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CNN Live Today

New Constitution Passes in Iraq While no Letup in Insurgent Violence; Wilma's Wrath

Aired October 25, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go ahead and take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
A grim milestone for the U.S. military has been reached in Iraq. The death toll for American troops there is now 2,000. That is according to a count of military figures by CNN. We'll have a live report from Iraq and the Pentagon on the rising death toll.

There is word this morning that Iraqi voters have approved the country's constitution. Election officials announced the final results earlier today. Officials say more than 78 percent of the voters who took part in the October 15 referendum voted in favor of the document. The vote clears the way for the election of a new Iraqi parliament in mid December.

After pounding south Florida, Hurricane Wilma is racing to the Northeast, off the Atlantic coast. The storm is already blamed for at least six deaths in Florida, where it slammed ashore as a Category 3. It damaged property all across the region from the southern gulf coast to Miami and the Ft. Lauderdale areas. Earlier today, six million people were without power in south Florida.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, fires have broken out in several parts of south Florida. This was the scene earlier today in Boca Raton on Florida's southeast coast, where a house caught fire.

Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks has died at the age of 92. It was a half-century ago that Parks helped inspire the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white man. Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal six years ago. She has been called the mother of the civil rights movement.

Good morning. And welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY.

Just past 8:00 a.m. in San Francisco. Good morning, Bay area. And just past 11:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C. Just a little after 6:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

From CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first this hour, U.S. troops in Iraq mark a grim milestone. The country taking a political step forward. Election officials say the draft Iraqi constitution has been adopted. Today's announcement comes as the death toll for U.S. troops reaches the 2,000 mark.

Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, joins us from Baghdad now with details -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the new constitution has passed. More than 9,800,000 Iraqis turned out to vote, 78 percent of them voting in favor of the new constitution. Those that didn't were mostly Sunnis.

Two provinces -- Al Anbar, that province in the west of Iraq where is the most violence, a majority Sunni violence voted overwhelmingly against the constitution. Another Sunni province also overwhelmingly against.

But the "yes" votes carried it on the day. One swing province in the north. A slight majority Sunni province didn't have the votes to block the referendum.

The next political step here is parliamentary elections on December 15. And that will put a government in place here for the next five years here -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, what about the violence that you're seeing there, especially in Baghdad?

ROBERTSON: A lot of -- a lot of insurgent activity today. Mortars fired just a couple of hours ago, appeared to be towards the international, the Green Zone. Security sources also telling us that prisons may also have been the target of some mortar attacks.

There have been attacks on Iraqi police. Two killed today and seven wounded in a gun attack. Three Iraqi soldiers killed by a roadside bomb on their convoy. Two U.S. military convoys in Baghdad today targeted by roadside bombs.

Iraqi civilians killed in those attacks. No U.S. casualties there. One child killed and one adult killed, five people were wounded. And that in Baghdad alone. Attacks surprisingly for Iraq in the relatively peaceful and until now secure Kurdish town in the north of Sulamanir (ph) as well -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Nic Robertson live in Baghdad. Thank you.

Let's get more now on the growing casualty count and the separate insurgency in Iraq. Our Aneesh Raman is embedded with the 3rd Infantry, which has suffered major losses. And he joins us now from the Babel Province, south of Baghdad -- Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

We are in the north part of the Babel Province. It is here, the military says, that a number of insurgent groups are staging -- are using it as a staging ground for attacks on the capital, whether that be assembling weapons or enemy forces and bridging into the capital. So here is where they are trying to curb it, and here is where perhaps outside of the families of those that are killed, the impact of casualties is felt incredibly by those fellow soldiers of those that are killed. We were out with a unit that lost 14 members of the unit in a matter of 45 days this summer, and we were out on a 24-hour patrol with them. We came under mortar fire, small arms fire. And of course the notion of what they are up against and the very real cost they could pay, it's clear.

And when you talk to them, when you talk about the fight, it isn't as much about the larger fight on terror, anything global in that sense. It's about the guy to the left of them and to the right of them. It is about their brothers in this battle.

And while some parts of this country are clearly edging towards security, here, where we are, the insurgency is brimming. And they are trying to bring control and bring stability.

And when you talk to them about this count, for them it is not a number. And they caution anyone from seeing this 2,000 unfortunate marker as anything but 2,000 individuals, 2,000 stories, soldiers that were out fighting and that were killed in the line of duty. And they know these men, and they are trained to move on.

