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On the Story

Correspondents Discuss Stories Behind the Stories

Aired January 21, 2006 - 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: ON THE STORY is coming up in just a moment, but first, a look at what's happening now in the news.
The bodies of two missing miners were found today in a West Virginia coal mine. They were found close to the area where a fire broke out Thursday.

And two U.S. Marines were killed today west of Baghdad, They were hit by a suicide car bomber.

And former President Gerald Ford remains in a California hospital a week after he was admitted. His office says he is responding to treatment for pneumonia.

And coming up next, ON THE STORY. It's going to examine the latest Osama bin Laden tape and analyze the threat of new attacks. And also coming up, CNN presents "Homicide in Hollenbeck," a look at a Los Angeles community where gangs rule the streets and the efforts to take them back. That's what's happening right now in the news. I'm Carol Lin. Now ON THE STORY.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR, ON THE STORY: This is CNN and we are on the story from the campus of the George Washington University in the heart of the nation's capital. Our correspondents bring you the stories behind the stories they're covering.

Nic Robertson is on the story of the new Osama bin Laden tape and the latest details of the U.S. attack in Pakistan.

Octavia Nasr looks at how these stories run in the Arab world.

On the story online, Jacki Schechner talks to a U.S. Army captain about his personal blog from Iraq and after being injured from here.

Dana Bash is on the story of the president's week.

Susan Rosegen talks about promises of Federal aid and why New Orleans now says show me the money.

And Delia Gallagher on the religion story, how a close knit group turns its back on modern society and why some break away. Welcome. I'm Ali Velshi. Nic Robertson and Dana Bash are with me here. Now our correspondents will be taking questions from our studio audience, who's drawn from visitors, college students, people from across Washington and across the country.

First the war on terrorism. Our Nic Robertson, CNN senior international correspondent has been on the story in Iraq and Afghanistan on a variety of fronts in the war on terrorism. This week we're lucky to see him in Washington where he was still reporting on terrorism, including the attack in Pakistan on Osama bin Laden's number two man. Well, those missiles may have missed their primary target, but it may have hit other senior al Qaeda members. Take a look at Nic's reporter's notebook.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Slowly the story piece by piece came out but there were contrary versions at times. Pakistanis saying one thing, United States officials saying the other thing. It seems a common sense would say that the two men would not be spending time under the same roof to avoid exactly this sort of thing happening. What we wanted to know was, had it been successful and the best contact we have is one of our producer's who works in Pakistan Sayad (ph) (INAUDIBLE). Pakistani officials released intelligence indicating that it doesn't appear to be him but you can't actually go to and ask villagers questions and as a journalist, that's what you want to do. That's what he wants to do. It is great to be here in the United States. I love being here and it's fun and it's nice to walk around where you know you're not going to be shot (INAUDIBLE) or something. So that's really nice. I'm at the beginning of a new project and the challenge is, can I bring out the story that I would like to bring out. Can I get people to open up and tell the truth?

VELSHI: You know, as much as we all think we do a tough job, Dana and I don't tend to have to worry about getting shot. Good that you stay safe. Let's go straight to the audience because they never get a chance to see you or talk to you in person. Ma'am where are you from and what's your name?

QUESTION: I'm Megan from Ticonderoga, New York. My question is what do you believe the timing of the bin Laden tape signifies, why now after 13 months?

ROBERTSON: I think it is really interesting that it seems to makes reference or the sort of most timely reference in it is early December last year, which is when the political debate here over whether or not to pull troops out of Iraq was really heating up and it seems that he's timed his message or the release of the message around that. He says this is a message about ending the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. So I think he recorded it soon after that focusing it on that issue. But did they go ahead and push it out quickly because of what had happened, Zawahiri, the attacks in Pakistan. Did they want to make themselves sort of back in a positive light if you will. It is kind of several things, I think.

VELSHI: You're from San Diego? No. You just got the shirt.

QUESTION: I'm Matt from George Washington University and I'm curious. Is Osama bin Laden's offer of a truce rightly interpreted as a weakness in al Qaeda or is it merely them giving the United States an opportunity to avert a major attack?

ROBERTSON: I think it should be interpreted as a threat. I think it should be interpreted as a threat that if they could, that they would carry through. I don't think there's anything to indicate that they are necessarily capable of carrying through it right now. I don't think you can ignore it. I don't think people should be scared and overreact. I think it's bluff, but they've made these threats before. They made them to the Europeans back in 2004. By 2005, the summer of 2005 the offer was European nations get out of Iraq, pull your troops out of Iraq, summer of 2005, British troops still in Iraq and they hit London. You can't ignore it. But I don't think we should overly worry about it.

