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CNN Live Today

Bodies Found; New Orleans Crime; Terrors In The Night; Rather Leaving CBS; Bodies Found

Aired June 20, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's it. We're out of time. Let's get right to Daryn Kagan. She's at the CNN Center. She'll be with you for the next couple of hours on CNN LIVE TODAY.
Hey, Daryn.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to both of you. Have a great day in New York City.

ROBERTS: Thank you. You, too.

KAGAN: Try to stay cool. Absolutely.

We have a lot to get too. Good morning, I'm Daryn Kagan.

Unfolding this hour, breaking news about those soldiers that went missing in Iraq. The military says troops have made a grim discovery. We are live at the Pentagon with the late word.

Also ahead, reinforcement for New Orleans. National Guard troops and state police officers are dispatched to the hurricane ravaged city. Their role, to be crime stoppers.

Plus, it is World Refugee Day and we're bringing you the in-depth stories you won't see anywhere else. It's all ahead as we get started here on CNN LIVE TODAY for Tuesday.

Well, this is not the development that folks at home wanted to hear. Outside of Baghdad, two bodies turn up. The Pentagon saying they appear to be the remains of two U.S. soldiers who disappeared after a checkpoint attack last week. The aunt of Private Kristian Menchaca confirms that the family has been told he is dead. And the scene in Oregon where relatives of Private First Class Thomas Tucker await for word. We're going to begin our coverage this hour with Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Barbara, this story continues to develop and a change even after the daily military briefing.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn.

Major General William Caldwell conducted an on-camera briefing in Baghdad that concluded just a little while ago. And after that briefing was done, after the cameras turned off, General Caldwell telling reporters that indeed the troops have discovered two bodies. They discovered them last night. They do believe they are the remains of the two missing soldiers that came under attack last Friday night. By all accounts, those two soldiers taken away alive by insurgents in the area.

A desperate search had been on since Friday night. Eight thousand U.S. and Iraqi troops involved in that search. Desperately trying to find Private First Class Kristian Menchaca and Private First Class Thomas Tucker. But now, according to General Caldwell, their remains have been found.

Very difficult news for the families, Daryn. And the news may only get more difficult throughout the day. Sources telling CNN's Cal Perry in Baghdad that IEDs, improvised explosive devices, were found near the area, indicating the area may have been booby trapped by insurgents. Indications that the insurgents very deliberately may have tried to make it extremely difficult for these bodies to be recovered. DNA testing will be carried out, but the military clearly indicating that the two bodies that have been found now, they strongly believe, are the bodies of the two missing Americans.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. You're right, Barbara, exactly not the development that we were waiting to hear.

Let's go to our Ed Lavender. He is in Privity Menchaca's hometown of Houston, Texas, where, as you can imagine, it's a very somber day upon hearing this news.

Ed, hello.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Just about an hour ago we spoke with the aunt of Kristian Menchaca who told us that after they had started hearing the initial reports coming out of Iraq, the two bodies of soldiers had been found, that they were notified shortly after that from officials with the U.S. military that indeed one of those bodies was Kristian Menchaca. We had first met the family yesterday afternoon after the U.S. military had released the names of the two soldiers that went missing on Friday. It has been an agonizing four days for this family.

As they told me yesterday, they had been watching news reports around the clock hoping to get any kind of word possible. But, you know, this was a family that was struggling to come to terms with what was going on. In the words of Kristian Menchaca's brother who told us yesterday that basically they were holding on to as little hope as they could find, but they had realized that the mercy that they were -- at the will of was, in his words, you know, they were at the mercy of insurgents and terrorists and that that wasn't a very comforting situation. So this is a family that had been preparing for the worst from the onset of this news and, indeed, that news came to them this morning.

Daryn. KAGAN: Ed, when you had a chance to visit with his family, were they able to tell you anything more about the young man? Why he wanted to serve? How long he served? And I'm sure that he was very much loved by his family there in Houston.

LAVANDERA: Yes, absolutely. You know what was really interesting about Kristian Menchaca, and this is a story that his cousin and his brother had relayed to us yesterday. This is the neighborhood he grew up here in Houston, just north of downtown Houston. And they say that he spent a lot of time here. He spent some time in Brownsville, Texas, down in south Texas, with his family.

This is a young man who was raised by his mother. His brother says he never really knew his father. And in the words of his cousin yesterday, they were counting on this kind of tough way of growing up here in north Houston. They say, you know, this was a neighborhood that was, you know, infested with gangs and drugs. He avoided all of that. And they were hoping that the toughness he kind of earned and developed while growing up here was going to pay off. That they were really counting on that toughness to get him through this ordeal.

