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Power Struggle in Lebanon Explodes Into Open Warfare; Tragedy in Myanmar as Numbers Become More Staggering

Aired May 08, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, a very busy weather day and a very busy news day here.
The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hezbollah says Lebanon is at war. And if you were on the streets of Beirut today, you would certainly believe it.

Our Cal Perry was. He's got the latest on the firefight and the political battles behind it.

LEMON: And you can't say no to a cyclone, but cyclone relief is still running up against government resistance in Myanmar. Aid is now starting to trickle in, but it is just a drop, just a drip in the ocean.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The long, angry power struggle in Lebanon explodes into open warfare. Shiites are fighting Sunni in the streets of Beirut. And Our Cal Perry is right in the middle of it.

You could hear the gunfire when Cal called in a short time ago.

(GUNFIRE)

As bad as that sounds -- and I know it sounds very bad -- Cal is OK. He's joining us now live from our Beirut bureau.

And just break this down for us, Cal. What is happening there? Why is this happening?

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, actually right now as we were waiting for that live shot, we're playing guess that noise in the background. We've just heard three very loud explosions throughout the city. We're not sure whether that's RPG fire or something else, but there were RPGs being fired earlier, about four hours ago, when we were out doing that work. And in fact, we're going to try to rush you that video so we'll have it next hour so you can see just how intense those clashes were. Now, backing up a little bit, putting this into context, this all started about two days ago when the government said that the telecommunications network that's run by Hezbollah is illegal and a threat to state security. Today -- and I'm sorry, Brianna -- we're now hearing sort of the fifth explosion now in a series of explosions in just the past sort of five minutes.

Nasrallah today, the leader of Hezbollah, came out and reacted to the government, saying that this was a declaration of war against Hezbollah. Hezbollah, an incredibly powerful group here in Lebanon.

Shortly after his speech what we saw were gun battles throughout the city in the neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shiites live next to each other. It is still quiet in the Christian neighborhoods, but we're hearing continuing gunfire as of right now, a continuation of machine gunfire, and loud explosions across the capital -- Brianna.

KEILAR: This is a very long and complicated history in Lebanon of violence. Why is it so important that there's peace there, Cal? Just explain it to us. Give us some greater context.

PERRY: It's one of the most complicated political situations in the world. And Lebanon is an incredibly complex place.

As you said, it's vital importance to countries not only in the region but around the world. The U.S. backs the government here, the government of Fouad Siniora. That's the government that's been struggling since November to elect a president. There has been no president here in Lebanon since November.

On the other side of things, you have Iran and Syria, which are seen as major supporters of the militia Hezbollah, which here really is charged many ways, and people will tell you, to protect the country. In the war two years ago against the Israelis, Hezbollah was able to push the Israelis back in the eyes of many people here in Lebanon. Hezbollah calls that a "divine victory."

But it's incredibly important and of vital interest, as you said, to countries around the world. The U.S. wants to see this government succeed, a democratic government here in Lebanon.

On the other side of things, you have Hezbollah, which is incredibly powerful, which has been having a sit-in here in the downtown area since November. Longer, in fact, sitting here, bringing the government in many ways to a halt, bringing things, grinding them to a halt.

As I walked to work this morning, I'll give you an example of how tense things here are even before the gunfire. I was turned back in certain neighborhoods trying to just walk to work by masked sort of gunmen and men with radios. So you can see that when these neighborhoods here start carving each other out, people here get very nervous, of course -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Cal Perry.

Thanks, Cal.

For us there in the middle of things in Beirut, Lebanon.

As you just heard, Cal said that his crew fed in some new video. So we're going to get that to you as soon as we can here in the CNN NEWSROOM -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. And we're getting some new information here -- Talia (ph), thank you very much -- as I've been monitoring the wires here. Just looking over the CNN wires, the highlights are gun battles in Beirut after Hezbollah leader's speech. Nasrallah government crackdown on communications system. And just all the new information.

Now, as Brianna said, Cal fed in some new video. But we also want to show you some video from one of our networks over there, our sister networks, which is Al Arabiya.

This is the personal side of the story that we have been telling you about, the personal side. Look at this new video.

This is an Al Arabiya reporter much in a similar situation that Cal Perry was in just a short time ago when he was running and ducking for cover. But look at this. This is a family.

