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CNN Live Today

Coretta Scott King's Legend; California Wildfires; Church Fires in Alabama; Pentagon Budget

Aired February 07, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now you would think four hours would be enough. But even, after all that, we go over.
Sorry, Daryn.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Sorry, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hang in there. You guys have a great day in New York City.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right.

KAGAN: We're going to get started. We have plenty to do in our two hours together. A farewell to the leading lady of the civil rights movement. Thousands of people, including the current and three former president preparing to pay final respects to Coretta Scott King. We have extensive coverage on CNN LIVE TODAY over the next two hours leading up to the services. First, though, a check on other stories happening right "Now in the News."

New cost cutting moves just announced at General Motors to staunch billions of dollars in losses. The automaker will cut in half its annual dividend. Top executives will take a pay cut. And GM also plans changes to retired salary workers healthcare and pension plans.

Denmark's prime minister and foreign minister are responding this hour to the outrage over newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Anti-Danish demonstrations have been held in a number of countries since last week. The Danish embassy in Syria and the building housing the embassy in Lebanon were set on fire.

In Kandahar, Afghanistan, today, government officials say that a suicide bomber blew himself up outside of a police station killing 13 people. Many of the dead were police officer. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. There have been more than a dozen suicide blasts in Afghanistan in recent months.

One bombing and then minutes later, in the same place, a second blast. An insurgent tactic targeting first responders in Iraq. It happened again today with deadly effect. The twin bombings in a Baghdad market killed at least three people and wounded 20 others.

Starting today, the government will no longer pick up the hotel tab for some 5,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees. FEMA did grant extensions for thousands of other evacuees. Those people will be put up until next week or next month, depending on their circumstances. FEMA says it spent more than a half billion dollars for evacuee's logging.

And Steve Fossett has scrubbed his latest aerial adventure. The Associated Press reports that Fossett's experimental plane developed a fuel leak this morning. When Fossett does take off, perhaps later this week, he hopes to break a 20-year-old record for the longest flight. Fossett plans to circle the globe and then cross the Atlantic a second time to land in England.

And good morning to you on this Tuesday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

She became a King by marriage, but her innate elegance and courage made her the first lady of the civil rights movement. Coretta Scott King, widow of the legendary leader, draws reverence and love even in death. Tens of thousands of mourners have attended three public viewings over the last few days here in Atlanta. Her funeral services get underway less than two hours from now. President Bush and three former occupants of the White House are among the 10,000 people who will attend the tribute. Our Tony Harris is in Lithonia, Georgia, the Atlanta suburb, where services are being held and kicking off our coverage that goes over the entire day.

Tony, hello.

TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Daryn, good morning to you.

As you mentioned, we are just under two hours away from the start of the home going celebration for Coretta Scott King. And as you look at the list of guests and dignitaries who are going to be here today to say good-bye and pay special tribute to Coretta Scott King, this is shaping up to be one of those days that folks will be talking about years and years from today. And two of the dignitaries who are here with me now will be offering special tribute to Coretta Scott King during the afternoon funeral, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Gentlemen, thank you for being with us this morning.

And, Reverend Jackson, first of all, let me ask you about this day. Your thoughts on this day?

REVEREND JESSE JACKSON: Well, we had tributes last night, not only today. But it's been a sadness. I've known Mrs. King since 1964, for 42 years. We did a lot of marching together and a lot of the rallies together. And the kinship with her husband, which was a huge factor because given his -- he was on the (INAUDIBLE) stabbed (ph), he was (INAUDIBLE) in Chicago and government (ph) attacks (ph) and those moments that he would call the pressure migraine headaches. Her shoulders were his pillows. Her ears as a listening post. And she managed his pain. That was a huge role. And then I had the challenge as a (INAUDIBLE) when he was shot to call her at their bedside telephone and she paused and with amazing strength emerged from that situation one arm around him, another around her children, led the march in Memphis, Tennessee, for garbage worker and the King Center, the King holiday, the free (INAUDIBLE). And so she never stopped marching. In some sense, that's our challenge today is to now deal with the unfinished -- her legacy's secure, but now is the unfinished business and whether it's fighting this administration over budget cuts in Medicare or Medicaid, or the spending in Iraq or Afghanistan, it becomes our duty to keep the struggle alive.

HARRIS: Reverend Sharpton, what are your thoughts? Where do your thoughts go today?

REVEREND AL SHARPTON: My thoughts are, that to honor the first lady of the civil rights movement, you must be committed to keep that movement going. To make mockery of the movement and honor the first lady of the movement is a contradiction. I hope when the president speaks in honor of her he will talk about how FEMA today should extend the evacuees from New Orleans who today many are being told they will not get any more FEMA money. Today the budget cuts. Today the war in Iraq.

