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Wildfires Continue Across America; Cars That Drive Themselves

Aired May 12, 2007 - 17:00   ET

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

SANCHEZ: Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. Other wildfires are causing major problems in parts of Georgia, in parts of California. We've got reporters covering this thing from both coasts. CNN's Kara Finstrom is joining us right now, she's in southern California. She's going to be watching that for us. But first let's go to John Zarrella, he's been following the situation in Florida that's been going on for quite some time now there, brought on by drought conditions. John, start us off.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Rick. Exactly the entire state of Florida and of course southern Georgia is parched and just dying for some much-needed rain. It hasn't come. This has really been a double-edged sword here today, good news/bad news situation. Earlier today this entire area was just blanketed in thick smoke, couldn't see anything. Interstate 75, Interstate 10 have been shut down for large portions of today. We can see behind us, Interstate 10 there, very few cars traveling on it, but it appears some traffic now moving on Interstate 10. Don't know exactly the status of all of Interstate 75 right now. A little while ago, we got back from a tour with the Division of Forestry of Firefighters, took us out about 15 miles from here to where they're building some of the fire breaks. And what they're dealing with now are lots of hot spots out there. There's one area that we went to, had been a tree farm and it had already been cut. But flames had spread from nearby trees, a nearby stand of pine trees that had not been cut and actually burned into some of the debris that had been left behind after the tree farm was cut. So they built a fire break around this area to keep it from spreading into another adjacent tree stand. That's the kind of stuff they've been dealing with today. But they've had the opportunity to bring in heavy equipment because of the good news part of the story, the winds died down, the humidity went up and has kept the fire pretty much in check today and allowed them to get that heavy machinery in to start building those fire breaks. We had an opportunity to speak with one of the firefighters, Ashley Spillers. And nine months ago, he returned from a tour of duty with the army in Afghanistan. Now he's working 12 hours on, 12 hours off, on the front lines of this fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY SPILLERS, FIREFIGHTER: It's looking good today. It's settled down a little bit last night, humidity's came up. This area that we're working right now is looking pretty good. Hopefully we don't get any wind shifts.

ZARRELLA: Is that what everybody is worrying about right now, wind shifts?

SPILLERS: Weather changes, weather's holding it down right now and just hoping for some rain tomorrow.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: So far, more than 100,000 acres have burned here in North Central Florida. That's about 157 square miles, Rick, and they've got about 400 to 500 firefighters out there right now working to keep this thing contained. Rick?

SANCHEZ: You know what's most impressive about this situation is that it's not only in the area where you are, but we could have put you in several parts of Florida and you could have filed this same story, right?

ZARRELLA: Yeah without a doubt. There are fires, at last count, burning in 50 of the 67 counties in Florida. Now obviously not all of them are anywhere near as extensive as this one. But they're keeping firefighters busy from here all the way down into the Everglades. Rick?

SANCHEZ: Lake Okeechobee I imagine is way down, right?

ZARRELLA: Way down, approaching is lowest levels ever and extensive drought conditions down there. We did a report a few days ago on how water restrictions are now at one day a week for outdoor watering in both Broward and Palm Beach counties. Very, very serious situation.

SANCHEZ: John Zarrella, as usual, on top of the situation there for us in Florida. We thank you John. Now to another fire that we've been following. This one scorching one of California's most popular tourist spots. It's Catalina island. Let's go now to Kara Finstrom who's been following the story for us. There she is live at the scene. Can you set the scene for us? A lot of people haven't heard of this place. Why is it so significant?

