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American Morning
Dozens Of Children, Adult Hostages Escape Russian School
Aired September 03, 2004 - 08:00 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: And the potential now for destruction now chasing hundreds of thousands away from their homes and businesses on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Bill Hemmer live here in Melbourne, Florida. We are awaiting the arrival of Frances still about 280 miles off the coast of Southeast Florida.
As this rate, with the weakening overnight, downgraded from a category four to a category three hurricane, and the winds decreasing as well, slightly, we do expect this hurricane not to come here and hit landfall for at least another 24 to 28 hours. But we are watching it today in great anticipation.
And Floridians up and down the coast have listened to the warnings to get out. Hundreds of thousands obeying the warnings that went out, really, to two and a half million people over the past two days.
Frances is a significant story and a significant storm. And we'll be back in a moment here. We'll get the latest numbers as they come out from the National Hurricane Center live out of Miami in a moment here.
But there is also a significant story oversees in Russia. And for that, say good morning to Kelly Wallace working with us today back in New York.
Kelly, good morning there.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you again, Bill; and good morning, everyone.
We're heading right back to that story that we have been following throughout this morning coming out of southern Russia near the Chechen border. Forces there have stormed a school where hundreds of hostages have been held since Wednesday.
Gunfire and loud explosions have been heard throughout the morning. Dozens of children and adults have escaped. Our person on the season, CNN's Ryan Chilcote, is outside the school now via videophone.
Ryan, what have police officials told you about what is happening now inside the school?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. I just spoke with a representative of the interior ministry. His name is Alexander Etatav (ph), and he reports that the school has not completely been taken by Russian forces. He said that Russian forces have succeeded in simply taking the gymnasium.
Now, I went to the entrance to the school's grounds and you can still hear a lot of fighting. There is still a lot of fighting right at the school.
What we understand from this official from the interior ministry is that there may still be hostages, hostages being held by the militants inside the school now.
An eyewitness that had been there for about 10 minutes more than me said that they saw about 10 to 15 people being carried out on stretchers that appeared to be dead.
Another eyewitness who had been there for about an hour said that they had seen 50 to 60 people being carried out, but those with just casualties. They could not distinguish between wounded and dead.
I personally saw one woman who was carried out on a stretcher. She appeared to be dead. She was completely covered in dirt and was not moving at all.
Now, from another vantage point, an eyewitness told me, where the Russian forces have been moving their troops in, said they saw at least one soldier who appeared to be dead, two that appeared to be wounded.
Apparently, the soldiers told this eyewitness that -- this eyewitness watched as this soldier said, "They need more ammunition. They need more ammunition," and then the soldiers began to collect more ammunition from anyone who was not involved in the fighting and pass that onto the soldier when he went back in.
This soldier that came out to talk to his colleague said that, "Watch out for a group of women wearing white." Now that takes us back to when this siege, when the school was initially seized, there was a report that there was another group of suicide bombers somewhere in the city that were planning to attack.
That -- we never got any more information about that, but one soldier saying that perhaps there was a group of suicide bombers, female suicide bombers, walking around the city of Beslan with explosives attached to themselves -- Kelly?
WALLACE: Very dangerous situation indeed.
Ryan, we will keep checking back with you. Ryan Chilcote reporting from the southern Russian city of Beslan.
And I think, actually, we do, Ryan, keep with you.
We've got some new tape. This, we believe, is the latest video coming in. It is the closest video to the scene outside the school. You see -- you see a number of people outside that school there now. Ryan, I'm going to keep you here with me. We're showing our viewers right now what we believe to be video showing sort of the closest scenes right now outside the school.
Well, actually Ryan, we'll come back to you.
Joining us now, a man who has had experience in standoff situations, Robin Horsfall. He was with the British special forces back in 1980 during the storming of the Iranian embassy in London.
Good morning, Mr. Horsfall. Thanks for joining us.
ROBIN HORSFALL, FORMER BRITISH SPECIAL FORCES: Good morning.
WALLACE: Watching this video coming in, what is the major challenge, right now, the Russian authorities are facing?
HORSFALL: Well, the Russian authorities have got themselves involved now in the building. The situation started about two hours ago with an unexpected explosion and the escape of some hostages.
The firefight then continued. And it seems like the Russian commander decided to take the opportunity and go in and attack the building and hope for the best.
What' we've got now is a situation where the firefight has gone on for a long period of time while the Russians have been clearing every room in the school. They've managed to release a large number of hostages.
We don't know how many are still in the building. Obviously, an explosion went off inside the building because part of the roof came down. And there is a very strong chance that there are going to be a large number of blast injury casualties inside the building now.
What we see now is a mopping up operation. The roof of the building is completely gone. It's on fire. And there's still a firefight taking place.
And there are reports that some of the hostage takers have escaped from the building to the south and they are being chased by other Russian soldiers in the hope of mopping up the situation.
The priority now has to be to give medical services to the surviving hostages and clear them from the area as soon as possible.
WALLACE: From your own experience, what are some of the scenarios that these Russian commandos could have to anticipate, including the possibility, which Ryan Chilcote was sort of alluding to, of suicide bombers in the area?
