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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Hurricane Watch in Effect for Virginia; Interview With Governor of North Carolina; Shocking End to Hostage Standoff
Aired September 16, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Super storm crashed this coast. You're looking at a live picture of the shores in Virginia where a hurricane watch is in effect.
And, here's a live picture of the streets in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, homeowners right now boarding up. I'll ask the governor of North Carolina about the mandatory evacuations in effect.
And, we'll go live to the National Hurricane Center which has just released new information on where this hurricane is headed and new advisories for New Jersey and states to the south.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Isabel's coming, are they going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
BLITZER: The U.S. Navy moves out of harm's way. Tens of thousands of civilians are urged to do the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can't make you leave. I own this house. I'm in the construction business. I have five homes under construction. I mean this is my home.
BLITZER: Night raid, are U.S. troops losing hearts and minds in Iraq?
A shocking end to a hostage standoff.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Tuesday, September 16, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
Powerful Hurricane Isabel is on course to slam into the North Carolina coast Thursday and surge onto Virginia. New information just in from the National Hurricane Center, Isabel's maximum sustained winds are around 105 miles an hour. That's a category two storm but forecasters warn it's still dangerous.
Isabel is moving north northwest around eight miles an hour. Right now it's projected to hit North Carolina's Pamlico Sound, about 45 miles north of Morehead City Thursday and continue north through Virginia.
A hurricane watch is in effect from Little River Inlet, South Carolina to Virginia, including Pamlico and Albemarle and parts of Chesapeake Bay. A tropical storm watch has been issued from Virginia to Little Egg Inlet, New Jersey, and from south of Little River Inlet to South Santee River, South Carolina.
We'll have a live report from the National Hurricane Center in just a moment, first preparing for Isabel's potential devastation.
CNN's Brian Cabell is in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. CNN's John Zarrella is in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Let's begin with Brian -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the mandatory evacuation actually took effect here at noontime but, as you can see, five hours later I'm still here and Charles DeBerry (ph) the owner of this property here is still here. You've just finished preparing your property, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I have.
CABELL: What did you do all together?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I put plywood up and cleaned up debris around so nothing would blow around, try to protect the house all I can.
CABELL: And you're going to be leaving?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, as soon as we get done I will.
CABELL: We've seen a number of cars leaving along Highway 12 here for the last six, seven hours, but a number of people are staying. What do you think about those who are staying?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd stay too if I lived down here maybe but if the storm was going to be a five I'd probably leave because I don't live here anyway. We rent this house.
CABELL: You just built this property so you're a little concerned about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
CABELL: Let's take a look out on the beach right now. The beach all day has been a gorgeous, well it's been a gorgeous-looking day, waves seven, eight miles or seven, eight-feet high, blue skies, sunny skies, 75 degrees, a nice quiet day on the beach, a fall day on the beach.
But, again, we're told 600 miles out there, Wolf, Hurricane Isabel is lurking headed here probably in another day and a half. In the meantime, folks like Charles DeBerry will be heading out. Others, though, will be staying right here -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Brian Cabell. He's there in North Carolina for us. Thanks Brian very much.
CNN's John Zarrella is standing by in Virginia Beach, Virginia. That's also an area that could be hit. John, tell us what's happening where you are. How prepared are they?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, while some people may be staying behind where Brian is, the U.S. Navy did not stay behind here. They've completed, we believe, the movement of about 40 Navy ships and Coast Guard ships from the Norfolk Naval Base here for about five hours this afternoon.
The procession of ships, aircraft carriers and frigates and destroyers moved out of the Navy base here out to sea and out of harm's way, the idea being that they are much safer riding out a storm at sea than they are being beaten against the moorings and pilings at their docks. So, that's completed as well as the movement of some aircraft, Navy aircraft out of the area to bases further inland.
Now, what we can also show is a lot of people here taking it very, very seriously. These condominiums -- these beachfront condominiums, the boarding up process is just about complete. A few of the condominiums still not boarded up but others earlier this afternoon folks were out there hammering up the boards, getting ready, putting down shutters if they had them, just in case the storm should come this way.
The boarding up has been seen all over the Virginia Beach, all over this particular area as people prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Isabel and, again, the concern here, Wolf, possibly storm surge and flooding of the inland waterways. That's the biggest concern here because so many of the communities lie on rivers and tributaries -- Wolf.
BLITZER: They're preparing all up and down the eastern seaboard. Thanks very much, John Zarrella in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
And joining us now with the latest information on Hurricane Isabel, Max Mayfield, he's the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Mr. Mayfield, first of all tell our viewers where the storm is, the hurricane is right now and the new direction it appears to be taking.
MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: OK, it's centered about 575 miles south southeast of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It's still moving toward the north northwest about eight miles per hour. We think that forward motion will increase some before landfall.
The center of the hurricane will likely be near the North Carolina coast by around Noon on Thursday but it's such a large circulation that those tropical storm force winds will be there as early as late tomorrow night.
BLITZER: So, late tomorrow night in North Carolina or points further north. When will people along the eastern seaboard begin to get the rain and the winds associated with this hurricane?
MAYFIELD: They should begin to get the tropical storm force winds very, very late tomorrow night, likely around midnight and things will start to deteriorate from then. We have the hurricane watch up now from Little River Inlet, South Carolina up to (unintelligible) Virginia.
That includes the Pamlico and Albemarle Sound, as well as the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac. We have tropical storm watches on either side of that. We'll likely upgrade those watches to warnings tonight at 11:00 p.m.
BLITZER: What about the possibility and I know it's a real possibility, that this hurricane which is a two now could be escalated into a three?
MAYFIELD: It certainly has weakened from this time yesterday but I really do have a concern that people are letting their guard down somewhat. If this had not been a category four and five hurricane a few days ago, you know, just by looking at this they should be very impressed with this and they should take it very, very seriously.
We can't afford to let that happen. We do think there's another window of opportunity for some strengthening before landfall and we actually are forecasting a level of additional strengthening.
BLITZER: How far north will people feel the impact of this hurricane? Will it go all the way up to New England, New York State? Where will people really feel the wind and the rain?
MAYFIELD: Well, we've learned that a hurricane is not just a coastal event. Those strong winds and heavy rains will spread well inland. The rainfall will actually spread over the eastern portion of North Carolina, Eastern Virginia, West Virginia, all of Maryland to Delmarva (ph), up into western Pennsylvania, New York, and eventually up into Canada by Saturday.
BLITZER: So, presumably flights, airports will start getting closed in the northeast at some point, the Mid Atlantic states and up in the northeast. When do you anticipate people who were planning on traveling should rethink their plans?
MAYFIELD: Well, again, I think by -- it depends on where you are obviously but it will start on the North Carolina coast, you know, after midnight I think on Thursday. Thursday is not going to be a very good day along the path of this hurricane and then the timing will of course progress as the hurricane moves northward and starts to accelerate.
BLITZER: One final question before I let you go. People who are along the seaboard right now and even further inland if they still haven't taken certain steps what are the most important things they should be thinking about doing right now assuming that their leaders have not told them yet to evacuate the areas?
MAYFIELD: The most important thing is to listen to the advice of the local officials. We don't want to get more people on the highways than need to be on the roads. If you're in a storm surge evacuation zone and emergency management officials are telling you to leave you need to do so. If you're in a well-constructed house well inland out of the flood zone you need to stay and don't add to the traffic on the roads.
BLITZER: Max Mayfield, as usual thank you very much for that very important information. We'll be heeding your advice and I hope your viewers will as well.
Within the past hour the North Carolina Governor Mike Easley declared a state of emergency. The state lies directly in the forecast path of the hurricane and officials are preparing for the worst.
Governor Easley is joining us now live from Raleigh, North Carolina. Governor, what does this mean exactly that you declared a state of emergency in North Carolina?
GOV. MIKE EASLEY, NORTH CAROLINA: Well, basically what is means is we are able to waive the weight limits of trucks, the hours they can drive to go in and get the utility trucks in here to a staging area ready to go.
