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CNN Live Today

Hurricane Wilma Explodes Into Dangerous Category 5 Storm; Saddam Hussein on Trial

Aired October 19, 2005 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Two major stories we're following on this very busy news day. Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein going to trial, accused of crimes against humanity. Full coverage of that and his three-and-a-half-hour opening court session.
And there is a hurricane, a very significant one. Hurricane Wilma, it exploded overnight into a dangerous and record-setting Category 5 storm. Once again, Floridians getting ready.

Hello to everyone. This is CNN LIVE TODAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Daryn Kagan.

Let's get straight to our top story. Hurricane Wilma a Category 5. All watching it very closely as it squeezes its way toward the Yucatan Peninsula and perhaps even targeting south Florida.

Let's check in with our Jacqui Jeras -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Fredricka, the 11:00 advisory is in now, and very little change. Wilma is still holding at record intensity status with millibars down at 882, and the winds at 175 miles per hour. So holding at a very intense Category 5 hurricane.

We do expect some fluctuations in intensity here today. So don't be surprised if this weakens down a little bit later on as we head through the afternoon and the evening hours. But nonetheless, still an extremely powerful, dangerous and potentially catastrophic storm.

The forecast track has been just nudged over a little bit, and it's bringing in a little closer now to the Yucatan Peninsula, closer towards Cozumel and closer towards Cancun, which is not a big surprise. We've been thinking that it's been taking more wobbles westward, and that is going to bring it closer towards the land. And this could be extremely dangerous here for Mexico.

They are going to get battered with strong winds and very heavy rain. Eight to 10 inches can be expected here. Cuba also going to get whipped with this storm.

Once it gets through the Yucatan channel and it merges back over into the Gulf of Mexico, we're expecting it to take a sharp right-hand turn. It will weaken a little bit because the upper level winds will not be quite as favorable. But the storm is going to be moving extremely fast and making a beeline for Florida, we think, by the weekend, probably late in the day on Saturday. Our computer model forecast, we talk about these all the time. They've been very uniform with this storm, and really have had a very good handle on it.

This is our in-house model, our Titan wind forecast. And this shows you the wind vectors and also the wind speed. And take a note of that, those dark oranges that you see. That's a major hurricane, Category 3 or better, and that is going to be moving in by Friday morning, getting very, very close to Cozumel.

Even if it doesn't make landfall, we're expecting some of the strongest winds to be moving in here. And also one other change with 11:00 advisory, Fredricka, and that's that the hurricane-force winds have extended out. They were about 15 miles from the center of the storm earlier this morning, and now they extend out 50 miles from the center of the storm. So that is a good sign the storm is getting larger -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jacqui. Thank you so much.

Well, an evacuation order takes effect at the top of the next hour for tourists in the Florida Keys.

Greg Artman is the public information officer for Monroe County Emergency Management.

And thanks so much, Mr. Artman, for being with us. This is the first layer of evacuations that would take place. Those nonresidents, correct? Those visitors. How are you getting the word out to them?

GREG ARTMAN, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, MONROE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: That's correct. And here we go again in Florida. No question for about the fifth time in recent...

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ARTMAN: ... in the last few months, we're doing this again. But that's how we start in the Florida Keys. We issue mandatory evacuation for tourists, nonresidents, people who live aboard boats, recreational vehicles, those types of items, and people that need to leave the Keys immediately.

WHITFIELD: And then what's the next step? What do you need to hear from the National Hurricane Center in order to then institute an evacuation order for those residents there?

ARTMAN: I think that's pretty well set in stone. The emergency management is going to meet later -- early this afternoon, I should say, and then issue a press release outlining how the mandatory evacuation should occur and the timetable for that.

WHITFIELD: And how many people are we talking about? And that point when you do that, is that also when you institute a contra flow evacuation system, meaning all the traffic is heading northward on US 1? ARTMAN: The Florida Keys has about 70,000 residents, 25,000 of those live in Key West. The evacuation will start out -- initially, we'll just use our two outbound lanes. We do have two roads in the upper Keys that go to the mainland, so those both can be used for evacuation.

No plans right now for any shutting down southbound traffic. We feel that evacuations have gone pretty smoothly in the past simply by using our northbound lanes.

