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The Situation Room

President Could Announce Supreme Court Nominee Friday; Erath Suffers Flood Damage; New Orleans Pumping Water Out Again After Rita; Looking at the President's Respone To Hurricanes

Aired September 26, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Closing at 2,120.
Wolf, those are preliminary numbers.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Ali, thanks very much. We'll check back with you.

It's 4:00 p.m. here in Washington and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where news and information from around the world arrive in one place simultaneously.

Happening now, a clearer view of Rita's rampage. Waterfront communities wiped out. It's 3:00 p.m. Central, along the Texas/Louisiana coast, where officials in the hardest hit towns in cities are warning people to stay away.

Homecomings in Houston and even in twice flooded New Orleans. This hour, the largest city spared the worst of Rita. Can New Orleans finally begin to rebuild?

And a commanding presence. President Bush keeps trying to show he's on top of this storm situation after the Katrina catastrophe. And he's not finished yet. We'll tell you what he's up to.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We'll have a complete report on the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. That's coming up in a moment.

First, though, we're getting some new information this hour on President Bush's move to try to fill a second vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Let's get some details. Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, is standing by on the North Lawn.

Dana, what are you picking up?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.

Well, administration officials and those close to the process say that a pick from this president for the Supreme Court, his next and final pick right now. It could happen as early as Friday. And as early as Friday, are words chosen very carefully. And there's a reason for that. That is because Judge Roberts is expected to be voted on and expected to be confirmed as chief justice on Thursday. And the White House says that they want to be ready to go for the next pick as early as Friday.

Now, officials do caution that that is sort of the time when, as one official put it, the window open, but it may not happen on that day. But they understand here that they are up against a deadline of the calendar. That they do want the next pick to be confirmed by the time Congress goes out of session. That is probably around Thanksgiving and they have to start the ball rolling as soon as they possibly can.

The president did hint about the kind of candidate he is looking at today. Sort of confirmed what we've been told privately about the kind of diversity that he is looking for in this next candidate. He said that he has interviewed people in the past and he is mindful that diversity is one of the strengths of this country.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Dana Bash, we'll get back to you. Thank you very much for that.

Let's get right back to the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.

Parts of the Gulf Coast are trying to recover after this, the second fierce hurricane to hit the region within a month. Several towns in Southwest Louisiana and Coastal Texas are devastated and under water right now. The death toll from Hurricane Rita climbed to at least seven today when the bodies of five people were discovered in a Beaumont, Texas, apartment. They apparently were overcome by carbon monoxide from a generator they were using.

In New Orleans, most areas remain off limits to the public, including the section that suffered renewed but isolated flooding. Residents are being allowed to return to some of the neighborhoods spared the brunt of both Rita and Katrina. Many more people are heading back to Houston, which also dodged the worst of the storm. People from different areas of the city have been asked to go home on different days to avoid the kind of gridlock we saw during last week's evacuation.

Rita's heavy rains are moving north, leaving coastal communities drenched, but not for days on end as forecasters once feared. Our Mary Snow is joining us from New Orleans. Our Ed Lavandera is in Erath, Louisiana. Let's go to Ed first for more.

Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.

Well here in Erath, this is Vermilion Parish, and it is the heart of Cajun country as they like to say here. We've been spending most of the day kind of moving our way southward as waters have continued to drop. We were here yesterday afternoon and basically the railroad tracks were covered here in water at one point. So you can see how in the last 24 hours this has continued to dramatically drop.

And although this particular parish in Louisiana was spared the brunt of the damage, we can show you some of the homes that are here. Didn't really suffer any damage from the winds and power lines down or anything like that. But here, it's no concentration because the major problem here, as it has been throughout the vast majority of this parish, it was the flooding.

And this is flood waters that didn't come with the brunt of the storm. They rolled in a few hours after. In fact, many people who had evacuated this area to get out of the storm's path found themselves returning home to check on their belongings and homes and everything and then they were stuck in flood waters.

Over the weekend, some 300 people were rescued. But today we're seeing a lot more people return to be able to check on their homes. Many people we've talked to had three, four, five feet of water in their homes. They say it's just a thick layer of sludge on the ground. And they continue to kind of survey.

Although authorities here continue to say that they would prefer that people stay away so that they have the opportunity to check the roadways and bridges throughout this parish. They want to be able they want to make sure that those roads haven't been compromised, that they're still in good shape to handle all of the traffic that will be going on them as people venture back home to check on their belongings and their homes and businesses and that sort of thing.

And a reminder that you are in Cajun country. A woman told me a little while ago as we were walking through the waters and driving through the waters, Wolf, they said watch out for the alligators.

Back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Alligators? You look like you're pretty close to some water yourself. Are you nervous?

