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Top U.S. General in Iraq Visits Capitol Hill; Severe Weather Damages Alabama Skate Rink

Aired November 15, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We start this hour of the CNN NEWSROOM with a developing story.
Let's head straight to Carol Lin. It is happening in Alabama, Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Montgomery Alabama.

Don, take a look at these pictures that came into the CNN Center. You wonder how anybody survived. That is what is left of an ice rink -- and inside that ice rink, shortly before a major storm struck that building, 31 preschool kid, four adults.

Now, most of that building collapsed, but, amazingly, everyone escaped relatively unharmed. However, the update is that two children suffered minor injuries, including a possible broken arm. So, that is a an update, a bit of an update, on the injuries there.

But, as I was talking with Reynolds Wolf a -- a short time ago, who's standing by at the CNN Weather Center, this is the kind of weather that you're seeing there. They haven't confirmed 100 percent yet whether it was a tornado that actually struck that building.

But look what's left of it, Don.

LEMON: It's just...

LIN: It -- it's just amazing...

LEMON: It is just...

LIN: ... anybody survived.

LEMON: ... amazing. Yes, you -- you're exactly right.

We are going to get more on this. We want to find out exactly what's happening.

Montgomery County police officer, or -- I'm -- I'm sure it's officer, or what he is with the police department, Huey Thornton.

Do I have your name correct, sir?

CAPTAIN HUEY THORNTON, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yes...

LEMON: OK.

THORNTON: ... Captain Huey Thornton.

LEMON: Captain Huey Thornton.

Captain Thornton, tell us what's going on, especially with that rink there.

THORNTON: Currently, we're providing security. As you can see, there is significant structural damage, apparently from some sort of storm-related damage.

And, like -- like you said, there were 31 children inside and four adults. And, luckily, the person in charge of those children got all of them into the only area that you can see standing. And that's basically what resulted in them getting out only about three of them with very minor injuries.

LEMON: And, sir, where were you when all this happened? Tell me what you heard and what when down, as all this was -- from your perspective.

THORNTON: Well, I was in my office.

And I heard the siren go off, the tornado siren go off. And, then, shortly afterwards, we heard -- we started hearing of damage throughout the city, obviously, in the areas where the strong winds were going through.

And -- and, then, we heard the collapse of the Fun Zone Center. So, multiple units started traveling in this direction. And, when we arrived -- and, when we arrived, this is what we saw.

At that point, it was somewhat of a busy scene, trying to determine who all was inside the building, who all had gotten out and if, in fact, there were other people left inside the building. We were able to determine, though, that everyone made it out without any significant injuries.

LEMON: Oh, Captain Huey Thornton, we're looking at those pictures. It is really amazing that no one was killed in this, as -- as we have said over and over, 31 people, most of them children, inside of that building -- and, luckily, only some minor injuries, at least what we know at this point.

Captain Thornton, thank you so much for joining us today.

THORNTON: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, you can hear the severe weather alerts popping up all over the map.

Reynolds Wolf tracking them all in the CNN Weather Center.

Reynolds, what are you looking at right now? REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're looking at this big storm system, which stretches from the Ohio Valley, southward into the Gulf Coast. Everything is drifting off to the east.

And we're not really sure, again, in Montgomery, Alabama, what exactly happened at that center. We're not sure if it was a tornado or straight-line winds, but, nevertheless, is damaging.

We're continue to see that damage in places, especially in central and south Alabama, eventually moving into Georgia -- not quite as much severity with the weather moving into the Ohio Valley, as well as portions of the -- the higher elevations, back up into, say, the central -- central Appalachians, but back out towards Saint Louis, even into central Arkansas, some scattered showers.

But the heavy stuff, again, as I mentioned, is in central Alabama, now moving up towards Atlanta. As we take you a little bit farther to the south, here's Montgomery, farther north, back on to the Florida Panhandle. Pensacola -- now strong storms developing to the north of Fort Walton Beach -- very strong wind at the same time. So, tree damage is going to be a given.

One other thing we're going to see, not only the -- the potential for some strong winds, possible tornadoes and hail, but also heavy, heavy rainfall. And therein lies also the -- the threat for some flooding.

Many places like, say, Montgomery, Tuskegee, back over to Auburn, even over to (INAUDIBLE) La Grange, the ground is saturated. They don't need any more rain. But, sure enough, many of these showers are going to pop up over the same areas that have already been inundated with plenty of rainfall.