WHITFIELD: What's your greatest concern right now as you continue to watch the evolution of this, what now is to be a massive, very powerful Hurricane Wilma?

ARTMAN: Well, we know that this hurricane is -- could be catastrophic, it's going to past just to the north of Key West. We're also on the bad side of the storm, the dirty side of the storm. So all indications are for nothing very good to happen to the Keys.

WHITFIELD: All right. Monroe County Emergency Management System public information officer Greg Artman. Thank you so much. And good luck to you over the next few days.

ARTMAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Now Saddam Hussein on trial. He was combative and defiant, he even insisted he's still the president of Iraq. Hussein's first day in court to face murder and torture charges was relatively brief. A second day of trial will not come until late November. The defense convinced the judges they need more time to prepare.

Christiane Amanpour, our chief international correspondent, was in the courtroom today. I spoke with her last hour about this historic day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He was defiant in that he kept repeating that he didn't recognize the court's jurisdiction. He wasn't rude, and he did, whenever he addressed the judge, talked to him in fairly polite terms. He said, "Thank you" when he finished saying what he had to say. But he didn't give his name and profession as he was asked to do, like all defendants, to identify themselves at the very beginning.

He sat through listening to the charges, listening to the potential sentence, death sentence or life imprisonment, depending on whether they were convicted. And he also said several times that this is false, and what is built on a false base is false. In other words, I don't recognize this court. It doesn't have any legal basis. Because, he says, that the invasion by the United States was illegal, and therefore, everything that's come since, he says, that's his defense, is illegal.

One of the rare moments of color was during a recess. In fact, when the cameras were not on. The judge had called a recess to take into consideration the defense attorney's request for an adjournment, and a few other things, and the judge did ask for and did agree to the adjournment until November 28. That's when it will start up again.

But during this recess, Saddam turned around, started to talk to his co-defendants, was smiling, indicating many of them had changed. And they really had. You wouldn't recognize most of them from the way they used to look in full regime regalia. They had really changed.

He himself, when he came in this morning, to me looked a lot more demoralized, a lot frailer, tireder, than he had done -- a lot older than he had done when I saw him walk into the court for his first hearing in July of 2004.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That was Christiane Amanpour, reporting there on the Saddam Hussein trial.

The trial offered dramatic moments to a worldwide audience. Hussein engaged in a few prickly exchanges with the court. Here, he exchanges evidence that can be manufactured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADDAM HUSSEIN, DEPOSED IRAQI PRESIDENT (through translator): I'll talk to you as an Iraqi to help you get the truth to uncover those that are fake. They -- it is known that -- that sounds can be voice-overed and the court should not take them. It can listen to it to follow up and investigate further.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, let's turn to CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs, Octavia Nasr. She's been monitoring the trial all morning.

And let's talk about who was privileged to be there, those, you know, assigned by duty and those who really wanted to witness this historic event. A number of observers were there in a cordoned off area. What was their point of view?

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SR. EDITOR, ARAB AFFAIRS: Well, we didn't hear from any of those people yet. We do know many of them -- we knew, you know, what they thought before going in, you know, such as human rights groups who wanted to make sure that the trial is fair. It could be interesting to see if they thought the trial was fair.

It seems from the analysts that we heard from, it seems that the judge performed very, very well, that he showed signs of fairness throughout. First of all, you may remember in the beginning how they all complained. All the defendants complained about something, Saddam Hussein complaining that he wasn't given a paper and a pen.

The other defendants, some of them, wanted to wear their headdress and they weren't allowed. And then the judge asked for their headdresses to be brought in and allowed them to wear them.

And also, just the mere fact that the judge allowed Saddam Hussein to speak, to go on, the way he was patient with him, explaining to him that there's a procedure that they have to follow.

WHITFIELD: Because for a moment the judge did say, wait a minute, you know, you'll have another opportunity to speak. And Saddam Hussein insisted, no, I've got a few words. And he did allow him to go forward.

NASR: He did. He did. He was very patient.

So from the point of view of many observers, this judge showed signs of fairness. He showed that he can perhaps, you know, preside over this trial in a fair way. Because that was a big question going into this trial.

