Return to Transcripts main page
The Situation Room
White House Fires Back On Questions Of Bush's Credibility; New Court Filings In CIA Leak Case; Republican Leaders Vowing To Strip Provision That Would Make Being In This Country Illegally A Felony; Displaced New Orleans Voters Stream Into Satellite Polling Stations Across Louisiana;
Aired April 12, 2006 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Ali. And to your viewers, you are 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 today's top stories.
Happening now, the White House fires back amid new questions about the president's credibility. When did he learn the supposed evidence of WMD in Iraq was false? It's 4:00 p.m. in Washington where the administration is railing against what it calls, reckless reporting.
Also this hour, new court filings in the CIA leak case. Will defendant Lewis Libby offer any new bombshells? We are tracking that case. And we're also looking for clues about the president's handling of classified information.
New action in the immigration wars. Republican congressional leaders are agreeing to drop a widely protested provision. Did those huge rallies for immigrants' rights make a difference? I'm Heidi Collins. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Hi, everybody. Wolf is off today. Right now, the Bush White House is steaming. And it's vigorously denying that the president declared the existence of biological weapons labs in Iraq three years ago, knowing the information was false.
Back then, Mr. Bush touted the capture of two trailers in Iraq, declaring, we have found the weapons of mass destruction. "The Washington Post," reports two days before Mr. Bush made that announcement. Weapons experts concluded the trailers had nothing to do with WMD. We begin with our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux now. Suzanne?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Heidi, the White House using very strong language today, calling this irresponsible and even reckless reporting by "The Washington Post" and ABC News, taking very strong exception to the suggestion that President Bush deliberately used and knew about inaccurate information to make the justification for the war in Iraq, at issue a May 29th 2003 statement that he made in Polish television. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories. You remember Colin Powell stood up in front of the world and said, "Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons." They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions and we've so far discovered two.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, the evidence he's talking about, two trailers that were found in northern Iraq that U.S. intelligence claimed at the time were mobile weapons factories. The White House says that the president, the administration getting that information from the CIA and DIA. We have since learned from the government's own Iraq survey group that that was not the case, that that was not true. They weren't biological weapons lab.
Well "The Washington Post" reporting today that there was a Pentagon-sponsored mission that came to that conclusion, that they were not weapons facilities here and that that is something that they make known in a classified report in Washington two days before President Bush made that declaration. But today Scott McClellan saying very clearly that the president did not get that intelligence assessment until much, much later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president's statements were based on the joint assessment of the CIA and DIA that was publicly released the day before. So this was publicly provided to the American people. It's what the White House had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And of course, Heidi, the significance of this debate, it certainly comes at a time when polls are showing that the president has lost some points when it comes to trustworthiness and credibility.
Scott McClellan again taking a swipe at that, saying that he believes that the credibility gap lies with those people who continue to accuse the president of deliberately misleading the people and taking this country to war -- Heidi.
COLLINS: An interesting press conference, indeed it was. Suzanne Malveaux outside the White House. Thanks, Suzanne.
Now a quick fact check on this story. We asked our national security correspondent David Ensor about the timeframe for intelligence information to make it from the field to the White House. How long does that take? He says in almost every case, raw data would not arrive on the president's desk in a matter of a day or two.
So will this new flap over Iraq intelligence and WMD inflict more political pain on the Bush White House? Paul Begala and Charlie Black will square off on that just a little bit later in our "Strategy Session." So stick around for that. Meanwhile, another retired general is calling today for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign over his handling of Iraq. This general actually commanded an army division in Iraq just one year ago. Retired major general John Batiste told our Miles O'Brien the Pentagon needs a fresh start and a leader who knows how to build teams without intimidation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. JOHN BATISTE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: When decisions are made without taking into account sound military recommendations, sound military decision-making, sound planning, then we're bound to make mistakes. When we violate the principles of war with mass, in unity of command and unity of effort, we do that at our own peril.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So the secretary should step down?
BATISTE: In my opinion, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Batiste made his comments on "AMERICAN MORNING," which comes your way each day from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Batiste joins the ranks of several retired generals calling for Rumsfeld to step down. Now yesterday the defense secretary brushed off the criticism saying it doesn't affect the way he does his job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Several who have opinions. And there's nothing wrong with people having opinions. I think one ought to expect that when you're involved in something as controversial, as certainly this war is. One ought to expect that. It's historic. It's always been the case. And I see nothing really very new or surprising about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And we will have a live report from the Pentagon on all of this in our next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM.