KARA FINSTROM: Well there are a lot of tourists who come to this city and right now no tourists can come in. So actually the businesses here do tell -- some of the business owners tell us that they are suffering a little bit and will be until the tourists come back. But it's a beautiful area, it's an historic area. And a lot of families come here every year. The good news is that part of this area is starting to return back to normal tonight. Behind me you can see one of the ferries that has come back to Avalon bringing back the residents here. Those residents have been unloading all day because firefighters now say that the homes in the Avalon area are not in imminent danger. However, this fire did destroy one of the private homes here. It also destroyed six businesses or industrial buildings and a little earlier, we caught up with one of the homeowners who told us a little bit more about one of those buildings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM MCCONOCA, CATALINA ISLAND RESIDENT: I have a friend who lost a business here, which is a terrible thing. So it's just really a tough overall situation. But the community is very strong, and I'm sure it will come back super. (END OF VIDEO CLIP) FINSTROM: Now, it's an entirely different story on the other side of the island. We had a chance to get a closer look at a little bit earlier today. The west side of the island, completely scorched. We drove for miles and miles where you saw nothing but singed trees, scorched earth and actually the fire drops over on that side of the island are continuing. There's a community of about 200 people over there as well who are without power tonight and are expected to be living off of generators for at least a couple of weeks now. Firefighters do say at this point they've got about 41 percent of this fire contained. Again, for the tourists coming back, that means they won't be coming back at least for a little while. The residents here say until that happens, it just won't be back to normal. Back to you.

SANCHEZ: Wow, unbelievable. We thank you so much for bringing us up to date on that story, one that we're going to be checking on both in Florida and California and several other hot spots, literally, all over the country. We've got some facts for you now. 2007 has already been really a rough year for firefighters all over the country. 28,802 fires have been reported this year. That's burned a whopping 657,343 acres. That's a whole lot of land.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: And we're also going to be focusing, just to let our viewers know, on several other fires all over the country. We have some in Missouri, we're going to have some that we're going to be talking about in Minnesota. In fact these are the ones that we're talking about now in Minnesota as well. Some of them, of course, those of you familiar with the boundary lakes region, which is right there. It's pretty much as far north as you can get in Minnesota before you get into Canada. They call it also the boundary waters. We're going to be following on that, bringing more information as we get it.

Meanwhile, this story, as we take you back to Iraq, where are they? That's a question that thousands, literally thousands of U.S. soldiers are trying to answer right now as they hunt for two, maybe three of their own missing comrades. U.S. soldiers missing. Iraqi troops have joined U.S. forces that are going house to house right now, literally. Even tree to tree in some areas, bush to bush in this hot bed of Sunni insurgency area. The Americans vanished after a deadly attack some 20 miles south of Baghdad near the town of Mahmoudiya. Live with the latest now on this story is CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He's in the Iraqi capital. Nic, what do we know as far as what led up to this? Was it a setup?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of indications, Rick, that indicate it may be a setup. What we do know about it, at least according to one senior U.S. military official -- and this was only a first analysis and the situation is still being investigated -- but the seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator were at a stationary observation post looking out on the land around them. It began with an attack in the predawn hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, U.S. MILITARY SPOKESMAN: At the time of the attack, a nearby unit heard explosions and attempted to establish communications, but without success. At 4:59 a.m., an unmanned aerial vehicle observed two burning vehicles. Coalition forces arrived within an hour, secured the site and immediately initiated a search. The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending final identification and notification of next of kin.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now that search is involving U.S. soldiers. The Iraqi army is helping them. They're going, as you say house to house, they're searching the fields in the area where this took place. These fields interlace, crisscross by a canal irrigation system making maneuverability through this area very difficult. Also being used aerial reconnaissance aircraft, pilot less drones. They have video cameras on them, they have other imaging technology on them that will make them able and capable to see. The search has been going on into the night hours now. There are other surveillance aircraft, other helicopters up there. And we're also told by U.S. military officials here that they are talking to local leaders as well to try and find out what they may be hearing from their people. Of course the key thing here is to stop the insurgents getting any distance away from this initial attack to try and confine the area of the search. But it is now dark, the search does continue but of course the darkness does make it much harder right now. Rick?