For that very reason, the National Weather Service has posted flood watches and warnings through central, through east Alabama, into north Georgia, especially into the higher elevations of north Georgia, in places like Ellijay, where you have all that rocky soil.

And, as these storms move through, that water begins to pile up. And you're going to have some issues, not only there, but also into South Carolina, as well as extreme eastern Tennessee, and into portions of North Carolina as well.

At this time, we also have flood warnings in effect through Fulton County, northward into Roswell and not from -- Gainesville, heavy showers, some -- a few severe storms developing right along I-20 -- at this time, nothing tornadic, but, mainly, just a big rain event.

And, if you happen to be driving along I-20, maybe I-285 -- like that never happens in Atlanta, Georgia, in the afternoon -- you are going to have some issues with slick roadways and water really beginning to pond up.

So, again, just be careful. If you don't have to rush home or if you don't have to go out at all today, simply don't. Just take it easy and avoid the roadways, if at all possible -- back to you. PHILLIPS: All right, Reynolds, thanks a lot.

WOLF: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Well, when weather becomes the news, you, too, can become a CNN correspondent. All you have to do is see that severe weather happening. Send us an I-Report. Just go to CNN.com and click on I-Report or type in ireport@CNN.com on your cell phone, and share your photos or video with us. We will put it on the air.

LEMON: A difficult and divisive war oversees, new political battle lines at home -- the top U.S. general for Iraq is on Capitol Hill today. John Abizaid is getting a preview of how Democrats will take on the war when they take over Congress in January. And he's indicating they might have a fight on their hands.

Our Jamie McIntyre is watching it all from the Pentagon.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, General John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander for the Persian Gulf region, having finished his appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, now appearing before the House Armed Services Committee, along with David Satterfield, a senior adviser to the State Department, talking about Iraq policy and the way ahead.

Meanwhile, back at the Senate Armed Services Committee, the head of the CIA and the DIA, General Michael Hayden and General Maples of the DIA are testifying before those committees on -- before that committee -- on Iraq, the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other matters relating to the global war on terrorism.

The headline from Abizaid today, as he testified before the Senate, is that he basically poured cold water on the two big ideas for a possible change of course in Iraq, one of them being the idea of a phased withdrawal over the next four to six months, something advocated by many Democrats, including the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin.

The other big idea, advanced by Senator John McCain, adding more U.S. troops in the short term to stabilize the situation there, also something General Abizaid argued was not a good idea.

Here's part of his exchange about that with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL JOHN ABIZAID, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Do we need more troops? And my answer is, yes, we need more troops that are effective, that are Iraqi.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Do we need more American troops, at the moment, to quell the violence?

ABIZAID: No, I do not believe that more American troops right now is the solution to the problem. GRAHAM: Do we need less American troops?

ABIZAID: I believe that the troop levels need to stay where they are. We need to put more American capacity into Iraqi units to make them more capable in their ability to confront the sectarian problem.

GRAHAM: So, it's your testimony that we don't need any change in troop levels to get this right?

ABIZAID: It is possible that we might have to go up in troop levels in order to increase the number of forces that go into the Iraqi security forces, but I believe that's only temporary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Well, that answer caused some frustration on the part of Senator John McCain, who accused General Abizaid of advocating the status quo, something he said was unacceptable to most American people.

General Abizaid said he was not advocating the status quo. He was advocating a speed-up of the transition to Iraqi forces, essentially the same policy right now that the U.S. is pursuing, but essentially on steroids -- and, again, General Abizaid now testifying before the House, where he's also getting a grilling -- and, as we said, the CIA and D.I. director -- DIA directors testifying before the Senate -- Don.

LEMON: Jamie McIntyre, thank you, sir.

PHILLIPS: Let's go straight to the NEWSROOM -- Carol Lin working details on developing story out of L.A. It looks like a fire.

LIN: A huge fire.

PHILLIPS: Our old stomping grounds there, Carol.

LIN: Yes, southwestern Los Angeles, Kyra. You remember, it's south of downtown Los Angeles, if you keep going on the Harbor Freeway south.

And what you're looking at here is a commercial building, commercial sort of storage, an office on the first floor, and then what's being described by the city news service as apartments on the second story.