VELSHI: You have a very finely tuned sense of that, I imagine, because you've got to, you have to evaluate what a threat is every day when you get up. So that's kind of interesting hearing it from you. Sir?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) from Oberlin, Ohio. I was wondering how do the missile strikes on Pakistan going to affect the relations between the two countries?

ROBERTSON: I think it strains the relationship. I don't think it's anywhere close to breaking point. I think both sides understand what's happening at the moment. Certainly Pakistani president and his ministers have been at pains to sort of tap dance if you will along a tight rope here in their own country, not to overtly say that this was the United States attack. But every time there's a mistake, if there are mistakes, this does make it difficult for Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf and therefore it makes the war on terror difficult because you need the information coming from those people in that region. You need them to tell you where is bin Laden and where is Zawahiri, but when innocent people, if that's what's happened and that's what's believed at the moment, if innocent people die then, that makes that harder.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know Nic, watching the reaction there, it reminded me of a comment that President Musharaf of Pakistan made recently, I think it was to "Time" magazine, saying if they catch bin Laden, I really hope it doesn't happen in Pakistan. It shows the difficulty in that part of the world. You spent a lot of time there. The difficulty in that he has in trying to capture terrorists, but also the sentiment that perhaps they have a lot of support in his own country.

ROBERTSON: They do absolutely. I mean bin Laden does have support in Pakistan. There's about 60 or so percent support for him I think in a survey last year. But President Musharaf, when he first came to power back in the late 1990s in a coup, he was popular. People really hoped and thought that he could do something good. That kind of honeymoon period has gone away now. He was kind of living through the end of it in 2000 and 2001. Now he's in a much tougher political position so the kind of stakes are higher on that. It is much tougher for him.

VELSHI: Nic, you are sitting here in a lovely suit and tie. We have some sense of our schedule. Tell me what your life is like that way? You get a phone call and you go somewhere. Do you happen to be, do you happen to know where things are going to happen? How does it work for you? ROBERTSON: If you are smart and lucky, you kind of, you have a sixth sense and you know on the plane and you're there already. I mean when September 11 happened, I was lucky. I was in Kabul already. When the war in Iraq happened I was in Baghdad.

VELSHI: A video phone, back in the day when video phone was sort of really jagged.

ROBERTSON: It was me that was jagged. The phone was fine. But yeah, you do. You get woken up in the middle of the night and get sent off and hey, you're not going like two hours over here. You're going like five time zones over here and then you are up 24 hours and you're working and you're still trying to make sense of it all at the end of the day and that can be the kind of tough thing. You know, jumping time zones, different language, strange food, but it has all come at you. And hey, guess what, you got a job to do.

BASH: We were talking about the fact that covering the White House, you're really in a bubble and you are going full speed ahead, but you really are protected when you are with the president of the United States you feel like I'm probably going to be OK because everyone wants him to be OK but you are in a completely different situation. You are on your own.

ROBERTSON: You have to remember that. Sometimes you get really focused on the story and you want to get there before everyone else. You want to beat the other news networks and be first, but you've got to remember, OK, I'm not going to put myself in danger and I don't want to put my camera crew in danger. So you got to kind of stop and check. I want to try your job out. On the record, I want it see what it is like.

VELSHI: We should all just swap around a little bit.

ROBERTSON: I think Dana's job is tough. I mean, you've got a lot of pressure on you and I see that.

BASH: Different kinds.

VELSHI: We're going to stay on this story on terrorism in Iraq. How do these topics play in the Arab world on front pages and on newscasts? Our senior editor for Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr is back on the story after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: CNN is on the story. New threats this week from al Qaeda leaded by (ph) Osama bin Laden. There's a CNN procedure in place when a possible terrorism tape appears. Our senior editor for Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr, is one of the people involved in that system. Let's have a look at her reporter's notebook.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As soon as we hear of a new tape, we have a game plan. We have a great team at the international desk, several Arabic speakers, so we work together and one will monitor. One will translate and one will disseminate the messages.

TRANSLATOR: The war against America and its allies will not be confined to Iraq.

NASR: The first question is, is it new? Is it recent? What kind of news worthiness does it have? So we have to identify all these elements before we send them out network wide. This tape has a time marker. He mentions attacks on European capitals. That means that this tape was produced after the London bombings. Many people think that al Jazeera is an mouth piece of bin Laden and al Qaeda. Of course, al Jazeera refuses that description. They say that they are merely the messenger. They get these tapes and they put them out and basically, the rest of the world takes them and runs them, as well.

VELSHI: Octavia Nasr joins us from Atlanta. Octavia, thank you for being with us what it may not have been clear by looking at that process that you go through is that you go through that incredibly fast. This is happening. You are doing it and like Nic Robertson, you guys don't have the same resources at your disposal sometimes. You just got to get it out there and you know you're under pressure. So Nic, kick it off with Octavia, because you work with her a lot.

