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Abuse Pictures; We Aren't The World; Cheney Speaks; Tips on Finding a Real Estate Broker

Aired February 16, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Local news reports say all were wearing protective vests and suffered non life threatening injuries. There's no official word on whether arrests were made. The shooting took place in a residential neighborhood in the Oak Cliff section of southwest Dallas.
Live pictures for you from Capitol Hill. Up on The Hill and under the microscope, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff returns for a second day of blistering questions on the response on Hurricane Katrina. Yesterday Chertoff acknowledged many lapses in government aid to the Gulf Coast. Today he appears before two House committees.

The nation's domestic spying program faces new scrutiny. The Justice Department has launched an internal investigation. At issue, the conduct of agency lawyers involved in the program which authorizes the use of wiretap without warrants. Later today, the Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on whether to launch a congressional investigation of its own.

Two Muslims could be among the jurors in the Zacarias Moussaoui case. They are among 15 potential jurors cleared for the sentencing phase which will decide whether the al Qaeda operative should die for conspiring in the 9/11 attacks. Moussaoui has sat silently in the courtroom since the presiding judge reversed her earlier order and allowed him to stay for the proceedings.

Good morning to you on this Thursday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

We're going to start this hour with the Defense Department on the defensive today. First to Capitol Hill this hour. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld makes his case for more money. A $439 billion budget to be exact. But he'll likely face questions about Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib as well.

A U.N. report out this morning is highly critical of the detention of terror suspects at the U.S. facility in Cuba. The report comes a day after Australian television released new pictures of the Abu Ghraib prison from 2003. The U.S. military considers the timing of the release of those pictures provocative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, U.S. ARMY: Over the course of the last year, 25 soldiers, officers and enlisted, have been prosecuted and punished as a result of those incidents. When the pictures come back out now, all that was a reflection of what happened before and not a reflection of what's happening now and we believe the people of Iraq understand that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The Iraqi government is condemning the newly leased Abu Ghraib photos, but not all of Iraq's media are reporting on the controversy. Let's check in with Aneesh Raman live in Baghdad.

Aneesh, hello.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

As you say, really a split in the papers this morning. The government backed, party backed papers largely left this story out of the pages. But in the independent newspapers, they did talk about the new photos, the new graphic video, putting it on the front page. Iraqis that we spoke to said that they wanted their government to come out viscerally and angrily against these recent abuses. Here's a little bit of what Iraqis told us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (through translator): The American forces, when there was the story about Judge Reah (ph) and three insurgents were hit, the American ambassador was calling the ministers of interior in defense about human rights. Why aren't human rights applied to the Americans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (through translator): It's not the first time or the second. These things are happening and no reaction. So we want the Iraqi government to hold them accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAMAN: Now, Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari issuing a paper statement, nothing on camera, this morning denouncing these recent abuses that are shown in the video and in the pictures. Iraq's government key not to spark huge protests or demonstrations in what is already a tense atmosphere between Iraqis and western nations. South of us in the city of Basra, there have been sustained demonstrations against the Danish and British troops that are there, both because of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and because of a recent video showing British troops allegedly beating Iraqi kids in 2004. So, so far, no huge reaction among Iraqis except that they want their government to do more.

Daryn.

KAGAN: And with these pictures, when they do see them, do they realize, Iraqis, that this is from back in 2003? That these are not new abuses?

RAMAN: They do. But for them, it's all part of sort of the same problem. We've heard from the U.S. military that these were all abuses committed in 2003. But Iraqis have long had disdain for Abu Ghraib prison, even before the first round of pictures. There were rumors of abuse committed there. Iraqis feel that many of those that are being detained are innocent.

We've had overcrowding as a major issue at Abu Ghraib. In recent months we've seen mass releases of 400, at time as thousand prisoners. But there is continued frustration with that prison and a continued desire for Iraqis to completely take control of that facility.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman live in Baghdad. Aneesh, thank you.

And now for more on that U.N. report on Guantanamo Bay. The commission on human rights says the facility should have been closed without further delay. The 54-page report calls on the suspects to be brought to trial or released. The U.S. has defend the facility as a place to hold enemy combatants as long as the war on terror lasts. But the U.N. commission says the war on terror is not an armed conflict under international law.