Look at the little boy in the background. This is a family in the middle of the war zone. And of course, again, this is from one of our sister networks. We don't have control of those pictures.

But that is a human element. That's what's playing out there.

And we've also been telling you about the human element in Myanmar. You've seen the pictures of the children there as well.

But this is war in Beirut, Lebanon, on the streets, exactly happening, live sometimes on our air here, especially when we've been talking with Cal Perry. A lot of this happening near our bureau in Beirut.

And we want to go now to our correspondent who has been covering this, covering the Middle East really now for decades. And that's Mr. Brent Sadler.

Brent joins us by phone.

And Brent, I know that it is nightfall there, correct? Is there a lull? Have they gotten any order back onto the streets?

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Well, certainly a lull after night fell here after those vicious rounds of street fighting turning those districts of Sunni and Shia Muslims into battlegrounds, bloody battlegrounds.

What we've seen in the past couple of hours has been the appearance on national television of the leader of the parliamentary majority, Saad Hariri, who basically criticized the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, for laying (INAUDIBLE) the countries roads and airport, and Hariri calling on the army to protect the citizens of Lebanon.

But the subtext really I think of the Hariri speech was that the leadership should do what's necessary to avert a resumption of civil war here, and that the contentious issues of Hezbollah's secure communications network, as well as its cameras, to be put on hold, on the back burner, if you like, to be dealt with by the security forces and for political debate to reconvene here to stop a further escalation.

Whether or not this is enough to diffuse it after Nasrallah's fiery speech, a threatening response to what he said was a declaration of war against the opposition, remains to be seen -- Don.

LEMON: Brent, I've got to ask you this because I'm sure our viewers are sitting here in the U.S., domestic viewers, wondering, what does this all mean for the U.S.? Of course, instability in the Middle East is not good for anyone. But explain to our viewers what this means to the United States, the government, and the people here.

SADLER: I think it's very clear the United States has supported consistently the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in the face of continuing opposition and bouts of violence for almost two years. This government strongly backed by Washington. Washington's nemesis here in the region, Syria and Iran, represented in the Lebanon battlefield by Hezbollah and the opposition.

Today, the Hezbollah leader has invoked war by his fiery speech, saying that the resistance, the Hezbollah group which the U.S. calls a terrorist organization, is essentially holding the country to ransom. And that has to be seen in the context of a blow should it play out this way to U.S. interests in Lebanon. Lebanon being a vital and strategic part of U.S. policy, vis-a-vis Syria and Iran.

So, Washington will be looking very, very closely at what happens in this next chapter here.

LEMON: All right. Brent Sadler, not many people know about this region as he does. And he joins us now.

Again, all of this happening right near our bureau in Beirut, Lebanon. But again, I want to show you -- we're monitoring the wires over here. And also CNN.com, especially our international version. We're monitoring that.

And if you want information, you can go to CNN.com, either the U.S., the domestic version or you can go to CNN.com international version. And of course you can watch it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

But we're on top of this story and we'll bring you the very latest from our international desk.

KEILAR: The other story we're covering, in a country torn apart. Myanmar is in a desperate situation five days after a huge cyclone.

In an exclusive interview, the secretary-general of the United Nations will tell us what's being done to try to relieve the suffering.

And we'll also hear from a heartbroken father of two. He is hoping whoever took his dying wife's engagement and wedding rings will return them so he can pass them on to his sons.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KEILAR: In Myanmar, it is desperate and getting worse with every hour that passes, with no large-scale international response. Supplies and people are ready to go. All they need is the green light from Myanmar's government.

Let's go ahead now and bring in CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.

You spoke with the man, of course, who feels the frustration and the situation.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Secretary-General -- I was about to say surgeon general -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the U.N. I sat down and talked with him while he was here in Atlanta, and he certainly expressed that to say this is difficult really is an understatement.

But all options really are on the table. Everything from continuing to talk with the government of Myanmar, to even considering having more aggressive dialogue with neighboring Asian countries to see if they can help move some of this aid into Myanmar.

And of course, he's also not ruling out the possibility of perhaps having some U.N. dispatches, deliveries without the permission of Myanmar. He says this is very frustrating.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I'm deeply concerned about this continuing tragedy in Myanmar. It is crucially important that the whole international community must mobilize necessary assistance as soon as possible.