We're able to activate the National Guard, which we've done, and we'll have 300 of them in place in the morning, 30 or so out there today doing advance work. Our Department of Transportation, all of the state agencies basically come to storm protection position and it allows me to have all of them at my fingertips to move forward to protect our citizens.
BLITZER: You started evacuating some people from the Outer Banks, elsewhere, but how much of your state do you think people should start moving inland from?
EASLEY: Well, we have mandatory evacuation in the Outer Banks, that's correct, but we have a lot of other voluntary evacuations. What we're asking people to do is to look at these forecasts like yours and take heed. If you see it's coming in your direction, which it looks like it's coming, going to hit landfall by late tomorrow night or early Thursday morning, we want to get people off of the coast inland as far as is necessary.
We're not going to know how far that's going to be probably until late tomorrow night. Then we'll probably issue another advisory then. So, hopefully, people will stay gassed up and ready to go if they don't already get off on a voluntary restriction.
BLITZER: In the past when we've seen these kinds of evacuations, South Carolina and Florida and other states, there have been huge traffic jams as a result of these mandatory evacuations. What are you doing in North Carolina right now to deal with potential traffic nightmares? EASLEY: Well those are good questions and I think everybody has learned from those in the past. We're going things like putting plans in place to deal with changing lanes, all going westbound on four lanes if we have to do that, making two lane roads all going westbound if we have to do that.
It takes a plan. You have to have it in place and you have to have the personnel available in order to execute that, although right now since we're past Labor Day, we probably won't see the large volume of people having to evacuate we would have seen two or three weeks ago.
BLITZER: What kind of assistance are you asking from the federal government and are you getting everything you need from Washington?
EASLEY: We are. You know most of these are local responders and we start with the local emergency management first and with our state, National Guard, our emergency management system.
I had a talk yesterday with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. He wants to make sure that we have all the resources available. We're asking them to declare a state of emergency for us so we can get in place those things and items that we need such as helicopters to pick people up if that's necessary, those Medivac helicopters we wouldn't otherwise have.
We're getting what we need. Everybody is being cooperative. We're working together and we've been putting this plan in place really since about last Thursday.
BLITZER: Our viewers in North Carolina, elsewhere along the eastern seaboard, they're obviously nervous. They're getting ready for the worst. What last bit of advice do you have? Especially in the aftermath of what we heard Max Mayfield say that it was once a five, now a four. It's gone down to a two. People might be taking it a little bit easier than they presumably should.
EASLEY: Well, I think people take it pretty seriously here in North Carolina. We've had a handful of tough hurricanes but the one thing I'd like to say to people, I don't care what state you're in, please listen to what your public officials tell you.
If you go back and you look at the fatalities and the injuries that occur in these storms it's not usually the day of the storm. It's the day after where people are doing things that they shouldn't do or they don't call for help when they need to call for help.
So, I'm asking people to follow the storm. Keep up with the wind, with the course, and with the amount of rainfall that you expect to get but also heed the warnings that you get from your local and your state officials. That is critical.
BLITZER: Governor Easley, good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in North Carolina, excellent advice, especially power lines that could go down in the aftermath of this storm, appreciate it very much. EASLEY: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Later this hour, fleeing a killer storm, we'll look a little bit more in depth at the complicated and sometimes chaotic efforts to evacuate millions of people from the path of a hurricane.
And here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. "Should the government be allowed to force people to evacuate ahead of hurricanes"? We'll have the results later in this broadcast but you can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf.
And while you're there, I'd love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
Guerrilla attacks in Iraq, are Americans among those fighting against coalition forces in the country? Hear what the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has to say.
Then, a deadly standoff is carried live on television. We'll have the story behind this blast.
But next, new developments in the California recall effort. Will the highly charged election debate head to the highest court in the land?
First, our news quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): What is the origin of the word "hurricane"? The name of the Carib god of evil, Mayan words for fast wind and dark clouds, a fictional sea beast, Indian words for evil ocean spirit," the answer coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: For the second day in a row a major legal development in the California recall, our National Correspondent Bob Franken is following the story for us from Los Angeles. He's joining us now live -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: First the non development that this hour we were supposed to have a news conference from the California secretary of state announcing what appeal process he would follow, whether he would go the normal procedure, which was to ask for an en banc proceeding, I'll explain that in a moment, from the Circuit Court of Appeals here or whether he would want to go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court as one of the other losing parties would.
They lost their battle yesterday. A three judge panel said that the election was to be delayed beyond October 7th because of the problems with the punch card voting machines in six of the most populous counties in California.
But, the appeals court weighed in today and said you can do whatever you want with the Supreme Court but we're ordering you, all the participants to file with us to see if we'll have that en banc hearing. En banc means the full court but in the case of the huge Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals it would be 11 or 12 judges.
Obviously, they're operating under very tight time restrictions because the election is scheduled three weeks from now. The candidates are still campaigning. The parties have until tomorrow to file their briefs. Then everyone will see whether the full court en banc hearing goes on or whether people turn to the Supreme Court. It's a legal mess but probably consistent with the rest of this recall election -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And we're learning about the laws. We did in Florida almost three years ago. Bob Franken helping us learn those lessons, thanks Bob very much.
The vote may be on hold but the candidates are carrying on with their campaigns. Governor Gray Davis is with Jesse Jackson in San Francisco this hour. Earlier, he was in Los Angeles with the Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bob Graham of Florida.
Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante was also in San Francisco meeting with representatives of the Sierra Club and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger had a meeting scheduled with the former rival of his, Peter Ueberroth, the former baseball commissioner. Both Schwarzenegger and State Senator Tom McClintock are seeking Ueberroth's endorsement.
Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark apparently has decided to join an already crowded Democratic presidential race. Sources tell CNN Clark will announce his decision tomorrow in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The retired four-star general who has no political experience said today he has time to get up to speed on the issues with the other nine Democratic presidential candidates.
Clark's move may have stolen some of the thunder from one of the other Democrats seeking President Bush's job. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina made his White House bid official today, his backdrop the textile mill where his father once worked. Edwards vowed to take the fight to Mr. Bush at every turn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will challenge this president in every single state, in small towns and large, in every place where a plant is closed or an after school program has turned away our kids, or a retirement account that is no longer enough for people to live on is available. We will force him to defend his failed policies in the east, in the west, in the north and right here in the south.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Edwards is a first term Senator. He's recently announced he will not be seeking a second term. As a trial attorney he made millions of dollars before entering politics five years ago.
And this important note, please stay with CNN for more on the latest political developments. General Clark joins "AMERICAN MORNING" at 7:00 a.m. Eastern, that's tomorrow. And at 9:00 Eastern tomorrow, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be Larry King's guest, top newsmakers of the day, of course only here on CNN.
U.S. forces in Iraq their mission already dangerous now reports that U.S. troops may be using tactics and taking risks that may backfire. We'll go live to Tikrit. That's just ahead.
Next door to Iraq some warnings today in Washington from one man who watches this area very closely.
And, Hurricane Isabel that's our top story, taking direct aim at the North Carolina coast right now. We'll go live to one beach area where some people are boarding up, others already heading out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Remember the case of John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban? Could U.S. troops in Iraq now be holding American prisoners?
The brigadier general in charge of coalition detention centers says six of the thousands of security detainees in Iraq claim to be Americans, while two others say they're British.
Investigators are trying to check those claims. The eight are suspected of taking part in attacks against coalition forces. For now, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has little to add.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The truth is that the folks that we've scooped up have on a number of occasions multiple identifications from different countries. They're quite skilled at confusing people as to what their real nationality is or where they came from or what they're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: U.S. forces in Iraq are on the offensive mounting daily raids and roundups as they try to quell the violent resistance to the occupation but will this aggressive campaign backfire?
CNN's Jason Bellini is embedded with U.S. forces in Tikrit. He's joining us now live via videophone -- Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Hi there, Wolf. We have some raids to tell you about that happened last night in a neighborhood of Iraq called RPG alley, a bad neighborhood where the forces here take no chances when they go on these raids.
