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American Morning

Severe Flooding; Flooding Fears; Gaza Incursion; Al Qaeda Arrest; U.S. Spy Satellites; Minding Your Business

Aired June 28, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exclusive look at an agency that designs America's spy satellites, coming up.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And the homeless cable guy is what he calls himself, pushing the limits in a state that's known for tolerance.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

The days of often torrential rain may finally be over, but waterlogged Mid Atlantic states still dealing with the horrible aftermath this morning. Forecasters say the heaviest rain has now moved to New York and New England, and the flooding remains a major concern all up and down the East Coast. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho joining us now from the newsroom with the overview.

Alina, good morning.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning to you, especially in New York this morning. If you're waking up on the East Coast, you're wake up probably to a very big mess. Emergency shelters are open all across the region today with flash flood warnings and mandatory evacuations the order of the day.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it was just coming in everywhere.

CHO, (voice over): From Virginia to New England, much of the Aid Atlantic under water this morning. Days and days of heavy rain swamping home, turning basements into muddy pool and creating havoc for travelers. Flood warnings and states of emergency are posted up and down the East Coast. Across the region, police are warning residents to evacuate, like here in Pennsylvania. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See anybody from the city down here helping out? No. They come down, tell everybody they got to evacuate.

CHO: But many of those people aren't going anywhere. Instead, they're doing whatever it takes to stop the rising waters. In New York state, major highways are being shut down. The high water making travel just too dangerous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my years here, this is the worst I've ever seen. And I've been here 35 years.

CHO: There is hope on the horizon. The rains are tapering off from the south, but the cleanup is only beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO:: What a mess. Well, some of that cleanup may have to wait just a little bit longer. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell says he expects to still see major flooding throughout the eastern part of the state, Mile, both today and well into tomorrow.

MILES O'BRIEN: Alina Cho in the newsroom, thank you very much.

About 2,200 residents in Rockville, Maryland, evacuated overnight. That's about 25 miles northwest of Washington. The evacuations were ordered after engineers found water leaking from an earthen dam.

Also this morning, the search resuming for two teens presumed drowned in a fast-rising creek in that part of the world. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken joining us from Rockville at the middle school where police have set up a communications center.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the dam itself, the area around that dam, which was really a lake which has been seeping, Lake Needwood, that area is inaccessible. But we've been able to get some aerial pictures to show what has happened. There has been a leak in that and it affects the Rock Creek area, the famous Rock Creek area that meanders from Maryland down through the District of Columbia and into Virginia.

It's overflowed. They had to do their evacuations overnight. They've brought down the figure a little bit to 2,200 people approximately who were ordered out of their homes. Ninety of them refused to leave, by the way. And this could get even big except for the fact that there is a prediction now that the weather is going to continue to improve. And, as a matter of fact, this area is drying out, but not before these torrential rains have left some probable tragedy in their wake.

There is an effort now in the area that is north of us, in Frederick County, to look for two boys who are missing, two teenagers, who went by a creek that was swollen and they haven't been seen since. To the south and west in Virginia, a little eight-year-old girl is missing. There was also an accident back in Maryland where three people were rescued from their car when flooding suddenly overtook it. They were picked up by somebody in a pickup truck, but then the rushing waters swept them away.

So this has become tragic. It has also become horrendously inconvenient. We've all been reporting for days now about the disruptions in transportation, both on the highways and the metropolitan area, rapid transit system. In addition to which many of the government building, the Internal Revenue Service, for one, have had to pump water out. But hopefully things are going to get back to normal. Hopefully, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Rockville, thank you.

Chad Myers is at the CNN Center. He is our severe weather expert. He's looking at where things are headed this morning.

Chad, I heard someone say, maybe from the weather service, that this storm that hit D.C. was a once in 300-year event?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, the more you look at the people who have lived in D.C. a long time. I know a couple of them that have been there 50 years working for the Weather Service and they say they've never seen anything like it.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Major escalation of tension between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza today. Israeli tanks and troops moving in to southern Gaza this morning. They say their objective is to free a captured Israeli soldier and not to reoccupy the Gaza Strip. Let's get right to CNN's John Vause. He's live for us in Gaza this morning.

