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The Situation Room

Interview with Angelina Jolie; Rough Year for Bush; Michael Chertoff to Possibly Overhaul FEMA

Aired December 26, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: To our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Our new pictures and information from around the world are arriving all the time. Happening right now, President Bush on familiar turf. He's back in Texas and still under fire over domestic spying. It's 3:00 p.m. in Crawford Texas. Can Mr. Bush get a break from controversy even on this holiday week?
Also this hour, the world according to Angelina Jolie, the actress and U.N. good will ambassador talks about her youngest child and the causes she cares about the most. It is a candid one-on-one interview with Wolf you don't want to miss.

And Hillary Clinton's greatest hits. Would you listen to her speeches just for the fun of it? It's a new political trend for the iPod era. I'm Tom Foreman and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Thanks for joining us. Wolf is off this week. President Bush landed in Texas just a couple of hours ago looking to ride out a rough year in the homey comfort of his Texas ranch. Once again, Mr. Bush will have a hard time truly getting away from it all even in the midst of the holiday season, especially with that domestic spying controversy still in full swing. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is with the president in Texas -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tom. From a very windy Crawford, Texas. Well you're right, it is becoming clear that it is going to be tough for the president to start next year on the political rebound, especially with new information coming to light about the secret directive he put in place 2002 allowing domestic surveillance. In fact information that the NSA actually analyzes and collects a vast amount of information with the help of telephone and Internet companies to help analyze, trace, create patterns, as experts tell us, to help find terror suspects and uncover plots. Now, that information is confirmed to us by a source familiar with the program. Of course, it was first reported over the weekend by the "New York Times."

Now, the president is perhaps breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief because he is getting support from a high profile person, and that is his former secretary of state, Colin Powell. Although he said he did not actually know about this program while he was in the Bush cabinet, he said over the weekend that he supports it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, FMR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Of course, it should continue. Now what I think, however the president, will have to determine what he wishes to say to the Congress about it or what they wish to do with respect to the court that's established for this purpose. I'll let them work that out. But you have to do this in order to protect ourselves. Everybody understands that. I don't think you'll find any member of Congress that says don't do this anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: But Tom, there was very much a "but" in Powell's statement. And that "but" is that he said the controversy could have been avoided if the government, if the president would have gotten warrants. He said that it would not have been that hard to do. That is precisely the argument that civil liberties groups, most democrats, and even some republicans make that the president went around existing law. That existing law allows him to get warrants for this kind of surveillance. And that is certainly what we are going to hear more and more of as the New Year begins and as congressional hearings start.

Now, as to the White House spokesman Trent Duffy told us as we heard from the White House, from president himself all last week, that the president does believe that he is very much within his rights as the president working very much with the law and within his powers under the Constitution -- Tom.

FOREMAN: Dana Bash in Crawford, Texas, thank you very much where it's another working day for all the White House folks.

New Year's Day may not come fast enough for President Bush who might understandably be eager to put 2005 behind him. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider has been reviewing a year's worth of presidential polls.

Bill, this has not been a particularly good year for Mr. Bush.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: No, you know, Queen Elizabeth once used the Latin phrase "annus horribilus" or horrible year to describe her families' problems. It's been that kind of year for President Bush, too. Just after -- look at his approval ratings over the past year. Just after he gave his State of the Union speech in February, 57 percent said they approved of the way Mr. Bush was handling his job. By November, that number had dropped to a low of 37. Now, you see it's up a little bit to 43. But, the latest numbers are just about the reverse of where they were in February. A majority of Americans now say they disapprove of the way President Bush is handling his job. And even more ominously, Tom, 62 percent say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country. You usually see those kinds of numbers when the economy is bad.

