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American Morning

President Bush Visits Gulf Coast; Tom DeLay Wins Texas Primaries

Aired March 08, 2006 - 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: Good morning.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Angry demonstrators taking to the streets in India this morning. This in response to bombings of sacred holy sites there.

S. O'BRIEN: An international troop buildup in Afghanistan. Not expected, though, to change the American mission. We're going to talk live to the NATO supreme commander just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: Gulf Coast questions -- President Bush heading to the region this morning for the tenth time since Hurricane Katrina.

S. O'BRIEN: Andrew Fastow is back on the stand today. Another intriguing day of testimony, we can bet, in the Enron trial.

M. O'BRIEN: And a new book alleges rampant steroid abuse by baseball star Barry Bonds.

All that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Let's start with the president.

He's heading back to the Gulf Coast today. He's expected to arrive a little bit later this morning with questions about his handling of Hurricane Katrina still hanging over his head.

Will this tenth trip be a charm?

Kathleen Koch is live for us at the White House this morning -- hey, Kathleen, good morning.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

The president will first check in on New Orleans before heading over to Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi, taking a look at the recovery efforts in both states. It's the president's second trip to the region in just under two months and it comes at a time when recently criticism of the federal response in the region has been quite high. It was just earlier this week that two research groups put out studies saying that, in their opinion, the newly repaired levee system in New Orleans that the federal government has been working so hard on will actually be weaker come the start of hurricane season than it was before Katrina hit.

And then there were the -- there was that tape of the federal briefing that President Bush got on the eve of Hurricane Katrina that's also raised a lot of new questions about whether the federal government did enough to respond to the hurricane.

Now, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan, though, says that the White House is doing all it can now to help the area recover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: All this is focusing on how we're working together to help the people of the Gulf Coast rebuild their lives and their communities. The president made a very strong commitment and we are following through on that commitment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Now, McClellan says that the administration has committed some $88 billion to helping rebuild the Gulf Coast region -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And he's also bringing some more, I guess, aid and assistance, as well.

What's the White House announcing?

KOCH: Earlier this week, the White House announced that it was going to extend by 13 weeks unemployment to those who have lost their jobs in the region because of the hurricane. But a real boost came late last night, Soledad, when they announced they were going to extend by more than three months the pickup, the full federal payment of pick up of debris in the region, in Mississippi. I mean, hard to believe, but in some areas less than half the debris has been removed. And if these coastal cities had to start picking up that cost, they would go belly up.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, gosh, you know that personally, having walked around.

KOCH: Quite so.

S. O'BRIEN: And we've seen the same thing, where there's just, you know, sometimes more debris than there are standing homes. You've got to get that done before you can move forward.

KOCH: Absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, thanks a lot.

Appreciate it.

KOCH: You bet.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to the White House this morning. M. O'BRIEN: Tom DeLay's political stock remains quite healthy this morning. DeLay, formerly the second most powerful man in the U.S. House, beat back a primary challenge from three Republicans in his Texas district.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken joining us from Houston with more on that -- good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

And it had been watched closely because DeLay has had his share of problems recently. But when the dust had settled, he had won quite handily, with about 60 percent of the v.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Tom DeLay voted but he did not hang around for the results. Confident of victory even with all the ethical questions swirling around him, he headed for Washington, for congressional business; also, for another fundraiser.

REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: Well, since I'm going to be in town, why not raise some more money? (LAUGHTER)

FRANKEN: DeLay was having the last laugh on his Republican opponents, leaving his main challenger almost sputtering about the fundraiser.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's terribly inappropriate and callous.

FRANKEN: Many Democratic strategists badly wanted Tom DeLay to win so they could try to make him their villainous GOP poster boy in the general election. But Nick Lampson, the man who will run against DeLay in November, is treading very carefully.

NICK LAMPSON (D), GENERAL ELECTION OPPONENT: I have been an independent voice. I have been one who did not make my constituents embarrassed about any of my service or activities. And I want to concentrate on those.

FRANKEN: Other Democrats will relentlessly focus on charges that DeLay did embarrass his constituents. But DeLay warns they do so at their own peril.