Three more American soldiers died in roadside bombings near Baghdad today. So far, 36 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq in April. That's more than the entire month of March. In all, 2,364 U.S. military personnel have died since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
This hour, we are keeping a close eye on the CIA leak case. Any minute now, lawyers for former Cheney chief-of-staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby are expected to file new court papers. This just days after a bombshell disclosure in the case involving President Bush's decision to declassify documents to build support for the Iraq war.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken covering this story. Bob, what can we expect to happen a little bit later this hour?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know if it's going to have anything that matches the impact of what the special prosecutor said last week, that President Bush had in the special prosecutor's mind, been a participant in Scooter Libby's being able to talk to reporters by declassifying the highly-secret national intelligence estimate on weapons of mass destruction.
But it is still being written. It is being filed later in the day than anybody expected. This is Scooter Libby's response to the government motion from last week that we've heard a lot about, which was a response to an original motion by Scooter Libby's lawyers. That's how this convoluted process works. It's all part of the legal maneuvering that's going on in this particular case.
COLLINS: A response to a response to a response. The legal process from here then is what?
FRANKEN: Well remember now, this is all part of an effort by the attorneys for Libby to get thousands of pages of highly-classified documents to help with the defense, something that the prosecutor is resisting. That is what this is all about.
COLLINS: All right. So what's the big picture? Break it down and give us a little bit of perspective if you could, Bob.
FRANKEN: Well let's talk about the humongous picture and that is, the question that is raise about the participation of the vice president and the president of the United States in this case.
And of course the political question, with all the critics of President Bush saying that this is the man who had so argued against leaks now being caught, by the critics' point of view, in leaks. And so they raise the issue of hypocrisy.
COLLINS: And, Bob, I know you're watching this story very carefully. We'll come back to you, of course, should the situation develop. Thanks, Bob.
Now to the Iran nuclear threat. The Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says it is time to take what she calls strong steps against the Tehran government. She's responding today to Iran's announcement that it has successfully enriched uranium. It's a big step forward for its nuclear program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: This latest announcement yesterday by the Iranian regime is just a step that is going to further isolate Iran. It demonstrates that Iran is not adhering to the international community's requirements.
And I do think that the security council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran and that it will be time, when it reconvenes on this case, for strong steps to make certain we maintain the credibility of the international community on this issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: Rice has not called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, but she is calling on the U.N.'s top nuclear watchdog to intensify pressure on Iran during talks this Friday. Iran insists its nuclear program is to develop energy, not nuclear weapons, as western countries of course fear.
Time now for "The Cafferty File" and our Jack Cafferty is joining us from New York. So nice to see you, Mr. Cafferty.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Likewise, Ms. Collins. Thank you. Another day, another call for Donald Rumsfeld's head or so it seems. Retired Major General John Batiste, who led the army's first infantry division in northern Iraq for about a year says the United States needs a fresh start at the Pentagon.
General Batiste is the latest in the line of former generals calling for a replacement for the embattled secretary of defense. Rumsfeld has been criticized for everything from a flawed war plan to simply being incompetent, but Batiste's words may hold a little more weight because he's the first former combat commander to call for Rumsfeld to take a hike.
So here's the question, does a retired combat general's call for Rumsfeld's resignation hold anymore weight than the other numerous and growing number of calls for his ouster? Email your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. We look forward to those responses. Jack, we'll get back to you a little bit later on.
Meanwhile, coming up, the immigration wars. After a day of protest from coast to coast, are congressional Republicans in retreat?
Plus, the mayoral election in New Orleans. With early voting underway now, the candidates talk about the future of the city after Hurricane Katrina.
And the final heartbreaking words of 9/11 victims. For the first time jurors are hearing the flight recordings from the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. Will that lead to a death sentence for Zacarias Moussaoui?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: And Zain Verjee is on vacation, so Fredricka Whitfield is joining us now from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta with some new information on a developing story -- Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you, Heidi.
This taking place out of Cincinnati, where a gunfire interrupts a city council meeting. Across the street, this fire erupted. And police are now saying that they believe one man was shot and killed. He is a known black activist in the area who represents a group called Black Fist. He is also often known as Kabaka Oba, and he often speaks at the city council meetings. The mayor is having a news conference right now. And as we understand, the mayor just recently said that he does believe that Kabaka Oba was a victim of a targeted shooting. More on that when we get it.
