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On the Story

Unemployment Claims on the Rise; U.S. Troops Try to Gain Iraqis' Trust; Airlines Farm Out Maintenance Work to Unrealiable Contractors

Aired July 12, 2003 - 10:00   ET

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

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


KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Kathleen Hays.
ON THE STORY of the jump in unemployment benefit claims and worries about an economy that seems stuck in the doldrums.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, and I'm ON THE STORY of how U.S. troops are trying to gain the trust of the Iraqis in the face of increasing resistance here.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Deborah Feyerick in New York ON THE STORY of a frightening plot to repeat Columbine and how police stopped that plot in time.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Patty Davis ON THE STORY of how the major airlines are farming out plane maintenance work to private contractors who often fall short of safety standards.

We're talking about all of these stories.

And we'll get a live report from Nigeria where President Bush is wrapping up a historic five-day trip to the African continent.

And, at the end of the hour, we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address.

We will also talk about a murdered family in California, the estranged husband suspected in a case, and a frustrating investigation for police.

And we want to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to onthestory@cnn.com.

Now to Rym Brahimi ON THE STORY in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICARDO S. SANCHEZ, COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY: There are some professional assassins that are operating in Baghdad. There is absolutely no question in my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRAHIMI: That was Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who is the commander of the coalition forces here in Iraq, commenting on the increase of guerrilla-style attacks against U.S. troops.

Now these attacks continue. The number of dead U.S. soldiers as a result of these attacks is 32 since May the 1st when President Bush said that it was the end of the major combat operations.

Only this morning, near a prison a group of U.S. soldiers that were guarding a prison west of Baghdad came under attack. They were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades. One soldier was wounded.

And then overnight, also, a U.S. battalion was also attacked near the justice ministry. One Iraqi guard was injured in that attack.

So, of course, the question is now: What is the U.S. doing? How can it get out of this increasing sense of maybe a vicious circle in which it's being attacked and yet difficult for it to improve the situation as long as security hasn't returned to Iraq.

DAVIS: Well, Rym, are there -- are these attacks considered coordinated at this point? Do they think Saddam Hussein, who they believe now is still alive -- is he behind this?

BRAHIMI: Well, they don't necessarily believe that Saddam Hussein in person is -- is behind every single one of these attacks. They do believe that the fact Saddam Hussein is still alive, in their view, maybe incites or encourages these attacks in a certain sense.

And there's also questions about how many groups are there. Are they coordinated? Not necessarily. They may have some sort of objective alliance. But then, again, they haven't really found any proof of that.

They do know that a lot of them are remnants of the former regime, and some of them, Iraqis will tell you when you talk to them on the street, they suspect may also be foreigners -- maybe other Arabs, Islamic radicals, maybe extremists -- coming from abroad.

And a lot of Iraqis are questioning whether the borders are secure enough around Iraq to prevent these people from coming in and destabilizing, if you will, the U.S. efforts here.

FEYERICK: Rym, it's Deb in New York.

Did the U.S. government underestimate just the response of people fighting back? People thought that it would happen at the beginning of the war, but now it seems to be prolonging everything. Troops are going to be committed for a much longer period of time.

I think the last thing I read was $3.9 billion a month is being spent just so that U.S. troops can be there. Did the U.S. government underestimate the reaction, the prolonged reaction by the Iraqi people?

BRAHIMI: I think it seems that you've definitely put your finger on one of the main questions here, of course, one of the main issues being did they underestimate and, therefore, not commit enough troops to securing Iraq and planning the post-war Iraq, as they should have, in the view of many.

And that's a question that a lot of Iraqis are asking because they find it extremely hard to believe that the greatest superpower in the world that can win a war just like it did very quickly hadn't actually planned this well enough to have enough troops and enough people to actually secure the country after the war had ended. So definitely there are questions on that.

On the other hand, some of the troops, as you pointed out, have been here for a very long time, and the U.S. officials -- some U.S. officials do seem keen to rotate them out, bring other U.S. troops in, but also gradually pull U.S. forces out and bring more -- other international troops in, and that will probably start by the end of the next month.

HAYS: And, of course, there are a lot of things happening, Rym. Just this week, the Pentagon admitting it's probably going to cost twice what they thought to maintain the troops, about $4 billion a month, instead of something more like $2 billion.

But, certainly, within Iraq and with the forces of -- that are running the reconstruction, Paul Bremer, a very hopeful sign that a Iraqi governing council is being set up. My understanding is that there will be an announcement made about who's on the council and what it plans to do this weekend.

BRAHIMI: Absolutely. Now this, as you pointed out, comes as a -- maybe more of a relief. It might actually end up relieving also the U.S. officials that are administering Iraq here of a lot of pressure.

As you say, there's a lot of questions as to how much more money will the U.S. have to pay that it hadn't planned on paying to -- for the reconstruction effort, but, also, this whole pressure because of the guerrilla-style attacks, because it hasn't been delivering, it's been coming under not only physical attacks but also increasing criticism.

And that actually might lead to people who might not participate in the attacks but might sit back and not even maybe be against the attacks just because they don't see the U.S. has having improved their situation since the downfall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Now this governing council -- this government council -- there's a -- there's expected to be a meeting of these 25 members that will compose the council, tomorrow on Sunday, and now they are going to be a -- basically, all the major parties, Kurdish parties, Sunni, Shia, a few women, Christian parties, and tribal leaders -- they're all going to get together.

There should be 25 representatives at the end of it that are going to emerge, and they're going to make an announcement, and they say that they're going to have much more power than Paul Bremer, who is administrating Iraq now, had initially planned.

DAVIS: Now George Tenet, the CIA director, taking the fall for a claim made in President Bush's State of the Union address in January, specifically that the Iraq government was trying to buy uranium in Africa. What's the reaction, and how's the search going for weapons of mass destruction?

BRAHIMI: You know, people, of course, -- it does raise, again, questions here.

There are a lot of people that are still extremely skeptical as to the U.S.'s real intentions when it comes to what it is they came in to Iraq to do. OK. They've gotten rid of Saddam Hussein. People say that's fine, that's terrific, but now what are they here to do.

And, of course, there is this unease about what is this U.S. occupation here, and I think people will only believe that this U.S. occupation is for their good once they see results -- again, just basic services, electricity, water.

As far as the weapons of mass destruction are concerned, people -- it does tend to increase the skepticism of those who say, well, we knew from the beginning the U.S. was only after our oil, they needed any pretext, they're not going to find anything, but they're just here to sort of take advantage of our country, and, clearly, they don't care about the rest since they're not really helping us get along with their lives and get us jobs and improve our situation.

So there is a tendency and a risk there that, if nothing is found sooner, if no plausible explanation comes up or no improvement in their daily lives, well, there will be increasing criticism there again.

FEYERICK: Rym, it's Deb.

What about the myth of Saddam Hussein? We don't know whether he's alive. We don't know whether he's dead. Same goes for the Iraqi people. Are the Iraqi people who may cooperate with coalition forces -- do you think they'll pull back a little if these continued strikes happen and they think that -- they don't know which side to go with because they don't know who's going to come out ahead ultimately?

BRAHIMI: Well, certainly, those continued attacks seem to have, to a certain extent, intimidated certain people. Not everybody.

That said, I mean there was the press conference only an hour ago, in fact, by Commissioner Kerik. Now he used to be the commissioner of New York -- commissioner of police in New York, and he's been sent here to try and help improve the security situation.

Now he says that, thanks to some indications that were brought about by Iraqis, they were able to arrest four men in the past 24 hours, four men who they believe may be cousins of President Saddam Hussein. They say they found pictures -- during that arrest, they found pictures in the place. They arrested these four men of torture. The four people in question torturing a young man. The investigation continues.

But that's just an example that you have a bit of both. Some people will help, but there is a lot of intimidation going on. And some people still afraid, and, until they see clearly that really there's nothing left from the old regime, no Baath member in a powerful position, let's say, and no one capable of giving them a hard time or threatening them physically, well, it will be hard for them to really feel relaxed about the situation.

HAYS: Rym, I know you touched on this, but I want to come back to something because, on my show on CNNfn, "THE FLIPSIDE," we were talking about the reconstruction of Iraq recently, and a woman called in and said she didn't understand how people could talk about the people of Iraq being impatient about services like water and electricity.

Her son was in the U.S. military and was killed fighting for Iraq. She says she doesn't understand. We fought for their freedom. How can they be impatient about something like this? How do you answer a question from someone like that?

BRAHIMI: It's extremely difficult, and I think that's one of the main points, maybe, of misunderstanding between maybe Iraqis and the U.S. troops.

You see, the -- you -- Iraqis, as many people in the world, in fact, view the United States as all-powerful. They view it as the most powerful country in the world, capable of doing anything and capable of winning this war in barely two months, and so people here have such high expectations on the part of the United States that they find it extremely difficult to believe that the U.S. that won this war, the country that's most technologically advanced, in their view, where they want their children to go and study and learn from -- well, how can that country not restore electricity?

You see, that's their viewpoint. I know from the American perspective there are questions as to why are these people ungrateful, why aren't they -- why don't they say thank you that we liberated them. Well, people here see it differently, and, gradually, a lot of people are saying, well, we have the freedom, maybe it was better before. Still a lot of questions there.

DAVIS: Well, from Iraq to Nigeria. As President Bush winds up his trip to Africa, White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is ON THE STORY when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Suzanne Malveaux is a CNN White House Correspondent. Earlier, she reported for NBC for six years, covering the Pentagon and the Clinton administration. She has degrees from Harvard and Columbia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's going to be, you know, a lot of attempts to try to rewrite history, and I can understand that. But I am absolutely confident in the decision I made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's President Bush in Abuja, Nigeria. This where he is wrapping up his five-nation, five-day tour of Africa, really a whirlwind on this continent here, trying to promote fighting AIDS, as well as opening markets and combating terror.