And again, this judge is a Kurd, and the Kurds were massacred under Saddam Hussein. So many people were fearing revenge. So it was very important today to look for clues as to, first of all, how Saddam Hussein is going to behave. And of course we saw that he's going to behave the same way everybody expected him to behave, which is hijack the courtroom and use every opportunity to open his mouth to create drama and go on and challenge the court. And also, it was a test for the judge to show if he's going to be able to rule fairly here.

WHITFIELD: Is anyone reading into the tone of this trial that perhaps the outcome is inevitable because there's so much pressure for people to see that this man pays for these crimes? And the majority of the Iraqi people and the worldwide community also seemed to believe that there's no reason for him to be found not guilty.

NASR: Yes, there is a widespread belief that Saddam Hussein is going to be found guilty, that Saddam Hussein will face the death penalty. It doesn't seem like that is a questionable issue on anybody's minds at this point.

WHITFIELD: Which is why his attorneys are arguing, how could he possible get a fair trial?

NASR: Well, the other thing is, it's a system. You know, you have to think, this system is very interesting.

It's very different from the system that we use here in the United States. The mere fact that they went to court, that means the investigative judges found enough evidence to charge him with, that means now it's -- the burden of proof is on him and his lawyers to prove that he's innocent, him and the seven men along with him.

So that whole system creates the impression that this man is guilty until proven innocent, not innocent until proven guilty.

WHITFIELD: Octavia Nasr, thanks so much.

NASR: Any time.

WHITFIELD: We'll talk more about it.

For more on the issues in the trial, log on to CNN.com/Saddam. That's CNN.com/Saddam. There you'll have a bio on Saddam Hussein, a detailed list of the charges he faces, and a timeline of key tribunals in history. That's CNN.com/Saddam.

A look now at what's happening "Now in the News."

A roadside bomb hit a U.S. Army patrol in Iraq, killing one soldier. It happened late last night just south of Baghdad. Two other American troops were wounded.

A leading British newspaper says its Baghdad correspondent has gone missing in Iraq. Thirty-three-year-old Rory Carroll is a correspondent for the London based "Guardian" newspaper. The paper issued a statement saying Carroll is thought to have been kidnapped by a group of armed men.

A weakened dam is still taunting residents of Taunton, Massachusetts. The water has been receding, but it is still higher than normal, and the dam could still give way. Thousands remain away from their homes. The mayor of this city south of Boston calls the situation extremely volatile.

"New York Times" reporter Judith Miller is on Capitol Hill this morning. Miller, you may recall, spent time in jail, 85 days in all, recently, rather than revealing her sources in the CIA leak investigation. Miller is pushing for a law shielding journalists from revealing confidential sources.

And an update on a breaking story from yesterday. Traffic is flowing again through two Baltimore tunnels. One was shut down and the other partially closed for about two hours yesterday after a security threat.

A senior U.S. official tells CNN that the threat information originated in the Netherlands. Counterterrorism officials say they do not believe that threat was credible.

History was made in Baghdad today as Saddam Hussein's trial began. While the trial is now on hold, we'll hear from someone who knows exactly what it was like living under Saddam's rule.

The reporter at the center of the CIA leak story is on Capitol Hill to push for a reporter's shield law, as I mentioned. Will her plea fall on deaf ears?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An order of beignets and chicory-laced cafe au lait, please, at the Cafe Du Monde. That's what they're serving again.

The New Orleans landmark reopened today for the first time. And you see some of the distinguished guests there, including none other than the New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin. Just a short time ago he talked to our John King about the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: You know, the response from the citizens that I've seen both here in shelters around the state, and around the country is mixed. I mean, some people are still grieving and in stress about the tragedy.

The closer you get to the city and some of the areas that have been cleaned up, and people are living and working, people feel better. In some of the other areas where they're still dealing with the tragedy, it's a different perspective. They appreciate what's been done, but they're still going through the cycle.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There must be some frustration. Some people even saying, here we go again, like the days immediately after the storm. When they see you say you're working on a plan, the governor says she's working on a plan, there are people in Washington say they're working on a plan, why can't everybody get in one room? Is the distrust so bad that you can't all get in one room and have one plan so there's not confusion?