Meantime, other news. A major drug bust for Mexican officials. Army troops and judicial officers found five and a half tons of cocaine, about $100 million worth, when they swarmed a DC-9 jet yesterday. The drugs were found packed in black plastic bags inside 128 suitcases. The plane had just arrived in Mexico City from Venezuela. Three people are in custody. The pilot is still at large.
Meantime, it is full of static and largely unintelligible but irrefutable testimony, nonetheless, to the last half hour of United flight 93. Jurors and spectators in the trial of confessed 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui today listened to the cockpit voice recorder of the plane, one of four hijacked by terrorists.
The 31-minute recording documents the efforts of passengers and crew to regain control from the hijackers. For families of 9/11 victims, even those who weren't on flight 93, it was hard to hear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABRAHAM SCOTT, WIDOWER OF FLIGHT 77 VICTIM: It was very emotional for me. Harrowing, even though it was not that clear. I could understand that when the pilot or maybe the co-pilot was begging for his life. And that was very rough on me.
And, also, the point where the passengers rushed the compartment and apparently they had grabbed one of the terrorists and it sounded like they took him out. And it's -- up until the plane hit, it was really bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: By storming the cockpit, the passengers caused the hijackers to crash the plane before it reached its presumed target, which was the U.S. Capitol Building -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Boy, you really feel for them going through this all over again.
Fredricka Whitfield, thank you.
And our Internet reporter Abbi Tatton is standing by with more.
Hi Abbi.
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Hi Heidi.
Yes, the tape was played in court. The transcript has been released to the public. It is at CNN.com/situationreport, nine pages, and it's harrowing, tells second by second about what was going on flight 93. It starts just after 9:30 a.m. with orders. Shut up, it says, sit down.
Shortly after that, there's pleading from other people. Don't hurt me. Shortly after that, I don't want to die, that repeated three times. Prosecutors in court today identify those words to a female voice, a flight attendant, they said.
As it goes on, you can see the voices talking. None of them are identified to people. You can just see what was said in Arabic, what was said in English. This section here in bold was all said in Arabic. They want to get in here. Hold, hold from the inside, hold. Followed in the next minute by a voice in English in the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die.
At this point Kelli Arena, who was in the courtroom, reported that there was a crash and chaos. The final couple of minutes are mostly in Arabic. Pull it down. Give it to me, give it to me. And then Allah is the greatest punctuated by just one word in English, no -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Abbi Tatton, thank you.
On Capitol Hill, a new about-face in the battle over immigration. Republican leaders vowing to strip a controversial provision approved last year by the House that would make it a felony to be in this country illegally. The announcement came late yesterday, one day after hundreds of thousands of people rallied across the nation for immigrants' rights. Is there a connection?
Well, here's our senior political analyst Bill Schneider now to tell us more about this.
Hi, Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Heidi.
You know, the demonstrations over the past few weeks have caught members of Congress by surprise. And politicians don't like surprises.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Americans are certainly angry about illegal immigration. So when House Republicans passed the tough border security bill in December, including provisions to make illegal immigrants and those who help them subject to prosecution as felons, they were sure they had the country behind them. But instead of acclaim, they're seeing protests.
STUART ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: I think they're surprised at the intensity of the opposition and the fact that there's considerable opposition to their view.
SCHNEIDER: A certain amount of backtracking is going on.
REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R), WISCONSIN: It is not the intention of the House of Representatives or the authors of HR-4437 to throw good Samaritans in jail.
SCHNEIDER: The House speaker and Senate majority leader issued a statement saying, "it remains our intent to produce a strong border security bill that will not make unlawful presence in the United States a felony."
But that's in the House bill. Republican leaders say it's because most House Democrats voted against changing the crime to a misdemeanor.
SENSENBRENNER: Many of those who voted against reducing the penalty are now those who are complaining the loudest about making felons into those who are illegal present.
SCHNEIDER: Some Democrats opposed any penalties for illegal immigrants. Others wanted to make a political statement.
ROTHENBERG: I think the Democrats are trying to embarrass the Republicans, honest.
SCHNEIDER: Both parties are guilty of political posturing, but Republicans may be forced to pay the price.
