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American Morning
Two Blasts Heard At School In Russia
Aired September 02, 2004 - 07:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Vice President Dick Cheney and Republicans going after John Kerry with a passion on the third night of their convention, but it's a fellow Democrat that goes for the jugular.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ZELL MILLER (D), GEORGIA: John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Now the final night of this convention is set, and the president is next.
In Eagle, Colorado, a stunning reversal, the judge dismisses all charges against Kobe Bryant. How the prosecution's case disintegrated ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING from the Republican National Convention in New York, here's Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: And good morning from Madison Square Garden. It is September 2nd. Today we are exactly two months away from Election Day. Good morning, thanks for being with us today.
On the floor behind me, the stage is now being transformed overnight, and now in the morning hours, to fit the president later this evening. That stage in the round will serve as the podium, the place for the president's speech in the middle of Madison Square Garden and in the middle of the delegates who are gathered here in New York.
Meanwhile, the president was spending part of last night with firefighters here in New York City. He has his work cut out for him tonight, telling Americans what they can expect from him if he is awarded four more years in office.
We'll have a look at that speech today. And, of course, we'll talk about last night. The vice president, Dick Cheney, the Democratic senator, Zell Miller, really unloading on the Democratic ticket -- what they had to say and the impact on the day after.
Also, White House communications director, Dan Bartlett, he has had a significant role in framing this president's speech later tonight. We'll talk to him about that. And also, a rare appearance on the Democratic ticket during a Republican convention. John Edwards is my guest, as well, this morning. We'll talk to him in Philadelphia.
Zell Miller had this place fired up last night. It is a packed three hours for us today.
Also today, Heidi Collins across town. Good morning, Heidi. How are you today?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm fine -- a little tired. I was there last night, Bill, and it was a late night, as you well know.
Gorgeous day out here, though, once again. It's a little chillier than yesterday, yet the temperature is warmer. Go figure.
Anyway, we do have a lot of other stories to cover as well. We are going to be talking mostly about the judge's decision to drop all of the charges in the Kobe Bryant case. We're going to talk about how the case fell apart with Jeff Toobin, also what happens now in the civil case.
Also, Hurricane Frances -- you see it here -- simply enormous. It's threatening the Bahamas right now. We're going to show you where it's headed after that.
But right now I'm going to go over to Jack Cafferty who's standing by at the CNN diner once again this morning. Hey, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How are you doing, Heidi? We're going to let the viewers weigh in with the "Question of the Day" on this Kobe Bryant deal -- and there's the diner, and there I am -- who wins, who loses in this Kobe Bryant thing.
The real reason to watch AMERICAN MORNING this morning is for "The File." The "Cafferty File" has obtained -- and actually this guy is due to report for work here at the diner a little bit later.
We have obtained videotape of the man who holds the world's record for being able to squirt milk out of his eyes. And we will show you that as a part of the "Cafferty File" a bit later. And he may be around serving some of the customers who show up here for breakfast -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Now, that's a serious talent. I look forward to that.
Jack, thanks a lot, we'll talk to you a little bit later on.
CAFFERTY: And we'll have more pictures of the outside of the building.
COLLINS: Oh, good. OK. Maybe it will look different...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: ... next time we check in. CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: OK.
CAFFERTY: Well, one only can hope.
COLLINS: OK. Thanks so much, Jack. We'll see you later on.
I want to check the stories now in the news this morning. The Russian school hostage standoff has now passed its 24th hour. These images just in to CNN.
Negotiators were reportedly in touch with the hostage-takers but have yet to reach a deal on getting food and water to the hundreds of people inside. A witness reported hearing sporadic gunfire from the school this morning.
President Vladimir Putin canceled an upcoming trip to Turkey to deal with the crisis.
French envoys are in Iraq today trying to meet with a group of threatening - threatening -- the lives of two journalists there. Islamic radicals believed to be holding the men are demanding France revoke a law banning Muslim head scarves in public schools. That controversial law went into affect today.
Half a million people in Florida are being told to leave their homes because of the threat from Hurricane Frances. The powerful storm is swirling in the Atlantic, possibly headed for Florida's coast and could hit as early as tomorrow night.
A state of emergency is already in effect. The state is still reeling from Hurricane Charley's devastation just three weeks ago.
And for more on Frances, we check with Chad Myers, who is at the CNN Center watching this thing once again.
Hard to track this one, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hard to get out of the way of the map behind me, Heidi. It is now getting so large, and it's actually becoming part of the problem itself. Once you get a storm that's this large it actually has its own momentum.
And this thing is now moving into the Bahamas, moved through the Turks and Caicos yesterday. Really the north side, the bad side of the eye did miss most of the islands, but they still had wind gusts over 100 miles per hour. In fact, the center of the storm now having winds at 145 miles per hour, moving through the Bahamas tonight, getting very close to Freeport, too close, actually. And they are on the bad side of the eye.
The forward motion and the spin are added together when you're on the right side of the eye. So anywhere north of here would have a, more of a higher impact than the south side, which would have a lesser impact. Don't focus, though, on the line because we talk about computer models all the time. Like making a model car, when you are five, sometimes the car looked like a car; sometimes it didn't.
Well, the models that try to model the atmosphere aren't having a very good time with it: some of them still turning this storm to South Carolina; others taking it right across where the hurricane center forecast is, right around all of the St. Lucie County area north of West Palm Beach. But it's still too far out there to make an exact landfall yet, still probably 30 or 35 hours away, Bill.
Back to you.
HEMMER: And it is a big storm, as you point out. Chad, thanks for that.
MYERS: It is.
HEMMER: We'll talk with you throughout the morning, and we'll get updates as we get them on Frances.
In the meantime, some highlights now from last night here at Madison Square Garden last night, the vice president, Dick Cheney, making his case for why he and his boss should be re-elected. Part of his argument what he calls Senator Kerry's back and forth on issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His back and forth reflects a habit of indecision and sends a message of confusion. And it's all part of a pattern. Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Convention members armed themselves with flip-flops at times to punctuate that point. And they chanted "four more years" consistently and while a woman protester was escorted from the floor during the vice president's address.
