Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Heat: Human Toll; Heat: Power Toll; Crisis In The Middle East; Securing Iraq; Concern Over Castro

Aired August 03, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House briefing room is going under the knife, so to speak. We'll tell you what's happening there.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You read that well.

Also, mystery in the sky over central Texas. A momentary flash of light leading to a lot of unanswered questions.

All this and a whole lot more on AMERICAN MORNING.

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez. I'm going to be sitting in for Miles today and tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: Thanks. Good, we like having you. Thanks for being with us.

SANCHEZ: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: It is hot, hot, hot. If you're on the east coast, don't need to tell you that. We can stand one more day of this scorcher. Chad says there will be some relief coming tonight.

The mercury is going to hit 90 degrees in Boston. A heat advisory in effect for most of Massachusetts. In New York we're expecting 96 degrees.

Energy demands, of course, are just being pushed to the max. Some 7,000 customers around here in the tri-state area are without power. Philadelphia is heading for 98 degrees. Heat in the city of brotherly love is certainly testing patience and testing air conditioners, too.

And then, in Washington, D.C., the temperature there is going to hit 100 degrees today. An excessive heat warning is in effect until this evening. Chad says relief is on the way, and not a moment too soon. It's hard to get through the day when it feels like an oven outside. Some people, though, are finding ways to beat the heat. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oppressive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brutal is a good word. Yes, brutal. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hot. It's really hot.

O'BRIEN: From the Mississippi on east, swelter is the name of the game and people are doing their best to deal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just take a shower like three times a day.

O'BRIEN: The oppressive heat is taking its toll on commuters, desperately trying to keep their cool above and below ground. One young woman passed out on a Boston subway train, while an elderly passenger needed a collective fanning from her fellow strap-hangers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stopped at every station with the doors open for about 10, 15 minutes each station. So no wonder why people are dropping. Open doors, 100 degrees. It's hot as hell in there.

O'BRIEN: At Boston's south station, some passengers needed oxygen and a blood pressure check, and their final destination was a hospital emergency room. A commuter train out of Washington didn't make it much past Union Station before breaking down, leaving passengers stuck on the tracks with no A/C.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We sat on that train for almost an hour and a half.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hot. You couldn't breathe. I mean it was just dead air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was hotter on the train than it was outside.

O'BRIEN: Commuters stepping off buses in Newark may have been dripping wet, but they were happy to see people handing out bottles of ice cold water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here, shut your air conditioner off!

O'BRIEN: In New York, residents of a Harlem high-rise were hot and bothered about the building's elevators being shut down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have asthma. I can't walk up 29 flights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are we supposed to do, sit out here all night with a baby and little kids? That's not right.

O'BRIEN: While forecasters say it will be another day of intense heat before the cavalry comes in in the form of a cold front, there's still a record demand for power and for patience.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm burning up. It's ridiculously hot here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my first day on a new job and I have to wear a new suit on the hottest day of the year. How's that?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Sounds pretty angry about that.

High temperatures were also straining the power grids. No real surprise there. Other infrastructure as well. CNN's Allan Chernoff sweating it out for us this morning on the west side of Manhattan.

Hey, Allan, good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

A your story really told everything. The misery index is simply off the charts, especially for guys working behind me -- construction. Boy, in a couple of hours, they are going to be steaming. But the suffering is not only for the public here, it's also for the infrastructure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF, (voice over): The power system on fire, literally. Record electricity transmission in near record heat has been frying New York City power lines, both underground and above.

ROCCO DIRICCO, QUEENS RESIDENT: The whole thing. The whole wire from that pole to that pole lit up in flames.

CHERNOFF: At least one utility worker was overcome by heat Wednesday. Two others were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. By mid-afternoon, about 4,000 of Con Edison's customers were without power. Just two weeks after tens of thousands of New Yorkers had suffered a nine-day blackout. New York's mayor begged for conservation.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: If we want to keep the power going, we're all just going to have to conserve. I've done it in my house. Please, I cannot stress it enough, do it in yours.

