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American Morning

President Bush's Trip to Asia; War of Words Over Pre-War Iraq Intelligence

Aired November 17, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush in South Korea this morning with the defiant challenge to the North -- nuclear weapons will not be tolerated. We're live with the president just ahead.
Back in Washington, the vice president goes public to blast critics of the Iraq War.

And more fallout from the hurricanes. Outrage in South Florida over electric bills for people who are still waiting to get their power back.

All stories ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, every shot this morning of the park has been just beautiful.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Spectacular. A spectacular day here in New York City.

We've got power of all kinds. We've got power not on in Florida, but you'd better pay your bill. And then meanwhile the issue of generating power a big issue in North Korea. I'm connecting dots...

S. O'BRIEN: You are. And...

M. O'BRIEN: I'm making -- a little bit of a stretch.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, I think for the people in Florida who are dealing with that, and, actually, people in New Orleans, as well, who didn't have homes and continue to get bills for utilities they did not...

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: ... no longer could access, that is a tough thing.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to talk about that this morning.

And, of course, as you mentioned, we're talking about Korea. President Bush talking really tough to North Korea, insisting, in fact, that the communist country give up its nuclear weapons programs. Let's get right to Suzanne Malveaux.

She's traveling with the president in South Korea and she joins us from Busan -- Suzanne, good morning to you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning from a very windy Busan, South Korea, Soledad.

Of course, President Bush, in a time of political turmoil, spent a little bit of time at a place of tranquility and peace, of course, at South Korea's oldest Buddhist temple. The trip, of course, moving forward U.S. interests in Asia.

He met with South Korea's president, Roh Moo Hyun, earlier today. The big issue is trying to get North Korea to disarm its nuclear weapons program, to give that up.

North Korea had made some statements earlier six party talks that it would do just that. But they are looking for enticements. And President Bush made it very clear earlier today that the U.S. is not willing to do that at this time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The issue really is the light water reactor. Our position is, is that we will consider the light water reactor at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is after they have verifiably given up their nuclear weapons and/or programs.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MALVEAUX: So, of course, that is where they are with those talks. They don't expect that it's going to go any further than that. But of course, trying to present a united front with its allies, its Asian allies on that very important issue, among many others.

The APEC summit begins tomorrow. They'll be talking about global trade.

And, of course, Soledad, on to China. That is where he's going to pushing for open markets -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And so what's the schedule, Suzanne? What's the schedule look like for today for the president?

MALVEAUX: Well, he's certainly going to be meeting with about 20 or so leaders. They're going to sit down. They're going to have bilateral meetings, as well as group meetings. They'll be taking a group photo, as well. And they're going to talk about some of those issues.

And then essentially, following that, the next day, on Saturday -- you have to remember, we're about 14 hours ahead of you -- that is when he'll travel to China. That's where he'll sit down and talk to Hu Jintao. S. O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux is in South Korea. She's traveling with the president.

Suzanne, thanks for the update.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, back on the home front, in Washington, the White House keeping up its counter-offensive against Democrats. On Wednesday, the vice president tore into critics of Iraq War intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we're hearing now is some politicians contradicting their own statements and making a play for political advantage in the middle of a war.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Vice President Dick Cheney had kept a low profile in recent weeks, while his chief of staff came under fire in the CIA leak investigation. That ended last night, when Cheney launched his own salvo in the pre-war intel war of words.

Cheney called Democrats who accused the White House of deliberately manipulating intelligence on Iraq dishonest and reprehensible.

CHENEY: Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein. These are elected officials who had access to the intelligence and were free to draw their own conclusions. They arrived at the same judgment about Iraq's capabilities and intentions that were made by this administration and by the previous administration.

M. O'BRIEN: Cheney's main targets? Senate Democrats.

Minority leader Harry Reid fired back.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Unfortunately, he brought his bunker mentality with him to the speech. He's repeating the same tired attacks we've heard from administration officials over the last two weeks.

M. O'BRIEN: The president made two speeches where he painted the Democrats as hypocrites for criticizing the war after originally supporting it. Cheney says they've simply had enough.

CHENEY: The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or their backbone. But we're not going to sit by and let them rewrite history.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Now, the president in South Korea today said this: "This is serious business, winning this war. But it is irresponsible to do what they've done" -- referring to the Democrats. So, the president said, he agrees with the vice president -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the search for two escaped murderers is spreading nationwide from Iowa. Martin Moon and Robert Legendre were serving life sentences when they went over the wall on Monday.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim live for us this morning from Fort Madison in Iowa -- good morning to you, Keith.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

It's now been two-and-a-half days since these guys have been on the run and there are questions here at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison as to how they got out, as well as an intense hunt to get them back.