SANCHEZ: Hey, I've been following this story obviously along with everybody else who's been following the Iraq situation. And that word Mahmoudiya, that town is not one that we use here an awful lot. We've got a picture up now just to show our viewers where it is in relation to Baghdad. What's the significance of Mahmoudiya, why were there and what is it about Mahmoudiya in particular that's going to make this a difficult task to try and find those soldiers?

ROBERTSON: Well Rick, when you look at Mahmoudiya on the map there of Baghdad, you see Baghdad to the north of it. If you imagine a sort of a big triangle that comes out across the bottom of Baghdad south encompassing Mahmoudiya, that used to be known as the triangle of death. You've got Sunni insurgents there, you have al Qaeda in there, you have main north/south highways, you've had banditry on those highways. You have sectarian violence, Sunni insurgents killing shias, as they go south from Baghdad to places of pilgrimage south of there. There is an area within that triangle of death that is a fault line, if you will, on the south between Sunnis and Shias on the east. It has been problematic for a long time. But on that western side where this attack took place today, it appears and it's understood that there is a strong Sunni insurgency there, a strong al Qaeda influence. And the indications are perhaps -- and these are only early indications -- that this was a relatively small team and a relatively small observation point. And there's a good indication that perhaps, only perhaps, that insurgents were watching them, waiting for an opportunity to strike. They struck in those early dawn hours, which is a prime time for any military offensive because that is when the people are most unsuspecting, most of them are susceptible and it appears as well that these insurgents had a plan to get away with the three people because they were able to get out of the area quickly apparently so far at least without being spotted. Rick?

SANCHEZ: Well you know that's interesting as a working theory and we thank you, Nic Robertson, for bringing us up to date. It's obviously still a developing story. So, let's do this now, let's go to our pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, she's been working the phones to try and get more information on this story and she's joining us now. Barbara, what have you been able to find out talking to some of your sources?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Rick, to follow up on what Nic Robertson is saying, this could not be a more critical mission now for the U.S. military in Iraq but to find these three troops. They are listed officially now duty status, whereabouts unknown. And that's an indication that the U.S. fears greatly, that they have been taken by insurgents. The question that they are looking at already, our sources are telling us, is how exactly this happened and was this just two military vehicles with eight people in it -- that perhaps did not have the backup fire power that they needed right at hand. There were other troops nearby. They heard something. They tried to raise these guys on the radio but already they were gone. And they couldn't raise them on the radio. This whole question, Rick of this possibility of troops being out there without sufficient backup, without sufficient firepower has already happened twice before. Let's remind people, in Karbala in January there was an attack against a compound. In that attack, several troops were killed. But four U.S. troops were captured, taken away and tragically later found executed. Last year, June, two soldiers from the 101st airborne division were somehow by themselves at a checkpoint. They came under attack and tragically they were found later mutilated, tortured and had been killed. So this whole issue is something that top commanders today are looking into urgently, very concerned. It's only first reports. But f it does become the case that these troops were out there without the firepower they needed right at hand that is going to be something they're going to look into very closely.

SANCHEZ: The question of a lack of backup would be, really, a pretty significant deviation from protocol over there, wouldn't it?

STARR: Well, it would be. Typically when you are, as they say, outside the wire, outside the protection of a U.S. military base, it is perhaps a minimum of four vehicles. Plenty of firepower, plenty of troops. And the question here is -- and again, it is just early reports. But the very early reports are as Nic just said, somehow they came under attack, five were killed, three now missing, duty status, whereabouts unknown. And how did the insurgents get them without there being U.S. firepower backup right on the spot in time? So that's going to be something they're going to look at very closely. We do want to emphasize just one last time, these are first reports. But this is what we know, according to the sources we've spoken to today. This is what commanders are looking at.

SANCHEZ: Always good to have you there, Barbara Starr, Pentagon correspondent. Working the phones trying to get us as much information as she can on this story, we'll be checking back with her throughout the evening as well as more information comes in on this story. Well, we're going to have a military perspective on this as well, the question of the ambush, how it could have happened, the search as well. We're going to be talking to Major General Don Shepperd, he's going to be joining me here in about 20 minutes or so to continue this discussion. And also talk about that question raised by Barbara about backup and how important that is, everybody working as a team in Iraq.