In these raids, they jumped over the fences. They banged down the doors. They go in with the M-16s pointed at whoever is there telling everyone to get down, get down. That's just a standard procedure that they are following here.
They say this is the way they've got to do it and they've been successful. Rarely, is there an exchange of gunfire when they use these tactics. Rarely do they run into any resistance from the individuals they're trying to get.
Now, they do receive some criticism from the Iraqis here in Tikrit for these methods because they're coming in the middle of the night. They're telling women and children, you know, the women and children are screaming. They're obviously upset by this and they're not always getting the people that they're after.
Sometimes they cast a wide net and in this raid overnight they only captured, they took into custody 12 people but only several of those were the ones that they were looking for, so a number of others had their night disrupted in a very violent way even though they really were not needed after, it turns out after they conducted the questioning with them -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Jason Bellini is in Tikrit for us, Jason thanks very much for that report.
The Atlantic coast prepares for an unwanted visitor. When will Hurricane Isabel come ashore?
Then, should you stay or should you go, moving out of harm's way, evacuations, what have we learned from past mistakes and there have been plenty of them?
And hunt for a killer have police found the man who assassinated the Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The unexpected unfolds in front of TV cameras. How a hostage situation took an explosive and deadly turn. That story coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN.
Eye on the storm. Evacuations are ordered as Hurricane Isabel moves closer to landfall. We're tracking its path right now. We'll get to all of that.
First, the latest headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: The latest now on a story we're keeping very, very close watch on, Hurricane Isabel. It's keeping up its slow march toward the East Coast of the United States. While it has weakened somewhat, the storm still poses a very serious threat.
Our meteorologist Rob Marciano is keeping track of Isabel at the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wolf, it has been downgraded, you're right. But it is still a big storm and that may be the determining factor, as we go on through time, the actual width of this thing.
Here it is on the satellite imagery. We'll zoom in and give you the latest coordinates. It has expanded in size as far as how far the hurricane force winds go out.
These are the latest stats -- Category 2, winds down to 105 miles an hour. And it's heading to the north, northwest at 8 miles an hour. It is 570 miles south, southeast of Cape Hatteras. And on that track -- well, we're looking at landfall likely sometime the middle of the day on Thursday. So that's something that folks along the Outer Banks are watching carefully.
This forecast, by the way, has not changed all that much over the past couple days. So there has been a quite of bit of warning with this particular thing.
Well, a couple things why this thing has weakened. There's some dry air coming in here. But as it heads off towards the north, right in through here, there's still some warm water, 80 degree plus. So concerns out of the National Hurricane Center is that it may very well strengthen maybe back to Category 3 status. But Category 2, believe me, is bad enough. And the folks along the Carolinas who lived through Floyd certainly know that.
So here's the expect track -- Thursday midday acorss the Carolina -- across North Carolina, in through Virginia, obviously decreasing in strength as it makes its way inland. But it will be windy for some time to come and then the rain will be heading up into Canada before too long.
So, here we go. Tropical storm watches out up to the Little River Inlet and then hurricane watches all the way up towards the coastline and the borders of Virginia. And now a tropical storm watch is up in through the middle part of New Jersey.
A few highlights for you, just to recap. Down to Category 2 status, 105 winds, Carolinas to Cape Cod, prepare for a strike. Landfall is likely Thursday.
Here's an interesting note, Wolf -- that if this thing deviates at all to the east, then folks along Long Island and Cape Cod are going to have to worry about this. Because the angle attack is such that if we have any margin for error, then we're going to have to deal with problems up the East Coast. We'll watch that, but the National Hurricane Center has been on this and they've been accurate all year long. So we believe in them. Back to you.
BLITZER: And it's interesting, Rob. All the rain could actually go all the up to Canada from this hurricane. Very significant.
MARCIANO: It's a big one.
BLITZER: Thanks very much. Rob Marciano, keeping track of this hurricane for us.
CNN's Jeff Flock, of course, as all of our viewers know, is a veteran of hurricane coverage. He's watching and waiting for the storm's approach. He's with us now from Indian Beach, North Carolina.
Jeff, it looks like it's getting a little bit windier from yesterday.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little breezy. Absolutely, Wolf. And you can see the breakers coming in.
You know, we've been following this with these folks from the Hurricane Intercept Research Team. They've been patrolling the beach out here, Mark Sudduth and company.
I know you've been looking at that 5:00 advisory too. Our weatherman just gave us sense of it, but your headline on that is intensification possible now. It's done weakening, yes?
MARK SUDDUTH, HURRICANE INTERCEPT RESEARCH TEAM: Yes. They said in the discussion that Isabel is done weakening for now. And they certainly forecast it to get up to near 110 miles an hour at landfall.
FLOCK: Now we showed our viewers yesterday on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS the gear that you've got on top of your vehicle.
Let's look inside and take a look at the latest radar picture. That's -- that -- you've got that on a -- via a wireless Internet connection, correct?
SUDDUTH: That's right. This is a -- we don't have radar yet. Sorry about the mic.
(CROSSTALK)
SUDDUTH: Yes, infrared satellite. And look at that central core getting a little bit better organized. That's a ball again. It's not all distorted. This doesn't mean dire straights for eastern North Carolina because it's not explosive deepening. But that does show that it's getting a little better organized. And like you mentioned, it's all because of that little PCS connection card that we can do this. It's great. It's great
FLOCK: A little plug for PCS.
And John Van Pelt, the other thing is that the forecast track has shifted a little bit now to the west and south, yes? JOHN VAN PELT, HURRICANE INTERCEPT RESEARCH TEAM: Yes, it has. And I live in Raleigh. So when you look at the track and it takes it possibly, then, 30 miles northeast of that part of North Carolina, it gets concerning for me to be down here when that's going to happen where I live.
FLOCK: Right. So we were planning to go out to the Outer Banks yesterday, Wolf, and we decided instead to come down here. This is just the other side of Moorehead City. Atlantic Beach is just up the beach from us here. And we think this is pretty much dead on right now. So we'll see. This time tomorrow should be very interesting -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very quickly, Jeff -- that vehicle that we just saw -- can that be in the middle of a hurricane and survive?
FLOCK: It's designed to do that. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) go ahead and give him one last look, if you would, at the vehicle. Indeed this is. That's a camera up on top. That is obviously, an anomometer up there. They -- that anomometer is rated to 225 miles an hour, although this vehicle is not rated to that.
But yes, it is designed for that. Like those vehicles you saw in that movie "Twister," for example, designed to go right into the storm.
BLITZER: CNN's Jeff Flock, our man on the scene as usual. Thanks, Jeff, very much for that report.
Let's head now a couple of hundred miles north, back to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Joining us now from there, Leon Faso. He owns a bed and breakfast in the area.
Mr. Faso, thanks very much for joining us. Are you staying? Are you going? What are you feeling right now?
LEON FASO, INNKEEPER: Well, right now, what we're waiting for is probably until tomorrow morning when we find out more information as to exactly where the hurricane is going to land so we know in which direction to go.
It seems like it's pretty widespread and, you know, we want to make sure we go in the right direction, if and when we leave.
BLITZER: How scared are you...
FASO: But that decision will be made tomorrow morning.
BLITZER: How scared are you and your family?
FASO: Well, we're not scared, so to speak. We're more concerned -- more concerned of property damage, because I think we'll make the right decision as when to leave. But it's -- you can never tell with the ocean being so close to where we're at. The storm surges, really, are more dangerous sometimes.
BLITZER: Now you may have no choice if they force you to evacuate. You're going to, obviously, have to leave.
FASO: Pardon me? I don't hear you on that one.
BLITZER: I said you may have no choice if they force you to evacuate the area. You're going to have to leave.
FASO: Oh, yes. Exactly. Yes. They gave us until noon tomorrow. And basically what it is is we'll make a decision by then. And we'll probably leave. And if not, I think, you know, we'll see what happens from there. But we probably will be leaving.
