophelia passed off towards the east, her winds turned northerly and all that water that was piled up in the central part of the sound came in ferociously towards the northern banks here of both banks, towards Salter Path where these, where these -- where the fishing community once was.

They're going to start to pick up the pieces here. Unbelievable damage from a Category 1 hurricane.

This community very tight-knit. It's amazing to hear the stories of these folks of the survival and what they're going to do. The owner of the Crab Shack says he hopes to have it up and running by the time Easter rolls around.

They're in pretty good spirits here. Unbelievable, Betty, for a Category 1 storm. We said it was possible here, especially in the inland sounds, but I never thought I would see this with my own eyes.

Back to you.

NGUYEN: And it's really shocking, Rob, not only that it's a Category 1, but that it never made landfall and yet the damage is so awful there.

MARCIANO: Well, you know, Joey Frost was telling me, his dad was around for 1954. That's the granddaddy of them all, Hurricane Hazel, Category 4 storm. He said it doesn't even compare to this. This is a lot worse, mostly because it stayed offshore. So you have that constant east wind. And then instead of the eye coming on and having a bit of a calm, it scooted to the east and we got that north wind.

I tell you, when we knocked off the air a couple nights at midnight and tried to get some sleep, the north wind seemed to be stronger than any other wind that was coming off the ocean before -- as the storm approached. So you know, every hurricane has its own little personality. And Ophelia was a slow mover. And I suppose the story here is that the inland areas are not always protected.

Back to you.

NGUYEN: Rob Marciano, thank you. For more on Ophelia and where it is headed, meteorologist Bonnie Schneider joins us now from the CNN Weather Center. Ophelia isn't done just yet, is she, Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not at all, Betty. Right now we have maximum winds with Ophelia at 60 miles per hour. And the storm, luckily, finally, is on the move, which is a good thing.

Now, we do have a tropical storm warning that's from Watch Hill, Rhode Island to Plymouth, Massachusetts. And if you know this area, that actually includes the cape and the islands, right here. So it's pretty much a portion of coastal sections of New England.

There's a watch in effect from southwestern Nova Scotia to Yarmouth, and that will continues, as well. That means that we may see tropical storm conditions in the next 36 hours. But of course, a warning is a more imminent factor that we really have to keep a watch on for New England.

Even though Ophelia is pulling away from the coach, you can see a lot of that convection is still kind of hugging the coast line. So we're going to watch out for rip currents and rough surf, even on the Jersey shore through the weekend.

Here's the latest track from the National Hurricane Center on Ophelia. Right now, as I mentioned, winds are at 60. So this is still a strong tropical storm. And you can see some fluctuation in how close Ophelia will get to coastal New England.

Some of our more recent computer models we were just looking at do take the storm close to or near Nantucket. Others pull it further away. So depending on how close Ophelia does get to that shore line right here along the cape and the islands, will determine how much rain will fall and how rough we'll see the surf and the wind throughout the day for the weekend.

But at least we'll get a little bit of a breather with Ophelia in the next 24 hours. By the time we get to the weekend, we may see rain for New England and rough seas, as well.

And that may affect areas even on eastern Long Island if the storm gets close enough further to the west.

But the worst of it is over right now. This looks like a tropical storm at this point. Eventually Ophelia will weaken and become extra tropical as it works its way over some cooler waters. So that's the latest on Ophelia -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, Bonnie. Thank you.

And ahead, what is being done to save the thousands of pets left homeless by Hurricane Katrina? We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is saying mass for Katrina's victims this hour. That service is taking place at the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington. Here's a live look.

McCarrick, who is archbishop of Washington, spent three days in the hurricane zone. President Bush designated today a national day of prayer for storm victims.

Among the victims, many, hundreds, thousands of children missing their parents, as well as missing children. We just got an update within the past few moments from the Louisiana state social service on the number of missing children. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKETA GARNER GAUTREAU, LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES: The number at noon yesterday, because today's numbers weren't out when I left, were 2,463. Resolved was 635. Meaning they have 1,988 kids reported missing that are not found.

Now let me explain what reported missing means. If you are a non-custodial parent, and you didn't have your child before the storm, and you don't have your child after the storm, you can call and say your child is missing. So these are bona fide numbers of people who called and said, "I don't know where my child is." But they might not have had their child before the storm.

We have a huge population in Louisiana of extended family care. We have a high teen pregnancy rate. We have a lot of grandparents raising grandchildren. We have a lot of relative placement care.