But I have to tell you that one thing that really dominated a lot of the questions -- he was dogged by this throughout the week -- was this whole flap over the State of the Union address and that claim that he made that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Africa. It's rather ironic that this happened during the week he was trying to highlight and focus on so many other issues.

But the bottom line is the president ended up doing a lot of damage control during the week. He had his top advisers, Secretary Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, everyone squarely putting this on the CIA, saying that the CIA, indeed, approved the State of the Union address that included that dubious claim and that it was the CIA's responsibility.

Ultimately, CIA Director George Tenet took the responsibility for it, and the president said that he has all the confidence in Tenet to continue with his work, continue with his job.

But, as you can imagine, of course, it was quite a disappointment for the administration to have to face those kinds of questions and those issues during his week-long journey.

BRAHIMI: Suzanne, this is Rym in Baghdad.

Let me just ask you this. Of course, this -- this claim was one of the bases for the war in Iraq, and to the entire situation that we're seeing here, this -- I mean it's sort of chaos, the guerrilla attacks against U.S. troops desperately trying to stabilize this country and move on. Is that the end of the matter as far as President Bush is concerned, is that where it ends, or do you think this will be followed up some more?

MALVEAUX: Well, the administration certainly hopes that this is the end of the matter. But they do admit -- White House officials admitting that there is a process -- a vetting process by which certain things get into the State of the Union address and others don't, that they fall by the wayside, that the administration admitting that this clearly did not rise to the level that it should have been included in the president's speech. They are definitely taking a look at that. But Democrats are calling for a full investigation of this. This is not something the administration believes is necessary. They realize and recognize the error here. But, yes, there are a lot of people who have questions about this, and they ask themselves, well, if this piece of information wasn't necessarily or completely accurate, what else is not right.

FEYERICK: Suzanne, it's Deb.

With so much instability in Africa, does it seem a bit of a disconnect in some people -- in some -- on some level by the people there that here the president is offering this aid package for AIDS, to fight AIDS, when there's famine and poverty and war. It just seems, to play devil's advocate, to be sort of a nice thing to do, but is it the best thing to do, given the state of Africa right now?

MALVEAUX: Well, some would certainly argue that it's all tied in, that it's all related, and that this is not only a traumatic health issue -- you're talking about a pandemic here in Africa -- but also an economic issue, as well as a security issue, that these countries are losing so many people in their populations that it really creates an unstable environment, that it's a security risk, and that it also has huge economic implications as well, that whole markets have shut down, have not been able to produce the way that they would be able to because they have lost their work population.

So a lot of this is seen as really interrelated in what they're trying to accomplish.

HAYS: Suzanne, I think many wonder what is the process that drove President Bush from being in a position in the campaign where he said, in essence, Africa's just not on my agenda, I don't see it really to have anything much to do with U.S. interests, to this five- day trip.

Interesting hearing the speech he gave, I think, yesterday where he seemed to be saying the U.S. has been sent by God to cure AIDS in Africa with much passion. So are we watching a good stage actor? What really happened here? What's the conversion, and is it a true conversion on the part of President Bush?

MALVEAUX: Well, I'll tell you a couple of things. The president says that from the very beginning of his administration that Africa at least has been on his mind, on his agenda. Whether or not it was the -- one of the top lists is questionable.

But one thing that did dramatically change the equation here is 9/11, and that is really when the administration took another look at the world and said what are we dealing with here. where are the areas that are security risks and why, the Middle East, Africa, the sense of whether or not these countries are stable, whether or not it opens up a situation where you would have groups of terrorists like al Qaeda hiding out in a place like Kenya, that you have these pockets of places where it could be potentially dangerous for the United States.

So it's definitely in the U.S. interest. But the president also says that, generally speaking, that he feels -- and passionately feels -- that this AIDS pandemic can be treated, that people can be treated, and that this administration, as a part of a compassionate, conservative agenda, can accomplish that.

DAVIS: Speaking about security risks, we had a stowaway on board the White House press plane on one of these legs here. I'm fascinated by that. Did you see this person on board the plane? And I've been on campaign planes before. It's not that hard to get on there, but a presidential plane?

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, in some ways, it's funny. In other ways, it's not so funny. A lot of us saw this individual. He actually traveled with us on board the buses, on board this chartered plane from Pretoria, South Africa, to Uganda, a four-hour flight.

Some people said, yes, they saw him on the plane. We all saw him in the filing center when Secret Service took him away. They were asking him questions.

The bottom line is what is -- concerns many of us, is that he really breached so many levels of security. As you know, we have security. There are a number of things that people do because we get so close to the president. The fact that this individual was able to basically break the bubble, enter the bubble, as we like to call it, is really something that bothers people.

There -- and, again, you should see how they've tightened our security just within the last 24 hours, making sure bags are checked, I.D.s checked, all of that.

HAYS: OK. Suzanne, thanks so much for joining us. Looks like quite a wonderful trip you've had. Thanks for joining us from Nigeria. And get home safe, OK?

Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, our thanks to you, as always.

What story are you going to be following in the next few days?

BRAHIMI: Oh, well, there's a lot to do. This governing council, for one. But, also, in the next few days, as you know, the month of revolutions in Iraq.

The 14th of July was when the monarchy was overthrown in '58. On the 17th of July was when the Baath Party came to power in '68. And on the 16th of July in '79 is when Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq.

So there will be a lot to look out for here in the coming days.

HAYS: OK. Thanks again, Rym. Talk to you again soon.

While the Bush administration is facing more questions about Iraq, it's also facing the challenge of turning around rising unemployment numbers here at home.

I'm back ON THE STORY in just a moment. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Kathleen Hays is a business correspondent for CNN. She hosts "THE FLIPSIDE" on CNNfn, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. She has a bachelor and master's degree in economics from Stanford University.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL DONOVAN, DEPUTY HEAD OF GLOBAL ECONOMICS UBS: We have a rising fear of unemployment. We have rising duration of unemployment. If you lose a job now in the States, on average, you're out of work for nearly five months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: That's Paul Donovan, deputy head of Global Economics, with a sobering assessment of the job situation here in the United States.

According to new government figures, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits are at a 20-year high. Actually, the number of people who are -- who have filed and continue to get them, the highest since February 26, 1983.

So it shows that, even though we have all these hopes for the economy and hope for the tax cuts, things really haven't picked up yet where they most need to pick up.

Contrast that to the stock market. Where we had some fits and starts this past week but still made some good advances. The stock market continues to rally. The bulls continue to be very optimistic.

FEYERICK: Kathleen, it seems, though, that people still don't have a great deal of faith in the stock market, given that -- everything that's happened, people losing a lot of their life savings, and yet is there something to be positive about, or do you think people are just right now holding back?

HAYS: Well, you know, it's interesting. One of the things that people are noticing is that, when the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates very, very low, one of the things it does, besides making it cheap for people to borrow, is it makes it...

It makes it ridiculous for you to keep your money in a money market fund, and this is one of things maybe they want to accomplish. People are looking and saying I'm getting less than a 1-percent return probably on my money, if that, I'm looking anywhere to put it. So a lot of it is going back in the stock market.

It's interesting. You know, the NASDAQ is up 30 percent this year. This is a -- technology tends to be a speculative area. There are some signs lately that maybe tech spending is going to pick up. But I think a lot of people feel that, so far, this rally has been a lot -- fueled more by the professionals, and now we're going to see if retail jumps in.

I think one of the big pieces of advice I hear is, sure, get gradually back in the stock market, but be very careful, stay diversified, look for funds that have a good track record, that are well managed, and be cautious because a lot of the easy money has been made from the March lows, and now maybe the market's going to advance a bit more slowly.

And, again, there are the skeptics out there who say, if the economy doesn't catch up, the stock market could face some more rough weather ahead.

DAVIS: Well, now we're starting to see mortgage rates come back up again. Is your opportunity lost to get your -- lock in your real low rates?

HAYS: I think there's a little bit of bad news but a lot of good news.

Mortgage rates have come up, even though the Federal Reserve just cut its key short-term rate, because the bond market is a whole other animal from what the Fed controls, and, in the bond market, the big players are saying we see the economy picking up, we see the government borrowing a lot more money because the budget deficit is growing.

So you've had a big move up in yields in the bond market. So that's why mortgage rates are up now to about 5-1/2 percent or so. A lot of them -- 30-year fixed rate was down to about 5 percent for a lot of people. This is a big move.

This week, the nation's top five housing economists gave their outlook, and they seem to think that mortgage rates this year are going to go no higher than maybe about 5.7 percent. So, even if you've missed the lowest mortgage rate, you probably still have time to get a mortgage at a good price.

Also, they see home prices up 6 percent this year, maybe another 5 percent next year. So, even with the rates coming up, it seems like the housing bubble may get a little softer but nothing like bursting.

FEYERICK: Kathleen, Microsoft changed the way it now gives its employees benefits, the shares and the options. Are we going to see this happening with other companies? And is this real money that we're talking about, or are people still going to be afraid that they're going to be hurt in the long run, that maybe investing in their own company may not be the smartest thing right now just because of what we've seen?

HAYS: Well, I guess if I worked for Microsoft and I suddenly got some of this stock, maybe if I -- I wouldn't go and put it any other of my extra investment money on top of that. That's what -- you know, don't put all your eggs in one basket. But the big, important thing here is that now you've got stock, and let's say you got stock that's worth $20 a share. If it falls to $15 a share, these employees now still have something that is actually worth money. If you give someone a stock option for a stock -- when the stock's at 20 and say, oh, the option's good at $30 and the stock falls apart and never gets there, hey, you're not giving me anything.

It was the stock options that made all the Microsoft millionaires. And, apparently, within the company, there was a lot of bad morale on new employees' parts who figured they'd never get there. So this is a very powerful step.

The other part of your question: Will other companies follow? Well, Intel says so far it won't. but another thing Intel did -- excuse me -- Microsoft did was they took the value of all their old stock options and expensed them. That kind of depressed some of their past earnings reports because the options are counted in. They bolster the value of the company.

