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American Morning
War On Terror; YouTube Debate; Colorado Mud Slides; Mississippi Kidnapping; Fighting al Qaeda
Aired July 23, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Terror threat. This morning, a new warning about al Qaeda's intent to attack America. Could it draw the U.S. military into a new fight in Pakistan?
Plus, politics get personal. The CNN YouTube debate just hours away. A look at your questions and how they could make or break the Democrats for president, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Hope you had a grand weekend. It's Monday, the 23rd of July. YouTube debate day. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're looking forward to it. I'm Kiran Chetry.
You know a lot of extreme weather going on around the country as well, which we're going to cover in just a moment. But we begin now with a new development in the war on terror.
The White House says it is keeping open the possibility of a military strike against al Qaeda targets inside of Pakistan. Nothing is off the table according to President Bush's homeland security adviser. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRAN TOWNSEND, HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR: No question that we will use any instrument at our disposal to deal with the problem of Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri and al Qaeda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is with us live from London now.
Your reaction to Fran Townsend's comments?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, certainly the Pakistani officials' reaction so far has been negative. They don't want any indirect involvement of the United States -- the United states military going across the border inside Pakistan. They say that would be disruptive.
What they say they want is actionable intelligence. This is what the Pakistanis have been saying for some time. President Musharraf is a key ally of the United States in the war on terror and it could be destabilizing for him to put U.S. troops across the border inside Pakistan.
Kiran.
CHETRY: And, Nic, if they were to do that, how would they be able to operate in that region?
ROBERTSON: It would be tough. The environment is like Afghanistan. It is barren. The tribal villages there, not particularly welcoming to U.S. forces. They certainly are against the Pakistani government, many of those tribal elements. It would be a very tough physical environment and an environment where a lot of the population, their starting point is against U.S. forces being there in the first place.
Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, and there's also been a lot of volatility in the region, especially after the raid on the mosque three weeks ago where more than 100 people have been killed in clashes. How volatile is it right now in Pakistan, Nic?
ROBERTSON: It's very volatile it's doubly volatile because you have the issue of the Red Mosque and the reaction now from the Taliban and extremist elements along the border region. They're carrying out attacks, not just against the police, not just against the army and not just in the border region, but right in the Pakistan cities. And then you have the decision last week that went against President Musharraf to reinstate the chief justice he tried to kick out.
Now that has sent a very strong message to the middle classes in Pakistan that Musharraf is weak, that there is essentially a democratic challenge to his leadership. So he's attacked on two front, militarily by extremists and now you have the middle classes here potentially wanting democracy.
CHETRY: Nic Robertson reporting for us from London. Thank you.
ROBERTS: The countdown is on to presidential politics like you have never seen it before. You can see the clock on your screen. It's a countdown clock. A little more than 12 hours from now. CNN teams up with YouTube to take your questions straight to the Democratic candidates for president. It's all happening inside The Citadel in South Carolina and this is the first look at the stage which could reshape the campaign with questions like this one. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Periodically I get these in the mail. My Social Security statement. But seeing that Social Security is going to be extinct in the near future, why am I still getting these? What will you do to revamp and restore Social Security for our upcoming generation?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: CNN's Bill Schneider is in Charleston, joins us now live.
Bill, this is going to be a real precedent setter tonight.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly will be. The questions are coming from ordinary voters. And they're going to ask them in a natural setting, in their own homes, their living rooms, their basement. They're making the videos themself, sending it to us. We're selecting the ones to go on the air, representative of the issues the voters want to raise. And the candidates are going to have to address these questions up close and personal.
ROBERTS: Challenge the candidates, Bill?
SCHNEIDER: Well the challenge is, they can't talk to these voters the way they talk to the press, to us, to people in Washington, to their fellow senators and governors. They're going to have to talk in the voters' own language. And we have our own Anderson Cooper to moderate. And his job, he says, will be to make sure they answer the actual question. That they don't lapse into Washington-speak. So it's going to be a very personal, down home kind of debate with voters asking questions in a mauler (ph) that they are comfortable in.
ROBERTS: Very often in a debate, Bill, we'll see the candidate take the question that the moderator asks, reshape the question into the question that they wanted to get, not the one that they did get. Will they be able to do that tonight, or because these are coming from real people and their question, a lot of them based on personal experience, they will have to address them head on.
SCHNEIDER: Well, that is the job of the moderator. And Anderson Cooper is very good at relating to real people. We're seen it again and again. He says that his job will be to make sure they answer the question. That they don't go veering off into policy-speak. That they will be able to address the viewers' questions in their own terms. That's his job.
ROBERTS: All right. Bill Schneider joining us this morning.
Thanks, Bill. We'll talk to you a little bit later on.
And don't miss the main event tonight starting at 7:00 Eastern, live, interactive, on TV, online, only on CNN, your home for politics tonight beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
And after the debate we still want to hear from you. Send us your post-debate reaction, opinions and thoughts by going to cnn.com and clicking on the iReport link. I'm going to be live from South Carolina tomorrow to see how this groundbreaking event unfolded.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, serious security questions being raised today at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Our CNN affiliate KNXV-15 discovered a nearly five-hour time frame overnight, five hours, where TSA agents went away and dozens made it past a security checkpoint with their bags unchecked. Hidden cameras captured a flight attendant flashing a badge and then breezing through with three suitcases. None of those suitcases were checked. A floor cleaner was pushed by without any inspection. And even a guy with a bike just showed his I.D. and was able to ride through with his crate on the back, never checked.
Documents obtained by the ABC investigator so that the airport has known that this has been going on for two years. The airport says access to all security badged employees during non-operating hours is done in accordance with the airport's TSA approved security program, seeming to indicate that they say, hey, they know about it and it's OK.
ROBERTS: You've got to wonder too, is it going on at other airports across the country?
CHETRY: Wouldn't be surprising.
ROBERTS: Something we'll check on this morning.
New this morning, America and Iran are going to meet to talk about security in Iraq. Ambassadors from both countries will meet tomorrow in Baghdad. The U.S. charges that Iran is arming anti-American militants in Iraq.
A major election in Turkey overnight and a big win for the country's ruling Islamist party. It's going to hold on to a majority of seats in Turkey's parliament. The AKP party, has it's known, has generated its fair share of controversy, mainly from Turks who worry that it will try to turn the country into an Islamic state. Though AKP says, no, we're going to follow the secular tradition there.
Gordon Brown is set to hold a news conference any moment now. His first -- actually, he's there now. It's his first since becoming prime minister of Britain. He's going to be quizzed about everything from the war in Iraq to the diplomatic crisis with Russia, to the response to all of that flooding in England.
CHETRY: Speaking of England, the U.K. on high alert this morning dealing with extreme summer flooding in parts of England and Wales. Meteorologists say that many areas were hit with more than a month's worth of rain in just a few hours. Towns and villages are under water at this hour and hundreds of thousands of people have no directing water. Major rivers are also on the verge of breaking their banks. More torrential downpours are expected this week.