The United Nations has been mobilizing under my leadership all the possible resources, and agencies are working on that. However, we are deeply concerned again by the inflexible positions of Myanmar's government. I would urge again strongly to Myanmar's government to allow the aid workers, United Nations workers, to visit and to deliver this humanitarian items urgently.

WHITFIELD: Because there are at least two problems involving the U.N. Your aid workers are being denied visas repeatedly. And secondly, you can't actually get some of the materials that you have on the ground in Myanmar to people.

So what are your options?

BAN: We're not talking about politics. We are talking about urgent humanitarian issues where many people have already died and many more people may die. And there is serious concern that diseases may spread in the affected areas. Therefore, we need to take urgent actions.

WHITFIELD: So what is the end game? If even you continue to urge and the Myanmar government's response is we're not going to give in to your request, what can the U.N. do? Can you go ahead into airspace, make drops of some of these supplies? Can you go ahead and take this cargo off the planes and proceed driving by -- or going by boat?

Can you do any of that without their permission?

BAN: I'm convinced that Myanmar's government will heed this appeal from me, from the international community, and from the United Nations, and let our people focus to help those people affected at this time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, clearly, the U.N. secretary-general has his hands full. And adding insult to injury, the catastrophe in Myanmar is one thing, but long term, the majority of the rice fields there, which is a major commodity, a major source of income, an industry there in Myanmar, also devastated by the cyclone. So we're talking about the long-term ripple effects. We already have a world food crisis, and the prediction is this only potentially makes it worse.

KEILAR: And in the short term, the concern is obviously just survival. I mean, this is day six.

WHITFIELD: Right.

KEILAR: There are bodies in the river. There's concerns about water contamination, lack of food.

WHITFIELD: Disease, sure.

KEILAR: Exactly. Is there a timetable for when they might get help?

WHITFIELD: I asked that very question to the secretary-general, because already now it's been six days. And he expressed that it is crucial at this point.

People have been doing without for so long. Clearly, people have died well after the cyclone hit because they can't get assistance.

He didn't want to commit to a time or a day. He would only imply that their efforts are indefatigable. I mean, they're going to go on until they finally get this assistance to people. But when that might happen, it really is really up to the military junta of Myanmar, sadly.

KEILAR: And this is such a difficult story because there is no -- you know, there's no face on it, right? Because of the closed-off government.

So this is a very important segment. Thanks, Fred, for bringing it to us -- Don.

LEMON: Thank you, Brianna. And also Fredricka.

Of course the U.N. is also concerned about what's going on in Lebanon. And our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth, joins us now.

What is the response? What are you hearing today, Richard?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, Myanmar is a big story, and so is Lebanon. As the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations put it today, Lebanon is on the brink. He says it's a matter of extreme concern for the entire international community.

The United Nations Security Council already had a planned briefing today on Lebanon from the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy. This, as gun battles broke out in neighborhoods in Beirut. Pictures like this Americans have certainly seen for three decades or more.

The situation in Lebanon, the fact that the Security Council key resolution which was a blueprint for ending that Middle East war two years ago, well, it's not being fulfilled. The militias have failed to disband. The government powerless to disarm them.

The special envoy for the secretary-general told the Security Council and later the press what the situation is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERJE ROED-LARSEN, U.N. ENVOY: Lebanon, for a long time now, several months and more, has been on a slippery slope of violence and turmoil. At the core of this are political issues. One of the pressing issues at hand is to have parliament meet and allow it, according to constitutional rules, to elect a new president in Lebanon. As you know, this office has now been standing vacant for many, many months and puts the country into a very difficult constitutional situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Following this briefing today, the U.N. Security Council issued a simple statement to the press, the lowest in what you might say is the clout scale, calling on all sides in Beirut, Lebanon, to exercise restraint. But many times these types of words, Don, don't exactly get followed.

LEMON: All right.

Thank you very much for that.

Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth joining us from New York with that. Thank you very much, Richard.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

KEILAR: Well, we've seen how the bursting of the housing bubble has ravaged inner city neighborhoods. In parts of the country the pain is spreading to upscale enclaves, too.

Issue No. 1 takes us today to Las Vegas with CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Remember the housing frenzy just three years ago, when frantic buyers camped out in front of sales offices?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was like getting rock star tickets. They would bring their sleeping bags, they'd spend the night so that when the next release came they could be in the lottery.

