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CNN Live Today

Joy and Jubilation Give Way to Grief and Anger in West Virginia; President Bush Addresses Terrorism Issues

Aired January 04, 2006 - 10:59   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 take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
Distraught relatives are demanding answers about the deaths of 12 West Virginia coal miners who want to know why they were told the men had survived, only to learn hours later they had not. Only one of the 13 trapped miners made it out alive.

Extensive coverage of the tragedy at Sago Mine is just ahead.

President Bush gets an update on the war on terror during a visit to the Pentagon this morning. He'll be briefed by his top generals on Iraq. Mr. Bush is also pushing for a permanent extension of the Patriot Act. He's scheduled to make some remarks around 11:35 Eastern, and we will bring you live coverage.

The man whose plea deal has sent shivers across corners of Capitol Hill heads to federal court in Miami today. Jack Abramoff is expected to plead guilty in a casino fraud case. The hearing comes a day after the lobbyist pleaded to other charges in Washington. As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Abramoff will cooperate in a congressional influence-peddling case.

The American Bar Association today is set to release its judicial evaluation of Judge Samuel Alito. An ABA committee will rate the Supreme Court nominee on integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament.

Just last hour, the Feminist Majority Foundation held a news conference opposing Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. Alito's confirmation hearings are set to begin on Monday.

A 14th body has been recovered from the rubble of a skating rink in southern Germany. The rink's roof collapsed Monday night under the weight of heavy wet snow. Rescuers say the body is that of a teenage girl. Still missing is a 35-year-old woman.

Good morning. And welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY.

Checking the time around the world, it is just after 11:00 a.m. in Tallmansville, West Virginia; just after 11:00 here in Atlanta, Georgia; and just after 8:00 a.m. in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

Joy and jubilation give way to grief and anger in West Virginia. A heart-wrenching miscommunication compounds the tragic loss of 12 coal miners. Family members learned that all but one of the 13 trapped miners died, but first they heard that 12 survived.

CNN's Miles O'Brien begins our coverage from Upshur County, West Virginia.

Miles, hello.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello.

It all unfolded here at the Sago Baptist Church. This was just kind of the focus of all the community in the wake of this terrible accident in the mine, the Sago Number One Mine.

It really happened two and a half days ago now, just about two and a half days ago. And it began with a thunderous explosion, trapped those 13 miners.

And the family members, the community, numbering upwards of 500 in this tiny, tiny church here in this small community, gathered here to support each other. And last night, things really came to a head in rather profound and difficult ways for them.

Right around the midnight hour, a miscommunication from the rescue workers beneath the surface trying to get to those trapped miners and the command post misinterpreted that there were 12 survivors. Someone in that command post apparently made a phone call based on that, what would be unbelievable, exciting news to the people here.

That spread like wildfire here, a rumor that 12 of them were alive. That rumor kept building. As a matter of fact, the governor of West Virginia was here at the time, sort of joined in on the celebration. And by some accounts, seemed to sort of confirm what had started really with that one particular rumor, that phone call.

Twenty minutes later at the command post, they realized that it was wrong, and they did their best, they say, to try to figure out just who was alive and who was not. That took a lot more time than anybody would have hoped. Upwards of three hours. Meantime, all the people here thought they were going to be seeing their loved ones any minute.

I talked to John Casto, who's actually up there right now on that balcony talking to maybe another reporter. I talked to him a little while -- a little ago, what it was like being inside that church last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CASTO, FRIEND OF MINERS: And then when they come up there, names was not good for me because I can't remember names. Names don't matter to me, really, because I believe that we're all brothers.

There was somebody come up there. I think it was a mine official, and said, "Well, I'm sorry of the delay," because he was supposed to have been there earlier. I think 11:00 maybe, but this was, like, 2:30 or whatever it was.

It doesn't really matter, really, to me. But he come up there and said he was sorry for the delay. And he said, "I've told you the truth clear through. I told you that I was going to tell you the truth. And I'm here to tell you the truth now."

And he said that there was one survivor. And I believe that everybody was stunned because they didn't really understand what he was saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Well, it was Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the company which owns the mine, and what he was saying was, we had it wrong. Bad information got out, although the mining company never, in deference to them, never made an official announcement that they had, in fact, found all 12 miners safe and sound. But the word had gotten out at the command post.