Here at home, several rivers in Texas either at flood stage or expected to reach that level sometime today. Seventeen inches of rain fell in some areas over the weekend. A Boy Scout troop camping on the Guadalupe River had to make a quick getaway. The troops lost five vehicles to the rising water. Here you see some the those rescues of the small kids taking place. Dozens of people had to be rescued, some of them by helicopter. And more rain is in the forecast through Tuesday.
And a massive wildfire burning about 90 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah, threatening several communities this morning. More than 200 people have been forced from their homes. It's just one of dozens of large wildfires burning right now in the west. Some 15,000 firefighters are on the ground trying to contain them. Crews say they're hoping that rain will provide some relief today.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to eight minutes after the hour. There are other important stories that we're following for you this morning with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents.
Extreme weather. A mountain community under a mountain of mud this morning in Colorado. Rob Marciano is near Alpine, Colorado, where folks are dealing with a lot of property damage, some structural damage and, Rob, a massive amount of rocks?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rocks, mud, just landscape in general, John.
It happened Saturday night where heavy thunderstorms were rolling through this area. Torrential downpours and very, very rugged terrain. We are very close -- we're bumped right up against the Continental Divide. So the mountains that lie just beneath this town are well over 14,000 feet high. Mt. Princeton, on the northern side of this town, very, very rugged. So when you get that sort of rainfall over that sort of terrain, gravity does take hold.
There's a number of creeks and streams, like the one you see behind me, that are just hustling water down off the divide and trying to get them to either the Gulf of Mexico or off towards the Pacific Ocean. And when that rock and dirt starts to come tumbling down, well, in this deep terrain, it comes down in quite a hurry.
One hundred and twenty-five people were evacuated Saturday night. Thirty-one homes are damaged or completely destroyed. In many cases, some of the video that we were able to tape yesterday showing mud into living rooms and kitchens and completely burying cars.
We are not allowed -- we're very limited access into the town itself, John. Hopefully later on today we'll get some better pictures. But they're being very protective, as you can imagine, of residential property there. Residents have not been allowed to come back in yet. Hopefully later on today they will.
Back to you.
ROBERTS: Tough situation there.
Rob Marciano for us in Alpine, Colorado.
Thanks, Rob. We'll check back in with you.
A strange kidnapping story out of Mississippi this morning. Alina Cho is following this one.
What's it all about, Alina?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the kidnapping, John, it appears stems from a custody fight involving the adoptive parents and the biological mother. Now five-month-old Madison Erickson was taken at gunpoint from the home of her adoptive parents on Saturday. It happened in rural Mississippi, about 200 miles north of Jackson. Now authorities believe the biological mother, Jamie Kiefer, is responsible. She is in police custody, along with her sister who police say helped.
Now authorities say the biological mother, another woman who is not her sister, and an armed man stormed the home of the adoptive parents, Jennifer and Matt Erickson. They allegedly tied Jennifer up with an electrical cord, then fled with the baby girl. Now Jennifer Erickson was somehow able to free herself and call authorities.
An Amber Alert, of course, was immediately issued and authorities moved quite fast, actually. Eighteen hours and three states later they found the baby at the home of a friend of the biological mom's sister in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Now it should be mentioned the sister and the friend knew each other because their husbands were serving together in Afghanistan.
The baby, Madison, is fine. She is in the care of child health care workers until her adoptive parents can pick her up. The biological mother and her sister are facing federal kidnapping charges and this morning authorities are still looking for two other people, that man and woman who helped storm the home and take the baby.
So, John, this story is still developing this morning.
ROBERTS: All right, Alina, you'll be staying on that storey. We'll hear back from you later on. Alina, thanks very much.
Well, looks like the "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is just an unmitigated disaster. Total flop. They couldn't even give it away. I mean, Ali, this is a complete disaster here. What's going on?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A mere 8.3 million copies of the book in 24 hours. Unbelievable, John. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" beating the last one, this is the seventh installment. The seventh and what they call the final installment of "Harry Potter." The last one came out two years ago. That was "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." In the same 24 hours it sold 6.9 million copies.
Now if you look at the prices, many of them were heavily discounted. So you're looking at an average price Americans paid of about $20 a book. By the way, these are American numbers. 8.3 million in the United States. If you look at that, it seems like Americans spent about $166 million this weekend on "Harry Potter," the final installment.
And I must say, I was around Manhattan this weekend on the subway. Everybody was reading it. People on the subway, my doorman in my apartment was reading it. Everywhere I went, people were reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." So the contest now is to get it read first and then post your opinions, I suppose.
ROBERTS: Yes, it seemed like every other person who was getting on my plane flight from Washington yesterday had a copy of it in their hands.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much.
VELSHI: All right.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, it was an unusual sight in Wisconsin, topping your "Quick Hits" now. A plane that dates all the way back to World War II parked on the side of the road last night. The pilot was forced to use the highway as a runway after some apparent engine trouble. He was headed to an air show. No one was hurt, but traffic was backed up for hours.
One of two trams that take visitors to the very top of the gateway arch is St. Louis is out of service today after power problems over the weekend. Close to 200 tourists were trapped Saturday for close to three hours. The park says a cable snapped. That's certainly not what you want to hear when you're all the way up here. It caused a power outage. A power failure on Sunday also happened. It only lasted, though, for 15 minutes.
Well there is a new warning aimed at al Qaeda. Could it lead the U.S. military into a new fight in Pakistan? We'll go to go to Islamabad for some answers when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN. Your "Quick Hits" now.
A Kentucky newspaper report says critical information about airport conditions never reached the pilots of a Comair plane that crashed last summer. That flight crashed shortly after taking off from the wrong runway. Forty-nine people were killed.
Two thousand people attended mass for Brazil's plane crash victims in Sao Paulo yesterday. Later, some of the relatives of the 191 people killed marched to the airport and laid on the ground feigning that they were dead.
And more problems for Brazil's troubled airline industry. More than 20 international flights were delayed or cancelled this weekend after a radar system went down. The problem is being blamed on an electrical failure, but they are also looking into the possibility of sabotage.
CHETRY: There is mounting pressure this morning on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. America's top intelligence official confirming over the weekend that he believes Osama bin Laden is hiding out in Pakistani tribal territory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE MCCONNELL, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: My personal view is that he's alive. I believe he is in the tribal region of Pakistan and how he conducts his affairs, only speaking to a career, staying completely removed from anything we could exploit to find him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Griff Witte is a writer for "The Washington Post," who's been covering Pakistan for the past few years and he joins us on the phone now from Islamabad.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
GRIFF WITTE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, we've had officials hint around this for years when it comes to where Osama bin Laden might be. We've had vehement denials from Pakistani leaders that he's there. And now we have the DNI director saying it. So what changes now?
WITTE: Well, I think that U.S. pressure intensifies, certainly, and I think that we're seeing that already, the U.S. with their belief (ph) that the National Intelligence Estimate last week that really identified the tribal areas as the headquarters for al Qaeda. I think that that put pressure on Musharraf to initiate a broader crackdown against militants in this country. And I think that the U.S. potentially is really pushing him hard to go beyond the action he took a couple of weeks back where he laid siege to the Red Mosque in Islamabad and really go after the parts of the country that are completely -- are largely ungoverned and really beyond the control of the Pakistani government at the moment.