GUTIERREZ: A lottery to buy mega homes, site unseen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We stood in line to get this particular house. And my husband went out at 7:30 the night before.

GUTIERREZ: For the Joneses, it was their big chance to buy into this brand new, upscale gated neighborhood in Las Vegas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A dream house and then dream community, yes, absolutely.

GUTIERREZ: So when Kathleen Boyd Jones (ph) and her husband Robert finally closed on their $800,000 custom home in the desert, it was like winning the lottery.

Now it all seems like a distant memory.

(on-camera): Which homes are actually unoccupied?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the one right here on our left and the one next to it. This is foreclosed on. Over here, nobody has ever moved into that house at all.

GUTIERREZ: And this home?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The house next to it was a renter. And they got foreclosed on at the beginning of the year.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The Jones' gated neighborhood is virtually a ghost town, with 75 percent of the homes vacant. It's now up to Jones and two other families who live here to maintain the community, because the homeowners association is broke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the dues not being paid, we can't pay the landscaper. The landscaper doesn't want to work. There's three of us that are going around spraying for the weeds, cleaning the shrubbery up on the outside of our property, which is one square block.

GUTIERREZ: So you found yourself not just having to just take care of your yard, your property, but you're also pretty much taking care of this entire community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Someone has to do it. And I have too much invested here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a four-bedroom home with three and a half baths, and it's over 4,000 square feet.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Flossy Moore (ph) is a Las Vegas real estate broker. She says even homes like this one are not immune to the mortgage meltdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, in 2005, and even in some of 2006, we were like an out-of-control freight train here in Las Vegas. People were in a frenzy. They were buying, they were not thinking about what the values were. Now we're like we're in the emergency room and we're trying to stop the flow of blood and stabilize everybody.

GUTIERREZ: The Joneses say they will weather the storm and protect their environment, even though it's worth $300,000 less than when they bought it.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Today, a Democratic housing aid plan is up for votes in the House. President Bush has threatened to veto this plan which would offer fixed-rate, government-backed mortgages to qualified cash- strapped borrowers. He says it will just bail out speculators.

And on that note, we asked Americans how they feel about special treatment for people threatened with losing their homes. It's a close call, as you can see, pretty much 50/50 among those for and against in this poll for CNN by Opinion Research Corporation -- Don.

LEMON: And you heard it live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, our Cal Perry right in the middle of a fire fight in Beirut. Well now you get to see the pictures; those new pictures just into the CNN NEWSROOM.

Listen to this.

We're going to show you more.

KEILAR: A father grieving the loss of his wife experiences yet another loss. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN ARMSTRONG, WIDOWER SEARCHING FOR RINGS: I just want to have something for those kids to have that I can say was hers and she cherished and that she would have like them to be able to pass on to their wives and their kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You know what this distraught father is referring to? His wife's engagement and wedding rings. They disappeared at the hospital. The question -- did someone take them? We'll tell you about what's being done to find them and what you can do ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. We have several developing stories here at the international desk.

One -- this one just in. We're going to look here -- up on this router, I think it's router 68. We've got Secretary of Defense Bob Gates there holding a press conference, talking about Myanmar. And just moments ago, we learned from that press conference -- he said that it would, in his estimation, it would be unrealistic to just start dropping aid over Myanmar.

We know that cyclone hit the country about five days ago. And we're hearing estimates -- as many as 100,000 people could end up losing their lives in this. They don't have an official count. But again, secretary of defense holding a press conference. We're monitoring that.

As soon as we get more information or if he makes news out of that, we'll bring that to you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Also, I have some breaking news when it comes to what's happening in Beirut. We're learning this from the "Associated Press." This was just handed to me from one of our producers here. It says Lebanese security officials say two people killed and eight wounded in that sectarian clash -- sectarian clash is what they're calling it -- in Beirut. So again, according to the "Associated Press," at least two people killed, eight wounded in the all of this violence.

And this violence -- we have talk about violence and gunfire and mortar rounds and all of that, but it really has a personal side. We want to take a look at this new video that is just into us as well. This is from our sister network in Beirut, it's Al Arabiya.