So they took an important step that is kind of making their accounting more in line with what a lot of the regulators have been pushing companies to do. The old expensing of stock options has been a very controversial issue. So it seems in one fell swoop Microsoft has done something good for the employees, possibly good for the company, and maybe they're getting out ahead of some of the things that regulators want them to do.

DAVIS: Well, what are going to see companies going to instead?

HAYS: Well, it will be interesting to see if other companies reward their companies -- their employees with stock. One thing for sure, if your company gives you stock -- they might have given you, you know, a hundred stock options -- maybe you'll get 20 shares of stock because, when I give you stock, I'm giving you something that's really worth some money.

I think, right now, Microsoft's an unusual company. Because we're still in an area hearkening back to the weakness in the labor market, many of us are lucky -- or feel lucky if we're just holding on to our jobs. We think we'd be extra lucky if we even get a raise. So getting something like options or shares of stock for -- I think in many industries and for most workers is something that's going to wait until this economy's looking a lot stronger.

FEYERICK: Bottom line, we still shouldn't stop clipping coupons.

But, anyway, from the turbulent economy to a foiled plot to repeat a massacre involving alienated teens and guns.

I'm back ON THE STORY when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW RICH, CARJACKING VICTIM: They had the intent to kill. I mean I've seen that look before. They had the intent to kill, and that's when I knew -- my sixth sense told me it's time to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: That was Matthew Rich, the victim of an unsuccessful carjacking, just one of the incidents that police say three New Jersey teenagers were planning as part of a plan to launch an attack very much reminiscent of Columbine.

Now police say these guys had the lists of other students that were planning on targeting, and then they were going to go on a random shooting spree throughout their suburb of Oakland, New Jersey.

The teen's father -- one of them -- says that -- that his son would simply not be capable of this kind of act, that it was a cry for help. This father's backing away from the intent of what the boys were trying to do.

But police really say they stopped something and they stopped something very dangerous just in time.

HAYS: Interesting, Deborah, that the father, you know, was out on the talk-show circuit showing pictures of little delicate fairies, that his son, the ringleader, this 18-year-old kid, that the other fathers didn't even know was 18, was drawing, saying, look, he's not that kind of kid, lonely, immature, he could never have done this, this was just a fantasy.

FEYERICK: It was interesting. I spoke to the father at length. The father initially did not want to do any cameras. He said that he is very shy, he didn't want to speak to the public, but, after a series of press conferences by police, he realized that the only way that he could help his son was to show people that, in fact, his son is not the monster that's being portrayed.

And the difference between this and Columbine is that, with Columbine, those boys actually went out, they were building bombs, they were gathering weapons, they were building an arsenal that they planned to use to kill students in Columbine.

But here, in New Jersey, the father actually is a gun collector, had these guns. They were stored in a locker. They were kept in his bedroom. And the father happened to be away for the holiday weekend. He and his fiance went to the beach. And so the young boys went at -- very early in the morning, at 4:00 on Sunday, and they were caught with these guns.

And they did stop this man, this carjacking person. One side of events has it that they just flashed the gun, they opened up their jacket and flashed the gun. Police say, no, that it was something more serious, that they were definitely planning on hijacking the car.

So we're hearing very different stories from the two sides.

DAVIS: Was it just good police work that ended up stopping this and foiling this attack, or was this luck on the part of police? FEYERICK: There was a great deal of luck involved. These boys -- these teenagers were caught three blocks from their home. They had left the home just a short time earlier. They had the guns on them.

They came upon this carjacking victim -- I'm sorry -- they came upon this man who saw that they had guns, thought that they wanted to carjack him, and then he drove to a police station, which was really less than a quarter of a mile away.

When the police got there, he told the teenagers to drop their weapons, and they did that. So, again, it's very unclear as to just how far these teenager would have taken it.

But, you know, getting to the whole issue, this 18-year-old was not a popular kid. All the students we spoke to said as much. What is amazing is that no steps were ever taken to either -- get this child counseling. He lost his mother when he was only 9 years old, and teenagers bottle those kinds of things up.

So the question, of course, is always, sure, we know that this kid has some social problems, who's doing anything to help him.

HAYS: Well, in fact, my first reaction to the story, I'm sure like many people, was horror, anger, here they go again. Then you start reading about this kid. It's heartbreaking. He walks with a limp. His 14-year-old brother has a cleft palate. They were teased mercilessly. As you said, they lost their mom.

There was bullying going on here, and we know the bullying is a really growing problem, not just boys any more, girls, too. So it -- the story has gotten much more complicated, and it brings out another ugly side of teenagehood in America.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. It definitely does. And even some of the students that we were speaking to -- they -- they were being very politically correct when we were there, but, again, you could see the undertones of this guy just didn't have his act together, he was lonely, he was weird, he was this, he was that.

And, so, again, the fact that they were carrying guns, if, in fact, there were a note that says we are planning on targeting kids, well, that is serious stuff, and there should be no exception in terms of that because, obviously, we've seen too many of these incidents where kids are carrying guns and they go and attack other children.

But, at 4:00 on a Sunday morning three weeks after school has let out, this is not exactly Columbine. And if this teenager were serious about opening fire on classmates, as the police allege, he probably could have picked a better time, which would have been graduation, which took place three weeks earlier.

Again, there's something that just doesn't fit up here, something that's just out of sync, and that is something that the police are going to have to put together and a good defense lawyer is going to have argue. So that's it for the teen shooting.

HAYS: Well, I'm sure you'll be busy following this case for a while, Deborah.

From a criminal case unfolding here in the East to one in California where a family is massacred and the father is left dead -- in legal -- the father is left in limbo. ON THE STORY coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ERIC MATLOCK, BAKERSFIELD POLICE: I want to make sure that we get this thing right. The family deserves it, and the community deserves it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: The police chief of Bakersfield, California, commenting on the investigation into the murder of five family members that grabbed headlines this week.

Joining us from Los Angeles is Kaci Christian. Kaci is a reporter with CNN affiliate KBAK. She's been ON THIS STORY.

Kaci, what do the police know, and are they any closer to an arrest?

KACI CHRISTIAN, KBAK BAKERSFIELD: Deborah, at this he point, they still consider Vincent brothers the primary -- in fact, their only suspect, but there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered.

For example, they still are working on a time line, trying to identify Vincent Brothers' whereabouts the entire time, from the time that the -- that he was last seen in Bakersfield to the time that he actually turned up in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

This is such a tragic case.

DAVIS: Kaci, are -- the estranged husband was then let go. I mean he's -- he's the prime suspect. Why was he let go?

CHRISTIAN: There are a lot of reasons why he was let go.

First of all, he was -- he -- apparently, they didn't feel he was a flight risk. Also, they didn't have enough evidence to hold him, enough evidence to actually make the case.

So, once you're arrested, you have 48 hours within which to file charges, and, if you choose not to file charges at that time, you have to release the person. You can always re-arrest them later, once you have firmer evidence and you have an actual case ready to prosecute.

HAYS: And so, Kaci, what are you picking up behind the scenes about where the prosecution is likely to go with this?

CHRISTIAN: Well, there's still a lot of unanswered questions. Vincent Brothers' personal history is very sketchy. He was known to be a womanizer. He had several previous relationships. In fact, from one of his earlier relationships -- we believe that's his first marriage -- he actually was convicted of misdemeanor spousal abuse.

Now the conjecture, perhaps that was, you know, pled down to a misdemeanor. It could have been a possible felony at first, and then he agreed to -- you know, to cop a plea and take a misdemeanor charge. But whatever, he has been convicted of misdemeanor spousal abuse.

Then with a later relationship -- that spousal abuse conviction was in 1988. Then in 1992, he also was issued with a restraining order by his second wife, who actually was accusing him of threatening her and possibly threatening her with death.

FEYERICK: Kaci, how were the victims found, and how does it link to him?

CHRISTIAN: Terrible situation. They were -- I mean you have to realize, first of all, this whole thing started just this past Tuesday morning. That's when their bodies were found. They had last been seen in church on Sunday. That will be a week ago tomorrow. All of this stuff has unfolded so rapidly.

So what happened basically -- they were seen in church on Sunday morning, but then they didn't come to church on Sunday evening. That's pretty unusual because both the mother, who was killed, Joanie Harper, and her mom, Earnestine Harper, were regulars, always attended Sunday morning and Sunday evening services.

And so what happened after -- her best friend called, called, called, you know, why weren't you there. No response. Called all day Monday. No response. Finally, her best friend, who had a key to the house, stopped by the house on Tuesday, and, when she got there, she found the body of her best friend and the little girl who -- just 23 months old. She immediately ran out. She was just shocked, appalled, and she...

Now I also have to add she did not gain entry into the premises using her key. She tried, but the door was bolted from an inside with the security bar propped under the door so that, you know, intruders couldn't get in. She went around to the side sliding glass door, and she found those doors unlocked.

DAVIS: What's the status of the husband? And I understand that he's got an alibi.

CHRISTIAN: Well, that still remains to be seen. He was seen on the Wednesday before the 4th of July, on July 2nd, and he was seen on security video leaving Bakersfield on a airport bus bound for LAX. He was going to Terminal 7. That's where he was dropped off.

But, so far, police have not yet confirmed a time line indicating exactly where he was. Now they are continuing to investigate a situation in Columbus, Ohio, that may be a possible alibi. It's believed that he may have a brother or some relative that lives in Columbus, Ohio, but Bakersfield investigators are continuing to explore that possibility.

FEYERICK: You've spoken to some of the family members. Did they indicate to you that perhaps there was turmoil in the relationship?

CHRISTIAN: You know, there was. First of all, Vincent Brothers was no longer living in the residence of the crime scene, the one on 901 3rd Street at P in Bakersfield. He had moved out about three months ago. And, apparently, he did not get along at all with his mother-in-law. So that caused a lot of friction.