FOREMAN: Well, I want to ask you about that, Bill. We just finished Christmas season here where people spent a lot of money. Many people saying they spent money they shouldn't have spent, but nonetheless, they did it. What happened to the idea that it's the economy, stupid, and as long as that's going well, everything else is good? SCHNEIDER: Well, it's not the economy, stupid. That's what happened to that idea. The economy has been growing at a pretty nice clip and even gas prices have fallen a little bit. So, people are feeling just a bit better about the economy. Take a look, the percentage who think the nation's economy is in good shape actually jumped 10 points from November to December. But most Americans still think the economy is not good. The Washington Post/ABC News poll asked Americans, what do you think is the No. 1 problem that President Bush and the Congress should deal with. Iraq overshadowed everything else. Twice as many people mentioned Iraq as mentioned the economy. When the economy is bad, the economy is the issue. When the economy is good, something else is the issue. And right now, that issue is Iraq. The Iraqi election this month seemed to go well, but the prospect of a new government that can unite the country, unite Iraq and form a new consensus, that doesn't look so good.

FOREMAN: A rough way to start off the New Year. Bill Schneider, thank you very much from out in L.A. today.

This is the time of year to think about the future and the Homeland Security secretary apparently has been doing just that after the FEMA debacle during Hurricane Katrina. The Federal Emergency Management Agency may be a prime target for reform. Let's bring in our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve.

Jeanne, explain this.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Tom, a possibly radical makeover of FEMA is in the works, according to Michael Chertoff. He is not divulging specifics, but since the deeply flawed response to Katrina, Chertoff has discussed the need for FEMA to improve the delivery of relief supplies by learning from private industries that move large inventories. If existing stockpiles are not adequate, the secretary says, solid contracting and procurement methods have to be in place to get more quickly. What about changing the name of the battered and often belittled agency? I asked the secretary in a recent interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: No, because I don't want to make this about like soapsuds, we're going to rename the soapsuds, we're going to rename the software (ph). This is about substance, not about sizzle. And what I want to do is I want to restore FEMA and to the people of FEMA what they're entitled to, which is the respect for an important job that they do. The way to do that is to give them a way to do their job better and more efficiently. Some of it's technology, some it's adapting the roles that we have, maybe changing the way the organization relates using some 21st century technology. But simply to play a game with the American public where we rename something and act as if it's the solution to the problem, I don't think that answers the call here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: The secretary wants to streamline FEMA's bureaucracy. While he says there needs to be accountability, he wants personnel in the field to be able to act with, what he calls efficiency and urgency. Unclear is whether even a major overhaul will satisfy FEMA critics, some of whom want it pulled out of Chertoff's department all together and made, once again, an independent agency -- Tom.

FOREMAN: Thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve. We'll have a live report from New Orleans in our next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM, speaking of FEMA's stomping grounds, and get a reality check on life there at the close of 2005. Jack Cafferty meanwhile is off this week, so coming up, we'll have new details emerging about that Christmas day killing in Virginia, several of them there. Police suspect murder/suicide now. We'll tell you what we know and what is still a mystery in this awful case.

Also ahead, Angelina Jolie's campaign. She talks openly about the battle against AIDS and her own daughter's close encounter with that disease.

And believe it or not, the Bush administration is siding with former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith. The story of unlikely allies, that's later right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: In Virginia this hour, police are trying to piece together the story behind the bloodshed at two homes on Christmas Day. A series of shootings left five people dead, including apparently the gunman, as well. Our Brian Todd is following this story -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police putting into words what many of us thought when we first saw this story, a tragedy on any day, but especially on Christmas Day just even more wrenching. It started in McLean, Virginia, a Washington suburb. Where investigators say 20- year-old Nathan Cheatham shot and killed his mother in the driveway of the home that he shared with her. They say Cheatham then drove to a home in nearby Great falls, Virginia, not far away, firing shots outside, then entering the home where he fired more than 50 rounds. One person inside managed to hide and called 911. When police arrived, they found four people dead, a woman, her son, and a family friend, as well as Cheatham who had taken his own life. Investigators say Cheatham had a history of mental illness, but his exact motive for the killings is not clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. BOB CALLAHAN, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS BUREAU: There's a relationship between the families, it certainly isn't a relationship that we would think would result in violence like this. There is, you know, some indication that he wanted to come to the house yesterday, and was asked not to, but we don't know why that is or what would make -- make the Price family ask that he not come over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: The Price family he's referring to, the family in the second home where Cheatham did the shootings. Investigators say based on the position of the bodies, it looks like the victims inside the Great Falls home were trying to get away when Cheatham shot them. All killed with a nine millimeter handgun. Police said Cheatham also shot the family's dog three times, but the animal survived -- Tom.