DELAY: Oh, it's having a great effect. It's had -- it is -- it is having a positive effect, quite frankly. The backlash from my constituents have been amazing.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

FRANKEN: So DeLay has won the first skirmish. But there's an all out war ahead because, Miles, the Democrats believe they have their first chance at him in more than 20 years.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it'll be an interesting race, won't it, Bob? FRANKEN: It'll be a very interesting race. The Democrats sort of look at this as the chance to have Tom DeLay become the representative of the Republican Party. Of course, the Republicans point out that sometimes the Democrats have a tendency to try and overdo it a little bit.

We'll see.

M. O'BRIEN: We will see.

Bob Franken, thank you very much.

Let's get some headlines in now.

Carol Costello with that -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

Good morning to all of you.

More threats over Iran's nuclear program. In a statement, Iran said the United States has the power to cause harm and pain for threatening -- for threatening to haul it before the U.N. Security Council, that is. But the statement goes on to say that the U.S. is also susceptible to harm and pain. The U.N. Atomic Agency is meeting in Vienna.

A series of explosions across Iraq today. At least five people killed and there's been a gruesome discovery in western Baghdad. The bodies of more than a dozen men found in a minibus. An official telling CNN they were found strangled, with their hands tied behind their backs.

Fresh protests in India after at least three explosions there left more than a dozen people dead. One of the explosions took place at a Hindu temple when crowds were at their peak. The other two were at a railway station. Authorities are now on high alert to try and prevent further attacks.

The long road to renewal is almost over for the U.S. Patriot Act. The House approved the measure on Tuesday in a cliffhanger vote, getting just two more votes than needed. It now goes to President Bush's desk for his signature. He could sign it as early as today. The measure set to expire on Friday.

More Andrew Fastow as the Enron trial rolls on in Houston this morning. The former chief financial officer pointed the finger right at Jeffrey Skilling on Tuesday and he's expected to have more damaging testimony today. He hasn't yet said anything about the Enron founder, Ken Lay. Fastow is testifying as part of a deal that will limit him to 10 years behind bars.

And does Barry Bonds have to -- have the muscle to avoid the latest bombshell about his alleged steroid use? Two "San Francisco Chronicle" reporters say the baseball star started juicing to keep up with Mark McGwire and they allege he used performance enhancing drugs for at least five seasons, starting in 1998, you know, when the home run derby was taking place with Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? Excerpts of this book, "Game of Shadows," appears in this week's issue of "Sports Illustrated." Bonds says he won't read it, but Bud Selig is already being informed about it -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Bud Selig is reading it and Bonds' attorney is probably reading it.

COSTELLO: I'll bet u.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm going to guess Barry Bonds is going to just peek at the parts where he's mentioned.

All right, Carol, thank you.

Let's turn to weather now.

Seven minutes past the hour.

Chad's got that for us -- hey, Chad, good morning again.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: In the wake of Katrina Dana Reeve's passing from lung cancer, our 9:00 a.m. hour is going to be devoted to the illness. You can find out what you need to know about the disease.

We're also going to talk to cycling champion Lance Armstrong, of course, a cancer survivor. He was also a very close friend of Dana Reeve. We'll speak to a prominent cancer physician, as well.

If you've got questions, you can e-mail those questions to us at cnn.com/am or AOL instant message us at cnn am.

Later in this hour, a co-founder of the Christopher Reeve Foundation is going to join us live.

The White House, as we've been reporting, wants to strip funding from the foundation. We're going to see how that could impact their work.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, NATO forces are set to take over peacekeeping duties in Afghanistan. We'll ask the NATO supreme commander how that is going to affect U.S. troops and the mission there in general.

And just how close is Iran to developing nuclear weapons? A little nuclear fuel production 101 explainer ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: An old cold war alliance is expanding a new mission for a new era. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, ramping up its presence in Afghanistan by November. The alliance will field about 21,000 troops there, including Americans, making it officially a NATO mission, at least the peacekeeping portion of it.

Joining me live now from Capitol Hill is the supreme NATO commander, Marine General James Jones.

General Jones, good to have you with us this morning.

GEN. JAMES JONES, NATO SUPREME COMMANDER: Good morning.