ROBERTSON: Octavia, you were monitoring the reaction to Osama bin Laden's message in the Arab world and the Arab media. What were you hearing? What kind of reaction was he getting it?

NASR: Well first of all, it was a shocking tape for most of the Arab world, because we haven't heard from bin Laden in over a year. And there were rumors as you know Nic, only a few weeks ago. There were rumors surfacing about him possibly being dead, being very sick. So a tape like this was shocking. It sent really shock waves throughout the Arab world. People saying well, the man is alive and well.

VELSHI: Octavia, we've got a question from the audience. Ma'am your name and where you're from.

QUESTION: My name is Delores Minor (ph) and I'm from New Castle, Delaware. My question is, if we can readily get tapes and messages from bin Laden, why is it we cannot locate him?

NASR: Well, that's of course a very interesting question. And all I can tell you is that when we talk to al Jazeera for example, to say how they obtain the tape they always say we obtained the tape. We say, how did you obtain it? Who gave it to you? They tell us that there is a messenger system of sorts. The tape leaves the hand of bin Laden into someone else's hand, to someone else's hand and so forth until it reaches the door steps of al Jazeera in one of their bureaus. It could be in Pakistan. It could be in Qatar. So basically, al Jazeera is saying, they don't know who drops off these tapes. If you don't know who drops off these tapes, you just don't know how to find your trail back to the origin.

BASH: Octavia, part of your job also is to monitor the websites of potential terrorists essentially, the recruitment. Did you see any change in chatter or any change in what they were saying following the bin Laden tape coming out? NASR: Oh, a lot of jubilation, a lot of celebration. This tape definitely reenergized the supporters of bin Laden and his sympathizers, not only on the radical Islamist Web sites, but also in the Arab and Muslim media. As you heard Nic say earlier, Osama bin Laden still enjoys a large support in the Islamic world and the Arab world and a tape like this was definitely used to reenergize his supporters and we have to understand observers, experts on bin Laden, al Qaeda and terrorism, they tell us that these tapes are not meant as real messages for the world. They're meant as recruitment tools. They are out there as propaganda to energize and recruit and incite to violence.

VELSHI: It's an interesting point. Sir, what's your name and where are you from?

QUESTION: My name is Aaron Harrison and I'm from Haskell (ph), Oklahoma. And my question is, when the new Iranian president came into office many of the American hostages from 1979 accused him of being one of the major hostage takers and my question is, what has been the media's follow up to that and if he was one of the hostage takers, will the international community and the United States government support his removal from office?

VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE) Octavia with the anniversary, the 25th anniversary of that incident this week.

NASR: Right. On Arab media, there is no mention of his role in that situation. You read Arab media, you watch Arab media. (INAUDIBLE) is treated as the Iranian president. They follow his activities, his visits, like this week to Syria, his comments and so forth, but there's no mention whatsoever of that. That was mainly on western media, not on Arab media.

ROBERTSON: Octavia, it's Nic here. I'd just like to go back to what we were talking about before. Just how I want to know just how crazy is it? I mean you are pulled in every direction. I know how it is in Atlanta. You are the go to person. I mean just give us a sense of how many different directions you are being pulled in when these tapes come in.

NASR: You know, I can't even tell you because at that moment we're talking about split seconds. We're talking about really split seconds. We hear the audio. My job, part of my job, is to determine first of all, especially on an audiotape, you have to recognize the voice and it is not easy to recognize the voice as you know. We always wait for CIA identification. They are the authority. They come back and tell us if the tape is authentic, if it is indeed Osama bin Laden. So my first job is to hear the voice, identify if it is him or if we believe that it sounds like him. The next step is to find out if it is recent. What markers do we have because that's what I need to do. I need to send out the information to everybody including Nic Robertson and that is a very big responsibility. It is happening within seconds. So it is very important to be accurate and be focused. So I don't know how many directions I am pulled into but I know that there are many, many directions. VELSHI: You sent out many, many emails and it was hours before the CIA was able to confirm it, but you can't rest until then and you kept doing it. Stay with us Octavia. This is fascinating. We're going to continue this discussion. We're going to try and get the clearest picture and the widest view. Another perspective on these issues coming up. How a U.S. Army captain gave his insider view of the fighting in Iraq on his blog and then he kept on blogging after he was injured, after he came home to the U.S. for treatment. Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is back on that story online coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: CNN is on the story online. Teams of CNN reporters bring you the news from Iraq but some members of the U.S. military deliver their own view of events through personal web logs or blogs. Well, our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is on that story. Jacki, take it away.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, there is no better way to get the real story out of Iraq than from someone that is there themselves. We are so lucky in more ways than one to have Captain Charles Ziegenfuss here with us today. He started his blog in May from Iraq. He was injured by an IED in June. And while he was cooperating, his wife kept up his blog. He started blogging again recently through voice activated software and we are so incredibly lucky that he is healing and with us today. Thank you so much for being here. '

CAPT. CHARLES ZIEGENFUSS, TCOVERRIDE.BLOGSPOT.COM: Thanks for having me.