ROTHENBERG: I think they have miscalculated, because this issue seems to be blowing up in Republicans' faces, dividing the party.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Polls indicate the public does want tough border security measures to control illegal immigration. But most Americans do not favor harsh punitive measures against illegal immigrants who are already here, like the felony provisions in that House bill -- Heidi.
COLLINS: And, Bill, I think it's important to remember how incredibly different the House bill and the Senate bill are. Can you break that down for us a little bit and then tell us where the Senate bill stands?
SCHNEIDER: The Senate bill is totally different. The Senate bill includes a guest worker provision, which is what President Bush has always favored, and it includes something McCain and Kennedy have supported and others in both parties, namely, a path to earned citizenship. Neither of those things is in the House bill.
Right now the Senate bill, however, is completely stalemated. It was killed because there was no agreement on the process for bringing it up. Republicans blame the Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid because they said he wouldn't allow many of the Republican amendments. Reid argues that Republicans were trying to hijack the bill. So right now, everything is up in the air.
COLLINS: Bill Schneider, thank you for the reminder. Appreciate that.
And next up, the White House strikes back against a damaging report over WMD in Iraq. Is this the right strategy, though, for the Bush administration? We'll have much more on our top story.
Plus, he's down in the polls, so how does President Bush rebound? I'll ask two experts, Paul Begala and Charlie Black, when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Today the White House denies President Bush -- in our White House "Strategy Session" today, the White House is denying President Bush knew a supposed discovery of WMD in Iraq was false when he was telling the nation about it three years ago.
"The Washington Post" reports weapons experts debunked the information two days before Mr. Bush made that announcement. It's another headache for an administration plagued by bad poll numbers.
With us now to discuss all this, Democratic strategist and CNN political analyst Paul Begala, and Republican strategist Charlie Black. Thanks for being here, guys.
Charlie, I want to start with you. I want to show everyone, just in case they might have missed it, a little bit earlier today when we had White House press secretary Scott McClellan commenting about this article in the "Washington Post." Listen for a second.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCLELLAN: I saw some reporting talking about how this latest revelation which is not something that is new -- this is all old information that's being rehashed -- was an embarrassment for the White House. No, it's an embarrassment for the media that is out there reporting this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So what do you think? Is this the right thing to do? I mean, McClellan was very animated there. Go for the jugular of "The Washington Post"?
CHARLIE BLACK, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it's not a matter of the jugular. It was reckless reporting by the "Post" and by ABC. This is an old story. But, first of all, the president gets his intelligence from the CIA director. The CIA, for whatever reason, discounted this report from this team that the "Post" was talking about. I don't know why.
But nine months later the CIA director, a Clinton appointee, by the way, was still saying publicly that these trailers had biological weapon labs. So the president acted in good faith on information he was given by the CIA.
COLLINS: Typically, though, Charlie, if they discount that type of information, what does that usually mean? It wasn't important to them?
BLACK: I don't know why they discounted it. I've never been involved in intelligence gathering. But later on, like two years after this, when the CIA did all their intelligence analysis, they concluded there were no weapons of mass destruction. That's the first time the president or the public knew that for sure. He can only operate on the information he's given by the CIA.
COLLINS: So, Paul, why can't the White House come out and defend its position, defend its thinking and go after "The Washington Post" reporting?
PAULA BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, they can, and I think Scott McClellan makes a good point, actually. This is not news, and it's certainly not big news. The president lying about a war, unfortunately, is not news. It's an everyday occurrence. When he tells the truth about the war, that will be big news. We'll have breaking news, and we'll break in, Bush tells the truth.
This is really, though -- this will go down in history of presidential falsehoods and fabrications and fibs. He was -- his government certainly knew and he should have known two days before that these two trailers out in the desert were not mobile biological -- they were two Winnebagos with like moldy tuna fish. That was like my redneck vacation as a kid. That's not a biological weapon.
COLLINS: Paul, we did hear a little bit earlier today -- we did a bit earlier today from our own reporter, David Ensor, who said, you know, really, it takes longer than 48 hours for that type of information to get to the president.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: Wait a minute. I disagree. I worked for the president. You do not send the president out to say anything unless you know. If you don't know, you say, we haven't gotten the information in yet.
Second, if it had been verified, do you think it would have gotten to him quickly? You bet. If they had found big anthrax jars in there, God forbid, they would have told him immediately. My guess is, they should have, would have, maybe even did tell him immediately otherwise. He can't just copy ignorance here at some point, although it's a good excuse generally.