So many people that are calling in and saying, "I don't know where my child is," was not in physical custody of that child before the storm happened. So the number of these thousands of missing children, if you're getting them from that national center, is not necessarily the number of human bodies we have had and touched in our shelters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: So let's put that number out there one more time. As she mentioned, there are 2,463 missing children in Katrina's aftermath.

We want to tell you about a programming note, speaking of these missing children. All weekend long CNN will focus on missing children of Katrina. Beginning tomorrow morning at 7 Eastern, we will show you photos and share the stories of some of the 2,000 children desperately hoping to find their families.

Well, thousands of pets were also left homeless by Katrina. Next, I'll speak with an aid worker who's trying to save lives among the displaced animals of the Gulf Coast. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: The government's first priority in a disaster is to rescue people. Now that means that during Hurricane Katrina, thousands of family pets were left behind to fend for themselves.

It is a cruel choice, according to some humane groups. They want the government to recognize the bond between people and their pets and change its rescue policy.

With us now from New Orleans is Dr. Eve Ognibene. She is a veterinarian with North Shore Animal League of America, one of the first groups to respond to the animal crisis.

First of all, when you got there on the ground, walk us through what you saw in regards to these animals.

DR. EVE OGNIBENE, VETERINARIAN: Well we got here yesterday into New Orleans. And we were just driving around downtown where the mud is covering everything. And you don't even have to drive more than three or four blocks and you'll see dogs lying in the mud, running in the mud, covered, emaciated. They run from us because they are scared. Some of them we can get in with some food. That's pretty much the scene we are seeing in terms of the animals. They're just everywhere.

NGUYEN: OK. That's what you're seeing. So what's being done to help these animals?

OGNIBENE: Well, what I've seen in terms of rescue is that there is some independent groups that are trying very, very hard on a shoestring to go out and get those animals. They don't have any help. They don't really have much funding at all. They're working in situations where they don't have running water or electricity. But they're going out and they're picking up the animals.

In about 30 minutes they can pick up 12 animals. And they're bring them back to a parking lot where they have cages set up and medical help set up. But it's minimal.

And then from there, other rescue groups independently are coming in and taking those animals out. That's what I've seen, although I know that there's other things going on. I just haven't seen it personally.

NGUYEN: These are pets that are being left behind. Pets like the one you have in your hand right now. It's just the cutest little puppy.

OGNIBENE: Yes.

NGUYEN: But when it comes to rescuing humans from a disaster like this, that is mission critical. That's the first priority. What do you want to see changed? And how is that possible?

OGNIBENE: Well, what we need is more people down here to rescue. There are groups, independent groups throughout the country that are skilled in rescuing animals. And they need to be allowed to come down here and get these animals.

There's no way that the amount of people that are down here right now are going to get them all. There are thousands around. They're in apartment buildings. They're in houses. They're on the street, and they're struggling.

Sorry about that.

And they need to be allowed to come down here. And then when they're taken out, they need to be allowed to go to anybody, any organization throughout the United States that can handle large amounts of animals and take care of them. Right now they're not allowed to leave the state. And the shelters within the state are getting crowded, and people are being locked out. And there's no place for these animals to go.

NGUYEN: Do you have any estimate on how many pets are homeless?

OGNIBENE: I hear all sorts of numbers. I heard something like 50,000. I don't know. But from what I've seen, there are thousands. Thousands.

NGUYEN: Thousands. And quickly, knowledge is power. So when a situation like this occurs, what do pet owners need to know if they do have to leave their pets behind?

OGNIBENE: Well, they can identify their animals with maybe cell phone numbers. Because we do find animals with tags and telephone numbers, but they're home numbers, and those home numbers aren't working. So there's no way for us to get in touch with those people. Certainly, these people thought maybe they were going to come back in a day or two. So they left out a little bit of food and water, thinking they'll be back two days later. And now two weeks have gone by. And that's just not enough.

NGUYEN: Dr. Eve, I'm going to have to interrupt you right now.

OGNIBENE: Sure.

NGUYEN: Because we need to go to New Orleans, where Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid is speaking.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

HARRY REID (D-NV), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: ... educational for the short time we've been here today to see on the ground what we've been watching in pictures. The devastation, the personal suffering is hard for me to understand, but I'm trying.