And he also -- again, this is another startling discovery. He also is reported to have been having a relationship with a young woman at the school where he's a vice principal. This is another element so shocking. I mean he's a stand-up citizen supposedly. He's a vice principal at an elementary school in Bakersfield.

And that conviction for misdemeanor spousal abuse happened one year prior to his actually being hired by the Bakersfield City School District. At that time, it was fine. You know, if you had a misdemeanor conviction, that did not prevent you from being hired.

HAYS: And, Kaci, some information surfacing in Ohio about -- that also adds knowledge to the case?

CHRISTIAN: So far, we don't know, but if they -- you know, as far as what's happening in Ohio, we haven't gotten word yet from investigators. They have not released any additional details. It's just possible that that could help fill in some gaps on the time line of the whereabouts of Vincent Brothers and whether or not he has a rock-solid alibi or whether he will still remain the primary suspect.

Another very startling coincidence, a woman with whom he had had a previous relationship and her mother boarded that same airport bus that he had departed on earlier and left town on the day that the bodies were found.

DAVIS: What are police telling you about possible other suspects? The focus is certainly on him, but what about possibly somebody else?

CHRISTIAN: You know, right now, police in Bakersfield -- Chief -- Matlock and Captain Mahan, who are the ones heading up the investigation -- they're saying that he is not just their primary suspect, he is their only suspect.

DAVIS: All right. Thank you.

Kaci Christian of CNN affiliate KBAK.

Thanks for joining us today.

Coming up next, security in the skies. Are the major airplane -- airline plane maintenance procedures jeopardizing passengers? I'm on the story when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Patty Davis covers aviation in CNN's Washington bureau. Earlier, she was a correspondent in CNN's Chicago bureau, and she was a senior producer for "CNN FINANCIAL NEWS" and shared an overseas press club award for coverage of Cuba.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARION BLAKEY, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We're going to make sure that we've got our resources in our inspector workforce keeping up exactly with the way the airlines are doing business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey responding to a report that found that private companies responsible for airplane maintenance are in many cases falling short.

A report out this past week by the Department of Transportation's inspector general finding that there are some major deficiencies that took -- that are taking place in these private repair facilities. Airlines are increasingly moving to them. They're trying to cut costs.

But problems found in one case -- they found a repair being done on a plane, scrap parts on the ground left, along with good parts, not cleaned up at the end of the day, they were left overnight. They could have been put back on another plane, and they were parts that were damaged and not good any more, or they could have been stolen and sold on the black market and ended up on a plane.

So some real problematic things being raised here by the inspector general.

HAYS: This is the kind of thing, I think, that strikes fear in everybody's hearts. All of us fly. We have so many things we worry about, and, certainly, bad maintenance is one of them. How -- do you get a sense of how widespread the problem is from this report?

DAVIS: Well, it found that 86 percent of the repair stations both in the U.S. and overseas that were audited -- and that was only about 21, though, out of 5,000. I know I'm throwing a lot of numbers out here, but it was a very small percentage that the audit actually looked at. That's where the deficiencies were found.

You do see an increasing amount of airlines -- the major airlines using these repair facilities, and the FAA, as you heard from Marion Blakey, is committing -- it's promising that it's going to fix this problem. The inspector general says, in fact, the FAA is not paying enough attention to this. What they're continuing to do is look at airplanes -- airlines' in-house maintenance and not at the outsourcing it.

FAA needs to do a better job here.

FEYERICK: As far as the outsourcing goes, how do they check these companies, how do they know what their credentials are, how do they know that they know exactly how to repair an airline? There's a lot at stake here, and are they checking these records good enough to know that the planes are going to be able to fly and fly well?

DAVIS: Well, the FAA says that these repair stations -- independent repair stations -- are credible. I mean they're used because they're sophisticated, and, in many cases, they know more about repairing certain things.

But that's one of the things the inspector general criticized, whether -- the FAA doesn't even know how many repair stations are out there doing this work, and they need to get a better handle on this before something goes drastically wrong.

You see the majority -- or at least I think it's about 30 percent of airplane crashes involve work that's been contracted out. In fact, the National Transportation Safety Board is looking at a contract maintenance situation now that was the crash in Charlotte, Air Midwest Flight 5481. That was a contract maintenance issue.

The NTSB is looking at maintenance as a possible factor in that crash. So a lot of questions here.

HAYS: Patty -- but it seems like people want to have it both ways. We want cheap airlines. You know, we want -- don't want to pay anything for our tickets. The airlines are cutting costs. They're, you know, hemorrhaging red ink, as they say.

Is -- it just seems logical they're going to do whatever they can to cut costs, but as -- the flip side, the downside of that cost- saving for us -- we're flying in more dangerous planes.

DAVIS: Well, definitely. The airlines are looking for ways to cut costs, and labor is much cheaper, for the most part, at these private repair stations. That's true.

FEYERICK: It's interesting that they're doing so much to make sure that people aren't carrying weapons on board, things like that, and, at the same time, they're taking greater risks in the repair area. But what about what they are doing as far as terrorism and safety and shoe screening?

DAVIS: Well, shoe screening, an issue a lot of people have a problem with right now because it seems to be pretty arbitrary as it's applied from airport to airport.

Transportation Security Administration this week came out with a policy. You will no longer be required to put your shoes through that shoe-screening machine when you first go -- before you go through the metal detector.

You will be suggested to put your shoes through that machine, and, if a screener wants to take a closer look or has a question about your shoes, you are going to have to go through secondary screening, and we know -- we all know what that entails. It's onerous. You have to have a wand put over your body. They check -- they check -- you know, it often takes five minutes to go through that kind of screening.

Will we have longer lines? Potentially with that. But the TSA saying -- privately, actually, one official told me, you know, I would rather just have my shoes checked then have a chance of a plane being brought down by a bomb.

HAYS: But -- well, I think if they want people to take off their shoes, Patty, they've got to start putting something down there for us to walk on. I'm sick and tired of walking on dirty linoleum and old, crummy carpets.

But putting that to one side, the serious aspect here is there was a shoe bomber, and that's the whole point, that there's so many ways people can carry things on the plane. A shoe often has a thick sole. So, as you say -- look, again, what does the flying public want? Convenience? A little inconvenience versus safety?

DAVIS: Yes, absolutely. And some security experts are telling me that the problem arises out of the fact that a lot of these screeners really don't know what to look for, and you want to look for the thicker-soled shoes where there could potentially be a bomb, like the Richard Reid case.

Somebody with flip-flops, though? Is that something that's going to have a bomb in it? And that's really irritated people. I have to take my flip-flops off when I go through those screening machines. So the TSa looking here to just clarify how this all works.

HAYS: Next, they're going to be looking between our toes.

Thanks to my colleagues.

And thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be next -- back next week.

Still ahead, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" focusing this week on the Williams sisters and movie action star Arnold Schwarzenegger. At 12:00 noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific, "CNN LIVE TODAY." And at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, "IN THE MONEY."

Coming up at the top of the hour, a news alert, but, first, the president's weekly radio address.

(BEGIN AUDIO TAPE)

BUSH: Good morning.

I've spent this week visiting Africa, a continent of great challenge and promise. Throughout this journey and in meetings with leaders of more than 10 countries, I have reaffirmed America's strong commitment to a more peaceful and prosperous future for all the peoples of Africa. America supports democratic and economic reforms in Africa because we know the power of freedom to lift whole nations and bring new opportunities to millions. And in a time of growing commerce across the globe, we are working to ensure that the nations of Africa are full partners in the trade and prosperity of the world.

Progress in Africa depends on peace and stability, so America is standing with friends and allies to help end regional wars. And against the murderous ambitions of terrorists, the United States and African countries are working in common purpose. We will not permit terrorists to threaten African peoples or to use Africa as a base to threaten the world.

The United States is also committed to helping African peoples overcome one of the gravest dangers they have ever faced, the spread of HIV-AIDS. And the need is urgent. Across the continent today, nearly 30 million people are living with HIV-AIDS, including 3 million children under the age of 15. In Botswana alone, where I visited on Thursday, nearly 40 percent of the adult population has HIV.

People in Africa are waging a courageous fight against this disease. In another nation on my trip, Uganda, urban and rural clinics are providing vital medical care, counseling, sound and honest information on AIDS prevention. Thanks to caring people and wise government policies, Uganda has dramatically reduced its infection rate. More Ugandan children are growing up with mothers and fathers, and Uganda is reclaiming its future.

The tremendous progress in Uganda is showing that AIDS can be defeated across Africa. Yet current efforts to oppose the disease are simply not equal to the need. More than 4 million people require immediate drug treatment, but just 1 percent of them are receiving the medicine they require. Africa has the will to fight AIDS, but it needs the resources, as well.

Over the next five years, the United States Congress has authorized $15 billion to fight AIDS around the world, with a special focus on 14 nations in Africa and the Caribbean. Working with governments and private groups and faith-based organizations, we will build on the progress in Uganda by establishing a comprehensive system to prevent, diagnose and treat AIDS.

We will support abstinence-based education for young people and provide comprehensive services to prevent millions of new infections. We will provide HIV testing and purchase anti-retroviral medications and other drugs that are needed to extend lives.

We will help establish broad and efficient networks to deliver drugs. We will help build, renovate and equip clinics and laboratories. We'll prepare doctors, nurses, and other health-care professionals to treat AIDS more effectively. And the resources America provides will also help to hire and train child-care workers to look after orphans and provide care at home to many AIDS patients.

This week, a committee of the House of Representatives took an important step to fund the first year of this effort. I ask the Senate to move quickly, as well. And I urge the entire Congress to fully fund my request for the emergency plan for AIDS relief, so that America can help turn the tide against AIDS in Africa.

All of our actions in Africa, from fighting AIDS to promoting security and prosperity across the continent, represent the ideals that have always guided America in the world. The United States is committed to the success of Africa because the peoples of Africa deserve to live in freedom and dignity and to share in the progress of our times.

Thank you for listening.

