The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; August 27, 2007

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By 2020, we'll have used up half the world's oil. Some say we already have. Making the other half last longer will take innovation, conservation, and collaboration. Will you join us? The new AT&T, Pacific Life, the Atlantic Philanthropies, and with the ongoing support of these institutions

and foundations. And this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez announced today he is resigning. His last day will be September 17th. Democrats and some Republicans had demanded he go over the firings of federal prosecutors and other issues. But Gonzalez gave no reason for his decision. Instead, he reflected on how a son of Mexican farm workers became the first Hispanic attorney general. I often remind our fellow citizens that we live in the greatest country in the world and that I have lived the American dream. Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days.

Public service is honorable and noble. And I am profoundly grateful to President Bush for his friendship and for the many opportunities he has given me to serve the American people. President Bush accepted the resignation saying the attorney general had been treated unfairly for political reasons. But Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid said this resignation is not the end of the story. Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead into the White House. We'll have more on the Gonzalez story right after this new summary. Pro football player Michael Vic appeared in court today to plead guilty in a federal dogfighting case. He admitted helping to kill six to eight pit bulls and supplying money for gambling on the fights. After the hearing in Richmond, Virginia, Vic spoke publicly for the first time since being charged. I totally asked for forgiveness and understanding

as I move forward to better and Michael Vic the person. Not the football player. I take forward responsibilities for my actions. For one second, I put my seat right here. And I put one second, when I sit right here and point the finger and try to blame anybody else with my actions or what I've done. Vic could receive a maximum of five years in prison when he sentenced in December. The NFL has already suspended the 27-year-old star quarterback. But today, the Atlanta Falcons said Vic would not be cut from the team just yet. Instead, the Falcons will try to recover $22 million in bonus money he was paid. The U.S. military reported today, four more Americans were killed in Iraq this weekend, two Marines and two soldiers. The soldiers died in a firefight in Samari yesterday. Officials said 12 insurgents were killed as well. In all, 30 gunmen attacked a U.S. outpost there. The battle ended when a U.S. jet bombed the house

where the gunman had taken refuge. Today, to the south, thousands of Shiite pilgrims made their way to Kabul for a religious holiday. Security was tight amid scattered violence. Iraq's leaders reached tentative agreement late Sunday on key political issues. It came at a meeting in Baghdad, attended by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Tarik al-Hashimi, the Sunni Vice President. Top Kurdish leaders, including President Jalal Talabani, were also there. Today, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, President Bush said the gathering was a promising sign, and he called for further action. The agreement begins to establish new power or sharing agreements. Commissed to supporting bottom-up security and political initiatives and advances agreement among Iraq's leadership on several key legislative benchmarks. Well, yesterday's agreement is an important step. I remind them, and they understand much more needs to be done. Iraqi leaders must still work out final details

before presenting any agreement to parliament next month. Sunni officials voiced doubts today that Prime Minister Nouri al-Qi could make it happen. In Afghanistan, three American soldiers were killed overnight, and today, in scattered attacks, NATO officials also reported three other foreign troops were killed, including a Dutch soldier. Separately Afghan and NATO forces destroyed a large heroin lab in the south on Sunday. The United Nations reported today Afghanistan's opium production surged to another record this year. Poppies were grown on 477,000 acres up 17% from last year. That's more land involved in drug crops than Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru combined. The head of the UN drug office said the problem is heavily concentrated in the Afghan south. The government has lost control of this territory because of the presence of insurgents, because the presence of terrorists, whatever Taliban, splinter, al-Qaeda group, and whatever.

And it is clearly documented now that insurgents actively promote or are loved and then take advantage of both the cultivation and the resigning and the trafficking of our family. Afghanistan's opium output has risen every year since U.S. forces ousted the Taliban in 2001. The country now accounts for 93% of the world's opium, the raw material for heroin. Russian officials announced today they've arrested 10 people and the murder of a Russian journalist. Anna Politz called Skyo was a strong critic of President Putin. She was shot to death in Moscow last October. The Russian government has denied any connection to the murder. Today, a prosecutor claiming claimed the killing was planned abroad. He said the suspects included Chechen Mopster and Russian security officers. Dozens of wildfires continued a deadly march across southern Greece today. At least 63 people have been killed in the past four days. Overnights, scores of new fires broke out near Athens

and farther south near ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympics. We have a report by Paul Davies of Independent Television News. These are the images that have stunned the Greek nation, burnt out vehicles in which desperate families attempted to outrun the flames, only to perish, as the mountain roads were engulfed by fire. The whole families have been lost, villages destroyed, and the fires show no sign of evading yet. Greece has declared a national emergency. Thousands have been made homeless in the southern Peloponnese peninsula. And although help is arriving from neighboring countries, the emergency crews are still fighting a losing battle. Many Greeks are angry at what they see as an inadequate response. Fire crews here are riding in the town of Brilos, a berated for turning up two lakes.

