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On the Story

Harriet Miers nomination not falling on party lines; Hurricane Katrina Aftermath, Avian Flu Risk

Aired October 08, 2005 - 19:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Who's going to pay that for a hybrid? CNN has exclusive access to the New York City police department's version of the CIA. NYC officers overseas tracking terrorists. That is coming up on ON THE STORY. But first, this is what's making headlines right now in the news.
Aftershocks continue as rescuers search the rubble for survivors of a massive earthquake in southern Asia. The death toll is now at least 1300 and climbing. The quake was centered 60 miles from Islamabad near the disputed region of Kashmir.

And in Guatemala, heavy rains triggered a mud slide that has wiped out an entire town. All 800 residents are feared dead. Guatemala's president flew over the area today and said he has never seen anything like it.

And in Turkey, 1800 birds are dead after the avian flu was detected on a farm. It is not certain how many were killed by the flu and how many were destroyed as a precaution. The birds are believed to have gotten the flu from migrating birds.

And concerns grow about the potential spread of bird flu right here in the United States, but a senior U.S. military official tells CNN that war games show the military's medical capacity would be overwhelmed in a pandemic. U.S. commanders are already looking at how troops would operate during a bird flu outbreak. That is what's happening in the news. I'm Carol Lin. Time now for ON THE STORY where CNN's reporters give you the behind the scenes scoop on the week's top stories, including the bird flu threat.

Also stay with us at 8:00 Eastern for CNN PRESENTS, powerful stories of children struggling to rebuild their lives in the wake of Katrina and Rita. How the kids are coping with their new beginnings, new surroundings and a world forever changed. Right now it's ON THE STORY.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR, ON THE STORY: This is CNN and we are ON THE STORY from the campus of the George Washington University here in the heart of our nation's capital. Our correspondents have the stories behind the stories they're covering.

On the terrorism beat, David Ensor takes us inside the New York police department and its own CIA. Lisa Sylvester is on the New Orleans story, why coming back may not mean coming home.

Candy Crowley is on the story of a possible avian flu epidemic. Is the U.S. ready to handle another disaster?

Dana Bash has the story from the White House, how choosing Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court alienated some of the president's allies.

And Delia Gallagher talks about how religion and Miers evangelical Christianity have become part of that political battle.

And welcome everyone. I'm Andrea Koppel. With me here David Ensor, Candy Crowley and Dana Bash. At the end of the hour, we're going to look online and see what the bloggers are saying about news coverage this week. Our correspondents are going to be taking questions from the studio audience who's drawn from visitors, college students and people all across Washington.

Now we're going to go straight to New Orleans. Our Lisa Sylvester was there this week, watching people come back to destroyed homes, crippled communities and maybe even a you're fired notice from employers. Here's Lisa notebook.

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was tough talking to these people who have lost just about everything that they own. You feel for these people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh, everything, nothing is where it ever was. Oh Lord.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: If somebody tells us that they don't want to talk, we're very respectful and mindful. We realize that it's something that they don't have to do. And so that's the way we approach it, is asking them, will they, do they want to share their story with us?

And while city officials are recommending and telling people that it's OK to come back, state health officials different story.

We went into several homes where it's completely covered in mold and this is toxic mold. Also that this area still doesn't have electricity. So it's going to be awhile before this city is really up and running again. This is real life for these people and we are very humbled by this experience of being here, humbled by the power of mother nature, just humbled by everything that I've seen here.

KOPPEL: Lisa, how long have you been in New Orleans right now and it's just incredible to see those homes covered in mold. How are people actually going to live in these places?

SYLVESTER: Well, this is day five for us and we've been here talking to people, going into their homes, visiting them. The mold is really going to be I think a future story and this is going to be something that we will be continuing to monitor because these are people who - I mean just imagine if this were your house and you have your belongings there and you left your home. It was fine when you left and then you come back to see just everything topsy turvy, an inch of mold all over, soggy carpets. It's very unfortunate for these folks and actually being here, it really brings it home of just how difficult it is for these folks and how it will continue to be difficult for them.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How much of the city would you say is normal, has - and by that I mean, has its lights, the plumbing works, the water's OK.