HORSFALL: Yes, well, obviously, one explosion had already gone off inside the building, and there was a chance of more of those. Anybody carrying explosives around the body could have set off a charge. Fighting inside a building is the most difficult and dangerous fighting that any soldier can envisage. You've got smoke. You've got confusion. You've got large numbers of innocent hostages who could get killed in the crossfire, where if any one of these soldiers makes a mistake.
However, anyone in the dark could also be a terrorist who is going to open fire on you. And sometimes you can't see. Life or death decisions are made instantly. And it's a very, very dangerous situation for anybody.
WALLACE: Robin Horsfall is a former member of the British special forces joining us from London this morning to provide your insights. Thanks so much for being with us.
We are following this developing story throughout this morning. Russian forces storming the school in the southern Russian city of Beslan.
Some of the newest pictures coming into CNN, you see family members consoling some children there. And we will continue to follow all the developments in that story.
For now, though, we turn to my colleague, Bill Hemmer, with another major story, Hurricane Frances in Melbourne, Florida -- Bill?
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks for that.
These are the numbers we've been waiting for. It's just past 8:00 now here on the East Coast of Florida. The National Hurricane Center, back to the deputy director, Ed Rappaport.
And Ed, we spoke last hour. What's changed on the storm since then with the new numbers out now?
ED RAPPAPORT, DEPUTY DIRECTORY,NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Not a lot of it's changed. We've got some new observations, however. Nassau in the Bahamas is now reporting gusts of hurricane force winds.
We've got a radar map behind us from the National Weather Service, and we can see the first of the outer bands beginning to approach the Florida East Coast. So, we'll have probably a brief squall come through here, the first indication of the hurricane.
We're going to have rough weather now, probably through Sunday, on and off.
HEMMER: A category three at last hour, winds right around 120 miles an hour. Is that still the same?
RAPPAPORT: It is. And there has been this weakening trend. And it's possible that will weaken further, maybe even category two. But at this case -- at this point, what we're talking about now is a large hurricane much like Hurricane Isabel was last year in the mid-Atlantic states.
And because it's moving so slowly, there could be a period of as much as 18 hours of hurricane force winds when it does come ashore.
HEMMER: And also, Ed, on your path that you're seeing right now, where do you see impact on the East Coast of the U.S.?
RAPPAPORT: The main impact will be on the Florida Peninsula. This is a very large hurricane. It extends out several hundred miles. We have a report from an island in the Bahamas, in San Salvador, 150 miles away from the center, and they are reporting 55 mile per hour sustained winds.
So, they've been going through this for more than a day. But we're going to have something similar on the Florida Peninsula.
HEMMER: All right, Ed, thanks. Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center.
Back with me here just north of Melbourne Beach is our meteorologist, Chad Myers, who has covered just about every hurricane that's been blowing in 2004.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, really.
HEMMER: Give our viewers an understanding for why it's so unpredictable at this point.
MYERS: Look out there, Bill. Do you see anybody out there to put up a weather balloon?
There's nobody out there. You can't get the data out in the middle of the ocean like we can get across the United States. We have all these weather balloons that we send up from Nebraska, Wyoming, California, everybody -- we know what it looks like up there, here.
We don't know what it's like up there. We don't know what those steering winds are like. We don't know perfectly what those steering winds are like. And, in fact, here's a satellite picture.
The storm, itself, still already blowing winds. We're 200 miles away from this thing...
HEMMER: Yes.
MYERS: ... and the winds are blowing 35 miles an hour here. And so, we know where the winds are here, but we don't know what they are aloft and at some of the steering currents.
Our Orelon Sidney is actually up in a Gulfstream IV, the Noah (ph) jet; and they are at 45,000 feet dropping dropsons. It's like a weather balloon, but instead of going up, it goes down.
Every couple hundred miles, they're dropping one of these things so they can punch all that into the new computer model for this afternoon. And they'll know better where this thing is going.
HEMMER: It was five years ago to this month when Hurricane Floyd, that timed winds of 160 miles an hour. MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: There was a lot of concern, especially in the northern part of Florida. We came here for two day's.
MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: And felt a little bit but not much.
MYERS: That's right.
HEMMER: That storm just kind of teased the coast of Florida. Later it became an enormous rain maker up in the Carolinas.
MYERS: Right.
HEMMER: And I think that shows yet again just how unpredictable these storms can be.
MYERS: We thought Floyd -- this wasn't going to be a Floyd. We thought this thing was just going to keep turning right, turning right, turning right, keep missing all these spots, missing all these spots; but now, there's a high-pressure that's coming down out of Canada.
It's going to cap the atmosphere, and this hurricane is going to bump into this high and, in fact, instead of going right, this storm is could actually go left.
HEMMER: We are here and waiting. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
HEMMER: I want to get down the beach now, John Zarrella standing by.
The evacuation order went out, 2.5 million told to leave their homes. Many listened. Here's John Zarrella on that story.
John, good morning in West Palm.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And many people certainly did heed the warnings, taking that advice. We're here at one of the 28 shelters, Red Cross shelters here in Palm Beach County, this one at Central High School, the largest of the shelters.
You can see its breakfast time, the people lining up. They had 1,900 people show up here since this shelter opened at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. They expect more to be coming in today as the storm gets closer to us.
Again, people taking this very seriously. And I can tell you, I have not seen this level of anxiety since Hurricane Andrew.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): More than two million people from one end of the state of Florida to the other have been told to evacuate.