First of all, this is a maximum security prison and it was on Monday that 34-year-old Martin Shane Moon and 27-year-old Robert Joseph Legendre scaled the southwest wall of the prison using a upholstery webbing that they got in the prison furniture shop.

Police say that one of them got hold of a bicycle, took it to a nearby neighborhood and then stole a car, a 1995 gold Pontiac Bonneville. That car hasn't been spotted since, leading some around here to wonder if the two of them might be nearby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED AREA RESIDENT: We always lock up at night. We make sure everything is locked. And you're always cautious. But in a small town like this, you really don't have a lot of threat to your life or anything. But these guys have nothing to lose so there's a great possibility that if they were cornered, they could hurt someone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: A controversy with this escape is that lawmakers dealing with budget cuts were relying heavily on an electronic wire, alarm wire, around the prison facility. And that meant that some of the towers were left unmanned. In fact, a tower right near where the escape took place was unmanned.

In the meantime, schools have had their doors locked during the day around here and residents are doing the same thing, keeping their front and back doors locked, essentially.

By the way, if you head out on the highway in this area, you will see electronic warning signs on the freeways, basically describing the suspects' vehicle and the Iowa license plate number. That's just really a symbol of how this has become an interstate and, really, a nationwide hunt.

Also, Soledad, these are two pretty dangerous guys. The authorities are reminding us that Moon was serving a life sentence for murder and Legendre was serving to 15-year life sentences for kidnapping and attempted murder. So there's reason for people around here to be somewhat concerned -- back to you. S. O'BRIEN: As that guy said in your piece, nothing to lose.

All right, Keith Oppenheim for us with an update.

Thanks.

Other stories making news. For that, let's get right to Kelly Wallace -- good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And hello, everyone.

We are beginning in Iraq, where Operation Steel Curtain is still going strong. It's taking place near the Syrian border. But U.S. and Iraqi forces are facing some stiff resistance. At least five U.S. Marines were killed in a massive firefight on Wednesday. U.S. military officials calling it one of the mission's toughest days.

To date, more than 2,000 American troops have died in Iraq and this translates to about three Americans killed every day.

The heads of five major oil companies could be facing more tough questions. Some lawmakers want them to explain comments made at a hearing on oil profits last week. At issue, whether their companies had taken part in Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force four years ago. At the hearing, some of the companies' CEOs said no, but CNN has confirmed a "Washington Post" report that says otherwise.

Ford is recalling thousands of this year's vehicles because of fire risks. There seems to be a problem with the battery cable in the Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis Sedan. Also being recalled, the Ford Freestyle, Ford 500 Sedan and Mercury Montego. The straps that connect the fuel tank to the cars' body could potentially cause a fire.

The Miss. America pageant rolling the dice again. After 84 years in Atlantic City, the beauty pageant is moving to Vegas. The Aladdin Hotel Casino will host the beauties in Las Vegas. The pageant will air January 21st on the Country Music Television Channel. ABC dropped the show earlier this year due to some low ratings.

And a blast of cold and snow, yes, snow, in parts of Michigan. Folks there are digging out from as much as a foot of snow in some areas. This all making for some treacherous driving conditions, with at least three deaths blamed on the weather. Power was also knocked out in some areas.

To Jacqui Jeras at the CNN Center in Atlanta -- Jacqui, we are seeing signs of winter in November.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes, and it's going to stick around for a while, too, Kelly.

(WEATHER REPORT) M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, millions of Floridians left in the dark after hurricane Wilma, you know, they have no power, but they've got to pay the bill on time. Yes, they do. And there's quite a bit of outrage associated with this, as you might imagine.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED TORNADO SURVIVOR: The first time I heard that, I heard the tornado and everything, I thought I was going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Out from the wreckage and alive -- a young girl's story of survival after being tumbled and trampled by a twister.

That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: More than three weeks after hurricane Wilma hit Florida, several thousand customers still without power. And to make matters worse, they're still getting billed.

Here's CNN's John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mike DeCarlo's neighborhood was in the dark for about two weeks after hurricane Wilma. If that wasn't enough, DeCarlo is about to face power company sticker shock.

MIKE DECARLO, FPL CUSTOMER: So how could they charge you for something that you didn't use?

ZARRELLA: It works this way, like it or not. In the wake of hurricane Wilma, Florida Power & Light Company spent an estimated $500 million on recovery, everything from feeding and housing out of state repair crews to repairing substations and transmission lines. That recovery cost, FPL officials say, will likely be passed on to its four million customers.