CHETRY: White House Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend said Sunday that the use of U.S. force against terrorist hideouts in Pakistan is an option that's on the take. Would a U.S. special ops strike be more effective at trying to get bin Laden than say giving intel to the Pakistani army?
WITTE: Well, certainly, if you're looking at Pakistani officials, they say resoundingly no. they believe very strongly that it would be counterproductive for the U.S. to take unilateral action in Pakistan. They see a population that is where there's rising anti-American sentiment, where the U.S. does not particularly have a lot of experience dealing with military affairs in Pakistan and does not know the at terrain as well as they do.
On the other hand, there certainly is officials on the U.S. side who feel that the Pakistani military has been given enough time to deal with this problem and has not done so successfully and so the time might have come for a new strategy.
CHETRY: And, quickly, before we let you go, the Pakistani officials, I guess it looks like they're trying to possibly resuscitate this ten- month-old cease-fire that fell apart. Critics contend, really, it's just capitulation to extremists. Is it in the best interest of Pakistan to try to get another peace accord in effect with these tribal leaders in the Waziristan province?
WITTE: Kiran.
CHETRY: Hi, Griff. Can you still hear me?
It looks like we're having some trouble with the phone connection. But we covered a lot of it. Griff Witte from "The Washington Post" in Islamabad this morning. Thanks.
ROBERTS: More "Quick Hits" for you now.
Developers of a Dubai skyscraper claim they're building is now the world's tallest and it's not even finished yet. It's 1,680 feet. The Dubai building surpasses one in Taiwan that has ruled the global skyline, but only for three years, since 2004. Construction on the Dubai tower is going to be completed next year. Its final height will be somewhere above 2,275 feet.
And some security experts say that they have tested a virus that can take control of iPhones, allowing access to contacts, text messages, pretty much anything on the phone. It even can make phone calls. The phone, though, would have to be on a wi-fi network or visit a specific website to get infected. Apple says it's looking into the potential problem.
Extreme weather sends a wall of mud rolling through parts of Colorado. Trees snapped. Homes damaged. Residents on the run. Latest pictures and a live report coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up now to 25 minutes after the hour.
Putting on the finishing touches on the campus of The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. We are counting down to tonight's groundbreaking presidential debate. Eight Democratic candidates will share the stage in the first ever CNN/YouTube debate.
CHETRY: That's right. For the first time the candidate will face questions that are posted on YouTube, the video sharing website. More than 2,500 questions uplinked so far covering a lot of top picks. They've been screened and they've been sorted and they've been selected by the best political team on television. Only 50 videos will actually make it into tonight's debate and a select number of YouTube questioners will be in the audience. And we're excited to see which ones, because we've fielded through many of them, to see which ones finally made the cut.
ROBERTS: Doing those YouTube previews, I watched so many of these debate questions.
Also, the candidates have been asked to submit their own 30-second YouTube-style videos that will debut during the debate. What's a YouTube-style video, skateboarding, crashing through fences? What?
CHETRY: Or using snowmen and a variety of other props. It will be interesting to see how they interpret it.
Also, it gets underway tonight, 7 p.m. Eastern Time, live, interactive on TV, online, but only on CNN, your home for politics.
ROBERTS: And after the debate, we still want to hear from you. Send us your post-debate reaction, opinions or thoughts by going to cnn.com and clicking on the iReport link. I'm going to be live from South Carolina tomorrow morning to see how this groundbreaking event unfolds. I'm excited about all of this.
CHETRY: Yes, I'm excited to see it as well.
Well, don't forget the Republican candidates also get a chance to do this very same thing. They're going to be answering questions in the second CNN/YouTube debate and that is set for September 17th.
ROBERTS: And that will take place in Florida.
Also "On Our Radar" this morning, oh, there's just so much bad weather around the world. Not just in this country. Literally an international washout. Heavy rain expected in the northeast, here where we are, in the next few hours. New flooding fears as storms move through waterlogged England. Tewksbury (ph) is under water this morning.
And new pictures in from China. Things are really, really bad there. Take a look at this. Storms triggered powerful flash floods. See, that looks like the Colorado River. We're going to get the latest extreme weather forecast from Rob Marciano because there is more extreme weather in Colorado as well.
CHETRY: How about that. Well, you know, do you ever go fishing for a compliment? Well, you're in luck if you live in one corner of Washington, D.C. That red and white striped machine there is actually a compliment machine. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look to you for advice.
You add a little mystery to life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: What the heck is it doing there? We're going to tell you more about who put it there and why.
ROBERTS: Also some of those comments might be inappropriate for certain people. Like a woman might walk by and the machine will say, that's a nice tie you're wearing this morning.
CHETRY: Exactly. Well, they can't get to specific with the complements. They have to be very fortune cookie-ish.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
So all those stories are coming up when AMERICAN MORNING returns. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Terror threat. This morning, a new warning about al Qaeda's intent to attack America. Could it draw the U.S. military into a new fight in Pakistan?
Plus, politics get personal. The CNN YouTube debate just hours away. A look at your questions and how they could make or break the Democrats for president, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Hope you had a grand weekend. It's Monday, the 23rd of July. YouTube debate day. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're looking forward to it. I'm Kiran Chetry.
You know a lot of extreme weather going on around the country as well, which we're going to cover in just a moment. But we begin now with a new development in the war on terror.
The White House says it is keeping open the possibility of a military strike against al Qaeda targets inside of Pakistan. Nothing is off the table according to President Bush's homeland security adviser. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRAN TOWNSEND, HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR: No question that we will use any instrument at our disposal to deal with the problem of Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri and al Qaeda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is with us live from London now.
Your reaction to Fran Townsend's comments?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, certainly the Pakistani officials' reaction so far has been negative. They don't want any indirect involvement of the United States -- the United states military going across the border inside Pakistan. They say that would be disruptive. What they say they want is actionable intelligence. This is what the Pakistanis have been saying for some time. President Musharraf is a key ally of the United States in the war on terror and it could be destabilizing for him to put U.S. troops across the border inside Pakistan.
Kiran.
CHETRY: And, Nic, if they were to do that, how would they be able to operate in that region?
ROBERTSON: It would be tough. The environment is like Afghanistan. It is barren. The tribal villages there, not particularly welcoming to U.S. forces. They certainly are against the Pakistani government, many of those tribal elements. It would be a very tough physical environment and an environment where a lot of the population, their starting point is against U.S. forces being there in the first place.
Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, and there's also been a lot of volatility in the region, especially after the raid on the mosque three weeks ago where more than 100 people have been killed in clashes. How volatile is it right now in Pakistan, Nic?
ROBERTSON: It's very volatile it's doubly volatile because you have the issue of the Red Mosque and the reaction now from the Taliban and extremist elements along the border region. They're carrying out attacks, not just against the police, not just against the army and not just in the border region, but right in the Pakistan cities. And then you have the decision last week that went against President Musharraf to reinstate the chief justice he tried to kick out.