LAVANDERA: No. No. Actually, what I am looking out for in all honesty are water moccasin. That was the other thing they told us to watch out for. But here you know, when we got here it was about a foot and a half of water and this has already dropped. We're probably down to about six inch. So it's good news for the folks who live on this street and we see some folks here who have already started cleaning out their homes and picking up whatever they can. So but the warnings are out there. Alligators and water moccasins.

BLITZER: And maybe you can speak to those people or some other people next time we catch up and get some thoughts on what they're going through. Is the water where you are, Ed, filthy, dirty as it was in New Orleans the flooding? Or is this it looks a little cleaner based on what we can see on television.

LAVANDERA: Yes, actually, I'm glad you asked that because the crew and I were just talking about that. And we've spent the last so many weeks down here in New Orleans walking through this water and either covering various stories and we were comparing and talking about it. This is actually very easy to take. You can tell that there is if there is any kind of nastiness for pardon the less than glamorous word there, but this water doesn't look that bad. What we experienced in New Orleans doesn't even begin to compare to this. In fact, we were joking around that we'd almost drink this compared to what we were dealing with in New Orleans.

BLITZER: All right, Ed, we'll check back with you. Ed Lavandera is in Erath, Louisiana.

Let's head over to New Orleans. That's where Mary Snow is. And it's a lot uglier there, that water the water that's come in.

Mary, what's the latest in New Orleans?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, it suffered a setback this weekend. However, New Orleans is pressing ahead. Picking up where it left off last week and letting some people back in, in the drier areas of New Orleans.

I just checked in with the police department here. They are reporting so far so good for this re- entry program. A lot is riding on this because it's really going to set the stage for the time table for other parts of the city to be coming back in.

The neighborhood of Algiers on the west bank of New Orleans, residents are being allowed to move back in to their homes. It really suffered the least amount of damage in this city and business owners are being allowed in here on the east bank of New Orleans to go in, inspect their businesses. Again, they don't have running water, they don't have electricity.

And people are being told, enter at your own risk. There's also a mandatory evacuation for other parts of the city and a curfew. Also people are warned that things are not running as normal. Medical services, emergency services, everything is limited. But this is the first stage of this re- entry program.

This as the Army Corps of Engineers continues to clear out flood waters that came over the weekend when Hurricane Rita, the outer bands of that storm, hit New Orleans and a storm surge sent water pouring over a damaged part of a levee. The Army Corps of Engineers reporting this afternoon that lake levels in Lake Pontchartrain have stabilized, that they're going to remove those steel pilings they put up last week in order to try to protect the city.

They feel that the emergency threat is over and they're going to remove those. They're pumping out water also in that lower ninth ward that was flooded. So they are making some progress in drying out those areas.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Mary, thank you very much. Mary Snow in New Orleans. We'll get back to you shortly.

Meanwhile, the president is planning to travel tomorrow to Beaumont, Texas, Port Arthur, Texas, to see firsthand the damage to those refinery towns where Rita roared ashore Saturday morning. Port Arthur's mayor is telling CNN, conditions are not as bad as he feared, but they're still bad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR OSCAR ORTIZ, PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS: We have no power in the city of Port Arthur. We have no water. We have no gas. We basically don't have anything right now. Any of the amenities that people need to come back into town. That's why I'm not allowing people back in here, at least for another three to four days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Rita also unleashed tornadoes. Meteorologists says at least 14 twisters touched down in Mississippi over the weekend and at least three struck in Arkansas.

Let's go back to New York. Jack Cafferty's got a second chance to raise a question for our viewers.

Why are you smiling?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just because I'm a happy guy, Wolf.

BLITZER: Oh, good.

CAFFERTY: You know, I was born happy. I'll die happy.

I was just watching Ed Lavandera report from that little town in Louisiana.

BLITZER: Erath, Louisiana.

CAFFERTY: Yes. He said the things to watch out for were alligators and water moccasins. That would be snakes.

BLITZER: That's correct.

CAFFERTY: And the camera, at one point, panned over there were some a couple of women walking barefoot through that water. There's a live picture of that same location. Ed had some nice boots on but I mean those the local people there walking around barefoot and there are water moccasins there? I mean that I don't know, that looks a little dangerous to me.

BLITZER: I agree.

CAFFERTY: Yes. I wouldn't be covering that story, anyway. They say alligators, water moccasins, I'd be on the first Greyhound out of town.

Politics and cronyism go hand in hand. They go back a long way. Politicians giving their friends a piece of the pie. Nothing new. Remember President Kennedy naming his brother to be the attorney general.

But the Bush administration apparently has taken the practice to levels that we have not seen before. Our colleagues at "Time" magazine have a scathing report this week on the vast collection of politically connected flunkies that are heading up vital federal agencies. We all remember that Michael Moore excuse me, not Michael Moore. He's another loser. Michael Brown, the Arabian horse guy, who was running FEMA. He they finally got on to him and kicked him out of there.