Mike DeCarlo has some costs he'd like to pass on to the utility.

DECARLO: How about if we charged FPL for every day that we have to go out and eat, buy ice and everything while their service is down?

ZARRELLA: The utility's customers are also being zapped with a fuel surcharge, another $975 million. That's a 19 percent increase for residential customers because the cost of fuel was higher this year than the company anticipated. The decision on surcharges comes every year at this time. But in past years, at least the lights were on when the announcement was made.

MAYCO VILLAFANA, FPL SPOKESMAN: It is an impact that no one -- that none of us can help. It is an impact based on world fuel markets.

ZARRELLA: The utility is facing other criticism, as well. Wilma took down or damaged 10,000 power poles. Some local officials want the state to investigate FPL's maintenance practices. The City of North Miami has gone so far as to hire its own civil engineer to inspect the poles.

MAYOR KEVIN BURNS, NORTH MIAMI, FLORIDA: We feel that we were getting a tremendous amount of pole damage storm after storm and most of them are old and rotten poles.

ZARRELLA: FPL believes it may have been intense winds, called micro bursts, not rotten wood, that downed the poles.

VILLAFANA: Essentially they -- and some were even just yanked out of the Earth and thrown 200, 300 meters.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Surcharges, recovery costs, accusations of rotten poles -- all bad publicity for FPL, and probably made worse by the fact that a lot of its customers were in the dark when they got the news.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Now, FEMA is facing another P.R. nightmare, as well. Not only is the agency cutting off hotel payments for Katrina victims on December 1st -- we told you about that yesterday. It's also temporarily stopping flood insurance payments, something that's never been done before. The agency says it has just run out of money and it's waiting for Congress to authorize some more cash.

Coming up on our next hour, we'll talk to a member of Congress from the Louisiana delegation, Representative Bobby Jindal. We'll ask him what his constituents say about that. I imagine there's a fair amount of outrage.

And you may have heard this expression, Katrina fatigue, as this story continues and as people continue to fight all the battles associated with recovery. But is that a phrase anyone should be using?

CNN's Anderson Cooper asked Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "ANDERSON COOPER 360")

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When you go to Washington, do you...

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: And what expectations failed us.

COOPER: ... do you feel like there's Katrina fatigue?

BLANCO: You know, here in Louisiana, we feel like we are citizens of the United States who are nearly forgotten. It is a very frustrating thing. People are weary. They want to move on. They want us to move on. It's going to take us a while and we need -- we still need help from Washington.

COOPER: Well, when I hear other people talking...

BLANCO: And I'm worried that we're not going to get it.

COOPER: When I hear other people talk about Katrina fatigue, I just want to kind of shake them and say you know, you want to know who has Katrina fatigue, you talk to the people in Louisiana, you talk to the people in the Gulf Coast. You know, people in Washington shouldn't be talking about Katrina fatigue.

BLANCO: You are so right. The only people who are deserving of Katrina fatigue are the Louisiana folks who have been in the trenches now for over two months. We are fatigued. And -- but it's so disheartening not to have enough sympathy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: "ANDERSON COOPER 360" can be seen weekdays from 10:00 p.m. until midnight Eastern time right here on CNN -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A reminder for you. Next week on AMERICAN MORNING, it's our Week Of Giving. If you were affected by this season's hurricanes and if you want to thank somebody who helped you, please send us your story. Go to cnn.com/am. We're going to post some of the responses on our Web site and some people will be selected to share their stories with us right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Still to come this morning, cutting pork barrel projects. You know, those are the bills that are laden with the personal interest projects for representatives. Whether or not that would ever help hurricane victims. Is it reality or is it just a pipe dream? We're going to get into that, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: You've heard about Alaska's bridge to nowhere. Take a look at where it would go. It's a $223 million project for essentially what would be three miles of bridge. Well, Congress put the kibosh on that. But the money is not going to go to other projects like, for example, hurricane relief for some victims there.

It's all about the pork.

And Brian Riedl is the lead budget analyst for the Heritage Foundation.

He's in Washington and joins us to explain some of this. Good morning.

Nice to see you.

BRIAN RIEDL, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Glad to be here.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

You would think, OK, 440 some odd million dollars has been stripped out of this, these -- from these pork projects, essentially.

Why doesn't that money end up in the hands of people who everyone, I think, would agree, really need it?

RIEDL: Well, I agree that this money would be much better spent in Louisiana helping rebuild the highways down there that were devastated by Katrina and helping Louisiana get back on its feet.

