Secrets & Spies; Violence in Najaf
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, secrets and spies, politics and power, and millions of taxpayer dollars. They're converging this hour on Capitol Hill, where Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is facing moves to strip the Pentagon of its lion's share of the U.S. intelligence budget. CNN's Congressional correspondent, Ed Henry, has the latest. Hi, Ed.</s>ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Betty. Three more hearings today, overall, on top of a mountain of hearings that have mostly focused so far on the virtues of creating a new national intelligence director. But the significance today, as you mentioned, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld finally speaking out. And for the first time we're seeing a real pushback on this national intelligence director post. In particular, in part, this is all about Rumsfeld in a personal way not wanting to give up the power of the purse. As you mentioned, right now the Defense Department controls about 85 percent of the nation's intelligence budget. He does not want to give up those powers to a national intelligence director. Rumsfeld, though, is walking a very fine line here. He has been on record for a long time being opposed to an intelligence director like this. But he realizes that his own boss, the president, has endorsed the proposal. So, Rumsfeld has to actually move forward on this, but he wants to work out the details, make sure that he has a voice in what happens. But that division within the administration is something that Democrats like Carl Levin tried to exploit. And Rumsfeld got a little testy when Democrats pushed him on it.</s>CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: Mr. Secretary, we've got specific recommendations...</s>DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I understand.</s>LEVIN: ... from the 9/11 Commission. I'm quoting them. I just want to ask you your personal agreement or disagreement. If you can't give us that, that's OK. But just say you can't give us a personal "yes" or "no" from your perspective.</s>RUMSFELD: I can't do it with yes or no, that's for sure.</s>LEVIN: Thank you. Thank you. Now, to the...</s>RUMSFELD: It's a vastly more complex question.</s>LEVIN: OK.</s>HENRY: That complexity is what Rumsfeld is trying to stress, the fact that, as he put it later in the hearing, the devil will be in the details. He realizes that he has lost the battle on creating a national intelligence director, but he wants to make sure that he has a powerful voice in actually figuring out how that office will be shaped. And in fact, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers joined Rumsfeld in fighting back and cautioning Congress that this -- this solution that they're coming up with, the national intelligence director, might not solve all the problems.</s>GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: There cannot be a czar that just starts pointing and pulling levers. There is no wizard of Oz here that is going to solve this, in my opinion. It's got to be a collaborative effort.</s>HENRY: But at another House hearing today, the 9/11 Commission co-chairs, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, were again pushing Congress on their 41 recommendations for reform. They have been very outspoken about their belief that, in fact, the national intelligence director does need to take this power from the Pentagon. In one final hearing today, another Senate hearing in which 9/11 families testified, and they also joined the 9/11 Commission co- chairs, as well as all of the members of the 9/11 Commission in saying that these 9/11 families believe that there needs to be one top national intelligence director that will be held accountable and will have this power -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: All right. Ed Henry, thank you for that -- Kyra.</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Seven people killed today when a mortar round exploded on a busy street in Baghdad. That blast destroyed cars and set a building on fire, reportedly wounding 35 people. In a late report out of Baghdad, the military says insurgents attacked American troops with rocket-propelled grenades, killing one soldier and wounding several others. Just north of Baghdad, a crash of an unmanned U.S. reconnaissance plane. The military says that the predator drone was assigned to the U.S. Air Force. That cause of the crash is either not yet known or it's not being released. Fighting rages on in Najaf between U.S. forces and Shiite militants. American tanks reportedly tightened a cordon around rebel positions which include a hallowed mosque. At last report, an Iraqi delegation from Baghdad continued to meet with insurgent representatives in a bid to forge a truce. The fighting in Najaf re-ignited nearly two weeks ago after a truce that lasted for about two months. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Najaf. He reports the situation is taking a toll on a lot of those Americans.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The tombstones of the Valley of Peace, the ancient cemetery where U.S. troops have been fighting the Mehdi army in Najaf. This has been an eerie battle on sacred ground that few want.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, sir, it's very scary at night, to tell you the truth. You don't know where the enemy is, you don't know who they are, the insurgents. And it's -- it's an old cemetery. So, I kind of feel bad for the people in a certain way. It's their cemetery, their mosque right there.</s>CHANCE: And everyone is a suspect. Troops even open coffins yet to be buried in a grim search for weapons.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to pray especially today for the repose of the soul of all the Marines that have died.</s>CHANCE: In times of war, the church has its own battles to fight. Soldier and Marines attend this makeshift service to seek solace and advice. For some, the burden of killing or witnessing it is heavy.</s>CAPT. PAUL SHAUGHNESSY, U.S. NAVY: Last Friday night, during a mortar attack, there was a young corporal that was killed. And it was about 50 feet from me. A lot of his friends were right there. We were trying to lift him out between two tombs so we could get him to the medical station. And his friends had to do that. And many of them, because his -- the blood was pretty profuse, really affected them, that somebody they had known that well kind of was dying before them.</s>CHANCE: And the threat of attack is constant. Here, a network of IEDs, or roadside bombs, is uncovered, 43 in all, designed to kill. They're disarmed and destroyed this time. But soldiers are killed and injured in attacks like this almost every day here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Half the time you wave to somebody and they give you thumbs down, or whatever. You know, you are driving down the road and an IED goes off or something like that. It makes it like, you know, why are we even here when most of the people don't see us? Like most of the people don't even -- don't even want us here.</s>CHANCE: After nearly 16 months of postwar Iraq, it's a question many now ask. (on camera): Some of the troops here are uncomfortable about the idea of fighting in sacred places, especially ones that are so politically sensitive. But there is an old general frustration, too. For many it seems that the peaceful and stable Iraq they thought they were fighting for is getting more distant. Matthew Chance, CNN, Najaf.