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Flights Grounded by Storm in Northeast; Missing Georgia Boy Found Dead, Four Arrests Made; Outed CIA Agent Testifies Before Congress; Karl Rove Asked to Testify about Attorney Firings; Lawyer for Family of Slain Groom Speaks Out

Aired March 16, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Hello. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KIRAN CHETRY, CO-HOST: And I'm Kiran Chetry in for Kyra Phillips, who is on assignment in Iraq today.

Weather, actually, is the news today, from a frigid cold front moving into the Midwest to a nor'easter that's flowing in from the East Coast and tornado warnings in the south. We are all over it today, live in the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: The first story that's happening right now in the CNN NEWSROOM. We are standing by for a news conference set to begin in New York with the father of Sean Bell. He is the groom who was shot to death on his wedding day.

A grand jury could hand up indictments soon against the officers involved in Bell's shooting. We'll go to the news conference when it begins.

CHETRY: And now to the weekend wallop that millions of us are about to experience -- some already now, actually. Hundreds of flights already canceled in the northeast.

And Reynolds Wolf is tracking the path of this storm for us from the CNN severe weather center as we watch the front move into major cities. A live look on your screen now at Boston and New York at the bottom of the screen.

Reynolds, what can we expect?

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, it looks like if you're flying, you're pretty much grounded for now.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I know someone pretty well who's got a situation like that.

CHETRY: I guess I get to enjoy Atlanta one more day.

WOLF: Yes.

CHETRY: Look at the bright side. WOLF: There you go.

CHETRY: All right, Reynolds. Thanks so much.

LEMON: Yes. Let's talk about being grounded. Our own Kiran Chetry is grounded.

But take a look. Planes are in the air around the northeast. But a good many are not in the air, all because of that major winter storm from Boston to Baltimore.

And CNN's Alina Cho has the scene from New York's La Guardia Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of flights have been cancelled throughout the New York area, really as a precautionary measure. And as you well know, that will affect travel across the country.

Now here's the breakdown. American Airlines has canceled at least 120 flights today. Delta, at least 100. And Northwest, at least 65.

Now over in Newark Airport, they have cancelled nearly 250 flights today, a little more outbound than inbound.

Over at JFK Airport, let's talk about JetBlue. Who could forget that operational meltdown last month during the infamous Valentine's Day storm? Well, today, JetBlue isn't taking any chances. The airline has cancelled at least 230 flights, most of them in and out of New York's three major airports.

And this is interesting. The airline has announced it won't reinstate any of those flights, even if the weather improves today.

Now, weather like this normally wouldn't affect travel in a big way in the New York area. But if you consider JetBlue's big problems last month, none of the airlines want to take any chances, and today they are all taking extra precautions.

I'm Alina Cho, reporting from New York's La Guardia Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Alina. When weather becomes the news, count on CNN to bring it to you first.

You can also play a role in that. If you see severe weather happening in your area, send us an i-report. Go to CNN.com and click on i-report or type ireport@CNN.com right into your cell phone.

There's Reynolds Wolf. He's checking all the weather, the situation for us all over the country there. We want to share when you send us those i-reports, your video and your photos, as well. CHETRY: Well, it was the ending that many feared and no one wanted.

Fifteen feet off of a rural Georgia road, searchers came across a black plastic trash bag and inside, they found the body of Christopher Barrios, the 6-year-old boy reported missing last week in Brunswick. Four people now in custody.

CNN's Amanda Rosseter joins us from Brunswick with more.

It's just such a devastating find, something as we know, authorities did fear, though.

AMANDA ROSSETER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're so right, Kiran. This is the heart-wrenching end that really nobody wanted to see.

The weeklong search for the little boy ended abruptly yesterday afternoon at about 4 p.m. here when a state wildlife official, a DNR ranger, happened to find the body of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios off the side of the road.

Now, everyone may remember the little boy went missing a little over a week ago from his mobile home park where he lived with his father and his grandmother, and his older 10-year-old brother. Officers found his body about 10 to 15 feet off the side of the road in that plastic garbage bag, just about two miles from his home where he'd gone missing.