It was known to everybody around here that that word was out there. And that's why they were trying to double check it.

In any case, what he was telling them, of course, was just the opposite. Just a crushing moment for these people.

And as a result, Daryn, compounding their misery and their grief this morning. This terrible sense of anger, focusing really, quite frankly, at the company, at the governor, and members of the media as well for, in some sense, perpetuating what turned out to be dead wrong -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Miles. Thank you. We're going to let you go so you can figure out what's going on with the microphone there. Kind of hard to hear you on that live shot.

Let's just say we're waiting for the news conference with Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the company that owns the mine. When that begins, we'll go to it live. But Ben Hatfield did speak earlier this morning, and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN HATFIELD, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL COAL GROUP: It's a very emotional time. The employees' families are grief-stricken, and frankly, angry. And I'm not surprised or upset with them, because they certainly have some -- some basis for their -- for their frustration, having been put through this emotional roller-coaster.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I regret that it's happened. I would do anything if it had not happened.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

HATFIELD: Oh, it's beyond belief. Welcome to the worst day of my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Well, that worst day is going to continue. We expect to hear from Ben Hatfield in just a little bit, when he does speak live. You'll see it live here on CNN.

Meanwhile, you heard him discussing and describing what it was like for the family members when they learned that the positive news that they thought was true, indeed, was the complete opposite. And here's what that led to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two hundred and eight violations on them for safety, and they can't shut it down for the safety of our families? And then tells our families they're coming out alive, and then one of them comes out and the rest of them are dead? That's not even right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just said they was sorry. You say you're sorry, you know, that's not going to correct the problem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I call this injustice, and I will tell you all right here, right now, I plan on suing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The sole survivor of the mine tragedy is listed in critical condition at a West Virginia hospital this morning. Randal McCloy was brought out of the mine unconscious but alive after the 41- hour ordeal. Doctors at the hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia, say McCloy is suffering from severe dehydration and a collapsed lung.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LARRY ROBERTS, RUBY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: When he arrived, he was sedated with a breathing tube in, very dehydrated from his prolonged period of time underground. And we've evaluated him, and I've talked to the family, to his wife, and his mother and other family members. And they have been willing to let me describe a couple of his injuries in broad detail.

He's still critically ill. He's in our intensive care unit. He suffered some collapse of one of his lungs, which we are attempting right now to reopen, and there's good progress in that regard.

He remains very dehydrated, and we're actively managing that. He still is sedated. We have no evidence that he has a head injury, but because of his sedation that's required right now, we're a little bit unable to assess his level of awakeness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Doctors say McCloy is moving and responding to stimulation.

Once again, standing by for the news conference to begin. You'll see it live here.

Actually, that news conference has just been moved back until noon Eastern. So about 50 minutes, 5-0 minutes, you'll see that live here on CNN. And we will get to that.

In the aftermath of this tragedy with so many questions still unanswered, we want to make sure that those who were lost are remembered. The Associated Press has gathered some of the names and some details about the lives and many of the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice over): Alva Martin Bennett was known as "Marty." Relatives say mining was the only job they can remember him doing in his 50 years. Like many in this tight-knit community, working in the mine was a family tradition. His father and son worked as miners as well.

Sixty-one-year-old Jim Bennett was known as a religious man who said he loved working in the mine. His son-in-law says he prayed every day for those going to toil underground. He had planned to retire this year.

Fifty-seven-year-old Jerry Groves had been a coal miner for more than 30 years. His father, grandfather and brother were miners, too.

Fifty-year-old Terry Helms mined coal for 35 years, but he wouldn't let his son become a miner. His sister said that Helms was the first one to go down into the mine on Monday morning before the deadly blast.

David Lewis worked in the mine so he could stay at home at night with his three daughters while his wife went to school. He was 28 years old.

Martin Toler was a mine foreman. The 50-year-old had worked with his son Chris. And Chris says he had planned to tell his dad to retire.

Fifty-nine-year-old Fred Ware had been getting ready for a Valentine's Day wedding. He'd been a miner for six years. His fiancee says he always told her he believed he would die in the mines.

