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American Morning
Virginia Suffers Severe Damage from Twisters; Home Foreclosure Spike Up; Size 16 Model Joins Miss England Beauty Pageant; One-on-One Interview with President Jimmy Carter
Aired April 29, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: That's a huge get. We'll actually hear how they're changing the mindset of these former members of al- Qaeda and actually going back out onto the streets.
And then you heard about what happened at Fort Bragg. These soldiers coming back after a number of tours in Iraq, and they're coming back to these deplorable conditions. We're investigating that today as well.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking to the father who is the fellow who posted the video on YouTube this morning.
PHILLIPS: It's interesting. The soldier didn't want to come forward and make a big deal about this for obvious reasons, but, boy, the father took pictures and put it on YouTube, and we're going to talk about it.
ROBERTS: All of that ahead.
Breaking news this morning though after three tornadoes plowed through parts of southeastern Virginia injuring at least 200 people. The National Weather Service says they touched town in Suffolk, Colonial Heights and Brunswick County. One, carrying a 25-mile trail of destruction across the area, gutting homes and tossing cars.
The severe weather even hit a hospital that was still accepting victims. Our I-reporters caught remarkable pictures this morning of funnel clouds as they were forming. One man talked about what it was like being inside one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we were at the front of the storm, we noticed that the rain was starting to come down a little harder, and it started going side winding. And at that time, we started seeing stuff come off the roof. The roof was spiraling, and then we've seen some of the cars get lifted off the ground. It slammed down. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Governor Kaine has now declared a state of emergency. Our Rob Marciano on the scene for us this morning in Suffolk, Virginia. And Rob, just incredible pictures that we've seen from this tornado. ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. And this one of three, John. As you mentioned, ripping across southeast Virginia. All very close to one another, all coming within about a five-hour time period. The first one touching down about 60 miles west of here at 1:00.
The second one about 60 miles northwest here at about 3:30 and then this one seemingly the worst, coming through this area here in Suffolk, Virginia, at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon.
Look at the destruction behind me. Cars completely tossed and destroyed and smashed, where you see behind this car what's left of a strip mall, and a pretty new strip mall at that. A number of chain stores used to be in there. Completely gutted. You see the wires. You see the infrastructure.
Just some of the main beams there left with that particular building. In comparison, there's a Jamba Juice, by the way. In comparison, look at this building.
Pretty new. I know it's not really well-lit right now, but virtually untouched. This is a medical building that's associated with the hospital that you mentioned is just a stone's throw from here that took some damage but still treating some patients.
You mentioned that 200 people hurt. Most of those minor injuries. Miraculously when you look at this damage at this time, no confirmed reports of fatalities, but search and rescue crews certainly will be out and about today hoping that that number remains the same. As far as the destruction in these parts of Virginia, 140 homes at this point deemed uninhabitable. So either damaged or completely destroyed.
This all coming within about a four to five-hour period yesterday afternoon in hurricane country. I'm told by the locals this is like nothing they've seen as far as tornadoes go and usually they prepare for hurricanes. Back to you.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's not the sort of place, Rob, where you expect a hurricane that was one north of there a few years ago up in College Park, Maryland, which was highly unusual. It hit the University of Maryland. What do they need there most this morning?
MARCIANO: Well, they're responding -- you know, they have the whereabouts to respond to this. What took them off guard is the reaction time. And when you have a hurricane coming bearing down on you, you've got a couple of days to prepare. They had 15 minutes warning, which is good. That's the average amount of warning that the National Weather Service will give.
But now, they're just responding. They're basically digging out their hurricane supplies and getting after. The Red Cross and all the other support agencies are certainly responding as well, so they have the wherewithal. They're just not used to getting it with only 15 minutes warning -- John.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano for us in Suffolk. We're going to be talking with the mayor of Suffolk coming up in our next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, by the way.
In southern California meantime this morning, a huge effort under way to contain a wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains, about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Overnight winds pushing flames past some containment lines, and crews say the fires are burning dangerously close to homes.
More than 500 acres have been torched. At least 1,000 people have left their homes in the foothills. So far though, only one building has been damaged. The people there pretty fortunate.
PHILLIPS: The "Most Politics in the Morning." One week to the primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. New CNN/National Democratic poll of polls shows that Barack Obama is leading Hillary Clinton by four points. She closed an 11-point gap since winning Pennsylvania.
And a poll out today from "AP"-Ipsos shows that Clinton would beat the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain by nine points if the election were held today. Obama is in a statistical tie with McCain. Three weeks ago, both were tied with McCain.
Now, John McCain will talk about his health care plan on the campaign trail in Florida today. McCain wants to offer families a $5,000 tax credit to help buy insurance policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've made it very clear that what I want is for families to make decisions about their health care, not government. And that's the fundamental difference between myself and Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. They want the government to make the decisions. I want the families to make the decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: McCain says that his plan will force companies to respond with better service at a lower cost. Democrats say his plan won't help the average family, and it's very similar to what the Bush administration wants.