SYLVESTER: This is really a tale in many ways, a tale of two different cities. I mean you can go to parts of this city and you can find your - it's completely dark. There's no running water and then you go into the French quarter and the lights are on and the water is fine and everything else. So about 50 percent of this city still does not have electricity and parts of the city have clean water and parts of the city do not. The east bank has fared better after hurricane Katrina and so life has started and has been going on for them. But as I said, other parts of the city, it's not going very well.

KOPPEL: It sounds like they made a lot more progress than what they thought they would just a month ago. Lisa, we've a question from the audience. Your name please and your question.

QUESTION: Good evening. My name is Torek (ph) and I just want to know, what is it like to be in the midst of devastation in New Orleans and not be able (ph) to administer immediate help to the families in need.

SYLVESTER: It's really tough. I mean that's a great question. Your heart goes out to these people. I've covered stories. I've covered tornadoes before and I've covered other natural disasters. But there's something sort of different about this. It's because these - so many people were affected. And I think that's one of the things that really has struck us is that it's literally house after house after house and many people haven't even been back to see their house. They don't even know what's in store for them and so there is a sense of feeling almost hopeless because there's not a whole lot that we can do at this point. So we try to be sensitive to the people who are here. There was a man walking down the street a couple of days ago and he didn't have any water. So I gave him my jug of water that we had. It's things like that. It's the little things. People are giving donations all the time. But when you're here, it's really basic things that people need like clean water to drink.

KOPPEL: Lisa, we have another question from the audience for you. Your name please and where you're from.

QUESTION: My name's Joe (INAUDIBLE) from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. What steps are being taken to ensure the culture of the New Orleans region, especially with the opportunity zones and that influencing some of the illegal immigrants to flood the area.

SYLVESTER: Well, one of the things they're trying to do is, I mean this is a very historical city as we all know. I mean it's New Orleans and they want to very much maintain the character of the city. Fortunately, the French quarter, which the area that most people associate with being New Orleans was not touched by much by hurricane Katrina. So we fully expect it to come back, the music scene. We've seen musicians for instance in the city that have had, like everyone else in the city, they've had to leave. So they're all in different parts of the country. But everybody I talked to has said that they plan on coming back. I mean this is their city and they're very proud of their city and they love their city and so they don't plan to abandon it any time soon.

KOPPEL: That's good news, Lisa, thanks so much. We're going to see you back on the story. From the disaster of the hurricanes and their aftermath, new worries this week about another looming disaster. Candy Crowley is back on the story of how U.S. admit they are unprepared for a bird flu pandemic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOPPEL: We are on the story. New attention this week on the potential risk of an outbreak in North America of avian flu. Viruses that cross from birds to humans already have emerged in Asia with deadly results. Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley found some U.S. experts, including the secretary of Health and Human Services aren't sleeping too well. Check out Candy's notebook.

CROWLEY: You have this possibility of an avian flu which could be really horrific. The media plays a large part in saying, hey, red flag here people. Let's begin thinking about this sort of as a nation. It's just a great story in some ways to watch how the government post- Katrina takes care of something that most of us have never thought about. It's awfully hard to be prepared because we're talking about a virus that doesn't exist yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lay awake at night as the person responsible for our preparations, concerned about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: The secretary has taken the book about the 1918 flu, tabbed it with red tags on the important pages, highlighted it with a little help from his staff and he's giving it out to members of Congress. Kimberly Elliott (ph) works for an outfit called Trust for America's Health. Businesses aren't prepared.

KIMBERLY ELLIOTT, TRUST FOR AMERICA'S HEALTH: That's right.

CROWLEY: Individual families aren't prepared. Why shouldn't I be afraid?

ELLIOTT: Can you think about being prepared (INAUDIBLE)

CROWLEY: My producers are always accusing me of being a germophobic. I felt really vindicated doing this story, I'll tell you that.

KOPPEL: Well, a little bit of humor from Candy on a very serious subject. We've got a question from the audience. Why don't you stand up and give us your name please.