SCHECHNER: Your very first post you said that you were blogging because it was easier than yelling at the news. What is it about the news coverage out of Iraq that makes you so angry?

ZIEGENFUSS: At the time I was in Iraq and what was really irritating about the news was watching snippets, the 30-second sound bite of things that just had so little importance in the real world.

SCHECHNER: What's the perspective that people can get online through a military blogger that they are not getting on the news?

ZIEGENFUSS: Well, I think the two biggest things is that they are not seeing the good news. The Americans that are in Iraq helping to train the Iraqi soldiers, the Iraqi soldiers that are conducting missions almost and in some cases completely autonomously, the Iraqi police force that is capturing criminals and capturing terrorists and the people that come out and embrace you even if you are there to search their home. They open up their doors and they offer you tea to drink while you are about to search through their house when you are looking for terrorists. They understand what we're doing there.

VELSHI: Nic, what do you get out of this?

ROBERTSON: Well, the best help we get in Iraq at the moment on getting around and getting out to tell the story is from the military. Chuck, I got to say, we're really grateful for all of that because we couldn't do it. During the referendum in October last year, it was an infantry, a group of infantry guys that took us out to the polling station, dropped us off. We spent the whole day at the polling station covering elections. They picked us up at the end of the day. We couldn't do that ourselves. It is just not safe for us to do it, so without the military, we wouldn't get around the country. So I'm really grateful for all you are doing in your job and what you have been doing to help us.

NASR: Yeah, actually, I want to ask the captain a question about embedding. I want to know what he thinks of the idea of embedded journalists. Does he think it's a good idea or bad idea and more importantly, I want to ask him if he thinks it will be a good idea for the U.S. military to solicit more embedded reporters from Arab television networks.

ZIEGENFUSS: I think it is a good idea to solicit embedders from the Arab networks and get the Arab face on the things that we're doing. Another thing as far as any embedded reporter goes, I think it is a terrific idea, but the news agency has to make the -- they have to make the commitment to put that reporter with the unit either from the day they arrive in country until the day they leave the unit or from even better six months prior to that unit deploying so that that unit trains with the reporter. They get to know each other and they become more comfortable. I think you would find a lot better stories. You'd find soldiers that weren't afraid to talk to media personnel and people just that are more comfortable in front of the camera. And they wouldn't be afraid of what their chain of command is going to think they should or shouldn't say or anything like that. They will be used to talking to reporters. So I think that a reporter being embedded with a unit is great, but if you are going to only embed for 72 hours, then it's just a long weekend for both of us.

VELSHI: Let's take the question from our audience here. Your name and where you're from

QUESTION: My name is Ashley (INAUDIBLE) Dale City, Virginia. My question to you, sir, is that with the advent of blogging by active members of the military, how has this changed the way that war is perceived and/or thought? Has it changed?

ZIEGENFUSS: If it changes the way war is perceived, then I suppose that's a good thing. I think it is too early to tell.

VELSHI: Another question from the audience. Your name and where you're from.

QUESTION: My name is Ashley and I'm from Colorado. And my question is, what has been the reaction of the Pentagon if any to your blog?

ZIEGENFUSS: I've actually talked to several people at the Pentagon who have called me or emailed me at different times. Most of them like it. None have said what I can or can't say. None have commented on anything other than I had actually linked to a few sites that gave descriptions and capabilities of weapons and it wasn't even a direct order from the Pentagon or anything like that. It was somebody that read my blog, thought it was funny and gave me some advice that it is better to not link to those sites because if anybody was reading from the other side, then it would give them a better understanding of what our capabilities were and so I took that information down.

SCHECHNER: Chuck, I want to personally thank you for being here today. And I think on behalf of everybody, we want to say thank you for your service and we're very, very grateful that you are here and that you're healing and that you are healthy. So thank you very much. Ali, we'll send it back to you.

VELSHI: Chuck, thank you. Jacki, thank you and thanks also to our senior editor for Arab affairs Octavia Nasr in Atlanta.