Homes cannot be saved now, all they can do is evacuate the old and vulnerable. In many areas, desperate villages have been fighting to save their communities without assistance from the emergency services. Greek television and radio stations have been receiving calls from terrified people, saying they're completely encircled by flames with no sign of outside help arriving. The Greek government blamed arsonists. The prime minister said so many fires breaking out at once could not be a coincidence. Clean-up efforts were underway across much of the US today after a week of severe weather. The governor of Ohio appealed for a federal aid to cope with record flooding. The same system spawned tornadoes in Michigan on Friday. At least 250 homes and businesses were destroyed in one town alone. Another tornado hit Northwood, North Dakota, on Sunday, killing one person. Senator Larry Craig has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Minnesota.

The roll call newspaper reported today, the Idaho Republican was arrested in June at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. Police were investigating sexual activity in a men's restroom. Court documents confirmed, Craig pleaded to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct on August 8. He was given one year a probation. His office said today was all a misunderstanding. In economic news today, sales of existing homes kept falling in July for the fifth month in a row. The National Association of Realtors reported prices also fell for the 12th straight month. Last week, another report said sales of new homes were up in July. On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 56 points to close at 13,322. The Nasdaq fell 15 points to close at 2561. That's it for the news summary tonight. Now, the attorney general resigns, shields, and brooks, rebuilding homes in New Orleans, and vying for power in Pakistan.

The sudden resignation of Alberto Gonzalez came in a brief statement read by the attorney general this morning, news hour correspondent Kwame Holman reports. Yesterday, I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government service as attorney general of the United States, effective as of September 17, 2007. For months, attorney general Alberto Gonzalez ignored calls for his resignation, arguing that decision belonged to the president. But during a weekend visit to the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Gonzalez told Mr. Bush the time had come for him to step aside. This morning, the president said he agreed reluctantly. It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person, like Alberto Gonzalez, is impeding from doing important work, because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.

The president had been one of Gonzalez's remaining defenders since the firestorm surrounding the abrupt dismissal of eight US attorneys exploded in February. He's got support with me. I support the attorney general. Gonzalez should be fired. Congressional Democrats, however, questioned whether Gonzalez orchestrated the firings, which they called politically motivated. He was an abuse of power, committed in secret, to steer certain outcomes in our justice system, and then to try to cover up the tracks. During congressional hearings this spring, Gonzalez maintained it was his justice department deputies who actually decided who should be fired. But when asked repeatedly, was unable to provide any details. Senator, I have searched my memory. I have no recollection of the meeting. I don't remember where that conversation took place. Eventually, Republicans began to lose confidence, questioning how Gonzalez could run his department with so little knowledge of what his top staffers were doing. Your ability to lead the Department of Justice

is in question. I wish that weren't not so, but I think it certainly is. I believe the best way to put this behind is your resignation. But Gonzalez refused to do so. I served with the pleasure of the president of the United States. And the president remained by his son. I've got confidence in how Gonzalez do in the job. But then a new barrage of criticism was leveled against Gonzalez last month. He once again told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that there had been no internal dissent over the administration's warrantless wiretapping program revealed publicly in late 2005. Our general do you expect us to believe that? Previous testimony by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey indicated there was exhaustive debate over the issue. Comey said Gonzalez then White House counsel, even went to the hospital room of Attorney General John Ashcroft to pressure him to reauthorize part of the program. Mr. Gonzalez began to discuss why they were there, to seek his approval for a matter. But Gonzalez told senators that discussion with Ashcroft concerned a different intelligence program.

The disagreement that occurred, and the reason for the visit to the hospital center, was about other intelligence activities. It was not about the terrorist surveillance program that the president asked the American people. However, two days later, Gonzalez again seemed to be contradicted this time by FBI Director Robert Mueller, who testified about the hospital meeting. The discussion was on a national NSA program that has been much discussed, yes. The administration's warrantless wiretapping effort was one of many controversial post-9-11 programs Gonzalez had a hand in, first as White House counsel, then as Attorney General. In 2002, Gonzalez wrote a memo that many interpreted as condoning the torture of terrorist aspects. He also helped push through the Patriot Act, parts of which were criticized for violating civil liberties. Today, New York Democrat Chuck Schumer said the next Attorney General must put the rule of law first. Today, I say to the White House that we Democrats

implore you to work with us. Don't choose the path of confrontation and throw down the gauntlet with a nominee that we will find it difficult to accept. Schumer is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will have a strong say in approving the next Attorney General. However, the president has yet to announce a nominee. So, listen to her general Paul Clement will serve as acting Attorney General after Gonzalez leaves office next month. Now, two ways of looking at the Gonzalez news, legal and political Judy Woodruff has the first take. And for that, we are joined by Noel Francisco, who served as White House Associate Counsel and Deputy Assistant Attorney General during President Bush's first term. He's now in private law practice in Washington. And Michael Greenberg, a Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General during the Clinton administration. He is now a professor of law at the University of Maryland and the Director of its Center for Health and Homeland Security.

Gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. Noel Francisco, to you first, you've worked with Alberto Gonzalez for what? Five years, you know him well. Can you shed any additional light on his decision? Well, the Attorney General has gone through seven very difficult years, helping guide the government and the law enforcement establishment through some of the most difficult times faced in modern American history. Takes a toll on an individual. I think after seven years of going through this and particularly the barrage of criticism that he's undergone in the last year or two, he finally had a chance to evaluate and he said, you know, I've done my service to my country. I'm not sure there's much more I can accomplish. And now's a good time to step down. I really don't think there's a whole lot more to it than that. But you're saying that's not based on having spoken with him about it, is that right? That's right. And Michael Greenberg, you're a Democrat. You worked in the Clinton administration. From your perspective, though, what does it look like to you happen here? Well, I think what happened here is the Justice Department

in the first place is in disarray. And I think the most important speaker in your setup piece is the Senator Sessions from Alabama, certainly someone quite sympathetic to the Bush administration, but a former US attorney in Alabama and having served in the Justice Department myself and in fact in a Republican administration as well, I can tell you that 80%, 85% of the issues are not ideological. The Justice Department is there to go after organized crime, terrorist, drug cartels, what have you? And right now, there's now going to be no attorney general. There's no deputy attorney general. There's no associate attorney general. There are chiefs of staff are gone. And you have the number four person who's got a full dock at himself, the solicitor general, trying to run the Justice Department. I think the morale of the department has sunk to really quite a low level. And there's a feeling that justice is just not being served in the United States. The department is headless and has been headless

for several months. And you're saying that's the legacy of that? That is the legacy of the attorney general. And I believe the pressure that's been brought to bear on him over the last few days over inconsistencies and testimony he's delivered has aggravated the situation. I think he thought it was best for him to go. No one for instance, go, how do you see his legacy? Sure, I think that I'd like to respond a little bit to what Michael just said, because I think he's right that there is a morale problem in the Department of Justice. But I think he's wrong to try to hang that on the neck of the attorney general. What we see as happened is that a Democratic Congress has decided that they wanted to try to make him an example out of the attorney general. And so they've gone after him for every possible misstep and tried to blow every misstep into a huge monumental issue with the sole purpose of trying to remove him from office. And I think the Democrats have been quite candid that that's been their goal all along. If you take a step back from that, I think what you're going to see, his legacy is being as a little bit better than the one that Michael paints.

Having come into the government at a time where the mindset of the United States government and Department of Justice was not on fighting terrorism, but was, as Michael said, focused largely on and prosecuting organized crime and pursuing ordinary criminals. The attorney general Gonzalez and previously White House counsel Gonzalez had to try to shift the mindset of the government so that the United States was on the offensive, not falling into the narrow mindset that this is simply a criminal law enforcement issue, but turning the Department of Justice into an anti-terrorism agency, such as you see happening today. And is that how you see what part of his legacy is? Well, there's probably no more significant effort you made to make this dynamic change than his approach to a very sick attorney general, John Ashcroft, on March 12, 2004. And it wasn't the Democrats who got in his way when he made that search. He wanted to overrule the acting attorney general, Deputy Attorney General Comey's resistance to parts of the warrantless wiretap program.

And I must say that hospital room situation and the events that have come out quite recently where the attorney general had said it wasn't about the intelligence program, but the very next day or soon thereafter, Robert Mueller disagreed with him and the bearing of the Deputy Attorney General Comey and his testimony about that event. And Robert Mueller, both appointed by President Bush, evidence is there was real concern about the leadership in this department on that specific issue and generally. And I don't think there's any question that there was disagreement on certain aspects in the warrant terrorism, but I think what gets missed is the larger point, which is that we really did need to turn a government around in terms of its approach to terrorism and criminal law enforcement. And Gonzalez did that. Yes, there were disagreements. But I, as an American, would much rather have those disagreements be airing on the side of being too robust in our protection of the homeland than not robust enough, which is unfortunately, I believe, what we had prior to September 11th.

What is your response to that point? Well, I would say there's no more robust supporter of the homeland than the United States Supreme Court, a court that is made up of five Republican appointees. And at the end of 2004, Attorney General Gonzalez was rebuffed in the Honda case in the Resoul case where the detention policies, the administration, were overturned in June of 2006. The Honda case came down. The entire military commission network and avoidance of the Geneva conventions that Attorney General Gonzalez set in motion had came down on a five to three vote. And the court, much to everybody's surprise, has now taken the Bominian case, which is a continual challenge to this so-called turn that the Attorney General wanted to make. He's not been able to convince the United States Supreme Court, or at least five justices on the court at this turn is important. So he's saying that outweighed the other steps at the Attorney General took with regard to wiretaps and so forth. I'm not sure that's right at all. I would agree that the Supreme Court has turned back