FOREMAN: Brian, are the police giving any other details into the history of this man, the suspect as to why this might have happened or what he's done in the past.

TODD: One police official says that the young man had some miner incidents, criminal incidents in his past and had he had, quote, "made contact with a mental health professional" in the past. But details of all on those events are unclear. We hope to be getting more of them very soon.

FOREMAN: We'll stay on it. Thank you very much, Brian. A terrible story.

Zain Verjee is off this week, so Kimberly Osias is joining us now with a closer look at other the news making news this week -- Kimberly.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello Tom. Well, it has been one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since the December 15 elections. Five Iraqi policemen were killed and four wounded in attack on a checkpoint, north of Baghdad. Al Qaeda in Iraq is claiming responsibility. In other incidents, five people died in car bomb explosions in Baghdad. Five soldiers were killed in apparently coordinated attacks north of the capital, and a provincial governor was wounded.

In Russia, more than 70 people were sickened by a noxious gas released into a chain store. Boxes with glass containers connected to wires were found in at least two other stores that are part of the same chain. Officials say don't think it was a terrorist attack. They suspect a plot to blackmail store managers, perhaps by a rival.

A police vehicle drove off an open drawbridge near Jersey City, New Jersey on Christmas night. The body of one officer has been found, the other is presumed dead. The officers were returning from delivering flares to the bridge operator because a safety gate wasn't working. They didn't know the bridge had opened to let a tugboat through.

And a surfer in Oregon ace that when he was attacked by a great white shark he reacted instinctively.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN ANDERSON, SHARK ATTACK SURVIVOR: I just felt something grab my leg and next thing I knew, I was just looking at this thing and it was just a great white shark and my mind ran automatically and it came up and I saw the nose of it and I just punched it in the nose right by the eye as quickly as I could. That's all I could think to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP) OSIAS: And that may have saved Brian Anderson's life. Anderson says he learned from television the shark's nose is the most sensitive point, but experts say it's better to aim for the eyes. And he says after getting slugged in the snout, the shark let go. Hear more from Brain Anderson coming up in our next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM -- Tom.

FOREMAN: Thank you Kimberly. Better living through television, that's my motto. A lot going on in the world out there and a lot going on online, particularly in regard to our top story, the domestic spying controversy. Our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is here with the latest buzz -- Jacki.

JACKI SCHECHNER, INTERNET REPORTER: Well, it's been a long time since we've seen the left and right glom (ph) onto the same story and stick with it. Just want to give you an idea of what people are talking about today, and it is in fact the spy story. There are two separate threads. The first one being Colin Powell and his statement about whether or not he supports President Bush's use of the National Security Agency, spying all that good stuff.

Over on the left, the "Carpetbagger Report" this is one thread talking about how Powell is confused that he says what he feels about President Bush and that he certainly had the right to do what he did although there were other means for him to go about it. We're seeing that from the right as well. John Cole tends to be more of a moderate republican coming down and saying the same thing. That was the general consensus is that Colin Powell was straddling the fence on this one.

The other issue of the spy story is whether or not the press should go ahead and report these stories. And we're seeing a huge split on this one over on the right with someone like Michelle Malkin she's turning around and saying let's go after the reporters, subpoena, prosecute, let's hold anyone responsible for coming out with the information. On then over on the left, there's a discussion of whether or not this is a violation of first amendment rights -- Tom.

FOREMAN: Well, thank you very much Jacki.

Still ahead, Angelina Jolie and her many roles as an actress, a mother, and a global activist, among others. She speaks out about the subjects that touch her most, including her daughter and the fight against AIDS.