Newly revealed audiotapes are offering more insight on Saddam Hussein. U.S. officials say the tapes show the former Iraqi leader hoped to rebuild his weapons program a decade ago without U.N. inspectors knowing. U.S. intelligence officials have reviewed 12 hours of Hussein tapes. They were taken from his meetings with aides in the 1990s. One official says the tape seemed to confirm what they already knew, that Hussein was unable to rebuild weapons of mass destruction after the program was dismantled in the '90s. A U.S. congressional aid says there are some 35,000 additional boxes of material on Iraq's weapons program, all waiting to be translated.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is back on Capitol Hill, as we look at live pictures from Capitol Hill. She is there to talk about her department's proposed budget. But like yesterday's hearings, she probably will face more questions about policy than questions about money. Senators expressed concerns about the insurgency in Iraq, the Iranian nuclear dispute, and Hamas' Palestinian election win. On that last issue, Rice conceded, it's a difficult time for the Mideast peace process, but she said the U.S. is not responsible for the Hamas victory.

When the U.S. went to war in Iraq, the Bush White House vowed to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis. Not only has that battle plan had many challenges in the eyes of many, but a new survey shows apparent collateral damage. The conflict is fueling a dim international view of the U.S. CNN's Tom Foreman has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's the war, it's the war, it's the war. The single biggest event driving down global public opinion of the United States still seems to be the fact that the U.S. is in Iraq without broader international support. The war can be a tough sell at home.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, (R) NEBRASKA: I don't see, Madam Secretary, how things are getting better. I think thing are getting worse.

FOREMAN: But now, a new worldwide survey of people in 33 nations has come down hard on the U.S. Steven Kull conducted it.

STEVEN KULL, WORLD PUBLIC OPINION ORG.: Yes, there is a perception that the U.S. is unpredictable, that the U.S. isn't listening to other countries, and the U.S. feels free to act independently.

FOREMAN: In every country surveyed, the nations of Europe collectively were seen as a mainly positive influence on the world. And Japan, France, Great Britain, India and China all individually out ranked the United States. This comes despite millions of dollars in initiatives by the White House to improve world relations. There have been foreign tours by a special undersecretary for public diplomacy, efforts to expand positive, radio, TV, and newspaper coverage in anti- American places, even a failed attempt to start a pro American teen magazine in the Arab world. And, of course, many, many public assurances.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our enemies and our friends can be certain, the United States will not retreat from the world and we will never surrender to evil.

FOREMAN: The report is not entirely bleak. Interestingly, Afghanistan is one of the nations which gave the United States high marks, more than 70 percent approval.

This whole business of surveying world public opinion is in its infancy. Some of the samples aren't that big and the margin for error could be fairly wide.

It's worth noting, too, that the survey was seeking opinions about only eight individual nations. Still, of all these countries you surveyed, is anybody doing worse than us?

KULL: There is one country that has more negative ratings in the world than the United States, and that is Iran.

FOREMAN: Yes, Iran. As international images go, not exactly the gold standard.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Vice President Dick Cheney breaks his silence about accidentally shooting a hunter. How is the White House reacting to his statement and admissions? We'll get a live report just ahead.

And a multimillion dollar morgue built by FEMA to process victims of Hurricane Katrina. But with dozens of bodies unidentified and others still missing, why is this morgue being shut down?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Vice President Dick Cheney calls it one of the worst days of his life. Cheney has now broken his silence about the weekend shooting of fellow hunter Harry Whittington. He says he takes full responsibility for the accident and he denies any attempt to hide anything from the media. Our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us now with the latest.

Suzanne, hello.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX: Well, hello, Daryn.

It actually took some 22 hours before the hunting accident became public and some four days before Cheney went before to actually explain those circumstances. The White House certainly hoping that they've put all of this behind them now. That is the hope here.

And, of course, yesterday the vice president curiously taking full responsibility for this accident. Saying up right that "ultimately I am the guy who pulled the trigger and fired the round that hit Harry. You can talk about all the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line. It's not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I am the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend and you can say that is a day I will never forget."