a handful of the administration's anti-terror policies. But one point that I'd emphasize is every time the Supreme Court has turned them back, they've turned them back because they've said the administration has gone too far in protecting the homeland. I for one would much rather be in a position of being rebuffed when we are too aggressive and try to hard to protect the homeland than to face the consequences of not being aggressive enough, which I believe what we did face on September 11. How much of the controversy around this Attorney General do you believe is due to his own actions and how much is due to the fact that he's a close representative of President Bush? I certainly feel it's his own actions. After all, he got cross-wise with his own chief of staff and the White House liaison that was in his office, he testified that he never considered that US attorney list. His chief of staff said they talked about it for two years. Monica Goodling came very close to saying that he tried to coach her into what her testimony ought to be. Again, these are not Democrats that

have caused the Attorney General problem. It's his handling of the position. And I think the point of him either appearing not to be in control of his own Justice Department or otherwise, assembling with Congress has been very, very troublesome. I clearly think the Attorney General brought this on himself. What about this point about how much was this because if he was acting on his own, or because he was a spokesperson, a representative of the president? Sure, Judy, I really think it's a product of the times. We have a country that's very closely divided on some very big and important issues. We're going into a presidential election where these issues are what's dividing the various candidates in each primary, and as a result, there is a decision that's been made to make an example of Attorney General Gonzalez. I don't care who the Attorney General was. I think you would have seen the similar thing going on regardless of who the Attorney General was. The issue might have been a little bit different, but they'd still be trying to come out with a scale. Two other quick questions. First of all, is he in any legal jeopardy going forward because of these ongoing congressional investigations?

Well, I think that remains to be seen. There certainly are a lot of inconsistencies in his testimony. I think both parties at one point quite recently agree that he hadn't crossed the line in terms of dissembling with Congress, but there's a lot of documents and a lot that the Democratic Congress wants to see. And I think all I can say is I think that the record needs to be assembled. I think it certainly has got to be on his mind and it's certainly on the Senate Judiciary Committee's mind. Whenever the majority party in the Congress has decided to make an example out of a government official to pass their president, that person's always in legal jeopardy. I believe that's the position that Attorney General Gonzalez is in right now. What is he most going to be remembered for? No, well, Francisco. I really do think that once we have the distance of history between us, the American people in history will look at the attributing general and look and see that he made the right decisions and the president made the right decisions in combating the war on terror and combating this new and dramatic threat to our country.

I think the Attorney General will be remembered for ending up in disputes with other Bush administration officials, whether they be United States attorneys, his Deputy Attorney General, his FBI Director, his Chief of Staff, or the White House liaison. The department is in disarray. It's probably in worse disarray than it's been in modern times and I think that is going to be his legacy and I don't think history will be a kind observer on his time in the Justice Department. Gentlemen, we will leave it there, Michael Greenberger. No, well, Francisco, we thank you both. Thank you. Now, to the political, the Gonzalez resignation as seen by Shields and Brooks syndicated column this Mark Shields and New York Times column, this David Brooks. David, timing, everything is timing. A few weeks ago, we saw Karl Rove take his leave and now we see Alberto Gonzalez. Does that have anything to do with anything? It's August. They want to get back to Texas before the temperature dips below 100. I suspect with Gonzalez's case, there's been a gathering sense that he couldn't do the job.

And by doing the job, I think there's a gathering sense even among Republicans. He couldn't represent the administration in combats with Congress over executive power because he was regarded as uncredible and not competent. And so I suspect as with John Donald Rumsfeld, there was a gathering series of criticism, decision he needed to go, and they were just waiting for a moment when nobody was calling for his resignation so they could do it on their own initiative. The Attorney General have any defenders left, Mark, that not that you were looking for them, but worth around. He really didn't. And at Alberto Gonzalez started with a constituency of one. That one was George W. Bush who plucked him from a Houston law firm, made him his counsel as governor of Texas where he was best known for green lighting, 50-plus executions that made Texas the capital punishment headquarters of the world. Then he went on the Texas Supreme Court again, the president, then he came to Washington as White House counsel again, the president. And was even mentioned seriously for the Supreme Court, and he was on the short list at one point,

we have to remember that, and then became Attorney General. All the president, and I think his ultimately his downfall was that at every stage, his client was the president of the States, even was Attorney General in the United States when his client should have been the people of the country. The president came out today, he put out the photograph of them being very friendly down at the ranch, and he also came out and said that he felt this was a good man who'd been dragged through the mud. Was he correct? No, I'm sure he believes that I'm sure he still likes Gonzales, he's a sort of man who when he values loyalty, he judges people's character and often at the expense of judging how they're doing at their job. But the fact is, Gonzales was his own, the author was his own downfall. If he had been a competent witness, if he had been able to get his story straight, if he'd been able to rebuck the firing of the prosecutors, the idea that this was a grand conspiracy, which I don't think it was, but his incompetence in the face of these political challenges was what really undid him. He didn't have the intelligence, frankly, and the competence and the experience to be an effective attorney general. If you look at people who've been effective attorney generals, they have long experience in Washington,