He was back home a month ago for a 10-day vacation. He was married just a few weeks before he was shipped off to Iraq last year after joining the military. He was married just a few weeks before he left. He had come back and seen his wife, mother and family.

And they say that they had noticed a little bit of a change in him. That he'd become colder and reserved. But they said that they were actually happy to see that. That they took that as his way of preparing. They really learned a lot more about the difficult work and the dangerous work he was doing in Iraq and they thought that he was doing that to protect himself to make sure that he would help himself come home alive, which is obviously what they desperately wanted to see.

KAGAN: Absolutely. A huge, huge loss for the family in Houston. Ed Lavandera. Ed, thank you.

And we will be going live in just a bit to Oregon, to the hometown of the other dead soldier, Tommy Tucker, and learn more about him in just a minute.

Breaking news out of Key Largo, Florida. A propane gas leak and that's causing some problems down there. They've -- it's forced some closures. The radius of U.S. one, mile marker 105 in Key Largo, being evacuated as a precaution for this ruptured gas tank. And then the north and southbound lanes of Carstown Road (ph), leading into The Keys, also shut down. Our thanks to our affiliate WFOR for those pictures out of The Keys.

It hit the ground hard and fast in Chicago. The FAA says an American Airlines flight made an emergency landing at O'Hare this morning. And you're watching pictures of that. The plane had problems with its front landing gear, but the pilot was able to bring the plane to a safe skidding stop, although sparks did fly as the jet touched down. Flight 1740 was going from L.A. to Chicago. One hundred and thirty-six people were on-board the plane. No injuries were reported. Good work by that pilot.

The mayor of New Orleans says he will not let criminals spoil the city's comeback. Today about 100 National Guard troops and 60 state troopers are expected to hit the streets to help police. The deployment comes after a wave of weekend violence. Our Sean Callebs has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): New Orleans police say one of the teens was the target in a drug related revenge killing. The other four died because they were with him at 4:00 a.m. Saturday. Reflecting the cycle of violence here, Benny Radcliff, himself shot and paralyzed from the neck down in a drug deal gone bad 17 years ago, is the father of one of them.

BENNIE RADCLIFF, VICTIM'S FATHER: I just wanted him to, you know, have a better life and go to school and do things. Some of the things that I didn't get a chance to do.

CALLEBS: The mayor said the slaughter was too much for this city to bear.

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: The things that happen pre-Katrina are definitely no longer acceptable.

CALLEBS: Now Governor Blanco is heeding the city's plea, rushing 300 National Guard troops and up to 60 state troopers to New Orleans. The first time troops will be deployed since the weeks after the storm.

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: There must be law and order in New Orleans and we're going to work to bring it about.

SUPERINTENDENT WARREN RILEY, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: New Orleans I'm sure is safer than a lot of other urban cities right now. I'm sure we are.

CALLEBS: The city's police superintendent says his force has crime under control. But there were 16 murders from January through March and 40 since then.

RILEY: It's not a crime spree. It's not denial. It's the strategy.

CALLEBS: Riley says he asked for the National Guard back in March. Most of them will patrol flooded-out abandoned neighborhoods in east New Orleans, freeing up city cops for other jobs.

NAGIN: And we will take our NOPD officers and increase their visibility in our heavily populated areas to where you will see a police officer almost on every corner.

CALLEBS: Frustrated residents say even a cop on every corner wouldn't fix New Orleans. ZONTHIA DAVENPORT, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: You could do something about crime, but you have to have something for people to do. You know, they have these 16, 17-year-olds outside, late at night. They're supposed to be inside.

CALLEBS: The city has been struggling to bring people, job and business back. But at this point, there's a growing concern that drug dealers and thugs are the ones gaining a toehold.

Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And this just in to CNN. Word out of CBS that Dan Rather, after more than 40 years, indeed will be leaving CBS News. Making it official today. Rather spent 44 years at CBS. More than half of that as its main anchor. But he was, of course, badly tarnished by the now discredited CBS News report on President Bush's military record last year. So Dan Rather and CBS calling it quits after 44 years.

President Bush is engaging in some dash and run diplomacy. He left Washington this morning for Vienna. Mr. Bush will be there for a one-day U.S.-European summit. The president wants Europe to stand firm on Iran's nuclear program. He is urging sanctions if Iran doesn't suspend uranium enrichment. The president then travels to Budapest. He'll be making the 50th anniversary of Hungry's failed uprising against the Soviets. Mr. Bush returns to Washington late Thursday.