Now Hillary Clinton says that she supports a plan to lift the federal tax on gas from Memorial Day to Labor Day and shift that burden to oil companies earning huge profits. Clinton says her proposal is similar to John McCain except that she'd pay for her tax break and not "raid the highway trust fund." Obama opposes a gas tax holiday saying it would weaken funding for highways and bridges.
Now, Barack Obama is trying to distance himself from his former pastor this morning once again. At an appearance at the National Press Club, Reverend Jeremiah Wright stood by some of his controversial statements criticizing the U.S. government as imperialist and suggested the U.S. government is capable of inventing the AIDS virus to wage genocide against minorities. Obama told voters in North Carolina he just doesn't agree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Certainly what the last three days indicate is that we're not coordinating with him, right? He's obviously free to speak his mind, but I just want to emphasize this is my former pastor. They don't represent what this campaign is about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Wright also says that the attacks on him were an "attack on the black church" -- John.
ROBERTS: Breaking news from Afghanistan this morning. U.S. Marines launching a ground and air assault on Taliban militants overnight in southern Afghanistan. Several hundred marines pushed into the town of Garmser (ph). It's part of a coalition effort to drive militants out of one of the most violent provinces in southern Afghanistan. It is the first mission for U.S. Marines in the region in years.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is blaming Iran and Syria for not doing enough to stop foreign fighters from entering Iraq. Zalmay Khalilzad telling the U.N. Security Council, Iran continues to arm, train and fund terror groups responsible for recent attacks on civilians and Iraqi forces in Basra and Baghdad. The report supports last week's assessment by a top U.S. military official.
The United Nations announcing emergency measures overnight to fight the global food crisis. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will head a task force, bringing together the heads of U.N. agencies. He says the first priority is finding more than $700 million for the World Food Programme. The U.N. estimates that up to 100 million of the world's poorest people now need food aid saying the costs of staple food are at least 50 percent higher than they were this time last year.
PHILLIPS: New numbers just coming in overnight about the housing crisis, up 112 percent from a year ago. Ali is on this for us next.
And chaos and destruction and caring for the wounded and homeless this morning after twisters tear throughout southeast Virginia. Updates and images from the scene straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Huge foreclosures. Ali Velshi talking.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I was kind of -- I might as say -- you know, some days I come here and talk about gas prices and it's all inevitable. I was hoping this wasn't inevitable, but we have had a big jump in foreclosure filings. Let me tell you a little about this.
There are 650,000 homes in the United States in foreclosure right now. Now, that's at any stage of foreclosure. It doesn't mean they're about to be repossessed. But 650,000 homes, that's an increase of 112 percent from last year. It's about 23 percent from the last quarter, which was the end of 2007.
One in 194 homes in the United States is in some part of the foreclosure process. And so far this year, we've had 156,000 homes repossessed. Forty-six states saw increases in foreclosure. That's according to Realty Track which tracks this.
Let's take a look at the hardest-hit states. They haven't really changed actually. Nevada still the hardest hit state, one in 54 homes in foreclosure. California, one in 78. Arizona, one in 95. And Florida, one in 97.
Now, just so you would get an idea, when you look at the least hard-hit states, the lowest foreclosure rates, the numbers are very different. You've got one in 47, one in 78. Look at this.
Vermont, one in 103,000. North Dakota, one in 6,000. West Virginia, one in 6,000 and South Dakota, one in 5,500. So the rates are going up, but look at the differences between those states where there are many homes in foreclosure and you'll see a pattern. There were states in which there was speculation, major price increases. That's why that's happened.
And by the way, we get e-mails from people who say that somehow that sounds like we're blaming people for it. We're absolutely not. If you bought a house in the southwest or in Florida, you were part of a speculative boom. It doesn't mean you were speculating on your house in particular, but the prices there have gone down for different reasons than they have let's say in Detroit or Ohio, where, you know, in the industrial base has weakened and people have had to move out.
ROBERTS: But certainly, there were plenty of speculators who got into subprime mortgage.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Absolutely were, and there still are. And that is a big part of the issue. That doesn't make everybody bad, but it did contribute to a big, big problem.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali, thanks very much.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to more bad news.
VELSHI: Yes, thanks.
ROBERTS: Gone in a matter of seconds. Months of recovery and rebuilding lying ahead. The aftermath and extreme weather is next stop. Our Rob Marciano live on the scene of Virginia for us this morning. Hey, Rob.
MARCIANO: Hi, John. Three tornadoes ripping across the southeast part of the state. The one that I'm standing -- well, where it came through yesterday afternoon, 25-mile-wide path.