But "Time" goes on to examines some other appointments made by this administration. The Food and Drug Administration, for example, where drug safety decisions are being second guessed by a 33-year-old doctor turned stock picker, to immigrations and customs enforcement, to the Federal Procurement Agency where an ex-lobbyist is in charge of $300 billion in government spending. And an ex-lobbyist in charge of $300 billion in government spending.

So the question this hour is this, what should be done about political cronyism? Caffertyfile@cnn.com.

No water moccasins in New Jersey where I live.

BLITZER: You know, if you remember last week, Paul Begala was on this show and he, himself, is a political hack, as he himself admits. He served in the White House. But he said, God created the Department of Commerce for those political hacks, not necessarily FEMA or the Food and Drug Administration.

CAFFERTY: No, I know. I mean apparently our colleagues at "Time" have done a great job. And if you want to know more, I mean you should pick up the issue and read it. But they go into great detail, and it will scare the hell out of you, the absolute lack of credentials that some of these people running vital agencies have. Or maybe it won't. I don't know.

BLITZER: All right, "Time" magazine, our sister publication.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jack. We'll get back to you shortly.

Coming up, the big picture of Rita's destruction. Helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh standing by. He'll share his unique view of the renewed flooding in New Orleans and the damage throughout Louisiana. We'll bring him in live.

Also, President Bush keeps talking about Rita, Katrina, and what happens next. What has he accomplished? And is he following his own advice?

And she spent the weekend protesting here in the nation's capital. Now police in Washington, D.C., right outside the White House, have arrested her. That would be Cindy Sheehan. We'll show you the video and tell you what happened.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: State of Louisiana is hoping to get more than $31 billion in federal aid to rebuild after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Texas is estimating damage from the latest storm in its state at about $8 billion. Let's get an aerial view now of the destruction. Our helicopter reporter, J. T. Alpaugh, who has been a pool reporter for all the networks, is joining us now live from Baton Rouge.

J.T., thanks very much. Good to see you on the ground for once. We've been hearing your voiceover, your description over these past several weeks.

Let's show our viewers a little bit of what you saw on this day. The damage clearly very visible from where you were. We'll put up on the screen, we'll show our viewers these cars, these boats, simply washed away. Give us your impression how this second series of flooding, the devastation it caused in New Orleans.

J.T. ALPAUGH, HELICOPTER REPORTER: Well, basically in New Orleans, Wolf, where we were we were in the Chalmette area in the St. Bernard Parish. And what we were seeing was a lot of the damaged areas that were completely washed away and some of the people coming back to those homes. And we're showing you some of the footage that we saw in that area.

But again, these waters that again re-flooded the lower ninth ward and started working their way east back through the St. Bernard Parish, causing a whole lot of problems still and they're trying to get the water out of there. Even though the Industrial Street Canal has been blocked off and is now shored back up, the waters have stopped trickling in. But they've already come in and done a lot more damage to that lower ninth ward.

BLITZER: Were you surprised by the extent of damage you saw as you were flying over New Orleans?

ALPAUGH: Well, it's interesting, now that we see coming back and seeing that some of the areas that all the water is washed away and what's been left behind after those waters have been washed away. And the cars that are up on rooftops and in back yards and up on fence lines. And you see some very heavy objects and it gives you an idea of how actually much of the storm flow and the water was, how high it was in that area and where all those vehicles got pushed around. It was really an amazing sight after seeing what has happened after the water has cleared.

BLITZER: And it makes you appreciate the fact that there's still October and November. Until November 30th, this is still hurricane season and that city right now remains very, very vulnerable.

ALPAUGH: Absolutely. If they don't get some more shoring into these levees and another big storm comes through this area, I'm afraid that some of these areas are going to refill with water. A lot of these homes are damaged and cannot be inhabitable again for a very, very long time, if not at all. So it's very difficult to find that these areas that might get re-flooded again it's a very bad situation and trying to get these people back into their homes today in the Chalmette area was very an emotional experience for us that we saw today as they came back into these homes and fearing that they might have to go through this and maybe a couple more times this season is a very scary thought.

BLITZER: We saw you flying over and you saw some people on the ground. We're showing our viewers some people. It looks like some residents coming back to see the destruction, to see the damage. And, in fact, we saw some people crying. You were narrating what you were seeing.

ALPAUGH: Yes, this morning about 7:45 they started letting traffic in on Interstate 10 and back through 610. And some of these vehicles and cars with trucks and started making their way back into the St. Bernard Parish, and specifically the Chalmette area, which is where we were. And we got kind of low and we were looking at the people's faces and their body language and you could just see that the amount of hope that they had when they got out of their cars possibly that maybe their house was spared. Maybe there was just a little bit of salvageable momentums left in their house.

But they got into those areas and opened up those car doors, walked to their homes and you could just see their body language just kind of go out from under them. And like someone just pulled a sheet out from under them. And it was a very emotional situation for us and a very closing and a poignant moment for us leaving the area today. This is our last day.