Coming up, the story out of Iraq that has been developing all morning. The two mission U.S. soldiers, the Pentagon believes their bodies indeed have been found and their families have been notified.

Also, terror in the night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rebels come and kill people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They arrest people and they kill and they destroy our homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Seeking safe haven. These children walk a trail of tears every night. It's part of our extensive coverage of World Refugee Day ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A couple stories just in to CNN. We're watching this situation in the Florida Keys. A propane leak causing evacuations. This is a gas propane leak. A gas leak forcing some of the residents in The Keys to evacuate. There's also a one-mile radius of U.S. One and mile marker 105 in Key Largo. They're being evacuated as a precaution from this ruptured gas tank. And then, if you're looking to get into The Keys today, north and south bound lanes of Card Sound Road (ph) leading in there are also shut down.

Also on the Dan Rather story. We just reported this. CBS is confirming indeed that Dan Rather will be leaving CBS News. The president of CBS News and Sports, Sean McManus, is putting out a statement on that just minutes ago where he says "of all the famous names associated with CBS News, the biggest and brightest on the marque are Murrow, Cronkite and Rather. It is with utmost respect that we mark an extraordinary and singular role Dan has played in providing the script of not only CBS News, but of broadcast journalism." So after 44 years Dan Rather moves on. Said to be offering or thinking about other offers of work out there.

They live desperate lives that few of us can imagine. It is World Refugee Day. And all day today CNN is focusing on this global problems and some possible solutions.

The United Nations says there are more than 8 million refugees worldwide. Nearly 21 million people around the world are displaced. More than half the world's refugees are children. Five nationalities account for about half of those uprooted. We're talking about Afghans, Colombians, Iraqis, Sudanese and Somalis. Here's where many refugees are going, Pakistan, Iran and Germany.

And now on to the night commuters. Children in Uganda who leave their homes at sunset in search of a safe place to sleep. CNN's Jeff Koinange told their story for "A.C. 360." What you see, we must warn you, may disturb you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's nighttime in Gulu in northern Uganda and the dusty roads leading into the town are busy with the patter of tiny feet rushing as if to beat the darkness. They are running from small villages far and wide. Running from a man they've never seen but they are running from real terrors in the night.

His name is Joseph Kony and he leads a violent rebel group, the Lords of Resistance Army, or LRA, which claims to base its principles on the 10 Commandments. The LRA has forced more than 2 million civilians to flee their homes. And now, after 20 years on the run, Kony recently came out of hiding for the first time claiming he wants to talk peace with the Ugandan government.

JOSEPH KONY, LORDS RESISTANCE ARMY: I want peace.

KOINANGE: But until that happens, these children will continue to run.

They wait for the sun to go down and every night, under the cover of darkness, these children, ages between five and 16 years old, make the long commute from their villages to the comfort of the big towns. In fact, locals here have coined a phrase for them. They call them the night commuters. They arrive at one of several shelters in Gulu, exhausted but exhilarated. This one is appropriately named Noah's Ark. And like the biblical sanctuary, they enter in twos, escaping what they call the madness outside.

I asked the children how many of them know of someone who has been abducted? Almost every hand is raised. I asked them how many have family members who have been abducted? Just as many hands are raised.

But the center is both ill equipped and underfunded. The only comfort the children get is a canvas roof, a cold, hard floor and, if they are lucky, a blanket. But all they are looking for, it seems, is a place to lie down without having to worry about becoming the next group of child slaves.

And in the morning, they are up early, ready to take the long walk back home to their villages. No breakfast. No shower. No change of clothes.

At a rehabilitation center for escapees not far from Noah's Ark, former kidnapped victims gather for a morning therapy session. Many of these girls bearing the physical scars of rape and the boys the mental scars of torture. Among them, 19-year-old Alice Abolo (ph) who recently escaped from the LRA with her four-year-old daughter Nancy, a product of rape. Alice shows us the physical scars of her eight years in captivity -- bullet wounds on her leg, shrapnel scars on her chest.

ALICE ABOLO, (through translator): One day the group we were in had just killed about six people and proceed to decapitate them. Then I was asked to light a wood fire using the victims heads as support, the same way one would use three stones. I still have nightmares of their burning hair and brains oozing out of the burning heads. It was horrible.