The last time anybody saw him, he was swinging on a swing-set. And then suddenly, at about 6 p.m. in the evening, he was gone.

Volunteers have been searching a five-mile radius for an entire week, scouring the fields here. And the police chief told us yesterday afternoon that they probably had gone by it several times, and if you didn't look right at it, you wouldn't have known it was there.

Now, I want you to take a look at the suspects who are in custody right now. Four suspects in custody, three of them from one family. This is the Edenfield family.

George Edenfield is 31 years old. He is a registered sex offender in the state of Georgia. He's a convicted child molester, two counts of child molestation.

Both his parents, David and Peggy, also in custody and a friend, Donnie Dale. The police chief tells us all face -- all four face murder charges.

And Christopher's father says he wants the guilty parties to pay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BARRIOS, FATHER OF CHRISTOPHER BARRIOS: That was my baby. And I was hoping for a better outcome. But my baby, he brought this whole community together and all these volunteers, all of them are like family. So, there's good things come out of it, out of bad stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSSETER: Such a heartbreaking end here, that from Christopher's father, Mike, late last night.

Now I spoke a little while ago with the D.A. here, district attorney Stephen Kelly (ph). He said he has not gotten all of the evidence this case yet. In fact, they were still pulling some out of the Edenfields' home in that mobile home park.

He says he will spend the weekend sifting through it and will probably formally file the charges for all four of them come Monday or Tuesday.

Back to you.

CHETRY: And that's the interesting part here, that they're actually charging all four of them with the actual killing. Do police have any idea as they try to piece together exactly how this horrific crime happen?

ROSSETER: Well, the police chief tells us they do know what the motive is, but they are not going to release that as of yet.

There are two different kinds of murder charges in the state of Georgia. One is malice murder; the other is felony murder. And he says whether or not you played a role in it or whether you were conspiring to conceal the murder, you had a role in the murder.

So he expects all four to face murder charges, and whoever did the actual killing of Christopher will probably face the death penalty -- Kiran.

CHETRY: That's just so upsetting. Amanda Rosseter following that story from Brunswick. Thank you.

LEMON: From covert to overt. Valerie Plame Wilson went public today. The woman at the center of the CIA leak investigation appeared on Capitol Hill, and she did not mince words.

She accused the White House and the State Department of blowing her cover for purely political motives.

CNN's Brianna Keilar joins us like now with that -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, witnesses are still testifying in these hearings, but, of course, the star witness was Valerie Plame Wilson. Here is how she described the first moments after finding out that she had been outed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIE PLAME WILSON, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: I found out very early in the morning when my husband came in and dropped the newspaper on the bed and said, "He did it." And I quickly turned and read the article, and I felt like I had been hit in the gut. I -- it was over in an instant. And I immediately thought of my family's safety, the agents, the networks that I had worked with. And everything goes through your mind in a -- in an instant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Plame Wilson later clarified that when her husband, Joe Wilson, former ambassador, said, "He did it," he was responding to Robert Novak, the columnist who published Plame's name and revealed her identity.

Now Plame Wilson also tried to clear up debate on whether she was covert. She said, yes, she was. She said that in the run-up to the Iraq war, not too long before she was outed, that she had been overseas for secret missions.

So to blow off some of that criticism from people who said, "Hey, this isn't really that big of a deal that she was outed, because she wasn't really covert" -- Don.

LEMON: And Brianna, you know, there was that trip, or alleged trip to Niger that was controversial. Apparently, they said that she sent her husband on this fact-finding trip that debunked the whole investigation weapons of mass destruction or the uranium, excuse me, from Africa, that intelligence, and also weapons of mass destruction.

Did she talk about that trip and sending her husband, Joe, to Niger?

KEILAR: She certainly did. She really tried to clear this up. She responded to what she saw as an attempt to discredit her husband, obviously a very harsh critic of President Bush's justification for going to war with Iraq. An attempt she -- that obviously she sees that saying that Joe Wilson, hey, this guy isn't really an expert, that he was just sent by his wife to Niger on this mission.

Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I want to ask you now under oath, did you make a decision to send Ambassador Wilson to Niger?