and as Mark indicated, they have independent stature in the legal community, and he had neither. How does the harmful distractions the president was talking about today? Well, I think the president likes to slip into this defense or this explanation, Gwen, because, I mean, I just went through a Norman Coleman Republican in Minnesota, John Sinuna, Republican of New Hampshire, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Pat Roberts, a Republican of Kansas, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, George Voine of Icho, Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania, John McCain of Arizona, all of them had publicly called for Alberta guns, Alice Lee. So this was not a Democratic lynching party by any means. I mean, there's no question Democrats, many Democrats were happy to see him uncomfortable, and happy to see the White House embarrassed. I disagree with David. I don't think it was the U.S. attorney's thing, because I don't think that anything's ever been proved in that, and that the only two charges and that they should remain unproven as far as I'm concerned, would be if one of those U.S. attorneys

was fired for prosecuting Republicans off a not prosecuting- What about his handling of the U.S. attorney? Well, his handling was just inept. It was one that I think would sealed his fate was that hospital room drama when he goes into a very seriously ill John Ashcroft's hospital room in Georgetown and tries to get him to overturn his own, his Ashcroft is an attorney, John the United States, his department's decision not to reauthorize the unauthorized and warrantless wiretapping the White House had done. And I think that was, I think that drama when it unfolded and it was that bad side drama to you that the straw? Well, it was so dramatic, captured everybody's tension, and it also was symptomatic of the larger story, which was this was a White House that came in with a tight group of Texans in the White House running a lot of agencies, dictating to cabinet secretaries how to behave.

And that was the management style that this administration brought to town, and that has been slowly fallen apart. And I would say that a part show of Rofen Gonzalez had the last two pieces of the Texas group, a tight White House control, small circles of trust. And now you'll probably have stronger cabinet secretaries, you already do a treasury, you already do its state, and you probably will, whoever the new attorney general is, you probably will. Let's talk about that. Who is the next attorney general? I'm gonna be, and is there somebody out there who can win Senate confirmation? Well, you're interested in some of you win confirmation. And I mean, there was a big bruha when John Rumsfeld, another lightning rod of this administration was cast overboard and it is his tenure. But Bob Gates, that didn't lead to a big fight. I mean, it was a wise decision, a wise nomination. I would say this, when Richard Nixon was faced with a similar problem after the Saturday night massacre and the firing of the resignation of Elliot Richardson as attorney general, Bill Ruckle-Soses, Deputy, he then understood that Bill Sacksby, the Republican Senator of Ohio, was confirmable.

I'd say what you're looking for as someone who's respected, independent, and confirmable. I'd say, well, obviously, Oregon hatches been on everybody, so it's sort of in Utah. I don't know if it'd be interested. Mike DeWine, the former Senator of Ohio, remember the Judiciary Committee, respecting them. Patrick Fitzgerald would be a bold stroke. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it really would. I mean, you know, he needs, the model is Ed Levy, who was Jerry Ford, nominated, he was dean of the University of Chicago Law School. He was independent, he had stature. He was respected and he became a very respected attorney general. He didn't get into this property, too. Well, Patrick Fitzgerald would be revolutionary. Ramsey Clark would be good, too, he was also available. He wasn't a Republican, he was a attorney. No, I think you do hear the same names, Warren Hatch, you hear Michael Chertoff, who's the Secretary of Homeland Security. But the second Senator's at first glimpse seems to be confirmable, because we have this myth that they all protect each other. In reality, John Tower, or even John Ashcroft, would tell you that myth doesn't always hold.

But everyone will say what Mark has said, which is Ed Levy is the model, somebody with independent legal stature, who was independent, but also a tough political operator. Are there any Republicans left willing to go to the mat for the President's nominee? There are still, in many parts of the country, and I've heard this from Republican presidential candidates, there is no profit in bucking with President. There are still as a vestigial loyalty to the President. And so for Republicans, there will be a fair number, and I suspect they'll get somebody like Gates at Defense, somebody who is competent, someone who is broadly respected, and then Democrats will go at that person at their peril. What do you think? Are Democrats just looking for a fight to fit in a matter who the President now is? I think there's a Democratic race. Don't forget, Al Gonzalez only got five Democratic votes when he was nominated long before the Ali's controversy squirled the bottom. One of the five Ben Nelson of Nebraska, was basically said, you better be a lot more careful this time, Mr. President.

