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American Morning

President Bush Turning Attention to War on Terror; Police Fallout

Aired September 28, 2005 - 09:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody on this AMERICAN MORNING.
At the half hour, we've made it down into the water, because we wanted to give you a better sense of really what it's like at this level. Dave, if you pan up you can see where we just were, and that's what's left of the houses. We're kind of looking right through where six homes stood. The reason you have a shot of the house behind them, of course, is because just the foundations remain, and not a whole heck of a lot else.

The water came this way. right over this canal here, and right over this levee here. It topped that levee. That levee is now actually really structurally in very good shape.

Back another mile is another levee, and the oceanographer we spoke to not very long ago said that he was sort of surprised at the force with which the water, Hurricane Katrina hitting as a four, maybe, you know, almost five hurricane really slammed in. It looks right exactly here, and that is partly because you can see how the storm surge being two levels high just took out the homes here, and then it only took out the first floor a little bit further down and blew everybody's stuff miles down the road.

Much more on what's happening here today, including the people who are coming back now as the sun comes out to get a look at what they can salvage from their homes -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Soledad. We need to get you a paddle, by the way.

After many days of focusing on the hurricane disasters, President Bush is turning his attention to the war on terror. Dana Bash is live at the White House with more on that.

What's new for the president today, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know, Miles, after watching the president try to rebound from scathing criticism that his response to hurricanes was too sluggish. It's hard to forget, or I should say easy to forget, that when Katrina hit the president was already at his lowest, among the lowest, in terms of approval from the American people, and that was largely because of the war in Iraq, and today U.S. military commanders are here at the White House. They're among the generals who generally brief Mr. Bush by videoconference from the region, but they are here actually briefing the president as we speak about what is going on on the ground there.

And the president will use that opportunity to come to the Rose Garden, deliver his stay the course message despite the violence, and this time, a Bush source says, that he is going try to tout what the White House certainly sees as a positive development, that is over the weekend, the killing of Abu Azzam. He is somebody that U.S. military sources say is perhaps number one Al Qaeda terrorist who was working in Iraq -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Dana. Let me ask you this, this comes after no less than seven trips to the hurricane-stricken regions. What's his message been as he continues these trips back there looking at the devastation?

BASH: I guess you could say it's sort of part I get it, part I care, and part I'm in control. It was his seventh trip, but it was his first to see the devastation from Hurricane Rita.

And there you see a picture of Mr. Bush on Marine One, surveying the damage from above, along the border between Texas and Louisiana.

And so what the White House and the president certainly wanted to do was show that he is actually engaged, show that he actually wants to actually see for himself what happened, and also try to stand by the local and state leaders who are trying to send specific messages to the residents there, and specifically Mr. Bush said that he wants residents to heed their warning that it's simply too soon to come home, that there's no water, there's no power and they should stay away for now -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Dana Bash at the White House, thanks.

Let's check the other headlines. Carol Costello with that.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning Miles. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco is expected to fire back this morning. She goes before a Senate panel in the next hour as they look at the response for Katrina. Her testimony comes one day after former FEMA chief Michael Brown blamed Louisiana officials for dragging their feet during the crisis. Blanco will go before a different committee than the one that grilled Brown.

A female suicide bomber has killed at least five people in Tal Afar, Iraq. That's near the Syrian border. U.S. and Iraqi forces completed a major offensive there two weeks ago. This is the first known attack by a female suicide bomber since the war in Iraq began.

Anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan is thanking Arizona Senator McCain for meeting with her, but says she came away disappointed. Sheehan described McCain as a warmonger, and said he tried to tell her what President Bush would have said. McCain said Sheehan is entitled to her opinion. The Senate is expected to vote tomorrow on Judge John Roberts' nomination for the job of chief justice. Roberts seems to have the support of almost three-fourths of the Senate. Once Roberts is confirmed President Bush is expected to announce his pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

In California, officials reacting quickly to a brushfire burning north of Los Angeles. That huge blaze considered a major emergency fire. It's being fanned by winds of up to 30 miles per hour. Helicopters are making water drops to put out the flames. So far, more than 20 acres have been destroyed, but no homes are threatened, at least right now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Lieutenant David Benelli is the president of the Police Association in New Orleans, and as people come to pick up things, not only here, but in the city of New Orleans as well, because people are now coming back, we had a big surprise, a big shock when we heard that the superintendent of police, or what in other cities is known as the police chief, Compass, resigned. What was your reaction and how surprised were you?

