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The Situation Room
Cheney's Hunting Accident; On the Watch for Bird Flu
Aired February 16, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: And to our viewers, you're now in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you the day's top stories. Happening now, a show of support for the vice president from his boss. It's 7:00 p.m. here in Washington where President Bush now is talking publicly about Dick Cheney's hunting accident. But have all the questions about the shooting been answered? We'll examine what we know and what we still don't know.
Also this hour, on the watch for bird flu: What's being done to detect a deadly strain if and when it spreads to the United States? We'll take you to a live poultry market and a bird flu testing center to find out.
And terror with benefits: Who knew working for Al Qaeda includes time off with pay? We have the contract to prove it and wait until you read the fine print. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Tonight, both of the top men at the White House have weighed in on the vice president's hunting accident. On this day after Dick Cheney broke his silence, President Bush declared himself satisfied with Cheney's explanation. Listen to the president's Q&A with reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Do you feel it was appropriate that the vice president didn't (INAUDIBLE) the shooting accident until the next day (INAUDIBLE) the Senate and do you think it was OK that he didn't talk to you about it personally until Monday?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought the vice president handled the issue just fine. He went to -- and I thought his explanation yesterday was a powerful explanation. Now, this is a man who likes the outdoors and he likes to hunt and he heard a bird flush and he turned and pulled the trigger and saw his friend get wounded. And it was -- it was a deeply traumatic moment for him and obviously for the -- it's a tragic moment for Harry Whittington. And so I thought his explanation yesterday was a very strong and powerful explanation and I'm satisfied with the explanation he gave.
QUESTION: Some Democrats say this shooting episode has contributed to the protection that the White House secrets. What do you say to that, sir? BUSH: I think people are making the wrong conclusion about a tragic accident. The vice president was involved in a terrible accident and it profoundly affected him. Yesterday, when he was here in the Oval Office, I saw the deep concern he had about a person who he wounded and he, again, I thought yesterday his explanation was a very strong and important explanation to make to the American people. And now our concerns are directed toward the recovery of our friend. I knew Harry Whittington when I was the governor of Texas, down there in Austin. He's a fine man. He was been in a -- you know, been involved in our state's politics for a long period of time and, you know, my concern is for Harry, and I know the vice president feels the same way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The White House is ready to close the book on Cheney's hunting accident and the local sheriff is as well. Tonight we have the sheriff's official report on the shooting investigation. Does it fill in all of the blanks or does it raise some more questions? Our White House correspondent Dana Bash is standing by, but let's go to Corpus Christi, Texas, first our Ed Lavandera has been closely watching the investigation -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Well, it is a five- page report and one thing is becoming clear as the days move on here, the sheriff of Kenedy County believed it was an accident, even before any of the official interviews had been conducted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department says the investigation into the vice president's hunting accident is over and the case closed.
CHIEF DEP. GILBERTO SAN MIQUEL, KENEDY CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Well, there's going to be no criminal charges filed. This was just a mere hunting accident.
LAVANDERA: Hours earlier, the sheriff's report on his investigation was made public. It documents that law enforcement officials were notified of the shooting Saturday evening shortly after it happened. But the chief deputy didn't actually go to the Armstrong Ranch to interview Cheney and other witnesses until Sunday morning. That was more than 14 hours after Cheney shot and wounded his friend and hunting partner, Harry Whittington.
Whittington was interviewed in the hospital on Monday. Interviews with other witnesses were conducted on Thursday and Wednesday. According to the report Whittington, quote, "Explained foremost there was no alcohol during the hunt and everyone was wearing the proper hunting attire." Vice president Cheney acknowledged yesterday that he did have a beer at lunch, but he says that was several hours before the shooting. The sheriff's response to the accident has been under nearly as much scrutiny as the vice president's actions. He was asked if he went into the investigation with an open mind. MIQUEL: Of course, we want to find out everything we possibly can about this. I mean, we can't just go in there assuming something.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Mr. Whittington is still here in the hospital in Corpus Christi. Doctors say they are waiting for the results of one final CAT scan. If doctors like what they see then, Mr. Whittington could be going home sooner than expected, back home to Austin, perhaps, in a few days -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ed Lavandera reporting for us. Thanks Ed.
Let's go over to the White House, Dana Bash is standing by.