BLACK: President Clinton relied on George Tenet's working just like President Bush did. This is not a partisan issue. On Paul's main theme here, two distinguished bipartisan groups, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the Silberman-Robb Commission, fully investigated whether the president manipulated pre-war intelligence. They both concluded on a bipartisan basis that he did not. So Bush lied theme is over and done with.
BEGALA: Can I respond to this? Charlie's to his own opinion, but not his own facts. Neither of those boards were empowered to look at the question of whether the president cherry-picked and misled intelligence. Charlie, it's simply not true.
BLACK: Go back and read the report.
BEGALA: Both the commission -- the Silberman-Robb Commission you referred to, and the Senate Intelligence Committee, they were roped off from going through that question.
BLACK: Well ...
BEGALA: And now we know definitively that the president did not tell us the truth about that war.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACK: Get Senator Robb on here and see what he says.
COLLINS: Do these stories still always have legs? I mean, do they slowly chip away at the administration's credibility?
BLACK: Well, they might if you have reckless reporting on a daily basis. But I think because we have fought back on this and hopefully ABC will apologize for asserting that the president lied about this when he didn't, and when reasonable people understand the CIA is where the president gets his information.
COLLINS: Paul, you know, it seems like every day we're looking at the situation in Iraq and we're going backwards. I mean, we have troops on the ground but we have generals calling for the resignation of the defense secretary. Shouldn't the Democratic Party really be looking toward the future and moving forward?
BEGALA: Sure, they should. And I think that they are. But the question here is, what is the future in Iraq going to be? As you point out, some of the top generals now are coming forward are saying Mr. Bush, Mr. Rumsfeld, the politicians, overruled them. They had General Shinseki, the head -- the chief general of the whole United States Army was overruled when he said how many troops we needed.
General William Wallace, who said he wanted to fight off the Fedayeen before they became an insurgency, was overruled by Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush. So, I think there's a vast, now, body of knowledge that this president misled about a war, and I think that's something the country ought to know about.
BLACK: Well, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs says the opposite.
Of course, military people agree on the strategy and tactics for war. So, there might be people who disagreed with the consensus of the military leaders who told Secretary Rumsfeld how to conduct the war. Wars are dangerous and unpredictable. But, nevertheless, the president does not make tactical, battlefield decisions. The Pentagon made those decisions.
The Democrats have no plan about Iraq. All they do is carp about the apparent unpopularity of the war. The American people, when they vote, are not going to vote for nothing over something.
COLLINS: Well, let's go ahead and take a look, on that note, at some of the approval ratings right now.
As we put those on the screen, we're looking at ABC News/"Washington Post" reporting 38 percent approval rating, CBS News reporting 37 percent, and Gallup/"USA Today" another 37 percent.
Your reaction to that?
BLACK: Most of the news for the last several months has been about Iraq and it has been overwhelmingly bad news. There's no denying that that is affecting the president's job approval.
Hopefully, some good news will come from Iraq soon, the standing up of a government, further training of Iraqi troops maybe the ability to pull back some American troops, we will suffer less casualties.
But even if we go to the election with Iraq as a negative, there will be more issues than just Iraq. The economy in this country is booming thanks to the president's tax cuts. He deserves credit for that. The prescription drug benefit is popular among senior citizens, if people read the entire "Washington Post" today. That will be a plus.
You know, we might even get a bipartisan immigration reform, along the lines that the president has called for. And if so, that will be a political plus for Republicans in the election.
COLLINS: Paul, are those types of things going to get done or is everyone focusing on the war in Iraq?
BEGALA: Well, both. They're focusing on the economy. And I think the American people have a very different view than Charlie Black.
The economy is fine for a few of us who are sort of overpaid, wealthy people. But, for most folks, incomes are stalled and the cost of housing, health care, energy and education are all going up through the roof. People want change.
And, by the way, they would like to change presidents. Unfortunately, we can't. He's got a four-year, no-cut contract. But George W. Bush like cement shoes on his party. He is dragging them down. There are actually a series of social diseases more popular than our president in a lot of these swing states, Charlie.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: He is killing his party. If he wants to help them, he would switch and be a Democrat.
BLACK: We will see about that in the fall.
COLLINS: Final word, Charlie.