Earlier in the night, Democratic senator, Zell Miller, from Georgia gave the keynote address listing defense projects he says John Kerry has voted against.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER: Against, against, against!
This is -- this is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: We will talk much more about Zell Miller's address as we move throughout the morning. The Democratic National Committee, the DNC, releasing an immediate response last night throughout the course of the speeches last evening saying Miller's address "sounded like an angry, rabid elephant."
We'll get to that much more with John Edwards in a few moments here.
Meanwhile, accepting his party's nomination tonight will be another defining moment for the president. One man who has a direct involvement in the framing of his speech, how it is given, the words that are written is the White House communications director, Dan Bartlett.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: What's the focus for the president's speech tonight?
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Tonight President Bush has an opportunity to speak directly to the American people about how he's going make our country safer and better.
And he's going to talk about the next four years: what he's going to do as a president to help us improve on the economy, to turn this economic recovery into a lasting prosperity; what we need to do to continue to reform our high schools to make sure every high school diploma means something in America.
He's going to talk about our national security issues -- the big issue of the day -- that we are a country of war and what we need to do and what we have already done is going to help make our country safer in the world.
HEMMER: There is criticism that there has not been much of an agenda for the next four years if you are successful in this time. How much? Is there a percentage breakdown of the speech tonight that will go to the domestic side in this speech?
BARTLETT: Oh, I think for the people tuning in tonight, you'll see a president who's talking very much about the future. It's going to be about -- half the speech will be dedicated to domestic policy, another half to national security policy, which I think is about accurate in people's minds.
They want to know what the president wants to do for the economy, what he wants to do about health care, what he wants to do about education. He's going to speak to all those issues tonight.
HEMMER: What will he say the, specifically, to those people who have concerns about what's happening in Iraq today?
BARTLETT: Oh, he's going to speak directly to the American people, as well as to our military and our soldiers who are doing and making the sacrifice to make our country safe.
What he's going to talk about is an historic opportunity we have. We live in an incredible time right now in which we can take, make the difficult decisions to bring a lasting peace for our children and grandchildren. So, he's going to talk specifically about that, the difficult choices we made and how it's making our country safer and how we need to continue on this path if we're going to win the war on terror.
HEMMER: You mentioned history there. We have heard that consistently over the first three days here in New York. If John Kerry wins this election, what are you suggesting, then, the course of history goes under a Kerry administration?
BARTLETT: Well, at any time when there's a presidential contest, there's a choice. And you have a choice by -- to look at is -- are, who's best to be commander in chief; who's best to be president in a time of war.
President Bush has demonstrated that, demonstrated, that he has the fortitude, that he has the strategy to win the war on terror. And we believe there's a stark contrast there, that on too many occasions Senator Kerry's record and his statements of precedent have demonstrated that he would not conduct this war in a way that would make us as safe as President Bush would.
HEMMER: There was a memo fired off during the speeches last night. One came from Senator Edwards. He said there was a lot of hate coming from the podium tonight, meaning here with Zell Miller and Dick Cheney. Your reaction?
BARTLETT: Well, it's kind of interesting because it was one of his colleagues. Democrat, Senator Zell Miller, who was talking about his own party. He's very frustrated with his own party, and he was proud to stand up there last night and talk about his leader -- the leadership of President Bush.
And I think that would be frustrating for Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards that one of their own colleagues in the United States Senate, a Democrat, who spoke from the podium in 1992 at the convention of Bill Clinton, who is now speaking on behalf of George W. Bush. So, I can understand why they're frustrated.
HEMMER: In 24 hours, we're not going to be talking about the president's speech. We will in part.
BARTLETT: Hopefully.
HEMMER: But we will also be talking about the jobs number for August.
BARTLETT: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Some analysts are already saying it's not going to be as good as people would like and, perhaps, that you would like either. What do you say about that? If tomorrow we're reflecting on numbers that are not as positive as the White House would like?
BARTLETT: Well, Bill, President Bush is going to talk about the economic challenges we face as a country. If you think about it, when he came into office, we had a recession that he inherited, the 9/11 attacks.
Ninety days after 9/11, America lost one million jobs alone. We took aggressive action to get this economy going again. In just the last 13 months or so we've had 1.5 million jobs created. We're headed on the right path.
If you talk to Alan Greenspan or any of the economists across the country, they're saying the fundamentals are strong. We've got 5.5 percent unemployment. President Bush is not satisfied with that. But if you think about where we came from, we are headed in the right direction.
And the critical aspect of this debate is that there is a choice. And Senator Kerry, at this crucial time in our economy, is running on raising taxes; and we believe that's the exact wrong thing to do for our economy at this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Dan Bartlett a few minutes ago, White House communications director. He also explained to us the thinking and the rationale behind the transformation of the floor here at Madison Square Garden behind me.
If you hear the saws at home, it is no small matter. The construction project under way, as we speak, on the floor that will essentially put the president in his primetime address tonight right smack dab in middle of all the delegates here at Madison Square Garden.
We will watch that transformation as we go throughout the hour. They are making progress, and we'll note it throughout the morning here.
Our coverage later tonight, 7:00 Eastern, begins here on CNN. The president, again, starts at 10:00 Eastern time -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Bill, thanks.
Case dismissed. Colorado prosecutors have dropped the rape charge against Kobe Bryant after his accuser told them she would not testify.
Senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, is here now to talk about this stunning development, to say the least. Your reaction when you first heard the news?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, I thought this case was going to be dismissed two weeks ago when all the bad news starting cascading down on the prosecutors.
Once they started jury selection, I thought they'd actually go forward with the trial. So it was a surprise that it came now, but the fact that the case failed was not a big surprise.
COLLINS: Should it ever have been brought to trial anyway? TOOBIN: I think the answer to that, quite simply, is no, that this case was a failure.