CHERNOFF: In Stamford, Connecticut, a power transformer failed, forcing stores and the University of Connecticut campus to shut down. In Boston, the heat threatened tracks on the city's transit system, forcing some trains to travel at only 10 miles an hour. In New Jersey, more than 2,000 residents were left without power.

Throughout the northeast, businesses and government offices tried to conserve power. Morgan Stanley darkened its Time Square ticker tape. And NYU Medical Center used its own generator to ease the power load.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: Even with those efforts, new records were set for power usage in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. And overnight, 16,000 customers in those three states had to do without power. Certainly not pleasant, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Oh, that's just brutal. That is just way too hot for that. As you've been saying, it's really unsafe. Allan Chernoff. Of course, we'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning to see how you're sweating it out there on the upper west side. Thanks, Allan.

Rick.

SANCHEZ: Now let's get the numbers. A forecast from Chad Myers. He's at the CNN Center with the very latest on the weather update. And I suppose just how hot it's going to get would be the appropriate question about now.

Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Well, much more on the heat and ways to stay safe. The director of the Centers for Disease Control is going to join us in the next hour. She's going to have a live interview with us right here, explaining the situation across the country.

And now we take you to the Middle East where Israeli bombs are once again falling in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Warplanes are targeting the Hezbollah stronghold as dozens of Katyusha rockets continue to head back toward northern Israel. Anthony Mills has been following all of this. He's in Beirut following the very latest there and he joins us now.

Good morning, Anthony.

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rick.

The calm of a few days now in Beirut, at least a lull in aerial bombardment, was shattered last night with a series of loud explosions that reverberated across the city. Again, the target of those aerial attacks was the southern suburbs, the Hezbollah stronghold, part of Beirut that has been pounded throughout the course of this conflict resulting in widespread damage. There were also strikes in the east of the country, in the Bekaa Valley, and also in the north where a bridge was reportedly destroyed, cutting yet another road northward from Beirut to Syria. Also a transport road.

And on another front, the fuel crisis that we've been seeing emerging here is intensifying. There are increased lines in front of gas stations. The gas attendants are limiting the amount that motorists are able to put in their vehicles. And indeed also some reports of price rises.

Meanwhile, there are two ships off the coast of Lebanon, we're told by the ministry for public works and transport, but they are awaiting a Lebanese government decision on insurance. They have the green light from the Israeli government, but they need insurance, they say. This according to Lebanon's public works and transport ministry. And, therefore, there may be further delay and a further prolongation of the fuel crisis.

Rick. SANCHEZ: Anthony Mills following that story for us from Beirut. Meanwhile, Israeli troops are battling Hezbollah fighters in several areas of southern Lebanon. CNN's Matthew Chance is reporting to us from the latest on this. He's in northern Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's been a great deal of fierce fighting underway across the border here into Lebanon from Israel. In the south of Lebanon, of course, thousands of Israeli ground troops have been deployed as Israel widens its operations there. The attempt is trying to establish a broad strip of territory between Israel and Lebanon that the Israeli troops can clear of Hezbollah activities.

They're really striking hard at Hezbollah strongholds there. They're trying to degrade what they call the infrastructure, the tunnels, the fortresses, the bunkers that have been built by the Lebanese militia over the course of the past six years since Israel ended its occupation of southern Lebanon. Once they establish that strip of land, the intention, according to Israeli military officials, is to hold onto it, to protect the people of Israel from Hezbollah attacks until such times as a multi-national force can be agreed and then deployed on the ground to take over from the Israeli military, at which point we're hearing that from the Israeli officials that Israeli troops will withdraw back into Israel.