But kind of a bittersweet ending that these people are getting back to their homes and hopefully salvaging some stuff. But you can just see the despair and the disappointment in their faces and the emotions. Even from the air, it was just very overwhelming, very emotional for us at Helinet.

BLITZER: We see some cars load up with provisions. They were stopped by police. Some of them are allowed to go back in. But the levee system that we saw, clearly this is a stop gap, very fragile, those sandbags, 3,000-pound, 5,000-pound. This is just a temporary fix. And you saw more sandbags coming in.

ALPAUGH: Absolutely. Today, what you're probably looking at is the Industrial Street Canal off the Inner Coastal Waterway off the Mississippi River. They have put those row of sandbags in place to stop that high water from flowing in.

But the water levels again, as Mary said earlier, have basically come down to the point where they're not overflowing into the lower ninth ward anymore. But what we saw some barges coming in later in the afternoon loaded with heavy gravel and heavy dirt to actually start to shore up those levees back to where they were before. But we did see a lot of evidence of erosion on those levees and getting those built up to prepare for the next storm, if there is another storm, hopefully there won't be, but getting those levees built back up is a very important stage right now for what they need to do within those areas and those levees.

BLITZER: How widespread was the flooding? We see snip-its here and there. But the second flooding of New Orleans, a few blocks or is it a major chunk of the city?

ALPAUGH: Well, in the lower ninth ward, what we saw, Wolf, is that the flooding moved probably about another five miles inland. Probably from the Industrial Canal to the Guishard (ph) Canal, which is about five miles into the Chalmette area. That's how far it went. And there was a natural weather break with the railroad tracks. That actually stopped the water from going any further.

But they the waters came down enough and in time enough to stop that water from pushing anything further. Their biggest fears, though, was that water was going to continue to pour into the ninth ward and slowly continue to make its way east through the St. Bernard Parish, back to all those areas that were pumped clean and pumped dry within the past two weeks. That was their big concern and they got that water stopped.

Now it's just a question of finally getting that water pumped out. Some of the Chalmette area, some of the eastern parishes are doing that very well. But there's still a bowl of water that's sitting in that lower ninth ward that they're having a lot of problem getting out of that area.

BLITZER: J.T. Alpaugh, did an outstanding job reporting for us from Helinet. Thank your entire team, J.T., for doing the good work that you did do. And we'll stay in touch with you down the road.

J.T. Alpaugh, thank you.

ALPAUGH: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: When we come back, did President Bush put the commander back in commander in chief. Rita gave the president a second chance. Did he make the most of it? We'll go live to the White House for an update.

Also, an arresting development here in Washington. Namely, the arrest of Cindy Sheehan. Coming up, we'll tell you what happened to America's perhaps America's best well-known anti- war protester.

Stick around. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're going to look at some of the "Hot Shots" coming in from the Associated Press. Pictures likely to be in your hometown newspapers tomorrow.

Cameron, Louisiana, up first. The First United Pentecostal Church destroyed by flood waters.

In Mouton Cove (ph), a woman checks her mailbox after the storm.

On Interstate 45 in Texas, a cross now marks the spot were 24 seniors died in a bus accident while trying to flee Houston.

And in New Orleans, members of the California National Guard walk through a deserted French Quarter area. Mayor Ray Nagin announced that business owners will be allowed to return to the area to start cleanup cleaning up their properties.

That's a look at today's "Hot Shots" from our friends at the Associated Press.

President Bush says he's ready to take new action to help keep fuel costs in check after Hurricane's Rita and Katrina. The president says he'll tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve again if necessary. And he's urging drivers to stay off the road when they can to conserve gasoline.

Even as he prepares for yet another trip to the hurricane battered area, he's been speaking out. Let's bring in our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux. She's joining us live from the White House.

Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President Bush is encouraging Americans to try to conserve energy and gasoline, calling on them not to travel unnecessarily. But already critic are taking a shot at the president, saying they believe all of this travel to the hurricane damaged regions, perhaps he should heed his own advice. They believed that this is a waste. That these are simply photo ops. Some White House officials say, look, the president just can't get a break here. There are already differences between the way President Bush treated Hurricane Katrina, as well as Rita.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX, (voice over): First stop, FEMA headquarters in Washington Friday where he vowed not to get in the way. San Antonio was to be next. The press corps landed but the president decided he would be a distraction there and went directly to Colorado Springs to ride out the storm at the military command center there.

Saturday, as Rita blew ashore, Mr. Bush was briefed in Colorado Springs.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To help our fellow citizens who are in need.

MALVEAUX: Austin, Texas.

BUSH: When they come, we have a duty.

MALVEAUX: San Antonio.

BUSH: There were still some amazingly heroic efforts.

MALVEAUX: And briefed again Sunday in Baton Rouge.

BUSH: I know a lot of people want to get back home.