I think that we cannot mourn Mrs. King and scorn her movement. So for me, personally, to come to this funeral with Reverend Jackson, who brought the King movement to people that are my age and younger, is something to me instructive. She taught us to not fight anger with being angry. Not fight hatred with hate.

But she also taught us to never sell out the cause of the movement. And many will speak today that we're not with the dream, they'll be with the funeral. The question is, where will they be tomorrow when they get back to their offices. Will they do what Mrs. King and Dr. King would have wanted them to do.

HARRIS: Reverend Sharpton, let me ask you one more quick question. I remember there was a wonderful statement from you about Mrs. King as she attended an event, a rally that you were holding in the New York area. Maybe you can tell us all what she said that day.

SHARPTON: She came and helped us protest a police brutality case. And she heard some of the speakers and she said to me, Al, you all must fight hatred with love. And you must fight violence with nonviolence. That's what Dr. King stood for. That's what Reverend Jackson raised you all to do. If you become as bad as the elements you fight, you're defeated before you start. So she was gentle and dignified but she would admonish us to uphold not only the goals of the movement but the principles of the movement.

HARRIS: Reverend Jackson, do you think this is a day when we're remembering Coretta Scott King, but do you think that this might turn political in any way?

JACKSON: Well by definition it's political. You have three presidents here. But then Dr. King and Mrs. King fought the political battle. I mean, Indian Jim Crow (ph) was a political fight. Getting public accommodation of a political fight. The right to vote, a political fight. Open housing, a political fight. The ending the war, a political fight. And so we must not weaken the resolve of the struggle for political and social change. And that's a good thing. The fact that we can -- Dr. King would often say what makes America raise the right, they fight for the right. And so he fought for public policy. Many fight the faith fight. He fought the justice fight driven by a sense of faith. No doubt the president will be there today. It will be a great moment for him to recommit himself to (INAUDIBLE) extension, a commitment for those in the Katrina zone to have the right to return with the reconstruction rights. I mean, this is a great moment to simply honor the legacy of that struggle. The struggle for which Dr. King was killed. For which Mrs. King lived. That struggle of dignity and hope and human rights must be kept alive.

HARRIS: Reverend Jackson, Reverend Sharpton, thank you both. Thanks for your time this morning.

And, Daryn, as you mentioned, we're so close to the beginning of, oh, under two hours away from the beginning of the funeral service. And I'll tell you, this is a massive church here in Lithonia, Georgia. As you know, it seats several thousand people. And we understand that each and every one of those seats will be taken today and it is a huge process to get all these people through the metal detectors and inside that church today. But we fully expect it will be done.

The president lands at 11:00 this morning at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. And as you mentioned, the president and three former presidents will be here for the funeral service. The home going celebration for Coretta Scott King scheduled to begin at noon and running until 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, Tony, I know from watching local news here this morning, people started arriving there as early as 6:00 a.m. to get a seat there in the church.

HARRIS: That's right.

KAGAN: Tony Harris, thank you. We'll hear much more from you throughout the day.

We encourage you to stay with CNN. We're going to have our coverage throughout our newscast and all day long, including extensive live coverage of the funeral for Coretta Scott King. The service is due to begin at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific.

We move on to other news now.

Hundreds of firefighters are working around the clock to save homes in Orange County, California. Fierce winds died down overnight, but it could be some time before this wild fire is brought under control. Our Kareen Wynter has the latest developments from the front line.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

We're keeping our eyes on the sky. That's because we're told a short time ago that at any moment now they could resume those water drops that they were doing quite extensively yesterday using helicopters and planes. That would definitely be of an advantage because they have been able -- they had to postpone that for the last several hours going into the night. And so crews all morning long have been only able to battle this fire from the ground. So we're keeping our eye on that as well.

Also, 3,500 acres have burned so far out here. They're at 7 percent containment. And a bit of hope. The public information officers just told me that the main highway here that's really acting as a barrier between this problem spot in this area, as well as the homes that could be threatened depending on whether or not the winds pick up. Well, things look really good right now according to that information officer. He says the lines are holding. That the wind is not shifting to the west where those homes less than a mile away are. And that's because of all the work that they've been doing all throughout the night and again into the early morning hours, doing those controlled burns. Trying to get a directional hold on this fire. So we continue to assess things out here.