BLACK: Economists of all stripes will tell you, take-home pay is up, inflation is down, interest rates are low. The American people are doing better at all levels.
COLLINS: In our "Strategy Session" today, Charlie Black, Paul Begala.
Thanks, you guys, for keeping it afloat.
BLACK: Thank you, Heidi.
BEGALA: Thanks, Heidi.
Up next, it's the election America is watching. Eight months after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, voting is under way in a crucial mayoral election in New Orleans. We will take a look at the nearly two dozen candidates vying to win the top job.
Plus, will Michael Brown dare to make a return visit to Louisiana? What the former FEMA chief is up to just may surprise you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Right now, displaced New Orleans voters are continuing to stream into satellite polling stations across the state. They're casting early ballots in the first election since Hurricane Katrina. And they're choosing a new mayor for the city devastated by the storm.
With the actual Election Day now 10 days away, CNN's Alina Cho has more.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, the election for mayor of New Orleans is being called the most important election in the city's 288-year history. With nearly 200 candidates vying for Mayor Ray Nagin's job, it's hard to keep track of all of them. So, we decided to spend some time with a few of them. Some are serious contenders. Most are not.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): By now, most Americans have heard of Mayor Ray Nagin.
RAY NAGIN (D), MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: Hello there. How are you?
CHO: But what about James Arey? Around New Orleans, he's known as:
JAMES AREY, CANDIDATE FOR NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: The singing mayor.
CHO: The 38-year-old radio show host is one of 23 candidates vying for Nagin's job. Arey's platform? Bringing back the arts.
AREY: Hope to win, don't expect to.
CHO: Arey is running a bare bones campaign.
So is Mac Rahman, an immigrant from India who has lived in New Orleans for 32 years. Rahman owns a restaurant and feels the concerns of small business owners are being ignored. He also believes money pollutes the political process.
MAC RAHMAN, CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: That's why I'm not spending any money. CHO (on camera): But how do you get your word out then?
RAHMAN: I spent some money on my yard signs.
CHO (voice-over): Twenty-four-year-old candidate Nick Bacque gets his word out on the Internet.
NICK BACQUE, CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: Check it out, dude. Bacque. com.
CHO: The unlikely candidate is a medical student at Tulane and president of all the graduate schools. His message? Getting young professionals back to the Crescent City.
BACQUE: Assuming I don't win the mayoral race, I'll be returning to medical school in the fall.
CHO: Political pundits say only three candidates are serious contenders.
Ron Forman, best known for bringing a world class aquarium to New Orleans, is well funded and is building a coalition around business leaders.
RON FORMAN, CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: We need to dream a dream about a different New Orleans. What's the city going to look like? And it's got to be a different New Orleans than the city we left behind.
CHO: Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu's biggest asset may be his name. His sister is U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu. His father was the last white mayor of New Orleans, back in the '70s. Landrieu says his base crosses racial lines.
MITCH LANDRIEU, CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: Even though I happen to be -- my skin happens to be white, I have always enjoyed tremendous support in the African-American community and the white community.
CHO: Incumbent Ray Nagin has the best name recognition.
NAGIN: I think most of the candidates don't really understand the challenge of this job. It looks sexy. It's high profile. But there's significant challenges.
CHO: Like managing his image. Who could forget on Martin Luther King Day when Nagin said New Orleans would be a chocolate city again?
NAGIN: I'm kind of speaking to everyone, but as I speak to the white community, it has tended to offend the black community, and vice versa.
CHO: Nagin was elected in 2002 by an overwhelming majority of the white vote. It remains to be seen who voters will support.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHO: Though Election Day is still more than a week away, Saturday, April 22, early voting is already under way at satellite polling stations around the state.
Now, many political experts believe there could be record turnout among people currently living in New Orleans. But the results could hinge on evacuee turnout. And those evacuees are scattered all over the country.
So, how will they vote? We will have much more on that part of the story, Heidi, tomorrow.
COLLINS: All right, Alina Cho, thanks for that.
And now, a believe-it-or-not story out of Louisiana. Former FEMA Chief Michael Brown reportedly has been in talks to help one parish with the Katrina recovery process. He's expected to meet with members of the Saint Bernard Parish City Council tomorrow. One parish leader says the possible hiring of Brown as a consultant stinks to high heaven. We will have a full report ahead in THE SITUATION ROOM. Not going to want to miss that.