LT. DAVID BENELLI, PRES., N.O. POLICE ASSOCIATION: I was very surprised, because I used to meet with Chief Compass on a daily basis. And, you know, he was a pillar of strength. You know, during the darkest days after the hurricane, this department was, you know, separated and had very little communication, but the one thing that stood out was his compassion, his drive, and I think that kind of carried the focus of the police officers and helped us through this ordeal.

S. O'BRIEN: There's lots of speculation about why he left. Why do you think he left?

BENELLI: I've been (INAUDIBLE) for over 25 years, and I know the decision was a difficult decision, because he truly loved his department,. he truly loved the men and women in his department, and truly loved the city. He said it was a family reason, and I believe that, and I take it his word for that and I wish him well in the future.

S. O'BRIEN: He asked for privacy. He asked for people basically to back off, and here's a guy who's really been, you know, doing the rounds, being the voice of the police department. What do the men and women who work for him think? Are people happy that he's moved on? Did he have a lot of support among his staff?

BENELLI: Oh, I believe he had a lot of support within the rank and file of New Orleans Police Department. Here's a guy that rose through the ranks. He experienced police work at every single level, and he was a man that was respected by the troops. He leaves a good, functional police department, and that's a credit to him. And I know Chief Warren Reilly in the interim will serve the city well. And I hope when the permanent decision is on who the new chief is going to be, that it is someone from the ranks of NOPD, someone that stood with us through thick and thin during this horrible ordeal and we'll go on. And you know, we'll go on; we'll survive.

S. O'BRIEN: You talk about leaving a functional police department, but a department that certainly has its share of problems in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. As you know, the investigation of the almost 250 police officers who were not accounted for during the storm is going get under way, and they have allegations of looting among some of the police officers, some of which has been shown, interactions with the police and other people have been shown on tape. So there are big problems. Do you think any of those problems have played a role in why he's stepping down now, and can his fill-in take over and lead under those circumstances?

BENELLI: Well, can his fill-in lead? Absolutely. I have every confidence in the world in Chief Riley, and I have every confidence in the world in all of the deputy chiefs. I think that, you know, we just went through the worst human experience that any city could ever go. This city was destroyed. And for a long time, all the city had was the men and women of the New Orleans Police Department who stood their post and kept this city together as best they could.

Now that we're back on solid ground, now that we're getting this assistance from the federal government that we should get, I think that you're going to see a police department that's going move to the future. Those investigations will be investigated. And I will say this. Any police officer who deserted their post because they were afraid, because they were cowards, shouldn't be a police officer anymore because they violated that oath of office.

But you can't throw a blanket over everybody. I think you have to look at each individual case and determine if those individuals left for legitimate family crisis reasons. And if that's the case, then you have to look at them one by one, just don't throw a blanket over everybody. But hose who left because they were afraid find new employee -- employment.

S. O'BRIEN: Isn't kind of a strange time to be leaving, regardless of what Eddie Compass says his reasons are, when you consider the morale issues. I mean, this is a tough time. No matter how you slice it, this is a very difficult time. And to change leadership, even if you're going to a great guy, another great guy, is a problem, isn't it?

BENELLI: It's going -- you know, it would be a problem if we didn't have good leadership in place. And I'm serious about that. You know, we're going to function. You know, NOPD is going work today just like we worked yesterday. And if we're working for Chief Compass or Chief Riley, New Orleans Police Department will be a functional police department, a department that this city can be proud of.

S. O'BRIEN: How is the morale there?

BENELLI: Well, we just got our butts kicked. I mean, we just went through the most devastating hurricane this city has ever witnessed. The tragedy of a hurricane, plus the flood, and the fact that we're now still here, bodes well for the men and women of the New Orleans Police Department. I think our morale is high. I think we're exhausted. I think we're tired. I think that we stretched to the limits. But as far as morale goes, these officers that stuck through this ordeal, you know, they're willing to fight some more and they're looking forward to a better New Orleans.