Jack Weaver was 52. Marshall Winans was 49 years old. And all we know of George Hamner, Jr. so far is his name.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: That's a live picture from the Pentagon. President Bush is there today with a briefing -- for a briefing with military leaders. He is expected to come out and make some comments on the war on terror. We're standing by. And we also expect President Bush to make comments on the coal mine tragedy.

You'll see those all live here on CNN.

Meanwhile, move over iPod. Coming soon, satellite radio to go, and an MP3 player all in one little nifty package.

XM Radio today announced plans for two portable combo devices. One's called the Helix (ph). That's from Samsung. The other is called the Inno (ph). It's made by Pioneer. The models will be in stores this winter. Both sell for $399.

If you hear a song you like right when you're out of the house, well, you just bookmark it, go home, and plug it into your PC. The device will purchase the song from Napster.

A brave new world out there.

Susan Lisovicz is keeping stock of the stocks from the New York Stock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A live picture from the Pentagon. President Bush is there right now getting a briefing from military leaders. He will be making comments very soon. And you'll see those live here on CNN. Expected to talk about the military's status, the war on terror, also the coal mining disaster in West Virginia.

All right. Roll up your sleeves, get ready for a great leap forward in the information age. CNN is introducing CNN Pipeline. It's a service that promises to revolutionize the way you get news and video over the Internet.

And for a look at the latest news and get our latest on the news desk, we're joined by Richard Lui at CNN Pipeline in the control room there.

Hey, Richard.

RICHARD LUI, CNN PIPELINE: Hey, Daryn. Thanks for that. Yes, on the Pipeline player you can find all the latest news. Today, of course, being the Sago Mine tragedy.

Now, if you have Pipeline on your computer, what you could do, if you didn't have the advantage of having CNN domestic right in front of you at work, you could go to the Pipeline player on your computer.

I've got it loaded up right here. We're in the control room. And on it, you can see right now that we are streaming the latest on the Sago Mine tragedy.

Also, we are watching, as you can see down here, ICG is expected to be holding a briefing shortly. And we are watching the empty microphones. When they do come to the podium, we'll have that live.

Now, you did mention also that the President Bush statements will be coming at 12:00. Originally, we thought it was going to be a little bit earlier. If we're in that situation and you're on the Pipeline player, you can watch both, or you can make a choice. You can go to pipe three or you can go to the main pipe and watch it live unedited, raw.

Also, if you wanted to understand something about the Sago Mine tragedy, such as how are they saved, how are they treated after they are brought up from those deep depths, on this search video function here on the top right-hand corner you can see, you can hit mine. I just type that in.

This is over 125 results of that find. One of them down here, treatment for rescued miners. And if you wanted to learn more on that, you can just go click on that, it's two minutes and 35 seconds. It plays for you right here. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explaining what they are going through right now in the hospital.

So those are some of the features if you wanted to follow a breaking story both on demand, pulling from thousands of videos, or you can watch the live feeds, the second part of how you can follow this particular story that we are, of course, here on CNN and CNN Pipeline.

One more thing, if I can here, Daryn. Where all these stories come from is right here in this seat.

We've got Kathy (ph) here right now. She is working on the PCA, which is the Pipeline application that drives what goes into the Pipeline player that all of our viewers see. She has to scan all of these different streams that are coming in from the 30-plus bureaus and the 800-plus affiliates around the world.

So that's just some of the features of Pipeline, if you want to follow a breaking story.

KAGAN: Fascinating stuff. Intend to use it quite a bit. Richard, thank you.

LUI: You bet.

KAGAN: We are standing by for two live events that should have a lot of information. President Bush will be speaking from the Pentagon. That's where he is right now.

Also, Ben Hatfield, the CEO of the International Coal Group that owns the mine in West Virginia, he's expected to hold a news conference at the top of the hour.

You'll see both live here on CNN.

We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we're standing by. We expect any minute -- any moment, actually, President Bush to come out at the Pentagon. He will be making remarks. He's been there for a good chunk of the morning, getting some briefings from military commanders.

We expect to hear him have comments about that, also about the situation we've watched unfold over the last 40 or so hours in West Virginia. And then the main purpose of his remarks, we understand, is to talk about the war on terror.

President Bush is taking advantage of the winter recess for congressional members and using this time to make a push of an extension of the Patriot Act. You might remember some of the drama on that political point.