Now that has sent a very strong message to the middle classes in Pakistan that Musharraf is weak, that there is essentially a democratic challenge to his leadership. So he's attacked on two front, militarily by extremists and now you have the middle classes here potentially wanting democracy.
CHETRY: Nic Robertson reporting for us from London. Thank you.
ROBERTS: The countdown is on to presidential politics like you have never seen it before. You can see the clock on your screen. It's a countdown clock. A little more than 12 hours from now. CNN teams up with YouTube to take your questions straight to the Democratic candidates for president. It's all happening inside The Citadel in South Carolina and this is the first look at the stage which could reshape the campaign with questions like this one. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Periodically I get these in the mail. My Social Security statement. But seeing that Social Security is going to be extinct in the near future, why am I still getting these? What will you do to revamp and restore Social Security for our upcoming generation? (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: CNN's Bill Schneider is in Charleston, joins us now live.
Bill, this is going to be a real precedent setter tonight.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly will be. The questions are coming from ordinary voters. And they're going to ask them in a natural setting, in their own homes, their living rooms, their basement. They're making the videos themself, sending it to us. We're selecting the ones to go on the air, representative of the issues the voters want to raise. And the candidates are going to have to address these questions up close and personal.
ROBERTS: Challenge the candidates, Bill?
SCHNEIDER: Well the challenge is, they can't talk to these voters the way they talk to the press, to us, to people in Washington, to their fellow senators and governors. They're going to have to talk in the voters' own language. And we have our own Anderson Cooper to moderate. And his job, he says, will be to make sure they answer the actual question. That they don't lapse into Washington-speak. So it's going to be a very personal, down home kind of debate with voters asking questions in a mauler (ph) that they are comfortable in.
ROBERTS: Very often in a debate, Bill, we'll see the candidate take the question that the moderator asks, reshape the question into the question that they wanted to get, not the one that they did get. Will they be able to do that tonight, or because these are coming from real people and their question, a lot of them based on personal experience, they will have to address them head on.
SCHNEIDER: Well, that is the job of the moderator. And Anderson Cooper is very good at relating to real people. We're seen it again and again. He says that his job will be to make sure they answer the question. That they don't go veering off into policy-speak. That they will be able to address the viewers' questions in their own terms. That's his job.
ROBERTS: All right. Bill Schneider joining us this morning.
Thanks, Bill. We'll talk to you a little bit later on.
And don't miss the main event tonight starting at 7:00 Eastern, live, interactive, on TV, online, only on CNN, your home for politics tonight beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
And after the debate we still want to hear from you. Send us your post-debate reaction, opinions and thoughts by going to cnn.com and clicking on the iReport link. I'm going to be live from South Carolina tomorrow to see how this groundbreaking event unfolded.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, serious security questions being raised today at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Our CNN affiliate KNXV-15 discovered a nearly five-hour time frame overnight, five hours, where TSA agents went away and dozens made it past a security checkpoint with their bags unchecked. Hidden cameras captured a flight attendant flashing a badge and then breezing through with three suitcases. None of those suitcases were checked. A floor cleaner was pushed by without any inspection. And even a guy with a bike just showed his I.D. and was able to ride through with his crate on the back, never checked.
Documents obtained by the ABC investigator so that the airport has known that this has been going on for two years. The airport says access to all security badged employees during non-operating hours is done in accordance with the airport's TSA approved security program, seeming to indicate that they say, hey, they know about it and it's OK.
ROBERTS: You've got to wonder too, is it going on at other airports across the country?
CHETRY: Wouldn't be surprising.
ROBERTS: Something we'll check on this morning.
New this morning, America and Iran are going to meet to talk about security in Iraq. Ambassadors from both countries will meet tomorrow in Baghdad. The U.S. charges that Iran is arming anti-American militants in Iraq.
A major election in Turkey overnight and a big win for the country's ruling Islamist party. It's going to hold on to a majority of seats in Turkey's parliament. The AKP party, has it's known, has generated its fair share of controversy, mainly from Turks who worry that it will try to turn the country into an Islamic state. Though AKP says, no, we're going to follow the secular tradition there.
Gordon Brown is set to hold a news conference any moment now. His first -- actually, he's there now. It's his first since becoming prime minister of Britain. He's going to be quizzed about everything from the war in Iraq to the diplomatic crisis with Russia, to the response to all of that flooding in England.
CHETRY: Speaking of England, the U.K. on high alert this morning dealing with extreme summer flooding in parts of England and Wales. Meteorologists say that many areas were hit with more than a month's worth of rain in just a few hours. Towns and villages are under water at this hour and hundreds of thousands of people have no directing water. Major rivers are also on the verge of breaking their banks. More torrential downpours are expected this week.
Here at home, several rivers in Texas either at flood stage or expected to reach that level sometime today. Seventeen inches of rain fell in some areas over the weekend. A Boy Scout troop camping on the Guadalupe River had to make a quick getaway. The troops lost five vehicles to the rising water. Here you see some the those rescues of the small kids taking place. Dozens of people had to be rescued, some of them by helicopter. And more rain is in the forecast through Tuesday. And a massive wildfire burning about 90 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah, threatening several communities this morning. More than 200 people have been forced from their homes. It's just one of dozens of large wildfires burning right now in the west. Some 15,000 firefighters are on the ground trying to contain them. Crews say they're hoping that rain will provide some relief today.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to eight minutes after the hour. There are other important stories that we're following for you this morning with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents.
Extreme weather. A mountain community under a mountain of mud this morning in Colorado. Rob Marciano is near Alpine, Colorado, where folks are dealing with a lot of property damage, some structural damage and, Rob, a massive amount of rocks?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rocks, mud, just landscape in general, John.
It happened Saturday night where heavy thunderstorms were rolling through this area. Torrential downpours and very, very rugged terrain. We are very close -- we're bumped right up against the Continental Divide. So the mountains that lie just beneath this town are well over 14,000 feet high. Mt. Princeton, on the northern side of this town, very, very rugged. So when you get that sort of rainfall over that sort of terrain, gravity does take hold.
There's a number of creeks and streams, like the one you see behind me, that are just hustling water down off the divide and trying to get them to either the Gulf of Mexico or off towards the Pacific Ocean. And when that rock and dirt starts to come tumbling down, well, in this deep terrain, it comes down in quite a hurry.
One hundred and twenty-five people were evacuated Saturday night. Thirty-one homes are damaged or completely destroyed. In many cases, some of the video that we were able to tape yesterday showing mud into living rooms and kitchens and completely burying cars.
We are not allowed -- we're very limited access into the town itself, John. Hopefully later on today we'll get some better pictures. But they're being very protective, as you can imagine, of residential property there. Residents have not been allowed to come back in yet. Hopefully later on today they will.
Back to you.
ROBERTS: Tough situation there.
Rob Marciano for us in Alpine, Colorado.
Thanks, Rob. We'll check back in with you.
A strange kidnapping story out of Mississippi this morning. Alina Cho is following this one.