We're going to be more skeptical. But I don't think the nation wants anything that even suggests a cheap shot political circus at confirmation. It's up to the President. The ball is in his court. He can set the terms of the debate by nominating someone who's independent, who's respected, and who has stature, and who isn't his retainer. And one of the things people in the committee understand is what state the Justice Department is in, and Michael Greenberg are alluded to this. It's in this array. And whether you're a Republican or Democrat, you understand that. And so you want an organizational person, who's not particular, who might be a technocrat. That's a very good point. Because Justice Department is the heart and soul of every administration. I mean, it is. It's the environment. It's civil rights. It's tax. It's antitrust. It is organized crime. It's the FBI. It's judges. I mean, it truly is. And it's a department where our inspector said after one of Gonzalez's really bad episodes of testimony, he said, no professional at the Justice

Department can have self-respect at this point, as long as you're a jury general. I think that has to be remedied, because it's an important, important job. Well, we will wait and see what occurs next. Mark Shields, David Brooks, thank you very much. Next, the first in our news hour series on the post-Katrina Gulf Coast, two years later. Tonight, news hour correspondent Tom Bearden reports on the ongoing efforts to rebuild homes in New Orleans. Two years after Hurricane Katrina, most of the big EZ's low and middle income neighborhoods are still a mess. The infamous ninth ward is a wasteland. Most of the homes have been bulldozed. Their foundations lost amid towering weeds. Houses were left standing in other areas, but many have been abandoned. About a third of New Orleans residents, more than 300,000, simply never came back. In contrast, parts of the Gentilly neighborhood

are starting to look almost normal, at least on the streets where the floodwaters weren't very deep. A year ago, Lamona Chandler was living in a FEMA trailer. The nearby streets mostly deserted. Now she's back in her house. And she says most of her neighbors are back, too. So what percentage of people are back? We have the largest percentage in the city. And we have almost 80 somewhat percent back. Yeah, this lady hears back. And they're working on inside of their household here. When I came back for the first time, I said to myself, I say, I can hear the hammers and the soil. As I say, that means that everybody is working and coming back. And that's exactly what happened. But further north in Gentilly, next to the levee, where the water was 12 feet deep, far fewer people have returned. Part of that may be a distrust of the rebuilt levee system and uncertainty about the future of the neighborhood. It's created the jack-o-lantern effect, a few houses sticking up here and there, like gap teeth.

About 30% of the lots on our neighborhood are in this condition. Casey King is a retired software engineer and neighborhood activist. He says only about 17% of the neighborhood is habitable. This one is, it has been gutted. They've taken the law board off. They've taken the mold off. But obviously, they haven't made arrangements to have the property be neighborly maintained. King, whose own home was demolished, lives in a motorhome. He keeps the grass mode on adjacent lots and hopes the city will clean up the abandoned property soon. When we first met him earlier this year, he was fighting to get money from a state-operated recovery program called The Road Home. Finally, after reams of paperwork and months of waiting, King was able to get enough money to start making plans to rebuild. But he can't start construction until he gets an elevation grant to put the new house on stilts to avoid another flood.

About $2 billion of funding has been put on hold, because state and federal officials disagree about how it should be distributed. The state had been negotiation with FEMA since last June, and they couldn't come to agreement. They weren't getting support from the White House. So they stopped those payments. This particularly penalizes those people who are returning to the devastated areas and desperately should elevate. There is one consistent complaint we heard from nearly everybody we talked to in New Orleans. The government took far too long to deliver far too little help. There is great frustration with what is viewed as a vast bureaucracy, more dedicated to complying with endless procedure than it is to helping people actually rebuild their home. Both field lives in a FEMA trailer park. His barbershop destroyed. He occasionally cuts hair in the trailer to help make ends meet. Once in a while, he visits his gutted house in the ninth ward,

wondering if he'll ever get the money to repair it. He went through the road home process, too. Only to get a nasty surprise when he went to the closing. Field had received a letter saying he would get just over $90,000. But when he sat down at the table, they offered him just over $52,000, saying they had new information about his home. Field says that information was wrong. When it was getting ready to go to the close, that was one of the happy moments that was in my life because then I knew I was on my way out of that trailer. And I tell you, when I got out of there, and when they got through with me, I was moved upset. I was more angry than it was to the upper floor. Field declined the offer and is appealing. Field's experience isn't an isolated one. Michael and Kiana Malone say they, too, haven't been able to get the money they were promised from the state program. The road home keep promising and promising. And every time we call, it's always a different excuse

why it's taken so long for the money to get here. Kiana and their two children are living in a small town in Georgia, apart from Michael, who came back to his job as the chief bellman at a downtown hotel. The children say it's tough not seeing their dad for months at a time. If a pain and no one else should want to feel, every night, I just cry because I miss my dad. Do you cry a lot like your mom says? Yes. Michael Malone says he's fed up with the situation. I mean, we've been failed in all facets of the government, national, state, local, everyone, almost on a daily basis. We see how America's funding billions and billions of dollars in restoration projects and these other countries. But we need to take care of home first. Mike Taylor, who runs the road home program

for the state of Louisiana, defends the program. It's a very complex project. It's a huge project to scope and scale of which has never been done before. So it took a lot of time to get it started on the front end. We expected that. But now where we want to be, we're moving. And I think ultimately, we will finish this program about a year earlier than was originally anticipated. If things, as you say, are moving along and speeding up and people are getting the money that they deserve and need, why are so many people angry at the program? Well, you've got to realize this is probably the most emotional process anyone has ever gone through in their life. If you think of the fact that the home is the largest single investment that most families ever have, there are a lot of things that go into factoring that. And as I said earlier, we want to move this as quickly as possible, but recognize that we can't respond as quickly as everyone would like us to. The state has received 180,000 applications from homeowners and hopes to have settled with half of them by the end of the year. As for the city, officials put several recovery plans on the table after the storm.