Daryn, the other point the vice president making very clearly, however, he has no regrets when it comes to how this information came out initially. He talked about the fact that Katharine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch, as well as an eyewitness to the accident, that they decided together they would release the information the next day. It would be through the local media. That he felt the priority was on making sure that Harry Whittington was OK, that they had accurate information. That he was going to go ahead before the sheriff's office. They had no problem in actually delaying that initial notification.

Daryn.

KAGAN: A couple questions here for you, Suzanne. First of all, if you read the transcript of the whole interview, or if you listen to it, the vice president talks about the set-up of this weekend. That it was a private weekend that he didn't have any press people or press person traveling with him. I found that very interesting that the vice president can travel like that. The president never travels like that. Do you think those days are over as somebody who's in the White House press pool?

MALVEAUX: Oh, no. I think those days continue. I think, however, this played out that this is something that's going to continue to play out. I mean he, obviously, appreciates the independence of traveling, the privacy as well, without a press corps. I do think, however, that when it comes to pushing for this information as quickly as possible, they're taking a second look.

It was very interesting in that interview. He acknowledges he praises the White House communications team, Dan Bartlett, as well as Scott McClellan, but he also acknowledges that they urged him to get that information out quickly and that it was his decision to kind of wait on this. And then he kind of explains why.

I mean the big question is, did the president personally say to Cheney, look, we want you to get out there Monday, Tuesday, explain the details of this? Scott McClellan very carefully in how he answered that question this morning, saying he doesn't get into the details of personal conversations between the president and the vice president, but yesterday he said, I'm speaking on behalf of the president and the White House, this should have been done better.

KAGAN: A different topic. This U.N. report calling for the shutdown of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, written by a U.N. authors who didn't even visit Guantanamo. Any kind of reaction from the White House on that report today?

MALVEAUX: Well, yes, as a matter of fact, Scott dismissed it essentially as saying that these were the same kinds of arguments that lawyers of al Qaeda terrorists who are being held there at Guantanamo Bay have made before. That they are simply kind of making this up when it comes to these suicide attempts or these alleged abuse. That he says they're simply making a case. He says the international Red Cross has visited these detainees. That they are being treated humanely. So he outright rejected the claim from that report that it should be shut down.

KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House, thank you.

Going back to this interview. The vice president was also asked about the CIA leak case and his indicted former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby. Libby is accused of lying about how he learned the identity of CIA Operative Valerie Plame. During the interview, Cheney said he couldn't talk about that, but he did say an executive order gives the vice president the power to declassify secret documents. Quoting Mr. Cheney here. He says, "I have certainly advocated declassification. I have participated in declassification decisions." However, Cheney would not say whether he authorized Libby to release classified information to the media.

The light of day could barely penetrate the blowing dust in Arizona. As a result, deadly chain reaction pileup on Interstate 8 near Phoenix. You can see the tangle of tractor trailers, a motor home, passenger cars strewn across both lanes and the median. Authorities say the wrecks killed two motorists and injured a dozen others and shut down the interstate for several hours.

Not unusual, I've got to say after five and a half years in Phoenix, to see a dust storm like that. You see it kind of coming from the horizon. But I think it's kind of an unusual time of year. A little early for those, Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: High gas prices are spurring all kinds of suggestions on how to break the world's dependence on oil. Ahead, a sweet alternative that has sugar producing nations counting their future earnings.

But first, it's the biggest investment of your life. So how do you find the right person when it comes to selling your home? Gerri is in D.C. today.

Hi, Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Hi there, Daryn. Good to see you.

Look, it's not hard to find a real estate agent these days. There's plenty of them. But which ones are good? We'll help you sort through it. "Five Tips" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The markets have been open about 53 minutes. Not a lot of movement. You can see there the Dow staying above 11,000 but only up three appoints for the day so far. The Nasdaq moving just a little bit as well. It is up six points.

So let's move from stocks into real estate. If your home is your largest investment, then a real estate agent may be your most important employee. There are about 1.5 million people who are licensed to sell your home, but how do you find the best person? Our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis joins us with her "Top Five Tips."

Good morning.

WILLIS: Good morning, Daryn. Good to see you.