It's a pleasure to be with you.

M. O'BRIEN: How are things going in Afghanistan?

JONES: Well, I think it's an exciting time. The -- as you said, the NATO mission is going to expand perhaps twice this year to take off the whole -- take up the whole stability and reconstruction mission. So that's very exciting for the alliance. It's certainly the most ambitious mission that we've taken on.

M. O'BRIEN: An exciting time, but also evidence out there that the Taliban is growing again and the warlords are gaining more power.

What are you going to do about that?

JONES: Well, I think the -- we have to understand that violence in Afghanistan is disparate. Some of it is the remnants of the Taliban, the remnants of al Qaeda. Some of it's criminal activity and some of it's narcotics related. So it's very, very disparate. And so I'd be careful -- I don't align myself yet with those folks who say that the insurgency is coming back.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the criminal component of it for just a moment, the poppy situation. Ninety percent of the world's heroin has its origins in the poppy fields of Afghanistan. The U.S. was able to eradicate some of that in the midst of the initial invasion, but that's all come back now. It's a $2.8 billion opium trade.

How is it possible? How did this happen? Why was this not sort of quite literally nipped in the bud?

JONES: Very hard to do. It's a large country, roughly the size of Texas. And the economy basically took on -- took -- took -- took this particular -- this particular direction, at least between 40 and 50 percent of it. And so there's a strong link there.

I think this is the biggest problem that faces the Karzai government and -- in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. And clearly the international community, with the help of the Karzai government, has to deal with this problem in order to keep Afghanistan from becoming a narco-state.

M. O'BRIEN: It's a difficult situation, though, because the money which is derived from the poppy production directly funds these warlords. In other words, it really does foster kind of a Balkanization of the country, doesn't it? JONES: Well, it does. And about 90 percent of the production in Afghanistan is sold on the streets of Europe. So we all have a common interest in finding the solution and helping the Karzai regime deal with this problem, because at the end of the day, this can play a large part in which way Afghanistan goes in the next few years.

M. O'BRIEN: There was a recent study by the Rand Corporation -- and that's an important think tank, as you well know. The person who authored that study was on the Voice of America just the other day. I just want to share with you a little bit of what he said.

His name is Seth Jones. And he said this: "The security sector is one area, especially in the south and east of the country" -- referring to Afghanistan -- "that has gotten worse. The number of attacks, the sophistication of the insurgents and their ability to conduct attacks with improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks has improved. And their ability to sow discord in those areas has also increased. So if their ability to sow discord increases further and they're able to do this in larger parts of the country, I think that's a really negative development."

What do you say to that, General?

JONES: Well, I think that you have to measure it against the baseline. And the baseline in Afghanistan, in terms of numbers of attacks over the last few years, is quite low. So a 20 percent increase in a province that had 20 attacks, statistically, is impressive, but numerically is not so.

I still believe and I'm convinced that the reason we're having more incidents is that the Afghan Army is coming into its own, about 30,000 strong. And that enables us to go to places in Afghanistan that we haven't been before. So the hiding places are getting harder to secure for the criminal elements, the insurgents and the narcotics traffickers. And I think the noose is tightening.

So I think that when you see NATO go into this country in the fall of this year and you see the quality of the troops and the amount of capacity that NATO is bringing, it's going to be a lot more difficult for the criminal elements, the remnants of the al Qaeda/Taliban and the narcotic traffickers to ply their trade.

And so this is a good thing.

M. O'BRIEN: A final thought here. I know this is not your primary area of responsibility. You have kind of overall peacekeeping control here. But why in the world are we having such great difficulty finding Osama bin Laden?

JONES: Well, I think we've had a great deal of difficulty generally in the world when we go after specific individuals. In my part of the world, for example, it's General Mladic and Karadzic in the Balkans that we've been trying to apprehend for over 10 years now. It takes time.

But I think that if there is will to do that, ultimately we'll have an accountability and it'll happen. And it'll happen in the Balkans and it'll happen in Afghanistan.

M. O'BRIEN: Is it going to happen soon, General, do you feel?

I mean we've been talking about it for so long now.