In the meantime, still a great deal of Katyusha rocket strikes on Israeli towns and cities across its north coming from southern Lebanon, from Hezbollah positions. Dozens standing over the course of this day. It seems that even as this ground operation continues and intensifies -- you can hear the artillery going off behind me -- but even as that intensifies, Hezbollah is still able to strike at towns and cities across Israel.

Matthew Chance, CNN, on the Israeli/Lebanese border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: In Iraq, four police and four civilians are dead after a gun battle happened 20 miles south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, Iraq's president is saying that Iraqi forces will take control of security for all of Iraq by the end of the year. Let's get right to CNN's Harris Whitbeck. He's live for us in Baghdad.

Good morning, Harris.

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Civilians continue to be targets of the violence across Iraq. Not even kids at play are exempt from the risk of being attacked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITBECK, (voice over): This time, the bombs targeted children as an afternoon soccer game was underway in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad when two bombs exploded inside the soccer field. More than a dozen people, including three young soccer players under the age of 15, were killed. A dozen more were wounded.

Earlier in the day, another bombing in the capital once again targeted Iraqi day laborers. Two bombs, hidden in a plastic bag, went off as they waited on a corner for work, killing at least three. As the wounded in that bombing were taken to a nearby hospital, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was saying in a press conference, he is confident his own country's troops will be in charge of security operations in the entire country by the end of the year and that the coalition would take a back seat.

PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI, IRAQ, (through translator): The role of multi-national forces is to help Iraqi armed forces. And the Iraqi armed forces, God willing, will take over the security by the end of the year in all of the Iraqi provinces gradually.

WHITBECK: Little by little is what the U.S. has in mind. A senior U.S. official in Baghdad told CNN the focus now is on training and equipping the Iraqi army and police force. And that that process would have to be completed before full control of Iraq's provinces is relinquished.

There are nearly 270,000 members of the Iraq's army and the national police force, but only 50,000 of them are actually engaged on the battlefield, mostly in Baghdad. U.S. military commanders say they hope to have at least half of the Iraqi army's 10 battalions taking the lead in battle operations by the end of September. Meanwhile, the U.S. is actually increasing its troop presence in the Iraqi capital. More than 3,700 Army troops will be redeployed from the northern city of Mosul to crack down on growing violence in Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITBECK: U.S. military officials say the battle for Baghdad is the most crucial one being waged. They say the continued violence in the capital is preventing Iraqi government officials from taking a look at more long-range planning issues. And they say the situation in the capital, Soledad, is as uncertain as they've ever seen.

O'BRIEN: It's terrible, terrible news there. Harris Whitbeck for us this morning. Harris, thanks. He's in Baghdad.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, Cuban President Fidel Castro's sister is speaking out about her estranged brother's health problems and revealing some new information.

O'BRIEN: And this is your final look at the White House briefing room. It's undergoing renovations. Suzanne Malveaux has a little soft spot in her heart for that room. We're going to have a little White House trivia.

First, though, there's this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then all of a sudden just this ball of fire just going through the sky. I mean it was just like -- I mean we both just sat there going, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: What was it? What was that mysterious sight in the skies over Texas?

SANCHEZ: Oh my gosh.

O'BRIEN: We'll take a look, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Happening this morning.

It's going to be another day of oppressive heat in the eastern U.S. The National Weather Service is posting heat warnings from Massachusetts to South Carolina and parts of Oklahoma, too. A cool front is expected to move into the northeast later tonight.

Tropical Storm Chris becoming less of a threat. The storm's getting weaker as it moves through the eastern Caribbean. Forecasters no longer think it's going to become the first hurricane of the season.

Israeli air strikes pounded a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut today. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to diffuse the Mideast crisis go on. The U.N. Security Council could consider a resolution on Lebanon as early as today.

And reversing an earlier decision. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld now plans to testify on Iraq today. Secretary Rumsfeld sparked outrage from some lawmakers when he initially said he was too busy to speak to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

People in south central Minnesota cleaning up today after a round of violent storms. Tornadoes touched down, flattening everything in sight. Look at these pictures. So far, though, there are no reports of any injuries.