From the war in Iraq to the long expensive battle to rebuild New Orleans and wide areas of the Gulf coast. Susan Rosgen is back on that story in a moment. We're on the story from the Gulf coast to New York and Washington and elsewhere. Look how our reporters in western Africa and South America filed similar stories.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of Liberians all gathered here in the capital rotunda to witness something that has never happened before. Liberia's and Africa's first ever female elected president. In her inauguration address, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (ph) offered an olive branch to her political opponents.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) presidential victory is not only astonishing because she won a country as male- dominated as Chile. It's also a milestone because she's everything socially conservative and Catholic Chile has traditionally frowned on. She's an agnostic and a single mother of three. (INAUDIBLE) will have until March to organize her new government which she promises will include a cabinet of at least 50 percent women.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: More of ON THE STORY in just a moment.

But first, a look at what's happening right now in the news.

The bodies of two missing miners have been found in a West Virginia coal mine, close to where a fire broke out on Thursday.

And the kidnapped son of a former Iraqi official says he'll be killed unless Iraqi security forces stop cooperating with the U.S. military. He appeared in a video broadcast on Arab television today.

And Evo Morales is just hours away from becoming Bolivia's new president. He participated in a pre-inauguration ceremony today. Morales, often critical of the Bush administration, will be formally sworn in tomorrow.

And later, "CNN PRESENTS: HOMICIDE IN HOLLENBECK," inside a Los Angeles community where gangs rule the streets and residents try to fight what many see as home grown terrorism.

And that's what's happening right now in the news.

I'm Carol Lin.

Now back to ON THE STORY.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're ON THE STORY at the George Washington University in the heart of the nation's capital.

Well, as New Orleans residents rebuild after the hurricane, many are frustrated. They're worried that Washington is giving too little and that their mayor is saying too much.

CNN's Gulf Coast correspondent, Susan Roesgen, is in New Orleans.

Let's look at her Reporter's Notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, GULF COAST CORRESPONDENT: One of the places I went this week was down to the city building permit office, where people are snatching up those building permits as fast as they can because they want to get back, they want to rebuild their homes.

Now, many people I heard from today, Wolf, said they were afraid. They're afraid that the mayor's comments were sounding so outlandish that the rest of the nation may be less inclined now to try to help New Orleans recover.

I talked to folks about what they think about Mayor Nagin and his chocolate comments. Many people in that line waiting for building permits had a lot bigger fish to fry than worrying about any political fallout.

You know, I talked to the mayor myself and I believe him when he said I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to say what I said.

The mayor is backpedaling today, or as we say here in Louisiana, he's craw fishing.

Pete Sanchez, you remember, lost his house.

I have a good friend, a producer here at CNN, who says stop saying we, stop saying us, you know? You need to remember that you're a dispassionate reporter. And I think that's a good point.

But I also live here. I love this city. And so I'm doing both. I'm covering the city and I'm living in this city.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VELSHI: Susan Roesgen, our Gulf Coast correspondent, joins us now from New Orleans -- and, Susan, I think it adds a lot to us that you are a "we" from there.

What is the -- what was the mayor's comment that we were reporting on? He said something about chocolate?

ROESGEN: The mayor said, on a -- during a Martin Luther King Day rally, he said I believe that this city is going to go back to being a chocolate city, that god wants it to be a majority African-American city.

And, boy, Ali, did that set off a firestorm.

VELSHI: Is New Orleans back -- is it comfortable enough now that we're back to those kind of discussions as opposed to just relief and -- I mean maybe that's a good sign, that it's political discussion and it's weird remarks as opposed to that what you've said before, just pictures of suffering.

ROESGEN: Well, you know, Ali, actually, the mayor's comments made so many people here uncomfortable. They are in the midst of trying to rebuild. And what the mayor said was look, I was trying to reach out to the African-American population. So many were displaced by the hurricane, I want them to know that they're welcome back in New Orleans. We encourage them to come back.

But a lot of people said whoa, what are you saying there? What about the vanilla people?

But I can tell you, Ali, that now local comedians are starting to make jokes about it and I think that's a good thing. That means that we're sort of getting over any outrage or consternation because of the mayor's comments when people are saying things like Harry Anderson, the actor, who lives now in New Orleans said hey, it wasn't like the mayor said he's resigning to run for mayor of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

So we're laughing about it now. Here's -- what do they say, if you don't laugh, you cry. So we're going forward now.

VELSHI: All right, we've, as always, got a lot of members of the audience who want to talk to u.

Ma'am, your name and where you're from?

JANIKA SMALLWOOD: My name is Janika Smallwood (ph).

I'm here from New Castle, Delaware.

My question is what is the latest reaction or response happening in regards to destroying the 9th Ward, especially now that the homeowners are now coming back to claim their property?

ROESGEN: Well, Janika, I can tell you that what the city is saying is that there's only about 120 homes that they feel are so badly damaged that were actually demolished by the flood in the Lower 9th Ward that the city is very afraid if anyone tries to go in those homes, tries to retrieve anything, that someone might get hurt.