And later, one year after the tsunami, the hard work that still lies ahead to rebuild parts of Asia that the waves wiped out. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: Actress Angelina Jolie is used to making headlines for her personal life and her humanitarian work. Recently the United Nations goodwill ambassador was right here in Washington to honor companies active in the global fight against AIDS. She sat down with wolf and talked about a number of issues, including how the AIDS epidemic touched her adopted daughter Zahara. They spoke at the time when the devastation from Hurricane Katrina was really quite fresh in many people's minds and along with her was Trevor Neilson, the executive director of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Angelina, thanks very much for joining us. Trevor, thanks to you as well.

I want to get to the whole HIV/AIDS project momentarily, but your thoughts on what -- what went through your mind in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?

ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS AND U.N. GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: Oh my God! Well, I think -- well, for me, the situation -- because I've been to so many refugee camps, it seemed like something I didn't expect to ever see in America. And it was something that I was -- I was wondering who was going to be called in. I think I was like most people; I was just waiting to see when everybody was going to get in, who was coming, how they were going to get organized. I called UNHCR and I said, have you guys been called? Because they coordinate relief efforts like that, and people who are displaced. And they said, no, but we're standing by.

And then the second day, and the third day -- and like most people, just started to get angry and really sad and really confused.

BLITZER: Were you, like, addicted to watching the images on television?

JOLIE: I was, a bit. And a close girlfriend of mine was from there, and so I was around a lot of emotion and a lot of -- yes, I mean it's...

BLITZER: I think a lot of people really were shocked to see those pictures. None of us thought we would ever see anything like that in the United States, but you know what? It underscored that there is a lot of poverty in this country.

JOLIE: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And when you hear the statistics when they talk about -- they tell everybody to evacuate, but then you read, and you read more, and then it says 140,000 people had no cars and no way to evacuate, and you think, that's a fact. And we know that.

So what does that mean, that we say evacuate, but then we don't airlift people? I just -- I think it was just for all of us, still, we don't quite know what that says about...

BLITZER: I know you're very generous, in terms of your charity and the philanthropy. Did you get involved in New Orleans, in Louisiana and Mississippi?

JOLIE: My first instinct -- well, I think the first instinct for everybody was to go on and ask for money. And my -- because I had seen so much money in different parts of the world just not be able to actually get to the people because the reality is, so many times, wonderful organizations like Red Cross, you build up a lot of money, but until our government was going to step in and bring order, you can't get the aid to the people in most need.

So I was, at that point, focused, and I released a statement that I was going to be writing to my congressman and, you know, to my representatives, and to the president and to ask them first. So that's what I was doing. I was kind of pushing people to try to get them in, to try to get somebody in to respond.

And now my focus is -- will be in helping to rebuild and going in after and when it settles and seeing what needs to be done, which I don't know what that is yet.

BLITZER: How do you divide up your domestic priorities -- helping people in this country -- as opposed to helping people around the world?

JOLIE: I don't. You know, to me it's not a different thing. I don't kind of say, a bit here, a bit there. I think -- and I tend to hear a lot of that now, people say, oh, we're doing this here. Like recently the idea of funds, possibly because of Hurricane Katrina, they'll say, well their fund's going there, so maybe it might be taken out of the PetPharm fund for AIDS, or it might be taken out of the -- I don't understand that. My personal view is, give everything you've got to everything that 's necessary. Find a way. And it's not ...

BLITZER: But are you concerned that Americans are going to now look inside and forget about the needs in Africa or elsewhere around the world?

JOLIE: I hope not, and I don't think -- that's not the American spirit, it's not their heart. But I think they're very also affected by the news. And if they just see headlines after headlines of just one emergency, it will be hard for them to remember how many human rights abuses are going on and crises and civil wars and, you know, AIDS, and all of these other things that they need to, you know, to be focusing on as well.

And there isn't -- you know, this idea that, well, we can only give to one -- that tends to happen. You give to one, you focus on one, and the others don't go away.

BLITZER: How did you get involved in -- you're a U.N. goodwill ambassador. How did this happen that, all of a sudden, one day a very glamorous movie star like yourself winds up going around the world, including in these refugee camps, and you're working to try to do something about HIV/AIDS?