BLITZER: Mr. Faso, good luck to you and good luck to your family and your friends. We'll be checking back with you.
FASO: All right. Thanks a lot. Good to talk to you (ph).
BLITZER: Tens of millions of Americans live along the East Coast, and moving them out of harm's way when a hurricane threatens is, of course, no easy job.
Today as evacuations get under way, emergency officials are hoping they've learned from past mistakes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Saving lives at a snail's pace. Evacuating populated areas ahead of a hurricane. Sometimes essential, often problematic.
September 1999, residents of Northern Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina bracing for Hurricane Floyd. Officials in those states ordered coastal residents to evacuate. The result -- the largest mass movement of people in U.S. history for one event. More than 3 million people on the move, or not.
In Georgia and South Carolina, highways were gridlocked. Adding to the problem, the states admit, they did not coordinate well enough with each other to monitor who was driving where, a mistake they don't want to repeat.
With Hurricane Isabel approaching, plans are in place in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia to reverse lane traffic on some major interstates, essentially creating huge one-way thoroughfares. And emergency management planners in each state say they're doing a better job talking to each other.
Still, mass evacuation from an area with any significant population is a challenge.
MAYOR MEYERA OBERNDORI, VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA: If we should have to declare that it's a mandatory evacuation the plans are to have all of the lanes to go in one direction.
BLITZER: Officials are measuring the situation carefully. North Carolina emergency planners tell CNN three counties with residents on the Outer Banks either have or will order those residents to evacuate by tomorrow. That's about 75, 000 people.
There are four U.S. highways and one state highway connecting the Outer Banks to the mainland. But those cannot be converted into one- way roads because there are too many small side roads for police to control. There is one interstate in North Carolina which could be converted, but likely won't be because it's too far inland.
South Carolina and Virginia have plans in place to convert interstates to one-way. But as of now, they haven't decided whether to use that option.
The last thing state officials want now is widespread panic. But one other concern, that memories of pre-Hurricane Floyd parking lots might make some vulnerable residents reluctant to leave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: The most important thing for those of you who may be in the path of this hurricane, listen to local authorities. Do what they tell you to do. Get prepared, get ready.
CNN, of course, will have complete coverage of all of these developments over the coming hours and days.
Eye on Syria. Is that country pursuing a chemical and biological weapons program? We'll have details.
Then, a hostage situation comes to a fiery end. And it was seen live on television. We'll tell you how the events unfolded.
And oh, no, as in Yoko Ono. Why are these people cutting off her clothing?
First, the answer to our "News Quiz."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked, "What's the origin of the word 'hurricane'?" The answer: hurricane is derived from hurican, the name of the Carib god of evil. The Caribs are the native inhabitants of the Caribbean.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Could Syria be a future target in the U.S. war against terror? The Bush administration is keeping its options open.
The under secretary of state, John Bolton, told lawmakers today Damascus has taken a series of -- quote -- "hostile action" against coalition forces in Iraq. And that's just the top of a long list of complaints.
Here is CNN national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BOLTON, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE: Syria remains a security concern of the United States.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush administration put out one of its most ardent conservative to catalogue the sins of Damascus.
BOLTON: Syria permitted volunteers to pass into Iraq to attack and kill our service members during the war and is still doing so.
ENSOR: Under Secretary Bolton said Syria's military has chemical weapons and a program to make more, as well as biological weapons and there's evidence it may seek nuclear weapons as well.
BOLTON: We are aware of Syrian efforts to acquire dual use technologies that could be applied to a nuclear weapons program.
ENSOR: In Damascus, Syria's foreign minister called the charges unjust and said -- quote -- "the demands of the U.S. are too many."
Secretary of State Colin Powell and the president are putting heavy pressure on Syria's young president, Bashar Assad to change his ways, John Bolton told the committee. Members who favor putting more sanctions on Syria were not satisfied.
REP. ELIOT ENGLE (D), INTL. RELATIONS CMTE.: Syria's record on terrorism, in my estimation, is worse than even Iraq's.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we talking about regime change in Syria?
BOLTON: Our preference is to solve these problems by peaceful and diplomatic means. But the president has also been very clear we're not taking any options off the table. Secretary Powell is conducting very intensive efforts on this front. It's a delicate moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Bolton said U.S. intelligence has been unable to confirm reports that Iraq might have transferred some of its weapons of mass destruction to Syria. Syrian officials are flatly denying that.
But as Congress debates possible sanctions legislation, administration officials are seeking to convince Damascus that just because the U.S. has its hands full in Iraq does not mean that Syria gets a pass -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very interesting. Thanks very much, David Ensor, with the latest on that important story.
A horrifying scene in Japan. How did a workplace dispute lead to this? That story just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In Nagoya, Japan today, a man demanding back pay from an employer took a number of hostages and held off police for hours.
As our Tokyo bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon reports, the ending was sudden, shocking, tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Dozens wounded, three dead, a policeman,a branch manager, and hostage taker who caused the exploding. Police say a 52-year-old man name Noboru Beppu, entered the fourth floor offices of a courier company around 10:00 a.m. Armed with a knife plus bow and arrows he held eight male employees hostage after allowing companies female staff to leave. During the three hours stand off with police, Beppu doused the office with a flammable liquid and threatened to set it on fire. His demand, back payment for contract work with the company, totaling a little over $2,000. Seven of the eight hostages were freed just moments before the office exploded in a ball of fire. The blaze took about two hours to extinguish. It was like a scene from the movies, said this bystander. Among the injured were police, firefighters, journalists and on lookers. The freed hostages were in shock. Police believe this was an isolated incident unrelated to terrorism or organized crime. Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
That's a shocking story.
BLITZER: Our hot web question of the day is this. Should the government be allowed to force people to evacuate ahead of hurricanes? You can still vote, cnn.com/wolf. The results for you when we come back.
First, these stories making headlines around the world.
Jungle kidnapping. Several western backpackers are safe after a terrifying encounter with rebels in the mountains of Colombia. That's not the case for eight of the colleagues who were kidnapped by members of the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia. The eight have not been heard from since they were seized Friday. A rescue effort involving thousands of troops is under way.
Nuclear weapons talks. Japan says senior Americans, South Korea and Japanese diplomats will hold talks on North Korea's weapons program. Two day meeting set to get under way in Tokyo on September 29, will be the first since six-week talks on the North's controversial nuclear ambitions were held in Beijing last month.
Beefing up South Korea. The Bush administration has deployed and upgraded a patriot anti-missile system in South Korea. According to a U.S. Army system, the advanced system includes hit to kill technology to destroy incoming ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
Oh, no. Not again. Yoko Ono has done it again, removing her clothes for a cause. This time, dozens of strangers cut her clothes off piece by piece as she sat on a stage in Paris. When finished, she was wearing nothing but her underwear. Yoko Ono asked the cutters to send the pieces of clothing to a person they love.
That's our look around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." Here's the question we've been asking you.
Should the government be allowed to force people to evacuate ahead of hurricanes? Look at this, 49 percent of you said, yes, 51 percent of you said, no.
As always, we remind you, this is not a scientific poll. You can find the exact vote tally and continue to vote on the Web site, cnn.com/wolf.
Let's get to some of our e-mails some viewers are sharing tips for preparing for Hurricane Isabel.
Pat, who works for FEMA writes this, "Have the folks on the entire east coast already forgotten what Hurricane Floyd did to the back in 99'? Isabel may have been downgraded, but there is always the chance that she'll be upgraded again. They need to board up and get their families well inland and do it now, before it's too late."
This from May, "People need to be reminded to take care of their pets as they prepare for the storm. Please remind people to contact the Humane Society to find out what to do."
And this reminder, you can always watch us on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS every weekday 5:00 p.m. Eastern. And I'm also here every weekday at noon Eastern. Thanks very much for joining us. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Governor of North Carolina; Shocking End to Hostage Standoff>
Aired September 16, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Super storm crashed this coast. You're looking at a live picture of the shores in Virginia where a hurricane watch is in effect.