The president says he's satisfied, Dana, but there are a lot of reports that there's still some deep irritation on how this all played out. What are you hearing?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, definitely the irritation is something that was very real. They're hoping that they can move past that here, but as we've been talking about over the last week, the president's aides have made clear that they did not think that the vice president, himself, handled the situation right. Even Scott McClellan saying that he speaks for the president when he says that things can always be handled better and there was a telling moment, certainly what appeared to be a telling moment in that Oval Office clip you played earlier. The president was asked point-blank if he thought that the timing was off, that he took too long essentially for the vice president to come out and he did not answer it. He simply said, "I'm satisfied with the explanation he gave" and he clearly wanted to move on -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Dana, how has the White House tried to humanize this story?
BASH: From the moment we heard the vice president speak in his interview it was clear that what his associates wanted to do, what the White House wanted to do is make this not as it was perceived, a political cover-up, even, but as a sympathetic story, a human story, a story about, as the vice president himself said, a man who shot his friend. And you heard the president in that clip from the Oval Office try to add to that, talking about the fact that he actually saw some emotion and the fact that the vice president was quite upset. He offered this experience, with the vice president, in the Oval Office, yesterday, part of that strategy to try to make this something that really is, hopefully, going encourage sympathy from people and not frustration and concern.
BLITZER: Dana Bash, thanks very much. We're going to have much more on the Cheney story coming up this hour including my interviews with Catherine Crier, a court TV anchor and former Texas judge, as well as with Democratic Senator Joe Biden. Both of them coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Tonight, though, there's a developing story, a very important one, potentially, on Capitol Hill in the controversy over the president's domestic spying program. An intelligence committee probe of the program, at least for now, and a deal with the White House appears, appears to be on. Let's go to Capitol Hill, our congressional correspondent Ed Henry has details -- Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good evening, Wolf. In fact, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says he has cut a deal with the White House that will assuage critics of that NSA surveillance program. Pat Roberts of Kansas saying the program has two -- the deal has two ingredients. First of all, the White House has now agreed to a legislative fix to FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to end these questions about the legality of the surveillance program and secondly, the White House now agreed to brief Congress more regularly about the operations of that program.
Roberts says as a result of that progress, he no longer sees the need for his committee to open an investigation of the surveillance program. Democrats led by Jay Rockefeller say this is sweeping it under the rug and that the Republicans are not providing any oversight of the White House. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS), INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: I believe that such an investigation, at this point, is basically -- would be detrimental to this highly-classified program and our efforts to reach some accommodation with the administration. And this program is one, which I believe, is vital for the protection of the American people.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV), INTELLIGENCE VICE CHAIRMAN: The Senate Intelligence Committee has a unique and constructive role to play in guiding and informing this debate, if we knew what was in the program, but the Senate Intelligence Committee does not know what's in the program and therefore, it'd be fairly hard to draw conclusions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, Rockefeller charged that the Intelligence Committee is slipping into irrelevancy by not stepping up and providing oversight. Roberts insisted, though, in fact if the White House does not follow through on this reported deal, he will open he will open an investigation on March 7 -- Wolf.
BLITZER: In a totally unrelated matter, Ed, you're getting new details now on this ethical cloud that has been raised over the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Explain to our viewers what's going on and what you're learning right now.
HENRY: Just a few minutes ago, in fact, Senator Specter announced he is turning over questions to the Senate Ethics Committee about whether or not one of his staffers was involved in a conflict of interest. Basically this is in reaction to a "USA Today" story, today, alleging there were almost $50 million in defense contracts that Specter steered to a lobbyist who happens to be married to a top Specter aide. That staffer is, in fact, in charge of helping to dole out spending projects. Specter insists there was no conflict of interest. He told CNN, in fact, he was never lobbied by this lobbyist, but in order to clear the air, to try to pull this cloud away, he's decided to turn it over to the Senate Ethics Committee so that they can investigate it.
BLITZER: All right, Ed Henry, breaking news here on our program. Thanks very much, Ed Henry, our congressional correspondent.
Our Zain Verjee continues to help out "AMERICAN MORNING." Fredricka Whitfield is joining us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with a closer look at other stories making news.
Hi, Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening to you, Wolf. A federal judge is ordering the Bush administration to release documents about its program of domestic eavesdropping without a court order or compile a list of who what it's withholding within 20 days. A private advocacy group requested the documents in December. The Freedom of Information Act requires that routine requests be processed within 20 days. The Justice Department had argued that because the group asked for expedited service the law did not specify a time limit.