UNIDENTIFIED SKYCAM REPORTER: In the meantime, as you can see, traffic has already stacked up approaching the Golden Gate interchange.
ZARRELLA: Interstate highways and major arteries from Miami to Palm Beach County and into North Florida are snarled with traffic, people heading inland.
Airports are packed with the lucky ones, putting a lot of distance between themselves and Frances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to get out of Dodge City here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want to get out of here. We're not used to this kind of hurricane.
ZARRELLA: Who is?
These kinds of hurricanes are rare events. At least they are supposed to be. And they ratchet up everyone's anxiety level.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to prepare for the worst, pray for the best.
ZARRELLA: Local television stations broke from regular programming.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The consensus of the computer programs is a Florida landfall.
ZARRELLA: To provide continuous coverage of the storm's march toward Florida. You wonder how many people were watching. If they weren't trying to leave, they were standing in last-minute lines, long, long lines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been out here for two hours.
ZARRELLA: Waiting to buy plywood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going three quarters right now.
ZARRELLA: Or waiting to fill up their cars. And with every passing hour, with Frances getting closer all the time, the heart beats a bit faster.
If you blink, maybe it will go away. But it doesn't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, the shelter manager told me that the Charley factor, Hurricane Charley factor really played here, that when they did open the shelter -- he came in at 12:00; they're opening at 2:00 -- there were already 60 people in line waiting to get in.
People taking this very seriously based on what everyone saw three weeks ago today from Hurricane Charley -- Bill?
HEMMER: Direct hang over from Charley. Indeed you are right on that, John. Thanks John Zarrella who in West Palm, Florida.
Also here in Florida, if you look back at history, no two significant storms at hurricane strength have hit this state this close together, since going back to 1950, Hurricane Easy and Hurricane King.
At that point, 54 years ago, those storms were six weeks apart. These storms, as we have mentioned, now only three weeks apart. And we all wait to see what Frances brings here to the southeastern portion of the United States.
Back in a moment. Live here in Melbourne, Florida with a lot more. But for now, back to Kelly Wallace again in New York -- Kelly?
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
And still to come here on AMERICAN MORNING, more on the unfolding drama in Russia as troops storm a school to free hostages.
Did President Bush win over swing voters last night? We'll take a look.
And there's a new spin in the low-carb, low-fat diet debate, the details coming up.
That's all ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: There is President George W. Bush with Vice President Cheney, the president formally accepting his party's nomination last night. So, how did the president do?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've learned firsthand that ordering Americans into battle is the hardest decision, even when it is right.
I have returned the salute of wounded soldiers, some with a very tough road ahead, who say they were just doing their job.
I've held the children of the fallen who were told their dad or mom is a hero, but would rather just have their mom or dad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: So did lines like that make him more likable, more real? David Frum thinks so. He's a former speechwriter for this President Bush, and Michael Waldman is a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.
Both watched the speech and join us now with their thoughts this morning. Thanks for being with us.
David, first to you, you think that was probably the best moment of his speech.
DAVID FRUM, FORMER BUSH SPEECHWRITER: That was one of the best ones.
WALLACE: Why?
FRUM: Because it -- the accusation that there has been against this president, that he's led the country into war without really feeling the gravity of what he did. That's the accusation that's made.
And it's not true, and he showed the country not just with what he said but with the look on his face.
What President Bush is very, very good at is projecting his personality through the lens of the camera. And at the best moments in this speech, he did that.
The other moment that meant a lot, I think, to those of us who are very serious about the war on terror, was his -- is actually when he said, he was committed to doing whatever it takes.
And in some ways, that is one of the differences of this campaign. Senator Kerry has offered a conditional commitment. He's prepared to do some things but not other things in the war on terror. This president says, wherever it goes, however much it takes.
WALLACE: Michael, you thought the president accomplished three things. What are those things?
MICHAEL WALDMAN, FORMER CLINTON SPEECHWRITER: I do think that he showed, again, that he believes what he says, at least gives the sense that when he says something, he really means it.
What I thought he needed to do and didn't do, frankly, was lay out a very compelling agenda for a second term. As a Democrat, I was quite relieved by that. I thought he had an opportunity there.
The speech was kind of a laundry list of policies, like a state of the union address, but it didn't cohere. I'll admit that during the almost hour of policy blah, blah, I actually fell asleep at one point.
WALLACE: As well as some other people I know and was talking to.
But David, bringing that point up, he seemed much more passionate on the national security part...
FRUM: Yes. WALLACE: ... but less passionate, almost like he was reading a teleprompter on domestic policy. As a former speechwriter for him, what do you say to that?
FRUM: Well, I think there's some truth to that. I think that was the -- 2004 state of the union speech was not a huge success -- I think many people feel - and so, this was a chance to do it again and do it better.
And there he went through a lot of things but, of course, his ability to get those things done depends on events. He was telling America he's not forgotten about the home front, and I believe he hasn't.
But look, this war, this election is about this war, and he knows that; we all know that. And that's -- the voters, that's what the voters tell us. And that's where he came alive.
WALLACE: And let's take a look again at the end of the speech, which most people think was the most effective. This is where the president was expressing some, making some self-deprecating comments.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: You may have noticed I have a few flaws, too. People sometimes have to correct my English. I knew I had a problem when Arnold Schwarzenegger started doing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: So, Michael, was that effective?