Unfortunately, the politics of the Senate wouldn't allow that to happen. There's such a delicate balance, where each senator is trying to grab as much highway spending as they can that the only way they could defund the bridge to nowhere was by agreeing to not mess up the distribution between the states, because Alaska did not want to give up any of its transportation dollars.

Even to Alaska gets much more than any other state, they insisted that the money would be retained. So instead it goes to the Alaska Department of Transportation. Not a dollar goes to Katrina...

S. O'BRIEN: So theoretically this bridge could come back, because what they could do is now use state funds, where that money has now gone, to fund the bridge.

RIEDL: Now -- yes. Now the money will go to Department of Transportation in Alaska and the Department of Transportation can use it for whatever transportation needs that they see fit, whether it's the bridge to nowhere or other priorities. Again, the money does not actually go to help hurricane victims in Katrina.

S. O'BRIEN: I guess there are always, you know, there's always the other side. I mean, you know, we're talking about an airport in this particular case, and 8,000 people who do need access to this airport.

Let's talk about some other somewhat dubious projects. And I'm sure there are good arguments on both sides. But, for example, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building in Cleveland, Ohio.

What's the amount that they're going to get? I think, what, a quarter of a million dollars, something like that, they're...

RIEDL: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gets about a quarter of a million dollars a year. Clearly, if the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a major priority, there is enough wealthy musicians who can pay for this without making the taxpayers foot the bill.

S. O'BRIEN: Tattoo removal bill. That's in southern California.

RIEDL: Tattoo removal, yes, to help, I think, those coming out of prison get their tattoos removed. That's funded by the taxpayers, as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Blue Springs, Missouri, a grant to combat teenage goth culture?

RIEDL: This is actually...

S. O'BRIEN: What's that?

RIEDL: This is my favorite. Apparently some locals in Missouri were concerned that too many teenagers were dressing in black and looking scary. And so they got, I believe, a quarter million dollar grant to research why teenagers dress in black and to try to persuade them to stop.

S. O'BRIEN: These could all be really valid issues, but I guess the problem for many people is well why am I paying for the teenagers in Blue Springs, Missouri...

RIEDL: That's exactly it.

S. O'BRIEN: ... to realize there are other colors, a whole range, a rainbow of colors in wardrobe choices?

RIEDL: Well, that's exactly the case. You know, these are local projects which should be paid by local taxpayers. And overall, the problem with pork projects is that we used to go to government agencies and apply for a government grant and they would say whether or not we were worthy or not.

Now, most of these pork projects are bought and sold by lobbyists. Instead of going to a government agency, you hire a lobbyist and give a campaign donation. And that's how you get government grant money now. Congress actually will specify in legislation who gets government grants. Often this is based on who gave the biggest campaign donations.

It feeds the perception that government is for sale to the highest bidder.

S. O'BRIEN: When you look at this tattoo removal bill, I think they're getting something like $50,000. And certainly there are arguments that say yes, that $50,000 removes tattoos and means that these young men and women can go into the workforce and turn their lives around. That might be money very well spent.

my question for you is this. It's really a tiny percentage of the budget that we're talking about, 1 percent of the budget, right?

I mean is it such a big deal?

RIEDL: It's a very big deal because not only is it 1 percent of the budget, $27 billion, which is a lot of money, but it holds lawmakers hostage because if you get a pork project, which virtually all of them do, you have to vote for the legislation. So lawmakers who want pork projects have to vote for all of the legislation, all of the spending bills. They basically lose their independence.

And as a result, that bloated highway bill only had eight people in the House vote against it, even though a lot of people didn't like it, because lawmakers lose their independence. If they don't vote for every spending bill, they lose their pork. As a result, the their government expands.

S. O'BRIEN: Fourteen thousand pork projects were in the 2005 budget.

Brian Riedl is with the Heritage Foundation, joining us this morning.

He's the lead budget analyst.

Thanks.

These projects are really just mind-boggling -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It makes you want some bacon or something.

Still to come on the program, trapped, tossed and turned -- a young girl survives a tornado. And it is a remarkable story. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Fidel Castro.

S. O'BRIEN: He's 79 years old.

M. O'BRIEN: An awful lot of talk about his health. But, of course, if you've been in power that long you're 79, there would be a fair amount of discussion about this. Of course, the leader of Cuba likes to keep all that enshrouded in secrecy. Except when there's a public display like that, he doesn't choose to share much about his health.

S. O'BRIEN: Of course, any thoughts about his health will lead to questions of who is going to run Cuba, what happens Castro dies? We're going to talk about all of these questions and what the future for Cuba could be just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

M. O'BRIEN: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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