S. O'BRIEN: Mr. Benelli of the Police Association of New Orleans, thanks for coming out and talking with us.

BENELLI: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Appreciate that.

And let's bring it right back to Miles in New York -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Soledad.

Still to come, the mayor of New Orleans says it isn't safe yet for children to return to that city. But what if they never come back? The problems faced by a childless city, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. As you know here, folks have been coming. And they'll start a little bit more heavily this afternoon to come and pick through what they have left and try to bring it back. There's a curfew, though. They have to be out of here at 6:00. It gets dark and it gets dangerous. You can't see a thing on the streets. It's the same situation in the city of New Orleans, as well.

Adaora Udoji's been covering that side of the story for us. Good morning.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Right now, New Orleans is an essentially childless city. Those kids are scattered all over the country with their patients and now enrolled in new schools. And the question is, will they come back?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoa.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the horrors of Katrina, Lin Kennedy, a New Orleans native, still wants to go home but she worries about her three children.

DAJANNE KENNEDY, DAUGHTER: I have a lot of friends there. And I don't want -- I hope they're OK.

UDOJI: Forced from their city, Kennedy enrolled her four-year- old son and nine-year-old daughter into new schools outside Atlanta. Her fiance's homeland security job moved with them.

LIN KENNEDY, MOTHER: I don't think that we'll have that in New Orleans. I mean, I wouldn't let them play outside. They're probably terrified. Even Mayor Ray Nagin says children shouldn't return. The city's too bruised and abandoned. He says right now it's not safe.

UDOJI: Life is at a standstill. Many blocks are eerily quiet with barely anyone around, barely any kids. There's no electricity or water or garbage pick up or fully-staffed hospitals. Playgrounds are filled with dangerous debris. Hardly a safe environment for children.

L. KENNEDY: All these stories about e coli, toxins, dead bodies, it makes me sick just saying it and thinking about the fact that my kids wouldn't have clean water. The schools couldn't possibly be the same.

UDOJI: Many schools reek of the rancid flood waters that engulfed them for two weeks or more. They're empty except for mounds of trash pulled in by the currents.

(on camera): This is the courtyard at Jones Elementary School just north of downtown. It's just one school where 900 neighborhood kids attended. And there's lost to clean up. It was underwater. You can see the line all the way around the building marking exactly where the flood water stopped.

ROBERT ROBERTI, NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Once we have a lot of the unknowns answered, I think it will be a lot easier for us to say you know, when it'll be safe for children to return.

UDOJI: So for now, the already are poorly performing school system is out of business. That's 65,000 children it can't teach and 38,00 teachers with no class rosters, no paychecks. Officials are not sure when that will change and they worry those teachers will find jobs elsewhere.

ROBERTI: The question really becomes how many of those children return? They're spread out over 48 states. We know there's kids as far as Alaska.

L. KENNEDY: I just know that it's just not going to be the same.

UDOJI: Kennedy might be among thousands of parents who decide as much as they want to go home, they can't, leaving New Orleans childless at least for a while, while the city recovers from catastrophe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI: Soledad, there are just so many unanswered questions in New Orleans and here. I mean, we're looking at all this destruction. They still have to test the soil. The Environmental Protection Agency, the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control. They got to determine exactly what contaminants still are around and whether or not they're harmful, not only to adults, but of course, parents are terribly worried about how it's going to affect their kids.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, there's so many things to do and sort of all of them all at the same time...

UDOJI: Exactly. S. O'BRIEN: ... before the city can be repopulated. Adaora, thanks a lot.

And I want to show you guys. If you look down this street here again, this is St. Marie Street. We've been on this street all day. Look down there. You see the U-Haul truck? Because some people are trying to grab some of their stuff. Past the U-Haul, you see a house that looks relatively intact right at the end of the street. It kind of looks like St. Marie Street might be a cul-de-sac. Well, it's not. That house moved. That house was on the side, and slid right into the middle of the street because of the force of this storm.

Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, Soledad, when I was there, St. Bernard Parish, I ran into a family that was having a hard time finding their house. So that is not too uncommon, sadly, for a lot of people there.

We'll be back with you in just a little bit.

"CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next.

Daryn, what've you got going this morning?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A search for a lot of answers is what took place there, Miles. A busy morning ahead. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco takes her turn yesterday. Former FEMA director Michael Brown blames her and others for the response to Hurricane Katrina. Now she's expected to come out swinging when she speaks on Capitol Hill. You'll see that live here in just a few minutes.

And left homeless by Rita and Katrina, thousands of hurricane victims may soon be sing the trailer-camp blues. We'll explain what that is ahead on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

For now back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, a chink in Apple's armor. There's apparently a problem with some of the company's new iPod nanos. Andy Serwer is back in a nanosecond.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Doom is back ask this time it's bad news for apple.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: No, it's not. Well, all right, a little bad news for Apple, good news for investors. Stocks trading up at this hour, Miles.

Let's go down to Wall Street. Look at that, miles, 39 points to the upside.

M. O'BRIEN: A glimmer of hope. Thank you. SERWER: And what have we got here this morning? A big U.S. oil inventory report out within the next hour. That should be very telling.

A couple of stocks trading down. Eastman Kodak reporting its profits reporting could be a little bit less than anticipated.

And then there's Apple, which is trading down one percent at just under $53. Why? Well, you may remember that three weeks ago, with great fanfare, the company announced its new Nano iPod. It's so thin.

Is that Steve Jobs? Yes, it is. it's the lower half of Steve Jobs' face with the Nano.

But there may be cracks with this wonderful story. In fact, there may be cracks in the Nano screen. This according to some consumers saying that the screen has actually been scratching, and chipping and cracking a little bit, and they've been up upset about it, and started a Web site and they're demanding refunds.

The company has responded. Apple saying, however, that these scratches and cracks are occurring in only 1/10 of one percent of the Nanos, but they are saying if you do have this cracking problem, the Nanos will be replaced. And that is good news, Miles, for American consumers, wouldn't you say?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, there were some words around the web that they weren't replacing them, and I think that's what got people in a rile.

SERWER: I think they bowed to pressure.

M. O'BRIEN: You might say that. All right, Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Back with mere in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: And as we leave you, Miles, from this neighborhood in St. Bernard Parish, we're going to roll backwards -- Captain Rich (ph), thanks -- and show you really maybe a better scope of the devastation. If you take a look, some people left with absolutely nothing, nothing to come back to, and then you see some people with something to come back to, but not a whole heck of a lot. Careful, Rich, there's some debris on the ground here.

You can see why structural engineers want to get in here. They want to take a look at if any of these homes can be saved, and you can see why some people want to get in here as well, and see if things like their bicycles down here or sometimes china survived. If those things are worth grabbing. It's definitely going to be another emotional day, and that's probably the hardest thing, to watch people who even though they're prepared are so not prepared. And maybe, Jay, you can show like these folks who came back, or the folks back there who came back over the last couple of days, or the folks back there whose homes just pancaked, or the people whose car was parked right there, Jay, and then we'll come back and see this. You know, there's really no way to prepare for this devastation, and when you consider it's not only happening here in this parish, but around this city, I hope we can give you a sense of the scope of what the rebuilding and what the moving forward is going to entail -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I'll tell you the one thing that sticks in my mind all morning is Sheriff Jack Stephens saying that the government might just have to buy all of this property and leave it as green space. That really -- and I know he's done his best to stay optimistic, but that's tough.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, look, I mean, look down this street, and these are -- this is a middle-class neighborhood, and these are $250,000, $350,000 homes. I'm not sure people will move back in when they know the water is just a few yards that way.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, who's going give them a mortgage? Who's going to give them insurance? There are so many issues.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it truly is. We'll talk of course about a lot of those issues in our coming days as we continue to report here from New Orleans.

Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Soledad. Great work. We'll see you again tomorrow. Thank you very much.

That's all the time we have for this morning.

Daryn Kagan in Atlanta.

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