KOINANGE: Florence Lacor (ph) is responsible for the twice a day counseling sessions for the escapees.

FLORENCE LACOR: Their stories are really horrible. We have had cases of -- children who were ordered to -- to cook a human being. Said you cut the body into pieces and cook it up. Then they mobilize the village to come and eat the cooked body.

KOINANGE: Alice and the other kidnapped victims are allowed to stay here for 45 days. A brief period to adjust before going home. That is if their home has survived the rebels.

As for the others who so far manage to evade the Lords Resistance Army, the tiny feet of the night commuters remain on the move.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Gulu in northern Uganda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And Anderson Cooper has more stories about the global refugee problem. He'll join me later this hour. Plus, tonight, watch actress Angelina Jolie in her first U.S. TV interview since the birth of her daughter. She talks to Anderson about her work with refugees. "A.C. 360" at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's check the markets. They have been open about 54 minutes. Hello, wake up, Wall Street, you home? Not a lot going on there. You can see the Dow has only moved up a couple points. The Nasdaq not doing much more. It is down by two points.

Let's check some of the weather related stories around the country.

In Arizona, one man says they are praying for rain there. A raging wildfire is threatening his community. The blaze is near Sedona in the northern part of the state. It has charred 1,500 acres so far. Right now it's about 5 percent contained. Firefighters working feverishly to try to stop the flames in one of the most beautiful parts of a very pretty state. The Sedona fire is just one of several major blazes now burning in the western U.S. They have scorched thousands of acres in other parts of Arizona, as well as Colorado, New Mexico and California.

Eyes on the sky in the Houston area this morning after 10 inches of rain on Monday. Residents are hoping for a dry spell there. Hundreds of motor were stranded on flooded roads. The waters began receding by mid day. We were watching a lot of these pictures unfold live yesterday during this program. And there were no reported injuries. Parts of Louisiana were also drenched by that storm.

Let's bring in Chad Myers.

Chad, if they could only scoop up some of that rain and bring it to Arizona where I don't think I think I read today they don't even expect any rain until at least 4th of July.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: The next story out of New York City. Getting word today from CBS News that Dan Rather, indeed after 44 years, is leaving. With more on that, let's bring in Howard Kurtz with "The Washington Post,"also here at CNN and "Reliable Sources."

Howard, good morning.

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: This really just confirms what we've known is coming for some time, but it has been a pretty messy good-bye, has it not?

KURTZ: Well, you know, I'm holding in my hand, Daryn, one of these corporate press releases. It tells you everything except the most important thing. I mean here is Sean McManus, president of CBS News, saying the biggest names in the CBS News history are Murrow, Cronkite and Rather.

KAGAN: Yes, I have the same one.

KURTZ: Les Moonves heaping praise on Dan Rather. What the release doesn't say, which I reported last week, is the reason Dan Rather is leaving is that CBS has chosen not to renew his contract.

KAGAN: And this, of course, goes back to the day when he did the report on President Bush's military record that he later couldn't confirm to the satisfaction of people who checked on it.

KURTZ: Well, I am told that is not the only reason. And, that, obviously, moved up the time that Rather under pressure relinquished the anchor chair that he had held for 24 years and became a contributor at "60 Minutes." But now "60 Minutes" has got a lot of people, including Katie Couric, coming in as the anchor. She's going to be doing some pieces. CNN's Anderson Cooper going to be doing some pieces.

But you have to wonder, and I've heard a lot of criticism, I mean Rather had a 44 year career at CBS News. He clearly made a big, terrible mistake on that Bush National Guard story. But is there no role for him at all? He wanted to continue at CBS and CBS has decided to pull the plug here.

KAGAN: You know, on the other hand, a lot of heads rolled in connection with that story and his did not.

KURTZ: There were a lot of people, including Mike Wallace, who said publicly that Rather should have resigned over that since other people lost their jobs, his producer was fired and so forth. But they have had him on the air at "60 Minutes" and I guess the time came. He's 74-years-old. CBS is trying to move on from the Rather era that they just decided to go in a different direction.

But what's interesting is, this release also says they're planning a prime time special about his long and illustrious career at CBS News. So you have sort of two things going on simultaneously. Heaping a lot of praise on Rather who was, after all, the face of the news division for so long. And at the same time they are showing him the door.

KAGAN: And he moves on. The future of Katie Couric. We'll have to watch how it unfolds for her.

Howard, thank you.

KURTZ: Thanks, Daryn.

KAGAN: Howard Kurtz from "The Washington Post" and here at CNN.

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