The Bush administration is asking Congress for $56 billion in additional funding to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon says the supplemental budget request is based on U.S. troop levels in Iraq remaining around 138,000. The money would fund U.S. Military operations in the two countries through the end of September. If approved, it would bring total war spending to nearly $400 billion since the fighting started.
And thanks, but no thanks. That was Chicago's response to Republicans when they asked if the city might be interested in hosting their national convention in 2008. The city's leaders say they're to focused on a possible campaign to pursue the 2016 summer Olympic games to submit a bid for the Republican Convention --Wolf.
BLITZER: Fred, thank you very much.
Let's go back up to New York. Jack Cafferty is standing by with the Cafferty file -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, we're getting a little help from the United Nations. They weighed in with a report saying that the U.S. should close the detention facility of Guantanamo Bay. It's a highly-critical report, the United Nations says the U.S. should either bring to trial or release the terror suspects or enemy combatants that are being held there. It singles out interrogation techniques authorized by the Department of Defense. U.N. secretary- general Kofi Annan backs the report saying he hopes the United States will shut down the prison camp, quote, "As soon as possible."
The U.S. says it's particularly unfortunate that the report's authors didn't bother to visit Guantanamo and that the report doesn't reflect what they might have learned had they bothered to make such a visit. But the authors of the report say they reject an invitation to visit because they wouldn't have been allowed to interview the detainees. So they didn't bother to go at all.
About 520 people are being held at Gitmo as of October. The U.S. government has defended holding enemy combatants there without charges for as long as the war on terror goes on. But the U.N. says this goes against human rights law. So the question is this: Should the United States close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay? E-mail us at caffertyfile@cnn.com or go to cnn.com/caffertyfile -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jack Cafferty, thanks very much. You might want to check, Jack, also, see some of the members of the U.N. Human Rights Commission right now, you'll be very interested in some of those members.
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
BLITZER: The report has been submitted to them.
Now, coming up, questions are swirling about the possible legal implications of the vice president's hunting accident. We'll talk about them with court TV anchor and former Texas judge, Catherine Crier.
Also, would-be terrorists are offered a generous contract, relatively speaking. We're going to have details of the secret Al Qaeda document and how it was uncovered.
And it could be the first line of defense for protecting this country from bird flu. We're going to show you what's being done tonight to try to prevent the possible outbreak. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: President Bush says he's satisfied. Many Democrats say they're not satisfied. Senator Joe Biden takes a tough line on the vice president in the wake of his hunting accident. That interview, much more all coming up this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: More now on the possible legal implications of vice president Cheney's hunting accident. Catherine Crier is an anchor for court TV, a former anchor for this network, as well as a former technology judge.
Catherine, thanks very much for joining us.
CATHERINE CRIER, "COURT TV": Glad to be here.
BLITZER: Based on your experience, going back to Texas, what do you think of the way this hunting accident has been investigated?
CRIER: Oh, I think the investigation is pretty much par for the course, probably done a little more carefully because of the participants involved.
BLITZER: When you say done more carefully. A lot of people think it was done rather sloppily since no one was even questioned in the immediate hours after the vice president accidentally shot Harry Whittington in the face, they waited until the next morning.
CRIER: Well, we're talking hunting accidents here. We're talking about a group of friends that had been hunting together in a very long time. This isn't in defense of what I think the abysmal negligence was and that's the P.R. aspect here. But, it wasn't a situation where you immediately think criminal conduct on the part of some individual. It sounds like an accident. If it walks like a duck, it sounds like a duck, it probably is a duck and I think these guys, although they didn't show up that very night, and those of us who were concerned whether alcohol was involved, these kind of questions would have liked the sheriff on the scene that night, but the fact that he didn't show up was probably not that different from what might have been done in these similar circumstances.
BLITZER: The sheriff, Ramon Salinas said this in his incident report, "I received another call from the Secret Service asking if I was going to send someone to the ranch that Saturday night after the incident occurred. I told him that someone would be there first thing in the morning." And a lot of people are raising questions about the whole issue of alcohol. The vice president acknowledges he had a beer at lunch. Harry Whittington said in the hospital room he didn't think any alcohol was involved, but that kind of question could have been cleared up on the spot.