JOLIE: I just -- I feel very, very fortunate that I started traveling with work, and my eyes were opened through meeting people of other countries and seeing what life was like for them in countries like Cambodia and Sierra Leone and realizing that I couldn't just rely on, you know, what was being taught to me at school or basic news, that I needed to go out and really try to see for myself, and met a lot of amazing people. So it's been nothing, really, but inspiring and gave me strength and hope. And I've met the most wonderful people who are refugees or child-soldiers, who are -- who've taught me just about life. And so I'm just blessed to be able to work with them. It's a great thing.

BLITZER: Trevor, what is the purpose of what you're doing here in Washington?

TREVOR NEILSON, GLOBAL BUSINESS COALITION: Well, we're trying to call on the world's business community to better respond to the AIDS pandemic and trying to use business leaders to put pressure on government to do more. You know, every day 8,000 people die from AIDS. It's an everyday hurricane -- every single day. And another 1,200 every day are infected. And so with Angie's help, and the help of our CEOs who are here, Condoleezza Rice, Secretary -- Senator Clinton -- we're all going to be coming together tonight to try to say to companies, you've got to get involved, you've got to do what you can to try to stop this.

BLITZER: And they're responding?

NEILSON: They really are responding. We're going to have 600 people tonight at the Kennedy Center. Massive numbers of companies have come together, but not enough is happening.

You know, as Angie said, you know, the suffering that everyone witnessed there in New Orleans, and now the suffering caused by Hurricane Rita, that suffering is multiplied times a thousand in Africa every single day. And the American spirit is one that lends itself to helping. And when people are aware of these things, they want to help.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Up next, more of Wolf's interview with Angelina Jolie. The actress AID activist talks about her adopted daughter and how HIV changed everything for her baby.

And later, downloading Hillary Clinton. The senator wants a place on your brand new iPod and she's not alone. We'll explain right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Actor Brad Pitt recently confirmed that he's trying to become the adoptive father of Angelina Jolie's children. His relationship with Jolie and her kids is, of course, a popular tabloid topic. But there is a serious side to Jolie's family matters. Her daughter, Zahara, is closely linked to the actress's work fighting AIDS. More now of Wolf's interview with Angeline Jolie on the causes that hit so very close to her home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: You've adopted a young kid. Talk a little bit about her. Zahara is her name. ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: Zahara. She's from Ethiopia. She's an AIDS orphan.

BLITZER: What does that mean, an AIDS orphan?

JOLIE: It means that's what they believe how she lost her parents.

BLITZER: Both her mother and her father?

JOLIE: Yes. They didn't have a track on the father. I think the mother is -- I think there wasn't like a marriage. I think it was just the woman got pregnant.

BLITZER: Does she have AIDS?

JOLIE: No, she doesn't. But we didn't know that at first.

BLITZER: She's not HIV positive?

JOLIE: She is not, no. But we didn't know that. And there were a lot of -- I think the most upsetting thing for me was that I came here -- she had to go to the hospital for dehydration and malnutrition. And when she got there, there was lots of other things that they were concerned about that were showing up that turned out to be different things. They thought there was a mass in her arm. It turned out to be a rickets fracture from being malnourished.

BLITZER: How old is Zahara now?

JOLIE: She is nine months soon. But there was a fear that she had HIV. And the upsetting thing was that I was sat down and it was explained to me, "Don't worry because in this country, it's not a death sentence." You know, which is also saying to me, you know, because she's not in an area where she's poor, now she can live because she's not in an area where she can't access medicine. You know, it was such a kind of horrible thing to hear.

BLITZER: Because in Ethiopia, she would die.

JOLIE: Because what they're saying is this is something that because you're in a wealthier country, you have more of a chance to -- but at the end of the day, I was terrified but prepared, because it is something I think we should all be prepared to take on. It's a very real, very serious, very scary thing. But at the same time, we should not be scared to adopt children that possibly could have AIDS. It's OK. But she does not.

BLITZER: Which is very good, and I'm sure you're thrilled.

JOLIE: Yes.