And then, this, a CNN "Special Investigations Unit" report, Michael Holmes hosts "Month of Mayhem." And that's what it's been, it's tonight at 8:00 eastern, again Sunday night at the same time, 8:00 eastern. It's something you'll certainly want to see.

Take a look at this scene now. A sign, is it hate, though? One thing's for sure, it has people in this small southern town talking about this.

Also, joy tempered by sorrow on the Virginia Tech campus today. Our report from Blacksburg. It's in about 15 minutes.

And then also this -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- make a big splash.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it was a splash all right. We're going to tell you about the unbelievably close call for a little girl and her mom. Thank goodness, as we can see, they're ok. Details on that one coming up in about 45 minutes. Stay with us, we'll be back right back.

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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I want to bring you up to date now. We've been telling you about these fires that have been -- and we started the show talking about Florida, but we also mentioned that they're affecting parts of Georgia as well. Let's take you now to Waycross, Georgia. See that one right there, Roger and I showing you that one right there, let's go to that. See the officer there who's directing traffic. What they've actually done is they've actually stopped traffic. And this is not a small corridor. This is a major corridor. It's I-75. I-75 with of course I-95 which goes along the coast is probably one of the most significant corridors of traffic between Georgia and Florida for anyone trying to get down there. It cuts through the middle of Florida as well as the middle of Georgia. Well, they've had to close it down. They've literally shut it down just west of Georgia around Waycross, Georgia, which means they're trying to reroute traffic now on some of the other smaller artillery roads. That's a problem because we're told it's like a 35-mile stretch that's been closed now. The obvious reason for that -- hold on, I'm being handed something else now, some new information on that. The obvious reason of course is the smoke that's coming from these fires that have been going on now for weeks and weeks and weeks and have not been able to stop. Let me read you something else. By the way, those pictures are coming in, we appreciate our affiliates helping us out with this coverage. The news coming into us as we speak. That's coming in from WJXT, those pictures that you've been seeing there of the road closed. The officers literally detouring traffic around the area. This is coming in from WRAL and this is the other story that we're following. Let's go to news across America now because this is another controversial story that we've been following as well.

This is a church sign that I'm going to show you right now and the sign is the talk of Spring Hope, North Carolina. The reason is the minister says that he's trying to make a point that Islam is a violent religion compared to Christianity and Judaism. Nothing hateful about it. Ok, well there you see the sign, this comes to us as I said from WRAL. They say that the sign reads, "When is the last time you heard of a Jew or a Christian with a bomb strapped to their body?" You know, certainly, a little controversial language that's been used and it's part of the story that we're following out of that area today. Expecting to get more reaction as well. Some members of the Islamic community say it shows ignorance of their faith, their words.

Meanwhile, this story, the Virginia Tech graduates balance joy and grief. Our report from the second day of commencement ceremonies are straight ahead, right here in the NEWSROOM. And then of course the big story we're following today, fire, fire, fire.

Jacqui Jeras keeps an eye on the nation's fire hot spots. And you saw the pictures we were just showing from Waycross. Boy that's really been the hot spot, pardon the pun hasn't it?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, South Georgia, North Florida, just incredible devastation from all those fires. Some relief is possible in the forecast for those folks, and also for the fires in northern Minnesota. We'll have the details on that. And if you live in St. Louis and New York and the fires aren't affecting you, we'll have your forecast, too.