</s>NGUYEN: If the end of the world came tomorrow, this is what it would look like. That's how one Florida resident describes the struggle for survival after Hurricane Charley. It's a struggle that won't end anytime soon. The death toll has now climbed to 19. Our Bob Franken is in Punta Gorda, where the cleanup is in day five, and there's still a lot of work to be done -- Bob.</s>BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Betty, let me show you a bag of what is extremely precious, a bag of ice. This is what they are passing out to the people who come down to the station here to get it. You can see more in back of me. We are told, officials, that right now they are giving three of these per family. Of course, with the electricity out for hundreds of thousands, refrigeration of any sort is the only thing that helps them protect their food. In addition to which, National Guard units have started moving out into some of the neighborhoods where people have been complaining that they are without the ability to come down here and get ice and the other things necessary for survival. And that's what we're talking about here, survival. We're also talking about a massive federal presence. If there is a member of this administration who has anything to do with this, from the president on down, he has been in this area to tell people that the federal government cares, reminding many that in 1992 President George Bush the first was criticized for not responding and his administration not responding properly to Hurricane Andrew and possibly costing him some valuable votes. But the officials that are down here deny that there's anything to do with politics here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what we are focused on right now are these victims. All of you guys will -- you know, all -- the media will go back to a nice air-conditioned room somewhere tonight. What FEMA is focused on is making certain that all of these disaster victims understand that we understand their suffering, we are trying to get everything out that we can to them. It just so happens that Jeb Bush happens to be a Republican governor. It just so happens that President Bush happens to be a Republican president. FEMA does not care. We respond to any kind of disaster in any state. Since -- since at least during my tenure, we responded to 56, I think, or more disasters. Democratic governors, Republican governors, it just doesn't make any difference. We're here to help disaster victims.</s>FRANKEN: Air-conditioned rooms, of course, being something of a rarity around here because of all the power problems that they have in this state. Also another problem, and that has to do with the gougers and the various scam artists who are in town. Officials are saying that if they get caught they are going to jail. As a matter of fact, the state's attorney general has announced that he is proceeding with a prosecution against two hotels, one in West Palm Beach, one in Lakeland, Florida. They say they received about 1,200 complaints of price gouging at the attorney general's office. So, this is a very difficult situation, and they are trying to stop people like the price gougers and perhaps the looters from making things even worse -- Betty.</s>NGUYEN: CNN's Bob Franken in Punta Gorda. Thank you. And we want to go now to Fort Myers with CNN's Jeanne Meserve, who is on the phone. She is traveling with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in the area -- Jeanne.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Betty, Secretary Ridge came down here today with the secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson. The two of them want to assess the response effort down here and see what more needs to be done. Ridge said he was particularly concerned about communication problems. That meaning that even if his department moved resources down here they had to get word to people where they were. And he was a little frustrated and concerned that perhaps people weren't getting that word as quickly as they should. He flew here to Fort Myers and then immediately boarded a Coast Guard helicopter. Tommy Thompson did as well. They took an aerial tour of the area around Punta Gorda that was so badly devastated. Secretary Ridge called the destruction "indiscriminate" and that it could lead one home intact and pulverize...</s>NGUYEN: That's Jeanne Meserve on the phone. Obviously we're having some audio difficulties with that report. She is traveling with Homeland secretary -- Security Secretary Tom Ridge. And of course we'll have much more on this a little bit later in the show. Only two Category 5 hurricanes have made a direct hit on the U.S. mainland. One of them was Hurricane Camille which hit Mississippi and Louisiana 35 years ago today. The intense storm struck with 190-mile- an-hour winds. It pounded ashore with a 24-foot storm surge and left 256 people dead. In case you're wondering, the other Category 5 storm was the great Labor Day hurricane which hit the Florida Keys in September of 1935.</s>PHILLIPS: Other news across America now. Don't look for any Perry Mason moments. Michael Jackson's lawyers are back in a California courtroom today trying to block some potentially incriminating evidence in the child molestation case against the pop star. Jackson is not expected to attend. Oprah has jury duty. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is back in a Chicago courtroom. She is serving as a juror in a murder trial. The billionaire will use a special entrance to avoid the crowds, but Winfrey is not expected to get any other special treatment. Bucking the system with an international buying plan. The governor of Illinois is announcing his plan for fighting high prescription drug costs today. He wants to create a network of pharmacies. They would allow Illinois residents to buy prescription drugs from other countries like Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The FDA is against such imports.</s>NGUYEN: More fallout today over the governor's scandal in New Jersey. GOP leaders there are trying to pressure outgoing Governor James McGreevey to leave office before his self-imposed November deadline. McGreevey is stepping down after confessing he had an extramarital homosexual affair. Now, if he leaves by September 3, the state can hold a special election to replace him. McGreevey explained his reasons for staying in an op-ed piece printed in "USA Today," and he writes, "The fact that I have chosen to leave office before the end of my term only heightens my responsibilities to the citizens of New Jersey not only to complete the initiatives we have started., but also to oversee an orderly transition of power." Now, the man who alleges the governor sexually harassed him has taken refuge in Israel.</s>GOLAN CIPEL, FMR. NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR AIDE (through translator): I have had a very difficult time. I have come to Israel to be with my family at this time. I cannot expand on anything for legal reasons.</s>NGUYEN: Golan Cipel maintains he is not gay and he denies he had a consensual relationship with McGreevey. Amazing devastation after flash floods sweep up everything in their path and trap residents on roofs. We're going to hear from some of those rescued just ahead. On guard against those adding insult to injury of Hurricane Charley. We're going to talk with Florida's agricultural and consumer commissioner about dealing with construction cons. Which candidate has the better plan to deal with global hotspots? We're going to look at some of the tough challenges ahead for whoever wins the White House.