MALVEAUX: No foul weather gear needed for a hurricane hunting president. What he did find was a fairly smooth operation. Cooperation among federal, state and local officials. The president said his goal was to see how to best handle crises like this. And unstated goal, waiting out from a flood of criticism for his handling of Katrina.

Back then he followed his CEO instincts. Stick to a schedule. Let the people he put in place do their jobs. Local, state and federal agencies were, after all, supposed to work together. Mr. Bush remained at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Aids say he could do anything there that could to done at the White House. In fact, at the ranch, we warned those in Katrina's path to get out of the way.

BUSH: Hurricane Katrina is now designated a category five hurricane. We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities.

MALVEAUX: As Katrina came ashore, Mr. Bush kept to his schedule. A stop in Arizona, touting his prescription drug program. A similar event in California. And after the levees broke, San Diego, to commemorate VJ Day and discuss the war on terror. Then back to Crawford to get his managers time to get the reports in order as the president cut short his working vacation to get back to Washington.

At each stop, he mentioned Katrina and concern for the people impacted. But by the time he went to the region, four days after the hurricane, the political storm was devastating to the president's standing. Could he have done something different then and now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the president, really it's a no-win situation in many respects as reaction now to the hurricanes. Either he didn't do enough or he interfered.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And White House officials say that it is the cost of doing business for the president to travel tomorrow. Wolf, he will travel to two locations in Texas that were hard hit by Rita.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Suzanne, thanks very much. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

We'll have more, by the way, on this very subject. The president, how he's dealing with these hurricanes. That's coming up in our strategy session. James Carville, Bay Buchanan, standing by for that.

Meanwhile, the anti-war activist, Cindy Sheehan, has been overshadowed by the Rita and Katrina disasters but she's now back and she's in our "Political Radar." Sheehan was arrested on the sidewalk outside the White House earlier today. She was one of dozens of demonstrators who took part in a sit-in and refused to obey police orders to leave, knowing they would be taken into custody. She's been protesting here in Washington after her widely publicized demonstration outside the president's Texas ranch last month. The new chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission says he's staying out of plans to investigate a stock sale by the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist. Both the SEC and the Justice Department are looking into Frist's sale of stock from a blind trust, stock from a hospital chain founded by the Tennessee Republican's family. Shortly after the sale, the price of the stock dropped.

The Senate majority leader's office says there was nothing improper about the stock sale. Senator Frist is expected to make an announcement at the top of the hour. We'll bring it to you live once that happens. Before taking over the SEC, Cox, by the way, was a top Republican in the Congress. He says that's why he's bowing out of this investigation.

Vice President Dick Cheney, by the way, is said to be working from home today after surgery to repair aneurysms on the back of both knees. Cheney walked out of a Washington hospital on his own, but at a slower pace yesterday, a day after surgery. The spokesman says the vice president is doing well.

In Pennsylvania, the controversy over evolution versus intelligent design. Now it's playing out in a courtroom. Eight families are challenging a school district's decision to require students to be exposed to the theory that suggests life on Earth was created by an intelligent force. Critics say intelligent design is akin to the religious theory of creationism, redefined as science, and is not appropriate in public schools.

Hurricane politics. Did the president's response to Rita make up for what many call a lack of response to Katrina? We'll get some expert opinion in our "Strategy Session," here in THE SITUATION ROOM, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Bringing you up to speed now where things stand, now that Hurricane Rita is an ugly memory. Despite requests that they move slowly and in stages, people are heading back into the metro Houston area. Returning traffic is heavy, but not as bad as it was during the mass evacuation. Damage is widespread and devastating, especially along Louisiana's Cameron, Calcasieu and Vermillion parishes.

Damage estimates are in the billions of dollars, on top of the billions of Katrina costs. As far as human costs, there are no deaths reported from Rita in Louisiana, but one death is reported in Mississippi, six in Texas. The Energy Department says one million customers still without power from Rita and Katrina, most of them in Texas and Louisiana.

Let's go back to CNN's Zain Verjee. She's joining us from the CNN Center with a quick look at some other stories, important ones making news right now -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Army Private First Class Lynndie England has been found guilty of six of seven charges against her in connection with the prisoner abuse scandal at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib Prison. The 22-year-old West Virginian was convicted by a military jury of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Israeli air strikes hit parts of Gaza today. Now, the Israeli military says it was targeting sites across the region that were used to launch rocket attacks on Israeli territory. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said yesterday it would stop attacks against Israel from Gaza. Four Palestinian militants, including two Hamas members, were killed in weekend raids.

An exit poll by Israeli television shows that results are too close to call in a critical Likud party vote today. Members of the bitterly divided ruling party were voting to decide whether to move up their primary vote to November. Now, the vote would pit Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who opposes the change, against Benjamin Netanyahu, who proposed it. The exit poll found that 51 percent are with Sharon and 49 percent are with Netanyahu.