QUESTION: Hi, I'm Molly Hahn from Washington, D.C. I'm an animal control officer here in the city and I'm wondering if there's a high threat to people who have direct contact with migratory birds such as animal control officers and those in veterinary science.

CROWLEY: That's sort of one of the problems with this whole thing is right now, we're talking about something that was confined to Asia. As you know, most of it has been bird to bird or bird to animal infections. So it's not, no case of it has been spotted here, has been found here among birds. There have been some in Europe, so it is spreading. We still have a virus that seems unable to jump from human to human, which is the good news. What's interesting though is that the Health and Human Services secretary talked a lot about having to bring veterinarians. A part of the plan is that veterinarians have to be on the lookout for this sort of thing so they're very much a part of what the government is trying to do to get together, kind of an early warning system.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Candy, you have here the book that the secretary gave you. He also - he gave - this is the book he gave to the president.

CROWLEY: Yeah, this is what the president read, whether he handed it to the president I don't know.

BASH: And he's been, we know just in listening to what he said publicly recently, but also over the past several weeks and months. He's been thinking about this a lot and that's really a critical thing for preparation not just here in the U.S., but for the government to deal with, other governments, particularly in Asia.

CROWLEY: We were talking (INAUDIBLE) secretary said you know, what we most need is what they call transparency, which is this is most likely to break out in village four in Thailand. There will be some villager somewhere who gets sick from another person. It is being able to know, for the government in Thailand or wherever it happens, Vietnam, wherever it happens, to be aware of that and then to tell the rest of the world so that they - so that the western world and those jump into that country and do the triage there rather than trying to do it in their own country.

KOPPEL: So much of the challenge is getting through those cultural barriers in some communist societies like in Cambodia and in Vietnam, to actually come forward and spread some bad news that's going to potentially affect tourism or other aspects of the local economy, is going to be really tough. We've got another audience question.

QUESTION: Yes, hello, good evening. I'm wondering, what measures are being taken at U.S. ports to minimize the impact?

CROWLEY: Well, here's the problem. It isn't here yet. It's such a (INAUDIBLE) the secretary, because you have this problem that you can prepare for to some extent, but that you have to wait have happen before you can do anything, for instance a vaccine, can't really make on until you have the virus and the virus doesn't exist and so you're sort of stock. I will tell you that at every level of government, they're not prepared and they will tell you that and that includes the ports.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What about us, me? If this happens, what should I do? What should we all do?

CROWLEY: Well, right now, even before it happens, I tell you, it is - it all comes under - reminds me of that Williams poem about so much depends on the little red wheelbarrow, washing your hands, I mean literally the people, the experts we talked to all brought out their little hand sanitizer, saying that it's as simple as that. But they also say, look, you need your 72 hour kit.

KOPPEL: What is it?

CROWLEY: Well, it's like batteries and I said well, I'm sorry, the electricity is going to go out when we have a flu epidemic and the answer is maybe. Because you're talking about a workforce depleted by maybe 25 or 30 percent, so think about prisons that have 30 percent fewer prison guards or the people that watch the electrical grids out 30 percent. So the other thing of course is the problem is, they tell you all these horrible stories. You're thinking, I'm thinking, I am going to get my children 72 hour kits for Christmas. Won't they be thrilled? To do all that, but the problem is you don't want people to panic because it's not here. It doesn't even exist yet and yet you want people to plan.

KOPPEL: From flu and politics to terrorism. New concerns in New York this week following what New York Mayor Bloomberg called a credible threat against the city's transit system. David Ensor goes inside the NYPD's own terrorism intelligence operation. He's back on the story right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOPPEL: We are on the story on the campus of the George Washington University. New terrorism worries in New York City this week after the mayor announced what he called a credible threat. New York works with Washington, but also on its own to detect and defend against possible terrorism attack. Our national security correspondent David Ensor gained exclusive access to the New York City police department's own CIA. Check out his notebook.

ENSOR: I got started on this story because a couple of people at the CIA said to me, you know, you really out to look at the New York police department. Commissioner Kelly has hired a top 35-year CIA veteran to set up New York's own CIA.