Is there severe weather in the forecast? Cold air coming down the pike. Complete weather forecast from the tornado zone when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 15 minutes after the hour and updating our breaking news this morning. Hundreds of people hurt and homeless in southeastern Virginia after three tornadoes strike yesterday afternoon. Some of the most widespread damage in the town of Suffolk where a funnel cloud touched down and went on a 25-mile long rampage.
Our Rob Marciano is live on the scene for us in Suffolk, Virginia, this morning. Rob, looking at that picture behind you there. It's amazing that we haven't had any reports of fatalities at this point.
MARCIANO: Yes. You know, we're still kind of banging our head against the wall and knocking on wood for sure because this is not the only site of destruction. It's pretty widespread. What you are seeing behind me is not only cars that are tossed about like toys, but a brand new strip mall that has the usual, you know, chain stores in there, and that's completely, completely gutted with nothing left but wires and some infrastructure left.
And by comparison, this building here also fairly new, this is part of the medical complex that's here, virtually untouched. Some damage to that, but in comparison none at all compared to that strip mall. So just, you know, one of those things with tornadoes, how it rolls here.
A lot of it has to do with luck. A lot of it has to do with how the buildings are built. And certainly, the National Weather Service will be out here later on today to figure out just how strong this was. At first glance at least an EF-2, possibly stronger. Certainly winds of more than 110 miles an hour.
All right. What's happening right now as far as weather? The rain has just moved out of here. We had rough weather all night long getting in here. And now, the rough weather is moving up towards the northeast.
There's the rainfall there across the Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia. Hurricane country, by the way. They are not used to seeing these kind of tornadoes rip through this part of the world.
Rainfall across the northeast, could see some flooding through Boston north into down east Maine. Be aware of that as this storm system, and a vigorous one obviously, continues to move its way out to sea. One of the reasons it's so strong, it's got some cold air behind it. And we've got frost and freeze warnings that are in effect for a good chunk of the northeast and as far south as parts of say Kentucky and Missouri. There you see some of the freeze warnings that are in effect, the purple there. Temperatures right now in the below freezing in Springfield, Missouri. So certainly this is the time of year, Kyra, you know, when you get the battle of the air masses, and they create these big, strong storms. And it only takes one tornado to do a lot of damage.
Here in southeast Virginia, they had three within a matter of four to five hours. So this community certainly reeling from what happened yesterday afternoon.
PHILLIPS: Yes, we'll talk to you all throughout the morning. Thanks, Rob.
Well, it's a CNN exclusive. A look inside a detention center in Iraq, once a haven for violent al-Qaeda members. It's now reforming enemies into allies in the war on terror. We're going to take a look at the dramatic change that's taking place. Thanks to a pretty radical general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHLOE MARSHALL, MISS ENGLAND FINALIST: I wanted to show that, you know, big is beautiful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: She's not your typical beauty pageant contestant. And that's the point. Meet the British beauty who wants to break the pageant mold, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: They say big is beautiful, and one woman is trying to prove it in England right now. A size 16 model earned a final spot in the Miss England beauty pageant. And as our Alphonso Van Marsh shows us, she wants to prove it's not just skinny girls who can get the crown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 17-year-old Chloe Marshall could be England's next beauty queen. Nothing surprising about that until perhaps you see this. She's a size 16, shown here in a bikini in "Hello" magazine, and she weighs 176 pounds. That sets her apart from the traditional beauty contestant.
CHLOE MARSHALL, MISS ENGLAND FINALIST: I wanted to show that, you know, big is beautiful. And you never hear of a size 16 plus size girl going into a competition.
VAN MARSH (on camera): Having won a regional pageant like this one, Chloe Marshall will become the first plus size woman to compete in the Miss England finals.
VAN MARSH (voice-over): That's something she hopes will change old stereotypes that skinny equals beauty.
MARSHALL: The whole beauty industry needs to change for the better, not for the worse. So I think they're happy that they've got someone in the competition that is really confident and has a different look to any of the other girls.
ERIC WAY, FASHION DESIGNER, MISS WORLD JUDGE: Six feet (ph) is not too much.
I was quite surprised that she was actually lovely and tall and in proportion and could carry off the weight.
VAN MARSH: In a country where the hit video "Big Girl" was filmed, the public is supporting Chloe and it gets to vote in the finals. Others say she has an uphill battle.
SAMANTHA DEL GRECO, PAGEANT JUDGE, FORMER WINNER: I don't want to sound really harsh because I'm not being harsh. But I'm just saying that I think she'll have a really hard time because of it (INAUDIBLE) this beauty pageants has. And I think that maybe the girls will give her a hard time.