At the end of last year, a number of provisions in the Patriot Act that were set to expire on December 31, Democrats pushed for and received something that the White House initially was against, and that is a one-month extension. So those provisions that were set to expire on December 31 actually will now go until February 3.

President Bush would like to see a much longer extension of those provisions, either permanently, which he is unlikely to get, or perhaps to go for a number of years.

We do know from the White House that the president has also been following the situation in West Virginia, where we received word that 12 miners died.

And there is Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. And here's President Bush.

Let's listen in.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, our nation mourns those who lost their lives in the mining accident in West Virginia.

We send our prayers and heartfelt condolences to the loved ones whose hearts are broken. We ask that the good Lord comfort them in their time of need.

I want to thank the governor of West Virginia for showing such compassion. And I want to thank those who risked their lives to save those miners for showing such courage.

May God bless the good people of West Virginia.

I just finished an important meeting, a briefing with members of my national security team, a briefing hosted by Secretary Don Rumsfeld and General Pete Pace.

We spent time talking about this war on terror, the global war on terror.

BUSH: And to make sure that my team understood the progress we've made and the challenges ahead, the secretary asked three of our commanders to join in the briefing: Generals Abizaid, Casey and General Dempsey.

I want to tell the American people that I am most impressed by the caliber of these generals. They are smart, they are capable, they are visionary and they're working hard to win this global war.

We also were able to speak to one of our fine ambassadors, Ambassador Khalilzad from Baghdad, as well.

During our briefing, we talked about the areas of concern in this global war on terror, recognizing that the enemy, which has an ideology of hate and a desire to kill, lurks in parts around the world.

I assured those generals that this administration will do everything in our power to bring these enemies to justice.

We also spent time talking about the two major fronts in this war on terror, and that would be Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Iraq, 2005 was a year of progress toward meeting our goal of victory. If you really think about it, it was three important elections that took place in an atmosphere that some predicted wouldn't yield democracy. We had the January elections, we had the constitutional elections, we had the elections last December when nearly 11 million people defied the terrorists to vote.

The turnout in that country was 70 percent. Part of our strategy for defeating the enemy in Iraq is for there to be a viable political process. And when 70 percent of the people show up to vote, that's a good sign.

See, people are saying, "I want to participate in the democratic process."

BUSH: The Iraqi showed great courage.

Now, we look forward to the process, obviously, moving on. The formation of a unity government is going to be important to the stability of the future of Iraq.

Before that happens, obviously, they got to finish counting the votes. And that's going to happen over the next couple of weeks. And then the government -- well, they're beginning to form the government under their new constitution.

It takes a two-third vote of the parliament for certain top officials to assume office. And to form this inclusive government, the Iraqi leaders must compromise and negotiate and build consensus, and this is going to take some time.

What the American people will see during the weeks ahead is a political process unfolding; that people will be making decisions not based upon who's got the biggest gun but who's got the capacity to rally the will of the people.

And that's positive. Democracies are an important part of our winning the war on terror. Democracies yield an ideology that is based on an ideology that says, "People are free, free to choose."

The ideology of the enemy says, "A few people will chose and if you don't like what we tell you to believe in, we'll kill you or treat you harshly."

And I want the American people to remember what life was like for the poor people in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

The Taliban had no hopeful vision. Their vision was, "If you don't agree with us, we'll take you in the public square and whip you." Their vision was, "Women don't have rights." Their vision was a dark and dim vision which stands in stark contrast to the vision based upon freedom and democracy.

The second part of our strategy is to -- in Iraq, a strategy for victory is to train the Iraqis so they can take the fight against the few who would stop the progress of many.

And during this election, we were briefed about the security forces during the election. The commanders talked about more than 215,000 Iraqi soldiers and police that secured the country. That was an increase, by the way, of 85,000 since January 2005. General Casey labeled the performance of the troops as superb.

BUSH: Before the elections, there was a number of joint operations to lay the groundwork for a peaceful election.

The Iraqis were in the lead on election day. In other words, they were responsible for the security of the elections. We were in a position to help them but they were responsible for securing the voting booths. And they did a fine job.

The number of attacks during the election were down dramatically. They performed.