The reason this case was dismissed yesterday was that if this witness, the accuser, took the witness stand, she was going to be embarrassed because her story was going to be exposed as having so many problems, and prosecutors were going to be embarrassed because they were going to lose.
Quite simply, this case was dismissed because Kobe Bryant was going to be acquitted.
COLLINS: I want to go ahead and look for a minute at something that he said, a statement that he released to the press. This is what it reads.
"I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year.
Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did."
Why apologize for your behavior?
TOOBIN: Well, I think, frankly, it's a classy and appropriate gesture that he made.
COLLINS: Classy but inappropriate?
TOOBIN: And appropriate, not inappropriate because -- look. Obviously, this woman was very scarred by this incident, but it is clear now that a crime did not take place.
And I think what was going on there, as well, is that he was setting the stage, he and his lawyers, to settle the civil case, this civil case is still pending, but it's in everybody's interest not to have it proceed to trial.
This woman has a big problem with her story. It is not one that apparently could hold up in court. He doesn't want to have this rehashed in court. A settlement will serve all their interests.
COLLINS: Yes, in fact, we've heard Pamela Mackey coming out afterwards, still maintaining Kobe Bryant's innocence. And as we look at him and this civil case, you know, how much of this stuff will actually be used, like this apology?
TOOBIN: It could be used. But I just think the odds are so overwhelmingly likely for a settlement.
I mean this is a guy who just signed a $120 million contract. He has loads and loads of money. To give her $1 million, $2 million to make this go away is probably a very good investment of his money.
COLLINS: Jeffrey Toobin, we will talk again at the 9:00 hour. We appreciate your insight very much. Big deal there.
TOOBIN: Big day.
COLLINS: All right, thanks so much.
Bill, back over to Madison Square Garden.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that.
The Democratic response in a moment -- John Edwards, vice presidential candidate and senator, what does he say about the man he's trying to replace? We'll talk to Senator Edwards live in a moment here.
Also, the president spending time with firefighters last night in New York, tonight he's back on center stage. What will it take to make that speech a success? Carlos Watson has some thoughts on that.
And where does al Qaeda get its money? A new report challenging long-held beliefs ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Ellis Island, Lower Manhattan on a beautiful day yet again here in New York City.
Welcome back, everyone. Day four, the final day, now, for Republicans here at Madison Square Garden.
As for the Democrats, John Kerry's and his running mate, John Edwards, the targets of attacks throughout the week here. For reaction and response, though, Senator John Edwards, my guest now live in Philadelphia.
And welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING. Senator, good morning to you.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS(D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning to you.
HEMMER: You released a statement last night. Quoting from that statement, "There was a lot of hate coming from the podium last night."
What did you mean by that, the word hate?
EDWARDS: Well, hate, anger, if you listen to Senator Miller's speech and the vice president's speech, you know, there was an awful lot of focus and angry rhetoric about Senator Kerry.
It would be nice for them to have a little more anger about, you know, the five million people who have lost their health care coverage while President Bush has been in office, four million people who have fallen into poverty and almost two million who lost their private sector jobs, and a typical family's income's down $1,500. And I think what is the contrast between what we saw last night and between what John Kerry and I did at our convention couldn't be more dramatic. I mean, we have a hopeful, optimistic vision and a plan to put that vision into place.
We are -- the truth is, if you had left to go get a diet coke during the vice president's speech, you would have missed everything he said about the economy and jobs, what he's going to do about health care.
HEMMER: What did you think of your Democratic colleague Zell Miller?
EDWARDS: I thought -- I thought it was sad, honestly. You know, if Zell had spent his time talking about what George Bush is going to do, what he has done because, of course, performance matters -- and he actually has a record -- or spent him time talking about what the vice president was going to do; but instead, it was just this angry, angry rhetoric about Senator Kerry.
I just think the American people deserve better than this. I mean, we offered that at our convention. We'll continue to offer it. We're going to talk about the problems people face if their lives. We have a plan to fight for and create jobs. We have a plan, which they don't, to address the health care crisis in this country. We actually have a plan for Iraq. I mean, Iraq's a mess. And we lost, as you well know, we lost more troops in August than we did in July, more in July than we did in June.
And I think people want to know what we're going to do when we go into office, and we want to make sure they know that.
HEMMER: You say Iraq is a mess. Do you believe the U.S. is winning the war on terror at this point?
EDWARDS: I think we've made some progress, and I think there's a lot left to be done, and that includes in Iraq. I mean, for example, just an example, last night the vice president made this broad statement about progress that had been made about the threat from Iran, just completely ignoring that on the same day the Iranians announced that they were moving forward with their nuclear weapons development program.
The record is just startling. I mean, both in Iran and in North Korea they've moved forward significantly, on this president's watch, to create a greater threat for America and for the rest of the world.
And everybody -- the American people don't need me to tell them what a mess Iraq is right now. And we have a plan to deal with that. And that's without talking about, you know, the millions of folks who are struggling to pay their bills here, whose health insurance premiums are up $2,700.
You know, none of us, John and I don't claim we're going to fix this overnight. You know, we've got a lot of issues and a lot of challenges this country faces, but we believe with hard work we can do better than we're doing today and can make real progress.
HEMMER: Let me move to another area, if I could quickly. This interview is really the exception rather than the rule when the opposing party is having a convention. We went back and did the research.
The vice president, the president did no national interviews during the Democrats' rally at their convention a month ago in Boston. Back in 2000, also we found Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney, George Bush, at the time, all of them laid low during the other party's convention.
Why do you feel it necessary to do this interview today as opposed to waiting until later tonight or even tomorrow, on Friday?
EDWARDS: Oh, very simple, the same reason that I've campaigned during this convention and consistently campaigned, as has John Kerry, since he won this nomination.
We want the American people to know what it is we're going to do: what our vision for this country is, what we're going to do, for example, about the jobs crisis and the health care crisis that exists in this country. And the only way for them to know that is for us to go out there and work hard, you know, 16-17 hours a day, and campaign.