I want you to just to listen this. Look at this family. This is the little boy here --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: -- He grabs his -- his son, and I thought you could hear the boom there. But look at the woman in the background again, all of this going on while families are trying to live and survive and just cope from day to day here. Again, this little kid running, adults there grabbing on to him, and then that boom right there -- you see.

So that is a personal side. Imagine having to deal and live through that. We're monitoring all the pictures coming in.

Meantime, CNN has some new video. You heard this morning our Cal Perry on the air -- "CNN NEWSROOM A.M." what we call here at CNN with Tony Harris and Betty Nguyen. They were live on the air, doing an interview by phone with Cal Perry when all of a sudden, he was involved in gunfire -- in gun battle, sort of caught in the crossfire.

He did it live here on the air. You heard it. But we want to show you some of the pictures. Let's take a look at some of the pictures here and listen in to that.

So as we listen -- we're going to continue to listen in. But obviously these members of the Lebanese Army, and they are there. And again this is exactly in the area -- in the area where our Cal Perry was this morning.

Again, this is new video just coming in to CNN. And the only reason we're able to get this is because of the worldwide resources of CNN. We have a very big international unit here.

And of course, I'm here at the international desk. These folks all working on these stories from Myanmar to Lebanon and whatever is happening overseas, and especially today in the Middle East. They're on top of it and we're going to bring you the very latest just as we get it here in the CNN NEWSROOM -- Brianna.

KEILAR: A heartbroken father of two is asking for your help. This is Alan Armstrong's family in happier times. Last week, his 35- year-old wife Katherine was airlifted to an Atlanta hospital after a car accident and she later died.

And as if that weren't horrible enough, Armstrong says someone at the hospital lost, or maybe even took, his wife's wedding and engagement rings. His wife designed these rings and he says he would love to pass them on to his sons, 4-year-old Jackson and 1-year-old Adam. And Alan Armstrong joining me right now for this story.

I'm so sorry that you're here under these circumstances, but we're hoping that maybe we can bring awareness to this situation. What do you think happened here? Were these taken, or do you think lost?

ARMSTRONG: Thank you, Brianna.

I'm not sure. But what we do know at this time is that the rings absolutely made it with her to the emergency room. They were documented by the trauma room staff as having been in the emergency room with her, and then somewhere this chain of custody brokedown. And -- I'm not sure what the answer is, if it's just a criminal act of commission or just an egregiously negligent act of omission.

But it's just -- it's unbelievable that this had happened. And now I don't have these really priceless and precious heirlooms that my kid's mother loved so much to pass on.

KEILAR: And of course we have pictures of your wife's engagement ring. You can see it's very -- she designed this. This is a very unique ring. There's a filigree design with a solitary diamond and some other diamonds on the edge of the ring.

But I know that you have dealt with the hospital. We asked the hospital -- this is Grady Memorial Hospital here in Atlanta. We asked them for a response as to what's happened here.

They told us, "We have not been able to determine exactly what happened to the property. The investigation of this matter will continue as well as our diligent attempts to recover the rings."

I know that eventually you spoke with the president of the hospital. What was your first interaction when you tried to report that these were missing?

ARMSTRONG: So immediately following the accident when I was notified, I rushed immediately to Grady Memorial Hospital, spent some time with my wife and started asking immediately about these rings, because they're so important and I wanted to preserve them and I thought that they -- it's perishable.

I was told, no, you can't get the rings. You have to get them tomorrow. They go to the medical examiner's office. So it really wasn't until Thursday that we came to get the idea that something horrible had happened here. We reported to the hospital --

KEILAR: And you -- well you tried to speak to the president, but what happened?

ARMSTRONG: So on Monday, I called the president's office very early in the morning and spoke with an assistant, I guess, and said, look, I'm going to push every channel I can to try to drive action here. If you don't call me and we can't discuss this -- and basically got a call from customer service to explain how I can file a monetary claim for the rings which is --

KEILAR: But you don't want the money.

ARMSTRONG: It's completely off the mark. There's a culture that's driven in this institution from the top down, and it's broken. There's a process that's broken.

KEILAR: What is the monetary value of the rings?

ARMSTRONG: They're engagement and wedding ring set. It's worth a few thousand dollars.

KEILAR: OK. But, there is a reward out. Tell us about the reward. It far exceeds the monetary value of the rings.