John, good morning.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

There is a dangerous new complication for the Israelis. A short time ago on Israeli television, Palestinian militants held up the copy of the identification papers of an 18-year-old Jewish settler from the West Bank. Eliyahu Asheri has been missing since Sunday night. Palestinian militants say he is their prisoner and he will be executed unless Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza.

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VAUSE, (voice over): This is not the all-out offensive Israel had threatened. Only first stage. Israeli forces have dug in around the southern city of Rafah, the area where it's believed 19-year-old Gilad Shalit is begin held hostage.

The attack began in the dead of night. Air strikes on Gaza's only power station set it ablaze, cutting electricity to most of the coastal strip. While Israeli fighter jets bombed two bridges, effectively leaving Gaza cut in two.

"This was the last bridge that connected the north and south," says this man. "There is no connection now. Ambulances cannot pass. Even firemen cannot pass. Nothing at all can reach anyplace."

And that's the immediate goal of Operation Summer Rain. Israeli officials say the order was given after intelligence reports suggested the hostage-takers may attempt to smuggle the Israeli corporal to Egypt. With diplomatic efforts led by a team from Egypt now all but over, Israel warns this military operation could soon escalate.

SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI VICE PREMIER: The moment that the soldier will be released, everything will stop. And the can return to normal life. So they, too, have to decide which way they're going.

VAUSE: Gilad Shalit was kidnaped over the weekend in a deadly raid that began underground. Early Sunday morning, Shalit and several other Israeli soldiers were stationed near the Gaza border.

According to reports, seven or eight Palestinians militants entered Israel through a secret tunnel. When they emerged, the attackers were nearly 1,000 feet into Israel and close to the army outpost. The Palestinians opened fire on the soldiers. Two Israelis and three militants were killed and Shalit was taken hostage.

The military wing of Hamas, the militant party that governs the Palestinians, has claimed responsibility for kidnapping Shalit, but the orders seem to be coming from outside Gaza. In particular, from the Hamas political director. The hard-line Khaled Mashaal, exiled in Damascus.

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VAUSE: Despite this military offensive, there seemed to have been no casualties on either side, with Israeli forces reporting little resistance from Palestinian militants.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: John Vause for us this morning. John, thanks.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: In Iraq, security forces say they've caught a key terror leader responsible for the bombing of a major Shiite shrine in February. That bombing sparked a wave of sectarian violence. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson live from Baghdad with more.

Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

While Iraqi officials say they have captured a Tumisian (ph) foreign fighter in Iraq who was involved in that attack on the shrine in Samarra back in February, they say he played an active role. Abu Hadim al-Chuni (ph), they call him. The Iraqi officials say that he was part of a combined foreign fighter operation four days ago to attacking an Iraqi outpost.

The official said that all those foreign fighters, 15 of them, were killed in that attack apart from al-Chuni. Al-Chuni was captured, interrogated and he's revealed that he was part of the cell that attacked the shrine in Samarra. Bt Iraqi officials do conceded that the leader of that particular cell is Hythem al-Abadi (ph), is still at large and he's tied to al Qaeda in Iraq.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Nic, let's talk about the role of these foreign fighters. Do you detect at all any sense of a backlash among Iraqis? Talk referring back to the killing of Zarqawi and now the arrest of another foreign fighter. What do average Iraqis say about this? Those sectarian hatreds are very real there among them, aren't they?

ROBERTSON: The sectarian fears are very real. A lot of the foreign fighters here, al Qaeda's operation in particular, is focused at driving a wedge between the sectarian communities here, between the Sunnis and the Shias. And that is something that the government is doing its best as part of the national reconciliation plan to put an end to by highlighting this capture of al-Chuni. They're trying to show that they are making inroads there.

Iraqis are very concerned about any outside forces, any outsiders coming in to Iraq and getting involved in the fight here. They are very concerned about foreign fighters coming in and fighting close to their towns. But there are places where, and this was seen with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, where through fear they can intimidate the local population. The population can't do anything to oust them from their areas.

But, typically, the foreign fighter force is much smaller than the other parts of the insurgency, perhaps making up only 10 percent of it. But it is that part that's really trying to make that huge sectarian divide. And we heard reports just this week from the U.N., saying that about 150,000 people are displaced in the country because of that attack in Samarra.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson in Baghdad, thank you very much.