And the other thing, actually more important, is we want to demonstrate to them what we're doing to do when we're in office because the truth is, when John Kerry's president and I'm vice president, we're going to work as hard as we are humanly capable of working to make this situation better, both here and abroad, so that America's respected again abroad, and that we create a stronger America here at home.
HEMMER: If I could here, I only have about 10 seconds left, and I apologize. We're short on time here, but back to my original question.
EDWARDS: No problem.
HEMMER: Republicans would suggest the presence is a sign of desperation. How would you react to that?
EDWARDS: Well this is -- we had planned long ago to campaign straight through the Republican convention. We will campaign right up until Election Day.
We want the American people to know what we're going to do for them, which is what we did at our convention. It's what we're going to do straight up through Election Day because there's a clear choice here: a plan to create a hopeful, optimistic country.
That's what where I think most of America is -- not the anger that we saw last night.
HEMMER: Senator John Edwards, my guest, live in Philadelphia this morning, a midnight rally later tonight coming on the conclusion of the Republican convention here in New York.
Senator, thank you, and we'll talk again.
EDWARDS: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Two months away from the day, right now, September 2nd, for election 2004.
Back to Heidi across town -- breaking news. Heidi, good morning, again.
COLLINS: Good morning. Yes, that's right.
Out of Russia this morning, explosions coming now from that school where the hostage crisis is taking place. We're going to have the very latest for you here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Breaking news now. We want to update you on in Southern Russia. I want to take you back to Beslan. The situation at the school is definitely escalating.
We're hearing word about explosions that have taken place inside that school. We've been talking about it now. This is the second day where there are hundreds of people inside.
Don't yet have that determination on exactly how many people, but we do know it began yesterday on the very first day of school where hundreds of little children -- you see one of them there being taken out with their parents -- are possibly inside there.
We are not sure exactly what those explosions consisted of or where, obviously, but once again this has taken place at that school in Beslan. And we are going to have the very latest as soon as possible. One of our correspondents is on his way to that scene right now.
In fact, President Vladimir Putin canceled a trip to Turkey in order to deal with this crisis. He says he is going to get right on it, obviously.
We know that we are looking at some of the smoke there now, when you see these live pictures coming in, once again, from Beslan, Russia, Southern Russia. You can see certainly something has happened. Of course, don't have full detail on it yet.
The standoff has been going on for two days now. This is actually the third attack over the past couple of days or so. The situation is escalating there, no question about it. We are going to keep our eye right on this for you.
Again, two blasts heard at that school in Russia. We are trying to get a live correspondent there for you. Ryan Chilcote, on his way to the scene to get you the very latest. Also, we do have a "Time" magazine reporter, Paul Quinn-Judge standing by to try to give us a little bit of insight here as to what's going on.
Paul, can you hear me all right?
PAUL QUINN-JUDGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE REPORTER: Yes, I can.
COLLINS: Tell us what you know and tell us what your reaction is to what's going on here at the school?
QUINN-JUDGE: All right. What we know at the moment is the confrontation is continuing. Neither side is showing any sign, at this point, of any compromise.
As far as we know, as well, the guerrillas have not had any substantive negotiations with the government side since the early hours of this morning when they, we are told, turned off their cell phones and have not turned them on since.
There's been sporadic shooting in the course of the day. It rises and falls in its intensity. It seems to come mostly from the guerrillas, when they're trying to move people back if they think soldiers are moving closer, if they generally get nervous. As far as we know and as far as we can see, the government's side has not been firing on the school.
Just now there were a couple of explosions. They were loud, and they were dramatic in that there were two columns of smoke that followed the explosions. However, the smoke has dissipated.
Nothing else has happened since. And the smoke could have been caused by relatively small weaponry. Therefore, I don't think we should jump to conclusions that a storm is taking place or even a major battle is taking place.
I think -- until we have further information, we should assume that the guerrillas are keeping up their military and also their psychological pressure on the government of north Ossetia and also by implication of the Kremlin.
COLLINS: Paul, you know, we had heard yesterday a little bit about a group of children that were able to get out of that school. What do you know about that?
QUINN-JUDGE: What we know -- what I know from people who seem pretty reliable -- I stress that because information here is really, really unreliable at this point -- that perhaps a dozen or 15 kids were able to hide in a small outbuilding of the school, some sort of heating plant. I'm saying some sort, because I haven't seen the layout of the school. They were able to hide there. And a teacher probably helped get them out after the other kids were taken into the school.
We haven't been able to find the kids yet who left, because a number of them at least have left the town and have gone to the countryside to stay with relatives, naturally, to try to get over what they've suffered in the last day or so.
COLLINS: Paul, obviously, you're the first one we've been able to talk to since being there and getting access to this area. We're looking behind some of the pictures there, very upsetting, of course.
QUINN-JUDGE: We understand there are also hundreds of people gathered outside of the school, I'm assuming relatives and obviously other concerned citizens. Have you had a chance to speak with any of them?
People are gathered in knots throughout the city. The school is located on a fairly large street. I can't call it a prospect. It's very broad. People are gathering as close as they can to the school, which is maybe 100 meters, no closer.
Throughout the city people are gathering. The city is paralyzed with distress. It's a small city. Most people know somebody who is in the school -- a child, a teacher, a parent, some other relatives. It's an absolute nightmare.
And they're aware that these people, their family members and their friends and their loved ones, are in the hands of people who are absolutely and totally determined to take their fight with the Kremlin to the bitter end; that is for the guerrillas' death. And the fear is that other people will suffer with them.
So people are horrified, as I think I would be if I was in this situation, if this happened to any member of my family.
On the whole, the place is quiet. The area where I'm speaking to you from is loud. Simply, there are lots of people around. Mostly it's very quiet, eerily quiet most of the time.
COLLINS: Paul Quinn-Judge, we certainly appreciate your time this morning. We're going to keep checking back in with you.
Once again, at this time, we know four people have been killed and nine wounded in this situation in Beslan, Russia. We're hearing about explosions there. We're going to keep checking on this story, of course. And we'll keep you up-to-date.
And we're going to send it back over to Bill now in Madison Square Garden.