SANCHEZ: All right, thanks so much. Also, halfway around the globe, protests boil over into deadly violence. Can a key U.S. ally hold on to power? This is an important story for the U.S.'s war on terrorism. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. We've got something special for you. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to be chauffeured around wherever you go. Wouldn't it be even nicer if you didn't have to pay that chauffeur when you were done being chauffeured around. But we look at how one group of college students is trying to meet the challenge of creating a car that is also a chauffeur, drives itself. Here's CNN's Reynolds Wolf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF (voice-over): Some people trick out their new ride with chrome and rims, or maybe a big sound system. Accessories are a little bit more elaborate at Georgia Tech in Atlanta where students went out recently to buy a car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to put in 16 computers in the trunk.

WOLF: And a few other things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the front, we will have cameras, laser and radar. Here in the back, you're already seeing a laser scanner. And on the top here, we also have two other laser scanners and GPS.

WOLF: So why all the hardware? Because this Porsche Cayenne is missing one big thing, a driver. Please understand this is really freaking me out that I'm sitting here in the passenger's seat and no one's driving. There's the five-second pause and we go around the small car and then -- wow! All hands free. It's a beautiful thing. Hey! Don't blame me, I didn't, I wasn't driving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things are going to keep popping up like this. The important part is being able to have displays in your system so you know what happened, you know what went wrong.

WOLF: Well it handles these curves pretty well. In November, dozens of driverless cars with names like Cajun Bott, Gator Nation and Victor Tango will try to complete a 60-mile closed city course. First prize in the urban grand challenge is $2 million. In the last race in 2005, Stanford University's Stanley was the first of five vehicles to finish a 132 mile desert course. Now the contest is run by Darpa, that's the same secretive defense agency that brought us the internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (INAUDIBLE) that says that by 2015 it would be nice if we could have 30 percent of the cars driving autonomously.

WOLF: And that could keep soldiers in the field out of harms way. The same technology could also help distracted drivers too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine that you were on the phone, you're trying to change lanes and it will warn you and say, are you aware there's somebody in your blind spot.

WOLF: So how do you teach a car to drive? Well, software programs have to re-create the thoughts and actions that drivers go through, which lane, what do I do at the light? And how do I deal with that idiot who just cut me off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So instead of crashing the real thing, I can crash this thing as much as I want.

WOLF: Still, a lot of bugs to work out. These robotic cars probably won't get their driver's licenses for a couple of decades. Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Atlanta.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. Here we are in B control once again. This weekend marks a new beginning for newly minted graduates at Virginia Tech. But the joy of graduation was tempered by the obvious great sadness of last month's deadly shooting rampage that took 32 innocent lives. CNN's Jim Acosta has been in Blacksburg, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is no ordinary graduation weekend here on the campus of Virginia Tech. While this is a time of celebration for the graduating seniors and their families those folks are also taking time to mourn the fallen classmates and professors who lost their lives, lives that are looming large over this weekend here in Blacksburg, Virginia. Today the individual departments are handing out diplomas to those graduating seniors and even at those ceremonies, those individual ceremonies, they are taking time to remember the fallen. But last night's event was the big event that was the main commencement at the big football stadium here on the campus of Virginia Tech. During that ceremony, the pomp and circumstance was subdued as the university handed out school rings to the families of the slain students and then presented the pictures of those slain students and professors onto the giant screen inside the football stadium as their names were read one by one. The main commencement speaker, Retired General John Abizaid and the university president Charles Steger addressed the crowd of 30,000 people reminding the people there that while they should remember, take time to remember those students and professors who lost their lives here, they should also remember not to let this tragedy define them.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Your compassion, your steadfastness under pressure, your tremendous support of one another make you a special group, and you make me know our nation is in good hands.

CHARLES STEGER, VIRGINIA TECH PRESIDENT: Revel in the joy of this day. Celebrate your accomplishments. Celebrate all those lives that have touched yours and helping you bring -- come to this point. Reach out and hug these people, if you can. And to all of our students here today, those graduating and those who will be returning, I wish I could reach out and hug each one of you. You are the reason I get out of bed in the morning, you're my passion, the focus of my days and most of my nights. You are the future, and your achievements will be felt around the globe.