You know how this is. If you want to sell your house, it's really tough to figure out how to find the best real estate agent. But chances are you might be able to sell it on your own, thereby saving that commission that you would pay a real estate agent. You might want to think about it if you have a lot of time on your hands to get the house ready and to make sure that you field all the inquiries.

Now you can get some help on the web. There's some great websites out there that will help you price your home, zillow.com, domania.com and homevalues.com will help you figure out how much your home is worth. But let me tell you, these websites aren't perfect. In fact, for some parts of the country, there's not great information available and some of it is dated. So you'll really want to check and it make sure that you're getting the best information possible.

KAGAN: Yes, I looked at my house on zillow.com.

WILLIS: Yes.

KAGAN: Maybe that's what it was worth in 1928 when it was built, but not now.

WILLIS: I'm hearing you, Daryn. KAGAN: OK.

So back to real estate agents. Where do you find them?

WILLIS: Well, I think a good way to go is to get recommendations from friends and particularly neighborhood, people in your neighborhood that have sold or have come into the neighborhood, because that way you're finding somebody who has some experience really marketing your area. That's what you want, somebody who live there or sell as to of houses in your neighborhood. So get started that way.

But I'm going to tell you, if you don't want to pay what is now an average of about 5 percent in commissions, you can also hire a discount broker, pay maybe 3 percent, maybe less. Let me tell you, this number is negotiable now. If you don't feel like you're getting what you need for your house, you're worried maybe prices might be falling, you can negotiate that number.

KAGAN: So what should this broker be showing you to have you give them the job?

WILLIS: Well, remember, your real estate agent is your biggest marketer and they're marketing your biggest investment, in all likelihood. So you want to make sure somebody has access to the web, that they've actually got a great website, that they know how to market in the newspaper. Maybe they have a circular that they use. They've got to use many levels of marketing to make sure that word about your house gets out. And their website should be primo. Believe me, so many people use the web now to search for real estate it's got to be really good.

KAGAN: Let's get back to this point you were saying about negotiating the commission. How do you do that?

WILLIS: Well, look, you know, at the end of the day, fees, commissions, used to be 6 percent not that long ago. Now they're down, on average, to 5.1 percent, and that's from the National Association of Realtors. So there is a lot of squishiness in those numbers right now. You can actually negotiate lower. Ask for a lower rate. The best way to do that is to get a bunch of agents bidding for your business. Don't just talk to one, talk to several. Ask for their very best deal because, at the end of the day, this market is slowing down a little bit and I think people are really looking for business. This is the time to really get the best deal you can.

KAGAN: You always like to talk about red flags on these different topics. What are some here?

WILLIS: Well, again, we were talking about the websites and that's such an important thing now because people use it so much to find homes. Make sure that the website for the realtor that you're using, the real estate agent, is really up to date. Make sure that there aren't old house on there that are fabulous looking but actually sold last month because consumers get on to that really quickly and they feel like they can't trust it. So the website should definitely be up to date.

When you're doing your due diligence with friends and neighbors, make sure that the agent is responsive. It's important that an agent gets back to you quickly with information because they're going to field your offers. Make sure that they are telling you about all offers, not just the ones that they think are good.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Here's an offer, would love to tune in on Saturday morning and see your show. What will we be watching?

WILLIS: Well, 9:30 Eastern on CNN "Open House." Look, we just got done doing a great story on Montpelier. That's the home of James Madison. They're doing a $23 million renovation and there's some lessons out there for people who have historic homes. A really gorgeous place. We'll share that with you. We'll talk about the National Flood Insurance Program, which is having a heck of a time with all of these claims against it from New Orleans. Real problems there. And we'll talk more about picking a real estate agent and the best way to do it.

Daryn.

KAGAN: OK. Look forward to that. Gerri, thank you.

WILLIS: Thank you.

KAGAN: It was built to handle tens of thousands of bodies. Thankfully, there were not that many. But with scores still missing from Hurricane Katrina and a number of bodies that haven't been identified, why is FEMA's morgue being shut down now?

And "CSI" and other crime dramas are viewer favorites. Apparently they are also favorites among criminals. Investigative shows that are so real they are helping bad guys change their habits.

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