TREVOR NEILSON, AIDS ACTIVIST: There will be 25 million AIDS orphans by 2010. There are 18 million today. Unfortunately, most of them haven't been adopted. Most aren't even in the process of being adopted. And so we're looking at ways that can change, looking at ways to try to get Americans and Europeans and others to understand that there are children out there that need loving homes and deserve loving homes.

JOLIE: Every 14 seconds...

NEILSON: Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned.

BLITZER: Bono, another star who has been deeply involved in trying to help people around the world, he was quoted in "Time" magazine in June as saying the most important and toughest nut is still President Bush. He feels he's already doubled and tripled aid to Africa, which he has, but he started from far too low a place. Are you getting involved in the politics here in Washington, as well, trying to excite people, Democrats and Republicans?

JOLIE: I didn't mean to, but this morning I ended up in it. Just because I, this morning, found myself questioning -- and genuinely questioning, not trying to have an opinion in Washington. But I found myself genuinely questioning when it was brought up how much was spent, like I said, then I don't have an opinion. I'm not saying for or against war. But the amount that is spent every month -- I think they said $5 billion. And to sit there and to kind of suddenly realize that if we're spending $15 billion on AIDS for over -- what is it, three years? Five years?

NEILSON: In fact, we actually haven't spent nearly that much.

JOLIE: But we haven't even spent that. We spent 2.3, which is, what two weeks in Iraq? That's what we've spent on AIDS. Is that really what's so -- so I didn't mean to start to get into it, but I suppose you can't help it when you kind of have to ask those questions.

BLITZER: When you feel passionate and you're in Washington, D.C., you've got to do it.

JOLIE: Stuck in it.

BLITZER: Angelina Jolie, thanks very much. Thanks for coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks for your good work. Trevor, thanks to you, as well.

NEILSON: Thanks, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Coming up, wiretaps without warrants. The negative buzz still echoing in the president's ears. And in our strategy session too, can he put this controversy to rest as the new year approaches?

And Condoleezza Rice on the NSA spy flap and other flash points for the Bush White House. The secretary of state's one-on-one interview with Wolf in our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour of THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: Welcome back. Zain Verjee is off this week, so Kimberly Osias joins us now with a closer look at all the other stories making news today -- Kimberly?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, Tom. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's doctors say he will be operated on in the next few weeks to repair a small hole in his heart. The doctors say it's a minor birth defect found in at least 15 percent of the population. It was discovered after Mr. Sharon suffered a stroke earlier this month. Doctors say the hole contributed to causing the stroke.

The mayor of London says that his city has been a terrorist target 11 times since the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington. One attack, of course, succeeded last July. Suicide bombers killed dozens on subways and a bus, but the mayor says there were eight other attempts before that attack and two more afterwards.

Pope Benedict XVI offered his traditional day after Christmas blessing to crowds in St. Peter's Square today. This day also is the feast day for Christianity's first martyr, Saint Stephen. The pope said that in parts of the world, Christians still are persecuted for their faith.

And at the Abundant Life Christian center near Galveston, Texas, they're taking a less traditional approach to ringing in 2006. They're planning to raffle off a $120,000 house. All you have to do is show up for New Year's Eve services. The pastor says, "Well, it's a way to boost church attendance and keep people off the streets." The winner still has to pay for building materials, closing costs, and taxes. Not a bad deal, huh, Tom?

FOREMAN: Not too bad. We'll see how it works out. Thank you, Kimberly.

President Bush is also in Texas taking a few days off on this holiday week. But at the same time, he says the U.S. is still determined to help tsunami survivors rebuild their economies, communities, and lives. In a statement today, Mr. Bush says Americans are still with those who suffered one year after huge waves triggered by an earthquake wiped out parts of Asia. CNN's Hugh Remington looks back and ahead at all the work that still needs to be done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUGH REMINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was everyone's disaster. A disaster of the global age to which the world responded. In human memory, there had never been this. An earthquake so great, its waves killed from one side of the Indian Ocean to the other. It left communities mourning from Sri Lanka to Sweden, Sumatra to Somalia. More than 200,000 people dead or missing, a force that marked forever the survivors, that awed anyone who even glimpsed its path.