The people of Louisiana are a powerful group of people. I have not heard anyone in my stay here talk about anything other than a partnership, teamwork. This is so remarkable, that people are willing to work together as they have here. In the briefings that we've had here today, there's been no name-calling, no finger-pointing.

And I think that's a lesson we can learn as we take back to Washington. We've got to become a partner with the people of the Gulf Coast and see what we can do more quickly to get them the help that they need and, just as importantly, to make sure that next time we are better able to respond to a disaster like this or something comparable to it.

SEN. DAVID VITTER (R), LOUISIANA: I'm David Vitter, U.S. senator from Louisiana. I want to personally thank Bill and Harry for leading this U.S. Senate delegation. I think it's very important and very helpful for us, particularly coming on the heels of the president's address from Jackson Square last night, not too far from here.

This is going to be a major, major reconstruction effort. And we all need to work together in that to get it done.

And my main plea to all of my colleagues, one I think they are hearing, is that this needs to be a sincere bipartisan effort. And we need to leave partisan politics at the door. Because if we let this become a partisan political football in any way, we'll only victimize the victims of Katrina all over again.

So I know we are coming together in that spirit. It's going to be a major reconstruction effort. And I look forward to working with my partner Mary Landrieu in the Senate and the leaders on both sides, the entire Senate, in getting the job done right.

BILL FRIST (R-TN), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Senator Landrieu -- one of the things as majority leader and as Democratic leader that we've had the opportunity to witness is the outstanding work of your two United States senators, Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, from day one, being on the telephone to identify the needs here.

And it's been a real honor and a privilege to work with them. They put New Orleans, they put Louisiana first and foremost and made sure that we are appropriately educated.

And Mary, you've been so instrumental to all of us, giving us information so that we can make the decisions that we need to in Washington.

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: I thank the Senate leaders, national leaders, each in their own right to come down and see firsthand the devastation that has occurred. And as my colleague Senator Vitter said in a bipartisan and unified way, we will help to lead this region to recovery, this city and this region.

It's an unprecedented natural disaster that is going to take an unprecedented national response. And I could not think of wiser, more capable leaders than have gathered with Senator Vitter and I today to help to begin that process.

So I just want to thank them. I think they've learned a great deal. I hope that they'll come back. They've assured me that they will, because this is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. But, again, if we can keep unified and do it as bipartisan as possible, I think it will truly help and be an example of the nation. FRIST: The reason why I turned to my colleagues is that we have both leadership, bipartisan represented here today, as well as various chairmen of a number of committees. We had a lot more senators who wanted to come down, but we held it to the limit that we did today.

So I do want to give all my colleagues an opportunity to speak, and then we'd be happy to answer a few questions.

REID: Bill, I think it's important to note, the reason we have so few senators is we have something called the Mansfield rule that only allows 14 senators to be on the same airplane, so that's why we -- everyone would come, they just didn't have that opportunity.

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: I'm Richard Shelby. I'm from Alabama.

I've been coming to New Orleans since I was 18 years old, and I plan to keep coming another 50 years, if I can.

(APPLAUSE)

And I'll tell you, I see a lot of stirring around here.

I see optimism. I see hope. And I believe the cup is not empty; the cup is -- maybe had some taken off, but we're committed in the Congress to helping you and the people of the New Orleans, and Louisiana, Mississippi, and my area of Alabama, rebuild to make you what you want to be in the future.

We want New Orleans to come up and be the New Orleans we all love.

FRIST: Thank you, Richard.

Let me have the senators who are directly affected, just give them the opportunity to speak.

And Senator Cochran behind us -- just for your information, we are spending the morning and much of the day here in New Orleans.

We will be going to the entire Gulf Coast over the course of today.

Senator Thad Cochran, who is also chairman of our Appropriations Committee. We have put $62 billion forward in the relief effort for the Gulf Coast already. And it is under his jurisdiction that, that money is flowed.

SEN. THAD COCHRAN (R), MISSISSIPPI: On behalf of the people in my state of Mississippi, I want to thank Bill Frist and Harry Reid for leading this delegation to this area.

We've suffered the most destructive disaster in these three states, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, than has ever been visited upon our country in history.

This is the most expensive recovery effort and rebuilding effort that we've ever had to confront before.

We are pulling together in the Senate and working together across party lines and regional lines to help make this a successful recovery and rebuilding effort, and that's why we're here -- to reassure the people that the resources are going to be there to help get the job done.

And I think the president was right: We're going to do what it takes, and we will stay here as long as it takes and come back again and again, to see that it's done right.