And some of those homes, I'm sure you've seen the pictures, have just slid right off of their foundations. They're in the streets and the city says we've got to sort of clean this up. And the city says if we didn't do this, then folks would say what's the matter? You don't care about us? You don't want to help us clean up the Lower 9th Ward?

On the flip side, there are residents who say I don't care what the city says, I want to see my house. I want to make the decision as to whether or not the last of it, what's left of it, gets swept away. And now the city has said, just in the last week, that it's going to try to notify those homeowners, at least in the most severe cases, and give them about 30 days to try to make the decision about what they want to do and then the city is going to have to just sweep them away.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, Susan, part of my job is to follow-up on some of the things that the president says and promises.

He went down to New Orleans, promised the biggest reconstruction ever.

So, how is it going?

ROESGEN: Well, you know what we're all asking down here is show us the money. The president did say we will do what it takes. And local city officials believe him. They certainly believe that Washington and the rest of the nation wants to help New Orleans.

But I have to tell you, Dana, that my own dad, who lives out of state, has been saying hey, I'm a taxpayer. Aren't we giving you all this money? Why is the recovery so slow? Why does the progress seem so slow down there?

And a top city official in New Orleans told me you know what, because of FEMA bureaucracy, we are simply not getting the money that has been promised. We were promised $600 million, enough to keep the city afloat for one year. That's one year's city budget pre-Katrina. The city received the first $100 million, enough to keep the city going for only two months, about a week after the hurricane hit. And the city hasn't had any more money that's been promised since then.

This city is broke.

But the city official blames FEMA bureaucracy, not the president, and certainly not the generosity of the rest of the nation.

VELSHI: Sir, your name and where you're from.

BILL: Bill from Manassas, Virginia.

And my question is why does the media continue to focus on New Orleans while neglecting Mississippi?

ROESGEN: Bill, I think that's a really good point. I certainly don't think that we're neglecting Mississippi, but we do see a lot more stories coming out of New Orleans. Perhaps because the population here was so great, perhaps because 300,000 people in this city still have not been able to come back. Perhaps because the damage was just so incredible, though I agree with u. Along coastal Mississippi and parts of coastal Alabama, the devastation was equally bad.

If anything, all I can say, perhaps, is that those areas are just not as populated and so they're not getting as much attention.

VELSHI: That's a good question.

Thank you so much.

And, Susan, thank you so much for being with us.

Susan Roesgen, our Gulf Coast correspondent, joining us from New Orleans.

Well, from the Gulf Coast to Brooklyn. CNN's faith and values correspondent is on the story of why some members of one Hassidic Jewish community want out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: CNN is on the story.

Our faith and values correspondent, Delia Gallagher, was on the story this week of a close-knit religious group, an Hassidic Jewish community where some members decide to leave and what the cost of that is.

Take a look at Delia's Reporter's Notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We went into Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's only 20 minutes outside of New York City.

For these 200,000 ultra orthodox Jews, strict adherence to ritual and fiery devotion to the tenets of Judaism means the Satmars live among, but cut off from, everyone else. It's a choice they make. For them, isolation equals protection.

They're so against this visual media, it was actually not easy to put the piece together for television. None of the official representatives from the community would be interviewed on camera. I spoke to all of them on the phone, I spoke to them in person.

The actual story was about kids who leave this community, who have been brought up very traditionally and then try to leave when they're sort of in their 20s.

It happened to Heshi (ph). He was 21 and married with two kids when he started questioning the Satmar way of life.

They weren't comfortable to talk to us on camera, partially, I think, because they're still struggling with really what they're doing and partially because they don't want to. They still respect very much their community and their tradition.

(END VIDEO TAPE) VELSHI: Our faith and values correspondent, Delia Gallagher, joining us now from New York -- Delia, welcome.

We'll go straight to the audience with some questions.

Where are you from and your name, please.

JILL ANN: I'm Jill Ann (ph).

I'm from the George Washington University.

My question is what are the leaders of the Hassidic communities doing in response to those who are choosing to leave?

GALLAGHER: Well, I don't think that it's recognized as such a problem amongst the leaders of the Hassidic community. The rabbis that I spoke to said it's a very tiny percentage, even a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage. They stressed that. And they stressed that it was a family problem. And the only thing that they are doing is welcoming them back. They say really there's nothing they can do other than say you can always come back.

So there is no sort of organized response, as it were, on the part of the community, in part, because they don't think it's such a huge problem.

VELSHI: Another question.

Urn and where you're from?

SARAH: I'm Sarah (ph) and I'm from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

My question is, is it a common occurrence for young people to rebel and leave the religious communities in which they are raised?