And a pretty mysterious sight in the skies over central Texas. People described a fireball streaking by and now even some say the object broke into little pieces. At least one amateur astronomer thinks it was a meteor fireball. Some people are speculating, though, it was space junk re-entering the atmosphere.

Where's Miles when we need him on this story?

SANCHEZ: Exactly. He would know, by golly.

S. O'BRIEN: Come on, man. Call in from vacation, Miles, we need you.

SANCHEZ: Well, still no definite word on the condition of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, though the head of Cuba's parliament told a radio station that the long-time leader was "very alive." And it is starting to appear that way, at least in terms of a collection of sources that we have been gathering. We also haven't seen his younger brother, Raul, by the way, who was temporary given control of the country. But we have heard from one other family member. CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Miami. He was able to talk to Juanita Castro. She's never been a fan of her brother's policies, but she has some interesting things to say and said them to Ed.

Ed, good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rick.

Quite an interesting life Juanita Castro has lived here in Miami since she arrived in exile here in the 1960s. As long as Fidel Castro and his brother remain out of sight, virtually everyone here in Miami convinced that something is wrong. That Fidel Castro is dead. But Juanita Castro tells me yesterday that she has spoken with friends and family that she still maintains in contact with in Cuba. And even though it's not the official line, she says she's been told that Fidel Castro was removed from the intensive care unit. And that even though he's very sick, he's doing well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA, (voice over): Fidel Castro is the headline of every conversation around Miami. But inside this modest pharmacy, that conversation is personal. It's about family. Juanita Castro has owned this business 34 years. She is Fidel Castro's estranged sister living in exile. She talks about her brother with me while customers shopped around us and the frenzy of speculation swirled outside.

Is it difficult living here among so many people who are happy to see what's happening to your brother?

JUANITA CASTRO, FIDEL CASTRO'S SISTER: First of all, we are -- the blood is - it's very strong. And if he's my brother, I am his sister, and really I feel worried about the situation that he has now.

LAVANDERA: Juanita Castro left Cuba for Mexico in 1964. A year later she moved to Miami. She says when she first arrived here, some labeled her a communist who could not be trusted. Juanita says that's changed over the years. She says she left Cuba because she disagreed with her brother's politics. But to her, blood is thicker than ideology.

You see Fidel as two different people to you, right?

CASTRO: Yes, I do. Two different people. One as a (INAUDIBLE) dictator, and the other side is my brother Fidel. And it's the same blood. And this is very strong feeling. You see, very strong feeling. I can't (INAUDIBLE).

LAVANDERA: She can't deny it, she says. But to south Florida's Cuban exiled community, Fidel Castro is an evil thug. His failing health something to be celebrated. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man who hurt my family is now getting what he deserves.

LAVANDERA: That is hard for Juanita Castro to hear. She says she understands how much Cuban exiles have suffered, but that it's still hard to watch people celebrate.

CASTRO: I am very upset about it. They show that they had last two nights ago, two days ago, and I think it's not necessary. He's not dead. He's very sick, but he's not dead.

LAVANDERA: Juanita Castro's family, like so many others, has been bitterly divided by the Cuban revolution. She's feeling the pain of realizing that her brother, who she hasn't spoken to since 1963, could die any time, and she's wondering why it had to be this way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Despite what Juanita Castro is saying,, what others are saying out of Cuba, for many of the Cubans here in Miami, still anything short of seeing Fidel Castro on at least television or making some sort of public statements in person will not convince them that he's still alive.

Rick.

SANCHEZ: That's a great get (ph), Ed. And, Ed, you know, you and I were spending some time there yesterday in Miami talking about this. But it is starting to look like, at least from consensus if nothing else, that Fidel Castro is very much hurting right now, at least physically, but that he is alive, correct?