The nation's largest police department. They're better equipped than anybody else and we got to see their unmarked police helicopter. We spent a long time trying to convince the NYPD that they could trust us, that we would do this job in a responsible way. So much of the national security beat consists of people who not only won't let you film them. They won't even tell you their name and they don't want to talk on the record. The challenge in television is to occasionally be able to convince an interesting piece of the national security effort of this country to go a bit public.

KOPPEL: And David, you talk there about how hard it is on your beat to get people to talk to you. So how did you do what you obviously did, convince them to let you in, not just you, but with your cameras?

ENSOR: Well, first you have to have a little bit of reputation for doing things that isn't got you journalism, that kind of goes into things in a responsible way and let's people have their say. Then it was a question of connections and knowing a few people in the intelligence community and the new people in the NYPD and it took about 3 1/2 months to convince them. But they're happy and we're happy at this point.

CROWLEY: David, I've been to shoots where you simply can't shoot here and you can't shoot here and I always look and think, why not? What is the big deal about this? Did you run into that and do you do sort of on scene negotiating?

ENSOR: You negotiate every step of the way. For example, we got to the counter terrorism center which is in a borough of New York I can't name and we said great. We'll set up the cameras. No, no, can't shoot this. Turned out we could shoot inside it, but not outside it. They don't want the neighborhood to know that there's a very important police counter terrorism intelligence center there that could be a target. So inside yes, outside, no.

KOPPEL: Do we have any idea just how effective this unit has been? Have they actually foiled plots?

ENSOR: They have and they claim to have had some successes. It's very hard to measure. You don't know what you don't know. That's the problem in the intelligence business, but they are highly regarded by their peers and by people at the CIA and FBI as a very aggressive police department.

KOPPEL: And that's an interesting thing that you said also in the piece is that the CIA, people there recommended that you talk to the NYPD. How are they sort of - how is their relationship? The intelligence community is notorious for turf wars that they have.

ENSOR: Well, that's right and of course NYPD has sent officers overseas to play like CIA officers. There are people, particularly former FBI people, who weren't happy about that, who say, look, you're sending people overseas. That's our job. These people don't have diplomatic cover. They haven't got access to classified information. They're just going to get themselves hurt or arrested or something. This is a mistake. Others say terrific, the more information the better and if New York wants to protect itself by having trip wires out in London and Madrid, fantastic. Why not? So there's disagreement about that.

KOPPEL: David, we have a question for you from our audience.

QUESTION: Hello. I'm Brian from Baltimore, Maryland. Are chemical sensing devices in place in our country's subway systems now and are these devices in place due to state governments or local governments?

ENSOR: There are sensing devices for chemicals and other devices and other dangers that are placed by state, by local, by Federal officials. I challenge you though to find anybody who will tell you specifically where they are and what they detect. They don't want the terrorists to know that. So for example, NYPD weren't going to tell me whether they had such devices and if so where they were.

KOPPEL: David, we have another question from the audience.

QUESTION: Thank you. I'm Tyler from Salina, Kansas and I was wondering, from your experiences reporting on the breakdowns that led up to 9/11, do you see any way to discipline the government in order to prevent a New York City subway disaster?

ENSOR: It's funny you should mention that. This is the week that Porter Goss, the director of the CIA announced that he is not, he's decided not to have any punishment, people at the CIA, who were alleged by some to have made mistakes before 9/11 that could have perhaps stopped 9/11. Argument was, look, it will be terrible for morale in the workforce. It will make recruiting harder and the few people who are still at the CIA who were alleged to have done anything wrong are some of the best and brightest we've got. He just made a decision there. Now that's controversial and obviously the 9/11 families are not happy about it. They'd like accountability.

KOPPEL: Who was supposed to be held accountable?

ENSOR: Well, there was a - the 9/11 Commission report, there was an inspector general at the CIA who went through and said there's 12 people you ought to look at possibly punishing, some of them, including the former director, George Tenet, but Porter Goss has now decided there will be no accountability (INAUDIBLE) It's just not a good idea.