CRIER: Well, it certainly could have and we don't know whether the victim, if you will, whether Harry was tested for any sort of blood alcohol level at the hospital. One would expect that took place. Obviously, no report has come out, so we don't have that information, but again, you've got people who have been hunting together for years. It's not sort of the good old boys out in the pickup truck chasing the quail down the trail. So I don't imagine the sheriff was that alarmed. Also we do see that it is the vice president so they're probably not going to come in there with all their officers, you know, ready to interrogate with the hot lights on. I'm not surprised. They could have done it a little better in that regard, but, you know, I think the real reason this story has stayed on everybody's radar is because it seems to, you know, reinforce the aura of secrecy that hangs around vice president.
BLITZER: The sheriff also said, reinforcing the point you just made, "We've known these people [witnesses] for years. They're honest and wouldn't call us telling us a lie."
I was curious also in the incident report, when they went to question Mr. Whittington in the hospital that the chief deputy sheriff said this, "I asked Mr. Whittington if we could record our conversation and Mr. Whittington requested not to be recorded due to his voice being raspy. It was then I requested a written affidavit be done and Mr. Whittington gladly agreed to do one as soon as he returned back home to his office," but that's going to be days from now assuming he recovers well from this. Is that standard? They want to record a witness and the witness says don't record me because my voice is raspy?
CRIER: Well, I think your question is well targeted and I'm sure what you're asking is did they do favors to these people because the vice president was involved. My response would be it looks that way. If a cop comes in and wants on your statement, raspy voice or not, you give a statement. So, do I think they probably made concessions there? Absolutely.
BLITZER: Catherine Crier, as usual, thanks for joining us.
CRIER: Good to see you.
BLITZER: Still to come here in THE SITUATION ROOM, a journalist who's been covering Dick Cheney for many years, we'll get the inside story from a longtime Washington insider, journalist Tom DeFrank, he's standing by here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
And we'll show you some unusual steps being taken to prevent a possible bird flu pandemic here in the United States. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In the five days since the vice president's hunting accident we've been slowly getting details about what happened when the trigger was pulled and afterward. Now we have Dick Cheney's own account of the shooting along with the sheriff's report, but have all of the questions now been answered? Our Brian Todd has been investigating that and he's joining us now live from the newsroom -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, by our count, Vice President Cheney was asked eight times in that network interview, eight different ways, why neither he nor anyone in his party notified the national media of the hunting accident and why no public account was given until late the next morning. Cheney's most consistent explanation, given six times by our count, was along these lines, quote, "I wanted to make sure we got it as accurate as possible." The question now, do we have it as accurate as possible?
BLITZER: All right, it looks like we have a technical problem with Brian Todd's piece. We're going work on that. We'll take a quick -- well, actually let -- actually, we have it right now, let's roll that tape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): ...view that Vice President Cheney now accepts full responsibility for the shooting accident. It was not asked why he waited four days to do that, leaving the explanations to others.
KATHARINE ARMSTRONG, RANCH OWNER: Mr. Whittington decided to try to join them and he came up from behind the other two hunters and unfortunately did not announce to the other two hunters that he was there. SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Mrs. Armstrong spoke publicly about how this incident occurred and if I recall she pointed out that the protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington when it came to notifying the others that he was there.
TODD: We than Vice President Cheney had a beer at lunch on Saturday, but he said there was no drinking going on in the hunting party. In his interview with another network, Cheney was not asked why there was a 14-hour delay between the shooting and the time he was questioned by a Kenedy County sheriff's deputy.
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN'S "RELIABLE SOURCES": It's a little surprising that Brit Hume didn't find the time to ask about why Vice President Cheney delayed until the next morning speaking to law enforcement officers about the shooting. But on the other hand you can only ask so many questions in the space of a 20, or 25-minute interview.
TODD: We know Secret Service agents report the incident to the sheriff about an hour after the shooting. Secret Service officials also tell CNN the vice president asked if he could be questioned earlier, but the sheriff said he sent is someone out the next morning because, quote, "Everyone knew it was an accident."
Cheney said he did not speak to any White House official about the accident until Sunday morning and didn't speak to President Bush until Monday. He was not asked why.
RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": If you are the president of the United States and you are told that the vice president has been involved in an accident and -- I just find it really difficult to imagine that he did not pick up the phone until Monday, nor did the vice president talk to anyone on the White House staff himself until Sunday.