WALDMAN: He was very effective in 2000 when he used a lot of humor in his speech, and that was just about the only moment last night.
You know, it's interesting. This -- after four years, I don't think that voters are wondering who this guy is. They're not sure he -- they are pretty convinced he has no idea how to get us out of what we've gotten into in Iraq. They don't think he has a plan for dealing with the budget deficit that his tax cuts created and all these other things.
And I think it creates an opportunity for Kerry to move the fight, if he can, to issues, not about personalities between the two of them, which these conventions have been doing personality shows, but about issues. That's the best bet for the Democrats.
WALLACE: OK. Not putting a "D" or an "R" next to your name, as speechwriters, the essence of his speech, looking at Senator Kerry's speech in Boston, President Bush's speech here in New York, David, who did a better job? Who was more effective?
FRUM: Well, President Kerry's speech was, I thought, I think a more coherent piece of writing and it worked.
WALLACE: I think you said President Kerry?
FRUM: Sorry. President Kerry? I'm sorry. John Kerry, I'm sorry.
WALLACE: He'll like that. He'll like that.
WALDMAN: Call the question.
FRUM: It was a better piece of writing. It worked. The problem was, it was a strategic disaster of the first order. It was -- because what he did was introduced himself to America as this war fighting war hero to an America that had no idea that he'd also been a Vietnam protester.
They found out not from him about his Vietnam protest career; they found out later from other people. And that made everyone think he lied to us, he deceived us.
And so, it was -- so literally great, strategically, disaster.
WALLACE: Michael, your thoughts?
WALDMAN: I thought Kerry's speech did cohere very well. It did something very necessary, which was to present himself who he was, very clearly both a war hero and a war protester. Nobody was deceived about that.
But it did not -- it did that well and didn't do, chose not to do other things.
President Bush's speech tried to do a lot of many different things. I thought the passage where he talks about America's ideals around the world near the end was really well done, and that's the part of him that speaks to all Americans. But it was almost as if a lot of things like the war hadn't happened.
WALLACE: All right. We'll have to leave it there. We've got the speechwriters' perspective. We'll have to see what the voters think.
Michael Waldman, David Frum, thanks so much for being with us.
FRUM: Thank you.
WALLACE: Now we go back to Bill Hemmer in Florida. Bill, I don't know if you were able to actually see the president's speech. I think you were in transit.
HEMMER: I heard a little bit on the radio as we were making our way to the hotel on the East Coast of Florida. I got to the hotel to see about the final 20 minutes, though. So, I think overall, for New Yorkers who were, I guess, to put it mildly, were slightly inconvenienced with the Republicans in town are quite pleased to see the convention wrap. But overall, Kelly, the convention came off with a success; and it came off safely. And I think for all the police working very extra duty and long hours in New York City, they should be commended for what they pulled off in the fine city, "the Big Apple," over the past four, five days.
Kelly, back here in Florida now Frances continues to be a significant storm. Weakening overnight but still at 120 miles an hour, it is a significant storm. And the people in Florida are paying attention. They're packing up and getting out on the East Coast.
Back in a moment here live for the very latest on what's happening with Frances at this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Bill is in Florida, so I get the absolute pleasure of introducing my pal Jack Cafferty and the "Question of the Day."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Don't be trying to suck up to me.
WALLACE: I am.
CAFFERTY: Labor Day weekend coming up. I spent the last week in a diner. We're facing the second hurricane in three weeks, and the nation's jobs report is out in about three and a half.
All of that has absolutely nothing to do with the "Question of the Day," which is, what's the worst job you've ever had? But because it was a Friday, we figured that was as good as any.
Here's some of what you've written.
"The worst job I ever had," this is Sandy in Chesterfield, South Carolina, "was in law enforcement where people thought just because I drew a paycheck I should not mind being spat upon, pushed, shoved, called named and, in general, mistreated while at the same time upholding their civil rights.
At the time I enjoyed my job. It was after retirement I realized how little I missed it."
Christopher in El Paso, Texas worked at Wetson's. It's a hamburger place. "They were going out of business offering a pounder, that was four hamburgers piled on each other, for a dollar. By midnight every biker, pothead and drunk preppy, many with their pets, had filled the establishment and were inhaling meat as if Henry VIII had been cloned. The mop up alone took a day."
Mike in Las Vegas, "When I was a child on the farm, I often shoveled manure. I then worked in sales, finished my working life as a lawyer. I'm now retired. Guess you could say I spent my life shoveling manure."
And Weldon in New Brunswick, Canada, "The worst job I ever had is being retired. It seems all there is to do is tune in CNN in the morning and find an answer for Mr. Cafferty."
Well, somebody has to do this stuff, Weldon, so stop whining and just keep answering the questions.
am@cnn.com
WALLACE: What's the worst job you ever had? Face the question.
CAFFERTY: Sitting in that diner for the last four days.
WALLACE: Come on. You could have had breakfast, scrambled eggs in between your live shots.
Coffee?
CAFFERTY: You asked.
WALLACE: I asked. All right. I'll ask Bill later.
Well, still to come, we are just moments away from that major jobs report. And we're back live in Florida as Hurricane Frances pushes closer to the coast.