WILSON: No, I did not recommend him. I did not suggest him. There was no nepotism involved. I didn't have the authority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: She said she knew about this idea, but it was very much another officer's idea that her supervisor bid on. And she told the committee, Don, that she actually was very ambivalent about this idea, that she didn't like the thought of being at home reading bedtime stories to the Wilson's 2-year-old twins, knowing that her husband was overseas in Niger, of all places.

LEMON: All right. Brianna Keilar, thank you so much. We will definitely check back with you. Thank you.

CHETRY: New questions of White House involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. There are new e-mails that are raising those questions about the possible involvement of Karl Rove, President Bush's top political aide. The e-mail showing that Rove raised questions in early 2005 about replacing some federal prosecutors but allowing others to stay.

Congressional Democrats, now keen to question Rove, say the administration politicized federal law enforcement through the firings of those eight prosecutors. The White House denies that that is the case.

Conditions under which Rove might testify are being hashed out today, as well, in talks between the White House and congressional Democrats.

At the same time, Capitol Hill watchers are tracking support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who's found himself in the center of several storms, including the one sparked by the prosecutor firings.

Joining us now to talk more about this, congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

Hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.

And it sort of feels like an eerie sense of calm amidst all of that storming. Because what's happening right now on Capitol Hill is kind of a waiting game.

Members of the judiciary committees in the House and Senate are waiting to hear from the White House counsel, Fred Fielding, on what the White House's decision, what the president's decision is on whether or not Karl Rove, the president's top political advisor, and other current and former Bush officials can come and talk to members of Congress, testify, perhaps, or at the least talk to them under oath about what their roles were in this whole situation of the fired federal prosecutors.

He has a deadline of today to do that. So, essentially, what they're doing now is waiting.

And basically, there is a threat from Democrats of subpoena. They have not authorized that. They certainly haven't issued any subpoenas. But they have made it very clear from the Senate and the House that they are going to vote to authorize subpoenas for Karl Rove and others if they don't actually come voluntarily.

So right now we're waiting to see what the answer is, if, perhaps, there's a compromise offer or anything in between. CHETRY: It's interesting, Dana. How significant do you think the e-mails are coming out now? Because I guess at Troy State University yesterday in Alabama, Rove did address that and defended the administration's decisions, saying that they were well within their rights to question and even fire some of these prosecutors?

BASH: Well, the -- the Democrat leading the charge on this, Charles Schumer, was in the press gallery in a nanosecond after the latest e-mail became public from Karl Rove about his involvement. So, Democrats certainly think that this changes the dynamic a little bit. It's unclear if that's how it's actually going to play out in the end.

But, what's interesting in this is that it's -- certainly Democrats are the loudest in terms of their anger. But Republicans are also quite upset about this, Kiran. And it is a bipartisan request that these White House officials come and talk to Congress.

The lead Republican on the judiciary committees in the Senate and the House have both made it clear that they think it's imperative for the White House to come talk to Congress.

Because the frustration is -- not necessarily in what happened and how all of this came about and sort of the -- the idea of firing these federal prosecutors, but it's also in the fact that they feel that they were misled or even lied to in some cases by justice officials as they were trying to get information about how all of this came about.

CHETRY: Interesting. All right, Dana Bash, thanks so much.

BASH: Thank you.

LEMON: Presidential primaries and states racing to be first. Who will benefit? Could it be you? Could it be your state? We'll ask our very own Bill Schneider, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

CHETRY: And trading spaces? Freaky Friday? Well, in any case, Kyra Phillips and Arwa Damon are swapping lives today. From the Atlanta anchor desk to the Baghdad bureau, we're going to have some personal stories, interesting ones, to talk about ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Of course, we're following all of the stories happening now. We'll go back to this. Take a look at this. That's the picture of the groom and the bride as it was supposed to be.

A news conference about to begin. We expect to hear from the father of Sean Bell, the groom who was shot to death on his wedding day. The grand jury could hand up indictments soon against the officers involved in Bell's shooting. We'll go to that news conference in a very snowy New York just as soon as it begins.