And, here's a live picture of the streets in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, homeowners right now boarding up. I'll ask the governor of North Carolina about the mandatory evacuations in effect.
And, we'll go live to the National Hurricane Center which has just released new information on where this hurricane is headed and new advisories for New Jersey and states to the south.
Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Isabel's coming, are they going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
BLITZER: The U.S. Navy moves out of harm's way. Tens of thousands of civilians are urged to do the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can't make you leave. I own this house. I'm in the construction business. I have five homes under construction. I mean this is my home.
BLITZER: Night raid, are U.S. troops losing hearts and minds in Iraq?
A shocking end to a hostage standoff.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital with correspondents from around the world. WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Tuesday, September 16, 2003. Hello from Washington, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
Powerful Hurricane Isabel is on course to slam into the North Carolina coast Thursday and surge onto Virginia. New information just in from the National Hurricane Center, Isabel's maximum sustained winds are around 105 miles an hour. That's a category two storm but forecasters warn it's still dangerous.
Isabel is moving north northwest around eight miles an hour. Right now it's projected to hit North Carolina's Pamlico Sound, about 45 miles north of Morehead City Thursday and continue north through Virginia.
A hurricane watch is in effect from Little River Inlet, South Carolina to Virginia, including Pamlico and Albemarle and parts of Chesapeake Bay. A tropical storm watch has been issued from Virginia to Little Egg Inlet, New Jersey, and from south of Little River Inlet to South Santee River, South Carolina.
We'll have a live report from the National Hurricane Center in just a moment, first preparing for Isabel's potential devastation.
CNN's Brian Cabell is in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. CNN's John Zarrella is in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Let's begin with Brian -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the mandatory evacuation actually took effect here at noontime but, as you can see, five hours later I'm still here and Charles DeBerry (ph) the owner of this property here is still here. You've just finished preparing your property, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I have.
CABELL: What did you do all together?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I put plywood up and cleaned up debris around so nothing would blow around, try to protect the house all I can.
CABELL: And you're going to be leaving?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, as soon as we get done I will.
CABELL: We've seen a number of cars leaving along Highway 12 here for the last six, seven hours, but a number of people are staying. What do you think about those who are staying?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd stay too if I lived down here maybe but if the storm was going to be a five I'd probably leave because I don't live here anyway. We rent this house.
CABELL: You just built this property so you're a little concerned about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
CABELL: Let's take a look out on the beach right now. The beach all day has been a gorgeous, well it's been a gorgeous-looking day, waves seven, eight miles or seven, eight-feet high, blue skies, sunny skies, 75 degrees, a nice quiet day on the beach, a fall day on the beach.
But, again, we're told 600 miles out there, Wolf, Hurricane Isabel is lurking headed here probably in another day and a half. In the meantime, folks like Charles DeBerry will be heading out. Others, though, will be staying right here -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Brian Cabell. He's there in North Carolina for us. Thanks Brian very much.
CNN's John Zarrella is standing by in Virginia Beach, Virginia. That's also an area that could be hit. John, tell us what's happening where you are. How prepared are they?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, while some people may be staying behind where Brian is, the U.S. Navy did not stay behind here. They've completed, we believe, the movement of about 40 Navy ships and Coast Guard ships from the Norfolk Naval Base here for about five hours this afternoon.
The procession of ships, aircraft carriers and frigates and destroyers moved out of the Navy base here out to sea and out of harm's way, the idea being that they are much safer riding out a storm at sea than they are being beaten against the moorings and pilings at their docks. So, that's completed as well as the movement of some aircraft, Navy aircraft out of the area to bases further inland.
Now, what we can also show is a lot of people here taking it very, very seriously. These condominiums -- these beachfront condominiums, the boarding up process is just about complete. A few of the condominiums still not boarded up but others earlier this afternoon folks were out there hammering up the boards, getting ready, putting down shutters if they had them, just in case the storm should come this way.
The boarding up has been seen all over the Virginia Beach, all over this particular area as people prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Isabel and, again, the concern here, Wolf, possibly storm surge and flooding of the inland waterways. That's the biggest concern here because so many of the communities lie on rivers and tributaries -- Wolf.
BLITZER: They're preparing all up and down the eastern seaboard. Thanks very much, John Zarrella in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
And joining us now with the latest information on Hurricane Isabel, Max Mayfield, he's the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Mr. Mayfield, first of all tell our viewers where the storm is, the hurricane is right now and the new direction it appears to be taking.
MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: OK, it's centered about 575 miles south southeast of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It's still moving toward the north northwest about eight miles per hour. We think that forward motion will increase some before landfall.
The center of the hurricane will likely be near the North Carolina coast by around Noon on Thursday but it's such a large circulation that those tropical storm force winds will be there as early as late tomorrow night.
BLITZER: So, late tomorrow night in North Carolina or points further north. When will people along the eastern seaboard begin to get the rain and the winds associated with this hurricane?
MAYFIELD: They should begin to get the tropical storm force winds very, very late tomorrow night, likely around midnight and things will start to deteriorate from then. We have the hurricane watch up now from Little River Inlet, South Carolina up to (unintelligible) Virginia.
That includes the Pamlico and Albemarle Sound, as well as the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac. We have tropical storm watches on either side of that. We'll likely upgrade those watches to warnings tonight at 11:00 p.m.
BLITZER: What about the possibility and I know it's a real possibility, that this hurricane which is a two now could be escalated into a three?
MAYFIELD: It certainly has weakened from this time yesterday but I really do have a concern that people are letting their guard down somewhat. If this had not been a category four and five hurricane a few days ago, you know, just by looking at this they should be very impressed with this and they should take it very, very seriously.
We can't afford to let that happen. We do think there's another window of opportunity for some strengthening before landfall and we actually are forecasting a level of additional strengthening.
BLITZER: How far north will people feel the impact of this hurricane? Will it go all the way up to New England, New York State? Where will people really feel the wind and the rain?
MAYFIELD: Well, we've learned that a hurricane is not just a coastal event. Those strong winds and heavy rains will spread well inland. The rainfall will actually spread over the eastern portion of North Carolina, Eastern Virginia, West Virginia, all of Maryland to Delmarva (ph), up into western Pennsylvania, New York, and eventually up into Canada by Saturday.
BLITZER: So, presumably flights, airports will start getting closed in the northeast at some point, the Mid Atlantic states and up in the northeast. When do you anticipate people who were planning on traveling should rethink their plans?
MAYFIELD: Well, again, I think by -- it depends on where you are obviously but it will start on the North Carolina coast, you know, after midnight I think on Thursday. Thursday is not going to be a very good day along the path of this hurricane and then the timing will of course progress as the hurricane moves northward and starts to accelerate.
BLITZER: One final question before I let you go. People who are along the seaboard right now and even further inland if they still haven't taken certain steps what are the most important things they should be thinking about doing right now assuming that their leaders have not told them yet to evacuate the areas?
MAYFIELD: The most important thing is to listen to the advice of the local officials. We don't want to get more people on the highways than need to be on the roads. If you're in a storm surge evacuation zone and emergency management officials are telling you to leave you need to do so. If you're in a well-constructed house well inland out of the flood zone you need to stay and don't add to the traffic on the roads.
BLITZER: Max Mayfield, as usual thank you very much for that very important information. We'll be heeding your advice and I hope your viewers will as well.
Within the past hour the North Carolina Governor Mike Easley declared a state of emergency. The state lies directly in the forecast path of the hurricane and officials are preparing for the worst.
Governor Easley is joining us now live from Raleigh, North Carolina. Governor, what does this mean exactly that you declared a state of emergency in North Carolina?
GOV. MIKE EASLEY, NORTH CAROLINA: Well, basically what is means is we are able to waive the weight limits of trucks, the hours they can drive to go in and get the utility trucks in here to a staging area ready to go.