That's all ahead right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 3, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: And the potential now for destruction now chasing hundreds of thousands away from their homes and businesses on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Bill Hemmer live here in Melbourne, Florida. We are awaiting the arrival of Frances still about 280 miles off the coast of Southeast Florida.
As this rate, with the weakening overnight, downgraded from a category four to a category three hurricane, and the winds decreasing as well, slightly, we do expect this hurricane not to come here and hit landfall for at least another 24 to 28 hours. But we are watching it today in great anticipation.
And Floridians up and down the coast have listened to the warnings to get out. Hundreds of thousands obeying the warnings that went out, really, to two and a half million people over the past two days.
Frances is a significant story and a significant storm. And we'll be back in a moment here. We'll get the latest numbers as they come out from the National Hurricane Center live out of Miami in a moment here.
But there is also a significant story oversees in Russia. And for that, say good morning to Kelly Wallace working with us today back in New York.
Kelly, good morning there.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you again, Bill; and good morning, everyone.
We're heading right back to that story that we have been following throughout this morning coming out of southern Russia near the Chechen border. Forces there have stormed a school where hundreds of hostages have been held since Wednesday.
Gunfire and loud explosions have been heard throughout the morning. Dozens of children and adults have escaped. Our person on the season, CNN's Ryan Chilcote, is outside the school now via videophone.
Ryan, what have police officials told you about what is happening now inside the school?
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. I just spoke with a representative of the interior ministry. His name is Alexander Etatav (ph), and he reports that the school has not completely been taken by Russian forces. He said that Russian forces have succeeded in simply taking the gymnasium.
Now, I went to the entrance to the school's grounds and you can still hear a lot of fighting. There is still a lot of fighting right at the school.
What we understand from this official from the interior ministry is that there may still be hostages, hostages being held by the militants inside the school now.
An eyewitness that had been there for about 10 minutes more than me said that they saw about 10 to 15 people being carried out on stretchers that appeared to be dead.
Another eyewitness who had been there for about an hour said that they had seen 50 to 60 people being carried out, but those with just casualties. They could not distinguish between wounded and dead.
I personally saw one woman who was carried out on a stretcher. She appeared to be dead. She was completely covered in dirt and was not moving at all.
Now, from another vantage point, an eyewitness told me, where the Russian forces have been moving their troops in, said they saw at least one soldier who appeared to be dead, two that appeared to be wounded.
Apparently, the soldiers told this eyewitness that -- this eyewitness watched as this soldier said, "They need more ammunition. They need more ammunition," and then the soldiers began to collect more ammunition from anyone who was not involved in the fighting and pass that onto the soldier when he went back in.
This soldier that came out to talk to his colleague said that, "Watch out for a group of women wearing white." Now that takes us back to when this siege, when the school was initially seized, there was a report that there was another group of suicide bombers somewhere in the city that were planning to attack.
That -- we never got any more information about that, but one soldier saying that perhaps there was a group of suicide bombers, female suicide bombers, walking around the city of Beslan with explosives attached to themselves -- Kelly?
WALLACE: Very dangerous situation indeed.
Ryan, we will keep checking back with you. Ryan Chilcote reporting from the southern Russian city of Beslan.
And I think, actually, we do, Ryan, keep with you.
We've got some new tape. This, we believe, is the latest video coming in. It is the closest video to the scene outside the school. You see -- you see a number of people outside that school there now. Ryan, I'm going to keep you here with me. We're showing our viewers right now what we believe to be video showing sort of the closest scenes right now outside the school.
Well, actually Ryan, we'll come back to you.
Joining us now, a man who has had experience in standoff situations, Robin Horsfall. He was with the British special forces back in 1980 during the storming of the Iranian embassy in London.
Good morning, Mr. Horsfall. Thanks for joining us.
ROBIN HORSFALL, FORMER BRITISH SPECIAL FORCES: Good morning.
WALLACE: Watching this video coming in, what is the major challenge, right now, the Russian authorities are facing?
HORSFALL: Well, the Russian authorities have got themselves involved now in the building. The situation started about two hours ago with an unexpected explosion and the escape of some hostages.
The firefight then continued. And it seems like the Russian commander decided to take the opportunity and go in and attack the building and hope for the best.
What' we've got now is a situation where the firefight has gone on for a long period of time while the Russians have been clearing every room in the school. They've managed to release a large number of hostages.
We don't know how many are still in the building. Obviously, an explosion went off inside the building because part of the roof came down. And there is a very strong chance that there are going to be a large number of blast injury casualties inside the building now.
What we see now is a mopping up operation. The roof of the building is completely gone. It's on fire. And there's still a firefight taking place.
And there are reports that some of the hostage takers have escaped from the building to the south and they are being chased by other Russian soldiers in the hope of mopping up the situation.
The priority now has to be to give medical services to the surviving hostages and clear them from the area as soon as possible.
WALLACE: From your own experience, what are some of the scenarios that these Russian commandos could have to anticipate, including the possibility, which Ryan Chilcote was sort of alluding to, of suicide bombers in the area?
HORSFALL: Yes, well, obviously, one explosion had already gone off inside the building, and there was a chance of more of those. Anybody carrying explosives around the body could have set off a charge. Fighting inside a building is the most difficult and dangerous fighting that any soldier can envisage. You've got smoke. You've got confusion. You've got large numbers of innocent hostages who could get killed in the crossfire, where if any one of these soldiers makes a mistake.