JONES: Yes. I can't predict it. I think -- I think when it happens, it will happen, for example, the recent capture of General Gotovina in the Canary Islands. He was one of the most wanted in the Balkans fiasco and he's now in the Hague. And that happened just overnight. We need a couple of breaks. We need some people to work with us. I think in the case of Mladic and Karadzic, it'll happen. And I think it'll happen with Osama bin Laden, as well. I just can't tell you when.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks for your time, General.

Supreme NATO commander, General James Jones, with us this morning.

Thanks again.

JONES: A great pleasure.

Thank you, sir.

M. O'BRIEN: All right -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we are talking about deep-vein thrombosis. We're going to bring back Melanie Bloom. She is the widow of a friend of mine and a former colleague, David Bloom. It's been almost three years since David died in Iraq. We're going to ask Melanie what she's doing to raise awareness about DVT, the condition that killed him.

And then later, remembering a pioneer, Gordon Parks, the first African-American to direct a major Hollywood film is dead at the age of 93. We'll take a look at his impact on the American culture.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: It is so hard to believe that it's been almost three years since NBC's David Bloom died in Iraq, a former colleague and friend of mine.

David, as we know now, suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism, caused by a condition called deep-vein thrombosis.

His widow, Melanie Bloom, is now a spokeswoman for the Coalition To Prevent DVT and she joins us this morning.

It's nice to see you.

Can you believe it's been three years?

MELANIE BLOOM, WIDOW OF DAVID BLOOM: No, I can't believe it.

S. O'BRIEN: Three years.

BLOOM: No.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, it's just amazing to me.

It's so strange, because you've become a spokesperson and even though you lived through the tragedy, there are so many people who really still don't understand what DVT is.

BLOOM: That's absolutely right. And I had never heard of DVT until I got the call that David passed away from this condition. And I've since learned that it impacts two million Americans annually and out of that number, 200,000 will die.

S. O'BRIEN: And young people, too. I was skiing this weekend and there was a 28-year-old woman who told me after she had ankle surgery that her calf started hurting. And luckily a friend of hers who knew a little bit about medicine said that sounds like DVT, go get it tested. And it was.

BLOOM: And it was.

S. O'BRIEN: And she saved her life.

BLOOM: That's it.

S. O'BRIEN: And she's 28.

BLOOM: And 28 years old. It impacts people of all ages at any time in their life. And something like surgery, women are at greater risk when they're on hormone replacement therapy or the birth control pill.

S. O'BRIEN: And we've got the list of the risks.

BLOOM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And if you go through it, like hospitalization is one, restricted mobility due to travel, if you cancer, advanced age, obesity, pregnancy, use of birth control pills. I mean that's a really long list.

BLOOM: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: That covers a lot of people.

BLOOM: It covers a lot of people, a lot of time in their lives. And any combination of those risk factors can really put somebody at risk for a fatal pulmonary embolism, as in David's case.

S. O'BRIEN: I know that it's -- that time passing doesn't necessarily help make things easier that quickly. Has it helped, though, to be the spokesperson for the disease that killed David?

BLOOM: You know, it really has. It has been very cathartic to sort of get out there and try to save lives, actually, and reach people. And I know that this campaign, the coalition has had an awareness campaign in place now. This is our third year of awareness month. And we've had tens of thousands of people hit our Web site. People have downloaded the risk assessment tool that's on the Web site, preventdvt.org. And we've even had people send in their personal letters, just like your story of this...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, because you save people's lives. They say, you know, maybe I should get this checked out.

BLOOM: Right. This little twitch in my leg.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you remember there was that photographer at NBC, just maybe a week after David died...

BLOOM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: ... and someone said to him wow, that sounds so similar to what happened to David, you should get that checked out. His friend sent him to the hospital.

BLOOM: That's it.

S. O'BRIEN: It was DVT.

BLOOM: And it was DVT.

S. O'BRIEN: They saved his life.

BLOOM: That's right. And we even incorporated some of those patient stories that were submitted to the Web site into our new public service announcement for 2006. Last year's PSA reached over 37 million Americans. And so we're hoping to reach...

S. O'BRIEN: Even more?

BLOOM: ... a lot of people this year.