The CNN NEWSROOM continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Nineteen minutes past the hour now. Now here are a few of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Should police officers face charges for the shooting death of an unarmed bridegroom on his wedding day? A New York grand jury continues its deliberations today.

Another court hearing, this one in the Bahamas. They're trying to decide who gets custody of Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter.

And Valerie Plame Wilson appearing on Capitol Hill today, the former CIA operative going public, blaming the White House and the State Department for blowing her cover.

LEMON: And we're waiting on a press conference out of New York City happening right now. Sean Bell, he is that groom. That's a live picture. Very snowy New York happening. You see photographers and reporters getting ready there.

They are -- this is as we understand as we've been monitoring this -- are waiting for one more person to show up in that press conference. So it should happen very soon. As soon as it happens, we will bring it live to you.

But this is whether or not indictments will be handed down against those police officers and also this 11th hour witness who just showed up a couple of days ago and the folks there, at least on Sean Bell's side, very concerned about that.

Of course, the Reverend Al Sharpton saying yesterday that the whole situation with the new witness smells.

Now Bell's shooting sparked outrage around New York. And city officials are bracing for more if the officers don't face charges.

Jason Carroll takes a look back at this case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Sean Bell and three of his friends, it was supposed to be a night of celebration. On November 25, the group went to this strip club in Queens, New York for Bell's bachelor party. He was to be married later that day.

But after they left the club, they were confronted by five undercover police officers who'd heard someone in Bell's party had a gun. Police say the men were inside Bell's car when it lurched towards them.

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The officer was struck and the minivan was hit at just about the same time. And then the officer opened fire.

CARROLL: Sean Bell was killed. Police learned later he and his friends were unarmed. One of the officers, Detective Michael Oliver, fired 31 times, pausing once to unload. In all, police fired 50 rounds.

JOSEPH GUZMAN, BELL'S FRIEND: Nothing justifies 50 shots at a human being. Nothing justifies that.

CARROLL: Bell's friend, Joseph Guzman, was with him in the car that night.

GUZMAN: I got shot 16 times in that car. The feeling is unexplainable.

CARROLL: Bell's friends say police never identified themselves. Detectives say they did. The city's mayor made it clear the shooting was under scrutiny.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: It is, to me, unacceptable or inexplicable how you can have 50-odd shots fired.

CARROLL: Many in New York's African-American community were already distrustful of police, given past cases of excessive force that put the national spotlight on the department and the city.

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: How many shots?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty.

SHARPTON: How many shots?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty.

CARROLL: Several protests were held by demonstrators claiming the Bell case is yet another example of police brutality.

Detectives tell their side of the story to a grand jury and wait to see if they'll be indicted on murder charges.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre, waits as well.

NICOLE PAULTRE, BELL'S FIANCEE: Even if you're a police officer, no one should be above the law.

CARROLL (on camera): Police put thousands of extra officers on standby, ready to hit the streets if needed, awaiting the grand jury's decision.

Then, as deliberations were underway, a witness came forward and was allowed to testify he saw an unidentified man shoot at the officers that night.

(voice-over) Bell's supporters are suspicious of the new witness.

SHARPTON: But I was built with a strange anatomy. My nose sticks out before my mouth or my head, which means I smell stuff before I can taste it or understand it. This smells.

CARROLL: It's also frustrating news for Bell's fiancee.

PAULTRE: You know, it hurts to see, you know, all of the things that they come forth with, you know, in the last minute, you know, just to make them look like bad guys, you know?

CARROLL: Whatever the outcome, Paultre called on the community to remain calm. She says she still believes justice will ultimately be served.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: As we said in the beginning of this, the press conference was scheduled to start very shortly. The attorney is speaking now. The father is expected -- William Bell is expected to speak soon. Why don't we take a listen in?

PETER ST. GEORGE DAVIS, WILLIAM BELL'S ATTORNEY: ... this particular individual from the inception a number of months ago. We have serious doubts as to the things that he now has to say before the grand jury.

Again, the grand jury process is not a trial. It's for the purpose of deciding whether or not individuals get to hear testimony in evidence so that a smaller jury can decide guilt or innocence. That is not their function.