So, you can tell by the -- the smoke, the black smoke, that continues to billow out of that building that this fire is still burning strong and still burning extremely hot. We don't know the cause of that fire just yet, Kyra. But it looks like one of the streets, either 46th Street or Western Avenue, have been blocked off by fire response there -- this just dramatic flames just moments ago -- this fire only about 35 minutes old.

It was reported at about 2:30 Eastern time, about 11:30 out there, in Southern California. So, they have got their hands full, but, so far, no reports on any injuries.

PHILLIPS: All right, that's good. So, we don't know if anybody is inside or not?

LIN: No.

PHILLIPS: OK.

LIN: No.

PHILLIPS: You can see the firefighters working it from the top there.

LIN: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

LIN: It -- we are going to by the description of the local wire service, but it looked very industrial to me, in taking a look at these earlier pictures. There was a loading dock and parking lot. And the surrounding area is very industrial as well. So, who knows? It could be a loft development that's not occupied yet.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

Carol, thanks.

LIN: Mmm-hmm.

PHILLIPS: Well, if Republicans took a "thumpin'," to quote President Bush in last week's election, Lamar Alexander took a whipping today. Republican senators chose new leaders as they prepare for minority status in the 110th Congress. And the top job was easy.

But the race for number-two position, minority whip, well, it was tight. In the end, it came down to a single vote.

Our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Republicans, at least in the Senate, it seems as though they -- they decided to go back to the future. They did reelect Trent Lott to be their number two, to be the minority whip, in the Republican conference.

Now, we remember, it was four years ago that he was pushed aside by his colleagues here in the Senate and even by the president himself, because of remarks he made that were considered or viewed as racially insensitive at a birthday party for the late Senator Strom Thurmond, who was a segregationist, essentially saying that he thought Strom Thurmond should have been president.

Well, since then, Senator Lott has been in the wilderness here. He's been among the rank-and-file. But he made a -- a very stealth campaign in the last week-and-a-half to get back into the leadership. That is what has the halls here buzzing.

And Senator Lott understood that. When he came back out to the cameras, after the vote, he, though, tried to step aside, and said, this day, the spotlight should be on the man who got the number-one slot, and that is the Republican from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell.

Let's hear what he had to say.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER-ELECT: It takes 60 votes to do virtually anything only 41 votes to have the ability to negotiate or stop. Nothing will be done on a partisan basis in the Senate. It never is.

We want to work with the Democrats. Our preference is to accomplish things, rather than block things. But, of course, that's -- that's an option. So, we go into this with an upbeat attitude, and we want to cooperate and see what we can accomplish for -- for our country.

BASH: There, you hear Mitch McConnell trying to make the case that Republicans may be down, but they're not out, basically, because of the rules of the United States Senate, that Republicans may be in the minority, but they also have a lot of tools at their disposal, because Democrats really can't get anything done without 60 votes. And they only have 51 votes in the majority.

Now, the -- the other interesting dynamic here, back to the whole question of Senator Trent Lott making this comeback, is the person he beat out, Kyra. That is Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee.

And our Ted Barrett reports that, as Senator Lott was making his comments off camera, Lamar Alexander admitted that part of the reason why he got beat by one vote is because he said everybody likes a comeback. He said: I think senators, like Americans, like a comeback, and he -- meaning Senator Lott -- deserves credit for that.

So, even Lamar Alexander, who has been working on this, trying to get into the leadership for 18 months, thought -- was sure he had the votes locked up, didn't get it. And he's -- and he's saying -- he's -- even he's applauding Senator Lott for accomplishing what he did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, that was CNN's congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, up on the Hill.

LEMON: A stopover in Moscow for Air Force One -- President Bush used the occasion to squeeze in a lunch meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was officially a social call during a refueling stop on Mr. Bush's way to an economic summit in Vietnam.

But the two leaders found time to talk about the Middle East, North Korea and Iran. They will meet again this weekend on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific economic summit. Mr. Bush also will also visit Singapore and Indonesia. PHILLIPS: Confusion over captives -- was a mass kidnapping in Baghdad as massive as it first appeared? We are going to revisit the scene of the crime -- straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Oh, drenching rains, downed trees, and tornado warnings -- the latest on a stormy day all across the South, just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Free the captives, catch the captors, that's what Iraq's prime minister is vowing a day after a mass kidnapping in Baghdad.

Well, today, there's more confusion than clarity. We now know gunmen snatched dozens of men from this research institute, but we still don't know how many, nor how many have been released. That number ranges from 30 to 70, depending on who you ask. Dozens of gunmen dressed as police cordoned off the building in broad daylight and drove away with their captives. The government is still questioning some high-ranking police officers over security lapses.