VAN MARSH: Hard time or not, Chloe says she's going through this to give other curvy girls hope and to promote what she calls a healthy and realistic body image. Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Bath, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: It's 22 minutes now after the hour. We are talking one on one this morning with former President Jimmy Carter. He's got a new book out about his mother Lillian Carter. Of course, he also recently traveled to the Middle East and met with the militant group Hamas. He believes that open communication with the group is necessary to find peace, but both the U.S. and Israel were highly critical of his trip reminding that they consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
So this morning we want to hear your thoughts on this topic. Should former President Jimmy Carter have met with Hamas? Yes or no? Cast your vote at CNN.com. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning.
We also want to hear from you on this. Let us know what you think of President Carter's meeting. Was it a good idea? Was it harmful to U.S. policy? Give us your thoughts.
Send us an e-mail at CNN.com/am. We'll be hearing from Mr. Carter himself on this issue and about the race for president. That part of the interview coming right up on AMERICAN MORNING after our quick break here.
PHILLIPS: Did he talk about the dream team that he sees?
ROBERTS: He did. I asked him what he thought of the tone of the campaign. He'll share his thoughts on that. And you know that Nancy Pelosi was saying this idea of a dream team, a bad one. Well, we'll hear from Jimmy Carter in the next couple of minutes.
PHILLIPS: We look forward to it.
Also, it's tornado terror. Picking up the spots now running over some homes, leaving others untouched, and giving people moments to take cover. We'll have an update live from the scene straight ahead.
And for a time, a U.S. detainment camp in Iraq was a haven for actually teaching terror and hate. But now, captured al-Qaeda fighters are finally hearing positive messages. Thanks to a new general and it's spreading around to the others.
It's a CNN exclusive. How Camp Bucca was turned around. That story and our Nic Robertson.
Also, today's headlines, when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Former President Jimmy carter's trip to the Middle East to talk with Hamas leaders rankled the Bush administration and Israel. He believes that Hamas should be part of the peace process, but both the U.S. and Israel consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
I sat down to talk with the former president to talk to him about his Middle Eastern trip. His new book which is a tribute to his mother, Lillian Carter, who died back in 1983 and politics as well. In the first part of our interview that we're going to show you now, I asked him about the tone of this presidential campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it's quite different from what it was 25 or 30 years ago when I ran. We never dreamed of a negative TV ad. I only referred to my opponents as my distinguished opponent, and Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan referred to me the same way.
But with the advent of gobs of money, an attempt to tear down the reputation of your opponent has become an elemental factor in winning an election.
ROBERTS: Do you think this is harming the Democratic Party?
CARTER: I think it has temporarily, but I believe that after June the 3rd, I believe, when the last primary is held, whoever wins I believe that the other candidate and the other candidate's supporters overwhelmingly will support whoever wins.
ROBERTS: You think that they can mend the fences?
CARTER: There's no doubt in my mind.
ROBERTS: Well, on that front, what do you think of this idea of a dream ticket? Regardless of who becomes the nominee, he or she takes on the other person as a running mate. Now, the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, has said she thinks that's a bad idea. What do you think of this so-called dream ticket?
CARTER: I think it's extremely unlikely because I don't really believe that if Obama wins or if Hillary wins their adding the other one to the ticket will attract any additional voters. I would personally like to see Sam Nunn from Georgia, a distinguished former senator, very experienced in foreign affairs and defense matters, or someone like him to be the addition to the ticket to kind of round it out. But I think for them to choose each other is almost impossible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: So there you go from Jimmy Carter. No dream team. Sam Nunn...
PHILLIPS: Sam Nunn?
ROBERTS: ... as the running mate. You know, it's not the first time that's been floated. I think he may have floated that before, but some people are wondering if the gray beard, party gray beard like Sam Nunn might add something to the ticket as well.
PHILLIPS: What else do we look forward to?
ROBERTS: We're looking forward to lots. We're going to hear him explain his visit with Hamas. Coming up in our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Of course, he met with with Khaled Meshaal (ph), who is the leader of Hamas. Met in Syria. That attracted a lot of criticism from both the United States and Israel. There were very hot about that.
So we'll talk to him about how he justified that trip. We'll also speak with him about his mother who back in the 1970s very famous figure in politics and in Georgia. Very revered figure, very dynamic woman, and what he learned from her. It's a great little book. "My Remarkable Mother," it's called.
PHILLIPS: And it was neat to see him in person yesterday as well, too.
ROBERTS: Yes, it's great.
PHILLIPS: Quite the entourage.
ROBERTS: Because we usually see him somewhere with a hammer in his hand building houses.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. Doing the human rights thing. All right, John.
Well, we're getting an exclusive inside look now at Camp Bucca. It's the largest U.S.-run detention facility in Iraq holding nearly 20,000 detainees, including some of the most violent al-Qaeda fighters. And for a time, the general in charge says detainees actually ran the place. Now the mission is to turn those enemies into allies.
CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson takes us inside for the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Over here, this is al-Qaeda here.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): We can't show you their faces, but these men are the hard core of the Iraqi insurgency.