We're able to activate the National Guard, which we've done, and we'll have 300 of them in place in the morning, 30 or so out there today doing advance work. Our Department of Transportation, all of the state agencies basically come to storm protection position and it allows me to have all of them at my fingertips to move forward to protect our citizens.
BLITZER: You started evacuating some people from the Outer Banks, elsewhere, but how much of your state do you think people should start moving inland from?
EASLEY: Well, we have mandatory evacuation in the Outer Banks, that's correct, but we have a lot of other voluntary evacuations. What we're asking people to do is to look at these forecasts like yours and take heed. If you see it's coming in your direction, which it looks like it's coming, going to hit landfall by late tomorrow night or early Thursday morning, we want to get people off of the coast inland as far as is necessary.
We're not going to know how far that's going to be probably until late tomorrow night. Then we'll probably issue another advisory then. So, hopefully, people will stay gassed up and ready to go if they don't already get off on a voluntary restriction.
BLITZER: In the past when we've seen these kinds of evacuations, South Carolina and Florida and other states, there have been huge traffic jams as a result of these mandatory evacuations. What are you doing in North Carolina right now to deal with potential traffic nightmares? EASLEY: Well those are good questions and I think everybody has learned from those in the past. We're going things like putting plans in place to deal with changing lanes, all going westbound on four lanes if we have to do that, making two lane roads all going westbound if we have to do that.
It takes a plan. You have to have it in place and you have to have the personnel available in order to execute that, although right now since we're past Labor Day, we probably won't see the large volume of people having to evacuate we would have seen two or three weeks ago.
BLITZER: What kind of assistance are you asking from the federal government and are you getting everything you need from Washington?
EASLEY: We are. You know most of these are local responders and we start with the local emergency management first and with our state, National Guard, our emergency management system.
I had a talk yesterday with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. He wants to make sure that we have all the resources available. We're asking them to declare a state of emergency for us so we can get in place those things and items that we need such as helicopters to pick people up if that's necessary, those Medivac helicopters we wouldn't otherwise have.
We're getting what we need. Everybody is being cooperative. We're working together and we've been putting this plan in place really since about last Thursday.
BLITZER: Our viewers in North Carolina, elsewhere along the eastern seaboard, they're obviously nervous. They're getting ready for the worst. What last bit of advice do you have? Especially in the aftermath of what we heard Max Mayfield say that it was once a five, now a four. It's gone down to a two. People might be taking it a little bit easier than they presumably should.
EASLEY: Well, I think people take it pretty seriously here in North Carolina. We've had a handful of tough hurricanes but the one thing I'd like to say to people, I don't care what state you're in, please listen to what your public officials tell you.
If you go back and you look at the fatalities and the injuries that occur in these storms it's not usually the day of the storm. It's the day after where people are doing things that they shouldn't do or they don't call for help when they need to call for help.
So, I'm asking people to follow the storm. Keep up with the wind, with the course, and with the amount of rainfall that you expect to get but also heed the warnings that you get from your local and your state officials. That is critical.
BLITZER: Governor Easley, good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in North Carolina, excellent advice, especially power lines that could go down in the aftermath of this storm, appreciate it very much. EASLEY: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Later this hour, fleeing a killer storm, we'll look a little bit more in depth at the complicated and sometimes chaotic efforts to evacuate millions of people from the path of a hurricane.
And here's your turn to weigh in on this story. Our web question of the day is this. "Should the government be allowed to force people to evacuate ahead of hurricanes"? We'll have the results later in this broadcast but you can vote right now, cnn.com/wolf.
And while you're there, I'd love to hear directly from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also, of course, where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
Guerrilla attacks in Iraq, are Americans among those fighting against coalition forces in the country? Hear what the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has to say.
Then, a deadly standoff is carried live on television. We'll have the story behind this blast.
But next, new developments in the California recall effort. Will the highly charged election debate head to the highest court in the land?
First, our news quiz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): What is the origin of the word "hurricane"? The name of the Carib god of evil, Mayan words for fast wind and dark clouds, a fictional sea beast, Indian words for evil ocean spirit," the answer coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: For the second day in a row a major legal development in the California recall, our National Correspondent Bob Franken is following the story for us from Los Angeles. He's joining us now live -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: First the non development that this hour we were supposed to have a news conference from the California secretary of state announcing what appeal process he would follow, whether he would go the normal procedure, which was to ask for an en banc proceeding, I'll explain that in a moment, from the Circuit Court of Appeals here or whether he would want to go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court as one of the other losing parties would.
They lost their battle yesterday. A three judge panel said that the election was to be delayed beyond October 7th because of the problems with the punch card voting machines in six of the most populous counties in California.
But, the appeals court weighed in today and said you can do whatever you want with the Supreme Court but we're ordering you, all the participants to file with us to see if we'll have that en banc hearing. En banc means the full court but in the case of the huge Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals it would be 11 or 12 judges.
Obviously, they're operating under very tight time restrictions because the election is scheduled three weeks from now. The candidates are still campaigning. The parties have until tomorrow to file their briefs. Then everyone will see whether the full court en banc hearing goes on or whether people turn to the Supreme Court. It's a legal mess but probably consistent with the rest of this recall election -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And we're learning about the laws. We did in Florida almost three years ago. Bob Franken helping us learn those lessons, thanks Bob very much.
The vote may be on hold but the candidates are carrying on with their campaigns. Governor Gray Davis is with Jesse Jackson in San Francisco this hour. Earlier, he was in Los Angeles with the Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bob Graham of Florida.
Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante was also in San Francisco meeting with representatives of the Sierra Club and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger had a meeting scheduled with the former rival of his, Peter Ueberroth, the former baseball commissioner. Both Schwarzenegger and State Senator Tom McClintock are seeking Ueberroth's endorsement.
Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark apparently has decided to join an already crowded Democratic presidential race. Sources tell CNN Clark will announce his decision tomorrow in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The retired four-star general who has no political experience said today he has time to get up to speed on the issues with the other nine Democratic presidential candidates.
Clark's move may have stolen some of the thunder from one of the other Democrats seeking President Bush's job. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina made his White House bid official today, his backdrop the textile mill where his father once worked. Edwards vowed to take the fight to Mr. Bush at every turn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will challenge this president in every single state, in small towns and large, in every place where a plant is closed or an after school program has turned away our kids, or a retirement account that is no longer enough for people to live on is available. We will force him to defend his failed policies in the east, in the west, in the north and right here in the south.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Edwards is a first term Senator. He's recently announced he will not be seeking a second term. As a trial attorney he made millions of dollars before entering politics five years ago.
And this important note, please stay with CNN for more on the latest political developments. General Clark joins "AMERICAN MORNING" at 7:00 a.m. Eastern, that's tomorrow. And at 9:00 Eastern tomorrow, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be Larry King's guest, top newsmakers of the day, of course only here on CNN.
U.S. forces in Iraq their mission already dangerous now reports that U.S. troops may be using tactics and taking risks that may backfire. We'll go live to Tikrit. That's just ahead.
Next door to Iraq some warnings today in Washington from one man who watches this area very closely.
And, Hurricane Isabel that's our top story, taking direct aim at the North Carolina coast right now. We'll go live to one beach area where some people are boarding up, others already heading out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Remember the case of John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban? Could U.S. troops in Iraq now be holding American prisoners?
The brigadier general in charge of coalition detention centers says six of the thousands of security detainees in Iraq claim to be Americans, while two others say they're British.
Investigators are trying to check those claims. The eight are suspected of taking part in attacks against coalition forces. For now, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has little to add.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The truth is that the folks that we've scooped up have on a number of occasions multiple identifications from different countries. They're quite skilled at confusing people as to what their real nationality is or where they came from or what they're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: U.S. forces in Iraq are on the offensive mounting daily raids and roundups as they try to quell the violent resistance to the occupation but will this aggressive campaign backfire?
CNN's Jason Bellini is embedded with U.S. forces in Tikrit. He's joining us now live via videophone -- Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via videophone): Hi there, Wolf. We have some raids to tell you about that happened last night in a neighborhood of Iraq called RPG alley, a bad neighborhood where the forces here take no chances when they go on these raids.