More troops, fewer troops, status quo? Simple questions, but no two-word answers from the top U.S. general for Iraq testifying today on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABIZAID: Do we need more troops? And my answer is, yes, we need more troops that are effective, that are Iraqi.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Do we need more American troops, at the moment, to quell the violence?

ABIZAID: No, I do not believe that more American troops right now is the solution to the problem.

GRAHAM: Do we need less American troops?

ABIZAID: I believe that the troop levels need to stay where they are. We need to put more American capacity into Iraqi units to make them more capable in their ability to confront the sectarian problem.

GRAHAM: So, it's your testimony that we don't need any change in troop levels to get this right?

ABIZAID: It is possible that we might have to go up in troop levels in order to increase the number of forces that go into the Iraqi security forces, but I believe that's only temporary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, so, where does the war go?

With a new leader coming at the Pentagon, and Democrats poised to take control of Congress, let's bring in our military analyst, retired Brigadier General David Grange. You know, he's saying there should be troops. There shouldn't be troops. Well, maybe there should be troops to help the Iraqi troops, but it's only temporary. He's going back and forth, General.

BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Here's why.

There's three major problems. One is the rising power of the militia and disloyal Iraqi leaders. Number two is the influence from Iran. And number three is, there's not enough trained, loyal Iraqi soldiers or police.

So, the answers have to be able to support those three problems, whether they need more troops or less troops. And we can go into it from there.

PHILLIPS: Well, how do you -- all right, let's -- let's say we lay it out with those three points you just made it. It sounds like that's going to need more troops.

GRANGE: It's going to need more troops not to go in, for instance, and clear a -- a district within Baghdad. That should be the Iraqi police and military duty, with American support from behind, training and maybe advising.

But what Americans need to be used for is, one, train more Iraqi soldiers. Whether they're loyal or not, that -- that's an Iraqi problem. We can't influence that very well. And you are going to always have that problem.

PHILLIPS: But...

(CROSSTALK)

GRANGE: But more have to be trained to go in to actually let them clear these cities. You don't need to have another Fallujah with American troops as the lead.

PHILLIPS: Well, it sounds like Abizaid...

(CROSSTALK)

GRANGE: ... the Iraqi sovereign government...

PHILLIPS: Go ahead. I'm sorry, General.

GRANGE: I'm sorry.

PHILLIPS: No, I apologize.

GRANGE: No, I -- I'm just saying, the Iraqi sovereign government will not allow us to do that anyway.

Where American troops need to be used is more in the backdrop, training Iraqi troops. And what I would do is, if you send more troops, which is really not a bad idea, but for other reasons. That's psychological reasons.

I would plop them down on the border of Iraq, on the border of Syria, and out in Anbar Province to patrol and just conduct training exercises, because, right now, the -- the -- the enemy feels that we're losing our will; we're not determined to win this thing. And -- and they think we have the lack of resolve.

So, if you did something like, you would throw them totally off balance and get some kind of a positional advantage.

PHILLIPS: Well, this is a big beef with Senator John McCain as well. He has been saying, look, you need more Marines; you need more Army. You got to take the pressure off the Guard, take the pressure off the Reserve.

He and Abizaid got into a little bit of a back-and-forth. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I respect you enormously. I appreciate your service. I regret deeply that you seem to think that the status quo and the rate of progress we're making is acceptable. I think most Americans do not.

ABIZAID: Well, Senator, I agree with you. The status quo is not acceptable. And I don't believe what I'm saying here today is the status quo.

I am saying we must significantly increase our ability to help the Iraqi army by putting more American troops with Iraqi units in military transition teams to speed the amount of training that is done, to speed the amount of heavy weapons that gets there, and to speed the ability of Iraqi troops to deploy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you, is it the quality vs. the quantity? When -- when -- when McCain has talked about we need to put more Army and Marines in there, and -- and take the pressure off the Guard and off the Reserves, what is it about the Army and the Marines? Are they -- are they trained differently than the Guard and the Reserve, where they can go in there and maybe accomplish this quicker?

GRANGE: Well, it's hard to get -- to train up forces that only have a couple weekends a month to -- to maintain proficiency, compared to active units, that train all year long.