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Aired September 2, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Vice President Dick Cheney and Republicans going after John Kerry with a passion on the third night of their convention, but it's a fellow Democrat that goes for the jugular.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ZELL MILLER (D), GEORGIA: John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Now the final night of this convention is set, and the president is next.
In Eagle, Colorado, a stunning reversal, the judge dismisses all charges against Kobe Bryant. How the prosecution's case disintegrated ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING from the Republican National Convention in New York, here's Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: And good morning from Madison Square Garden. It is September 2nd. Today we are exactly two months away from Election Day. Good morning, thanks for being with us today.
On the floor behind me, the stage is now being transformed overnight, and now in the morning hours, to fit the president later this evening. That stage in the round will serve as the podium, the place for the president's speech in the middle of Madison Square Garden and in the middle of the delegates who are gathered here in New York.
Meanwhile, the president was spending part of last night with firefighters here in New York City. He has his work cut out for him tonight, telling Americans what they can expect from him if he is awarded four more years in office.
We'll have a look at that speech today. And, of course, we'll talk about last night. The vice president, Dick Cheney, the Democratic senator, Zell Miller, really unloading on the Democratic ticket -- what they had to say and the impact on the day after.
Also, White House communications director, Dan Bartlett, he has had a significant role in framing this president's speech later tonight. We'll talk to him about that. And also, a rare appearance on the Democratic ticket during a Republican convention. John Edwards is my guest, as well, this morning. We'll talk to him in Philadelphia.
Zell Miller had this place fired up last night. It is a packed three hours for us today.
Also today, Heidi Collins across town. Good morning, Heidi. How are you today?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm fine -- a little tired. I was there last night, Bill, and it was a late night, as you well know.
Gorgeous day out here, though, once again. It's a little chillier than yesterday, yet the temperature is warmer. Go figure.
Anyway, we do have a lot of other stories to cover as well. We are going to be talking mostly about the judge's decision to drop all of the charges in the Kobe Bryant case. We're going to talk about how the case fell apart with Jeff Toobin, also what happens now in the civil case.
Also, Hurricane Frances -- you see it here -- simply enormous. It's threatening the Bahamas right now. We're going to show you where it's headed after that.
But right now I'm going to go over to Jack Cafferty who's standing by at the CNN diner once again this morning. Hey, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How are you doing, Heidi? We're going to let the viewers weigh in with the "Question of the Day" on this Kobe Bryant deal -- and there's the diner, and there I am -- who wins, who loses in this Kobe Bryant thing.
The real reason to watch AMERICAN MORNING this morning is for "The File." The "Cafferty File" has obtained -- and actually this guy is due to report for work here at the diner a little bit later.
We have obtained videotape of the man who holds the world's record for being able to squirt milk out of his eyes. And we will show you that as a part of the "Cafferty File" a bit later. And he may be around serving some of the customers who show up here for breakfast -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Now, that's a serious talent. I look forward to that.
Jack, thanks a lot, we'll talk to you a little bit later on.
CAFFERTY: And we'll have more pictures of the outside of the building.
COLLINS: Oh, good. OK. Maybe it will look different...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: ... next time we check in. CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: OK.
CAFFERTY: Well, one only can hope.
COLLINS: OK. Thanks so much, Jack. We'll see you later on.
I want to check the stories now in the news this morning. The Russian school hostage standoff has now passed its 24th hour. These images just in to CNN.
Negotiators were reportedly in touch with the hostage-takers but have yet to reach a deal on getting food and water to the hundreds of people inside. A witness reported hearing sporadic gunfire from the school this morning.
President Vladimir Putin canceled an upcoming trip to Turkey to deal with the crisis.
French envoys are in Iraq today trying to meet with a group of threatening - threatening -- the lives of two journalists there. Islamic radicals believed to be holding the men are demanding France revoke a law banning Muslim head scarves in public schools. That controversial law went into affect today.
Half a million people in Florida are being told to leave their homes because of the threat from Hurricane Frances. The powerful storm is swirling in the Atlantic, possibly headed for Florida's coast and could hit as early as tomorrow night.
A state of emergency is already in effect. The state is still reeling from Hurricane Charley's devastation just three weeks ago.
And for more on Frances, we check with Chad Myers, who is at the CNN Center watching this thing once again.
Hard to track this one, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hard to get out of the way of the map behind me, Heidi. It is now getting so large, and it's actually becoming part of the problem itself. Once you get a storm that's this large it actually has its own momentum.
And this thing is now moving into the Bahamas, moved through the Turks and Caicos yesterday. Really the north side, the bad side of the eye did miss most of the islands, but they still had wind gusts over 100 miles per hour. In fact, the center of the storm now having winds at 145 miles per hour, moving through the Bahamas tonight, getting very close to Freeport, too close, actually. And they are on the bad side of the eye.
The forward motion and the spin are added together when you're on the right side of the eye. So anywhere north of here would have a, more of a higher impact than the south side, which would have a lesser impact. Don't focus, though, on the line because we talk about computer models all the time. Like making a model car, when you are five, sometimes the car looked like a car; sometimes it didn't.
Well, the models that try to model the atmosphere aren't having a very good time with it: some of them still turning this storm to South Carolina; others taking it right across where the hurricane center forecast is, right around all of the St. Lucie County area north of West Palm Beach. But it's still too far out there to make an exact landfall yet, still probably 30 or 35 hours away, Bill.
Back to you.
HEMMER: And it is a big storm, as you point out. Chad, thanks for that.
MYERS: It is.
HEMMER: We'll talk with you throughout the morning, and we'll get updates as we get them on Frances.
In the meantime, some highlights now from last night here at Madison Square Garden last night, the vice president, Dick Cheney, making his case for why he and his boss should be re-elected. Part of his argument what he calls Senator Kerry's back and forth on issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His back and forth reflects a habit of indecision and sends a message of confusion. And it's all part of a pattern. Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Convention members armed themselves with flip-flops at times to punctuate that point. And they chanted "four more years" consistently and while a woman protester was escorted from the floor during the vice president's address.