Meanwhile, we are following a developing story now out of Pakistan, where military forces raided a suspected terrorist compound today. The compound is near the border with Afghanistan.
And CNN's David Ensor is here with more.
David, what do we know at this point?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Heidi U.S. officials are confirming Pakistani reports that Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked a village, a little town called Nagar (ph), in Waziristan, which is up in that tribal area near the Afghan border, which they believe was a hideout of, as they put it, foreign militants.
You may recall, last month, President Musharraf, in a speech said that all foreign militants need to get out of Pakistan or they will be -- quote -- "annihilated."
COLLINS: Right.
ENSOR: Well, it looks as if the annihilating may have started.
Talked to this U.S. official, who said, no indications at this point of any big fish, but it's -- it is early hours yet. This didn't happen very long ago. The Pakistanis are still trying to figure out who exactly they got.
COLLINS: If in fact it -- it all comes to fruition and this has happened, what does it say about -- if anything, about U.S. and Pakistani relations?
ENSOR: It says that the cooperation is pretty intense up there near the border. And, clearly, the Pakistanis, as well as the Americans, want to get the -- the rest of the al Qaeda leadership -- and you know who that means -- out of Pakistan, dead or alive.
COLLINS: All right, David Ensor, we know that you will be following it for us. Thank you.
Meanwhile, coming up, the president is at it again, promoting the Medicare prescription drug plan. Is he making any headway? We will check some new poll numbers for you.
And is Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signing and sealing his presidential prospects?
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: On our "Political Radar" this Wednesday, President Bush staying on his Medicare message. He went to Northern Virginia today to encourage senior citizens to sign up for the new prescription drug plan.
Mr. Bush has conceded glitches in the plan. He has been criticized for being too complicated, but a look at this new poll now: 74 percent of people who signed up for the prescription drug plan said it was actually easy to do. Just 24 percent said it was difficult.
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney today signed a new health care reform plan into law. It is designed to insure nearly every resident of the state. Supporters say it could serve as a model for the rest of the nation and a possible platform for a Romney presidential campaign. A new ABC/"Washington Post" poll finds, 55 percent of Americans say they would support similar legislation in their own states.
And, in California, the race to replace convicted Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham is going to a runoff. Yesterday's special election was called after Cunningham pleaded guilty to bribery charges. The race is being viewed as a possible bellwether for the battle for Congress this fall. Democrat Francine Busby came out on top with 44 percent of the votes.
She says she attracted Republican and independent votes in the mostly GOP district, but it wasn't enough to avoid a June runoff. Unofficial results show her facing off against former Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray, who came in second with 15 percent of the vote.
And Senator Hillary Clinton has delivered the first in a series of shots on the president's economic policies. The New York Democrat and possible presidential contender spoke in Chicago last night. She didn't mention Mr. Bush by name. But she pointedly questioned his tax and budget priorities.
And a former president, Bill Clinton, picked up a new honor today, an award named after his one-time boss, the late Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas. He used the occasion to urge the United States to seek peace before war. Coming up next, Delta pilots on the picket line. The threat of a strike looms for an airline already on life support.
The story is legend -- another story, that is. Now audiotapes of the last minutes of Flight 93 on 9/11 have been heard, evidence in a confessed terrorist's trial -- what the voices say and the gut- wrenching story they tell coming up in our next hour at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Here's a look at some of the "Hot Shots" coming in from the Associated Press now, pictures likely to be in your newspaper tomorrow.
In Indonesia, Muslim activists tear up a copy of "Playboy" in front of the magazine's Jakarta office, demanding that they stop publishing it. "Playboy" released its first edition there this month.
In Nepal, pro-democracy activists take to the streets again. The country has been facing unrest since it -- the king there dissolved the government and seized power 14 months ago.
And to England now, where Prince William and Prince Harry salute their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. They were all in attendance for Harry's graduation from military academy. Second Lieutenant Harry Wales, as he's now known, could soon find himself in a war zone.
And, in London, exhibition of bodies -- this shows the preserved blood vessels of a human hand. The art show features 22 real cadavers and more than 250 real body parts. The show's goal is to give the public a better understanding of how the human body works.
And that's today's "Hot Shots." A picture is worth 1,000 words. That's for sure.
Meanwhile, Zain Verjee is on vacation. And Fredricka Whitfield is joining us now from the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta with a closer look at other stories making news.