CROWLEY: David, I'm thinking when I cover stories, I tend to go home and begin to look around and personalize them. Do you, when you see what's going on out there or given a window into what they're looking for, do you go home and pack your bags? Do you worry? Should we be more worried or less worried?

ENSOR: You know, I try to separate home and the office as much as possible and I try to go home and say, my family's fine. I'm not going to worry. They're OK, although my wife worries a little bit and asks me, aren't we living a little too close to DC and what if something happens and so on and so we talk about it. But I don't know. I think it'll come out OK. I'm an optimist.

KOPPEL: Well, from national security to the big political story of the week. President Bush under fire, not so much from his political foes, but his friends. CNN's Dana Bash is back on the story of the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination.

And we are on the story here in Washington, New York and New Orleans and CNN's on the story elsewhere this week. Take a look. CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The stand off isn't over, even if both sides seem to be showing more flexibility and Gerhard Schroeder is still playing very much the chancellor with official trips planned over the next week to Spain, Russian and Turkey. Chris Burns, CNN, Berlin,

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Balinese have turned to ceremony to put the bombings behind them. Many foreign tourists have fled. Those that stay refused to have their lives ruled by terror. Stan Grant, CNN, Bali, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush administration ignoring Chinese objections has offered to sell Taiwan anti-submarine and anti-missile weapons systems.

(on camera): But the government's efforts to acquire those weapons have been thwarted.

(voice-over): Mike Chinoy, CNN, Zhou Ying (ph) Naval Base, Taiwan.

ROBYN CHURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Turkey backs U.S. an E.U. pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. And Blair hinted that might be behind the Iranians arming Iraqi insurgents. Iran denies the accusations.

(on camera): Robin Oakley, CNN, Downing Street, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

KOPPEL: CNN is ON THE STORY here on the campus of the George Washington University in the nation's capital.

President Bush disappointed political allies this week, nominating his long-time lawyer and friend, Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Even some of Mr. Bush's most loyal supporters have openly crossed swords with him on Miers amidst questions about her legal philosophy and abilities.

White House Correspondent Dana Bash was on that story. Let's look at her Reporter's Notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Supreme Court nomination just like the last time was incredibly carefully calculated. It was not a big surprise that it was Monday Morning.

Sunday night I talked to a couple of senior officials who said "Be on high alert. Be ready." Harriet Miers was actually under consideration even as she was helping find John Roberts.

I tried to get a profile on her, to do an interview with her. I understood that she was somebody who was quite unique, perhaps interesting and she wouldn't do an interview, not a publicity hound. I knew the basic facts but unlike some of the other top aides here at the White House not some of the colorful parts of her relationship with the president.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've known Harriet for more than a decade. I know her heart. I know her character.

BASH: The White House has been quite defensive. Advisers, top aides have been working the phones getting friends of Harriet Miers to talk to very important people, to quietly say what they know about her. The irony here is that Democrats are the people who are sort of the most quiet.

(on camera): This would have been the last way you would have described it. It is not falling on party lines as of now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: OK, we got an audience question, your name please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Greg Bales (ph). I'm from Monster, Indiana and I'm here thanks to Indiana University's Washington Leadership Program. But my question is, is it possible that Harriet Miers is a decoy nominee to pave the way for a potentially more conservative nominee in the case that she's readily dismissed?

KOPPEL: Well that's a Machiavellian...

BASH: Yes, that's a very interesting question. Look, I mean the question of being dismissed that did come up at the end of the week, very publicly, from a conservative columnist who is well respected said get rid of her, actually two of them, and the president readily dismissed that.

But, you know, you raise an interesting question sort of the big picture question is why is it that the conservatives who were supposed to be behind the president no matter what he was doing have really been the first to bolt?

This White House particularly when it comes to Supreme Court nominees,, but in general, they like secrecy and they like the element of surprise. Well, what happened here we think is that they actually didn't talk to the conservatives with this nominee as opposed to the John Roberts nomination and really pave the way and explain what they were doing.

Harriet Miers' name was out there. It was sort of out there in the buzz world, if you will, but conservatives didn't believe it and they will tell you that at the White House. That was a problem.