Earlier in the night, Democratic senator, Zell Miller, from Georgia gave the keynote address listing defense projects he says John Kerry has voted against.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER: Against, against, against!
This is -- this is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: We will talk much more about Zell Miller's address as we move throughout the morning. The Democratic National Committee, the DNC, releasing an immediate response last night throughout the course of the speeches last evening saying Miller's address "sounded like an angry, rabid elephant."
We'll get to that much more with John Edwards in a few moments here.
Meanwhile, accepting his party's nomination tonight will be another defining moment for the president. One man who has a direct involvement in the framing of his speech, how it is given, the words that are written is the White House communications director, Dan Bartlett.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: What's the focus for the president's speech tonight?
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Tonight President Bush has an opportunity to speak directly to the American people about how he's going make our country safer and better.
And he's going to talk about the next four years: what he's going to do as a president to help us improve on the economy, to turn this economic recovery into a lasting prosperity; what we need to do to continue to reform our high schools to make sure every high school diploma means something in America.
He's going to talk about our national security issues -- the big issue of the day -- that we are a country of war and what we need to do and what we have already done is going to help make our country safer in the world.
HEMMER: There is criticism that there has not been much of an agenda for the next four years if you are successful in this time. How much? Is there a percentage breakdown of the speech tonight that will go to the domestic side in this speech?
BARTLETT: Oh, I think for the people tuning in tonight, you'll see a president who's talking very much about the future. It's going to be about -- half the speech will be dedicated to domestic policy, another half to national security policy, which I think is about accurate in people's minds.
They want to know what the president wants to do for the economy, what he wants to do about health care, what he wants to do about education. He's going to speak to all those issues tonight.
HEMMER: What will he say the, specifically, to those people who have concerns about what's happening in Iraq today?
BARTLETT: Oh, he's going to speak directly to the American people, as well as to our military and our soldiers who are doing and making the sacrifice to make our country safe.
What he's going to talk about is an historic opportunity we have. We live in an incredible time right now in which we can take, make the difficult decisions to bring a lasting peace for our children and grandchildren. So, he's going to talk specifically about that, the difficult choices we made and how it's making our country safer and how we need to continue on this path if we're going to win the war on terror.
HEMMER: You mentioned history there. We have heard that consistently over the first three days here in New York. If John Kerry wins this election, what are you suggesting, then, the course of history goes under a Kerry administration?
BARTLETT: Well, at any time when there's a presidential contest, there's a choice. And you have a choice by -- to look at is -- are, who's best to be commander in chief; who's best to be president in a time of war.
President Bush has demonstrated that, demonstrated, that he has the fortitude, that he has the strategy to win the war on terror. And we believe there's a stark contrast there, that on too many occasions Senator Kerry's record and his statements of precedent have demonstrated that he would not conduct this war in a way that would make us as safe as President Bush would.
HEMMER: There was a memo fired off during the speeches last night. One came from Senator Edwards. He said there was a lot of hate coming from the podium tonight, meaning here with Zell Miller and Dick Cheney. Your reaction?
BARTLETT: Well, it's kind of interesting because it was one of his colleagues. Democrat, Senator Zell Miller, who was talking about his own party. He's very frustrated with his own party, and he was proud to stand up there last night and talk about his leader -- the leadership of President Bush.
And I think that would be frustrating for Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards that one of their own colleagues in the United States Senate, a Democrat, who spoke from the podium in 1992 at the convention of Bill Clinton, who is now speaking on behalf of George W. Bush. So, I can understand why they're frustrated.
HEMMER: In 24 hours, we're not going to be talking about the president's speech. We will in part.
BARTLETT: Hopefully.
HEMMER: But we will also be talking about the jobs number for August.
BARTLETT: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Some analysts are already saying it's not going to be as good as people would like and, perhaps, that you would like either. What do you say about that? If tomorrow we're reflecting on numbers that are not as positive as the White House would like?
BARTLETT: Well, Bill, President Bush is going to talk about the economic challenges we face as a country. If you think about it, when he came into office, we had a recession that he inherited, the 9/11 attacks.
Ninety days after 9/11, America lost one million jobs alone. We took aggressive action to get this economy going again. In just the last 13 months or so we've had 1.5 million jobs created. We're headed on the right path.
If you talk to Alan Greenspan or any of the economists across the country, they're saying the fundamentals are strong. We've got 5.5 percent unemployment. President Bush is not satisfied with that. But if you think about where we came from, we are headed in the right direction.
And the critical aspect of this debate is that there is a choice. And Senator Kerry, at this crucial time in our economy, is running on raising taxes; and we believe that's the exact wrong thing to do for our economy at this time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Dan Bartlett a few minutes ago, White House communications director. He also explained to us the thinking and the rationale behind the transformation of the floor here at Madison Square Garden behind me.
If you hear the saws at home, it is no small matter. The construction project under way, as we speak, on the floor that will essentially put the president in his primetime address tonight right smack dab in middle of all the delegates here at Madison Square Garden.
We will watch that transformation as we go throughout the hour. They are making progress, and we'll note it throughout the morning here.
Our coverage later tonight, 7:00 Eastern, begins here on CNN. The president, again, starts at 10:00 Eastern time -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Bill, thanks.
Case dismissed. Colorado prosecutors have dropped the rape charge against Kobe Bryant after his accuser told them she would not testify.
Senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, is here now to talk about this stunning development, to say the least. Your reaction when you first heard the news?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, I thought this case was going to be dismissed two weeks ago when all the bad news starting cascading down on the prosecutors.
Once they started jury selection, I thought they'd actually go forward with the trial. So it was a surprise that it came now, but the fact that the case failed was not a big surprise.
COLLINS: Should it ever have been brought to trial anyway? TOOBIN: I think the answer to that, quite simply, is no, that this case was a failure.
The reason this case was dismissed yesterday was that if this witness, the accuser, took the witness stand, she was going to be embarrassed because her story was going to be exposed as having so many problems, and prosecutors were going to be embarrassed because they were going to lose.