However, anyone in the dark could also be a terrorist who is going to open fire on you. And sometimes you can't see. Life or death decisions are made instantly. And it's a very, very dangerous situation for anybody.
WALLACE: Robin Horsfall is a former member of the British special forces joining us from London this morning to provide your insights. Thanks so much for being with us.
We are following this developing story throughout this morning. Russian forces storming the school in the southern Russian city of Beslan.
Some of the newest pictures coming into CNN, you see family members consoling some children there. And we will continue to follow all the developments in that story.
For now, though, we turn to my colleague, Bill Hemmer, with another major story, Hurricane Frances in Melbourne, Florida -- Bill?
HEMMER: Kelly, thanks for that.
These are the numbers we've been waiting for. It's just past 8:00 now here on the East Coast of Florida. The National Hurricane Center, back to the deputy director, Ed Rappaport.
And Ed, we spoke last hour. What's changed on the storm since then with the new numbers out now?
ED RAPPAPORT, DEPUTY DIRECTORY,NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Not a lot of it's changed. We've got some new observations, however. Nassau in the Bahamas is now reporting gusts of hurricane force winds.
We've got a radar map behind us from the National Weather Service, and we can see the first of the outer bands beginning to approach the Florida East Coast. So, we'll have probably a brief squall come through here, the first indication of the hurricane.
We're going to have rough weather now, probably through Sunday, on and off.
HEMMER: A category three at last hour, winds right around 120 miles an hour. Is that still the same?
RAPPAPORT: It is. And there has been this weakening trend. And it's possible that will weaken further, maybe even category two. But at this case -- at this point, what we're talking about now is a large hurricane much like Hurricane Isabel was last year in the mid-Atlantic states.
And because it's moving so slowly, there could be a period of as much as 18 hours of hurricane force winds when it does come ashore.
HEMMER: And also, Ed, on your path that you're seeing right now, where do you see impact on the East Coast of the U.S.?
RAPPAPORT: The main impact will be on the Florida Peninsula. This is a very large hurricane. It extends out several hundred miles. We have a report from an island in the Bahamas, in San Salvador, 150 miles away from the center, and they are reporting 55 mile per hour sustained winds.
So, they've been going through this for more than a day. But we're going to have something similar on the Florida Peninsula.
HEMMER: All right, Ed, thanks. Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center.
Back with me here just north of Melbourne Beach is our meteorologist, Chad Myers, who has covered just about every hurricane that's been blowing in 2004.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, really.
HEMMER: Give our viewers an understanding for why it's so unpredictable at this point.
MYERS: Look out there, Bill. Do you see anybody out there to put up a weather balloon?
There's nobody out there. You can't get the data out in the middle of the ocean like we can get across the United States. We have all these weather balloons that we send up from Nebraska, Wyoming, California, everybody -- we know what it looks like up there, here.
We don't know what it's like up there. We don't know what those steering winds are like. We don't know perfectly what those steering winds are like. And, in fact, here's a satellite picture.
The storm, itself, still already blowing winds. We're 200 miles away from this thing...
HEMMER: Yes.
MYERS: ... and the winds are blowing 35 miles an hour here. And so, we know where the winds are here, but we don't know what they are aloft and at some of the steering currents.
Our Orelon Sidney is actually up in a Gulfstream IV, the Noah (ph) jet; and they are at 45,000 feet dropping dropsons. It's like a weather balloon, but instead of going up, it goes down.
Every couple hundred miles, they're dropping one of these things so they can punch all that into the new computer model for this afternoon. And they'll know better where this thing is going.
HEMMER: It was five years ago to this month when Hurricane Floyd, that timed winds of 160 miles an hour. MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: There was a lot of concern, especially in the northern part of Florida. We came here for two day's.
MYERS: Yes.
HEMMER: And felt a little bit but not much.
MYERS: That's right.
HEMMER: That storm just kind of teased the coast of Florida. Later it became an enormous rain maker up in the Carolinas.
MYERS: Right.
HEMMER: And I think that shows yet again just how unpredictable these storms can be.
MYERS: We thought Floyd -- this wasn't going to be a Floyd. We thought this thing was just going to keep turning right, turning right, turning right, keep missing all these spots, missing all these spots; but now, there's a high-pressure that's coming down out of Canada.
It's going to cap the atmosphere, and this hurricane is going to bump into this high and, in fact, instead of going right, this storm is could actually go left.
HEMMER: We are here and waiting. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
HEMMER: I want to get down the beach now, John Zarrella standing by.
The evacuation order went out, 2.5 million told to leave their homes. Many listened. Here's John Zarrella on that story.
John, good morning in West Palm.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And many people certainly did heed the warnings, taking that advice. We're here at one of the 28 shelters, Red Cross shelters here in Palm Beach County, this one at Central High School, the largest of the shelters.
You can see its breakfast time, the people lining up. They had 1,900 people show up here since this shelter opened at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. They expect more to be coming in today as the storm gets closer to us.
Again, people taking this very seriously. And I can tell you, I have not seen this level of anxiety since Hurricane Andrew.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): More than two million people from one end of the state of Florida to the other have been told to evacuate.