Daryn, also the numbers have been changed, however, regarding the number of homes that have been evacuated. Two thousand people staying at nearby shelters. One of them a school. So we'll have to see if things change out here. Right now the weather couldn't be more cooperative. It's a bit chilly out here right now. The wind really isn't a factor, but it's expected to get up into the 80s again today, as it was yesterday, when the flames it appeared really peaked at that time. So again, depending on the wind, things could take a turn.

Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Kareen Wynter in southern California, thank you.

And we have this just in to CNN from Alabama. You've heard about a number of fires at churches in rural areas. Well, now we're hearing that three more churches have been damaged. Three more rural churches in Alabama following this rash of suspected arsons that burned five churches south of Birmingham last week. Also, in addition to that, federal agents say they are looking for a dark Nissan Pathfinder. They believe that that car was seen near the scene of one of the fires earlier this week.

And as we get back to our coverage, our all-day long coverage of Coretta Scott King's funeral. Our next guest was with Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was assassinated in Memphis. More importantly, he carried on the civil rights mission when the iconic figure was gone. Andrew Young would go on to become a congressman, a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta and a long-time friend of the King family. He joins us from outside the church where Mrs. King's funeral will be held later today.

Mr. Ambassador, good morning. Good to have you with us.

ANDREW YOUNG, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Good morning. Good to be with you. KAGAN: You will be speaking, sir, at this service later today. What is left to say about your friend Coretta Scott King?

YOUNG: Well, that in all of that quiet and graceful exterior, there was a solid interior core that was as tough as anything you ever wanted to see. And I'm going to try to say how she got that way because I've been over to Marion, Alabama. That's where my first church was. It was one of the toughest parts of the south. And she experienced all of the harshness of racism but she never let it get her bitter and she always understood that she could triumph over this and that education and her own refusal to hate and be angry or bitter was the key to her success.

KAGAN: You spoke at another service yesterday at the Ebenezer Church and you talked about how Mrs. King feeling and being given a lot of love today but it has not always been like that during her life. I want to listen to a little bit of what you had to say yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Her husband was assassinated before he was 40. And then the character assassinations began on her. She was haughty. She was aloof. She was cold. Who does she think she is?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Mr. Ambassador, why was that important to bring that up yesterday?

YOUNG: Well, it's important to bring that up because she went through the valley of the shadow of death constantly. Her home was bombed, her husband was stabbed, he was thrown into jail, she was sued by the state of Alabama and they took all of their wealth. There are very few people that have been as aggressively persecuted as she and her husband and family were.

And then the newspaper stories have continued. They wanted to make her Mother Theresa. They wanted her to be Rosa Parks. They wanted her to be what they wanted her to be but they never would really stop and see who is this great woman and what is it that she herself feels called to do.

She was constantly trying to rally the government to make the world in which we live more nonviolent, less violent, and more supportive of the less fortunate, wherever they might be and whomever they might be.

KAGAN: In your speech yesterday you also talked about making the analogy of Mrs. King to a diamond. A diamond in the rough who ends up as a true gem.

YOUNG: Well, she did -- you know, people have begun to refer to her as a steel magnolia. And the problem with steel and magnolias is they wilt in the heat. They'll melt. But she never melted. She never wilted. She got more and more beautiful. She got more and more strong. And it was though the adversity just polished her personality. And so she ends up sparkling like a diamond, and I said a 78 carat diamond, as she goes on to glory.

KAGAN: Former U.N. ambassador, former mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young, we look forward to hearing your comments during this service later today. Thanks for making time for us on this very important and special day.

YOUNG: OK.

KAGAN: Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.

I want to go back to the story in Alabama and the string of church fires. We have David Mattingly on the phone with us from Alabama.

David, what can you tell us?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, that string of church fires getting longer today. Three church, we've confirmed with state officials, were burned. One in Aliceville, Alabama, which is in Pickens County, in Mel (ph), Alabama, which is in Sumter County, Boligee, which is in Greene County. These are all in west Alabama. They are all rural counties. Much like Bibb County, which is to the east and south of this location where we had those five fires that officials were responding to early in the morning on Friday.

Again, this is a mystery that continues to deepen. After looking at the fires on Friday, officials came away with no suspects. Some of those churches that burned in Bibb County were so thoroughly burned they weren't able to determine the cause of them. And now they're responding to three more. So eight, possibly nine churches now burned in the state of Alabama.

We have not confirmed from officials yet if indeed all three of them were Baptist churches like they were on Friday. But, again, officials are responding to this. Believing that this string, this mystery that they have, this path of destruction is continuing across the state of Alabama as churches continue to burn.