I mean, it's hard just to get active units ready to go to these kind of irregular warfare fights, when they train 365 days a year. So, there is a bit of a difference. And it's a fair way to say it. I mean, you can't expect more than that.

But the point is, there's two issues here. One is, we have too small of a military to handle all the things we have to do and be ready to do in the world. Reference Iraq, if you're going to speed up the training of Iraqi units to take on the fight themselves, and you're going to surge that effort, then, you have probably got to send more troops, if you don't have enough, to do that, because right now is the breaking point.

The next half-year or so, this may be it. And, so, if it takes more troops, then, by goodness, do it. But the Iraqis have to be the ones that go in and do the fighting, finally.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. You say it's a -- it's a breaking point. Now we have got this Iraq Study Group, Jim Baker and the rest. Does that word study bother you? I mean, how many more people will it take to study this war, vs. just taking action and doing something?

GRANGE: Well, yes, you can study it to death, but it's -- it's almost gets time where you're -- you're in the execution phase.

And, so, that's right. And -- and I think one thing the study group's going to come up is the regional approach, vice just Iraq. I mean, Iraq can't be looked at in a silo by itself. It's tied too much, there's too much connectivity to -- to terrorist groups to other countries, to other influences, militias, black markets, criminals, businesses, etcetera.

And, so, you have to look at it in a regional approach...

PHILLIPS: And these death squads.

GRANGE: ... to take it on.

Exactly, the death squads. I mean, what about the militia? Are we -- is the militia going to be allowed to live alongside and operate alongside the elected sovereign government? Are they going to be integrated, like National Guard, into the military? Or are they going to be taken down?

A decision has to be decided to do one or the other. And if -- and if the Iraqi government won't solve that problem, won't take that on, it's never going to get fixed. It is going to be like the Hezbollah in Lebanon. That -- that will be the result.

PHILLIPS: General David Grange, always great to see you.

GRANGE: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Admitting to arson, avoiding murder -- two college roommates fess up to a fire that killed three fellow students almost seven years ago. We're back in the CNN NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: New details now on a developing story.

Carol Lin, what do you have? LIN: Still working on that fire in southwest Los Angeles, Don.

A big building appears to be almost engulfed in smoke and flames.

On the telephone with me right now is Brian Humphrey with the L.A. City Fire Department.

Brian, first, confirm what kind of a building this is.

BRIAN HUMPHREY, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, this is a -- a building built approximately 50 years ago, about 15 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

This two-story building is -- first floor of commercial businesses, including what was apparently once a barber college. The top floor is apartment buildings. And, as we watch these live shots from your Los Angeles affiliates, you see a -- a very intense fire that broke out about 55 minutes ago -- firefighters initially making an aggressive interior fire attack, and were driven back as the structure began to compromise around them.

LIN: You mean collapse around them?

HUMPHREY: Indeed, it was.

LIN: It was starting to wobble?

HUMPHREY: Indeed, it was. There was structural collapse in places.

And we have moved to an atypical, what we would call a defensive posture, an exterior fire attack at this time.

The very good news to share with you is, there have been no reports of any injuries thus far, but, again, a very intense attack on the flames...

LIN: Mmm-hmm.

HUMPHREY: ... by more than 100 Los Angeles firefighters.

LIN: It is still a fire that's burning very hot, Brian. I mean, you can tell, just by the nature of the smoke. It is black. It is billowing.

You can still see flames coming through the rooftop. How is it that, with businesses inside and residents inside, that nobody seems to be injured? Was anyone inside at all?

HUMPHREY: It's not yet clear who was in. There were several people milling about, we -- we do believe, that evacuated the building on their own, prior to the fire department's arrival.

The challenge here was, the fire took ahold of the attic, the common attic, of this roughly 50-by-120-foot structure. And, when it took part of the attic, this structure did indeed begin to fail around us.

So, we have searched a bulk of the building with -- as the firefighters move their way through.

LIN: Mmm-hmm.

HUMPHREY: And, you can see here, we're pulling our way back, trying to ventilate this fire, prevent it from spreading horizontally.

LIN: Any idea how it started?

HUMPHREY: Not yet.

Of course, while the cause of this fire remains under investigation, the truth is, most fires are preventable. So, we do like to use this story as a reminder for people to practice fire safety in their homes.

LIN: All right. Well, clearly, something happened in this location, a building that is almost a city block long, Brian. It looks like that your firefighters are in for a good fight this afternoon.