The Bell family would like to say that we believe in the American system of justice. We believe in the grand jury process. We believe that this grand jury can give us justice. And we would say that justice requires an indictment and prosecution of these officers. Let a jury of their peers decide guilt or innocence.

Certainly, no family member of a police officer slain would have to conduct a 50-day vigil in order to get justice; would have to march in the streets of New York in order to get justice; would have to protest in order to get justice. The Bell family would like the same benefit for their son, Sean Bell.

We would also like to point out that there's an attempt here to rekindle this fourth-man theory. That theory had been dispelled, and to attempt to do it, in terms of the NYPD and the Detective Endowment Association, is reprehensible at this point. It's a direct intention of these individuals to sway the grand jury, to poison the minds and cloud the real issues here.

We believe that the grand jury will use their common sense, the same common sense that they use in their daily lives in assessing credibility, and will reach the right conclusion in this case. We're coming back with an indictment. We have every confidence in the system, and we await the word and outcome of this grand jury.

Mr. Bell will not be speaking at this press conference. He would like you to respect that. And at this time we will conclude.

I'd like to say -- I'd like to say, finally, in reference to the special prosecutor, the attorneys in this case were the first ones to call for a special prosecutor. We are still calling for a special prosecutor.

The attorney general can be empowered by Governor Spitzer to step forward and prosecute this case, subsequent to the deliberations, provided that there is an indictment in this case. We're still asking for that.

This has turned into a mini trial. We believe that the grand jury process has taken too long at this point. We believe they've heard from too many witnesses. Again, this is not a trial. This should have been over.

And indeed, if a police officer had been slain, these individuals would have been indicted within a week. Within a week.

LEMON: That is the attorney for Sean Bell and his family speaking out there, talking about this whole process. They're saying that this case should go in front of a jury and that these officers should seek justice from a jury of their peers.

Of course, a grand jury today deciding whether or not they're going to hand down indictments or hand up indictments against those officers accused of shooting Sean Bell, who was alleged to be unarmed in this case.

We'll continue to follow this. If you want to watch this, you see there to the bottom right of your screen, that is CNN Pipeline. Just go to CNN and click on our Pipeline product. You can continue to follow this press conference.

So we will follow this as well as other breaking news stories, especially the weather that's going across the country, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: First off, we're going to get a check of some business news.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LEMON: Out very own Kyra Phillips has traveled into the war zone in Iraq. And she joins us now from Baghdad -- Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Don. That's right, I'm Kyra Phillips live in Baghdad where we are just a few days away from the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. I'll tell you what it's like for Iraqis and the U.S. military right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: A deadly day for American troops in Iraq. Five U.S. soldiers died yesterday. Four in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. A fifth killed in combat north of the capital. Also this week, more details on the U.S. troop surge to Iraq. Headed out, 3,000 more soldiers, give or take. Most of them from the combat aviation brigade at Fort Stewart, Georgia. We're told their deployment has been speeded up and they could move as soon as May.

The Pentagon may also extend the tours for other units already in the country. We can sit here and read Pentagon news releases and show you videotape of troops very easily. But that would be the news coverage of this war -- it wouldn't be. For that, we send people, our colleagues, one of which you are seeing there, our friends to the dangerous places. We rely on their eyes and their ears and their personal involvement in the war and with the men and women fighting it. Nobody knows that more than one of our most seasoned Iraq War veterans, Arwa Damon, joining me now right here in Atlanta.

I understand you were in Baquba, actually embedded there. And now there are some new developments, lots of fighting going on in that area right now. Let's show people exactly where it is and then you can explain it.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. And it's a very interesting area too because Baquba is the capital of Diyala province, which is by all account, mostly described as being this ethnic microcosm of Iraq because of the breakdown of Sunni, Shia, and Kurd. It also...

LEMON: Right here near Syria, right, exactly?

DAMON: ... is home to all of the insurgent groups that operate there. It is in fact northeast of the capital. It falls along the Iranian border, mainly, but it does -- it is home to all of the insurgent groups, the militias that you see operating throughout the entire country.