They mourn them. They have memorial services. And when you talk to them, the pain is still so real. But they are trained as well to move on, because they must. And they continue this fight.

And as you talk to them about the threat to their lives, they are aware of those that are lost, especially this unit again that lost 14 in some 45 days. Yet, they keep going.

They are trying inch by inch to bring stability to a country that is in desperate need of it. They find an IED, 10 minutes later another one might be planted. But they continue going, Daryn, because they have to for those that were lost before -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman, live from Babel Province in Iraq. Thank you.

A note for you now. President Bush is expected to focus on sacrifices of U.S. troops this hour. He speaks at the Joint Armed Forces officers' wives luncheon around 11:35 Eastern, and we'll bring you those remarks live.

Now we're keeping our eye on the storm. And it has been a big one.

Hurricane Wilma is on the move in the Atlantic this hour. We're going to tell you where the storm is headed, give you the new details on the devastation of Wilma, which it has left behind. Our meteorologist, Bonnie Schneider, tracking the storm for us from our weather center, while our correspondents have spread out along the storm's path.

Dan Lothian, you hold on tight. You are in Chatham, Massachusetts, where it's obviously very windy. They are bracing for flooding and power outages there.

Jeanne Meserve in sunny Naples, Florida. They are cleaning up and assessing the damage there.

First, Bonnie in our weather center with the latest track on the track of the storm -- Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Daryn, taking a look at the latest data for the storm, you can see the storm location is about 570 miles east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, with maximum winds at 105 miles per hour. And that, of course, classifies it actually as a Category 2. So it has gone down in intensity for Wilma.

The storm is zipping very quickly to the northeast at 53 miles per hour. What a change from when it was drifting over in the Yucatan just days ago.

Let's go ahead and talk about some of the radar pictures that we're seeing now. And we can show you certainly we're getting plenty of heavy rain in the Northeast.

Here's Wilma well offshore. As we check the data real time from ocean buoys, we can show you that the wave heights are very strong, already being affected by Wilma. This buoy you can see here off of Cape Cod is reporting wave heights of 17 feet and winds, very strong, almost 30 miles per hour. So we've got some strong winds, some strong waves associated with Wilma.

And also, we have some further to the north as well. Some of these winds are at 43 miles per hour.

So the Northeast will be dealing with some effects from Wilma. But more importantly, a strong Nor'easter that is definitely going to bring some wet snow, wind and rain to much of this region right here.

It's going to be a nasty day there -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Lovely. And we can let the pictures tell the story now. All we have to do is bring in our Dan Lothian before he blows away. He's in Chatham, Massachusetts, on Cape cod.

Good to see you you're still standing there -- Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are still standing, but it's amazing that over the past four hours the situation has not gotten any better. In fact, it has only intensified.

We have seen those constant winds of more than 30 miles per hour, gusting to more than 40 miles per hour. But I was at the Harbor Master's Office, which is just down the road from here about a mile, and it was amazing. What they were reading there, more than 60 miles per hour gusting at the Harbor Master's Office.

We're told that the harbor master himself he was out trying to recover a couple of boats that have broken free from the mooring. What you're taking a look at here is an awning that has just been battered all morning long. It was enclosed with plastic which was tearing off. Work crews came over and just went ahead and removed them before they flew away. The big concern from emergency management, power outages right now. We're told 20,000 customers in Massachusetts currently without power.

The second -- second concern is flooding. This is an area, the entire New England area, that has just been hit hard by heavy rains over the past couple of weeks. We had that situation in Taunton, Massachusetts, where there was an old dam that was threatening to give way from all the pressure and from all the rain and the water in that river. There was concern about that.

That dam was knocked down, another one was put into place. But still, a lot of concern across low-lying areas, especially in coastal areas.

There's a flood warning in effect in the coastal areas for the next three hours or so. And of course the high winds continue to pound this area.

We have noticed driving around here some -- what appeared to be power lines or phone lines already down. And this is something that no doubt we will continue to see across the Cape area and across New England as these winds continue to pound the region -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Dan. You hang in there.

And let's go down to sunny Florida, where Hurricane Wilma made landfall yesterday. On the southwest coast is where we find our Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn.

Electricity and water the big problems here after the storm. At one point, 90 percent of the city of Naples without power. And the water situation bad, too, for a while.