UNIDENTIFIED SKYCAM REPORTER: In the meantime, as you can see, traffic has already stacked up approaching the Golden Gate interchange.
ZARRELLA: Interstate highways and major arteries from Miami to Palm Beach County and into North Florida are snarled with traffic, people heading inland.
Airports are packed with the lucky ones, putting a lot of distance between themselves and Frances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to get out of Dodge City here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want to get out of here. We're not used to this kind of hurricane.
ZARRELLA: Who is?
These kinds of hurricanes are rare events. At least they are supposed to be. And they ratchet up everyone's anxiety level.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to prepare for the worst, pray for the best.
ZARRELLA: Local television stations broke from regular programming.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The consensus of the computer programs is a Florida landfall.
ZARRELLA: To provide continuous coverage of the storm's march toward Florida. You wonder how many people were watching. If they weren't trying to leave, they were standing in last-minute lines, long, long lines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been out here for two hours.
ZARRELLA: Waiting to buy plywood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going three quarters right now.
ZARRELLA: Or waiting to fill up their cars. And with every passing hour, with Frances getting closer all the time, the heart beats a bit faster.
If you blink, maybe it will go away. But it doesn't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, the shelter manager told me that the Charley factor, Hurricane Charley factor really played here, that when they did open the shelter -- he came in at 12:00; they're opening at 2:00 -- there were already 60 people in line waiting to get in.
People taking this very seriously based on what everyone saw three weeks ago today from Hurricane Charley -- Bill?
HEMMER: Direct hang over from Charley. Indeed you are right on that, John. Thanks John Zarrella who in West Palm, Florida.
Also here in Florida, if you look back at history, no two significant storms at hurricane strength have hit this state this close together, since going back to 1950, Hurricane Easy and Hurricane King.
At that point, 54 years ago, those storms were six weeks apart. These storms, as we have mentioned, now only three weeks apart. And we all wait to see what Frances brings here to the southeastern portion of the United States.
Back in a moment. Live here in Melbourne, Florida with a lot more. But for now, back to Kelly Wallace again in New York -- Kelly?
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
And still to come here on AMERICAN MORNING, more on the unfolding drama in Russia as troops storm a school to free hostages.
Did President Bush win over swing voters last night? We'll take a look.
And there's a new spin in the low-carb, low-fat diet debate, the details coming up.
That's all ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: There is President George W. Bush with Vice President Cheney, the president formally accepting his party's nomination last night. So, how did the president do?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've learned firsthand that ordering Americans into battle is the hardest decision, even when it is right.
I have returned the salute of wounded soldiers, some with a very tough road ahead, who say they were just doing their job.
I've held the children of the fallen who were told their dad or mom is a hero, but would rather just have their mom or dad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: So did lines like that make him more likable, more real? David Frum thinks so. He's a former speechwriter for this President Bush, and Michael Waldman is a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.
Both watched the speech and join us now with their thoughts this morning. Thanks for being with us.
David, first to you, you think that was probably the best moment of his speech.
DAVID FRUM, FORMER BUSH SPEECHWRITER: That was one of the best ones.
WALLACE: Why?
FRUM: Because it -- the accusation that there has been against this president, that he's led the country into war without really feeling the gravity of what he did. That's the accusation that's made.
And it's not true, and he showed the country not just with what he said but with the look on his face.
What President Bush is very, very good at is projecting his personality through the lens of the camera. And at the best moments in this speech, he did that.
The other moment that meant a lot, I think, to those of us who are very serious about the war on terror, was his -- is actually when he said, he was committed to doing whatever it takes.
And in some ways, that is one of the differences of this campaign. Senator Kerry has offered a conditional commitment. He's prepared to do some things but not other things in the war on terror. This president says, wherever it goes, however much it takes.
WALLACE: Michael, you thought the president accomplished three things. What are those things?
MICHAEL WALDMAN, FORMER CLINTON SPEECHWRITER: I do think that he showed, again, that he believes what he says, at least gives the sense that when he says something, he really means it.
What I thought he needed to do and didn't do, frankly, was lay out a very compelling agenda for a second term. As a Democrat, I was quite relieved by that. I thought he had an opportunity there.
The speech was kind of a laundry list of policies, like a state of the union address, but it didn't cohere. I'll admit that during the almost hour of policy blah, blah, I actually fell asleep at one point.
WALLACE: As well as some other people I know and was talking to.
But David, bringing that point up, he seemed much more passionate on the national security part...
FRUM: Yes. WALLACE: ... but less passionate, almost like he was reading a teleprompter on domestic policy. As a former speechwriter for him, what do you say to that?
FRUM: Well, I think there's some truth to that. I think that was the -- 2004 state of the union speech was not a huge success -- I think many people feel - and so, this was a chance to do it again and do it better.
And there he went through a lot of things but, of course, his ability to get those things done depends on events. He was telling America he's not forgotten about the home front, and I believe he hasn't.
But look, this war, this election is about this war, and he knows that; we all know that. And that's -- the voters, that's what the voters tell us. And that's where he came alive.
WALLACE: And let's take a look again at the end of the speech, which most people think was the most effective. This is where the president was expressing some, making some self-deprecating comments.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: You may have noticed I have a few flaws, too. People sometimes have to correct my English. I knew I had a problem when Arnold Schwarzenegger started doing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: So, Michael, was that effective?