It used to function relatively -- remember everything is relative in Iraq. But over the last four months security there has deteriorated rapidly. And what they saw was as the crackdowns in Baghdad and al-Anbar were happening, groups like al Qaeda in Iraq were moving into Baquba.

And so now there is a Stryker battalion that has been deployed to that area, conducting operations.

LEMON: Yes. And I think we have video of actually when you were in that area. And talk to us about that video and what happened while you were there.

DAMON: Well, when we first arrived to that area, it was drastically different. This is an area that we have been to a number of times before. What you're seeing there is video that was shot in an area known an of Tahrir. And that is in the southeastern portion of the city. Here these individuals claiming to be members of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of which al Qaeda in Iraq is also a main of, claiming control of this neighborhood of Tahrir. In this video, you see this same group trying to rally the local population to stand behind them and support the Islamic State of Iraq.

And that is the atmosphere that Baquba today -- or when we were just last there, has become. This is very different from what it was before, even if we go as far as a year ago, we were there, the marketplaces were busy, they were crowded. And now they're utterly empty.

LEMON: All right. So, again, let's -- we're going to bring our Kyra Phillips. But -- this is -- you said most of the fighting happening in, pronounce...

DAMON: Tahrir, which is in....

LEMON: Tahrir, which is south here.

DAMON: Yes. t is a part of Baquba.

LEMON: Right. OK. And so it's happening here. And then this is -- though, is just north of...

DAMON: Of Baghdad.

LEMON: Of Baghdad. So all of this happening here. Now headed -- or actually in the war zone now, and you know what, living in your very same room is our Kyra Phillips, who has been -- she has traveled to Baghdad. And I sent Kyra an e-mail. And she said, if I could describe -- you know, I hate to say this, hell, it would be close to this. Because obviously it's a very dire situation there.

And, Kyra, we want you to be safe. Talk to us about your experience. First of all, it's so good to see you. I was smiling when I saw you come up on camera because it's good to know that you're safe. But talk to us now about your experience and what you're seeing there.

PHILLIPS: Well, first of all, I want to thank Arwa for her room. She left it organized for me.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: And my bags didn't make it. So, Arwa, I hope you don't mind, I've been going through your closet.

DAMON: Go right ahead.

PHILLIPS: Wearing your clothes for about 24 hours.

DAMON: Go right ahead.

PHILLIPS: So thank you, thank you. The door is -- or the key is under the mat at my home in Atlanta. You are welcome to make yourself at home there.

DAMON: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: But obviously on a much serious note, and I know Arwa has talked a lot about this. And boy, do I have a new appreciation for what Arwa goes through and how she lives her life in Baghdad and the entire crew here in Baghdad.

Security is the number one concern, whether it's for journalists or the military or the Iraqis living here. I had the real reality check as soon as I touched down in Baghdad and I was greeted by our security, and you put on your bulletproof vest, and you've got guns all around you, and very tight security.

And you have to have your head on a swivel. As a matter of fact, you can even hear the military choppers right behind me as Arwa has probably told you, all through the day and night. They come by twos and they actually come over the area here and patrol the skies.

So if you're hearing the helicopters, they're constantly watching what's going on around on the ground. But, just that small stretch from the airport to our compound, I mean, you're looking everywhere, the security is talking on the mikes and you are having to be on the lookout for snipers and people that you don't recognize on the ground.

You're worried about IEDs. So I've got to tell you, once I got to that compound, I was relieved that we made it there safely. It is definitely a tense ride and that was my first sense of how serious this assignment is -- Don.

LEMON: And, Kyra, weren't you out -- you were out once -- you went out to cover something. And I guess it took you, I don't know, maybe a couple of hours to go not very far. And then once you got there, the scene that you were actually trying to cover, the camp you were going to was gone. Talk to us about the security there and the check points along the way within just a couple of miles?

PHILLIPS: Sure, I never realized what it's like to go through to get -- what you have to go through in order to get a story here in Baghdad. Back there in Atlanta, we sit around there in our meetings and we brainstorm and there are certain stories that we want, say, Arwa to go out and do for us.