HUMPHREY: Well, thankfully, they're well-conditioned. They're well-trained. And have, most importantly, the tenacity to get the job done, without injury to themselves, and, of course, protecting the public. And we will keep CNN aware of the very latest on this fire, as it continues.

LIN: All right, Brian, thank you so much for confirming some of the details that we were working on -- Brian Humphrey with the L.A. City Fire Department.

So, Don, a pretty large building, residences inside -- they believe that this fire, like many fires, could have been prevented. The question is, what started it? But, thank goodness, no injuries to report.

LEMON: All right. Carol Lin. Thank you so much for that.

An offer out of the wild blue yonder? U.S. Airways is offering to buy Delta Airlines for $8 billion dollars in cash and stock. A deal would create one of the world's biggest airlines, one that operates under the Delta name. But so far at least Delta's treating the offers like airline food, turning up its nose and backing away. The company CEO says Delta is committed to saying independent.

They started small, they grew big, then hit the turbulence of changes often beyond their control. Here is a fact check of Delta and U.S. Airways.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (voice-over): Give credit to the boll weevil and its voracious appetite for cotton for the birth of Delta Airlines. In 1928, a man by the name of C.E. Woolman bought a crop dusting operation in Georgia, moved it to Louisiana, renaming it Delta Air Service. Delta inaugurated passenger service out of Dallas in 1929. One year later with the new name of Delta Air Corporation, it expanded eastward including Atlanta. And in 1941, Delta picked Atlanta as its new headquarters. Four years later, the company changed its name to what it is today -- Delta Airlines.

Like Delta, U.S. Airways started small delivering mail in the late 1930s as All American Aviation. In the late '40s it started passenger service as All American Airways. Its name changed again in the early '50s to Allegheny Airlines. Following the deregulation of the airline industry in the late '70s, Allegheny became USAir. It began flying under its current name U.S. Airways in 1997.

Both airlines share at least one thing in common besides airplanes, bankruptcy. U.S. Airways emerged from its latest stay in Chapter 11 last year and merged with America West. Delta is expected to get out from under the bankruptcy cloud next year. Both also have struggled in recent years with problems with their labor unions and low cost competitors like Jetblue, Air Tran and Southwest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's go straight to the NEWSROOM. Carol Lin working details on another developing story -- Carol.

LIN: Kyra, this is the one in Montgomery, Alabama. The ice skating rink where like 31 kids and 4 adults escaped before this building collapsed around them because of a huge storm that hit that area.

Well, we have is a picture that just came into the CNN Center. You talk about survival, I mean. All those kids got out. There were a couple of injuries, but they are minor. Haley Heywood, you can see her there, that darling little girl safe in the arms of her grandmother, Becky Prince. This is right after the Fun Zone ice skating rink collapsed. There was a day care center in there, which is why those kids were in there to be begin with. And the roof collapsed, the walls collapsed around it. They're trying to figure out whether a tornado actually hit.

But we were talking with Reynolds Wolf at the CNN Weather Center, and he said this is the kind of severe storm activity that's hitting that area and the impact on a building like that -- an ice skating rink, where all of these kids and the adults managed to escape is nothing short of miraculous. And God bless that little girl. Thank goodness. She must feel so good to be in her grandmother's arms.

PHILLIPS: Sorry, didn't have any audio. I'm talking to you.

LIN: I had no idea that you couldn't hear me.

PHILLIPS: I thought that maybe you were just taking a moment. A moment of reflection though. No, I apologize. No, but it's amazing. You wonder how it all went down. It would be interesting to talk to people that were inside that rink, if they slowly saw something start to break through, or heard something, and were able to get out of there before it just all caved in.

LIN: Well, a lot of credit goes to those four adults, because four adults, 31 preschoolers -- you know who was running that show and got those kids out safely.

PHILLIPS: Wow. All right, from Montgomery, Alabama to all across, actually, the U.S., Reynolds Wolf has been watching all the weather radars lighting up like Christmas trees today across the south, wouldn't you say?

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: The rocket's red glare turned scary today in Wisconsin. Take a look at this. Three people are being treated for burns after an explosion at a fireworks factory. Thirty miles west of Milwaukee is where it happened. As you can see, the blast and the fire that followed gutted most of the building. We don't know yet the cause of all of this.