In these raids, they jumped over the fences. They banged down the doors. They go in with the M-16s pointed at whoever is there telling everyone to get down, get down. That's just a standard procedure that they are following here.
They say this is the way they've got to do it and they've been successful. Rarely, is there an exchange of gunfire when they use these tactics. Rarely do they run into any resistance from the individuals they're trying to get.
Now, they do receive some criticism from the Iraqis here in Tikrit for these methods because they're coming in the middle of the night. They're telling women and children, you know, the women and children are screaming. They're obviously upset by this and they're not always getting the people that they're after.
Sometimes they cast a wide net and in this raid overnight they only captured, they took into custody 12 people but only several of those were the ones that they were looking for, so a number of others had their night disrupted in a very violent way even though they really were not needed after, it turns out after they conducted the questioning with them -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Jason Bellini is in Tikrit for us, Jason thanks very much for that report.
The Atlantic coast prepares for an unwanted visitor. When will Hurricane Isabel come ashore?
Then, should you stay or should you go, moving out of harm's way, evacuations, what have we learned from past mistakes and there have been plenty of them?
And hunt for a killer have police found the man who assassinated the Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The unexpected unfolds in front of TV cameras. How a hostage situation took an explosive and deadly turn. That story coming up on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN.
Eye on the storm. Evacuations are ordered as Hurricane Isabel moves closer to landfall. We're tracking its path right now. We'll get to all of that.
First, the latest headlines.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: The latest now on a story we're keeping very, very close watch on, Hurricane Isabel. It's keeping up its slow march toward the East Coast of the United States. While it has weakened somewhat, the storm still poses a very serious threat.
Our meteorologist Rob Marciano is keeping track of Isabel at the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wolf, it has been downgraded, you're right. But it is still a big storm and that may be the determining factor, as we go on through time, the actual width of this thing.
Here it is on the satellite imagery. We'll zoom in and give you the latest coordinates. It has expanded in size as far as how far the hurricane force winds go out.
These are the latest stats -- Category 2, winds down to 105 miles an hour. And it's heading to the north, northwest at 8 miles an hour. It is 570 miles south, southeast of Cape Hatteras. And on that track -- well, we're looking at landfall likely sometime the middle of the day on Thursday. So that's something that folks along the Outer Banks are watching carefully.
This forecast, by the way, has not changed all that much over the past couple days. So there has been a quite of bit of warning with this particular thing.
Well, a couple things why this thing has weakened. There's some dry air coming in here. But as it heads off towards the north, right in through here, there's still some warm water, 80 degree plus. So concerns out of the National Hurricane Center is that it may very well strengthen maybe back to Category 3 status. But Category 2, believe me, is bad enough. And the folks along the Carolinas who lived through Floyd certainly know that.
So here's the expect track -- Thursday midday acorss the Carolina -- across North Carolina, in through Virginia, obviously decreasing in strength as it makes its way inland. But it will be windy for some time to come and then the rain will be heading up into Canada before too long.
So, here we go. Tropical storm watches out up to the Little River Inlet and then hurricane watches all the way up towards the coastline and the borders of Virginia. And now a tropical storm watch is up in through the middle part of New Jersey.
A few highlights for you, just to recap. Down to Category 2 status, 105 winds, Carolinas to Cape Cod, prepare for a strike. Landfall is likely Thursday.
Here's an interesting note, Wolf -- that if this thing deviates at all to the east, then folks along Long Island and Cape Cod are going to have to worry about this. Because the angle attack is such that if we have any margin for error, then we're going to have to deal with problems up the East Coast. We'll watch that, but the National Hurricane Center has been on this and they've been accurate all year long. So we believe in them. Back to you.
BLITZER: And it's interesting, Rob. All the rain could actually go all the up to Canada from this hurricane. Very significant.
MARCIANO: It's a big one.
BLITZER: Thanks very much. Rob Marciano, keeping track of this hurricane for us.
CNN's Jeff Flock, of course, as all of our viewers know, is a veteran of hurricane coverage. He's watching and waiting for the storm's approach. He's with us now from Indian Beach, North Carolina.
Jeff, it looks like it's getting a little bit windier from yesterday.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little breezy. Absolutely, Wolf. And you can see the breakers coming in.
You know, we've been following this with these folks from the Hurricane Intercept Research Team. They've been patrolling the beach out here, Mark Sudduth and company.
I know you've been looking at that 5:00 advisory too. Our weatherman just gave us sense of it, but your headline on that is intensification possible now. It's done weakening, yes?
MARK SUDDUTH, HURRICANE INTERCEPT RESEARCH TEAM: Yes. They said in the discussion that Isabel is done weakening for now. And they certainly forecast it to get up to near 110 miles an hour at landfall.
FLOCK: Now we showed our viewers yesterday on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS the gear that you've got on top of your vehicle.
Let's look inside and take a look at the latest radar picture. That's -- that -- you've got that on a -- via a wireless Internet connection, correct?
SUDDUTH: That's right. This is a -- we don't have radar yet. Sorry about the mic.
(CROSSTALK)
SUDDUTH: Yes, infrared satellite. And look at that central core getting a little bit better organized. That's a ball again. It's not all distorted. This doesn't mean dire straights for eastern North Carolina because it's not explosive deepening. But that does show that it's getting a little better organized. And like you mentioned, it's all because of that little PCS connection card that we can do this. It's great. It's great
FLOCK: A little plug for PCS.
And John Van Pelt, the other thing is that the forecast track has shifted a little bit now to the west and south, yes? JOHN VAN PELT, HURRICANE INTERCEPT RESEARCH TEAM: Yes, it has. And I live in Raleigh. So when you look at the track and it takes it possibly, then, 30 miles northeast of that part of North Carolina, it gets concerning for me to be down here when that's going to happen where I live.
FLOCK: Right. So we were planning to go out to the Outer Banks yesterday, Wolf, and we decided instead to come down here. This is just the other side of Moorehead City. Atlantic Beach is just up the beach from us here. And we think this is pretty much dead on right now. So we'll see. This time tomorrow should be very interesting -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very quickly, Jeff -- that vehicle that we just saw -- can that be in the middle of a hurricane and survive?
FLOCK: It's designed to do that. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) go ahead and give him one last look, if you would, at the vehicle. Indeed this is. That's a camera up on top. That is obviously, an anomometer up there. They -- that anomometer is rated to 225 miles an hour, although this vehicle is not rated to that.
But yes, it is designed for that. Like those vehicles you saw in that movie "Twister," for example, designed to go right into the storm.
BLITZER: CNN's Jeff Flock, our man on the scene as usual. Thanks, Jeff, very much for that report.
Let's head now a couple of hundred miles north, back to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Joining us now from there, Leon Faso. He owns a bed and breakfast in the area.
Mr. Faso, thanks very much for joining us. Are you staying? Are you going? What are you feeling right now?
LEON FASO, INNKEEPER: Well, right now, what we're waiting for is probably until tomorrow morning when we find out more information as to exactly where the hurricane is going to land so we know in which direction to go.
It seems like it's pretty widespread and, you know, we want to make sure we go in the right direction, if and when we leave.
BLITZER: How scared are you...
FASO: But that decision will be made tomorrow morning.
BLITZER: How scared are you and your family?
FASO: Well, we're not scared, so to speak. We're more concerned -- more concerned of property damage, because I think we'll make the right decision as when to leave. But it's -- you can never tell with the ocean being so close to where we're at. The storm surges, really, are more dangerous sometimes.
BLITZER: Now you may have no choice if they force you to evacuate. You're going to, obviously, have to leave.
FASO: Pardon me? I don't hear you on that one.
BLITZER: I said you may have no choice if they force you to evacuate the area. You're going to have to leave.
FASO: Oh, yes. Exactly. Yes. They gave us until noon tomorrow. And basically what it is is we'll make a decision by then. And we'll probably leave. And if not, I think, you know, we'll see what happens from there. But we probably will be leaving.