And that's part of our calibrating whether or not the Iraqi troops are becoming more capable. Numbers are one thing but the ability to perform is another.

And during these elections, the Iraqi troops showed our commanders on the ground and showed the American people that they're becoming more and more capable of performing their duty to provide security to the Iraqi people.

Now, you've got to understand that just because the elections went forward, that doesn't mean these Saddamists, Zarqawi types are going to lay down their arms. They're not. There'll still be violence. And there'll still be some who believe that they can affect the political outcome of Iraq through violent means.

We understand that. And we're going to stay on the offense against these. "We" being coalition forces as well as the Iraqi forces.

But the recent elections have served as a real defeat for the rejectionists and the Saddamists and al Qaeda types. Sunni Arabs who had boycotted the process joined the process. And, as they did so, those who want to stop the progress of freedom are becoming more and more marginalized inside of Iraq.

So in 2006, the mission is to continue to hand over more and more territory and more and more responsibility to Iraqi forces.

A year ago, there was only a handful of Iraqi army and police battalions ready for combat, ready to take the lead. Today, there are more than 125 Iraqi combat battalions fighting the enemy and 50 of those are in the lead.

That's progress and it's important progress.

BUSH: And it's an important part of our strategy to win in Iraq.

And as these forces become more battle-hardened and take the lead, we're going to see continued confidence in the Iraqi people of the Iraqis being able to defend themselves.

And that's an important -- and as we see more of these Iraqi forces in the lead, we'll be able to continue with our desire, our stated strategy that says as Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down.

The commanders have recently determined that we can reduce our combat forces in Iraq from 17 to 15 brigades. And the reason they were able to do so is because the Iraqis are more capable.

The adjustment is under way. This adjustment will result in a net decrease of several thousand troops below the preelection baseline of 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The decrease comes in addition to the reduction of about 20,000 troops who were in Iraq to assist with security during the December elections.

Later this year, if Iraqis continue to make progress on the security and political sides that we expect, we can discuss further possible adjustments with the leaders of a new government in Iraq.

But my decisions will be based upon conditions on the ground and the recommendation of our commanders, not based by false political timetables in Washington, D.C. I'm not going to let politics get in the way of doing the right thing in Iraq. And the American people have got to understand that.

We've also got the opportunity to change our composition of our forces inside Iraq. 2006, we expect Iraqis will take more and more control of the battlespace. And as they do so, we will need fewer U.S. troops to conduct combat operations around that country.

More of our forces will be dedicated to training and supporting the Iraqi units. In the coming year, we'll continue to focus on helping Iraqis improve their logistics and intelligence capabilities so more Iraqi units can take the fight and can sustain themselves in the fight.

We're also going to spend a lot of time on police training. BUSH: An important part of our strategy is not only to have a competent Iraqi army, but police forces that are capable of earning the confidence of the Iraqi citizens.

To restore security, Iraq has got to have capable police forces.

And the recent reports of abuses by some of the Iraqi police units are troubling. And that conduct is unacceptable.

Our commanders understand that. The secretary understands that. And I know that.

To stop such abuses and increase the professionalism of the Iraqi police, General Dempsey, who's in charge of training, and others are working with the Iraqis to continue making adjustments in the way the forces are trained.

First, we're going to work with the Iraqi government to increase the training Iraqi police recruits receive in human rights and the rule of law so they understand the role of the police in a democratic society.

Second, we're training Iraqi police with a program that has been effective with the Iraqi army. In other words, when we find something that works we'll do it, and if we find something that's not working, we change.

And that is to embed coalition transition teams inside Iraqi special police units.

Embedding our folks inside Iraqi army units has worked. One reason why these Iraqi units are better able to take the lead is because they've worked side by side with American specialists and experts, some of our best troops. And so we're going to embed these type of soldiers with the Iraqi police forces as well.

These transition teams will be made up of our officers, as well as noncommissioned officers.

The coalition teams will go in the field with the police. They'll provide real-time advice and important assistance on patrol and during operations.

And between operations, they're going to train the Iraqi officers. They're going to help them become increasingly capable and professional so they can serve and protect all the Iraqi people without discrimination.

As we train not only the soldiers but the police, our special units will continue hunting down al Qaeda and their affiliates.

