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Number Two Al Qaeda Man Reported Dead; Did Cronyism Play Role in Michael Brown's Appointment to FEMA?

Aired September 27, 2005 - 12:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are coming up on the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
President Bush is getting a firsthand look at the damage from Hurricane Rita. He is touring hard-hit areas in Texas and Louisiana. Among today's stops, Beaumont, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. It's Mr. Bush's seventh visit to the Gulf Coast region since Hurricane Katrina struck four weeks ago.

In the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fends off a bid to remove him as leader of the Likud party. Sharon won a close vote of confidence, surviving a challenger from former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Officials say if the Israeli leader had lost the vote, he likely would have left the party, formed his own coalition and called for early elections. The victory means Sharon will retain his position for at least another year.

Authorities say a blown tire was a factor in a deadly van crash involving students from a Utah state university. Seven students and an instructor were killed in the accident near Tremonton, Utah. Three other students were injured. Authorities say all 11 people were ejected when the van rolled over four times.

One of the key figures in the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal is entering the sentencing phase of her trial at Fort Hood, Texas. Army Private Lynndie England faces up to nine years in prison. She'll be sentenced by the same five men who took about two hours to convict her. England was found guilty of conspiracy, maltreating detainees and committing an indecent act.

The U.S. says a serious blow has been dealt to the heart of the Iraqi insurgency. Military officials say that Abu Azzam, described as the number two al Qaeda leader in Iraq, was killed over the weekend.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is live from Baghdad with details on that -- Aneesh?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good afternoon. We just spoke with Iraq's national security adviser, who says this was the biggest get since the capture of Saddam Hussein. Abu Azzam was the second-most wanted man in Al Qaeda in Iraq, right behind the group's leader, Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

In a press conference today, Iraqi officials outlined his responsibilities, saying he was responsible directly for a number of car bombs throughout the country, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis. The U.S. military also saying that Azzam was essentially the financial planner of al Qaeda in Iraq, allocating money to the group's various cells throughout the country.

The big question tonight, Daryn, though, is how big a blow will this deal to an organization that all assume can quickly adapt to circumstances as they have done before, can quickly fill leadership gaps as they have done before. That's something that, of course, officials are eager to see, if this is, in fact, as big a blow as they are saying today.

Meanwhile, Daryn, two violent trends continued in Iraq today. Police recruits again targeted. This time about 30 miles north of the capital, in the town of Baquba. There, a suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest detonated amid recruits. At least nine people were killed. Over 20 others were wounded. Police, of course, consistent targets for insurgents, who are trying to keep those willing to go into the police force away from joining since Iraq's security forces are key, really, to establishing any security in this country.

Another thing that we're seeing more of, bodies being discovered, Daryn, 22 of them this time, found today in southern Iraq. All of them men, all of them shot to death, all of them bound with their hands behind their back. Officials say they were there for some time. It's impossible at this point to really identify who these men were. Some were even being eaten by dogs as they lay out, waiting to be discovered. It does underscore, though, the rise, really, in these local militias throughout this country. Vigilante justice that is taking place, in addition, Daryn, to the insurgency that we've seen continues to rage on -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman, live from Baghdad. Thank you. And a reminder for our viewers. We'll hear from the Pentagon next hour. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chief Chairman General Myers -- Richard Myers -- will hold a briefing at 1:00 Eastern. You'll see that live right here on CNN.

We go to Washington, D.C. It has been a tough morning on Capitol Hill for the embattled former chief of FEMA. Michael Brown is facing a House committee inquiry into the government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. And in the opening minutes, he pointedly rejected accusations that his political connections won him that job rather than his professional qualifications.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR: I've overseen over 150 presidential-declared disasters. I know what I'm doing, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And we'll get back to that story in just a minute. Right now, I have on the phone with me the military commander for the response to Hurricane Katrina in that zone. Lieutenant General Russel Honore on the phone from Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Lieutenant General, good morning, or good afternoon. Thanks for being with us.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, COMMANDER, JOINT TASK FORCE: Good morning.

KAGAN: Can you tell us the situation as you see it right now in Lake Charles?

HONORE: OK. Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, 185,000 citizens. The basic situation is the sewer is not operational, the water's not operational, electricity is not operational. The hospital could come online in a few days, if we can get water and electricity in it. The transportation system in the city is restricted because a number of trees and power poles that are down. And that's the basic infrastructure piece. Most of that, that's a big parish that borders the I-10 as it goes into Texas.

And the industrial part of Lake Charles, the estimate now is about 30 days for electric power to be restored. Calcasieu Parish, that is in Lake Charles. And a significant part of that population lives in and around bedroom communities around Lake Charles. We are working with FEMA and the National Guard to get requests in, to be able to set up a disaster relief centers. The mayor's working, as well as the county, the parish president, on reentry plan. And they are working through that right now.

But Lake Charles, as I said again, it has no sewer, no water, no electricity. And the police department is functional, but telephones are amber, which means they work periodically. But they have a significant infrastructure problem in Lake Charles. Over.