Most were discarded because of political opposition of one sort or another. Now, this is the kind of stuff we've really got to get rid of. The latest blueprint comes from urban planner, Dr. Ed Blakely, the city's so-called recoveries are. He was hired by Mayor Ray Negan at the beginning of this year to develop and implement a rebuilding plan for the city. The biggest challenge is really not the physical rebuilding. The biggest challenge in is getting the people together. There are underlying issues in this city, social issues, and we're trying to solve those issues as we rebuild. What kind of issues do you mean? Well, we had to be quite frank. Poverty, intense poverty in this city, race relations. We're not good. And you can't rebuild and leave those things in place. So what we're going to do is go into neighborhoods and take three or four lots, fix them up. And that will have a ripple effect across the whole neighborhood. Blakely wants to get people in sedatives

to cluster on higher ground in 17 commercial areas and fill in those neighborhoods first. But Casey King says the planners have waited too long that individual homeowners have been forced to act on their own. So the people who are driving this recovery are individual decision makers. And if you can detect a pattern in what they're doing, you can detect any planned activity. It's just not there. And so the planners are waiting way behind. Say, hey, wait for me. So their planning seems to have degenerated down into 17 commercial activities and let the homeowners do whatever they will. So that's not what I call success story. But Blakely is an optimist. He even insists it's not going to be difficult to rebuild the ninth ward. And we're going to go in the ninth ward and build the entire neighborhoods out. So some of the properties we already own, we have some old parks and other things that we already own.

And we're going to come back. And we're going to offer these people who lived in the ninth ward an opportunity to come into those places first. While there seems to be some movement benefiting homeowners, there's little going on in the rental market. A severe shortage of affordable housing has had a huge impact on people who have the fewest resources. Even the hotels are pretty high. Clarence White and Brennan Rhodes work for Unity of New Orleans and advocacy group for the homeless. I think the goal needs to be that we both get you guys healthy and get you off the street. That's what I'm saying to you. The homeless population has exploded because of the lack of public and low income housing. According to Unity's executive director, Martha Cagle. We are seeing over 10,000 people now living in abandoned buildings as a result of the storm. Plus another approximately 2,500 living in other homeless situations out on the street are in homeless housing. We're seeing people's oldest 88 years old who are very disoriented living in abandoned housing.

Cagle says agencies like hers are running out of money and need outside hell. Dr. Blakely says that initially the state and federal governments had not released all the money they promised for rebuilding housing. But he says that's starting to change. And he thinks the city has enough money to proceed with the broader recovery effort. I don't think we need more money. We just have to apply the money we have skillfully. The American people have been very generous to us. But the money that was supposed to leave Washington didn't and those expectations are now being carried through. The money that was supposed to leave Baton Rouge didn't but those expectations are now coming through. So when the money comes, we have to use it well. We don't need more money now. We need more smarts. Blakely says most of the neighborhood reconstruction program should be complete within three years. He concedes that many new Orleans, who feel betrayed by two years of inaction, will be hard to convince. But he says skeptics will see major progress in the next few months.

Yeah, let's give it to him. Finally, tonight, the former and possible future prime minister of Pakistan, Nawwa Sharif, Sharif, whose time in office was clouded by charges of corruption, has been prime minister twice. The second time he was deposed in a military coup by current Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf. Last Thursday, Pakistan Supreme Court ruled the exiled leader could return home, Sharif, immediately pledged to challenge Musharraf's military rule. Margaret Warner interviewed Sharif in London on Saturday. Prime Minister Sharif, thank you for joining us. Thank you. After the court ruling last Thursday, you said you were going back to Pakistan soon. How soon? The working committee of the party has met today. And their recommendation is that I should return as early as possible. They say that I should return before the beginning

of the month of Ramadan. And when is that? I think it's about maybe two or three weeks away. The Supreme Court said that you had an inalienable right as a Pakistani citizen to return to Pakistan. But what does that really mean? Do you have any guarantees that when you arrive, you won't be immediately rested and taken to fulfill your sentence? Musharraf certainly would like to arrest me. And he's warning me. And he must have fabricated cases against me. But with cases, as he have been doing in the past against me, this time around, I'm sure that he'll be thinking on these lines again. You said he's warning you. You mean, since the Supreme Court ruling, he has sent warnings that if you come back, you'll be arrested. Yeah, he's saying that. His people are saying that. His ministers are saying that. I think it wants to scare me.