TODD: We know Vice President Cheney did not personally notify any media, he says because a press secretary was not on the scene and ranch owner Katharine Armstrong was the best person to tell reporters because, quote, "she'd seen the whole thing." But, why would Armstrong, after seeing Cheney's security detail running to the scene, tell the "Associated Press," quote, "The first thing that crossed my mind was, he had a heart problem."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: We called Katharine Armstrong today to get her version of exactly how much of the incident she saw, she did not return our calls -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian, thank you very much. The official report on the vice president's accidental shooting has just made -- been made available online. Let's go to our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner for that -- Jacki.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, we've been waiting all week for this report from the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department and we've got it today, and you've it, too, at thesmokinggun.com. These are the actual documents, not digital reasonings of those. And as you go through it a couple of things that we noticed. You've heard some excerpts of this on the show so far, that 6:30 was when the chief deputy was notified on Saturday night that something had happened. He was told to go to the ranch at 8:00 in the morning and he'd get more information at that point. Another thing we pointed out, when he went to talk to Mr. Whittington that they wanted to record the conversation. He said he didn't want that to happen because his voice was "raspy," that's the exact word.
Now also in this report, Mr. Whittington did talk about the incident, he explained foremost, the word in the report that there was no alcohol involved and everyone was wearing the proper attire of blaze orange. Also on the smokinggun.com is the original report we saw on incident from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. We noticed in this report that Mr. Whittington did not have hunting education certification. We did a little bit of research on that, turns out that every hunter in Texas does have to have it, Wolf, but only if you were born after September 2, 1971, and we do know that Harry Whittington was much older than that.
BLITZER: Jacki, thank you very much.
More now on the hunting accident. Tom DeFrank has unique insight into this story. He's the Washington bureau chief for the "New York Daily News" he's also a longtime well-connected reporter here in the nation's capital. You started covering Dick Cheney when, what? He was a congressman?
TOM DEFRANK, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": No, when he was a deputy chief of staff to Don Rumsfeld in the Ford administration in the fall of '74.
BLITZER: '74, so you've covered this guy for a long time. I've covered him going back to when he was a congressman, maybe even when he was chief of staff under President Ford. But, what surprised me, now, is that on Sunday they put out the story, Katharine Armstrong, that it was all Mr. Whittington's fault, he hadn't called out and announced where he was. The White House repeats that, Scott McClellan the next day and Cheney, on Wednesday, yesterday in the interview, he says that was all wrong. "I'm responsible. I hold myself accountable." But yet, that story was out there blaming Mr. Whittington. How do you explain Cheney's silence during those crucial days?
DEFRANK: Well, I think there's a combination of factors, Wolf, that go to the -- several factors but they go to the heart of the vice president's personality. First and foremost, I think, he's a very private person. He and I have talked about this from time to time. He jealously guards his privacy and I'm told that since 9/11 his feeling of privacy is even -- become even more intensified. I can remember 30 years ago after we were both on a TV show together, I asked him why he had such a low profile, and it's a memorable quote, especially in this context.
He said, "In this town if you stick your head up, somebody shoots it off." So he's always been very low profile and he's always had a passion for his personal privacy. I think there were a couple of other factors. One, he doesn't care much for the press anymore.
You and I have dealt with a lot of politicians who have said, I don't read polls and I don't care what people write or say about me. This guy, I think, really doesn't care what reporters write about him. He has a new chief staff, David Addington, who is a genial fellow but a real hard-line guy and he's even more disdainful of the press than the vice president and I think a little-known factor here is that three weeks ago Cheney's ace damage control guy Steve Schmitt who you know very well from the 2004 campaign left to go work for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to run Schwarzenegger's campaign in California and I think if Steve Schmitt were there you wouldn't have had this lag time.
BLITZER: I think you are absolutely right. He was sorely missed by the vice president during these crucial days. Talk a little bit about the relationship that you see developing between the president and the vice president. You've done some really good reporting on this.
DEFRANK: I think this is going to be another little strain. The president said all of the things that you would expect a president to say out of loyalty for a loyal vice president in his comments today, but the fact is the way this was handled was a problem and it was a problem for the vice president and that means it's a problem for the president and the word is the president is being loyal and saying what he should but he's none too thrilled about the way this was handle period.