The head of the commission overseeing disarmament of the Irish Republican Army says that they're certain that the entire IRA arsenal has been quote, "put beyond use." General General John de Chastelain says that the IRA's enormous cache of weapons includes explosives, arms and mortar missiles, as well. For the past 10 years, Wolf, the British governments -- successive British governments -- have wanted full and complete disarmament by the IRA -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Zain, that's -- so what does that mean? Is it the end of the armed attacks is over in Northern Ireland? Is that the bottom line?

VERJEE: Well, the British and the Irish governments are certainly hopeful. They seem convinced of that. They say, look, you know, this was real. There were witnesses there. There was a Protestant and Catholic priest observing the destruction of weapons. And they say that this was significant, it was historic. And they're hoping that it will kickstart the Good Friday peace accords.

But you know, the thing is, Wolf, that the Unionists aren't convinced. They're skeptical. They said, you know what we wanted? We wanted photographic evidence that those weapons had been destroyed. And we didn't get them. So they're a little concerned and a bit cautious about that.

And finally, Wolf, experts, though, say, when it comes to the issue of armed struggle, the IRA, the Republican movement of the past 35 years has been involved in arms struggle. It's a culture, and it's going to be difficult to dramatically change it overnight. Although they do say that the decommissioning of weapons and what happened today was historic and essentially a step in the right direction.

BLITZER: Let's hope for the best, Zain. Thanks very much. Zain Verjee with us. We'll get back to you.

Still ahead, President Bush's second choice. Has he responded -- second chance, that is. Has he responded to Rita better than Katrina? Dueling reviews in our "Strategy Session." James Carville, Bay Buchanan, they're standing by.

Plus, still up for debate after the storm. Should the president name a hurricane relief czar? Stay right here. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: What a difference a storm makes. President Bush kept to his schedule before and just after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. As New Orleans was flooding, the president was in Arizona and California, touting his Medicare plan and discussing the war in Iraq and the war on terror.

This time around, a very, very different picture. A hands-on president was monitoring the storm from the U.S. military's northern command in Colorado on Friday before Rita made landfall. The president spent the weekend in Texas and Louisiana, keeping a very close eye on the government's hurricane response.

So did President Bush redeem himself? A good question for Democratic strategist, CNN political analyst James Carville and Republican strategist and CNN political analyst Bay Buchanan.

Guys, thanks for joining us. First to you, James. How did he do?

JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think, obviously, he couldn't have done any worse than he did in Katrina. He did do better. It's Carville's law of politics, every inaction causes an exaggerated reaction. But I think it obviously was not going to get in the same position that he was before and he showed a lot of activity. It probably wanted to get out of town because they had all those demonstrators out there, too. So the storm sort of worked to his political benefit on a couple of levels.

But, sure, I'd give him a much higher mark on Rita than I would Katrina.

BAY BUCHANAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: He did. And he put a team together both in Louisiana and Texas that shows they are very good people and when they come across on television they look like they are in charge. It gives the American people a real feeling that, OK, we are on top of this. This problem is now resolved. We're working it. And we've got the best people to do it. And the president is well aware.

I think he's done himself a great deal of good. It certainly stopped the kind of erosion that was occurring when the people were kind of losing their faith in his ability there for a few days.

BLITZER: I think Bay makes a good point. James, when to listen to Vice Admiral Thad Allen or Lieutenant General Russel Honore, these are serious guys who really have a lot of experience and know what they are doing. CARVILLE: Look, if the levee doesn't break in New Orleans, the New Orleans part of Katrina is an asterisk. And I think if we lose, sort of sight of that. And you can't -- it's not the president's fault that the levee broke, but the response couldn't have been worse. And yes, you can, kind of take charge thing.

I think -- I don't think that -- you are right. People are not going to blame him. They're not going to say that he did a bad job here. How much this affects his political fortunes, I think, is very much in the air.

BLITZER: Listen to what the president earlier today, Bay, when he was asked about the possibility of naming a czar to take charge and to oversee the reconstruction, the cost and all of that. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The vision and the element of reconstruction is just beginning. And there may be a need for an interface with a particular person to help make sure that the vision becomes reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: It sounds to me, Bay, like he wants to get some sort of czar in charge.

BUCHANAN: Yeah. I have also heard he talked about maybe the Pentagon should take charge of any type of natural disasters of great extent. I think these ideas are rash. I think he's trying to throw some ideas on the table. I certainly hope he doesn't pursue these ideas.

I think one of the things he should do is take FEMA, pull it back out of homeland security. Homeland Security should be there to secure us against this war on terror and FEMA should be there to take care of these things. We shouldn't have them overlapping.

And so, I think he makes mistake -- why not pull it out of FEMA and put one of these military types who understands logistics, who understands how to do this, who are doing such a great job, give the American people that confidence and let them do natural disasters.