(END AUDIO TAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Iraqis' Trust; Airlines Farm Out Maintenance Work to Unrealiable Contractors>


Aired July 12, 2003 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN's ON THE STORY where our journalists have the inside word on the stories we covered this week. I'm Kathleen Hays.
ON THE STORY of the jump in unemployment benefit claims and worries about an economy that seems stuck in the doldrums.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, and I'm ON THE STORY of how U.S. troops are trying to gain the trust of the Iraqis in the face of increasing resistance here.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Deborah Feyerick in New York ON THE STORY of a frightening plot to repeat Columbine and how police stopped that plot in time.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Patty Davis ON THE STORY of how the major airlines are farming out plane maintenance work to private contractors who often fall short of safety standards.

We're talking about all of these stories.

And we'll get a live report from Nigeria where President Bush is wrapping up a historic five-day trip to the African continent.

And, at the end of the hour, we'll listen to the president's weekly radio address.

We will also talk about a murdered family in California, the estranged husband suspected in a case, and a frustrating investigation for police.

And we want to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to onthestory@cnn.com.

Now to Rym Brahimi ON THE STORY in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICARDO S. SANCHEZ, COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY: There are some professional assassins that are operating in Baghdad. There is absolutely no question in my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRAHIMI: That was Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who is the commander of the coalition forces here in Iraq, commenting on the increase of guerrilla-style attacks against U.S. troops.

Now these attacks continue. The number of dead U.S. soldiers as a result of these attacks is 32 since May the 1st when President Bush said that it was the end of the major combat operations.

Only this morning, near a prison a group of U.S. soldiers that were guarding a prison west of Baghdad came under attack. They were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades. One soldier was wounded.

And then overnight, also, a U.S. battalion was also attacked near the justice ministry. One Iraqi guard was injured in that attack.

So, of course, the question is now: What is the U.S. doing? How can it get out of this increasing sense of maybe a vicious circle in which it's being attacked and yet difficult for it to improve the situation as long as security hasn't returned to Iraq.

DAVIS: Well, Rym, are there -- are these attacks considered coordinated at this point? Do they think Saddam Hussein, who they believe now is still alive -- is he behind this?

BRAHIMI: Well, they don't necessarily believe that Saddam Hussein in person is -- is behind every single one of these attacks. They do believe that the fact Saddam Hussein is still alive, in their view, maybe incites or encourages these attacks in a certain sense.

And there's also questions about how many groups are there. Are they coordinated? Not necessarily. They may have some sort of objective alliance. But then, again, they haven't really found any proof of that.

They do know that a lot of them are remnants of the former regime, and some of them, Iraqis will tell you when you talk to them on the street, they suspect may also be foreigners -- maybe other Arabs, Islamic radicals, maybe extremists -- coming from abroad.

And a lot of Iraqis are questioning whether the borders are secure enough around Iraq to prevent these people from coming in and destabilizing, if you will, the U.S. efforts here.

FEYERICK: Rym, it's Deb in New York.

Did the U.S. government underestimate just the response of people fighting back? People thought that it would happen at the beginning of the war, but now it seems to be prolonging everything. Troops are going to be committed for a much longer period of time.

I think the last thing I read was $3.9 billion a month is being spent just so that U.S. troops can be there. Did the U.S. government underestimate the reaction, the prolonged reaction by the Iraqi people?

BRAHIMI: I think it seems that you've definitely put your finger on one of the main questions here, of course, one of the main issues being did they underestimate and, therefore, not commit enough troops to securing Iraq and planning the post-war Iraq, as they should have, in the view of many.

And that's a question that a lot of Iraqis are asking because they find it extremely hard to believe that the greatest superpower in the world that can win a war just like it did very quickly hadn't actually planned this well enough to have enough troops and enough people to actually secure the country after the war had ended. So definitely there are questions on that.

On the other hand, some of the troops, as you pointed out, have been here for a very long time, and the U.S. officials -- some U.S. officials do seem keen to rotate them out, bring other U.S. troops in, but also gradually pull U.S. forces out and bring more -- other international troops in, and that will probably start by the end of the next month.

HAYS: And, of course, there are a lot of things happening, Rym. Just this week, the Pentagon admitting it's probably going to cost twice what they thought to maintain the troops, about $4 billion a month, instead of something more like $2 billion.

But, certainly, within Iraq and with the forces of -- that are running the reconstruction, Paul Bremer, a very hopeful sign that a Iraqi governing council is being set up. My understanding is that there will be an announcement made about who's on the council and what it plans to do this weekend.

BRAHIMI: Absolutely. Now this, as you pointed out, comes as a -- maybe more of a relief. It might actually end up relieving also the U.S. officials that are administering Iraq here of a lot of pressure.

As you say, there's a lot of questions as to how much more money will the U.S. have to pay that it hadn't planned on paying to -- for the reconstruction effort, but, also, this whole pressure because of the guerrilla-style attacks, because it hasn't been delivering, it's been coming under not only physical attacks but also increasing criticism.

And that actually might lead to people who might not participate in the attacks but might sit back and not even maybe be against the attacks just because they don't see the U.S. has having improved their situation since the downfall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Now this governing council -- this government council -- there's a -- there's expected to be a meeting of these 25 members that will compose the council, tomorrow on Sunday, and now they are going to be a -- basically, all the major parties, Kurdish parties, Sunni, Shia, a few women, Christian parties, and tribal leaders -- they're all going to get together.

There should be 25 representatives at the end of it that are going to emerge, and they're going to make an announcement, and they say that they're going to have much more power than Paul Bremer, who is administrating Iraq now, had initially planned.

DAVIS: Now George Tenet, the CIA director, taking the fall for a claim made in President Bush's State of the Union address in January, specifically that the Iraq government was trying to buy uranium in Africa. What's the reaction, and how's the search going for weapons of mass destruction?

BRAHIMI: You know, people, of course, -- it does raise, again, questions here.

There are a lot of people that are still extremely skeptical as to the U.S.'s real intentions when it comes to what it is they came in to Iraq to do. OK. They've gotten rid of Saddam Hussein. People say that's fine, that's terrific, but now what are they here to do.

And, of course, there is this unease about what is this U.S. occupation here, and I think people will only believe that this U.S. occupation is for their good once they see results -- again, just basic services, electricity, water.

As far as the weapons of mass destruction are concerned, people -- it does tend to increase the skepticism of those who say, well, we knew from the beginning the U.S. was only after our oil, they needed any pretext, they're not going to find anything, but they're just here to sort of take advantage of our country, and, clearly, they don't care about the rest since they're not really helping us get along with their lives and get us jobs and improve our situation.

So there is a tendency and a risk there that, if nothing is found sooner, if no plausible explanation comes up or no improvement in their daily lives, well, there will be increasing criticism there again.

FEYERICK: Rym, it's Deb.

What about the myth of Saddam Hussein? We don't know whether he's alive. We don't know whether he's dead. Same goes for the Iraqi people. Are the Iraqi people who may cooperate with coalition forces -- do you think they'll pull back a little if these continued strikes happen and they think that -- they don't know which side to go with because they don't know who's going to come out ahead ultimately?

BRAHIMI: Well, certainly, those continued attacks seem to have, to a certain extent, intimidated certain people. Not everybody.

That said, I mean there was the press conference only an hour ago, in fact, by Commissioner Kerik. Now he used to be the commissioner of New York -- commissioner of police in New York, and he's been sent here to try and help improve the security situation.

Now he says that, thanks to some indications that were brought about by Iraqis, they were able to arrest four men in the past 24 hours, four men who they believe may be cousins of President Saddam Hussein. They say they found pictures -- during that arrest, they found pictures in the place. They arrested these four men of torture. The four people in question torturing a young man. The investigation continues.

But that's just an example that you have a bit of both. Some people will help, but there is a lot of intimidation going on. And some people still afraid, and, until they see clearly that really there's nothing left from the old regime, no Baath member in a powerful position, let's say, and no one capable of giving them a hard time or threatening them physically, well, it will be hard for them to really feel relaxed about the situation.

HAYS: Rym, I know you touched on this, but I want to come back to something because, on my show on CNNfn, "THE FLIPSIDE," we were talking about the reconstruction of Iraq recently, and a woman called in and said she didn't understand how people could talk about the people of Iraq being impatient about services like water and electricity.

Her son was in the U.S. military and was killed fighting for Iraq. She says she doesn't understand. We fought for their freedom. How can they be impatient about something like this? How do you answer a question from someone like that?

BRAHIMI: It's extremely difficult, and I think that's one of the main points, maybe, of misunderstanding between maybe Iraqis and the U.S. troops.

You see, the -- you -- Iraqis, as many people in the world, in fact, view the United States as all-powerful. They view it as the most powerful country in the world, capable of doing anything and capable of winning this war in barely two months, and so people here have such high expectations on the part of the United States that they find it extremely difficult to believe that the U.S. that won this war, the country that's most technologically advanced, in their view, where they want their children to go and study and learn from -- well, how can that country not restore electricity?

You see, that's their viewpoint. I know from the American perspective there are questions as to why are these people ungrateful, why aren't they -- why don't they say thank you that we liberated them. Well, people here see it differently, and, gradually, a lot of people are saying, well, we have the freedom, maybe it was better before. Still a lot of questions there.

DAVIS: Well, from Iraq to Nigeria. As President Bush winds up his trip to Africa, White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is ON THE STORY when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Suzanne Malveaux is a CNN White House Correspondent. Earlier, she reported for NBC for six years, covering the Pentagon and the Clinton administration. She has degrees from Harvard and Columbia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's going to be, you know, a lot of attempts to try to rewrite history, and I can understand that. But I am absolutely confident in the decision I made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's President Bush in Abuja, Nigeria. This where he is wrapping up his five-nation, five-day tour of Africa, really a whirlwind on this continent here, trying to promote fighting AIDS, as well as opening markets and combating terror.