MAJOR GENERAL DOUGLAS STONE, U.S. MARINES: We've got about 2,000 identified al-Qaeda here in the theater internment facility. They are hard to break.
ROBERTSON: Major General Douglas Stone runs Camp Bucca where the U.S. holds nearly 20,000 Iraqi detainees.
STONE: This is not a place that you want to hang around.
ROBERTSON: We are the first television crew allowed inside this sprawling camp. For General Stone, Bucca is a terror trove like no other.
STONE: This is the only place in the world where U.S. and coalition forces day in and day out engage with al-Qaeda. Day in and day out. We meet them, we talk to them, we understand them.
ROBERTSON: But it wasn't always this way. When Stone arrived last year, the camp was literally in flames. At its worse, the violence involved between 1,000 and 10,000 detainees.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Rioting spread across half the compounds in the camp. So bad, Stone says the detainees were effectively running the place.
MAJOR GEN. DOUGLAS STONE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: It most assuredly was a Jihadist university -- unquestionably.
ROBERTSON: Now, Camp Bucca is part of a bold experiment to win over Iraqis who fought U.S. forces.
And this is where it begins. Suspected insurgents listen to an imam preaching a moderate interpretation of Islam, far removed from the violent ideology that fuels al-Qaeda.
In Bucca classrooms are the new battleground. Victory is a detainee converted to moderate Islam.
(on camera): While we've been in here, the imams explains to detainees that they have to respect other people. There's also said that we'll make mistakes but it's up to ourselves to correct those mistakes.
(voice-over): Stone knows some detainees are beyond reform.
STONE: There's no way we put these guys in a class. ROBERTSON: So Stone and his team isolate the extreme of the extreme and offer incentives to the rest of the detainees. This means family visits, English classes, even civics courses teaching Western- style democracy.
The goal, to release the majority of detainees at Camp Bucca and make some of them into allies. 7,000 detainees have already been released. Every one of them carefully screened. It seems to be working. Only seven have found themselves back behind these bars.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: And General Stone says not only has he sent some of these detainees, some 7,000 back into the community, but some member effectively spying on al Qaeda. He says they're providing accurate information, but not just within the insurgency in al-Qaeda and Iraq, but from other countries as well.
Kyra?
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And Nic, you and I have gotten to know General Stone pretty well. And he's known for his radical thinking and it's definitely been working in that country. But he really linked on to something that's pretty simple. And that is taking these men, these extreme men, and connecting with the families.
ROBERTSON: Connecting with the families because the families make a lot of the decisions as far as a lot of the insurgents are concerned. This is one of the things that General Stone discovered.
Not only has he got this radical program for dealing with the detainees, but in sort of in keeping with the counter insurgency techniques that he used in Iraq now. He's studied the detainees to find out who they are.
He's found that they're under employed, not unemployed. He's found that they're -- mostly 60 percent of them are married, 80 percent of them have children. About 60 percent of them only go in to fight the insurgency if their families agree and tell them to do it.
Mostly, because they need that little bit of extra money. So by bringing the families into the process, General Stone hopes to change their minds and their views about Islam, about moderate Islam, and about the United States and Iraq as well, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's quite a switch from Abu Ghraib. Nic Robertson, fantastic work. Thank you.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: 33 minutes after the hour. Breaking news for you this morning. Miles of damage, hundreds of people hurt from three tornadoes that touched down in Southeastern Virginia. The National Weather Service says that they touched down Suffolk, Colonial Heights and Brunswick County. Many homes and businesses are destroyed.
You can see the swathe of destruction there. Cars were piled up on top of each other in at least one store parking lot. And our I- reporters got remarkable pictures this morning of funnel clouds as they were forming. Witnesses say it was one of the scariest things that they have ever seen or heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just amazing. You know what it is when you start to hear it. It's that sucking sound and it's like a train wreck coming through and it keeps going higher and higher. You just know what it is and all you can do is sit there. You just -- there's nothing you can do about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: One eyewitness described it like a giant deck of cards being shuffled. Another one, a stampede of wild animal animals. Governor Tim Kaine has now declared a state of emergency in the area. We'll get help there just as soon as possible.
One week to the primaries now in North Carolina and Indiana. Senator Hillary Clinton lashing out at rival Barack Obama for rejecting a plan to ease your pain at the pump.
Clinton backed a proposal also supported by John McCain, to suspend the Federal Gas Tax for the summer. Obama calls it a quick fix and says it would do more harm than good. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us now from Indianapolis.
This is an idea, Suzanne, that Hillary Clinton rejected back in 2000 in her run for the Senate, but is now embracing. Why?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's really interesting because all of the voters, they've been looking for an issue really that distinguishes these two candidates and finally they have found one. This really resonates with voters.