BUSH: See, al Qaeda thinks they can use Iraq as a safe haven from which to launch attacks. That's their stated objective. I'm not making this up. Nobody in the administration -- this is what Zawahiri and Zarqawi discussed. They said, "Let's drive America out of Iraq so we can use Iraq as a safe haven." We're going to train Iraqis. We'll train their army and train their police. And at the same time, we've got some of the finest soldiers ever on the hunt to bring Zarqawi and his buddies to justice.

The second front is in Afghanistan. The second major front in this global war against these terrorists is in Afghanistan, where we made steady progress on the road to democracy. President Karzai got elected. There's a sitting parliament. I mean, it's amazing how far Afghanistan has come from the days of the Taliban.

General Abizaid told us in our briefing that that new democracy is being increasingly defended by a capable Afghan army and police. The Afghan national army is now nearly 27,000 soldiers who are trained and equipped. General Abizaid tells us these soldiers are tough in battle. They want to defend their homeland.

There are some 55,000 Afghan police officers on the beat that have taken the fight to the enemy. They are working side-by-side with coalition forces to protect this new democracy.

They're receiving a lot of international support through the NATO alliance. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has now about 9,000 troops in the country. That represents all 26 NATO allies and 10 non-NATO nations.

In other words, the international community is stepping up. Like they have in Iraq, they're stepping up in Afghanistan as well.

In 2006, the force levels will increase by up to another 6,000 forces to a total of approximately 15,000 personnel. In other words, you're going to see in 2006 an increase of international force inside of Afghanistan.

As NATO takes on a larger role in Afghanistan and as the capability of Afghan forces continues to grow, the United States will reduce force levels in Afghanistan from 19,000 to 16,500 this year.

BUSH: In other words, our strategy has been to provide a strong commitment, to provide stability so democracy can flourish. And then as others, including Afghan troops as well as NATO troops, step in, we step back.

We're going to continue to conduct anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan, as well. This is a part of a global war against the terrorist network.

I said after September the 11th we would do everything in our power to bring justice to the enemy that attacked the American people. And I meant it.

And part of chasing down the Taliban and al Qaeda is to find them where they hide. And just like in Iraq, we're going to have our special forces stay on the hunt, and we'll continue training at the same time.

There's a lot of work to be done in this war on terror, but the American people can be -- rest assured this administration understands the task and understands the challenges and understands our obligation to protect you, to protect the American people.

During the past year, we lost some really good folks who wore the uniform of the United States of America. We pray for their loved ones. We pray for the comfort of those who had a sorrowful holiday season because a seat at the table was empty.

And we vow to those that we will complete our mission, we will lay that foundation of peace for generations to come, that we will do our duty to protect this country by not only bringing justice to an enemy that wants to do us part, but by spreading freedom and democracy.

Thank you very much.

KAGAN: We've been listening into President Bush as he makes comments at the Pentagon. He went there today to meet with his national security team and -- including briefings by General Casey and General Abizaid.

We have a team of reporters and analysts to bring you the latest on that. We have Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, and retired Brigadier General James Marks to have comments, and also Fawas Gerges to tell us also what he thinks about the war on terror.

Suzanne, let's start with you. The first thing the president started with was making remarks about what has been taking place in West Virginia.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Daryn. And what's really kind of important to note here, of course, is the broader political context of this. Of course, President Bush very eager to express his sorrow, his condolences.

And this, really, is administration, following the handling of the Katrina hurricane, that wants to show that president first of all understands and is tuned in with Americans' struggling, their suffering, and at the same time, is very quick to respond.

We know that the government, through the Labor Department, is launching a full investigation into what went wrong in that accident, as well as how that information about the conditions of the miners was disseminated to the families.

KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, there are a lot of numbers in this talk here. In this speech, President Bush talking about reducing numbers of troops, both in Iraq and Afghanistan.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, Daryn, the president said something very interesting about Iraq. He said that if conditions continue to improve, that there could be further discussions with the Iraqis about further U.S. troop reductions. But what he also said, what he really highlighted in these remarks, is some emerging problems with the Iraqi police forces. And what has happened in this briefing is that the top commanders have told the president that they want to do more training with the Iraqi police; both the special police which are essentially counter- insurgency forces; national police; as well as local police forces across Iraq, especially in the south, where there is a good deal of Shia control, of course.