ACOSTA: And because of the tragic events on April 16th, security was very tight. It was ramped up for this graduation ceremony. There were long lines as security guards went through bags and kept an eye on the big crowd that was in attendance last night. But in the end, this event went off without a hitch. There was just a little bit of rain, but still plenty of time to remember the fallen here at Virginia Tech. Jim Acosta, CNN, Blacksburg, Virginia.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: No question one of the big stories that we're going to be following throughout the course of the night is going to be the U.S. troops that are missing in Iraq. Don't know the specifics, but it certainly appears that they've been taken, abducted. Their comrades turn an area upside down, they're trying everything they possibly can do to find them. General Don Shepherd is going to be joining us to talk about the situation, what could possibly have happened, what the U.S. military now has to do to try and find these missing troops, was it a setup? All this straight ahead right here in the NEWSROOM.

Also, picking up his diploma today at the commencement ceremonies at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, a true CNN hero. We're going to tell you all about that. That story in about 20 minutes, right here, in the NEWSROOM, stay with us.

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SANCHEZ: This may be the most important story that we're going to be telling you about today. This is a furious search that's going on right now in Iraq, so-called triangle of death. You've heard so much about. It's where a small U.S. military patrol was attacked in a deadly predawn ambush. It was about 20 hours ago now. Let's give you this map so it gives you at least an idea of the area that we're talking about. As you can see right there, just south of Baghdad in Mahmoudiya. It's close to the Iraqi capital but still a distance away. It's where the ambush actually happened. It's on a road about a dozen miles from town. A witness says an explosion threw a military humvee into a ditch and that same witness later saw a U.S. military chopper whisking dead U.S. troops out of the area. That's what we know. CNN's military analyst Major General Don Shepperd is joining us by phone now from Tucson, Arizona. Something like five dead and as many as two, maybe three have been taken. Don't know much about the story beyond this point. If those have been abducted, if we can use that word, general, let me ask you, what are these soldiers going through, what have they been trained to do and not to do at this point?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Rick, this is really not good news because it's in this area called the triangle of death where about a year ago, June last year, a town called Yusufiya, which is about 10 miles west from Mahmoudiya on the map there, we had three soldiers killed and two of them were terribly mutilated. We can expect the worst here. When we can't find these guys, they're in somebody else's control and we can expect the worst here. Now we're going to hope for the best, you never throw in the towel. But this triangle of death, I've been down there. It's one of these areas where the hair stands up on the back of your neck. It's a Sunni area, there's al Qaeda down there. Everybody looks at you menacingly. It simply cannot be good news with three people --

SANCHEZ: Well, and you know, heaven forbid what they might do or want to do with these guys. That's why we all certainly are going to say our prayers and have our fingers crossed as well. But can you give us an indication as a soldier or as a marine what you're supposed to do, what might they be preparing to do right now? Is their first idea to try to get and away, escape?

SHEPPERD: The first idea is always to escape but not to lose your life in doing so. The second idea is to try to stay alive but not do anything that embarrasses you that endangers yourself or your comrades there. Don't make any statements for them, about them. You know they're going to try to exploit you but do the best you can to stay alive, not embarrass yourself and take care of yourself and your buddies all the while trying to escape. But it's really tough. These people that we're up against are masters at keeping people captive.

SANCHEZ: And they probably aren't going to follow the rules, right?

SHEPPERD: You can bet they're not going to follow the rules. This is as tough as it gets. Now we're going to hope for the best Rick, but this is a tough area, mean people. The early word that we had was that these people were stopped at a fake checkpoint by people in Iraqi looking uniforms.

SANCHEZ: But you know what we're all confused about at this point -- and I know it's preliminary, is every conversation you and I have ever had about this talks about the teamwork that's necessary to do the job in Iraq. That means nobody goes out by themselves and every convoy includes backup upon backup upon backup. Is there a question here about what kind of backup was used and how, if it is insurgents, were able to somehow beat that backup system that we have put in place?