S. O'BRIEN: Good.

BLOOM: I'm using patients now who heard about David or heard our story or saw a piece on this and said...

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, as awful as your loss is...

BLOOM: ... hey, that could be me.

S. O'BRIEN: ... to save people.

BLOOM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: I want to ask you about the girls in just a second, because we'll do our own little catching up in a moment.

BLOOM: Right. Exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: I want to talk about Bob Woodruff, because, of course, you and Lee are great friends and we're all mothers of twins.

BLOOM: Exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: That kind of little early on nightmare.

BLOOM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And you guys were so supportive of me when I was pregnant with the twins.

BLOOM: It's a twins' love (ph).

S. O'BRIEN: Lee's been sending out -- Lee's been sending out e- mails updating us on the condition of Bob. And, wow, it sounds like he's turned a corner.

BLOOM: He turned a corner, yes. I mean we're so -- we're thrilled. His progress is incredible. He is months ahead of where a person might typically be given the severity of his injuries. And that's typical of Bob. He's an over achiever and he's going to get it done...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, in every way.

BLOOM: ... he's speaking a couple of his languages. He speaks like three different languages.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that's so great.

BLOOM: And he's, you know, he is -- he's doing great. So...

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, it's so nice for Lee to have you...

BLOOM: Oh, well...

S. O'BRIEN: ... because I think not a lot of people under -- I mean she was there for you, I know, when David died. And you have so been there for her. Not a lot of people, I think, get, you know, husband/journalist/running off into a war zone.

BLOOM: Exactly. It's not the easiest thing to be, you know, the spouse or a child or a parent of one of these guys or doing the work you all do. And it was a unique bond that we had and still have. And certainly going through these kinds of experiences, mine with death, hers with severe injury, we're there for each other and we get it.

S. O'BRIEN: You're lucky to have each other.

BLOOM: Yes. We're very lucky.

S. O'BRIEN: How are my girlfriends, Nicole and Christine and Ava?

BLOOM: They say hello.

S. O'BRIEN: How old is Ava now?

BLOOM: Ava is six.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh! That's like so (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BLOOM: And the twins are 11.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh my gosh.

BLOOM: Yes. And they want me to tell you hi.

S. O'BRIEN: How can they be 11?

BLOOM: In some of the years (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

S. O'BRIEN: We're not that old yet!

BLOOM: No, I know.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, are they doing well?

BLOOM: They're doing really well. It was cute, they just -- their science symposium last week at school, it was a help topic and they did a DVT board.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, good for them.

BLOOM: And they're little mini spokespeople for DVT.

S. O'BRIEN: Good.

BLOOM: And they joined me yesterday for our kickoff at Times Square.

S. O'BRIEN: I know. I saw that.

BLOOM: Kicking to "New York, New York."

S. O'BRIEN: That little kick line, yes.

BLOOM: You know, I think, you know, they are -- they feel good, also, about -- they know how their daddy died and they want to help other people, too, so they don't lose their mommy or daddy. So I think that's really sweet.

S. O'BRIEN: It's so great to catch up with you. And it is sweet. It's important for them.

Thank you for talking with us.

BLOOM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: We sure appreciate it.

BLOOM: Thanks for having me, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It's always nice to see you.

BLOOM: Good to see you, too.

S. O'BRIEN: And I hope that you get the word out to everybody.

I know you're doing "LARRY KING LIVE?"

BLOOM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Is that right, tonight?

BLOOM: Yes, it's on tonight.

S. O'BRIEN: Wonderful, for the whole hour.

BLOOM: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: So, you know, it's -- again, that list of risk factors, that's everybody. That's everybody. So I hope everybody pays attention and listens in and gets some good information.

Nice to see you.

BLOOM: You, too.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

BLOOM: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, Iran threatens the U.S. with harm and pain if it gets dragged before the U.N. Security Council. We'll look at Iran's nuclear capabilities and try to break it down, give you a sense of how close Tehran might be to having nuclear weapons.

A little bit later, we pay tribute to a legend. Gordon Parks, a trailblazer for African-Americans in Hollywood, has died. We'll tell you about his cultural impact ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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