Look behind me. You can still see some water on the street there, but it's gone way down. Even at its worst it was only about 12 inches deep. And really, most of it in the roadways. It's dropped significantly.

We had trouble driving through some of these streets yesterday. Today they're virtually dry.

Also took a walk down the beach just a bit ago. One of the tough parts of our job. We have to walk down beaches.

Went down about a mile and back. And really, the sorts of things we saw are the sorts of things we've seen all over this city.

You have some windows blown out. You have some awnings damaged, fencing damaged. But nothing huge, nothing hugely structurally important that we've been able to find at this point in time.

Now, there are trees down all over the city. There's going to be a lot of debris that has to be cleared. But we spoke to one gentleman who has seen a lot of hurricanes. He looked around a lot yesterday, and he thought the city had done pretty well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER TEAHEN, AMERICAN RED CROSS: It's really remarkable the -- in the Naples area that there is street flooding, there's trees down, but structurally, most of the homes and commercial buildings seem to be intact. It's really remarkable for this powerful of a storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Now, Collier County had imposed a curfew before the storm hit from 10:00 at night until 6:00 in the morning in the evacuation areas. That was expanded last night, actually, to cover the whole county. It's in effect indefinitely.

And the sheriff's department tells us that in fact they did make four arrests. People apparently trying to loot a pawnshop very quickly after the storm passed through.

But that whole concern about the need for a curfew is prompted by what happened in New Orleans, in part. And clearly, no repeat of that situation at all.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Jeanne Meserve, live in Naples. Thank you.

Also want our viewers to know we expect within the next few minutes to hear from Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. We will bring those comments to you live as they warrant the need to do that.

Also, CNN is your hurricane headquarters. Stay with us for the latest on the update on the storm.

We also expect to hear from President Bush. As the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000, President Bush expected to discuss the importance of America's sacrifice with officers' wives. It's a luncheon taking place today. That should begin in about 25 minutes. We'll go live to Bowling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., when that starts.

In world news, Indonesia has confirmed two new cases of bird flu in humans. What is the FDA planning to do about the virus if it reaches American shores?

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KAGAN: This just into CNN. One of the most influential men in the history of the NFL, Wellington Mara, the owner of the New York Giants, has died at age of 89. He -- as I said, one of the most influential men in the history of the NFL.

It was back in the early '60s that he and his brother Jack, owner of the biggest team in the biggest market agreed to do revenue sharing on the television revenue with smaller markets like Pittsburgh and Green Bay, and that led up to a setup that makes the NFL the most successful sports league pretty much -- it's not just in this country, in the world today. His history with the Giants goes back to 80 years to when he was a ball boy back in 1925, just after his father bought the team.

Once again, Wellington Mara, owner of the New York Giants, has died of cancer at the age ever 89.

And we'll go to business news. Kathleen Hays in New York City.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we're looking at live pictures from Florida now. They are dealing with the wake in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma. You can see Governor Jeb Bush on the left of your screen. When he begins to speak, we will take there you live.

Actually, let's go ahead and listen in right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be able to do what needs to be done so that we can get on with our lives. And with that, I would like to turn it over to -- to the governor.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Thank you, Mayor.

It is good to be back home. And as a resident of Miami-Dade County, I'm proud of the emergency response led by the mayor and the city -- the county manager, all the municipalities, and the dedicated public servants that are on the other side of that -- that window.

I've been governor now for seven years, and I admire people's commitment to service. But after hurricanes, that feeling is magnified. These are firefighters, public health nurses, talented people that really are committed to helping their neighbors. And I just appreciate their service. And because of their work, it's possible to say that tomorrow is going to be better than today. And a week from now, the recovery will be full blown and people's lives will be put back together very quickly.

My heart goes out to people that have lost a lot, and they can be rest assured that the state government and the federal government will be working to provide support.

With me today is the (INAUDIBLE) general of the National Guard. They were here yesterday before the winds subsided.

Points of distribution are being set up, 11 of them by today. They'll be in 11 locations. The National Guard will be helping the local community with that. There's been a lot of work done already, and there'll be a lot more done.

With that -- are you going to lead the way, Ileana?

REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R), FLORIDA: Sure. Lower that mic. Thank you. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen...