But I have to tell you that one thing that really dominated a lot of the questions -- he was dogged by this throughout the week -- was this whole flap over the State of the Union address and that claim that he made that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Africa. It's rather ironic that this happened during the week he was trying to highlight and focus on so many other issues.

But the bottom line is the president ended up doing a lot of damage control during the week. He had his top advisers, Secretary Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, everyone squarely putting this on the CIA, saying that the CIA, indeed, approved the State of the Union address that included that dubious claim and that it was the CIA's responsibility.

Ultimately, CIA Director George Tenet took the responsibility for it, and the president said that he has all the confidence in Tenet to continue with his work, continue with his job.

But, as you can imagine, of course, it was quite a disappointment for the administration to have to face those kinds of questions and those issues during his week-long journey.

BRAHIMI: Suzanne, this is Rym in Baghdad.

Let me just ask you this. Of course, this -- this claim was one of the bases for the war in Iraq, and to the entire situation that we're seeing here, this -- I mean it's sort of chaos, the guerrilla attacks against U.S. troops desperately trying to stabilize this country and move on. Is that the end of the matter as far as President Bush is concerned, is that where it ends, or do you think this will be followed up some more?

MALVEAUX: Well, the administration certainly hopes that this is the end of the matter. But they do admit -- White House officials admitting that there is a process -- a vetting process by which certain things get into the State of the Union address and others don't, that they fall by the wayside, that the administration admitting that this clearly did not rise to the level that it should have been included in the president's speech. They are definitely taking a look at that. But Democrats are calling for a full investigation of this. This is not something the administration believes is necessary. They realize and recognize the error here. But, yes, there are a lot of people who have questions about this, and they ask themselves, well, if this piece of information wasn't necessarily or completely accurate, what else is not right.

FEYERICK: Suzanne, it's Deb.

With so much instability in Africa, does it seem a bit of a disconnect in some people -- in some -- on some level by the people there that here the president is offering this aid package for AIDS, to fight AIDS, when there's famine and poverty and war. It just seems, to play devil's advocate, to be sort of a nice thing to do, but is it the best thing to do, given the state of Africa right now?

MALVEAUX: Well, some would certainly argue that it's all tied in, that it's all related, and that this is not only a traumatic health issue -- you're talking about a pandemic here in Africa -- but also an economic issue, as well as a security issue, that these countries are losing so many people in their populations that it really creates an unstable environment, that it's a security risk, and that it also has huge economic implications as well, that whole markets have shut down, have not been able to produce the way that they would be able to because they have lost their work population.

So a lot of this is seen as really interrelated in what they're trying to accomplish.

HAYS: Suzanne, I think many wonder what is the process that drove President Bush from being in a position in the campaign where he said, in essence, Africa's just not on my agenda, I don't see it really to have anything much to do with U.S. interests, to this five- day trip.

Interesting hearing the speech he gave, I think, yesterday where he seemed to be saying the U.S. has been sent by God to cure AIDS in Africa with much passion. So are we watching a good stage actor? What really happened here? What's the conversion, and is it a true conversion on the part of President Bush?

MALVEAUX: Well, I'll tell you a couple of things. The president says that from the very beginning of his administration that Africa at least has been on his mind, on his agenda. Whether or not it was the -- one of the top lists is questionable.

But one thing that did dramatically change the equation here is 9/11, and that is really when the administration took another look at the world and said what are we dealing with here. where are the areas that are security risks and why, the Middle East, Africa, the sense of whether or not these countries are stable, whether or not it opens up a situation where you would have groups of terrorists like al Qaeda hiding out in a place like Kenya, that you have these pockets of places where it could be potentially dangerous for the United States.

So it's definitely in the U.S. interest. But the president also says that, generally speaking, that he feels -- and passionately feels -- that this AIDS pandemic can be treated, that people can be treated, and that this administration, as a part of a compassionate, conservative agenda, can accomplish that.

DAVIS: Speaking about security risks, we had a stowaway on board the White House press plane on one of these legs here. I'm fascinated by that. Did you see this person on board the plane? And I've been on campaign planes before. It's not that hard to get on there, but a presidential plane?

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, in some ways, it's funny. In other ways, it's not so funny. A lot of us saw this individual. He actually traveled with us on board the buses, on board this chartered plane from Pretoria, South Africa, to Uganda, a four-hour flight.

Some people said, yes, they saw him on the plane. We all saw him in the filing center when Secret Service took him away. They were asking him questions.

The bottom line is what is -- concerns many of us, is that he really breached so many levels of security. As you know, we have security. There are a number of things that people do because we get so close to the president. The fact that this individual was able to basically break the bubble, enter the bubble, as we like to call it, is really something that bothers people.

There -- and, again, you should see how they've tightened our security just within the last 24 hours, making sure bags are checked, I.D.s checked, all of that.

HAYS: OK. Suzanne, thanks so much for joining us. Looks like quite a wonderful trip you've had. Thanks for joining us from Nigeria. And get home safe, OK?

Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, our thanks to you, as always.

What story are you going to be following in the next few days?

BRAHIMI: Oh, well, there's a lot to do. This governing council, for one. But, also, in the next few days, as you know, the month of revolutions in Iraq.

The 14th of July was when the monarchy was overthrown in '58. On the 17th of July was when the Baath Party came to power in '68. And on the 16th of July in '79 is when Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq.

So there will be a lot to look out for here in the coming days.

HAYS: OK. Thanks again, Rym. Talk to you again soon.

While the Bush administration is facing more questions about Iraq, it's also facing the challenge of turning around rising unemployment numbers here at home.

I'm back ON THE STORY in just a moment. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Kathleen Hays is a business correspondent for CNN. She hosts "THE FLIPSIDE" on CNNfn, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. She has a bachelor and master's degree in economics from Stanford University.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL DONOVAN, DEPUTY HEAD OF GLOBAL ECONOMICS UBS: We have a rising fear of unemployment. We have rising duration of unemployment. If you lose a job now in the States, on average, you're out of work for nearly five months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAYS: That's Paul Donovan, deputy head of Global Economics, with a sobering assessment of the job situation here in the United States.

According to new government figures, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits are at a 20-year high. Actually, the number of people who are -- who have filed and continue to get them, the highest since February 26, 1983.

So it shows that, even though we have all these hopes for the economy and hope for the tax cuts, things really haven't picked up yet where they most need to pick up.

Contrast that to the stock market. Where we had some fits and starts this past week but still made some good advances. The stock market continues to rally. The bulls continue to be very optimistic.

FEYERICK: Kathleen, it seems, though, that people still don't have a great deal of faith in the stock market, given that -- everything that's happened, people losing a lot of their life savings, and yet is there something to be positive about, or do you think people are just right now holding back?

HAYS: Well, you know, it's interesting. One of the things that people are noticing is that, when the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates very, very low, one of the things it does, besides making it cheap for people to borrow, is it makes it...

It makes it ridiculous for you to keep your money in a money market fund, and this is one of things maybe they want to accomplish. People are looking and saying I'm getting less than a 1-percent return probably on my money, if that, I'm looking anywhere to put it. So a lot of it is going back in the stock market.

It's interesting. You know, the NASDAQ is up 30 percent this year. This is a -- technology tends to be a speculative area. There are some signs lately that maybe tech spending is going to pick up. But I think a lot of people feel that, so far, this rally has been a lot -- fueled more by the professionals, and now we're going to see if retail jumps in.

I think one of the big pieces of advice I hear is, sure, get gradually back in the stock market, but be very careful, stay diversified, look for funds that have a good track record, that are well managed, and be cautious because a lot of the easy money has been made from the March lows, and now maybe the market's going to advance a bit more slowly.

And, again, there are the skeptics out there who say, if the economy doesn't catch up, the stock market could face some more rough weather ahead.

DAVIS: Well, now we're starting to see mortgage rates come back up again. Is your opportunity lost to get your -- lock in your real low rates?

HAYS: I think there's a little bit of bad news but a lot of good news.

Mortgage rates have come up, even though the Federal Reserve just cut its key short-term rate, because the bond market is a whole other animal from what the Fed controls, and, in the bond market, the big players are saying we see the economy picking up, we see the government borrowing a lot more money because the budget deficit is growing.

So you've had a big move up in yields in the bond market. So that's why mortgage rates are up now to about 5-1/2 percent or so. A lot of them -- 30-year fixed rate was down to about 5 percent for a lot of people. This is a big move.

This week, the nation's top five housing economists gave their outlook, and they seem to think that mortgage rates this year are going to go no higher than maybe about 5.7 percent. So, even if you've missed the lowest mortgage rate, you probably still have time to get a mortgage at a good price.

Also, they see home prices up 6 percent this year, maybe another 5 percent next year. So, even with the rates coming up, it seems like the housing bubble may get a little softer but nothing like bursting.

FEYERICK: Kathleen, Microsoft changed the way it now gives its employees benefits, the shares and the options. Are we going to see this happening with other companies? And is this real money that we're talking about, or are people still going to be afraid that they're going to be hurt in the long run, that maybe investing in their own company may not be the smartest thing right now just because of what we've seen?

HAYS: Well, I guess if I worked for Microsoft and I suddenly got some of this stock, maybe if I -- I wouldn't go and put it any other of my extra investment money on top of that. That's what -- you know, don't put all your eggs in one basket. But the big, important thing here is that now you've got stock, and let's say you got stock that's worth $20 a share. If it falls to $15 a share, these employees now still have something that is actually worth money. If you give someone a stock option for a stock -- when the stock's at 20 and say, oh, the option's good at $30 and the stock falls apart and never gets there, hey, you're not giving me anything.

It was the stock options that made all the Microsoft millionaires. And, apparently, within the company, there was a lot of bad morale on new employees' parts who figured they'd never get there. So this is a very powerful step.

The other part of your question: Will other companies follow? Well, Intel says so far it won't. but another thing Intel did -- excuse me -- Microsoft did was they took the value of all their old stock options and expensed them. That kind of depressed some of their past earnings reports because the options are counted in. They bolster the value of the company.