SHEPPERD: Yeah, those questions will be asked. There will be an investigation for what went wrong. You don't send anybody out on their own but the harsh reality is this, with 138,000 people there, there are thousands of convoys, thousands of vehicle movements every day. You can't watch every one of them all the time. This area was being watched by an overhead drone and the drone shortly after the reports of explosions picked up two burning vehicles. And then there's always a quick reaction force that can be dispatched. But those take somewhere between minutes and an hour to get there. The early reports again on this one where it took about an hour for a quick reaction team to get there. So with thousands of people, thousands of vehicles, you can't watch everybody all the time. You have to be careful and it's dangerous no matter where you go.

SANCHEZ: Well you know all we can do at this point is report the news as we get it and hope for the best. Major General Don Shepperd, as usual, we're proud to be able to talk to you here. And you've been able to bring us up to date on what's going on here. We'll get back to you as this story develops, sir, thank you.

New draft report by the U.S. government accountability office suggests that Iraq's oil industry is a financial sieve. According to today's article in "The New York Times" the report indicates that billions of dollars of Iraqi oil is simply unaccounted for since the March 2003 invasion. Theories range from outright theft to sabotage or Iraq's overstatement of crude oil production somewhere along the line. By the way, tune in tonight at 7:00 for "This Week at War." At issue, U.S. troops and the so-called timetables in Iraq. Again, that's right here at 7:00 eastern.

And then at 8:00 p.m., "Month of Mayhem." This is a brand new documentary that we put together from our CNN "Special Investigations Unit." Michael Holmes, who, as you probably know, has spent an awful lot of time in Iraq, knows it through and through, has put a human face on the casualties of war. It's "Month of Mayhem" tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 eastern right here on CNN.

Extreme weather is really making its mark all over the country. The worst of it though may be in parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia, that's where drought combined with a lightning strike has created some giant wildfires. Choking smoke from the blazes has prompted the closure of two interstates. And then all the way out west in California, this is Catalina Island, just off the California coast. This wildfire has eased somewhat. It's evacuated residents who are being allowed now to return to the town of Avalon. Some have, not all, as firefighters battle the remaining flames. The U.S./Canadian border is also a hot spot, that's in northern Minnesota. It's a flame as well. Some 52,000 acres have burned so far there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: By the way, she says that she went back into the house for just a few seconds and that is when it happened. That's the lead up to this next story. It's a big scare and a close call for a mother and her little daughter. You don't want to miss the story here in the NEWSROOM in just 15 minutes.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's supper time at the Yang's. Martin and Ingrid are immigrants from Taiwan. Now they make sure their kids eat traditional healthy meals but it's not always easy.

MARTIN YANG, FATHER: For kids' requests, we will make some western food, you know a very common meal we make for them just like spaghetti and sometimes we order pizza, but that is occasionally -- not our regular meal.

GUPTA: Those western foods are a real problem. Thin children are becoming overweight children in a short amount of time. According to the NIH, the Asian-American community is now the fastest growing population in the country when it comes to childhood obesity. Doctors say its lifestyle. Many Asian parents who come to the U.S. hold down two jobs in order to make ends meet. They turn to fast foods to feed their families.

DR. JUDY CHEN, UCLA: Suddenly, McDonald's is very -- you know, it's very popular. Suddenly fried foods are introduced into their diets. They're eating cheese that they're not used to eating.

GUPTA: Because these first generation youngsters are accustomed to low fat, low calorie foods, their bodies can't as easily handle American cuisine. And they begin to gain weight quickly. Making things worse, many Asian kids don't get enough exercise.

CHEN: The parents don't exercise the traditional -- be a good student, you know, don't go out and play too much.

GUPTA: California is trying to change that, sending notices to Asian media groups telling parents, obesity has become a problem.

KRIS PERRY, EXEC. DIR., "FIRST 5 CALIFORNIA": We want them to know that this is going on and start to give them suggestions of how to reduce the overweight and obesity trends in their community.