And, still, this developing story out of Cincinnati, Fred.
WHITFIELD: That's right. Indeed.
We want to bring you up to date on that right now. A manhunt is under way for a man who shot an African-American activist today outside City Hall. Mayor Mark Mallory says Kabaka Oba was taken to the hospital, where he is in critical condition. The mayor says witnesses have provided police with a description of the suspect. He said Oba was not a random target.
Iraqi police say at least 26 people were killed in yet another car bombing, this one in a Shia town north of Baghdad today. At least 70 other people were wounded in the blast. Most of those killed were in coffee shops and cafes. It was originally believed the target was a nearby mosque, but the mosque was closed.
CNN confirms that June Pointer, the youngest of the Pointer Sisters singing trio, has died. A family statement says she died of cancer at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, with her sisters, Ruth and Anita, and her two brothers at her side. She was the lead vocalist on the group's hit songs "He's So Shy" and "Jump For My Love." June Pointer was 52.
And time is running out and talks are intensifying between Delta Air Lines and the carrier's almost 6,000 pilots. More than 300 pilots picketed near Delta's Atlanta headquarters today. An arbitration panel has until Saturday to decide if the company may reject its contract.
The pilots authorized their union to call a strike any time after Monday if the contract is voided. Delta says a strike will kill the airline -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Fred, thank you.
We're learning new details today now about a secret government program to pull tens of thousands of publicly available pages from the National Archives.
Let's get more from our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton, now -- Abbi.
TATTON: Heidi this here is a document that you used to be able to find at the National Archives. It was marked top secret, but it had been available in the public domain, but not anymore.
What you will find in it place is a withdrawal notice, access restricted. That's what researchers with the George Washington University's National Security Archive found with many, many documents earlier this year. And this week, more is coming to light on how this removal of documents from the National Archives by the National Archives and others took place.
This is a memorandum of understanding between the National Archives and the Air Force, talking about how these documents were removed and how to avoid the attention of researcher complaints. The Air Force says that they complied with federal standards on the reclassification of documents. The National Archives has suspended the program while they conduct an audit -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Abbi, thank you.
Still to come, a commander of U.S. forces in Iraq calls for Donald Rumsfeld to quit. And Jack Cafferty is coming up. He wants to know, does a retired combat general's call for Rumsfeld's resignation hold more weight than other calls for his ouster? Your e-mails in just a couple of minutes.
And, still to come, he quit as FEMA director two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Now he's in line for a job to clean up some of the mess. I will go one-on-one with Mike Brown in our next hour.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: And our Jack Cafferty is back now with "The Cafferty File."
Did you get a lot of e-mails, Jack?
CAFFERTY: Yes, quite a few.
General John Batiste, who headed the 1st Infantry Division in Northern Iraq between 2004 and 2005, says that it's time for a fresh start at the Pentagon. In other words, he wants Donald Rumsfeld out. The question we asked is: Does a retired combat general's call for Rumsfeld's resignation hold more weight than other calls for his ouster?
It probably doesn't make any difference. I don't know that -- has Bush fired anybody? I don't think he has since he has been in office. But now you got a combat guy saying, this fellow, in effect, doesn't know what he's doing; we need some new leadership.
Peggy writes from Illinois: "All these generals who are speaking out cannot be wrong. What idiot would not realize that, if these men had spoken out before retirement, they would not be retired? They would have brought on some trumped-up charges and kicked out."
Toby (ph) writes from Orlando, Florida: "Rumsfeld has built his kingdom on a culture of arrogance and aggression. His attempts to change the way the military fights wars, by reducing the number of troops on the ground and relying, instead, on high-tech prevision weapons, went against the views of his senior military commanders. And he bullied them into submission. That's why we're in the mire we're in today."
Jay writes from Sherman, New York: "It's the mounting solidarity among the officers that creates the most credibility. They are rapidly mounting a coup to regain control of the Pentagon, in the interests of America and true democracy. Good for them."
I don't think they're going to mount a coup, Jay.
Pat in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, writes: "A retired general's word means more to me than one still on active duty. I spent four years in the military. If a general speaks out publicly against the administration, he might as well retire there on the spot. His career would be ruined."
And Dave in Poughkeepsie writes: "Does Rumsfeld have a family? What we are looking for is an excuse for him to resign in order to 'spend more time with his family'" -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Jack, we will you see again in just a few more minutes. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