Quite simply, this case was dismissed because Kobe Bryant was going to be acquitted.
COLLINS: I want to go ahead and look for a minute at something that he said, a statement that he released to the press. This is what it reads.
"I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year.
Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did."
Why apologize for your behavior?
TOOBIN: Well, I think, frankly, it's a classy and appropriate gesture that he made.
COLLINS: Classy but inappropriate?
TOOBIN: And appropriate, not inappropriate because -- look. Obviously, this woman was very scarred by this incident, but it is clear now that a crime did not take place.
And I think what was going on there, as well, is that he was setting the stage, he and his lawyers, to settle the civil case, this civil case is still pending, but it's in everybody's interest not to have it proceed to trial.
This woman has a big problem with her story. It is not one that apparently could hold up in court. He doesn't want to have this rehashed in court. A settlement will serve all their interests.
COLLINS: Yes, in fact, we've heard Pamela Mackey coming out afterwards, still maintaining Kobe Bryant's innocence. And as we look at him and this civil case, you know, how much of this stuff will actually be used, like this apology?
TOOBIN: It could be used. But I just think the odds are so overwhelmingly likely for a settlement.
I mean this is a guy who just signed a $120 million contract. He has loads and loads of money. To give her $1 million, $2 million to make this go away is probably a very good investment of his money.
COLLINS: Jeffrey Toobin, we will talk again at the 9:00 hour. We appreciate your insight very much. Big deal there.
TOOBIN: Big day.
COLLINS: All right, thanks so much.
Bill, back over to Madison Square Garden.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that.
The Democratic response in a moment -- John Edwards, vice presidential candidate and senator, what does he say about the man he's trying to replace? We'll talk to Senator Edwards live in a moment here.
Also, the president spending time with firefighters last night in New York, tonight he's back on center stage. What will it take to make that speech a success? Carlos Watson has some thoughts on that.
And where does al Qaeda get its money? A new report challenging long-held beliefs ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Ellis Island, Lower Manhattan on a beautiful day yet again here in New York City.
Welcome back, everyone. Day four, the final day, now, for Republicans here at Madison Square Garden.
As for the Democrats, John Kerry's and his running mate, John Edwards, the targets of attacks throughout the week here. For reaction and response, though, Senator John Edwards, my guest now live in Philadelphia.
And welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING. Senator, good morning to you.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS(D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning to you.
HEMMER: You released a statement last night. Quoting from that statement, "There was a lot of hate coming from the podium last night."
What did you mean by that, the word hate?
EDWARDS: Well, hate, anger, if you listen to Senator Miller's speech and the vice president's speech, you know, there was an awful lot of focus and angry rhetoric about Senator Kerry.
It would be nice for them to have a little more anger about, you know, the five million people who have lost their health care coverage while President Bush has been in office, four million people who have fallen into poverty and almost two million who lost their private sector jobs, and a typical family's income's down $1,500. And I think what is the contrast between what we saw last night and between what John Kerry and I did at our convention couldn't be more dramatic. I mean, we have a hopeful, optimistic vision and a plan to put that vision into place.
We are -- the truth is, if you had left to go get a diet coke during the vice president's speech, you would have missed everything he said about the economy and jobs, what he's going to do about health care.
HEMMER: What did you think of your Democratic colleague Zell Miller?
EDWARDS: I thought -- I thought it was sad, honestly. You know, if Zell had spent his time talking about what George Bush is going to do, what he has done because, of course, performance matters -- and he actually has a record -- or spent him time talking about what the vice president was going to do; but instead, it was just this angry, angry rhetoric about Senator Kerry.
I just think the American people deserve better than this. I mean, we offered that at our convention. We'll continue to offer it. We're going to talk about the problems people face if their lives. We have a plan to fight for and create jobs. We have a plan, which they don't, to address the health care crisis in this country. We actually have a plan for Iraq. I mean, Iraq's a mess. And we lost, as you well know, we lost more troops in August than we did in July, more in July than we did in June.
And I think people want to know what we're going to do when we go into office, and we want to make sure they know that.
HEMMER: You say Iraq is a mess. Do you believe the U.S. is winning the war on terror at this point?
EDWARDS: I think we've made some progress, and I think there's a lot left to be done, and that includes in Iraq. I mean, for example, just an example, last night the vice president made this broad statement about progress that had been made about the threat from Iran, just completely ignoring that on the same day the Iranians announced that they were moving forward with their nuclear weapons development program.
The record is just startling. I mean, both in Iran and in North Korea they've moved forward significantly, on this president's watch, to create a greater threat for America and for the rest of the world.
And everybody -- the American people don't need me to tell them what a mess Iraq is right now. And we have a plan to deal with that. And that's without talking about, you know, the millions of folks who are struggling to pay their bills here, whose health insurance premiums are up $2,700.
You know, none of us, John and I don't claim we're going to fix this overnight. You know, we've got a lot of issues and a lot of challenges this country faces, but we believe with hard work we can do better than we're doing today and can make real progress.
HEMMER: Let me move to another area, if I could quickly. This interview is really the exception rather than the rule when the opposing party is having a convention. We went back and did the research.
The vice president, the president did no national interviews during the Democrats' rally at their convention a month ago in Boston. Back in 2000, also we found Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Dick Cheney, George Bush, at the time, all of them laid low during the other party's convention.
Why do you feel it necessary to do this interview today as opposed to waiting until later tonight or even tomorrow, on Friday?
EDWARDS: Oh, very simple, the same reason that I've campaigned during this convention and consistently campaigned, as has John Kerry, since he won this nomination.
We want the American people to know what it is we're going to do: what our vision for this country is, what we're going to do, for example, about the jobs crisis and the health care crisis that exists in this country. And the only way for them to know that is for us to go out there and work hard, you know, 16-17 hours a day, and campaign.