KOPPEL: Dana, we've got another question from the audience, your name please. EMILY: My name is Emily and I'm from Las Angeles, California. Is Miers trying to appear neutral to the public so as to appease both Democrats and Republicans or moreover is she trying to -- was she appointed because little is known about her politics and her views?

BASH: Well, tradition goes that once somebody is nominated they don't really say anything. They really don't speak publicly at all until you hear them at their confirmation hearings.

Harriet Miers, like most nominations, you know, what the White House tries to do is sort of thread the needle, you know, make sure that they are absolutely supported by conservatives in the case of a Republican president but still they have to get confirmed.

But what happened with Harriet Miers, the interesting thing about the talking point from the White House was the very first thing they said was, well, Democrats said that Harriet Miers would be a good choice and Democrats said it would be a good idea to go outside of the judicial monastery, go outside of people who are sitting on the bench.

Well, that was the first thing, as you know Candy that sent conservatives absolutely flying. That was the last thing that they wanted to hear so that's one of the reasons why they got so upset initially and it's actually grown substantially in terms of what you're hearing from conservatives throughout the week.

KOPPEL: Dana, what I don't understand is the president has said and we heard him in your segment saying that he knows Harriet Miers' heart and he knows her character but he also says he doesn't know how she feels about abortion. He doesn't know how she feels about some of the real hot button issues out there. How can somebody know someone for ten years and not have discussed these kinds of issues like homosexuality?

BASH: Well, I mean the bottom line is that sort of the line of this president has been he doesn't have a litmus test, so that had to be his answer when it comes to the question of abortion because in order for him to be consistent.

But I can tell you that behind the scenes what they are trying to do to sort of quiet the conservative criticism is getting people who do know her to talk to very important conservative leaders like James Dobson of Focus on the Family and others to get her pastor, to get other confidantes to sort of quietly say, you know, here's what we know about Harriet Miers.

Dobson on his radio show said that he knows things he's probably not supposed to know. And the irony here, the irony here is that when John Roberts was nominated, who had a little bit more of a record, they didn't want to talk about his personal views. You can't talk about his personal views and you can't talk about his religion. Well, it's quite different now.

CROWLEY: Look, it seems to me that it's a fairly large mistake not to talk to your core constituency when you're about to put out a name for something they have lived for decades to watch this being filled. What is your sense of why that happened? Does it -- were they preoccupied? What's going on because it seems to me that there have been some significant mistakes from a very well oiled machine previously?

BASH: You know, Candy, I covered the president going through 2004 as you did and 2000 going through these rural areas really campaigning, particularly after he had had four years, the guy who gave the conservatives conservative judge after conservative judge who they were so happy with.

It was the red meat line on the stump for conservatives, so I think that they felt that they had built up some capital, if you will, within their base. But they will tell you that they underestimated the passion with which they really were very worried about what past Republican presidents have done in nominating people like David Suter (ph) and others to the bench who really disappointed them and trust me just doesn't work with the Supreme Court. It just didn't work.

KOPPEL: Well, we're going to be talking about that some more in the weeks ahead.

Religion and politics can make an unpredictable combination. In the Miers story her evangelical Christianity attracted a lot of attention this week. CNN Faith and Values Correspondent Delia Gallagher is back ON THE STORY right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOPPEL: We are ON THE STORY.

And, this week a big part of the Harriet Miers story and her nomination to the Supreme Court was not her legal background but her religious beliefs. She was raised as a Catholic and converted to evangelical Christianity.

Our Faith and Values Correspondent Delia Gallagher has been following the Miers story. Here's Delia's Reporter's Notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT: Reporting on religion is a tough beat because religion is something which people hold very close to their hearts. It's funny coming from the Vatican where there tends to be a sort of closed circle, especially with regard to the media.

I found here in the United States many people are quite happy to openly tell you about what they believe and why they believe it. I think religion is a part of the Miers story for the moment.

In the absence of a voting record, something which could convince conservatives about her credentials was the fact that she is an upstanding member of a conservative Christian Church. This is probably the first time that we have seen faith being so highlighted.

BUSH: Harriet has also earned a reputation for her deep compassion.