Now I realize how hard it is even to go a half mile outside of the compound where we live and how dangerous it is. Today we set out the do a story on a tent city where there are refugees living. Through our sources we found out -- because a lot of people don't want to say where they're living and don't want to say where they are because they're worried about the security.

But we found out about this one refugee camp and trying to get to that area, less than a mile, just take a look at what we had to go through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: Just to give you an idea of how dangerous it still is here in Baghdad four years after the war started, right now we are in a Shiite neighborhood. And you can see we have an Iraqi police escort in front of us with armed police officers and also behind us, we've got two trucks behind us.

And you can see there's members of the military and also the police that are constantly talking to us. We have check points every 600 yards. And the curfew is in place from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You can see how difficult it is just to travel less than a mile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And those check points -- and Arwa has probably talked about this, you don't know if they're good guys or bad guys, necessarily. Every time you come up on one of those check points, you sort of tense up and keep your fingers crossed that they're going to be legitimate.

And that's the importance of the security and just being aware because you're looking for things that don't seem right and you have to be able to get your exit points all around you and know what you have to do if, indeed, you have a bad feeling.

But we finally made it through that refugee camp and they had already moved. They had already moved from that area. So we weren't able to pursue it. So we moved on to work on another story. But just to put together say a three-minute piece, it took almost the entire day to work ourselves to that point in a safe way and then once we got there, our story wasn't there. So we had to start all over again.

So it's not like being in the U.S. where you can turn a story on a dime.

LEMON: Right. And I'm sure Arwa can attest to that.

DAMON: Absolutely.

LEMON: Kyra, we want you to be safe. And folks are probably wondering, why do you go? Why would you do this? Kyra, and I do have to say this, my partner her in the CNN NEWSROOM, has some of the best military sources of a journalist. And so it would be a waste of resources not to have her covering this story. We certainly miss you. We want you to be safe. And we thank you for joining us. We look forward to your reports every single day, Kyra. Take care, and I'll talk to your mom every day.

DAMON: Good luck out there, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Arwa. I'll see you in a few weeks.

DAMON: All right. Take care of my stuff.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: All right. Arwa, thank you so much for joining us.

PHILLIPS: Oh, I will.

LEMON: Thank you so much for joining us. Again, Kyra will be covering this for the network and for the CNN NEWSROOM as well. And, Arwa, thank you. And we will be talking to you throughout the time here, just the brief time that we have with you. One of the most seasoned Baghdad reporters we have.

DAMON: Thank you.

LEMON: All right. Thank you. Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: All right. Don, thanks Presidential primaries and the states racing to be first, who benefits? We're going to ask our Bill Schneider ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Straight to the NEWSROOM now. And T.J. Holmes with details on a developing story. A natural gas leak out of Seattle.

Hi, T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, Kiran. This is Seattle at the Center House. The Seattle Center, which sits right in the heart of Seattle, really. It has everything in there from arenas where professional sports teams play to restaurants. You name it. It's all in here. And it includes a high school, apparently. And right now, at least 23 people are complaining that they were sick because of gas fumes at a high school that's housed at this Seattle Center, the Center High School is what it's called.

But apparently, 21 people had to be triaged and several others had to be taken to the hospital. I don't think any of the injuries are anything that serious right now. The -- a couple of people had to be taken to the hospital just as a precaution. But what has apparently happened according to reports there out of Seattle is that someone in the chemistry class at the high school left the gas valve open in the chemistry class.

Of course, it should not be left open, so after a while, gas got in there, kids began to get sick. Fire department had to be call in. And paramedics had to show up and treat these kids. Again, apparently nothing too serious. But did cause a bit of a scare. Some of the kids of course a little red-faced, a little dizzy and what not after the gas fumes.

But it appears that fire department is reporting that they have cleared the room. The gas is out of the room, and everything is OK and everything is all clear. But kind of a mishap in class. Don't know what kind of grade that kid is going to be getting on their chemistry experiment today, Kiran. But left the gas valve open.

But it appears, again, some kids had to be taken to be checked out. Appears everybody is going to be OK, though. CHETRY: All right. Well, that's good news at least. We'll keep an eye on it in case anything changes. TJ, thanks.

HOLMES: All right, Kiran.