CARVILLE: Did I really hear that President Bush say he's going to get somebody to interface with? I mean -- and also today, he called for greater conservation in the federal government. Remember when Vice President Cheney said that conservation was not much more than a personal (INAUDIBLE).

I think what you are seeing here is something very interesting, Wolf. And I think you're seeing Mrs. Bush taking more command here. You saw it out of President Reagan's second term. You saw Mrs. Reagan stand up and change things around. You certainly saw Mrs. Clinton become president Clinton's rescue, if you will, when we had our unpleasantness during our second term. And I think that Mrs. Bush has become dissatisfied with these hard liners.

I would not be surprised if she's behind this more touchy feely thing, talking about conservation. And I see that she's in favor of having a woman on the Supreme Court, letting that out. I think you are seeing the velvet glove of Laura Bush at work on this White House. And I don't think she's very happy with the way things have been going. And I -- we'll just have to wait and see, but I think history is going to bear me out that she's taking a much greater role.

BUCHANAN: I don't know how much influence she has or not. But I don't think that's the problem here. I think the president's real problem is he's moving toward bigger government. And he's got his problem in his own party where they are saying, how are you going to pay for Katrina, Mr. President? We don't want government any bigger than it is. He's got real turmoil within the House of Representatives right now. That they aren't going to support a lot of things he's proposing.

BLITZER: Are you concerned, Bay, all of this money that's going out there. They're going to flood the zone, if you will -- if you'll forgive the pun -- with billions and billions of dollars. You know there's a potential for some of that money going into bad hands.

BUCHANAN: There's no question. And also there's no accountability as it is. They get $10 billion or $11 billion and they ask for 50 and vote on that without even finding out how the 10 was spent. We already have a number of issues, I think the Democrats are going to use against us -- corruption charges, the cronyism, it's all out there. They're going to make the best of that. And I think this can add to it and shows we don't have any accountability or responsibility when it comes to spending.

CARVILLE: Wolf, if they don't find out why those levees broke, (INAUDIBLE) we're not spending the money. Where are they going to spend $100 billion in New Orleans and have some senators look into, or don't have the technical experts to look into why these levees broke?

BLITZER: But those were stop gap -- just some sandbags they threw....

CARVILLE: No, no. Not the second levee. I'm talking about the first one. The first levee and a lot of experts are telling me -- and real experts, that this would have been a category two over Lake Pontchartrain that was in the design specification of these levees. If they go in and try to -- if the political people try to cover this up and not get behind the real -- and I don't know the reason. I don't doubt if it's President Bush's fault.

If we don't find out why those levees were compromised, was it a construction problem, and we build a city the same way we did before, it is absolutely ridiculous.

BLITZER: That would be awful.

Quick question to both of you and then I'll let you go. Cindy Sheehan: she was arrested today protesting outside of the White House. She refused to keep on walking. She sat down. What do you think of that?

CARVILLE: Look. It's a great tradition of people trying to get arrested and trying to start a movement from Gandhi to Martin Luther King to different people. I suspect that it's just a $50 fine and she's going to get $5 million worth of publicity.

BUCHANAN: It's silly, though. I mean, we all know she's an anti-war demonstrator and she has got a story to tell and there's some sympathy for her. But they went there. It was reported this morning, that indeed they are going to be arrested, a group of them. That was their intent. What for? What's the purpose? They are getting national attention. I think it's silly. I think you can take this too far and you can start eroding your support in this country as a result.

CARVILLE: We don't need Cindy -- I mean, Miss Sheehan certainly has every right to protest. And if she wants to get arrested, that's her problem if she can pay her $50 and do that. But we don't need Cindy Sheehan to tell us that support for this war is eroding out there. It's pretty evident

BLITZER: We'll leave it there. James, thank very much. Bay, thanks to you as well.

Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, much more of our coverage. Schools are closed in Georgia today. The children may be happy. But many of their parents certainly are not. The governor says it's for a very good reason. We'll tell you what's going on.

And it's a word you probably don't use every day, cronyisms, or a little help from friends. It happens a lot in politics. So, what should be done about it? We've asked, you've answered, Jack Cafferty has your e-mail. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're just getting this in from Tel Aviv. There's been a bitter battle between the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his rival, the former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for party leadership.

Let's bring in our Zain Verjee. She's joining us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with details. What just happened, Zain?

VERJEE: Wolf, as you know, there's been a critical Likud party vote in Israel this day, essentially on whether to hold early elections for the Likud party and have it moved up to November of this year.

The votes are being counted right now. But a Likud party spokesman is saying it appears that Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, has won. Again, the votes still being counted. Essentially, Wolf, you know, many casting this as a vote of confidence in Ariel Sharon's leadership.

I mean, Ariel Sharon has basically been forced to fight for his own job by his own party today. Benjamin Netanyahu really leading the cry of dissatisfaction within the Likud party hardliners. And, essentially, many of them upset with Ariel Sharon over the Gaza disengagement plan, saying it was a betrayal to the pro-settler movement.