What's it all about, Alina? ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the kidnapping, John, it appears stems from a custody fight involving the adoptive parents and the biological mother. Now five-month-old Madison Erickson was taken at gunpoint from the home of her adoptive parents on Saturday. It happened in rural Mississippi, about 200 miles north of Jackson. Now authorities believe the biological mother, Jamie Kiefer, is responsible. She is in police custody, along with her sister who police say helped.
Now authorities say the biological mother, another woman who is not her sister, and an armed man stormed the home of the adoptive parents, Jennifer and Matt Erickson. They allegedly tied Jennifer up with an electrical cord, then fled with the baby girl. Now Jennifer Erickson was somehow able to free herself and call authorities.
An Amber Alert, of course, was immediately issued and authorities moved quite fast, actually. Eighteen hours and three states later they found the baby at the home of a friend of the biological mom's sister in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Now it should be mentioned the sister and the friend knew each other because their husbands were serving together in Afghanistan.
The baby, Madison, is fine. She is in the care of child health care workers until her adoptive parents can pick her up. The biological mother and her sister are facing federal kidnapping charges and this morning authorities are still looking for two other people, that man and woman who helped storm the home and take the baby.
So, John, this story is still developing this morning.
ROBERTS: All right, Alina, you'll be staying on that storey. We'll hear back from you later on. Alina, thanks very much.
Well, looks like the "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is just an unmitigated disaster. Total flop. They couldn't even give it away. I mean, Ali, this is a complete disaster here. What's going on?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A mere 8.3 million copies of the book in 24 hours. Unbelievable, John. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" beating the last one, this is the seventh installment. The seventh and what they call the final installment of "Harry Potter." The last one came out two years ago. That was "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." In the same 24 hours it sold 6.9 million copies.
Now if you look at the prices, many of them were heavily discounted. So you're looking at an average price Americans paid of about $20 a book. By the way, these are American numbers. 8.3 million in the United States. If you look at that, it seems like Americans spent about $166 million this weekend on "Harry Potter," the final installment.
And I must say, I was around Manhattan this weekend on the subway. Everybody was reading it. People on the subway, my doorman in my apartment was reading it. Everywhere I went, people were reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." So the contest now is to get it read first and then post your opinions, I suppose.
ROBERTS: Yes, it seemed like every other person who was getting on my plane flight from Washington yesterday had a copy of it in their hands.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much.
VELSHI: All right.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, it was an unusual sight in Wisconsin, topping your "Quick Hits" now. A plane that dates all the way back to World War II parked on the side of the road last night. The pilot was forced to use the highway as a runway after some apparent engine trouble. He was headed to an air show. No one was hurt, but traffic was backed up for hours.
One of two trams that take visitors to the very top of the gateway arch is St. Louis is out of service today after power problems over the weekend. Close to 200 tourists were trapped Saturday for close to three hours. The park says a cable snapped. That's certainly not what you want to hear when you're all the way up here. It caused a power outage. A power failure on Sunday also happened. It only lasted, though, for 15 minutes.
Well there is a new warning aimed at al Qaeda. Could it lead the U.S. military into a new fight in Pakistan? We'll go to go to Islamabad for some answers when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN. Your "Quick Hits" now.
A Kentucky newspaper report says critical information about airport conditions never reached the pilots of a Comair plane that crashed last summer. That flight crashed shortly after taking off from the wrong runway. Forty-nine people were killed.
Two thousand people attended mass for Brazil's plane crash victims in Sao Paulo yesterday. Later, some of the relatives of the 191 people killed marched to the airport and laid on the ground feigning that they were dead.
And more problems for Brazil's troubled airline industry. More than 20 international flights were delayed or cancelled this weekend after a radar system went down. The problem is being blamed on an electrical failure, but they are also looking into the possibility of sabotage.
CHETRY: There is mounting pressure this morning on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. America's top intelligence official confirming over the weekend that he believes Osama bin Laden is hiding out in Pakistani tribal territory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE MCCONNELL, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: My personal view is that he's alive. I believe he is in the tribal region of Pakistan and how he conducts his affairs, only speaking to a career, staying completely removed from anything we could exploit to find him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Griff Witte is a writer for "The Washington Post," who's been covering Pakistan for the past few years and he joins us on the phone now from Islamabad.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
GRIFF WITTE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, we've had officials hint around this for years when it comes to where Osama bin Laden might be. We've had vehement denials from Pakistani leaders that he's there. And now we have the DNI director saying it. So what changes now?
WITTE: Well, I think that U.S. pressure intensifies, certainly, and I think that we're seeing that already, the U.S. with their belief (ph) that the National Intelligence Estimate last week that really identified the tribal areas as the headquarters for al Qaeda. I think that that put pressure on Musharraf to initiate a broader crackdown against militants in this country. And I think that the U.S. potentially is really pushing him hard to go beyond the action he took a couple of weeks back where he laid siege to the Red Mosque in Islamabad and really go after the parts of the country that are completely -- are largely ungoverned and really beyond the control of the Pakistani government at the moment.
CHETRY: White House Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend said Sunday that the use of U.S. force against terrorist hideouts in Pakistan is an option that's on the take. Would a U.S. special ops strike be more effective at trying to get bin Laden than say giving intel to the Pakistani army?
WITTE: Well, certainly, if you're looking at Pakistani officials, they say resoundingly no. they believe very strongly that it would be counterproductive for the U.S. to take unilateral action in Pakistan. They see a population that is where there's rising anti-American sentiment, where the U.S. does not particularly have a lot of experience dealing with military affairs in Pakistan and does not know the at terrain as well as they do.
On the other hand, there certainly is officials on the U.S. side who feel that the Pakistani military has been given enough time to deal with this problem and has not done so successfully and so the time might have come for a new strategy.
CHETRY: And, quickly, before we let you go, the Pakistani officials, I guess it looks like they're trying to possibly resuscitate this ten- month-old cease-fire that fell apart. Critics contend, really, it's just capitulation to extremists. Is it in the best interest of Pakistan to try to get another peace accord in effect with these tribal leaders in the Waziristan province?
WITTE: Kiran.
CHETRY: Hi, Griff. Can you still hear me?
It looks like we're having some trouble with the phone connection. But we covered a lot of it. Griff Witte from "The Washington Post" in Islamabad this morning. Thanks.
ROBERTS: More "Quick Hits" for you now.
Developers of a Dubai skyscraper claim they're building is now the world's tallest and it's not even finished yet. It's 1,680 feet. The Dubai building surpasses one in Taiwan that has ruled the global skyline, but only for three years, since 2004. Construction on the Dubai tower is going to be completed next year. Its final height will be somewhere above 2,275 feet.
And some security experts say that they have tested a virus that can take control of iPhones, allowing access to contacts, text messages, pretty much anything on the phone. It even can make phone calls. The phone, though, would have to be on a wi-fi network or visit a specific website to get infected. Apple says it's looking into the potential problem.
Extreme weather sends a wall of mud rolling through parts of Colorado. Trees snapped. Homes damaged. Residents on the run. Latest pictures and a live report coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up now to 25 minutes after the hour.
Putting on the finishing touches on the campus of The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. We are counting down to tonight's groundbreaking presidential debate. Eight Democratic candidates will share the stage in the first ever CNN/YouTube debate.