GALLAGHER: The possibility of an evangelical on the court is being played up also with the blessing of the White House.

BUSH: She's a woman of principle and deep conviction.

HARRIET MIERS, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: For my mom thank you for your faith.

GALLAGHER: Judge Hecht (ph) her long-time friend on the Texas Supreme Court was made available to talk to the press. I think it's interesting that even Judge Hecht said, you know, what we are nominating here is a judge not a priest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: And, Delia, we've got a question from the audience for you, your name please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Kisha (ph) from Washington, D.C. in Foggy Bottom. Should the religious convictions of Supreme Court nominees be a consideration in the confirmation hearings?

GALLAGHER: Well, that's actually an excellent question because that's exactly what's being debated. You see on the one hand they want to bring out the religious conviction of this particular nominee. They didn't want to bring it out in the Roberts case. It wasn't considered acceptable to ask about his Catholicism there.

But in this case for a variety of reasons probably they want to bring it out and yet at the same time they want to say, well, she may be pro-life but that doesn't necessarily mean that she would vote in that manner for -- in a particular case if a particular case is brought before her.

So, for example, Judge Hecht, who is her long-time friend, belongs to the same church, was one of the people who told me, yes, she is pro- life but that doesn't mean that she would vote a certain way on Roe v. Wade, which of course is the big dividing line between conservatives and liberals as far as the Supreme Court is concerned. So, it's a very interesting question about how much we should be even focusing on this issue.

KOPPEL: But, Delia, when you say Judge Hecht said that Harriet is pro-life but wouldn't necessarily vote that way, has he asked her or is he just giving you his sense?

GALLAGHER: No. The point here is not whether she would vote that way. The point that the judge was making and I think any judge would make is that when cases come up it's not a question of do you believe A or B? You have to look at the particular case.

Take assisted suicide in Oregon that is in front of the Supreme Court right now. It's not a question of whether you believe Euthanasia is OK or whether you believe assisted suicide is OK. The question in front of the court is a constitutional question. Is this an issue for the federal law to handle or is it an issue for the state law? So, the judge's point was that it's just often not put in those terms.

BASH: And, Delia, a good part of what the White House does in their strategy to get people to know a nominee is put people out like Judge Hecht, whom you talked to, and perhaps her pastor. What have you learned from them about Harriet Miers, things that, you know, we certainly didn't know before because she's such a private person?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think you touched on it earlier, Dana. It's absolutely right that these people have been very available. Her pastor down at Valley View Church and Judge Hecht have both been on the phones non-stop since her name was announced and, of course, they are very supportive.

They see a wonderful woman of faith and that's a legitimate viewpoint and it's something that I think interests people. She has a very interesting conversion story. She was raised a Catholic and then when she was in her 30s developed this personal relationship with Jesus and had a full immersion baptism.

Those are interesting things for some people, you know, born again Christian for some people is a kind of scary term and for other people in the country it's a wonderful thing, so I think that they were trying to get that word out there to the conservatives, as you say, and try to convince them that this is a good person.

ENSOR: Is it that common for judges to have their religious belief have any effect on the way they judge things? I kind of wonder really whether it is much of a factor.

GALLAGHER: Well, I asked Judge Hecht that. He's a judge on the Texas Supreme Court. I asked him because he's a member of her same church and that was the answer that he gave me. He said, no, actually if you are a good Christian and you are a good judge, the two things should remain separate.

CROWLEY: Delia, I'm curious as to the conversation you had with her minister. I can't even imagine what, I mean you're sort of a news person but yet I know you know so much about, you know, religion. I can't quite figure what that conversation was like. What did you ask him?

GALLAGHER: Well, Candy, the thing is that, you know, I'm coming from the Vatican. I'm coming from a Catholic world where they don't necessarily open up in the way I have found the evangelicals certainly to do. I mean part of being evangelical and the word comes from it is spreading this good news, so they want to talk to you and they want to tell you about their faith and they want you to come to their services.

At the Vatican you could never get a camera into any of the churches. Here they want you to come and so I had no problem. I mean I talked to several of the pastors. I talked to several of the people that had worked with Harriet Miers in the church community putting out donuts, you know.