So they took an important step that is kind of making their accounting more in line with what a lot of the regulators have been pushing companies to do. The old expensing of stock options has been a very controversial issue. So it seems in one fell swoop Microsoft has done something good for the employees, possibly good for the company, and maybe they're getting out ahead of some of the things that regulators want them to do.

DAVIS: Well, what are going to see companies going to instead?

HAYS: Well, it will be interesting to see if other companies reward their companies -- their employees with stock. One thing for sure, if your company gives you stock -- they might have given you, you know, a hundred stock options -- maybe you'll get 20 shares of stock because, when I give you stock, I'm giving you something that's really worth some money.

I think, right now, Microsoft's an unusual company. Because we're still in an area hearkening back to the weakness in the labor market, many of us are lucky -- or feel lucky if we're just holding on to our jobs. We think we'd be extra lucky if we even get a raise. So getting something like options or shares of stock for -- I think in many industries and for most workers is something that's going to wait until this economy's looking a lot stronger.

FEYERICK: Bottom line, we still shouldn't stop clipping coupons.

But, anyway, from the turbulent economy to a foiled plot to repeat a massacre involving alienated teens and guns.

I'm back ON THE STORY when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW RICH, CARJACKING VICTIM: They had the intent to kill. I mean I've seen that look before. They had the intent to kill, and that's when I knew -- my sixth sense told me it's time to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: That was Matthew Rich, the victim of an unsuccessful carjacking, just one of the incidents that police say three New Jersey teenagers were planning as part of a plan to launch an attack very much reminiscent of Columbine.

Now police say these guys had the lists of other students that were planning on targeting, and then they were going to go on a random shooting spree throughout their suburb of Oakland, New Jersey.

The teen's father -- one of them -- says that -- that his son would simply not be capable of this kind of act, that it was a cry for help. This father's backing away from the intent of what the boys were trying to do.

But police really say they stopped something and they stopped something very dangerous just in time.

HAYS: Interesting, Deborah, that the father, you know, was out on the talk-show circuit showing pictures of little delicate fairies, that his son, the ringleader, this 18-year-old kid, that the other fathers didn't even know was 18, was drawing, saying, look, he's not that kind of kid, lonely, immature, he could never have done this, this was just a fantasy.

FEYERICK: It was interesting. I spoke to the father at length. The father initially did not want to do any cameras. He said that he is very shy, he didn't want to speak to the public, but, after a series of press conferences by police, he realized that the only way that he could help his son was to show people that, in fact, his son is not the monster that's being portrayed.

And the difference between this and Columbine is that, with Columbine, those boys actually went out, they were building bombs, they were gathering weapons, they were building an arsenal that they planned to use to kill students in Columbine.

But here, in New Jersey, the father actually is a gun collector, had these guns. They were stored in a locker. They were kept in his bedroom. And the father happened to be away for the holiday weekend. He and his fiance went to the beach. And so the young boys went at -- very early in the morning, at 4:00 on Sunday, and they were caught with these guns.

And they did stop this man, this carjacking person. One side of events has it that they just flashed the gun, they opened up their jacket and flashed the gun. Police say, no, that it was something more serious, that they were definitely planning on hijacking the car.

So we're hearing very different stories from the two sides.

DAVIS: Was it just good police work that ended up stopping this and foiling this attack, or was this luck on the part of police? FEYERICK: There was a great deal of luck involved. These boys -- these teenagers were caught three blocks from their home. They had left the home just a short time earlier. They had the guns on them.

They came upon this carjacking victim -- I'm sorry -- they came upon this man who saw that they had guns, thought that they wanted to carjack him, and then he drove to a police station, which was really less than a quarter of a mile away.

When the police got there, he told the teenagers to drop their weapons, and they did that. So, again, it's very unclear as to just how far these teenager would have taken it.

But, you know, getting to the whole issue, this 18-year-old was not a popular kid. All the students we spoke to said as much. What is amazing is that no steps were ever taken to either -- get this child counseling. He lost his mother when he was only 9 years old, and teenagers bottle those kinds of things up.

So the question, of course, is always, sure, we know that this kid has some social problems, who's doing anything to help him.

HAYS: Well, in fact, my first reaction to the story, I'm sure like many people, was horror, anger, here they go again. Then you start reading about this kid. It's heartbreaking. He walks with a limp. His 14-year-old brother has a cleft palate. They were teased mercilessly. As you said, they lost their mom.

There was bullying going on here, and we know the bullying is a really growing problem, not just boys any more, girls, too. So it -- the story has gotten much more complicated, and it brings out another ugly side of teenagehood in America.

FEYERICK: Absolutely. It definitely does. And even some of the students that we were speaking to -- they -- they were being very politically correct when we were there, but, again, you could see the undertones of this guy just didn't have his act together, he was lonely, he was weird, he was this, he was that.

And, so, again, the fact that they were carrying guns, if, in fact, there were a note that says we are planning on targeting kids, well, that is serious stuff, and there should be no exception in terms of that because, obviously, we've seen too many of these incidents where kids are carrying guns and they go and attack other children.

But, at 4:00 on a Sunday morning three weeks after school has let out, this is not exactly Columbine. And if this teenager were serious about opening fire on classmates, as the police allege, he probably could have picked a better time, which would have been graduation, which took place three weeks earlier.

Again, there's something that just doesn't fit up here, something that's just out of sync, and that is something that the police are going to have to put together and a good defense lawyer is going to have argue. So that's it for the teen shooting.

HAYS: Well, I'm sure you'll be busy following this case for a while, Deborah.

From a criminal case unfolding here in the East to one in California where a family is massacred and the father is left dead -- in legal -- the father is left in limbo. ON THE STORY coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ERIC MATLOCK, BAKERSFIELD POLICE: I want to make sure that we get this thing right. The family deserves it, and the community deserves it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: The police chief of Bakersfield, California, commenting on the investigation into the murder of five family members that grabbed headlines this week.

Joining us from Los Angeles is Kaci Christian. Kaci is a reporter with CNN affiliate KBAK. She's been ON THIS STORY.

Kaci, what do the police know, and are they any closer to an arrest?

KACI CHRISTIAN, KBAK BAKERSFIELD: Deborah, at this he point, they still consider Vincent brothers the primary -- in fact, their only suspect, but there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered.

For example, they still are working on a time line, trying to identify Vincent Brothers' whereabouts the entire time, from the time that the -- that he was last seen in Bakersfield to the time that he actually turned up in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

This is such a tragic case.

DAVIS: Kaci, are -- the estranged husband was then let go. I mean he's -- he's the prime suspect. Why was he let go?

CHRISTIAN: There are a lot of reasons why he was let go.

First of all, he was -- he -- apparently, they didn't feel he was a flight risk. Also, they didn't have enough evidence to hold him, enough evidence to actually make the case.

So, once you're arrested, you have 48 hours within which to file charges, and, if you choose not to file charges at that time, you have to release the person. You can always re-arrest them later, once you have firmer evidence and you have an actual case ready to prosecute.

HAYS: And so, Kaci, what are you picking up behind the scenes about where the prosecution is likely to go with this?

CHRISTIAN: Well, there's still a lot of unanswered questions. Vincent Brothers' personal history is very sketchy. He was known to be a womanizer. He had several previous relationships. In fact, from one of his earlier relationships -- we believe that's his first marriage -- he actually was convicted of misdemeanor spousal abuse.

Now the conjecture, perhaps that was, you know, pled down to a misdemeanor. It could have been a possible felony at first, and then he agreed to -- you know, to cop a plea and take a misdemeanor charge. But whatever, he has been convicted of misdemeanor spousal abuse.

Then with a later relationship -- that spousal abuse conviction was in 1988. Then in 1992, he also was issued with a restraining order by his second wife, who actually was accusing him of threatening her and possibly threatening her with death.

FEYERICK: Kaci, how were the victims found, and how does it link to him?

CHRISTIAN: Terrible situation. They were -- I mean you have to realize, first of all, this whole thing started just this past Tuesday morning. That's when their bodies were found. They had last been seen in church on Sunday. That will be a week ago tomorrow. All of this stuff has unfolded so rapidly.

So what happened basically -- they were seen in church on Sunday morning, but then they didn't come to church on Sunday evening. That's pretty unusual because both the mother, who was killed, Joanie Harper, and her mom, Earnestine Harper, were regulars, always attended Sunday morning and Sunday evening services.

And so what happened after -- her best friend called, called, called, you know, why weren't you there. No response. Called all day Monday. No response. Finally, her best friend, who had a key to the house, stopped by the house on Tuesday, and, when she got there, she found the body of her best friend and the little girl who -- just 23 months old. She immediately ran out. She was just shocked, appalled, and she...

Now I also have to add she did not gain entry into the premises using her key. She tried, but the door was bolted from an inside with the security bar propped under the door so that, you know, intruders couldn't get in. She went around to the side sliding glass door, and she found those doors unlocked.

DAVIS: What's the status of the husband? And I understand that he's got an alibi.

CHRISTIAN: Well, that still remains to be seen. He was seen on the Wednesday before the 4th of July, on July 2nd, and he was seen on security video leaving Bakersfield on a airport bus bound for LAX. He was going to Terminal 7. That's where he was dropped off.

But, so far, police have not yet confirmed a time line indicating exactly where he was. Now they are continuing to investigate a situation in Columbus, Ohio, that may be a possible alibi. It's believed that he may have a brother or some relative that lives in Columbus, Ohio, but Bakersfield investigators are continuing to explore that possibility.

FEYERICK: You've spoken to some of the family members. Did they indicate to you that perhaps there was turmoil in the relationship?

CHRISTIAN: You know, there was. First of all, Vincent Brothers was no longer living in the residence of the crime scene, the one on 901 3rd Street at P in Bakersfield. He had moved out about three months ago. And, apparently, he did not get along at all with his mother-in-law. So that caused a lot of friction.