NAGIN: I don't think if it's distrust. I think that there is lots of energy out there about how do we do this, how do we get it going? There's not a full -- in my opinion, not a full realization of the challenge in front of us.

Eighty percent of this city took on water. And there's a lot of anxiousness, and there's also politics involved.

But we are coming together. Look, I'm talking to the governor on a regular basis. I was in Washington yesterday. I met with all our congressional leaders.

I've offered to the governor a seat on my commission, she's offered me a seat on her commission. We've exchanged seats.

I've offered the city council a seat on the commission. Oliver Thomas is currently sitting, but it's his designee. He is charged with going out and talking to all the other council members and the legislators about which committees they want to serve on.

He hasn't done it yet, but that's his charge. OK? So I'm trying everything I can to bring people in and get some of the negatives out.

KING: You talk about a process like that, and then we spoke to a lot of the businesses here who say, sure, Cafe Du Monde, maybe, but a lot of the other businesses, no temporary housing. They can't people back to live in the city until -- and they say everyone has a competing plan.

The talk doesn't seem to do that much good.

NAGIN: I don't see that. I mean, at the end of the day, the city of New Orleans basically authorizes sites for temporary housing. We authorized two weeks ago about enough space for 4,000 homes. I've got another 5,000 spaces available. We're in the process of identifying all adjudicated properties that we could put -- if it's a lot -- we can put temporary housing on. It's coming, but it's going to take time. And it's complicated by the fact that FEMA has to move the trailers in as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Mayor Ray Nagin. Cafe Du Monde sustained only minor damage. There was no flooding there, but it will be a while before business is completely back to normal. A curfew still remains in effect throughout New Orleans, and only about a third of the employees at Cafe Du Monde have been able to make it back to work.

We'll have more on Hurricane Wilma later on in the show. We'll hear from the hurricane center on Wilma's expected path when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. is moving into a new phase in Iraq. This morning, she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the U.S. will begin sending in joint diplomatic military teams.

And in a moment, we're going to get a taped statement that came from President Bush as it relates to the national report card. He's now with the education secretary, Margaret Spellings. Let's listen in.

(VOICE OVER):

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As to whether or not they've got the capacity to read and write and subtract in fourth and eight grade, this is an encouraging report it. And thank you for coming, Madame Secretary, because it shows there is an achievement gap in America that is closing that minority students, particularly in fourth grade math and fourth grade reading, are beginning to catch up with their Anglo counterparts. And that's positive and that's important.

It shows that a system that measures and focuses on every child is a system that can help us achieve a goal that we really want in America. And that is every child learning to read, and no child -- add and subtract -- and no child being left behind.

This is an important yardstick, it's an important measuring tool that allows states to compare how they're doing with their neighboring states, for example. It also points up where we've got more work to do.

We've got work to do in eighth grade reading, and that's why we've discussed a program, striving readers program. We hope Congress finds the program to make sure that there is an intense focus in the middle schools in reading and math, just like there is an intense focus in the early grades in reading and math.

And so, Madame Secretary, thanks for coming. I appreciate you delivering the report. No Child Left Behind is working.

MARGARET SPELLINGS, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Thank you, Mr. President.

BUSH: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And shortly after commenting about that national report card, President Bush was also asked about his lead strategist, Karl Rove, in the ongoing CIA leak case, and whether the special prosecutor will indeed be announcing any indictments if Karl Rove's name is on the list. And the president, of course, issued his standard "no comment" because of its ongoing investigation.

Meantime, when we come back, we're going to go to the National Hurricane Center, which will be giving an update on Hurricane Wilma, now a Category 5.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This information just into CNN. Confirmation hearings for Supreme court nominee Harriet Miers have been set, according to two congressional sources that are giving this information to our Ed Henry.

The date now, November 7 for confirmation hearings to begin for the Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. And Senator Arlen Specter is expected to have a news conference on this very announcement at 2:00 Eastern. And we'll be covering that for you here on CNN.

Other stories "Now in the News."

Right now, bird flu alert in Russia. The agriculture ministry says it's confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain in chickens south of Moscow. Hundreds of birds have died in the region about 160 miles south of the capital. Officials plan to kill all 3,000 chickens on farms in the area. A local village has been quarantined.

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