BLITZER: Tom DeFrank, thanks for coming into THE SITUATION ROOM.
DEFRANK: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Vice President Cheney's hunting accident has brought renewed attention to him, his influence and his office. Our national correspondent Bruce Morton has been thinking about the power of Dick Cheney and his predecessors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Do vice presidents matter? They disagree. John Adams, George Washington's V.P., called it the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived. Thomas Jefferson, Adams' VP, called it honorable and easy, while the presidency was just a splendid misery.
Of course they matter when the president dies. Andrew Johnson mattered when John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln, though he didn't matter very successfully; he got impeached. Harry Truman made tough decisions when Franklin Roosevelt died during World War II. Dropped the atom bomb. Roosevelt never told him it existed. Backed NATO and the Marshall plan. His decisions mostly turned out pretty well.
Gerald Ford reassured a worried country when Richard Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment over Watergate.
GERALD FORD, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our long, national nightmare is over.
MORTON: But as vice presidents, they matter only if the president wants them to. John Nance Garner, Roosevelt's first VP, said the job wasn't worth a pitcher of warm, rhymes with spit.
STEPHEN HESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: And that's about the history of the presidency until recent days when presidents have chose to make something of them and no one has made as much of the vice presidency as George W. Bush has made of his vice president.
MORTON: Other recent VPs have had specific tasks. Al Gore, reorganizing and shrinking the federal government, for instance. But Cheney has been, always in private, a kind of first counselor among equals. Not a rival to the president, but his principal adviser. Even if his aim at the weekend was unfortunate, it will likely take more than birdshot to shake the president's faith in his deputy.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: We want to take a moment to say so long to Bruce Morton. He's retiring after 13 years at CNN, some 30 years over at CBS News. Bruce brings something special to television journalism, a unique voice, smart and wry with a perspective you can get only by covering politics for five decades. That voice will be missed. Bruce, we wish you only the best.
Just ahead, Senator Joe Biden on Dick Cheney, fiery words from this Democrat. Plus, animal health experts on high alert for signs of bird flu here right in the United States. We'll show you what they're doing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Some Democrats have seized on vice president Cheney's handling of his hunting accident to press their case that this administration is simply too secretive. Among those Democrats, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Thanks very much for joining us. The White House press secretary Scott McClellan said this about the vice president's interview yesterday. Listen to this.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The vice president participated in an interview yesterday and answered all the big questions relating to this issue and explained his rationale behind the decision that he made. The president is very satisfied with the way this matter has been addressed.
BLITZER: The president is very satisfied. What about you, Senator Biden?
SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D) DE: Well, you know, my mom has an expression. She'd say to me when I was a kid, Joey, sometimes you're your own worst enemy. The irony is I think the vast majority of Americans including me feel empathy and sympathy for Cheney and his good friend who got shot but the way they're going about this thing just sort of reinforces this whole notion that this administration, particularly this vice president is incredibly secretive about everything. He's turned in a personal tragedy which he'd get great empathy from the vast majority of Americans into something that it didn't have to be.
BLITZER: Is he a liability to this president?
BIDEN: Well, obviously the president makes that judgment. I think a lot of people have lost faith in Mr. Cheney, not because of this particular accident, but because of this, he seems to sort of set himself apart and by a different standard than other vice presidents and presidents for that matter have, and as things are kind of not going all that well in Iraq and not going all that well in other parts of the world with Iran and with Korea, I'm not sure that he helps the president much.
BLITZER: Do you want the vice president to have a full-scale news conference and answer questions more on this issue, but on a wide range of other issues, including what's happening in Iraq in terms of domestic surveillance and other issues that have come to the fore and the CIA leak investigation, the loss of his former chief of staff, Lewis, "Scooter" Libby who was criminally indicted.
BIDEN: Ordinarily you wouldn't want the president to do that, but it appears, again, appearances, it appears that the vice president is a major, major, major policymaker within this administration so you want to go to the horse's mouth. You want to go to the person who is credited and/or has the responsibility for the policy. In the case of -- I'd like to know, for example, did he authorize Scooter Libby to take on what otherwise was classified information? Did he on the spot declassify it in order to make a political point about the war in Iraq? It's those selective kind of judgments where he seems to -- kind of acts, Wolf, like there's a law and a rule for all the rest of us, but for him they don't apply.