COLIN POWELL, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is indeed an international tragedy, and we're going to do everything we can to assist the nations that have been affected. REMINGTON: A year on, the tropical winds blow sweetly again and clean. The smell of death is gone. But what happened to all those faces, mute and stunned, stretched and desperate? What happened to the villages and the cities that were leveled? What lies now where businesses and their owners were swept away, where peasant huts disappeared?

And what about the money? The world responded with unprecedented feeling, with billions of dollars from national treasuries and from personal piggy banks. Well, it did keep people alive. The toll after the tsunami would have been much greater without that help. The money has repaired or replaced fishing fleets. It's immunized children, restored basic shelter and sanitation.

International attention brought other positives too, helping bring a peace deal to the worst hit area of Aceh after a generation of civil war. But a million people pitched into poverty by the tsunami remain there. The salt incursion has ruined huge swaths of farmland, some of it permanently, 200,000 businesses, most of them tiny family concerns, are lost in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives.

In Aceh, there is still little in the way of permanent housing. Unemployment remains demoralizing and debilitating. Small businesses are sprouting again in the ruins, fishing communities are again working the seas. People are alive, but without international help and their own extraordinary resilience would not be. But the disaster of the generations might still take a generation to put right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Seems longer than a year ago that all that happened. We'll devote more coverage to the tsunami in our next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM. Whatever happened to Baby 81? That's one of the questions. He survived the tsunami, only to be claimed by several parents desperately looking for their baby. We'll show you where he is now. And all that's coming up.

Well, up next, right here, how is the Bush administration handling the controversy over the NSA secretly listening in on Americans' phone calls? Join our strategy session, where, of course, there are no secrets. And Anna Nicole Smith gets by with a little help from the White House. Stay with us.

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FOREMAN: Today in our strategy session, the controversy just continues to grow over presidentially approved eavesdropping by the National Security Agency. Has the Bush administration done a good enough job explaining its actions? What role should Congress play in investigating all of this?

Plus, is the announcement of troop reductions in Iraq a sign of things to come in 2006? Joining us to discuss it are CNN analyst, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and Bay Buchanan, the president of American Cause. I want to start off with you, Donna, if I can. Here we are in the holiday week, normally a quiet time. Things normally shouldn't cranking (ph) a whole lot. Democrats are still excited over this NSA leak thing. It's something they believe the White House really made a big mistake on.

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, not just Democrats. Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is also deeply concerned, and he's also indicated there will be oversight hearings in January. What we need to determine is whether or not the administration had the legal authority to conduct these warrantless searches, or did they rely on Article II of the Constitution, which give the commander-in-chief broad powers to protect the nation?

Regardless of where they come down on this -- and of course, I have an opinion -- it's important for the American people. We don't want our liberties compromised. We need to make sure that there are safeguards in place so that no one abuses this program.

FOREMAN: Do you think it's important to keep that issue alive during this holiday week? Because a week goes by and it cools off.

BRAZILE: Well, over the weekend, the administration sent a letter to the chair and ranking minorities on the Intelligence Committee, and we've also seen in news reports that the National Security Agency perhaps expanded their authority and was data mining using telephone records. So we need to know the whole truth, nothing but the truth, and we need these hearings in January.

FOREMAN: I want to hear what Bay says about this, but first, let's take a look at what Colin Powell said. The former secretary of state made his own comments about this, which have attracted a good bit of attention. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: My own judgment is that it didn't seem to me, anyway, that it would have been that hard to get the warrants. And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it. The law provides for that. And then three days later, you let the court know what you have done and deal with it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Bay, what do you make of this? Is this damaging to have somebody who was part of the administration, in seemingly a very sober and calm way, saying this doesn't look right?

BAY BUCHANAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CAUSE: Well, you know, I don't understand. If you had played the entire interview of Colin Powell, he made it very clear he thought the president did nothing wrong, the president was completely in his authority to do exactly what he did. And then he added this and said, "Well, he could have gotten the warrants. I don't see why he didn't but he did."

But the key here point is this. It's nothing -- the president did nothing illegal, and the president did nothing unprecedented. This is power that's given to the president. He was within the law. And he certainly was -- he was extraordinarily prudent to be as aggressive as he was trying to defend the United States.