PHILLIPS: Check this out -- a potty mouth coach at a pee-wee football game. A four-letter free for all not suitable for children straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

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LEMON: A prank gone wrong -- horribly wrong -- leads to a plea deal at the outset of a murder trial. Two former roommates at Seton Hall University admitted to arson today in the dorm fire that killed three fellow students in 2000. They now face 16 months to five years in prison.

More now from Anthony Johnson of CNN affiliate WABC.

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ANTHONY JOHNSON, WABC REPORTER (voice-over): Both defendants pleaded guilty to third degree arson and witness tampering. Joseph LePore was also charged and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for trying to flee at the time of his arrest. Now Ryan and LePore face up to five years in jail but could be paroled after 16 months.

They all came to court early this morning after standing out in the parking lot talking and hugging. All of this was a strong indication of what was about to happen. Once the proceeding was over, the lawyers for Ryan and LePore said the state had a very weak case.

MICHAEL BUBB, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Is that the state didn't have the proof and they never had the proof. And those of you that have followed this case are aware that there was a significant attack on the indictment, and they were not able to prove any of this stuff.

JOHNSON: Prosecutor Paula Dow was joined by family members and admitted this was a highly circumstantial case.

PAULA DOW, ESSEX COUNTY, N.J. PROSECUTOR: Although suspicion centered on these two defendants very early on, there were no witnesses to the actual setting of that fire.

JOHNSON: The defense placed a lot of the blame for the three deaths and 58 injuries on Seton Hall University for failing to have an adequate fire suppression system. The defense lawyers did not allow their clients to talk and had to be pressed when I asked them did Ryan or LePore have any remorse.

BUBB: Of course, there's remorse. Everybody feels terrible about this.

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PHILLIPS: Well, a Mississippi mayor who promised to get tough on crime is officially a criminal. Jackson Mayor Frank Melton was supposed to go on trial today. Instead he pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanors for carrying a weapon into a church and park. He also pleaded no contest to a reduced charge involving possession of a weapon on a college campus. He will remain in office. And Melton received a six-month suspended sentence on each count along with a year's probation and a $1,500 fine.

LEMON: Well, this next story, this video tells -- shows you what not to do with your children. We're going to go now to the pee-wee football game with a PG ending -- make that R for violence and language. A youth coach in Corpus Christi, Texas, may face charges after this display of unsportsmanlike conduct. It shows a coach attacking the game's referee, who had just thrown him out for swearing.

Those were fighting words, apparently, and soon enough parents and bystanders, you know, the role models for the five and six year- old players? Well, they got into licks, too -- got in their licks, too. The city's football league president says violence will not be tolerated.

PHILLIPS: Well, this is a perfect segue. Whatever you think of Bobby Knight, well, you got to admit, he knows how to stay in the spotlight. A day after the Texas Tech basketball coach jabbed a player's chin during a time-out, he appeared to make light of the whole thing.

And last night he made a point of patting two players, including this one with the sore chin from the night before. Here's another look at that.

That is one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history. There it is.

OK. He also has a history of anger mismanagement, as you know, involving players, referees and school officials.

LEMON: You do not talk back to Bobby Knight. What he says goes. Destruction and debris from Arkansas to the Atlantic. We're tracking the severe weather sweeping the south right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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LEMON: And now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys.

It's the first political showdown over Iraq since the election and the Rumsfeld resignation. The head of the U.S. military Central Command testifying before Congress about troop levels and timetables.

We'll talk about it with the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin.

Also, Republican Senator Trent Lott back from political exile, wins a new leadership role four years after stepping down over a controversial comment. We'll have the details of a very, very close vote.

And over in the House, the fight for the heart of the Republican Party. I'll talk about that with Congressman John Shadegg.

And my interview with Maryland's Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. He lost his Senate bid, but he's still a winner with many Republicans.

All that coming up in a few minutes right here in the SITUATION ROOM.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Wolf.

Well, the closing bell and wrap of the action on Wall Street straight ahead.

Stay with us.

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PHILLIPS: Well, a new Al Jazeera channel is finally on the air, but for now, most people in the U.S. can only see it online.

LEMON: Al Jazeera English began broadcasting this morning. But it still doesn't have any deals in place with major American cable or satellite providers. The 24 hour news network's main rivals are our own CNN International and the BBC.

PHILLIPS: Now, the original Arabic language Al Jazeera is a broadcasting power in the Middle East. Now you can check it the English version.

LEMON: Time now for the closing bell. It's ringing on Wall Street. Here's Susan Lisovicz.

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