What is happening is a program is now being developed that U.S. troops will move in, will join forces with these Iraqi police units and try and train them to be more responsible in the area of human rights, of conducting their operations and get the Iraqi police forces really in much better shape to deal with the insurgents across the country.

As we saw today, the insurgency continues. Many attacks across Iraq do continue. And it is clear that for 2006, what the president is being told is it's not just the Iraqi army that needs to be in better shape, but it is the Iraqi police forces across the country. And the U.S. will put a lot of emphasis on that in the coming months -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr, thank you. Let's bring in our retired Brigadier General James Marks. General, from what you heard, what the president had to say, he said, quote, "Politics will not get in the way of what we're trying to do in Iraq." Meaning that he is talking about reducing troops, but only when he says commanders on the ground in Iraq say that it is time.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Daryn, absolutely the case. The commanders on the ground are not shy. This is a professional group. They've been actives a while, as you well know. And they're going to tell the president, they're going to tell their civilian chain-of-command, what it's really like and what they need on the ground.

Now, let me pick up on what Barbara said, if I can, just for a second. We really have two things that are play here. Number one is the training and readiness at the very lowest levels of the various types of Iraqi forces, to include the military police as well as civilian police.

But also, what they are talking about is the development of a professional ethos. That's going to take the time, and I think that's what the president was saying. He will not be tied to any specific timetable, simply because this takes time to engender a professional force that really needs to be in place to execute the kinds of requirements that are required on the ground.

KAGAN: What about that and the timing -- has this been underestimated, do you think, going into this?

MARKS: Well, I need to tell you, I think there was a big miss from the very start in terms of what was going to be required, based on a number of a factors. Primary among those is the -- probably the most importantly is the de-Baathification of what took place early on during the war, once the coalition forces got into Baghdad. And that was the removal of senior leadership at all levels in all ministries, as well the military, those that were affiliated with the Baath party.

Over the course of time, we've realized that that's where the professional existed -- albeit they were Baathists -- That's where the core of the pros existed. So there's been a reintegration of some of those professionals into the ranks and into the various ministries as they stand up to government.

KAGAN: All right. General, thank you.

Let's bring in Fawaz Gerges. Your take on what President Bush is trying to do with the global war on terror. Do you think he's missing the boat when he says he's focusing on Iraq and Afghanistan?

FAWAZ GERGES, AUTHOR, "THE FAR ENEMY": You know, what's really fascinating about what the president said today and keeps saying is that Iraq is the frontal center in the war on the terror. He said that Iraq is the first priority. And ironically, Daryn, Afghanistan, is the second front.

Remember that Osama bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman al Zawahiri, and the bulk of the leadership of al Qaeda, are near the Afghan/Pakistani borders. That is, al Qaeda exists in Afghanistan; Afghanistan was and is -- I mean, the Afghani/Pakistani border were the nerve center of what used to be al Qaeda organization is there.

You have the president, I mean, spend most of his time talking about the war on terror in Iraq. But Iraq seems to emerged as the frontal center in the war on terror. And Iraq, Daryn, appears to have replaced Afghanistan as a center in the war on terror.

And this is very, I mean, serious. It's very volatile. Because as we know, there are multiple faultlines in Iraq. I mean, the president, initially, when (INAUDIBLE) his speech, he said it all depends, Daryn, on whether a viable political process works in Iraq. I mean, this is the key question.

KAGAN: Yes. Fawaz, let me ask you this. So you have this new book out. It's called "The Far Enemy: Why the Jihad Went Global." And you think one of the main things that Americans are missing -- we look at the jihad and the Islamists and militants as one big group. You say there's a lot of layers and a lot of in-fighting within that.

GERGES: Absolutely. And this is why I think what we have done in Iraq is that -- and willingly -- we have turned Iraq into a major center for militant jihadist causes. And I think what we need to understand about Iraq is that there is an intense political struggle taking place in Iraq among the various Iraqi political communities. And unless the various Iraqi communities, the internal communities, agree on a political settlement, I fear that Iraq will likely witness a major political and military struggle for the next few years to come.

KAGAN: General, let me bring you back in here one more time and comment on a military point that Fawaz was making. It sounds like he was saying you're missing the boat a little bit when you say Iraq/Afghanistan, that really, the focus needs to be along that Afghan/Pakistani border.