And the Democrats are foolhardy to be trying to raise this as something the president did wrong, because what the American people see is a man that's bold and decisive when it comes to defending this country. And if it's a close call, he's choosing the side of Americans, not the side of terrorists.

FOREMAN: How do you answer this, Donna? Because I know this has been raised, this question of Democrat -- the suggestion is that Democrats are listening inside the beltway and missing the point that many people out in Nashville and Topeka and Des Moines are going to say, "Look, if it's protecting me, fine."

BRAZILE: The Democrats gave the president, like Republicans, the authority to conduct this war, but they did not give the president a blank check to go out there and to eavesdrop on American citizens. And so I think what will happen during the hearings is we'll learn were why the president had to bypass this court in order to get the information. We need to know more before we just give again the administration a blank check or more power.

BUCHANAN: This is a law that was passed back in 1978, I believe. It's the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It's very clear in it, in international phone calls when you have somebody here talking to somebody overseas who is indeed identified as a terrorist, you may eavesdrop without a warrant. It's very clear.

BRAZILE: We're not questioning the law, we're questioning the president and the administration bypassing that...

BUCHANAN: He didn't bypass the...

BRAZILE: ... court in order to, in their judgment, to expedite the process when the process does allow for speed to be...

BUCHANAN: You can, but do you not have to if it's an international phone call, according to the law.

FOREMAN: Whether this has legs outside of Washington, it clearly has a lot inside Washington.

BUCHANAN: Listen, I think this is an excellent issue for the president and for Republicans.

FOREMAN: Let's look at Iraq right now. Now we're talking about troops coming down in Iraq, and Secretary Rumsfeld made a point of saying if you talk about pulling people back, some of you (ph) talk about reducing troops, that's different. It's a planned pullback versus cutting and running, as so many people say. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: If every time in our history when we were in a conflict we followed the advice of those who wanted to toss in the towel and quit and not persevere, we wouldn't have a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Are you encouraged by this, Donna, the fact that they're talking about reducing troops, or not?

BRAZILE: Oh, absolutely. I think all Americans are encouraged by what the secretary said this week, that two battalions will be ready to come home during the spring. Look, we're approaching the third anniversary of our deployment in Iraq. Our troops have done a fantastic job, but at some point, we've got to start bringing them home and let the Iraqi people, as the president said, step up and govern themselves.

FOREMAN: Bay, with this move coming right now after so much pressure about it, how come people shouldn't see this as the White House buckling to public pressure?

BUCHANAN: Clearly they are not.

FOREMAN: Why is it clear that they're not?

BUCHANAN: Because we just had an election. The purpose of building that troop level over there was because the elections occurred; they were successful. And so it's natural some of them are coming home. We even talked about that before. And the president has always said once the Iraqi people -- once their military is ready to take over more and more, we'll start backing off. And so this is perfect timing.

Look what the president has done in two months. First of all, we hear whining go on too -- whining from the Democrats, "Oh, he lied. He did this," whining. The president went and put those fellows to bed without dinner, removed them from the scene, and now aggressively made a case, this is America's war, there's victory in light. We are going to go ahead. And he's moved ahead, and he's winning. He's winning the whole argument.

FOREMAN: Last question.

BRAZILE: We want our troops to win so that they can come home sooner rather than later.

FOREMAN: Does this remain, yes or no, an Achilles heel for the president, Iraq in 2006.

BRAZILE: Oh, absolutely. This is a big part of his legacy.

FOREMAN: That's more than yes, but you went with yes.

BUCHANAN: This is an Achilles heel for the Democrats. They are weak on defense issue after issue in the last two months. They are weaker and weaker. They are going to be hurt in '06.

FOREMAN: And we are weak on time. We've got to go. Thank you very much, Donna Brazile, Bay Buchanan.

Still to come, coming to an iPod near you, the best of Hillary Clinton. All her greatest hits. Our online report looks at a new trend in downloads.

And a spike in flu cases, and it's got California's name on it. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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