FRIST: The affected states -- Senator Max Baucus, we've responded in terms of immediate spending, the $62 billion, and that is done in large part through the Appropriations Committee. Indeed, we passed other emergency legislation under the leadership of Chuck Grassley and Max Baucus, who run our Finance Committee.

NGUYEN: You have been listening to 14 members of a bipartisan delegation touring the ravaged areas in the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina.

CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry joins us now. Ed, you've been listening to these senators speak. They're going to be touring many of the cities affected by the hurricane. Exactly what will they be doing on the ground, besides touring the devastation?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they really are trying to show that the Senate cares, obviously. You've seen the president visit the region several times. They're trying to show that lawmakers in both parties want to reach out, they show the commitment that the Congress overall has to make sure that this region is rebuilt. And I think what you're seeing there is you're hearing a lot of talk about bipartisanship and unity, in those words at that press conference.

But a much different picture here on Capitol Hill. In fact, I think what they're trying to do, perhaps, is put a little bit of the bitterness that we've seen in the last two weeks behind them. For all that talk about both sides coming together, actually, in Washington, it's been much, much different. There have been sharp differences.

Last night we heard the Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who you just heard from, really going after the president all throughout yesterday, even in prebuttal, but after the speech as well, saying the president really didn't need to get the job done, that more needs to be said, more action needs to be taken.

Secondly, there is sharp division over exactly this finger- pointing about what went wrong and how that should be investigated. Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, they're saying that Congress should do this. They should not shirk the responsibility of digging into not only what went wrong with the federal government, but the state and local governments.

What you're hearing from Democrats like Senator Reid is they want an independent panel, a commission outside of the Congress modelled after the 9/11 Commission. They believe that Republicans investigating a Republican White House will try to sweep what went wrong at FEMA and other agencies beneath the carpet.

And so that's why you've heard some very sharp rhetoric back and forth here in Washington. But down there in the region, I think they're trying to project, obviously, a more positive image. It's really a tale of two Senates. What's going on here, and what they are trying show down in the region -- Betty.

NGUYEN: We'll be watching. CNN's Ed Henry, thank you.

It's one thing to start to rebuild and recover, but before all of that happens, so many people, so many of the evacuees, so many of the survivors, want to simply find their families.

Coming up next, we'll show what's being done to link children with their parents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Just about two hours ago, U.S. military officials conducted a briefing on what some might call America's forgotten war, the ongoing operations in Afghanistan.

CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us with the highlights from the Pentagon. What's the latest, Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, there is a critical election coming up in Afghanistan this weekend. The citizens there elected their president last year. Now on Sunday, they will be choosing their parliament. There are roughly 5,800 candidates on the ballot, more than 12.5 million registered voters. But there has been some violence leading up to these -- the voting, to the elections. More than some 1,200 people killed in the last six months alone.

Today the body of a seventh candidate who was murdered was found. Now insurgents are threatening to disrupt the vote itself, and that's a possibility very much on the minds of the 18,000 U.S. forces in the country trying to guarantee a secure environment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. JAMES CHAMPION, U.S. ARMY: During the past few months, we've seen an escalation of incidents across the country. However, what we're seeing is still less than what we saw last year in the run up to the presidential election. The enemy combatants have stated that they want to disrupt the elections by creating a spectacular event, which would be probably addressed towards coalition forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Brigadier General James Champion says it is Afghan police and military who will provide the security directly at the 6,000 polling places in Afghanistan, while the U.S. military will be ready to respond in the case of any emergencies. At the same time, the U.S. military does insist it is continuing its hunt for Osama bin Laden. Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita saying that the U.S. military has quote, in his words, "put a lot of pressure on al Qaeda, killing or capturing two-thirds of its leadership." DiRita adding, quote, we're going to catch Osama bin Laden. When we catch him, we'll kill him, when we kill him. Al Qaeda is bigger than one individual" -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Kathleen Koch, thank you for that.

Back here at home, we're going to be talking next about the children, children who are missing their parents, desperately trying to find them. We'll show you what's being done. Stay with us. You're watching CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BERAK)

NGUYEN: On this day after President Bush addressed the nation, his wife is confronting what may be the most heartwrenching cruelty of the storm. Earlier today, Laura Bush focused on the children separated from their families and desperately waiting to be claimed.

CNN's Brian Todd is at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. Brian, how challenging is the task of linking children with their parents?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm still not here.