BLITZER: But in fairness to the vice president, Senator, he says that the executive order that was signed a few years back gives not only a president, but also a vice president the right, the authority to declassify information. By the way, it does. All he has to do is say I authorized declassification. That's all.
And then, why did he authorize it to be declassified? It's okay. I mean, look. As you know, you're in one of the most seasoned reporters in all this country. You know that 75 -- I won't say. You, I believe, you know that a significant portion of the so-called leaks of information is classified and come out of the administrations Democrat and Republican. The fact is that there's this aura as to whether or not classified information before the war and after the war was selectively used to give an impression that was incorrect and now you have Scooter Libby saying that the president and the vice president who as my staff tells me five days after we invaded Iraq was given the power to be classified and he does have that power. Apparently, after that point gave Scooter Libby the ability to I guess, selectively declassify. And so did he do that? That's the first thing and why did he do it?
BLITZER: Unfortunately, senator, we have got to leave it right there, but thanks very much for joining us.
BIDEN: Thank you very much for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Up next, a decent salary, plenty of sick leave, lots of vacation time. Sounds like a pretty good job. It's actually the contract al Qaeda offers terrorists. We have details.
And animal health experts are keeping very close watch on fowl hoping to prevent a bird flu outbreak here in the United States. Stay with us.
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BLITZER: So far the deadly strain of bird flu known as H5N1 hasn't made it to the United States, but experts agree it may be a matter of time. It will most likely make its way via wild birds making its way from other continents. If that happens they could infect domestic bird populations and they can make their way into live bird markets.
CNN's Mary Snow is joining us from one of those markets in New York now with the bottom line.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, because New York City has the largest number of live bird markets, health officials say it's important to take extra precautions. This market alone has been tested and inspected ten times in the last year, all passing inspections. One thing that health officials are looking for and testing for is to see if there are any signs of bird flu.
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SNOW (voice-over): While most people buy their poultry at supermarkets there are many in cities like New York who buy chickens and other birds at live poultry markets. These markets are regulated and considered safe, but scientists worry they could one day pose a risk of becoming a breeding ground for spreading the deadly strain of bird flu, that's why samples are taken from birds like these and shipped hundreds of miles north of New York City to be tested in at a Cornell University lab.
SARAH SHAFER, MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIST, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Chickens, ducks, Cornish game hens, anything you would find in a live bird market in New York City.
SNOW: Sarah Shafer spends her days screening for any sign of the deadly strain, she admits it's a tedious process with some tests taking days to conduct.
SHAFER: If it got into the New York City livestock market we would find out here.
SNOW: Doctors say there's concern about live bird markets because it's a place where humans could come in direct contact with the deadly virus.
ALFONDO TORRES, ANIMAL HEALTH EXPERT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: They can move from bird to bird very rapidly. So the earliest we can detect it the quickest we can quench that outbreak and keep the outbreak from being overwhelming.
SNOW: Dr. Alfonso Torres heads the Cornell testing program where monitoring has been stepped up since the spread of avian flu. He says his goal is to build a fire wall.
TORRES: If we can prevent the viruses -- If they happen to occur in the market to go into the commercial flock then that's almost like a firewall. We can prevent that event from going elsewhere.
SNOW: And he stresses that the threat of the deadly bird flu strain reaching the U.S. is still a big if.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And Wolf, to give you an idea of how popular these live bird markets are, there are 90 of them in New York City alone and usually you'll find them in large cities with ethnic populations. Wolf?
BLITZER: Mary Snow, thank you very much. Excellent report for us. Coming up, al Qaeda's contract for would-be terrorists. Details of salary, even vacation time and sick time as well. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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BLITZER: When you think of al Qaeda you might rightly think of a terror group intent on killing. You might be surprised to know the organization also worries about some of the same kind of employment issues your company has to deal with. Details now from our CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it may seem bizarre, but apparently al Qaeda has employment qualifications.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): So, what does it take to be an employee of al Qaeda? The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has just released documents offering extraordinary details to answer that question. Military officials tell CNN they were chilled when they read a document known as the al Qaeda Employment Contract which they strongly believe to be authentic. It was seized after 9/11 in the home of an al Qaeda operative in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
There is an al Qaeda vacation policy. Married members get seven days of vacation every three weeks. Bachelors get five vacation days every month. Requests for vacation travel must be submitted two and a half months in advance.