GALLAGHER: Yes. A great question. And in doing this report, the point was not to focus on a religious community and say look at the kids that are leaving it, because I think you could do that with any religious community. Kids in their 20s are always dealing with existential questions and are probably rejecting a lot of the way that they've been brought up.

But what was interesting about this story was the two opposing worlds, that they were leaving this community -- I mean 20 minutes outside of New York and these kids had never seen a movie, had not watched TV ever, did not use the Internet, didn't speak English as their first language.

So, leaving that and coming to Manhattan, 20 minutes away, and entering this world -- Heshi, one of the boys that we interviewed in the piece, said he watched television for two months straight when he first got to an apartment in New York City.

So, that was the interesting part of it, to me. It was almost a sociological study rather than a religious one.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Delia, I've got a question for you.

It's Nic here.

Did you -- I mean how did you get the idea for this story? And did you consider using a hidden camera when you were -- to try to talk to the people who didn't want to talk to you?

GALLAGHER: No, I never considered using a hidden camera. It wasn't necessary and I don't think it would have been right, really, because it's important to be respectful of these communities. And the reason they didn't want to talk to us on camera was that they have an idea of the visual medium in the Hassidic community and the idea comes from the Torah. And it says you shall not be tempted with your eyes or with your heart. And so they consider visual mediums of television and movies to be temptation of the eye.

I forgot your first question, Nic. But I wanted to answer it, too.

Oh, how did I come to figure -- to do this story.

And a book came across my desk one day. Somebody sent it to me. And it was about these kids and about this community. And so I immediately wanted to contact the author and say I'd be interested in doing this.

And when we did contact the author, she didn't want to be interviewed. And none of the kids that she had talked about in her book wanted to be interviewed. And that was what got me even more interested in the story. I said well, that's odd, because an author of a book usually wants to go and get publicity for her book.

So that in itself, I thought, piqued my interest even more in this story.

VELSHI: Dana, you want to say something?

BASH: I have a question that, you know, I -- it's interesting to see this. I actually, I'm Jewish, and I grew up reform. And I have actually seen some of my friends and family become more observant, not ultra orthodox in the kind of community you've seen. And I guess in Judaism and across the religions which you cover, are you also seeing that trend, people becoming more religious, more observant, lately?

GALLAGHER: Yes, I think there's no doubt that there is a kind of resurgence of spirituality. There are many people seeking what we call spirituality, which can encompass many things.

But it's interesting that you say coming from the other end of the spectrum, not being -- these were kids that were raised in very strict traditional religious families kind of breaking out of that. But there is also the opposite, which is not being raised in any tradition and then looking for that as you get older. And one of the interesting things that I found in talking to these kids was that even though they had left their communities and they had rejected much of their religion, that call to tradition, the prayers, the eating kosher foods in the community, to a certain extent, still remained. And I think that that's probably what a lot of people look for when they look for spirituality.

VELSHI: I'd like to see if after watching two months of TV straight, the guy doesn't go right back to what he started with.

Delia, good to see you.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Delia Gallagher, our faith and values correspondent.

And from faith and values to the art of politics here in Washington. President Bush works on his State of the Union address. And his team works to keep clear of congressional debate over ethics and lobbyists.

Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, is back on the story, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We want to know which correspondents you want to see and what topics you want to hear about ON THE STORY.

E-mail us at onthestory@cnn.com.

Now, some of you have already been zapping us about impartiality.

Barbara from Santa Monica writes that: "CNN is more like a weekly rehabilitation session for Bush."

And Carol from Woodhaven, New York says: "In case you haven't realized it, there are almost half of the citizens who don't live in your bizzaro world."

Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, walks that careful line every week so she doesn't get those e-mails. She's been watching the White House avoid any link with Jack Abramoff. He's the super lobbyist who pleaded guilty to corruption and bribery.

Have a look at Dana's Reporter's Notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BASH: The word from the podium was we're not going on a fishing expedition.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: We're not going to engage in a fishing expedition.

BASH: Here at the White House, with regard to Abramoff, the story was what the White House is still not answering. What they're saying specifically about Abramoff is just that he came here for a couple of holiday receptions, that he met with some low level staffers. But beyond that, they won't say anything at all. We know that the truth is behind-the-scenes they are going on a fishing expedition of sorts. They want to make sure that there is nothing that could embarrass the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States.

BASH: In a way it was kind of suspended animation here at the White House. The president, his top aides, are working really, really hard on the State of the Union. All of us reporters are trying to figure out what they're trying to do, exactly what the initiatives are going to be. There is kind of a kabuki dance going on between the White House and the press corps that happens every year.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

VELSHI: Dana, do you know the story on that guy who says Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States?

BASH: Absolutely.

We'll do it for you, Ali.

VELSHI: It's quite a job. I like that.