LEMON: Let's talk about the presidential primary. The campaign began early. Now it is beginning to look a lot like it will end early too. California has just moved its primary up to next February 5th. As many as 23 other states may hold contests that same day, some folks are already calling "Superduper Tuesday." CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins me now from Washington to explain all that.

OK, Bill, let's talk about exactly what's going to happen on February 5 and what it means now that California is in the mix?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the answer is, we're not sure. We know that California has moved its date of its presidential primary to February 5th, 2008. Eight other states are scheduled to hold primaries, but another 15 states are considering the move. These are the states that have already made the move.

As you can see, California over on the West Coast is the big one. The blue states there are the ones that are considering the move. And notice, some of them are very big states. Illinois, Michigan, those are very big states. New Jersey and New York, they may also may move to February 5th.

If they all move to February 5th, not sure that will happen, but if they do, then 70 percent of the Democratic delegates needed to win the nomination would have been selected by the end of that day. And 85 percent of the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination, which effectively means it will all end on February 5th.

LEMON: OK, Bill, before I ask the next question, let's get that map back up there. Because the states in red that you see there -- I don't know if you can see this map, Bill, the states in red are the states that already in Super Tuesday, right? And the 15 thinking about it are the states in blue?

SCHNEIDER: That's right. The red states are going to be on February 5th. The blue states are considering it.

LEMON: OK. All right. So here's what I have to ask you. If other states are talking about jumping on this bandwagon, wouldn't that make for a national primary day in all of this?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, there would be a national primary. So that you would have essentially some preliminary events in January in four states that have gotten waivers to hold early contests. Those are, as traditional, the Iowa Caucuses, the New Hampshire Primary. And then you have additional contests, the Nevada Democratic Caucuses will be held between Iowa and New Hampshire. And then the South Carolina Primary, first in the South. Those would all be held in January.

And then you'd have the whole -- the nation essentially voting, or almost all of the nation voting on February 5th, which should end the contest just a couple of weeks later.

LEMON: OK. So that changes then again what happens in Iowa and the caucus and New Hampshire and all of that. That changes?

SCHNEIDER: Well, at this point, those could still change. But it does give a different meaning to Iowa and New Hampshire. Those become preliminary events and the question is, will they lose influence or gain? A lot of people think they'll gain influence because it costs so much money to run in New York, and Illinois, and Michigan, and California that if you don't have all of that kind of money, tens and tens of millions of dollars, then you have got to win Iowa or New Hampshire or both of them so you can make a big splash, get free media coverage, and use that momentum to coast to victory in the big states, you hope. So it could make Iowa and New Hampshire even more important.

LEMON: OK. It seems a little bit confusing or maybe it's just me because I'm not so quick on the uptake. Is this going to cause more confusion when it comes to voting in primaries or do you think it's something that very simply folks in the process will be able to figure out?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it always causes confusion when dates move around. In California they are not used to voting in February. Their primary has historically been in June, when they moved it up last time to March, a lot of voters got confused and they had a very, very low turnout. In fact, they expect that to be a low turnout. And that is going to happen in a number of other states. They move the primary date, the voters do get confused.

LEMON: All right. Thank you for answering that. Because, you know, I thought that there might be some confusion in this.

SCHNEIDER: It's not just -- it's not you.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHNEIDER: All right. All right. Thank you, Bill Schneider, always a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much.

And today CNN announces two more presidential primary debates, a Republican and Democratic debate in California during the week leading up to the critical Super Tuesday primaries on February 5th. This makes six debates that CNN has announced for the upcoming primary season. Two in June in New Hampshire, one in November in Nevada, and one in January in South Carolina, and now two in California.

We'll update you. Don't worry when all of that is going to happen. We'll tell you exactly, you'll know if you keep watching CNN.

CHETRY: Well, we know we need them, but too many of us still skip them. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, it's the veggies, stupid.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: A deadly parasite that comes from Latin America is stirring some concern in the U.S. today. It's carried by a blood- sucking insect that looks like a striped cockroach and can lead to a deadly disease called Chagas. Well, health care professionals see it as a threat to the nation's blood and organ supply.

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