BLITZER: Mr. Faso, good luck to you and good luck to your family and your friends. We'll be checking back with you.
FASO: All right. Thanks a lot. Good to talk to you (ph).
BLITZER: Tens of millions of Americans live along the East Coast, and moving them out of harm's way when a hurricane threatens is, of course, no easy job.
Today as evacuations get under way, emergency officials are hoping they've learned from past mistakes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Saving lives at a snail's pace. Evacuating populated areas ahead of a hurricane. Sometimes essential, often problematic.
September 1999, residents of Northern Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina bracing for Hurricane Floyd. Officials in those states ordered coastal residents to evacuate. The result -- the largest mass movement of people in U.S. history for one event. More than 3 million people on the move, or not.
In Georgia and South Carolina, highways were gridlocked. Adding to the problem, the states admit, they did not coordinate well enough with each other to monitor who was driving where, a mistake they don't want to repeat.
With Hurricane Isabel approaching, plans are in place in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia to reverse lane traffic on some major interstates, essentially creating huge one-way thoroughfares. And emergency management planners in each state say they're doing a better job talking to each other.
Still, mass evacuation from an area with any significant population is a challenge.
MAYOR MEYERA OBERNDORI, VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA: If we should have to declare that it's a mandatory evacuation the plans are to have all of the lanes to go in one direction.
BLITZER: Officials are measuring the situation carefully. North Carolina emergency planners tell CNN three counties with residents on the Outer Banks either have or will order those residents to evacuate by tomorrow. That's about 75, 000 people.
There are four U.S. highways and one state highway connecting the Outer Banks to the mainland. But those cannot be converted into one- way roads because there are too many small side roads for police to control. There is one interstate in North Carolina which could be converted, but likely won't be because it's too far inland.
South Carolina and Virginia have plans in place to convert interstates to one-way. But as of now, they haven't decided whether to use that option.
The last thing state officials want now is widespread panic. But one other concern, that memories of pre-Hurricane Floyd parking lots might make some vulnerable residents reluctant to leave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: The most important thing for those of you who may be in the path of this hurricane, listen to local authorities. Do what they tell you to do. Get prepared, get ready.
CNN, of course, will have complete coverage of all of these developments over the coming hours and days.
Eye on Syria. Is that country pursuing a chemical and biological weapons program? We'll have details.
Then, a hostage situation comes to a fiery end. And it was seen live on television. We'll tell you how the events unfolded.
And oh, no, as in Yoko Ono. Why are these people cutting off her clothing?
First, the answer to our "News Quiz."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Earlier we asked, "What's the origin of the word 'hurricane'?" The answer: hurricane is derived from hurican, the name of the Carib god of evil. The Caribs are the native inhabitants of the Caribbean.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Could Syria be a future target in the U.S. war against terror? The Bush administration is keeping its options open.
The under secretary of state, John Bolton, told lawmakers today Damascus has taken a series of -- quote -- "hostile action" against coalition forces in Iraq. And that's just the top of a long list of complaints.
Here is CNN national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BOLTON, UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE: Syria remains a security concern of the United States.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush administration put out one of its most ardent conservative to catalogue the sins of Damascus.
BOLTON: Syria permitted volunteers to pass into Iraq to attack and kill our service members during the war and is still doing so.
ENSOR: Under Secretary Bolton said Syria's military has chemical weapons and a program to make more, as well as biological weapons and there's evidence it may seek nuclear weapons as well.
BOLTON: We are aware of Syrian efforts to acquire dual use technologies that could be applied to a nuclear weapons program.
ENSOR: In Damascus, Syria's foreign minister called the charges unjust and said -- quote -- "the demands of the U.S. are too many."
Secretary of State Colin Powell and the president are putting heavy pressure on Syria's young president, Bashar Assad to change his ways, John Bolton told the committee. Members who favor putting more sanctions on Syria were not satisfied.
REP. ELIOT ENGLE (D), INTL. RELATIONS CMTE.: Syria's record on terrorism, in my estimation, is worse than even Iraq's.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we talking about regime change in Syria?
BOLTON: Our preference is to solve these problems by peaceful and diplomatic means. But the president has also been very clear we're not taking any options off the table. Secretary Powell is conducting very intensive efforts on this front. It's a delicate moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Bolton said U.S. intelligence has been unable to confirm reports that Iraq might have transferred some of its weapons of mass destruction to Syria. Syrian officials are flatly denying that.
But as Congress debates possible sanctions legislation, administration officials are seeking to convince Damascus that just because the U.S. has its hands full in Iraq does not mean that Syria gets a pass -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Very interesting. Thanks very much, David Ensor, with the latest on that important story.
A horrifying scene in Japan. How did a workplace dispute lead to this? That story just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In Nagoya, Japan today, a man demanding back pay from an employer took a number of hostages and held off police for hours.
As our Tokyo bureau chief Rebecca MacKinnon reports, the ending was sudden, shocking, tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Dozens wounded, three dead, a policeman,a branch manager, and hostage taker who caused the exploding. Police say a 52-year-old man name Noboru Beppu, entered the fourth floor offices of a courier company around 10:00 a.m. Armed with a knife plus bow and arrows he held eight male employees hostage after allowing companies female staff to leave. During the three hours stand off with police, Beppu doused the office with a flammable liquid and threatened to set it on fire. His demand, back payment for contract work with the company, totaling a little over $2,000. Seven of the eight hostages were freed just moments before the office exploded in a ball of fire. The blaze took about two hours to extinguish. It was like a scene from the movies, said this bystander. Among the injured were police, firefighters, journalists and on lookers. The freed hostages were in shock. Police believe this was an isolated incident unrelated to terrorism or organized crime. Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
That's a shocking story.
BLITZER: Our hot web question of the day is this. Should the government be allowed to force people to evacuate ahead of hurricanes? You can still vote, cnn.com/wolf. The results for you when we come back.
First, these stories making headlines around the world.
Jungle kidnapping. Several western backpackers are safe after a terrifying encounter with rebels in the mountains of Colombia. That's not the case for eight of the colleagues who were kidnapped by members of the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia. The eight have not been heard from since they were seized Friday. A rescue effort involving thousands of troops is under way.
Nuclear weapons talks. Japan says senior Americans, South Korea and Japanese diplomats will hold talks on North Korea's weapons program. Two day meeting set to get under way in Tokyo on September 29, will be the first since six-week talks on the North's controversial nuclear ambitions were held in Beijing last month.
Beefing up South Korea. The Bush administration has deployed and upgraded a patriot anti-missile system in South Korea. According to a U.S. Army system, the advanced system includes hit to kill technology to destroy incoming ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
Oh, no. Not again. Yoko Ono has done it again, removing her clothes for a cause. This time, dozens of strangers cut her clothes off piece by piece as she sat on a stage in Paris. When finished, she was wearing nothing but her underwear. Yoko Ono asked the cutters to send the pieces of clothing to a person they love.
That's our look around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." Here's the question we've been asking you.
Should the government be allowed to force people to evacuate ahead of hurricanes? Look at this, 49 percent of you said, yes, 51 percent of you said, no.
As always, we remind you, this is not a scientific poll. You can find the exact vote tally and continue to vote on the Web site, cnn.com/wolf.
Let's get to some of our e-mails some viewers are sharing tips for preparing for Hurricane Isabel.
Pat, who works for FEMA writes this, "Have the folks on the entire east coast already forgotten what Hurricane Floyd did to the back in 99'? Isabel may have been downgraded, but there is always the chance that she'll be upgraded again. They need to board up and get their families well inland and do it now, before it's too late."
This from May, "People need to be reminded to take care of their pets as they prepare for the storm. Please remind people to contact the Humane Society to find out what to do."
And this reminder, you can always watch us on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS every weekday 5:00 p.m. Eastern. And I'm also here every weekday at noon Eastern. Thanks very much for joining us. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
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Governor of North Carolina; Shocking End to Hostage Standoff>