LAVANDERA: That is everything that we've been able to get so far and really anything that we can go on here, that we were able to go with. But the frenzy of speculation is absolutely incredible here in Miami. Everyone who has a relative of someone who knows someone who worked in the hospital where Fidel was operated on has some sort of story. So these kinds of stories are circulating throughout south Florida at a rapid pace.

SANCHEZ: Yes. And sometimes it's tough to separate the wheat from the shaft. Thanks so much, Ed, for bringing us up-to-date on that. And, once again, good story.

Soledad, over to you.

O'BRIEN: Third day of heat warnings in the east. Some say relief is on the way. Chad tells us when it's going to get here.

And in Manhattan, a number of big businesses come to the rescue, cut back on energy to ease the stress on the power grid. Andy's going to tell us just how they did it. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: How is corporate America pitching in during this heat wave? Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're doing it!

O'BRIEN: Really?

SERWER: As you doubtless know, the temperatures are soaring in the northeast. And it's got to be the hottest place is the beehive that is New York City. Energy use surging during this time and companies have been asked to turn down the lights and turn up the thermostats. In Time Square, companies turning off those big signs. MTV, Morgan Stanley, Reuters turning off their tickers. Nasdaq is powering down its famed sign.

O'BRIEN: Do they use a lot of energy or is this sort of symbolic?

SERWER: They use a lot of energy. And, you know, they're mandated to use -- if you have a business in that zone, you have to build a big, neon sign.

SANCHEZ: Really?

SERWER: It's part -- yes, that's true.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

SERWER: And, you know, and some tourists got to be a little bit disappointed. But as someone pointed out to me, that's better than getting stuck in an elevator if the power went down, right?

O'BRIEN: It's 100 degrees. They're not even noticing the sign.

SERWER: Yes, that's true. Well, the Empire State Building, also the building, the top of the lights where the color -- every week are a different color. You can see that's just not the same thing. Again, I'd be a little disappointed but, you know, of course it's worth it.

The New York Stock Exchange has powered down. And our own company, Time Warner, a couple of their buildings, and you can see it around here, the lights are dimmed. Several elevator banks are off. And the temperature's a little bit higher. Not here in the studio. We're still cool here.

And here's one that's kind of funny, I think. Tiffany & Co. has turned down non-essential lighting. And I can only hope they don't mean the lights on the bling, you know, because you have those spotlights right on those diamonds and rubies.

O'BRIEN: It all looks so boring when it's not well lit.

SERWER: Yes, I'm sure they still -- that is essential lighting for Tiffany.

O'BRIEN: The ladies bathroom, no lights.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

SERWER: Got to find your way.

So I think that Mayor Bloomberg would agree that New Yorkers and New York businesses doing a very good job of trying to cope with this situation where the temperatures are hot and we're expecting some cooler temps coming up.

O'BRIEN: See him walking around in Bermuda shorts yesterday?

SERWER: Yes. That was a little bit of fashion fopa (ph) but . . .

O'BRIEN: But, you know, he's sending a message.

SERWER: Point well taken, right?

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Are there overused words at work?

SERWER: It's hard to imagine, but the bottom line, Rick, is that we're going to be talking about overused business words and phrases. This is a no-brainer coming up, at least.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Let's circle back on that a little bit later in the hour.

SERWER: Yes, we'll loop back.

O'BRIEN: OK. Great. Keep me on the same page as you're on.

SERWER: OK. Yes. All that kind of stuff.

SANCHEZ: Ahead of the curve.

SERWER: Yes, exactly.

O'BRIEN: You always are, Andy.

SERWER: Indeed.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, the summer scorcher is putting demand for power really at an all-time high. We're going to take you inside the electric utilities equivalent of air traffic control. How do they make sure everybody has enough of this stuff? They make it happen. We'll show you how.

Congressman John Murtha. He's known for being outspoken on Iraq. Well, now some of his comments could land him in court. We'll tell you why. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com