KAGAN: General, President Bush is headed your way later today. What would you like him to see in Lake Charles, and what will be your message for him?

HONORE: Well, the local officials will do that. And they have the plan to describe the situation to the president. Our role as military is to continue to try and set up conjunction with the National Guard, basic life support for those citizens that are in the town who are primarily public workers, and to help the city make all the coordination they need to be able to get their planning and their preparation done as the electricity and the water comes back on.

Our bigger issue is in Cameron Parish. Calcasieu Parish was damaged. Cameron Parish, a parish of about 9,500 American citizens, their parish (INAUDIBLE) was destroyed. There's only one building that's usable in Cameron, includes all the homes and industry and businesses, and that is the Cameron courthouse.

We are working hard with the people of Cameron, the parish president and the head of homeland security to get the courthouse. We've got in there yesterday. We opened the road. We are clearing around the Cameron courthouse. The courthouse there has electricity. The generator runs. But that is the only thing that's operational in Cameron. We hope to put a package in there so the key people in the city would be able to operate and open the courthouse up. But Cameron, the entire coastal element of Cameron is blocked. Nothing is operational. Everything's now water, electricity, gas, the entire operation. That includes their shrimp boats ports are all closed.

So Cameron's in bad shape. We will work with them, National Guard. The battalion was there this morning to help clear the roads. And USDA and we were working with them in of support local ranchers. There's some 4,000 or 5,000 head of cattle we are trying to save. We are working, trying to get water and feed to those cattle, and the ranchers are trying to drive them out to safe passage. Over.

KAGAN: General Honore, there's a lot of talk today in Washington about what went wrong and what happened with FEMA's role in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I'm wondering, with all that you've had to do, did you get a chance to even hear anything that's been coming out of Capitol Hill today?

HONORE: No, I don't listen to the news very much. We are busy trying to save these cattle, trying to get the courthouse open in Cameron and trying to get the basic flow of MREs and food and disposition points in Calcasieu Parish is what we are focused on at this time. I would tell you that the situation is bad. The situation in Cameron was created by the storm. It wasn't the element of government. And there's a lot of animals out there that need to be saved, and a lot of people who no longer have a home or a church or a school or a store or a pharmacy or a hospital to go to. That's what's on my mind right now, not what went wrong. We want to work on the fix. Over.

KAGAN: Yes. You've got quite a few things to get to. And just one more personal question. As it has been pointed out many times before, you are from this part of the world. You saw a lot of devastation after Katrina and now here is more devastation in Cajun country in the wake of Rita. How does that get to you emotionally, sir?

HONORE: Well, I know these people live off the land. They make their living off the land and off the Gulf Coast. And when something happens to that environment, it effects them directly. It isn't something, some long term working through somebody else. What they get is what they earn. And they live off the land, literally.

Wildlife, fishery industry, the oil products that are harvested in this area and the cattle. Almost a third of the cattle in Louisiana are raised in Calcasieu and Cameron Parish. So that's one- third of beef in this state is produced in those two parishes. That's a significant contribution to the industry, to the national meat supply.

And I feel sorry for these people and those poor animals. We'll keep working with them. And our policy will remain the same. We'll pick up pets, too. But our focus is getting the people where they can get to their recovery stage and get the disaster relief centers open -- over.

KAGAN: Well, you've been doing a lot of important work, along with all your people there. Lieutenant General Russel Honore, thank you for your time, and we wish you well with the big job that still lies ahead. Thank you, sir. We're going to a break now. We are back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: With embattled former director of FEMA, Michael Brown, on Capitol Hill today, "Time" magazine asking the question that many people have pondered in the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina. How many Michael Browns are out there? This week's edition on hurricanes includes a look at, as you can see, in the upper left-hand corner of the magazine cover, "The Politics of Cronyism." The report's findings may not be all that comforting.

Here to explain is Mark Thompson, a Washington correspondent for "Time Magazine."

Good afternoon to you.

MARK THOMPSON, "TIME" WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

KAGAN: One of the first things that Michael Brown did after taking the oath was basically take your magazine to task, saying you had a lot of things wrong in the article that your magazine did, where you basically ripped apart his resume. He says he is qualified for the job of FEMA director.

THOMPSON: I think we all acknowledge that qualifications are subject in the eyes of the beholder. But our report in our magazine while he was still in charge was backed up by the people we spoke to, and we stand by that story.

KAGAN: All right. Well, so just looking at this subject of cronyism in general, the Bush administration did not make this up. You can find examples in the Clinton administration, the Kennedy administration, even Bush 41.

THOMPSON: Yes, I mean, Let's face it presidents have the power these days to appoint about 3,000 senior officials to top spots in the government. What we found is that a lot of these folks who are just below the radar screen really aren't paid attention to until disaster strikes, like in Michael Brown's case, don't have a lot of experience in key positions, like, for example, David Safavian, the OMB official who was arrested last week for colluding with lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, or at least allegedly colluding with him. He was in charge of $300 billion a year of federal procurement, and now he's out of a job.