And the other thing, actually more important, is we want to demonstrate to them what we're doing to do when we're in office because the truth is, when John Kerry's president and I'm vice president, we're going to work as hard as we are humanly capable of working to make this situation better, both here and abroad, so that America's respected again abroad, and that we create a stronger America here at home.
HEMMER: If I could here, I only have about 10 seconds left, and I apologize. We're short on time here, but back to my original question.
EDWARDS: No problem.
HEMMER: Republicans would suggest the presence is a sign of desperation. How would you react to that?
EDWARDS: Well this is -- we had planned long ago to campaign straight through the Republican convention. We will campaign right up until Election Day.
We want the American people to know what we're going to do for them, which is what we did at our convention. It's what we're going to do straight up through Election Day because there's a clear choice here: a plan to create a hopeful, optimistic country.
That's what where I think most of America is -- not the anger that we saw last night.
HEMMER: Senator John Edwards, my guest, live in Philadelphia this morning, a midnight rally later tonight coming on the conclusion of the Republican convention here in New York.
Senator, thank you, and we'll talk again.
EDWARDS: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Two months away from the day, right now, September 2nd, for election 2004.
Back to Heidi across town -- breaking news. Heidi, good morning, again.
COLLINS: Good morning. Yes, that's right.
Out of Russia this morning, explosions coming now from that school where the hostage crisis is taking place. We're going to have the very latest for you here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Breaking news now. We want to update you on in Southern Russia. I want to take you back to Beslan. The situation at the school is definitely escalating.
We're hearing word about explosions that have taken place inside that school. We've been talking about it now. This is the second day where there are hundreds of people inside.
Don't yet have that determination on exactly how many people, but we do know it began yesterday on the very first day of school where hundreds of little children -- you see one of them there being taken out with their parents -- are possibly inside there.
We are not sure exactly what those explosions consisted of or where, obviously, but once again this has taken place at that school in Beslan. And we are going to have the very latest as soon as possible. One of our correspondents is on his way to that scene right now.
In fact, President Vladimir Putin canceled a trip to Turkey in order to deal with this crisis. He says he is going to get right on it, obviously.
We know that we are looking at some of the smoke there now, when you see these live pictures coming in, once again, from Beslan, Russia, Southern Russia. You can see certainly something has happened. Of course, don't have full detail on it yet.
The standoff has been going on for two days now. This is actually the third attack over the past couple of days or so. The situation is escalating there, no question about it. We are going to keep our eye right on this for you.
Again, two blasts heard at that school in Russia. We are trying to get a live correspondent there for you. Ryan Chilcote, on his way to the scene to get you the very latest. Also, we do have a "Time" magazine reporter, Paul Quinn-Judge standing by to try to give us a little bit of insight here as to what's going on.
Paul, can you hear me all right?
PAUL QUINN-JUDGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE REPORTER: Yes, I can.
COLLINS: Tell us what you know and tell us what your reaction is to what's going on here at the school?
QUINN-JUDGE: All right. What we know at the moment is the confrontation is continuing. Neither side is showing any sign, at this point, of any compromise.
As far as we know, as well, the guerrillas have not had any substantive negotiations with the government side since the early hours of this morning when they, we are told, turned off their cell phones and have not turned them on since.
There's been sporadic shooting in the course of the day. It rises and falls in its intensity. It seems to come mostly from the guerrillas, when they're trying to move people back if they think soldiers are moving closer, if they generally get nervous. As far as we know and as far as we can see, the government's side has not been firing on the school.
Just now there were a couple of explosions. They were loud, and they were dramatic in that there were two columns of smoke that followed the explosions. However, the smoke has dissipated.
Nothing else has happened since. And the smoke could have been caused by relatively small weaponry. Therefore, I don't think we should jump to conclusions that a storm is taking place or even a major battle is taking place.
I think -- until we have further information, we should assume that the guerrillas are keeping up their military and also their psychological pressure on the government of north Ossetia and also by implication of the Kremlin.
COLLINS: Paul, you know, we had heard yesterday a little bit about a group of children that were able to get out of that school. What do you know about that?
QUINN-JUDGE: What we know -- what I know from people who seem pretty reliable -- I stress that because information here is really, really unreliable at this point -- that perhaps a dozen or 15 kids were able to hide in a small outbuilding of the school, some sort of heating plant. I'm saying some sort, because I haven't seen the layout of the school. They were able to hide there. And a teacher probably helped get them out after the other kids were taken into the school.
We haven't been able to find the kids yet who left, because a number of them at least have left the town and have gone to the countryside to stay with relatives, naturally, to try to get over what they've suffered in the last day or so.
COLLINS: Paul, obviously, you're the first one we've been able to talk to since being there and getting access to this area. We're looking behind some of the pictures there, very upsetting, of course.
QUINN-JUDGE: We understand there are also hundreds of people gathered outside of the school, I'm assuming relatives and obviously other concerned citizens. Have you had a chance to speak with any of them?
People are gathered in knots throughout the city. The school is located on a fairly large street. I can't call it a prospect. It's very broad. People are gathering as close as they can to the school, which is maybe 100 meters, no closer.
Throughout the city people are gathering. The city is paralyzed with distress. It's a small city. Most people know somebody who is in the school -- a child, a teacher, a parent, some other relatives. It's an absolute nightmare.
And they're aware that these people, their family members and their friends and their loved ones, are in the hands of people who are absolutely and totally determined to take their fight with the Kremlin to the bitter end; that is for the guerrillas' death. And the fear is that other people will suffer with them.
So people are horrified, as I think I would be if I was in this situation, if this happened to any member of my family.
On the whole, the place is quiet. The area where I'm speaking to you from is loud. Simply, there are lots of people around. Mostly it's very quiet, eerily quiet most of the time.
COLLINS: Paul Quinn-Judge, we certainly appreciate your time this morning. We're going to keep checking back in with you.
Once again, at this time, we know four people have been killed and nine wounded in this situation in Beslan, Russia. We're hearing about explosions there. We're going to keep checking on this story, of course. And we'll keep you up-to-date.
And we're going to send it back over to Bill now in Madison Square Garden.
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