NGUYEN: Obviously, we are having some audio difficulties. Of course, we're going to try to bring you that report just as soon as it's available to us.

But in the meantime, I want to tell you a little bit about a programming note that's going to be happening this weekend. All weekend long, right here on CNN, we will be focusing on the missing children of Katrina. That begins tomorrow morning at 7:00 Eastern. We'll show you photos and share the stories. Some of the 2,000 children desperately hoping to find their families.

We're going to take a short break and be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD LUI, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Diehard fans of "Lost" or "The West Wing," listen up. CNN.com is your guide to the Emmy red carpet event this year. Learn how a newcomer show, "Desperate Housewives," garnered a whopping 15 nominations, including Best Comedy Series, while "Scrubs," which first aired in 2001, received its first Emmy nomination in that category. You can also learn more about the nominees in this gallery.

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That's our special report on CNN.com/emmys.

For the dot-com desk, I'm Richard Lui.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Here's a live look now as Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington is celebrating mass to pray for all those affected by Hurricane Katrina. This comes on today, September 16th, the day that President Bush has designated as a national day of prayer and remembrance. As you recall, Cardinal McCarrick visited the devastated region as part of a Vatican delegation. And now he is holding mass in honor of remembrance of Hurricane Katrina victims.

Also on this day, many children are still searching, some 2,000 of them still searching for their parents. They are the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We want to go now back to a Alexandria, Virginia, and CNN's Brian Todd, who is at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children -- Brian.

TODD: Betty, at this hour, officials here are working to update the number that you just gave. They promise that they'll have new numbers for us as soon as you mentioned that over 2,000 missing kids were reported by this center as of all day yesterday and early this morning.

In the meantime, these dozens of volunteers are working the phones, tracking missing children. Now earlier today they got a very pleasant visit from First Lady Laura Bush. She came here. She thanked them for their service. She asked them questions about how they are processing the calls, where they are relaying them, how they are getting information. And she took some time to put the real nightmare for many of these parents into some real perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: This is such a very important part of reuniting families all the time, but especially now in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when we have so many families who were separated from each other. And each of us who have children know what it's like to lose your child for a minute in a department store, so we can imagine what these families are feeling and what they are thinking if they've been separated from their children for the last week or so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, Mrs. Bush stressed that families who are either preparing for a natural disaster or going through one should have a plan for their children. And she stresses that the parents should drill into their kids' minds, no matter how young they are, their name, their parents' name, and their addresses so that the children could remember those no matter where they are. Now we are going to show you a couple of the children who we are talking about. This one is in the category of children who have actually been found but are looking for their parents. Joe Mard, he is 15 years old. He was transported out of the Superdome on September 4th. And the officials here at the center say he is now in a shelter in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but he is looking for his parents.

In the category of outright missing, a young man named Jamal Jacobs. They do not have a date of birth for this young boy, but they believe that he is about two or three years old. He was separated from his caretaker during the hurricane. He was last known to be in New Orleans, and he has not been seen since the hurricane hit. Now, if you have information about Jamal Jacobs, about Joe Mard, or any of the other more than 2,000 children still missing, you can call this number, 1-888-544-5475 or go to www.missingkids.com -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Brian, with Jamal, even though he's two or three, at least his name was made available. What about the children who are simply too young to provide any type of information? What's being done for them?

TODD: Well, that's a real problem. And they are up against a lot of problems like that, children who are you too young to speak their own name, who are traumatized. They do the best they can. They take -- one technique is they take a picture of the child when the child was there, show the polaroid to the child, and sometimes the child responds by saying his or her name. That's one way they do it.

There have other ways that they try to get at it, but it is very difficult, especially for the young children, to get the names and the identification and the name of the parents. And that's why Mrs. Bush was stressing what she did. Have a plan for your child. Drill in your name, the child's name, your address -- any pertinent information you can to try to get ready for a disaster like this.

NGUYEN: So important to get these children back with their families. Brian Todd, thank you.

And because of that importance, we want to give you another reminder now. This weekend right here on CNN we will focus on the missing children of Katrina. Beginning tomorrow morning at 7:00 Eastern, we will show you photos and share the stories of some of the 2,000 children still unaccounted for.

And, that is it for us at CNN LIVE TODAY, but you'll want to stay tuned with CNN for continuing coverage of all of the day's news. Up next LIVE FROM with Fredricka Whitfield.

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