CHETRY: That's right. For the first time the candidate will face questions that are posted on YouTube, the video sharing website. More than 2,500 questions uplinked so far covering a lot of top picks. They've been screened and they've been sorted and they've been selected by the best political team on television. Only 50 videos will actually make it into tonight's debate and a select number of YouTube questioners will be in the audience. And we're excited to see which ones, because we've fielded through many of them, to see which ones finally made the cut.
ROBERTS: Doing those YouTube previews, I watched so many of these debate questions.
Also, the candidates have been asked to submit their own 30-second YouTube-style videos that will debut during the debate. What's a YouTube-style video, skateboarding, crashing through fences? What?
CHETRY: Or using snowmen and a variety of other props. It will be interesting to see how they interpret it.
Also, it gets underway tonight, 7 p.m. Eastern Time, live, interactive on TV, online, but only on CNN, your home for politics.
ROBERTS: And after the debate, we still want to hear from you. Send us your post-debate reaction, opinions or thoughts by going to cnn.com and clicking on the iReport link. I'm going to be live from South Carolina tomorrow morning to see how this groundbreaking event unfolds. I'm excited about all of this.
CHETRY: Yes, I'm excited to see it as well.
Well, don't forget the Republican candidates also get a chance to do this very same thing. They're going to be answering questions in the second CNN/YouTube debate and that is set for September 17th.
ROBERTS: And that will take place in Florida.
Also "On Our Radar" this morning, oh, there's just so much bad weather around the world. Not just in this country. Literally an international washout. Heavy rain expected in the northeast, here where we are, in the next few hours. New flooding fears as storms move through waterlogged England. Tewksbury (ph) is under water this morning.
And new pictures in from China. Things are really, really bad there. Take a look at this. Storms triggered powerful flash floods. See, that looks like the Colorado River. We're going to get the latest extreme weather forecast from Rob Marciano because there is more extreme weather in Colorado as well.
CHETRY: How about that. Well, you know, do you ever go fishing for a compliment? Well, you're in luck if you live in one corner of Washington, D.C. That red and white striped machine there is actually a compliment machine. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look to you for advice.
You add a little mystery to life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: What the heck is it doing there? We're going to tell you more about who put it there and why.
ROBERTS: Also some of those comments might be inappropriate for certain people. Like a woman might walk by and the machine will say, that's a nice tie you're wearing this morning.
CHETRY: Exactly. Well, they can't get to specific with the complements. They have to be very fortune cookie-ish. ROBERTS: Exactly.
So all those stories are coming up when AMERICAN MORNING returns. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: And, oh, it's not a very good-looking day in Miami this morning. A lot of clouds.
CHETRY: Ominous.
ROBERTS: Supposed to be a lot of scattered thunderstorms. Seventy- nine degrees right there right now. Eighty-eight degrees is the high, with scattered thunderstorms. A typical July day in the city of Miami, where the...
CHETRY: Still pretty, though.
ROBERTS: ... humidity is so thick you can cut it with a knife sometimes.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Monday, the 23rd of July.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
You're talking about Miami. Well, there are a lot of places around the country and even the world that are going to be getting some extreme weather today. Especially Colorado, where heavy rains have triggered six-to-eight-feet-deep mudslides, forcing more than 100 from their homes.
Our Rob Marciano is live near Alpine, Colorado, with the latest on what the weather situation is there.
Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran.
It's dry right now, but all it takes is another heavy thunderstorm in this deep, very rugged terrain to send rocks and mud tumbling. And that's exactly what happened here Saturday night. We're very close to the Continental Divide. Mount Princeton lies just to the north of this small Alpine village town called Alpine, and that's one of the reasons that the land let loose.
As you can imagine, it would be extremely scary to see a mountainside come tumbling down to your home. Here's what one person who lives in that town had to say about what happened Saturday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More of the intense rain was actually up in the mountains that you can actually see up behind us if you look up high. I think that's where most of the intense rain was, and then it just channeled and came down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Channeled and came down. And when you get these canyons, they're just trying to get snowmelts and rainwater off these mountains and into the river system like this stream behind me. And we're getting to the time of year, Kiran, where the monsoon kicks in, or we get these wet thunderstorms that build up in the afternoon, and the mountains only accentuate that. And we'll likely see more of those today.
Residents likely will be allowed to at least partially get back to their homes today. Whether or not they'll be able to move back and start the cleanup process, we'll have to wait until the sun comes up and authorities make that -- make that decision. But right now they think it's a little bit dicey, and they're not even allowing us to go back in there this morning -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow. What a mess.
Rob Marciano, live for us in Colorado this morning.
Thanks.
ROBERTS: And Colorado is not the only place where they've got problems with flooding. Several rivers in Texas are either at flood stage or expected to reach that level some time today.
Seventeen inches of rain fell in some areas over the weekend. Flooding stranded an Amtrak train. Boats, fire trucks and helicopters rescued hundreds of residents. More rain is expected to hit the area today and again tomorrow.
And lots of rain overseas. Storms are expected to batter much of China again today. Take a look at that torrent of water.
Floods, landslides and lightning killed more than 150 people across the country last week. Hundreds of thousands have been forced out of their homes.
And at least 15 people have been killed in flooding in Bangladesh, triggered by heavy monsoon rains over the past three days. Emergency crews say nearly 500,000 people are stranded in their homes.
The U.K. also dealing with extreme flooding this morning. Villages across the country are under water. Hundreds of people had to be rescued over the weekend. Hundreds of thousands are without drinking water. And it looks like things could be getting worse.
We're going to be going live to England in the next few minutes, a place called Abingdon, which is about 50 miles west of London right there in the Midlands, and that's just where all that flooding is taking place.
Really bad there this morning.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, a massive wildfire burning about 90 miles south of Salt Lake City, threatening several communities now. More than 200 people have been forced from their homes. It's just one of dozens of large wildfires in the West.
Some 15,000 firefighters are on the ground trying to contain them. Crews are hoping rain will provide some relief today.
America and Iran going to meet to talk about security in Iraq. Ambassadors from both countries will meet tomorrow in Baghdad. The U.S. charges that Iran is arming anti-American militants in Iraq. That certainly will probably be one of the topics on the table of discussion tomorrow.
Well, the Pentagon getting ready to scrap hundreds of millions of dollars of surplus military supplies, everything from combat boots to aircraft parts. The decision is partly aimed at keeping old equipment away from countries like Iran. Until now, surplus gear was sold to private companies and they often went back on to the market.
Well, the deadline for 23 South Korean hostages is four hours away. The South Koreans are all members of a church group on a relief mission. Taliban fighters in Afghanistan threatened to kill them if 23 Taliban prisoners are not freed in that time. Negotiations are said to be under way.
ROBERTS: There has been a lot of talk about tainted products from China and the lack of regulation that is allowing that to happen. Now there is another growing concern when it comes to regulation, as China now leads the world in carbon emissions.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in China this week looking into the problem as part of our "Planet in Peril" series.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, from China.