And he also -- again, this is another startling discovery. He also is reported to have been having a relationship with a young woman at the school where he's a vice principal. This is another element so shocking. I mean he's a stand-up citizen supposedly. He's a vice principal at an elementary school in Bakersfield.

And that conviction for misdemeanor spousal abuse happened one year prior to his actually being hired by the Bakersfield City School District. At that time, it was fine. You know, if you had a misdemeanor conviction, that did not prevent you from being hired.

HAYS: And, Kaci, some information surfacing in Ohio about -- that also adds knowledge to the case?

CHRISTIAN: So far, we don't know, but if they -- you know, as far as what's happening in Ohio, we haven't gotten word yet from investigators. They have not released any additional details. It's just possible that that could help fill in some gaps on the time line of the whereabouts of Vincent Brothers and whether or not he has a rock-solid alibi or whether he will still remain the primary suspect.

Another very startling coincidence, a woman with whom he had had a previous relationship and her mother boarded that same airport bus that he had departed on earlier and left town on the day that the bodies were found.

DAVIS: What are police telling you about possible other suspects? The focus is certainly on him, but what about possibly somebody else?

CHRISTIAN: You know, right now, police in Bakersfield -- Chief -- Matlock and Captain Mahan, who are the ones heading up the investigation -- they're saying that he is not just their primary suspect, he is their only suspect.

DAVIS: All right. Thank you.

Kaci Christian of CNN affiliate KBAK.

Thanks for joining us today.

Coming up next, security in the skies. Are the major airplane -- airline plane maintenance procedures jeopardizing passengers? I'm on the story when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: Patty Davis covers aviation in CNN's Washington bureau. Earlier, she was a correspondent in CNN's Chicago bureau, and she was a senior producer for "CNN FINANCIAL NEWS" and shared an overseas press club award for coverage of Cuba.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARION BLAKEY, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We're going to make sure that we've got our resources in our inspector workforce keeping up exactly with the way the airlines are doing business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey responding to a report that found that private companies responsible for airplane maintenance are in many cases falling short.

A report out this past week by the Department of Transportation's inspector general finding that there are some major deficiencies that took -- that are taking place in these private repair facilities. Airlines are increasingly moving to them. They're trying to cut costs.

But problems found in one case -- they found a repair being done on a plane, scrap parts on the ground left, along with good parts, not cleaned up at the end of the day, they were left overnight. They could have been put back on another plane, and they were parts that were damaged and not good any more, or they could have been stolen and sold on the black market and ended up on a plane.

So some real problematic things being raised here by the inspector general.

HAYS: This is the kind of thing, I think, that strikes fear in everybody's hearts. All of us fly. We have so many things we worry about, and, certainly, bad maintenance is one of them. How -- do you get a sense of how widespread the problem is from this report?

DAVIS: Well, it found that 86 percent of the repair stations both in the U.S. and overseas that were audited -- and that was only about 21, though, out of 5,000. I know I'm throwing a lot of numbers out here, but it was a very small percentage that the audit actually looked at. That's where the deficiencies were found.

You do see an increasing amount of airlines -- the major airlines using these repair facilities, and the FAA, as you heard from Marion Blakey, is committing -- it's promising that it's going to fix this problem. The inspector general says, in fact, the FAA is not paying enough attention to this. What they're continuing to do is look at airplanes -- airlines' in-house maintenance and not at the outsourcing it.

FAA needs to do a better job here.

FEYERICK: As far as the outsourcing goes, how do they check these companies, how do they know what their credentials are, how do they know that they know exactly how to repair an airline? There's a lot at stake here, and are they checking these records good enough to know that the planes are going to be able to fly and fly well?

DAVIS: Well, the FAA says that these repair stations -- independent repair stations -- are credible. I mean they're used because they're sophisticated, and, in many cases, they know more about repairing certain things.

But that's one of the things the inspector general criticized, whether -- the FAA doesn't even know how many repair stations are out there doing this work, and they need to get a better handle on this before something goes drastically wrong.

You see the majority -- or at least I think it's about 30 percent of airplane crashes involve work that's been contracted out. In fact, the National Transportation Safety Board is looking at a contract maintenance situation now that was the crash in Charlotte, Air Midwest Flight 5481. That was a contract maintenance issue.

The NTSB is looking at maintenance as a possible factor in that crash. So a lot of questions here.

HAYS: Patty -- but it seems like people want to have it both ways. We want cheap airlines. You know, we want -- don't want to pay anything for our tickets. The airlines are cutting costs. They're, you know, hemorrhaging red ink, as they say.

Is -- it just seems logical they're going to do whatever they can to cut costs, but as -- the flip side, the downside of that cost- saving for us -- we're flying in more dangerous planes.

DAVIS: Well, definitely. The airlines are looking for ways to cut costs, and labor is much cheaper, for the most part, at these private repair stations. That's true.

FEYERICK: It's interesting that they're doing so much to make sure that people aren't carrying weapons on board, things like that, and, at the same time, they're taking greater risks in the repair area. But what about what they are doing as far as terrorism and safety and shoe screening?

DAVIS: Well, shoe screening, an issue a lot of people have a problem with right now because it seems to be pretty arbitrary as it's applied from airport to airport.

Transportation Security Administration this week came out with a policy. You will no longer be required to put your shoes through that shoe-screening machine when you first go -- before you go through the metal detector.

You will be suggested to put your shoes through that machine, and, if a screener wants to take a closer look or has a question about your shoes, you are going to have to go through secondary screening, and we know -- we all know what that entails. It's onerous. You have to have a wand put over your body. They check -- they check -- you know, it often takes five minutes to go through that kind of screening.

Will we have longer lines? Potentially with that. But the TSA saying -- privately, actually, one official told me, you know, I would rather just have my shoes checked then have a chance of a plane being brought down by a bomb.

HAYS: But -- well, I think if they want people to take off their shoes, Patty, they've got to start putting something down there for us to walk on. I'm sick and tired of walking on dirty linoleum and old, crummy carpets.

But putting that to one side, the serious aspect here is there was a shoe bomber, and that's the whole point, that there's so many ways people can carry things on the plane. A shoe often has a thick sole. So, as you say -- look, again, what does the flying public want? Convenience? A little inconvenience versus safety?

DAVIS: Yes, absolutely. And some security experts are telling me that the problem arises out of the fact that a lot of these screeners really don't know what to look for, and you want to look for the thicker-soled shoes where there could potentially be a bomb, like the Richard Reid case.

Somebody with flip-flops, though? Is that something that's going to have a bomb in it? And that's really irritated people. I have to take my flip-flops off when I go through those screening machines. So the TSa looking here to just clarify how this all works.

HAYS: Next, they're going to be looking between our toes.

Thanks to my colleagues.

And thank you for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be next -- back next week.

Still ahead, "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS" focusing this week on the Williams sisters and movie action star Arnold Schwarzenegger. At 12:00 noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific, "CNN LIVE TODAY." And at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, "IN THE MONEY."

Coming up at the top of the hour, a news alert, but, first, the president's weekly radio address.

(BEGIN AUDIO TAPE)

BUSH: Good morning.

I've spent this week visiting Africa, a continent of great challenge and promise. Throughout this journey and in meetings with leaders of more than 10 countries, I have reaffirmed America's strong commitment to a more peaceful and prosperous future for all the peoples of Africa. America supports democratic and economic reforms in Africa because we know the power of freedom to lift whole nations and bring new opportunities to millions. And in a time of growing commerce across the globe, we are working to ensure that the nations of Africa are full partners in the trade and prosperity of the world.

Progress in Africa depends on peace and stability, so America is standing with friends and allies to help end regional wars. And against the murderous ambitions of terrorists, the United States and African countries are working in common purpose. We will not permit terrorists to threaten African peoples or to use Africa as a base to threaten the world.

The United States is also committed to helping African peoples overcome one of the gravest dangers they have ever faced, the spread of HIV-AIDS. And the need is urgent. Across the continent today, nearly 30 million people are living with HIV-AIDS, including 3 million children under the age of 15. In Botswana alone, where I visited on Thursday, nearly 40 percent of the adult population has HIV.

People in Africa are waging a courageous fight against this disease. In another nation on my trip, Uganda, urban and rural clinics are providing vital medical care, counseling, sound and honest information on AIDS prevention. Thanks to caring people and wise government policies, Uganda has dramatically reduced its infection rate. More Ugandan children are growing up with mothers and fathers, and Uganda is reclaiming its future.

The tremendous progress in Uganda is showing that AIDS can be defeated across Africa. Yet current efforts to oppose the disease are simply not equal to the need. More than 4 million people require immediate drug treatment, but just 1 percent of them are receiving the medicine they require. Africa has the will to fight AIDS, but it needs the resources, as well.

Over the next five years, the United States Congress has authorized $15 billion to fight AIDS around the world, with a special focus on 14 nations in Africa and the Caribbean. Working with governments and private groups and faith-based organizations, we will build on the progress in Uganda by establishing a comprehensive system to prevent, diagnose and treat AIDS.

We will support abstinence-based education for young people and provide comprehensive services to prevent millions of new infections. We will provide HIV testing and purchase anti-retroviral medications and other drugs that are needed to extend lives.

We will help establish broad and efficient networks to deliver drugs. We will help build, renovate and equip clinics and laboratories. We'll prepare doctors, nurses, and other health-care professionals to treat AIDS more effectively. And the resources America provides will also help to hire and train child-care workers to look after orphans and provide care at home to many AIDS patients.

This week, a committee of the House of Representatives took an important step to fund the first year of this effort. I ask the Senate to move quickly, as well. And I urge the entire Congress to fully fund my request for the emergency plan for AIDS relief, so that America can help turn the tide against AIDS in Africa.

All of our actions in Africa, from fighting AIDS to promoting security and prosperity across the continent, represent the ideals that have always guided America in the world. The United States is committed to the success of Africa because the peoples of Africa deserve to live in freedom and dignity and to share in the progress of our times.

Thank you for listening.

(END AUDIO TAPE)

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