A proposed constitutional ban on flag burning goes down to defeat. Senate leaders from both parties say the amendment was not necessary. So why was it debated in the first place? We'll ask the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, about that one.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Also a CNN exclusive. We're going to take you inside one of America's secretive spy satellite labs. Show you how America's eyes and ears in space really work.

MILES O'BRIEN: Plus, a homeless man testing the boundaries of free speech. Outrage over his cable TV show. We'll tell you about that when AMERICAN MORNING continues. Stay with us.

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visiting Afghanistan this morning on her way to the G-8 Summit in Russia. She met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Some European leaders recently have questioned Karzai's ability to lead.

Just one day after jogging with an amputee war veteran, President Bush is going to meet with other military personnel recently back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Then he's going to head to a Republican fund- raiser in St. Louis. Nice to see the two out there. We're going to talk to that young man a little bit later this morning.

In Brownsville, Texas, Private First Class Christian Menchaca will be buried today with a purple heart and a bronze star. The other U.S. soldier abducted and killed in Iraq, Private Thomas Tucker, is going to be buried on Saturday in Oregon.

MILES O'BRIEN: In Nevada, a state of emergency. More than 1,000 firefighters trying to contain several fires sparked by lightning. The fires have burned about 80,000 acres right now.

Congress trying to make the Internet safer for kids. The House, Energy and Commerce subcommittee holding a hearing this afternoon. Vice presidents from myspace.com and facebook.com set to testify.

A tense, uncertain shuttle countdown beginning today at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Shuttle Discovery poised for the second flight after the loss of Columbia. The mission -- to fly over the objections of NASA's chief engineer and safety officer and the sudden reassignment of a key engineer and astronaut at Houston. CNN will have live coverage of the launch and, of course, I'll be on hand at Cape Canaveral. That is Saturday at 3:49 Eastern Time weather permitting.

There's a new eye in the sky this morning. The latest American spy satellite launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base while you were sleeping. National Security Correspondent David Ensor got exclusive access to the place where they build satellites like these, the spy agency that runs them. He joins us live with the first of his exclusive two-part series on America's spy satellites.

David, hard to get access to this particular place, isn't it?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right. And the National Reconnaissance Office, Miles, very, very seldom allows a reporter inside its doors. But we did get a look.

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ADMIRAL VICTOR SEA, NAVY: I'd much rather be putting my flight suit on.

ENSOR, (voice over): Navy Admiral Victor Sea (ph) is suiting up to take us into the clean room at a low profile facility in California for a rare look at a government satellite under construction. The suits keep tiny particles on clothes from contaminating the satellites complex electronics.

It's a good size, isn't it.

SEA: It's about four stories tall when all put together and deployed in space.

ENSOR: Is that part of it as well?

SEA: That is. That is the spinning section.

ENSOR: This relay satellite is designed to capture pictures and signals from the nation's spy satellites and transmit them to ground stations.

Officials won't give a precise number, but there are currently between 15 and 20 U.S. intelligence satellites up there in orbit. They are the nation's eyes and ears in space.

The National Reconnaissance Office design, builds and runs satellites that track everything from North Korean missiles and Iran secret nuclear facilities, to individual al Qaeda fugitive high in the Pakistani-Afghan mountains.

Just how good are they? Government officials won't say. Only outside experts will give you an estimate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The really good ones, the high resolution ones, can see details as small as four inches from over 100 miles away.

ENSOR: They are good, but the NRO director says Hollywood, "Enemy of the State" to Tom Clancy movies, has completely exaggerated what they can do.

DONALD KERR, NRO DIRECTOR: One of the biggest misconceptions is the idea that we can put a satellite over some point on the earth and keep it there. The laws of physics are, in fact, immutable.

ENSOR: In fact, each satellite has only minutes to photograph an intelligence target. That's why the U.S. has a constellation of spy satellites amongst its many civilian ones. So do the Russians and the rest of the world. Then there are the inactive satellites out there and the space junk. To avoid collisions, the new relay satellite will use its red boosters with their big silver fuel balls.

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ENSOR: NRO officials say every spy satellite they have is working flat out in the post 9/11 world. They're working to develop new types that can't be seen by adversaries and others that can identify what's going on even underground.

Miles. MILES O'BRIEN: You know what's interesting in recent year, David, is the amount of satellite imagery that is available to all of us. Tremendous capability. And while it isn't four inches and hundreds of miles away like they describe in your piece there, it still is tremendous. Does that concern them at all? The amount of commercially available material that's out there?