MARKS: Well, that's clearly where the nexus of al Qaeda has existed, and frankly, that's where the best in our intelligence community believe Osama bin Laden is currently located, albeit in a much reduced state, in terms of what he can accomplish. The fact of the matter is, right now, the bulk of the effort in the requirements for stability exist, writ large, in Iraq.

KAGAN: General, thank you. Brigadier General, retired, James Marks. And Fawaz Gerges, thank you. And our Pentagon reporter Barbara Starr and Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, as well.

We'll have a break. We're expecting, at the top of the hour, to hear from the CEO Ben Hatfield from the International Coal Group to answer questions about what wrong, not only with what led to the death of 12 miners in West Virginia, but also the communication that for three hours in the middle of the night gave the families of those miners incredible hope, only to see that fade. That should be happening at the top of the hour.

We're back after this.

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KAGAN:: And this just in to CNN. It has been expected that it is just happening. The ABA, the American Bar Association, has just released its rating of Judge Samuel Alito, the nominee for the next spot on the Supreme Court. They have given him a unanimous "well- qualified" rating from the American Bar Association. They will deliver that rating to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee will be starting its confirmation hearings of Judge Alito on Monday.

On that note, let's bring in our Ed Henry who is on Capitol Hill.

Ed, those are going to be some incredible confirmation hearings, 18 hours, at least an hour of questioning from each of the senators on that hearing. He is in for a grilling, I would say.

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that's just probably the opening statements to kick it off. And you're right, after that, a lot more questions. There are going to be several rounds of questions. You're going to see basically the rest of the Congress will not be in session next week, but the Senate Judiciary Committee will be here. They kick it off Monday afternoon.

And I think what's happening right now is he's not in bad shape; he's not in great shape. It's kind of in between where Chief Justice John Roberts was and Harriet Miers was. Obviously her nomination was sunk early in that process. Judge Alito had to be brought in as the second choice. He's doing well, but probably not as well as Chief Justice John Roberts.

And allies of the White House point out that there's really nobody maybe like Chief Justice John Roberts. He really wowed the senators. It's going to be a very tough act to follow.

But this ABA rating, while, as you say, it's expected, it's just another bit I think that the White House will be promoting to show that in fact this is somebody who is extremely well qualified in general; despite what happened with Harriet Miers, this is somebody who is qualified -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, we will be following that as of Monday on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile this former high-flying lobbyist Jack Abramoff, he comes up with this plea deal. Why does this make so many lawmakers and their staff in Washington nervous?

HENRY: Well, he's going to be back in the news today, because he'll be in Miami about 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, pleading guilty to more criminal charges in a separate case in connection with his purchase of a fleet of gambling boats in 2000. But what you're referring to of course is that plea deal here in Washington yesterday. It's got lawmakers quaking in their boots up here, maybe some in both parties. It's mostly a Republican scandal so far, but Republicans believe eventually Democrats will be brought in as well. It's because he basically cut a deal in which he said he showered all kinds of gifts in the forms of trips, meals, entertainment on lawmakers, other public officials, in exchange for official acts. That's the quo in the so called quid pro quo.

We know about the gifts that were showered on lawmakers, people like Bob Ney (ph), the Republican of Ohio. But it may be difficult for prosecutors to prove what, if anything, people like Bob Ney, Tom DeLay and others did for Jake Abramoff. A lot of these lawmakers say they were duped by Abramoff. They actually didn't do anything for him or his clients. They were acting on their own principal when they pushed through various pieces of legislation. We'll see. The prosecutors are going to try to dig in, as you can bet, and try to show in fact that they were doing the bidding of Jack Abramoff's clients. But there were a lot of nervous lawmakers up here wondering just who's going to be dragged in.

CNN learning that from one government official in fact two dozen lawmakers and congressional staffers right now under the microscope by the Justice Department -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed Henry on Capitol Hill. Ed, thank you for that. (MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Usually at the top of the hour we go to international news. We are going to stay with you here on CNN domestic. We are awaiting a news conference from West Virginia, the CEO of the Coal International Group is supposed to speak. And hopefully we will have answers for reporters and family members as well. You'll see that live here after a break.

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