KAGAN: Governor Jeb Bush giving an update on the recovery of Hurricane Wilma. This was an intense storm, a Category 3, that hit south Florida and hit a number of counties all at the same time. Unusual for a state that has gotten used to intense hurricanes, but only usually one county at a time.

More on the aftermath of Wilma and where the storm is headed now ahead. Right now we take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: New information today in the investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's name. "The New York Times" says that Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, first learned of the CIA officer from the vice president himself. The report says there is no indication that the vice president or Libby knew about the officer's undercover status or that her identity was classified. The paper says Libby testified he initially learned about the CIA officer from journalists.

Joining us from Washington with more on this and what it could mean politically is our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.

Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: First of all, we're talking about a leak about a leak investigation.

SCHNEIDER: Well, that's right. The leak investigation had to do with the exposure of Valerie Plame, who apparently was an agent of the CIA to the news media. But now we're learning something very important, that Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, who had said to investigators that he first got the name of the agent from journalists, apparently learned her name actually from the vice president himself, the man for whom Mr. Libby works.

KAGAN: Well, and Bill, let me just jump in here. When we say "apparently" and we're reporting this as fact, I think it's really important to point out that we're reporting leaks that come from a grand jury investigation.

SCHNEIDER: That's right.

KAGAN: OK.

SCHNEIDER: And they're most -- this information is from a grand jury investigation. This was based on notes of a conversation that Mr. Libby had with Mr. Cheney as reported in "The New York Times."

KAGAN: As reported in "The New York Times." And is this trouble for Vice President Cheney? He obviously has government clearance. It wouldn't be a problem for him to talk about classified information with his chief of staff.

SCHNEIDER: No, it wouldn't be a crime. It wouldn't necessarily be trouble. But it does put a face on this which hasn't been front and center in the past.

It raises the stakes, and I think it's very dangerous for the White House. Because so far we've been talking about Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, fairly obscure White House staffers. Dick Cheney is the vice president of the United States.

There's no indication here that he did anything wrong or committed a crime, but one of the allegations that the special prosecutor is looking into is whether there was a deliberate policy on the part of the White House to discredit Joseph Wilson, who had become a very tough critic of the administration's Iraq policy, to discredit him by the use of his wife's name. And what we've now found, or what's being reported, is that his wife's name was passed onto Scooter Libby by the vice president.

KAGAN: And just to be clear about -- because there is so much that's still nebulous about that, it's not -- it's political hardball, but it's not a crime to discredit Joseph Wilson. He made a report that was critical of the administration. What would be -- the crime would be intentionally and knowingly giving out the name of a CIA undercover agent.

SCHNEIDER: Tat is one crime, and that's a crime that Mr. Fitzgerald was initially asked to investigate. But he requested permission from the Justice Department to investigate a wider range of potential wrongdoing in crimes, such as giving false statement, here's a potential false statement.

Scooter Libby is reported to have told the investigators in the grand jury that he learned the name of Valerie Wilson, the CIA agent, from journalists. Now his notes indicate that he learned the name from the vice president.

He could be accused of giving a false statement to the grand jury. That's a crime.

KAGAN: Would he have to -- would they have to show that he intentionally misled the grand jury?

SCHNEIDER: No. I think if he made a false statement, the standard, it's not quite the same for leaking the name of a CIA agent. It would be a different matter.

KAGAN: And finally, what about the way the White House has chosen -- going to the top, President Bush has chosen to handle this from the beginning, saying if somebody leaked, if somebody did this, then they will be fired?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I think the White House has been a bit clumsy in the way it's handled it, because at first nobody was involved. The White House press secretary said that if anyone is proved to have committed a crime, and they've been backing away and toughening the standards.

Now I think it's widely accepted that if anyone in the White House is indicted, that person would have to leave, would have to leave service in the White House, because there would just be too much of a conflict involved in a criminal investigation. So the White House has, I think, not exercised the first principle of damage control. That is, let the worst information out first.

Instead, what we're seeing is, as the story develops, more and more information comes out. And it becomes more and more damaging.

KAGAN: Bill Schneider, live in Washington, D.C.

Bill, thank you for that.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

KAGAN: And once again, the focus is heating up on the story because the grand jury in the case expected to wrap up by the end of the week.

President Bush will focus on the war on Iraq and the toll it's taking here at home in about 10 minutes. Mr. Bush will speak at the Joint Armed Forces officers' wives luncheon. We're going to bring you his remarks live.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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