KAGAN: And, David, what about this dark Nissan Pathfinder SUV they're talking about that they might be interested in?

MATTINGLY: That was something that was reported on Friday. Officials were looking for someone driving a Pathfinder that was seen near one of the fire scenes in Bibb County. At this point, they haven't ruled out that this might be a coincidence, but they think that this is something they can go on. But, again, they're starting the investigation again in these three different counties now, adding them to what they've already begun to see if there are any similarities.

KAGAN: David Mattingly live on the phone with us from Alabama. David, thank you.

Eighteen minutes past the hour now. It's like having to explain to your boss why you deserve a pay raise. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, live pictures from Capitol Hill. He's taking some tough questions right now about that and the hike in the Pentagon's budget that President Bush has proposed. We're live from The Hill and the Pentagon just ahead.

Enough is enough. Katrina victims tired of the red tape are taking matters into their own hands. They're helping themselves to housing.

And Kanye West, critically acclaimed at the top of the charts. But is he really as great as he thinks he is?

That and more ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And now to the war in Iraq and the political battle over military spending. This morning on Capitol Hill, the nation's top defense officials are defending their 7 percent increase in Pentagon funding. Live pictures there from Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is facing some tough questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senators also quizzed General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Here now is CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr to tell us more.

Barbara, hello.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, right now we're seeing General Peter Schoomaker, the chief of staff of the army, who's joining them on Capitol Hill to talk about defense spending and the military budget. But all three men making the case this morning that the global war on terror, their new game for it, the long war, is now about much more than just the military, that there needs to be better intelligence, information technology, working across the board, to defeat a number of threats.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld opening the hearing just a little while ago, talking very specifically about the threat he feels that the military faces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Their priority is to force us to abandon Iraq before the country is ready to defend itself so they can turn it into a base of operation, as was Afghanistan before September 11th. In a letter written by Zawahiri, he spelled out their strategy. "The first stage, expel the Americans from Iraq. The second stage, establish an Islamic authority. The third stage, extend the Jihad." And have no doubt should these fanatics obtain the weapons of mass destruction they seek, the survival of our way of life would be at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: The secretary laying out that long war that he now feels the U.S. is in with al Qaeda and terrorist groups around the world.

As for the military budget, the request is for $440 billion in spending. And, Daryn, that does not include the war in Iraq, which is rung about $4.5 billion a month.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Right. And when you include Afghanistan, as much as $10 billion a month. A figure that's 50 percent more than last year. Barbara, why is it so much more expensive than just last year?

STARR: Well, it's -- I don't know that it's clear -- it's a full 50 percent. But what is happening, of course, is, now some of the bills are coming due. They are going to have to replenish some of the worn out or destroyed equipment. One of the things that General Peter Pace is talking about just in one item in the budget is the cost of healthcare for the military. It has skyrocketed and, of course, it is only going to go up as there are more people coming back from this war, more are serving on active duty, getting injured, and coming back. So it's like everything else in life, Daryn, it's all getting more expensive and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight to the spending.

But one very key point, they are restructuring the spending, if you will. There is more focus on special forces, special operation forces, military intelligence, information technology, that sort of thing. Getting away from that old line military force of tanks, airplanes, bombs and bullets. The feeling now is in the global war on terror, there really needs to be a shift in priorities on spending and they say that this budget is a real attempt to get the shift started.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr live from the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.

Now we go back to live pictures from Lithonia, Georgia, just to the east of Atlanta. The sight of the funeral service today for Coretta Scott King. As we look at live pictures, as many as 10,000 people from around the world expected to attend in this church. Meanwhile, President Bush has ordered that all flags across the country be flown at half staff today. Our coverage -- our day-long coverage of the funeral of Coretta Scott King continues after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The markets have been open just about an hour. And you can see, stocks not moving much. The Dow is down just a little bit, going between five and six points down. And the Nasdaq also in negative territory but barely. It is down just a couple points. More news ahead. Right now, a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."

In southern California, fire crews say the winds have died down a bit but they're still not able to rein in a fast moving wild fire. So far it's burned about 3,500 acres in Orange County east of Los Angeles and prompted the evacuation of more than 2,000 homes.

About 90 minutes from now, funeral services get underway for Coretta Scott King, widow of the civil rights icon and an activist in her own right. Nearly 160,000 mourners have attended three public viewings. President Bush and his wife will attend her funeral today in suburban Atlanta. They'll be joined by former President's Carter, Bush and Clinton. CNN will have continuing coverage throughout the day, including extensive live coverage of the funeral. That service is due to begin at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific.

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