It appears, though, Wolf, according to this Likud party spokesman, that Ariel Sharon has won. The votes are being counted, as I say, and we'll bring you more details when we get them.

BLITZER: All right, Zain, thanks very much. At least it looks like a temporary win for Ariel Sharon over Benjamin Netanyahu.

Let's bring back Jack Cafferty. He's joining now us with "The Cafferty File" from New York. You know, politics in Israel's a full contact sport, Jack. I don't know if you follow it over there very closely.

CAFFERTY: Oh, I know. And if they don't like you on Monday, they'll vote to see whether they want to keep you on Tuesday. And I mean, it can change pretty fast. However, that being said, that situation with the pullout and the ending of those settlements, at least in the short-term, seems to have resulted in no further outbreaks of the kind of violence we were seeing maybe even a year ago. So let's hope they can figure out how to get it together over there.

Politicians giving friends a piece of the pie. Nothing new, Wolf. It's been going on since George Washington was in office. It has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats. They all do it. But the Bush administration apparently is taking the practice to levels not seen before.

"Time" magazine has a scathing report out this week on the vast collection of politically-connected flunkies that are heading up vital federal agencies. Their point being not necessarily that these people were even given these jobs, but that a lot of them don't appear to be qualified to be running the agencies job. Remember that guy Brown over there at FEMA?

Anyway, the question this hour is what should be done about political cronyism?

Bob in Lousville writes: "The only effective way to eliminate political cronyism is to defeat all the incumbents when they run for office." And that would probably work.

Bonnie writes, "Perhaps the government should hire a professional career consultant such as myself to review the resumes rather than giving the appointments out to family and friends of the president."

Brett writes from a place in Ohio I can't pronounce, Wapakoneta: "If they do their jobs, I don't care. If they screw up because they were unqualified, then they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and the ones that put them there should be just as guilty and dealt with in the same manner." Mark writes this: "According to Cafferty, the only political cronies are Republican. Any news about the Democratic Louisiana official who resigned after Katrina hit in order to set up construction companies to take advantage of all that free-flowing federal money? I guess that doesn't get on the Cafferty-biased radar." He's talking about the Democratic party chairman in Louisiana, Jim Bernhard, who stepped down a couple of weeks ago, saying he needed to focus on his engineering and construction company.

Byron in Hudson, Wisconsin writes: "I miss the good old days when all we had to worry about was a sex scandal." Yes, but that guy put his wife Hillary in charge of health care, remember that?

And finally, Terry writes from Westchester, Pennsylvania: "I've always wondered how you got your job."

BLITZER: We'll leave that for another day. You'll tell our viewers some other day, down the road, OK, Jack?

CAFFERTY: I'm never going to tell.

BLITZER: Thanks very much. Jack Cafferty, we'll get back to you in the next hour. Cindy Sheehan. While some hope she continues her anti-war protest, others wish she'd simply go away. Coming up, Sheehan making news here again in Washington today. In fact, right outside the White House. It has the bloggers buzzing. We'll have some details.

And after Rita's random rampage, the rebuilding beginning. We'll have more on the aftermath from Louisiana and Texas. Right back, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: She's back. Actually, anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan never really went away. She's been out of the news pretty much, though, because of the hurricanes. She's back in the spotlight today.

Our Internet reporters Jacki Schechner and Abbi Tatton are joining us now to tell us what's happening on the Internet. A lot of buzzing going on, guys.

JACKI SCHECHNER: Well, Wolf, she got arrested. And that's why they're talking about her. We were going to tell you that -- they were talking about her a lot and then because of the hurricanes, we weren't talking about her so much anymore. But now today, she got arrested. And it's this photo that is actually getting posted a lot online.

And most of the commentary from the right, we're finding right off the bat, stuff like this from Blogs For Bush. "Do you think her son would be proud?" Taking a look at this photo from Slant Point, a New York blogger. "She's get an escort to jail, a la a queen." Also, from forthelittleguy.com, "Look how devastated she is. She's smiling." On the left, they're saying, so much for free speech, so much for the right to assemble, so much for the right to petition the government for redress of your grievances. Also, from Pesky Apostrophe on the left, "Even though Sheehan was repeatedly warned, is this going to be a bad P.R. move for the Bush administration? It doesn't look good to arrest the mother of a fallen soldier."

TATTON: Sheehan, of course, was in town over the weekend for a massive anti-war march; 150,000 people estimated were in town for this. And many of them bloggers posting their experiences online. At the diary of Daily Kos, meeting up on the Mall. That -- Daily Kos saying, "Wall to wall people of all ages and all walks of life."

But, also on the blogs, you can show the other side. Globalcop.us showing the Support Our Troops rallies that were also going on over the weekend, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, guys, thanks very much. We'll get back to you.

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