One of the things that everybody pointed out was that this was a woman who was very involved in her church, teaching Sunday school. I mean she's a lawyer and she's teaching Sunday school and she's putting out the donuts on Sunday morning.

So, the church communities are very supportive obviously of their people and he communities are very, very close, so the pastors have no problem telling me about that.

KOPPEL: Well, we hope that your new immersion in the reporting world of New York isn't going to send you back to the Vatican, Delia.

GALLAGHER: Thanks, Andrea.

KOPPEL: Thanks so much.

We're going to see you back ON THE STORY.

Just ahead our Jennifer Eccleston ON THE STORY in Iraq.

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KOPPEL: We're ON THE STORY.

This week CNN's Jennifer Eccleston was in western Iraq embedded with U.S. troops in the Al Anwar (ph) Province. Take a look at her Reporter's Notebook.

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JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Insurgent gunfire and rockets had us trapped on this roof in eastern (INAUDIBLE) for over an hour. The tension in the air was suffocating. We needed to find a way to tape the action that we could hear in other areas but we could not see.

So, when Captain Conlin Carabine (ph) made the decision to fire a tank round into a suspected insurgent hideout we scrambled to get that shot. But what came out of the dust was traumatic, surreal, young women, young children with their hands up in the air in submission, their faces caked with dust and blood, wailing, crying, some in a state of shock.

Why do we run to danger instead of doing what normal people do run away? This is a story that has value. This is a story that needs to be told and that's what we do. We're storytellers. We bring people a slice of life, a slice of reality and is it worth getting blown up? That's something I think about all the time.

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KOPPEL: Tough situation for reporters over in Iraq. And we've got some tough criticism of some reporters. We're going to have a quick look ON THE STORY online.

Craig Crawford who is author of "Attack the Messenger," how the politicians turn you against the media writes on public eye at cbs.com about the new terror warnings in New York. He says he worries that "the news media seems to feel forced to take these dire warnings at face value despite the pattern of politicians provoking these episodes at suspiciously opportune moments."

Well that one has David Ensor's name written all over it. David, is that a fair criticism?

ENSOR: You know, I don't think it's fair to criticize NYPD or the mayor of New York for doing what they did, which was to say "We've been given this specific information. We have no choice but to warn the public and to take certain security measures."

Now, there are people that I've talked to in the intelligence community who think that this was should we say not real that there was not a real threat in this case so there is some controversy about it.

KOPPEL: David, are we doing a disservice to the public?

ENSOR: By telling them about what's happening?

KOPPEL: By telling them about these threats that we hear about?

ENSOR: Well, you do have to -- you do have to calibrate it. I mean I think sometimes there are I think our own network and others sometimes jump too quickly to report things that you can probably if you gave it two minutes you could figure out it's a false alarm.

Sometimes that happens but generally we're careful and, you know, people want to know what's going on. They want to know why the street ten blocks ahead is blocked. And, you know, if we can tell them, we're providing a service.

KOPPEL: OK. We are going to be back ON THE STORY right after this.

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KOPPEL: And you can keep yourself ON THE STORY at cnn.com. Our website tells you about the panel, the topics and how you can get tickets to join our audience.

Let's take a quick look ahead ON THE STORY. David, what's up for you next week?

ENSOR: We're going to try and do a report card on Porter Goss' first year as the CIA director.

CROWLEY: Louie Freeh has some interesting -- the former head of the FBI interesting things to say about his former boss Bill Clinton.

KOPPEL: Oh, yes, I've heard about that.

BASH: Well, President Bush was not in New Orleans all week and that was an unusual thing for him, so he'll go next week Monday and Tuesday. I think it's his eighth trip. KOPPEL: And I'm going to be hitting the road with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She's going to be going over to the "stans" to Kazakhstan to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and I'll be going with her.

I want to thank all of my colleagues here and our audience here at the George Washington University and thank all of you for watching ON THE STORY. We're going to be back each week, Saturday and Sunday.

Straight ahead a check of what's making news right now.

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