Senator Clinton is coming out with this plan to suspend the Federal Gas Tax. That's an 18 cent per gallon tax that you end up paying to the federal government, make up for that over the summer months or so by taxing the oil companies' profits.
Now, Barack Obama is rejecting this. He says, first of all, voters aren't going to save that much money during the summer, that three-month period. He says about $25 to $30. But he also makes the case here that that 18 cent per gallon, that money goes to funding the highway repair and maintenance and those type of things, and it also goes to people who work on those highways, those jobs.
So both of them looking at this issue saying this is a hot button issue. This is one that affects middle class, working class families. And this is one that really resonates. Take a listen to what Senator Clinton said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My opponent, Senator Obama, opposes giving consumers a break from the tax -- the gas tax at the federal level. I support it. I understand that the American people need some relief.
But you see, I think we want to show that the government can actually work for hard working Americans again. So doing something like that sends a very clear message.
Meanwhile, Senator McCain says he's all for a gas tax holiday, but he won't pay for it. Well, that's a mistake because we can't give up on building and repairing our roads.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, John, both these candidates really believe that they can get some benefit out of this argument here. Senator Clinton trying to paint Obama as being kind of out of touch with the working class, specifically the white working class, blue collar voters. Those are the ones that he really, really needs looking at Indiana in about a week away, the primary.
And Senator Obama trying to use this to liken Clinton with McCain. So both of them looking at this and believing, hey, this is something that we can grab onto with the voters. This is something that people are really paying attention to.
John?
ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning in Indianapolis. And we should point out as well that Hillary Clinton expecting a big endorsement today from Governor Mike Easley of North Carolina. We'll be carrying that for you, live, this morning.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Alina Cho, another stories making headlines.
Good morning.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, guys. Good morning to you. Good morning everybody. New this morning, there is word that Afghan president Hamid Karzai knew about a plot to kill him before that failed attack on Sunday.
Afghanistan's intelligence chief is now speaking out this morning saying the plot was formed last month. That gunman actually rented a room 45 days before the attack and used it to open fire. President Karzai was unharmed, but three people were killed in that attack.
Startling new numbers are out this morning from that raid of a polygamist compound in Texas. Investigators say the total number of children taken from the ranch now stands at 463 and 31 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are currently pregnant or have already given birth.
The children were placed in state custody because of allegations of abuse, including an alleged pattern of grooming young girls to accept marriage to middle-aged men.
Well, one U.S. senator is calling it a national embarrassment. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia is talking about the aging air-traffic control system that he says is simply unsafe.
So the Senate is now taking up a bill that would require GPS to track planes replacing the five decades old radar system in place. Now, a lot of people have been talking about this change. The bill would also set a three-hour time limit for planes waiting on runways. That would certainly be welcome news.
And an amazing story of survival following a spectacular car crash in Italy. Check this out. French driver (INAUDIBLE) car started to spin, then he went airborne, cart wheeling across the track. But take a look at the slow motion replay.
You can see, isn't that incredible, how (INAUDIBLE) car narrowly missed hitting another car. Amazingly, he only suffered a broken ankle, but he's otherwise OK.
Apparently, he's going to get out of the hospital on Sunday. No word yet -- definitive word on the cause of the crash, but they say it may have something to do with...
PHILLIPS: Speed?
CHO: ...brake problems. Imagine that.
ROBERTS: Looked like the right front brake just locked up.
PHILLIPS: (INAUDIBLE) in trouble.
ROBERTS: Lost the down force wind, airborne and -- he would have sliced that car in half. Another millisecond slower that car --
PHILLIPS: I'm always amazed though that people walk away from these crashes. You see them all the time.
ROBERTS: The protection is so much different now than it used to be.
PHILLIPS: All the gear. But the majority of the muscle pray every time they --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Before they get to that car? I have seen the prayer circles and I get it now.
ROBERTS: Really?
PHILLIPS: Oh yes.
CHO: That's for a little divine intervention.
ROBERTS: So he went airborne and if you plan to go airborne it's going to cost you a little more.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yup. We've got another fare hike in the works. We have another airline merger in the works. A different one entirely, but really coming back after the break -- I'll just going to run that video of that car again. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Ali Velshi. Normally, I choose and sort of see what's important for you guys to hear and tell you about. But this morning I've had to battle at least three producers on this story because they told me I've said it already.
I know you might think so, but this is a new story. There is a new and different airline merger in the works. Now there is talk that United and U.S. Airways are considering a merger. In fact, according to one source, they are well into it and could have an announcement within weeks.
This is not a conversation we have heard before. It's been United and Continental and yesterday Continental said they're out of that deal. We know Delta and Northwest are in a deal to merge. This is a brand new one. So, to all of you out there and a few producers, brand new story. Could be a new merger and it's not probably good for your airfares.