Monthly salaries are spelled out. Sixty-five-hundred Pakistani rupees, about $108 if you are married. One thousand rupees, about $17 for bachelors. An extra 700 rupees per wife if you have more than one. The contract requires al Qaeda members to exercise and stay healthy, but they also get 15 days sick leave a year.
The document is one of dozens the special operations command asked West Point to analyze. The idea was to "develop a better understanding of the al Qaeda network in their own words." And the contract requires, of course, total loyalty, secrecy and adherence to jihad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: So what do these documents tell us, Wolf? Well, apparently four years ago al Qaeda was a highly organized business. Now, no one can say for sure what they are doing -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.
Let's find out what's coming up right at the top of the hour. That means Paula is standing by. Hi, Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN HOST: Hi, Wolf. Just about seven minutes from now we're going to take you behind the headlines to look at that new report on exactly what went wrong during Hurricane Katrina. Things were even worse than they first appeared and one of the big questions tonight, why was the secretary of homeland security at a bird flu conference during those first few days after landfall?
Also, some amazing pictures in a story that could end up saving your life or keep you from killing someone who was stopped by the side of the road. Deputies who stopped cars all of the time have some extraordinary video. What they had to put up with over the years and certainly want us to learn from what they're going show us tonight. All of that coming up at the top of the hour, Wolf?
BLITZER: Good. Thanks, Paula. We'll see you then. And we want to update you on a story we reported last night, still missing, Vivy, the prize-winning whippet. The show dog escaped her cage while traveling home from the annual Westminster Kennel Club competition. Our Internet reporter Abbi Tatton has some new details.
ABBI TATTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here is Vivy with owner Paul Lapiani (ph) at the Westminster Kennel Club show early this week. Now Paul spent much of this morning with Port Authority Police searching for Vivy after she went missing yesterday, bolting at John F. Kennedy airport. Now, there has been some discussion of what the dog is worth. Co-owner Joe Walton claimed at one point $150,000, later telling CNN she'd exaggerated that number to order to get a search helicopter in the air. Whatever Vivy is worth, she is missing. Anyone that sees this dog is urged to call Port Authority police -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Let's hope they find that dog quickly. Thanks very much.
Still ahead, should the U.S. close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. It's our question of the hour. Jack Cafferty is standing by with your email.
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BLITZER: Jack's back with what we call the "Cafferty File."
Jack?
CAFFERTY: That's what we call it and I'd like to think it was interesting, but I have no doubt in my mind, there's no way I can compete with Vivy, the prize-winning whippet, I mean that's a tough act to follow. We'll try, though. The U.N. say the U.S. should close its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. A highly critical report, the U.N. says the U.S. should either bring these people to trial or release the folks who are being held there. The question is what do you think the United States should close the detention center at Guantanamo?
Tom writes from Melbourne, Florida, "We have never had a major terrorist there, by the administration's own admission. It is so disingenuous say that after four years these individuals have anything to give us. Further, we've done nothing but further radicalize these people, charge them or let them go."
Wayne in Haskell, New Jersey, "Gitmo should be closed or at least be in compliance with the Geneva Conventions. How can we wage war against a country that violates its citizens' rights and then take those same rights away from our captives?"
Cecil in Belton, Texas, "The prison at Guantanamo Bay should only be closed when the last American soldiers come home. And whoever is left there poses no further danger to our country. If we are going to keep our soldiers in Iraq, at least keep the prisoners of war out of the war until it is over."
Don in Hamlin, Louisiana. "Everyone seems to be worried about turning the Gitmo detainees loose. We could give them all jobs at the U.S. ports that the administration wants to sell to a Middle Eastern company. At least that way we know who they are."
Bob in San Diego, "Close the detention center and move these poor, badly treated prisoner closer to Hollywood. House them in the homes of all the people that think we mistreat the mean who were captured on the battlefield killing American soldiers."
And Michael writes "Guantanamo Bay should be kept open. The U.N. should move there."
BLITZER: That's Michael's opinion. All right, Jack, thanks very much. See you back here tomorrow in THE SITUATION ROOM. Jack Cafferty in New York. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us. Don't forget, we're here in the SITUATION ROOM weekdays 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Back at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Until tomorrow, I am Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Let's head over to New York right now. Paula Zahn standing by.
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