KAGAN: In general, and not being specific here, in general, the Bush administration says it makes no excuses for filling the government with people that agree with President Bush's agenda, that you should have people working for you that have the same take on where the country should be going.

THOMPSON: Of course. The issue is their competence. Their issue is, how much do they know about regulating drugs? How much do they know about enforcing customs and immigration rules? I think every president deserves to be served by people who know the topic cold and who can do a good job at it.

But as we saw in the Mike Brown case, you know, judging Arabian horse competitions isn't necessarily the sort of experience you want when it comes time to save the people of Louisiana.

KAGAN: Let's look at a specific case of somebody who is up for a job right now, Julie Myers, well connected in her family. Uncle, is...

THOMPSON: Richard Myers, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

KAGAN: And she's nominated to head the Immigrations and Custom Enforcement Department in the Department of Homeland Security. By all measures, a bright young woman, and yet, there's some question about her immigration experience.

THOMPSON: Well, basically she did a good job as a prosecutor of New York. But the Congress demanded that this person have five years of experience in this field. And if you tolled up her resume, and you have to give an awful lot of weight to some sort of not very heavy- duty jobs before she passes muster there, and that's the notion, of how qualified do you have to be? And is homeland security something we want to risk with a rookie?

KAGAN: And not just that, but immigration. This is a topic that's been getting a lot of attention right now.

THOMPSON: That's right.

KAGAN: And so what happens from here? Just shining light on it? Is this just a reality of politics?

THOMPSON: Well, I don't know. I mean, plainly the next woman or fellow picked to run FEMA is going to have a lot more experience than Michael Brown did. It's sort of has vaccinated that job, saying this is an important job. And unfortunately we don't know how important it is until a disaster strikes. I think, you know, it's like a pendulum, it swings this way and then it swings back that way. And right now I think it is swinging in the better direction.

KAGAN: Well, it's a very interesting and thorough article. It's in this week's "Time" magazine.

Mark Thompson, thank you for your time today.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

KAGAN: The debate over federal funding for faith-based programs is heating up. That in the wake of the recent hurricanes. Ahead on CNN's "LIVE FROM," starting at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, a look at plans by FEMA to reimburse church groups for aid that they provided to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

We are going to check on weather and business, just ahead after this break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Lafourche Parish, in the land of Louisiana sugar cane and bayous. It is between Rita's floodwaters on the west, and Katrina's on the east. Lafourche sits sandwiched on dry ground, thanks to its levees and a little bit of luck.

Here is chief national correspondent John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-five miles south of New Orleans, breathtaking wetlands. The water exactly where it's supposed to be.

It's Windell Curole's job to keep it that way. This closed floodgate, one of his weapons.

WINDELL CUROLE, DIR., LAFOURCHE LEVEE DIST.: Flooding to the north of us, flooding to the east and flooding to the west. We're very fortunate that the system was just high enough to keep that flood surge out.

KING: Curole manages the South Lafourche Levee District. It looks like the tip of a finger on this map. And these days, when he looks at Rita's impact on the next parish over, and Katrina's devastation up in New Orleans, he fights back the temptation to say, "I told you so."

CUROLE: It's not time to say that. It's never time to say that.

KING: But he did warn them, repeatedly, starting a decade ago, memo after memo, warning after warning, saying a state so vulnerable needed to improve its levees, its pumps and its evacuation plans.

CUROLE: I mentioned for years that it might take a disaster to get the attention we need. Well, it happened before we could deal with the problem.

KING: Hurricane Rita's storm surge delivered this mess, this boat and waters, at one point, 6 feet above normal, all stopped by the Lafourche levee.

This is just a few miles up the road and a few steps into a neighboring parish that dropped out of the levee system back in 1968 because its leaders didn't want to pay the costs.

CUROLE: They envy where we are. Today the large portions of that parish are in water, where today we're dry.

KING: Katrina's winds caused damage here, but no flooding. Lafourche Parish was on the drier side of the storm, but it wasn't just luck.

CUROLE: We take care of those levees and they functioned exactly like they were supposed to.

KING: Curole has friends on the New Orleans Levee Board and knows they wanted improvements.

CUROLE: But others sometimes get -- and the political leaders in those other areas get distracted.

KING: City officials blame a lack of federal money. Curole can sympathize.

CUROLE: We're the kind of people that don't sit on our hands.

KING: But when his federal funds dried up, Lafourche Parish residents voted to finish the work with local taxes.

The water is the lifeblood here, so Curole has little patience for those who say there was no way to predict such a catastrophic storm.

This scene is New Orleans 40 years ago. It could just as well be 28 days ago.

CUROLE: As a good businessman, the success of your business is not just looking at what's working well, but what are the threats to your business? And often, in politics, we don't look at the long-term threats.

KING: John King, CNN, Galliano, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Amazing story there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: And that's going to do it for this hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. "LIVE FROM" starts right now.

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