ENSOR: Well, it's both a challenge and an opportunity, Miles. U.S. intelligence actually buys a lot of that commercial imagery. And for things that don't have to be down to four inches, it's quite useful for them to look at trends, to keep an eye on things. So it saves then to allow the national security satellite, the really good ones, to do the tough work. So it's actually an opportunity. But, yes, that's true, adversaries can buy that commercial imagery, too. So the world is changing around us quickly, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Or find it for free on Google.

ENSOR: That's right.

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, David Ensor. That's just part one. Tomorrow, part two of his fascinating series. David will look at the role of spy satellites in a post-9/11 world driven by human intelligence. And how safe are these satellites from being potentially shot down? We're talking "Star Wars" there.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, will joins us. We're talking about the constitutional ban on flag burning. It failed by a narrow margin. Opponents called it an election year distraction. We'll ask him about that.

Plus, Andy is "Minding Your Business." A little good news for drivers who are looking for a new car? That's ahead. Stay with us.

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Looks like GM is bringing back a popular incentive program. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

This may be a case of good for consumer but bad for GM employees and bad for GM shareholders. We will see. GM saying that U.S. car sales will fall in 2006 compared to 2005 and perhaps it follows, then, that the company is saying it will lower prices on models this year. No interest loans on Chevy, Buick, Pontiacs and GMC. We don't like to say zero percent financing because there's no such a thing as zero percent. So we're calling it . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: It's a mathematical issue. Andy has a problem with this. Zero percent is like not a . . .

SERWER: Yes. No interest loans we call it, but a lot of people say 0 percent financing. They probably will not do employee pricing for everyone, like Chrysler is doing, but instead do these incentives.

MILES O'BRIEN: You know, it seems to me, when you talk about incentives, a good incentive would be to make cars people want to buy. Just a thought. Just a thought.

SERWER: Well, that would probably work. Well, listen, hope springs eternal. The 2007 models are on their way to showrooms in a couple months.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll see.

SERWER: Other auto news. Of course, we've been telling you about the big round of buyouts that GM and Delphi, the giant parts company, went through. The deadline was on Friday. And 47,600 auto workers accepted the buyout offer at those two companies.

Now here's from the department of be careful what you wished for. You might have guessed this was coming. Delphi is now hiring temps. Twelve thousand, six hundred employees took the buyout package. Now they have to go out and get 2,000 temps because too many people took the offer.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Happens all the time.

SERWER: Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And how many of those people do you think took the buyout and are now going to apply for temp jobs?

SERWER: But they might not want to do that. First of all, they may or may not be aloud to do that. But listen to this, Soledad, the temps will be making $14 an hour versus the auto workers who were making $27 an hour.

MILES O'BRIEN: There you go.

SERWER: That's number one. And you best believe those temps don't have anywhere near the kind of benefits, if any benefits, that the auto workers had who took the packages. So really some intriguing stuff there in Detroit in that part of the country, I think.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, next segment, what you got?

SERWER: We're going to be talking about Larry Ellison and his pledge to Harvard University. And we have the bottom line.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: My alma mater.

SERWER: Will he or will he not . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Are they giving the money or not? SERWER: Give over the $100 million? You're going to have to stay tuned to the program later on to find out. Coming up pretty soon though.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Gosh, I hope the answer is, yes, he is.

SERWER: You've got to stay tuned, Soledad.

MILES O'BRIEN: Like they need it. Like they need the dough. The biggest endowment in creation.

All right, thank you very much.

SERWER: It's a matter of principle.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you.

Coming up, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will be our guest. We'll get his take on the failure of that proposed constitutional ban on desecrating the flag.

Plus this . . .

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cable access gives me the power to reach people that I normally wouldn't even come close to reaching.

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And he may be homeless, but he has a show on cable TV. His message, however, is testing the boundaries of free speech. We'll look at why some folks are upset. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e- mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING Quick News at cnn.com/am.

Sill to come this morning, how would you like a little kiss from that pooch? Why is his tongue like that? Kind of stuck on the side there. This dog may not be much to look at, but the puppy is the big winner this morning. We'll tell you why. Why is his tongue like to? That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

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