GUPTA: California hopes their new media campaign helps Asian parents make healthier choices for their kids. They want to share their ideas with other states to keep Asian obesity rates from climbing even higher. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back to B control. Vice President Dick Cheney is on a tough mission today, he is visiting skeptical leaders in the Persian Gulf. And he's trying to convince them that the U.S. has a winning strategy for Iraq. Mr. Cheney met with officials in the United Arab Emirates and in Saudi Arabia. He's urging them to support Iraqi's struggling government. In Brazil, Pope Benedict XVI offered comfort to recovering drug addicts. He also offered a warning to drug dealers. The Pope said God will punish for the damage that they have done to society.

Today by the way he picks up his diploma at Virginia Tech, but a few weeks ago, he taught us a lesson in heroism. Meet a CNN hero. That's straight ahead.

And then another hero, call her mom, you might even want to call her super mom. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We at CNN now dedicate a segment in many of our newscasts to somebody who goes beyond the call. We call them CNN Heroes. Tonight's comes from Virginia Tech.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Matthew Roy Downs.

After the initial gunshots, I heard a scream. I didn't know if it was gunshots at first until I heard that scream, it all kind of sunk in. Two of the girls in my class peeked out in the hall and saw a gunner come out of a classroom with his gun pointed down. They immediately slammed the door shut, told us, everybody kind of went into a frenzy of panic. I hid behind the podium and then just kind of looked up at the doors, like there's nothing stopping this guy from just coming in. And so I said, we need to barricade this door. We had a long rectangular shaped table that me and another one of my classmates had on either side of the door. The gunner tried the handle, he couldn't get it in because we were pushing up against it. He tried to force his way in. Got the door to open up about six inches and then we just lunged at it and closed it back up. He backed up and shot twice into the middle of the door. Thankfully we weren't in front of it when he did shoot through it. He just turned and kept firing down the hall and didn't try to get back in.

The worst mass shooting in U.S. history ever.

KIRAN CHETRY: Your quick thinking may have saved so many lives. What do you say when people are calling you a hero today?

I'm just glad I could be here.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: We're proud to be able to bring you those who are truly special. If you want more by the way on CNN Heroes, here's all you have to do. Just go to cnn.com/hero and you can get a whole lot more information. Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: One thing you don't want to do is leave your kids in the car without you in it. Why? Here's Cheryl Jackson of WRTV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROLYN WHITE, RESCUED BY MOTHER: ... make a big splash.

CHERYL JACKSON, WRTV: Four year old Carolyn White went on the ride of her life. It could have been the ride that ended her life.

C. WHITE: -- and the car went down the hill.

JACKSON: Carolyn's mother Jessica said she buckled the little girl into her car seat in the family van, while it was running. She said she turned on her daughter's favorite CD and then realized she'd left something in the house.

JESSICA WHITE: I thought it would take me 10 seconds. So it took me 45 instead.

JACKSON: When Jessica looked outside the van was gone, she thought it had been stolen so she called 911.

J. WHITE: As I'm on the phone, I just caught through the window the van was actually in the air, and it hit the water.

C. WHITE: It landed in the water.

JACKSON: White said by the time she came up over the hill, the doors of her van were already submerged in water.

C. WHITE: Every time underwater got into the car.

JACKSON: Jessica jumped into the water and tried to open the doors.

J. WHITE: None of the van doors would open. So at that point, I really panicked.

JACKSON: Jessica says if Carolyn hadn't rolled down a window, she doubts she could have rescued her.

C. WHITE: The doors weren't working.

JACKSON: They weren't, so how did you get out then?

C. WHITE: Mommy carried me out the window.

JACKSON: Carolyn told her parents that the van started moving after she got out of her car seat to turn up the volume on her CD. She may have pulled herself up by the gear shift putting the car in gear.

C. WHITE: This is the car that fell into the water.

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