WALDMAN: He was very effective in 2000 when he used a lot of humor in his speech, and that was just about the only moment last night.
You know, it's interesting. This -- after four years, I don't think that voters are wondering who this guy is. They're not sure he -- they are pretty convinced he has no idea how to get us out of what we've gotten into in Iraq. They don't think he has a plan for dealing with the budget deficit that his tax cuts created and all these other things.
And I think it creates an opportunity for Kerry to move the fight, if he can, to issues, not about personalities between the two of them, which these conventions have been doing personality shows, but about issues. That's the best bet for the Democrats.
WALLACE: OK. Not putting a "D" or an "R" next to your name, as speechwriters, the essence of his speech, looking at Senator Kerry's speech in Boston, President Bush's speech here in New York, David, who did a better job? Who was more effective?
FRUM: Well, President Kerry's speech was, I thought, I think a more coherent piece of writing and it worked.
WALLACE: I think you said President Kerry?
FRUM: Sorry. President Kerry? I'm sorry. John Kerry, I'm sorry.
WALLACE: He'll like that. He'll like that.
WALDMAN: Call the question.
FRUM: It was a better piece of writing. It worked. The problem was, it was a strategic disaster of the first order. It was -- because what he did was introduced himself to America as this war fighting war hero to an America that had no idea that he'd also been a Vietnam protester.
They found out not from him about his Vietnam protest career; they found out later from other people. And that made everyone think he lied to us, he deceived us.
And so, it was -- so literally great, strategically, disaster.
WALLACE: Michael, your thoughts?
WALDMAN: I thought Kerry's speech did cohere very well. It did something very necessary, which was to present himself who he was, very clearly both a war hero and a war protester. Nobody was deceived about that.
But it did not -- it did that well and didn't do, chose not to do other things.
President Bush's speech tried to do a lot of many different things. I thought the passage where he talks about America's ideals around the world near the end was really well done, and that's the part of him that speaks to all Americans. But it was almost as if a lot of things like the war hadn't happened.
WALLACE: All right. We'll have to leave it there. We've got the speechwriters' perspective. We'll have to see what the voters think.
Michael Waldman, David Frum, thanks so much for being with us.
FRUM: Thank you.
WALLACE: Now we go back to Bill Hemmer in Florida. Bill, I don't know if you were able to actually see the president's speech. I think you were in transit.
HEMMER: I heard a little bit on the radio as we were making our way to the hotel on the East Coast of Florida. I got to the hotel to see about the final 20 minutes, though. So, I think overall, for New Yorkers who were, I guess, to put it mildly, were slightly inconvenienced with the Republicans in town are quite pleased to see the convention wrap. But overall, Kelly, the convention came off with a success; and it came off safely. And I think for all the police working very extra duty and long hours in New York City, they should be commended for what they pulled off in the fine city, "the Big Apple," over the past four, five days.
Kelly, back here in Florida now Frances continues to be a significant storm. Weakening overnight but still at 120 miles an hour, it is a significant storm. And the people in Florida are paying attention. They're packing up and getting out on the East Coast.
Back in a moment here live for the very latest on what's happening with Frances at this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Bill is in Florida, so I get the absolute pleasure of introducing my pal Jack Cafferty and the "Question of the Day."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Don't be trying to suck up to me.
WALLACE: I am.
CAFFERTY: Labor Day weekend coming up. I spent the last week in a diner. We're facing the second hurricane in three weeks, and the nation's jobs report is out in about three and a half.
All of that has absolutely nothing to do with the "Question of the Day," which is, what's the worst job you've ever had? But because it was a Friday, we figured that was as good as any.
Here's some of what you've written.
"The worst job I ever had," this is Sandy in Chesterfield, South Carolina, "was in law enforcement where people thought just because I drew a paycheck I should not mind being spat upon, pushed, shoved, called named and, in general, mistreated while at the same time upholding their civil rights.
At the time I enjoyed my job. It was after retirement I realized how little I missed it."
Christopher in El Paso, Texas worked at Wetson's. It's a hamburger place. "They were going out of business offering a pounder, that was four hamburgers piled on each other, for a dollar. By midnight every biker, pothead and drunk preppy, many with their pets, had filled the establishment and were inhaling meat as if Henry VIII had been cloned. The mop up alone took a day."
Mike in Las Vegas, "When I was a child on the farm, I often shoveled manure. I then worked in sales, finished my working life as a lawyer. I'm now retired. Guess you could say I spent my life shoveling manure."
And Weldon in New Brunswick, Canada, "The worst job I ever had is being retired. It seems all there is to do is tune in CNN in the morning and find an answer for Mr. Cafferty."
Well, somebody has to do this stuff, Weldon, so stop whining and just keep answering the questions.
am@cnn.com
WALLACE: What's the worst job you ever had? Face the question.
CAFFERTY: Sitting in that diner for the last four days.
WALLACE: Come on. You could have had breakfast, scrambled eggs in between your live shots.
Coffee?
CAFFERTY: You asked.
WALLACE: I asked. All right. I'll ask Bill later.
Well, still to come, we are just moments away from that major jobs report. And we're back live in Florida as Hurricane Frances pushes closer to the coast.
That's all ahead right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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