By the way, nothing's good for your airfares. They're up again. The 14th attempted airfare hike is now under way at an airline near you. United has matched Delta's airfare hike of $10 or $40 roundtrip depending on the city pairs that you're flying to. This would be the 14th attempt this year. Of those 14 attempts, nine have stuck.
Now, yet to match the airfare, we are following this very closely, Americans, Continental, Northwest and U.S. Airways. Whether or not they do match depends on whether the airfare is widely accepted and stuck. But at this rate, we are on track to have 40 airfare hikes this is year. That would be the most ever.
So the advice from the people who track this is that if you're planning a holiday, book your ticket now because it's likely to be more expensive next week.
ROBERTS: Do we, in addition to your oil barrel, need to get you a laundry hanger? Are you going to be airing it out here?
VELSHI: There you guys. Just want to say -- I look at these stories, too, when I look in the morning and I think, didn't we do this story -- the airfare hike and merger?
ROBERTS: You can say that everyday about gas prices. All of that. But it's important information for people to have definitely.
Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: All right.
PHILLIPS: Extreme damage in Southeastern Virginia. Tornadoes sparing some homes and totally crushing others. Take a look at these pictures. Rob Marciano actually, live, on the scene for us in Suffolk, Virginia. We're going to check in with him next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob Marciano live in Suffolk, Virginia, where just over 12 hours ago a strong tornado ripped through this area and completely demolished what was a brand new strip mall. I have with me Ed Fletcher who was in the strip mall taking his son to a military recruiting office, a Navy guy and a Vietnam veteran.
You were taking your son down here. Tell us what happened. What you went through when the tornado came through here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we had just finished visiting the Marine recruiting office and two of the Marine recruiters were walking out the back door with them. At the end of this building here, this is where it first hit. And we just started to almost come out of the building there and somebody yelled into us, it's here. And I said, what's here? They said a tornado. And I said, what?
All we could do was squat down and think of our training and get down in the doorway. That's all we did. We squatted down in the doorway and my back was to the furthest wall down there. We were the first ones hit by it. I thought we were gone -- I thought it was all over, because it was just -- that was overwhelming. The noise, the wind, everything was being torn and falling down around us.
The wind was tearing up the flooring, everything, the metal structures. And we just stayed down squatted and asked God to let us live. And I wanted my son not to be hurt. That's all I cared about. And he must have heard me because my son's home and he walked away from it. Both of us did. And then when we came outside, I couldn't believe what I saw. I just couldn't believe we had survived it.
MARCIANO: How do you feel this morning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel pretty good. I just -- again, my son is alive. My son's a wonderful boy. He goes to (INAUDIBLE) Suffolk Academy here in Suffolk. And I just -- he's too young to have something happen to him. I just thank God that he didn't hurt my son.
MARCIANO: Ed, we're glad you survived as well. Thank you for talking to us.
Just one of many survival stories we're sure to hear today in an area steeped in military tradition. That's for sure. And this community will be reeling not just today but for the days and weeks ahead.
John and Kyra, back up to you. PHILLIPS: Spiritual as well. I saw his T-shirt there - Hooked on Jesus. I think that divine intervention actually helped his family, Rob.
MARCIANO: Well, those shirts may very well be flying off the shelves today.
ROBERTS: How can you not believe in a higher power when you go through that and you came out (INAUDIBLE).
PHILLIPS: Amen.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob. We'll check back with you in a little while.
Shocking video of an attack in a courtroom on a prosecutor. How did a suspect with a razor blade get by security and then why was the suspect close enough to the prosecutor to be able to attack her?
PHILLIPS: Plus, nothing to brag about. The dad who blew the whistle on nasty conditions at Fort Bragg joins us live, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's nine minutes now to the top of the hour. Take a look at this. Shocking video of a convicted felon lunging at a female prosecutor. The convicted felon has got a razor blade. This surfaced on the Internet.
You can see in these pictures that when he walks into the courtroom he's just kind of walking behind the attorneys and then suddenly lunges at the woman. She gets taken back to the table there. She seems to be all right.
But investigators want to know a couple of things. Who leaked it and how did this guy get a razor blade? It happened in a New York courtroom last month.
And Sunny Hostin who spent an awful lot of time in New York courtrooms joined us. She's our legal analyst.
Why do you think this tape was licked? Was somebody trying to bring attention to a security problem?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, we don't know yet. It certainly being investigated. The marshal services investigating it. We do know that the marshal service was using this as a training video for their people.
I have to tell you, John, you're right. I've been in courtrooms all the time. When I was a prosecutor, you are very close to violent offenders all the time, and you expect the marshals to protect you, and they did that in this case.
But I think what's really unusual is that prisoners were check as they leave the prison. They are checked in the block right behind the courtroom before they come in, and so this person must have secreted the razor blade I would say in a body cavity, which is unusual.