As you know, we've been out here for a few days looking at a specific documentary on climate change called "Planet in Peril". And China is squarely in our focus.
Here's a fact. China is now the number one carbon emitter anywhere in the world. They thought it was going to take 20 to 30 years for that to happen. It actually just happened last month, testament to the explosive growth here, and here's part of the reason why.
Take a look at this plant behind me. You can just see all the carbon being spewed into the atmosphere. And that is part of the problem.
And here's another indicator of their explosive growth. About two of these plants are being produced every week here. And they're largely unregulated.
It's very hard to regulate that. China has not accepted regulations as a country of a lot of these plants. Another part of the problem is that many of them still use old technology, so very hard to curb down the amount of pollution in this part of the country, and this country as a whole.
We're going to be looking into this all week, part of next week as well. Stay tuned for more on this from China.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right, Sanjay. Thanks.
There are serious security concerns being raised today at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Also raising questions about whether this type of stuff takes place at other airports around the country.
Our CNN affiliate KNXV 15 discovered a nearly five-hour time frame overnight where TSA agents just simply went away. Machines were shut off, and dozens of people made it past a security checkpoint with their bags unchecked.
Hidden cameras captured a flight attendant flashing a badge and then breezing by with three suitcases. Those suitcases never checked. And a floor cleaner pushed by without any inspection. Even a guy with a bike just flashed his I.D. badge and was able to ride through with his crate on the back never checked.
Documents obtained by the ABC investigator showed that the airport has known that this has been going on for two years. The airport says that access to all security-badged employees during non-operating hours is done so in accordance with the airport's TSA-approved security program.
ROBERTS: Tragic story out of the South this morning. A Minor League Baseball coach is dead after being hit by a foul ball. It happened in Arkansas during a game between the Tulsa Drillers and Arkansas Travelers.
Mike Coolbaugh was standing in the coach's box near first base when the line drive hit him in the head. He was knocked unconscious, died on the way to the hospital.
Coolbaugh had played a bit in the Major Leagues and had just joined the Drillers earlier this month. He was just 35 years old.
CHETRY: An accused child rapist won't be tried. Your "Quick Hits" now.
A court in Rockville, Maryland, dropping charges against a man accused of raping a 7-year-old girl. The man speaks a little known West African language, and the court had trouble finding an interpreter for him. The judge said it was an extremely difficult decision, but the case is three years old and the man's right to a speedy trial was being violated.
And police in New Jersey say that the bank robber known as the "Mad Hatter" has truck again. Police say he is has now held up more than 15 banks, each time wearing a different hat. He's described as a white man in his 40s to 50s with a mole on his left cheek.
Well, a simple-looking box is putting big smiles on the faces of people in Washington, D.C., because it issues out free compliments. The uplifting surprise and where it came from next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
We have more now on the extreme flooding in the United Kingdom. Villages across the country are under water, as you can see from these helicopter pictures. Hundreds of people had to be rescued over the weekend.
Here's a picture of a woman just being lifted into the air. This was something that was repeated over and over again, as people were unable to get out of the water themselves.
Thousands of people are without drinking water, and it looks like things could be getting worse.
Wesley Smith from ITN joins us now from Abingdon, about 60 miles outside of London, where floodwaters are threatening to top a river today.
Good to see you. What is the latest right now in the situation?
WESLEY SMITH, REPORTER, ITN: OK. Well, the latest we have -- I mean, this is really one of Britain's oldest towns. It's well used to flooding since 1894. But I've worked this patch for 18 years and have never seen anything like this.
This is the River Thames. We've had severe weather over the past days. The water now has to flow down here and make its way out to sea. And the only way in can now come is to flow over the banks and into this ancient market town, just one of many places across the county of Oxfordshire which are expected to be hit.
Now, it's the second wave of water. Some 90,000 gallons per second -- imagine how many swimming pools that would be -- on top of the normal flow of the river are coming our way. We're waiting to see just what happens later on today.
It means that people have tried to sandbag their houses, but they've now run out of them. So many are at crisis point. It's a real concern for all of us here in Abingdon.
As I say, we had flooding when other rivers burst their banks over the weekend. And now it looks like it's going to happen again. CHETRY: You know, and when we see the pictures of people having to be rescued from the helicopters like that, where were they? Were they in their homes or were they in cars and just unable to get out?
SMITH: Well, you know, some people were actually trapped in their workplace. But one of the worst places has been in the neighboring county to here in Gloucestershire.
Now, the big problem that we've had there is that the water treatment works actually flooded with water from the rivers, and that has contaminated it. So now those people have no drinking water.
Electricity substations were also affected. And most of these areas are fairly rural areas. They're communities which don't always have easy access anyway.
They're doing their best to airlift people, but some people are inevitably trapped in their homes, taking furniture to upper levels and just hoping for the best.
CHETRY: That's unbelievable. And any word on when this drinking water situation will be resolved or what they're trying to do for those people?
SMITH: They've been working on barrages around that area right now. But at the moment, it's looking very dodgy. It could well be days.
CHETRY: Wesley Smith from ITN, joining us from Abingdon this morning.
Thank you.
ROBERTS: The Democratic presidential candidates will be front and center tonight at the Citadel Military College in Charleston, South Carolina. They are going to face questions from you, the voters, in the first-ever CNN/YouTube debate.
Twenty-five hundred questions were posted on the video-sharing Web site. Questions like this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sick and tired of politicians. I'm sick and tired of the way that you always promise us stuff. You promise us this, you promise us that. And you never deliver. Republicans and Democrats alike.
And my question is this: What makes you different and why should we believe you?
Thanks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Tough questions.
Joining us now from Washington is John Dickerson, CNN political analyst and chief political correspondent for slate.com.
John, a lot of questions, as we saw, like that one are going to be very pointed from a very personal perspective. It's almost going to be like the complaint department there to some degree at the Citadel.
What kind of challenge is that going to present for the candidates?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's going to present a challenge for the candidates because they have to connect with the question. I mean, if they dodge or they go back to their talking points, it's going to seem that much more stark than if they were doing it just with one of the two of us. And voters might, you know, sort of give -- penalize the candidates for that a little bit more.
ROBERTS: Right.
We got one particularly great question in from a fellow named Lucas Browneyes (ph). He as an (INAUDIBLE) who studied very hard in high school, wants to go to film school at USC in California. Can't afford it, though.
Take a look at the question that he sent in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Lucas Browneyes (ph) from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and I just graduated with honors. I was accepted in my dream college, but I can't afford the $50,000 a year.
How will you make college affordable?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So, John, we've seen town hall debates where real people get up and ask real questions. How is this going to be different than that typical town hall format that we've seen in the past?
DICKERSON: Well, it will be a little nuttier, as that clip just showed, and that might be a little distracting. Also, in a town hall, one of the things you see is the cut back and forth between the candidate and the live reaction of the human being. You won't have that in this case.
But you will have the situation in which curveballs come at the candidates, and that's always what we're trying to do, is knock them off their script, get them to behave in a way that's more human.