Let's go straight to the audience.

Sir, what's your name and what's your question?

JESUS GARZAN: My name is Jesus Garzan (ph).

I'm from Brownville, Texas.

My question is what do you think President Bush's three main objectives will be in his State of the Union address?

BASH: Iraq and the economy. Was there a third? Iraq and the economy. Iraq and the economy.

No, and health care. Health care, I think they're going to try to make that as part of the economy.

You remember last year, way back last year, the inaugural address, it was the ownership society. That was really what the White House wanted to focus on -- your money, how are you going to spend your money, it's yours, it's yours? Well, that's sort of a theme that they're going to continue on, but really trying to focus on health care, because they, you know, they get what the Democrats have gotten also for a long time, is that people in this country are apoplectic about the health care system, specifically about, actually, pensions, as well, as the baby boomers, the president included, start to get older.

VELSHI: Sir?

MICHAEL: Hi, Michael from Freeport, New York. I was just wondering what can President Bush tell the American public to help boost his approval ratings?

BASH: Boy...

VELSHI: Iraq, the economy and health care, I would guess.

BASH: Exactly. No, I mean those are the two issues that they really are going to be focused on, for sure.

His approval ratings have crept up a little bit since the end of last year, which, you know, they were at rock bottom. There wasn't much -- well, they could have gone maybe lower, but it would have been pretty hard to do that. You know, what they have -- what they're trying to do is focus, as I said, in the State of the Union address. And they really want to try to change the dynamic, change the tenor.

But they -- one thing that they learned last year was the fact that Iraq is something that they can't get away from. And instead of just ignoring it and spending like six months talking about a Social Security proposal that is not going to go anywhere, you've got to keep talking about the things that people care about.

And so it is going to be Iraq and they really, really are going to try to get more credit for the economy, which I think, Ali, you can attest to this, is doing better.

VELSHI: Right.

BASH: But nobody is giving him the credit for it.

VELSHI: They're going to watch that closely.

BASH: So those are things that they want to stay focused on and they hope will get his approval ratings up.

ROBERTSON: Dana, what about Osama this week? A big statement, a big threat.

Is that something that's going to occupy the White House's mind and time a lot in the near future?

BASH: You know, I was walking into the White House, I was walking on the White House driveway and I talked -- saw one of the president's senior aides. And I said -- you know, it was probably maybe like an hour after the bin Laden tape had come out. So, you know, I said what do you think?

He just sort of rolled his eyes and said, you know, come on. It's, you know, it's -- big deal.

ROBERTSON: The same old, same old.

BASH: Yes, same old, same old. It's a guy who doesn't have much operational control, they say, over al Qaeda. He's trying to get attention. Initially they were a little -- they were certainly nervous. But interestingly, they're trying to turn it around politically because they have this whole other thing going on, the NSA, the secret spying program, which they're trying to sort of maneuver politically.

And one of the things that they've been saying is remember, the terror threat is still very real and we need to do this thing.

Well, having Osama bin Laden show up wasn't the worst thing for them in terms of making that argument. They're really trying to seize on that, but they're trying to do it carefully.

VELSHI: Well, that will continue to develop.

That's an interesting point. I hadn't thought about that, that it gives them a reason to continue...

ROBERTSON: It certainly wasn't what Osama was planning.

VELSHI: No, that's right, helping out the president.

BASH: No.

VELSHI: Just ahead, we're going to talk about what we see ON THE STORY for next week.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right, let's take a quick look ahead ON THE STORY.

Nic, great to have you here.

What are you going to be doing after this?

What are you working on next week?

ROBERTSON: I'm working on a project. It's related to Iraq. We're going to keep it under wraps for the time being, but maybe in about a month's time it should be ready. It should be a good story. You're going to like it.

VELSHI: If you leak it, Dana will get it.

ROBERTSON: Dana's going to get it.

VELSHI: What are you working on?

BASH: I'm working on covering the president stepping up the defense of his secret spying program, actually going to visit the NSA, a place that they never even admitted, until a few years ago, existed. So he's actually going to...

VELSHI: Nice.

That is the National Security Agency that's been under such scrutiny.

And I, I've got to tell you, I'll be working on a couple of stories. I'll be in Detroit for the announcement of, sadly, a lot of layoffs at Ford. And later in the week we'll be following the energy and stock markets.

Thank you to all of u. A great pleasure to have you.

Thank you to our audience at the George Washington University.

And thank you for watching ON THE STORY.

We're back each week, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

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

LIN: Good evening.

I'm Carol Lin with a look at what's happening right now in the news.

And we have sad news from West Virginia. Search team members have found the bodies of those two missing coal miners. They were trapped underground Thursday when a fire erupted along a conveyor belt.

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