But you're also talking about a defendant that was facing a life -- mandatory life sentence. And so he had absolutely nothing to lose. And what I think is also interesting is most defendants know that prosecutors are just doing their jobs and that they're sort of like cockroaches.
If you kill the prosecutor, there's going to be another that's going to come to try your case. And so it's unusual for a prosecutor to be attacked like this. But when you have a defendant with absolutely nothing, nothing to lose. This is the kind of thing that could happen.
ROBERTS: So it brings up this issue of should there be better security precautions in a courtroom. This fellow was allowed to walk as close as I am to you to the prosecutor and took the opportunity to lunge at her and try to give her, I guess what he thought was some payback.
HOSTIN: I have to say security, especially in federal courtrooms, is very, very good. I always felt -- I mean I'm not a big person, I'm a thin person, I always felt very comfortable walking into a courtroom because they really do take care of you. And you do as a prosecutor doing your job, you are around violent offenders all the time. So I think they did a pretty good job.
ROBERTS: So this can have any effect on his sentencing? He's already been sentenced to mandatory life.
HOSTIN: Actually, it will, in the sense that it is a federal crime to assault a federal officer in and of itself. And so he will be tried and convicted of that. And I have to say this woman was the head of the -- or is the head of the Narcotics Division at the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn. And so this is going to be taken very seriously as it should.
ROBERTS: Very frightening incident for her.
HOSTIN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Sunny Hostin, thanks.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Fort Bragg filth. Coming home from a war zone to backed up barracks. The military dad who exposed it on YouTube joins me, live, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Four minutes to the top of the hour now. And coming up in our next half hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, we're talking one-on- one with former President Jimmy Carter. He's got a new book out about his mother, Miss Lillian, and recently traveled to the Middle East to meet with leaders of Hamas.
Mr. Carter believes that open communication with Hamas is necessary to establishing peace in the Middle East. Both the U.S. and Israel consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization and were highly critical of his meetings.
We want to know what you think. Should former President Carter have met with Hamas? Let's take a look. Right now, look at this, 61 percent of you say yes, he should have. Only 39 percent say no. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll keep you up-to-date on the tally throughout the morning.
We're also asking for your e-mails today. Do you think the trip was a good idea? Was it harmful to U.S. policy? Give us your thoughts. Send us an e-mail at cnn.com/am.
And our one-on-one with President Carter talking about this and his mother, Miss Lillian, coming up at 7:25 Eastern. A little less than a half an hour from now.
PHILLIPS: Well, The U.S. military is promising to address dismal conditions in a barracks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, after a soldier's father posted images of it on YouTube along with commentary about what he saw and thinks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second floor toilets have overflowed and there's over three inches of water on the floor. I don't need to tell you what the brown water around the floor drain is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, that video has had nearly 70,000 hits on YouTube. Ed Frawley took the pictures after his son's unit returned three weeks ago from a 15-month deployment in Afghanistan. He joins me now, live, from his home in Menominee, Michigan.
Ed, good to see you. First of all, tell me about your son, Jeff, and what his assignment was there in Afghanistan.
EDWARD FRAWLEY, SON STATIONED AT FORT BRAGG: Well, my son was a member of second platoon to Charlie Company. They spent the last 15 months at 8,000 feet in the mountains of Afghanistan, a half a mile from the Pakistan border. And they were in a very, very remote situation. It was a hard time. My son went twice eight weeks without a shower. These guys had a rough time. 20 out of 39 of them hit IEDs. Thank God none of them died. But they had a rough time and then they came home.
They actually came home on April 13th, and I was at Fort Bragg that evening, and I had been in those barracks three times in the last four years, and I saw the condition and chose to ignore it. But two weeks ago, I couldn't. And when I went back the morning after he arrived, I took these pictures that are in this video, and I knew I couldn't walk away from it. Somebody had to do something.
PHILLIPS: And that's what I assume knowing where your son was, because many of us have spent time there in Afghanistan and it's anything but luxurious. And so here he comes home where you'd think that something like a clean restroom would just be standard operating procedure. So you see how bad this is. You're obviously hearing your stories from overseas.
What was your first reaction? Did you say to him, you need to do something about this or did you say I'm going to do something about this because I know you probably won't, son?
FRAWLEY: Well, my son didn't know that I was doing these videos. When I went into the barracks the morning after they arrived and sat, walked through, took the pictures, we were sitting in their room and the soldiers would come in, and the soldiers would never complain.
They laughed about it. They made jokes about it. And I think the important thing for me is when I did the video, all I expected to do was to get some congressmen to call down there and say, hey, what's going on? You need to clean this place up and I don't want this to be another Walter Reed where people get fired because the last thing in the world I am is anti-military.
My son when he was in Afghanistan reenlisted for four years -- additional years. I supported that decision and I support it today, too. I think that -- I got a call yesterday from General Dick Cody, who is the vice chief of the Army.