He wants to frighten me. I should not come back to Pakistan and play my role in the restoration of rule of law in Pakistan. I should not play my role in the restoration of the Constitution. So if you go back and you step off that plane, what do you think will happen? Simply going back to my country, my homeland after seven years absence from Pakistan, I think I have every right to go back if the people want to receive me at the airport, why should Mr. Musharraf object to it? And why would it like to prevent the people from coming to the airport or according to many reception? So I don't know, why is he worried about it? So you are going to confront him essentially. There is no confrontation from my side. I am a person who support the Constitution,

who support independence of judiciary, who support the rule of law, who opposes dictatorship, who opposes military rule, who opposes the rule that army has assumed in politics in Pakistan. And I am a man who want a democratic Pakistan, not a Pakistan with dictatorship. Now another former exiled Prime Minister, Benusir Bhutto, is taking a different approach. And she's been in negotiations with Musharraf. Her argument is it is better to find an accommodation than to have a confrontation. You disagree with that? I think her negotiations with Musharraf will only strengthen dictatorship in Pakistan. And it'll be serving no cause to democracy. Let me tell you that Benusir Bhutto and myself, we are in agreement that will launch a struggle

for the restoration of democracy, for the restoration of rule of law, and the Constitution in Pakistan. We signed a charter of democracy. This document was signed by us both, almost one and a half years ago. I stick to those principles of the charter of democracy, because it very clearly says that there can be no parlays, no negotiations, or no deal with dictators, especially military rulers. So her entering into any deal with Musharraf is a very clear violation of the charter of democracy that she is signed with me together. So are you calling on her to abandon those negotiations? Yes, I think those negotiations must be abandoned, because we Democrats must not be strengthening the hands of a dictator. We have to be very clear.

Do we support democracy or do we support dictatorship? Now, after the court ruling, General Musharraf actually spoke about the need for mutual reconciliation. Are there any back channel talks going on between you and him that would allow you, in fact, to come back, get off that plane, and go do what you want to do? Return on molested. Well, actually, you see, we don't believe in any back channels, is he? This is a struggle for the restoration of democracy, and the entire nation today, the entire civil society of the country, the lawyers community, the intelligence here, the media, the political forces in the country, all together on this. And I think any back-to-channels will be an exercise in fertility. What if he imposes emergency rule as he flirted with a couple of weeks ago, or martial law, what then? Well, I think that will tend to mow to bulldozing the constitution, the law, the law of the land,

he will be then responsible for the consequences. What would those consequences be? There will be a chaos in the country, and God forbid they could also be a possible civil war. We might be heading for a civil war, because the entire society, Pakistan society, is up in arms against Musharov's dictatorship. And they will not tolerate that. We've seen a lot of martial laws in Pakistan. We've seen a lot of military rules, which have brought so many sufferings for the people of Pakistan. And we don't want any more catastrophe in the country. So let me just be clear here. You plan to go back and essentially call Musharov's bluff in terms of whether he'll arrest you or not. If he wants to put him in the jail, let him put him in the jail, because he kept me in the jail, and then torture cells in small little dungeons for 14 months after staging coup d'etat against my government. So I'm not scared of these things at all.

So I will go, and if he does that, I will face that. Finally, you had some tough words for the United States on Thursday. You were critical of the United States for what you said was supporting uniform tyranny. Are you calling on the US to abandon Musharov? We have good relations with United States of America. When I was a prime minister, we had the best of relations with the United States of America. I think that Pakistan and Musharov must not be equated. And Pakistan means 160 million people of Pakistan. If America wants to fight in an effective battle against terror, it'll be fought through the 160 million people of Pakistan, not through one single individual, who is the name is Parui's Musharov. Thank you so much. Pleasure. All this week, Margaret will be filing stories

from Pakistan on our website at pbs.org. Next Monday, her first report will be on the air. Again, the major developments of the day, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez announced he is resigning as of September 17th. Pro football player Michael Vic entered a guilty plea in a federal dogfighting case, and Iraqi leaders reached tentative agreement on key political issues, as US officials reported for more Americans killed. A reminder, you can download audio versions of our reports and listen to them on your computer, iPod or other MP3 player to do so, visit the online news hour at pbs.org. We'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Gwen Eiffel, thank you, and good night. Approach the future with confidence.

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call 1-866-678-News. We are PBS. Thank you. Thank you.

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Thank you. Good evening.

I'm Gwen Eiffel. On the news hour tonight, the news of this Monday, then full coverage of the resignation today of Attorney General Gonzalez with legal analysis from former Justice Department officials, Noel Francisco and Michael Greenberg and political analysis from Mark Shields and David Brooks. Plus, a news hour report on the struggle to rebuild homes in New Orleans two years after Hurricane Katrina. I'm going to interview with former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawwa Sharif about the power struggle in his homeland. Major funding for the news hour with Jim Lehrer is provided by. Some say that by 2020, making the other half-last longer will take innovation,

conservation and collaboration. Will you join us? The new AT&T. Pacific Life. The Atlantic Philanthropy. Thank you.