ROBERTS: Yes. I think that a lot more questions are going to be coming in from left field. And one area of questioning that we see repeated very often in looking at these YouTube questions is, "What makes you different from the other candidates?"
How will the candidates try to distinguish themselves tonight?
DICKERSON: Well, the tricky thing about "What makes you different?" is candidates who try to reach too far in trying to show what makes them different can often look silly. And there will be this opportunity for the candidates themselves to make their own videos, and that's an opportunity for disaster as they try to show that they're terribly different and compelling.
But it also is an opportunity perhaps to get some of these candidates, particularly those who aren't Hillary Clinton, which Edwards and Obama, to really speak from their gut. And that's a way to connect with voters and hopefully move up in the polls.
ROBERTS: So, do you figure that there's much more opportunity than usual for candidates to slip on a banana peel tonight?
DICKERSON: Sure. I mean, but that may also be the dynamics of the race.
I mean, you've got someone like John Edwards, who's had some trouble in the polls in New Hampshire and who wants to sort of break some ground, rattle the teacups a little. And so he may do that, almost regardless of the questions that are asked of him.
ROBERTS: All right. John Dickerson, thanks very much.
A reminder. It all gets under way tonight, starting at 7:00 Eastern, live, interactive on TV, online, only on CNN, your home for politics.
And after the debate we still want to hear from you. Send us your post-debate reactions, opinions and thoughts by going to CNN.com and click on the I-Report link.
CHETRY: I know you're going to come armed with bananas. I can just tell.
ROBERTS: Just be peeling them and throwing them...
CHETRY: Yes. And tossing them on the stage.
Well, who doesn't like a compliment every now and then?
He does. He loves it.
If you live in Washington, D.C., you can get one whenever you want to. All you have to do is just walk by this box downtown.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People look to you for advice. You add a little mystery to life. You never take the easy way out. You really know how to take a compliment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: I think we wrote that one just for you, John.
ROBERTS: This is going to become a comedy sketch. I can just see it. CHETRY: The box was put up by a local artist as part of an arts project in the city.
And by the way, John, you look very nice today, if I haven't said it before.
ROBERTS: And you look lovely as usual, Kiran.
A new Papa Hemingway crowd in Key West tops your "Quick Hits".
An insurance agent from Florida beat out 24 others to win the annual lookalike contest at Sloppy Joe's, Hemingway's favorite bar. The celebration marks Hemingway's birthday. He would have been 108 years old yesterday.
And a touching new tribute to The Crocodile Hunter. The Australian government just announced plans to name a huge wildlife preserve after Steve Irwin. The honor comes 10 months after Irwin died in a stingray attack.
Tough times in Detroit for Ford. The company kicks off negotiations with its union today. It could make or break the auto giant.
Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business," and he's coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back.
Irish eyes are smiling in the golf world now. Your "Quick Hits".
ROBERTS: Padraig.
CHETRY: Thank you.
Harrington is celebrating a big win at this weekend's British Open. I know a lot of you guys were watching it. Sorry. I was not.
He beat Sergio Garcia in a four-hole playoff to capture the victory. It makes him the first Irishman, by the way, to win the Open in 60 years.
And a not-so-exciting debut for David Beckham on the soccer field. You remember this one.
He had a sore ankle, and it kept him sidelined for most of his first game with the L.A. Galaxy. But Beckham played for 12 minutes, then unfortunately his team lost 1-0 to England's Chelsea Squad.
Well, he might not have gotten a lot of play time, but plenty of party time this weekend for David Beckham. Becks and his wife Posh got a warm welcome from some of Hollywood's biggest stars. There was a big party thrown by Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes, along with Will Smith and his wife Jada.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to 53 minutes after the hour.
Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business".
Ford Motor Company trying to dig itself out with negotiations today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Negotiations between the major auto companies and the United Auto Workers begins formally today. Chrysler started on Friday, Ford and GM today. Although, these conversations informally have been going on for months.
Ford is in the worst situation of the Detroit automakers. The contract right now for automakers expires on September the 14th, but the union is not in great shape, because over the last few years they have lost tens of thousands of jobs.
Now, here's what it comes down to.
The automakers suggest that the cost of making a car, an equivalent car -- let's take the Chevy Impala versus the Toyota Camry. They offer very much the same thing, they cost about the same money, but the U.S.-made car costs -- depending on who you ask -- between $1,200 and $1500 more.
Why? Because of all the retirees, the pension costs, what they call legacy costs.
The auto industry used to be a lot bigger than it is today, so what you've got is far few workers paying the pensions and retirement costs of a lot of those laid off or retired workers. And the automakers want to try to get out from underneath that.
The industry lost $15 billion -- with a "B" -- last year.
ROBERTS: And Ford is...
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VELSHI: And Ford was $12.6 billion of that was their loss last year. They have got a lot of debt. They've got to do this.
The only good news on the horizon here is that everybody at the table understands the situation the auto workers are in. While the United Auto Workers want the best that they can get for their membership, they also understand they've got to do what they have to do to keep these automakers afloat.
ROBERTS: It sounds like there's going to be some sort of fundamental restructuring of the industry if they hope to survive.
VELSHI: Yes. And we'll be seeing it. So I think these are going to be more interesting than typical contract negotiations.
We'll be following it closely.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much.
Not so candid camera shots top your "Quick Hits" now.
Forbes.com is posting a list of the top 10 most pricey celebrity photos. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, not surprisingly, scored four of the top 10 spots. The picture of the two proud parents and baby Shiloh won the number one spot. "People" magazine paid more than $4 million for that snap.
AARP is out with a survey of America's most senior-friendly cities. It says Atlanta; Beacon Hill in Boston; Chandler, Arizona; Milwaukee and Portland are the best place for people over 50 to live.
CHETRY: Yes, they picked them based on bike trails, places to walk, and whether there was mixed-income housing in some of these places.
ROBERTS: And what time happy hour starts.
The boy wizard take on a couple of firefighters who pretend that their a couple. So who snagged the top spot at the box office this weekend, two guys named Chuck and Larry or Harry Potter?
The numbers next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, that's really funny. The happy couple topping the box office this weekend, knocking Harry Potter right off. That's "I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry," by the way.
"Hairspray," "Transformers" and "Ratatouille" round out the top of the list.
ROBERTS: Well, some other stories "On Our Radar" this morning.
Some serious security questions at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
Our CNN affiliate KNXV 15 discovered that for nearly a five-hour timeframe overnight, TSA agents were away from the security checkpoints and dozens of people, albeit pretty much all of them employees, made it past the security checkpoints by only flashing their IDs. Never was any of the material that was with them ever checked or run through an x-ray machine.
CHETRY: That's right. They had hidden cameras capturing a flight attendant flashing a badge and then just breezing on in with three suitcases.
We're going to tell you what else the station uncovered and what the airport is now saying. And we'll talk about the alarming investigation with a former airline security director coming up.
ROBERTS: Yes. One of the questions we have, of course, this morning is, is this standard operating procedure at all airports in that time when no flights are taking off? Are people allowed to bypass these checkpoints by only flashing their ID?
CHETRY: It is scary if it's the case, so we're going to find out more about that.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
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