ARMSTRONG: This -- my boss is a guy name John Shivley (ph) who is so outraged by this when he heard it, and he has children that are about my kids' age. He was just so shocked and outraged that as my friends were trying to put together and help me with this package, he said make the reward $20,000, we'll try to drive some kind of action here and see if we can have someone who knows something come forward.

And if the we could get the rings, we'd all stop. It would go away.

KEILAR: You're an Iraq war veteran. You lost your wife eight days ago, the mother of your kids. You shouldn't be dealing with this right now.

ARMSTRONG: Yes. It's now taken up -- I buried her on Monday, I was a puddle for a couple days. I've had friends around me. I wanted to perform during her eulogy and get all that squared away. I got back Monday night at 1:00 in the morning, and from Tuesday, Wednesday and now Thursday, this has been basically my primary activity outside of taking care of my kids -- it's been trying to capture this very limited window of opportunity I think we have to have somebody to do something.

KEILAR: And the -- again there is a $20,000 reward.

Before we let you go, Alan, we want to take a look again at the ring so that people can see it, because the Atlanta Police Department has gotten involved with this, and we want to show you -- here is a picture of the ring. You can take a good look at it, especially people in the Atlanta area.

If you have any information on this, you can go ahead and call Atlanta Police. That is 404-853-3434.

And again, so sorry to have you here, Alan, under these circumstances. But hopefully we can increase the chances of these items being returned to you. I know they have tremendous sentimental value.

ARMSTRONG: I appreciate the opportunity. The wedding ring is the same tooling, just has a band of diamonds all the way around it.

KEILAR: OK. So the wedding ring, similar tooling with the filigree diamonds all the way around.

ARMSTRONG: Yes, ma'am.

KEILAR: OK. Alan, thank you so much for being with us.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you so much for having me.

KEILAR: We're thinking of you -- Don.

I also want to move on and tell you that our Wolf Blitzer sat down with Barack Obama just a couple of hours ago. The whole interview is coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM." But Wolf joins us next with a preview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Well you know what? While the pundits may have called the Democratic race for Barack Obama, but what does he think? The Democratic frontrunner sat down with CNN's Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." And Wolf joins us now from Washington.

Wolf, I think I noticed a bit of a swagger there from Obama. He's feeling pretty confident?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he seemed to be pretty confident. He seemed to be pretty much at ease right now.

I showed him the new cover of "Time" magazine that has just come out today which declares him effectively the winner. He didn't want to jinx himself and he kept saying that Hillary Clinton is a formidable opponent; but for all practical purposes, he seemed to be pretty much assured that this was moving towards a new chapter right now, namely Barack Obama versus John McCain.

On that specific point, Don, I asked him to react to John McCain's assertions that Barack Obama simply can't be trusted on some of these major national security issues, including the issue of Hamas and Israel. He says that Hamas really would support Barack Obama as president, and here is how Obama responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whether it's my judgment on Iraq and recognizing that that was going a strategic blunder, to my insistence that we need to talk, not just to countries we like, but countries we don't, to my assessment in terms of how we had over-invested in the Musharraf government in Pakistan and that was going to be setting us up for failure later on, I think I've consistently displayed the kind of judgment that the American people are looking for in the next president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Now that wasn't the clip we wanted, because he did have a specific response to John McCain. John McCain asserting that Hamas really would like to see Barack Obama president of the United States.

Do we have that sound bite?

I'll try to get it for you later, certainly you'll hear the whole thing at 4:00 p.m. He has some strong words for John McCain, basically asserting that what John McCain says about him, in his words, is offensive, and he hopes that McCain will stop engaging in that kind of smear.

Strong words, responding to John McCain.

A lot more to this interview, obviously. The whole interview will air at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. LEMON: And you know we'll be watching. As they try to get that, we may actually have it for you, Wolf. I want to ask you this question -- did you talk to him at all about when he is going to come out possibly and say, you know what, this is mine? The blogs and people have been writing about that, not long after the polls closed on May 20, that Barack Obama may come out and say, you know what, I am the nominee and we should just get this over with.

Did you talk to him at all about anything like that?

BLITZER: He made it clear, he certainly will not do anything along those lines until Hillary Clinton decides that she's dropping out. I don't think he wants to -- wants to preempt her. He said repeatedly, she's a formidable candidate. He had nice words to say about her. Also suggests that she would be on anyone's short list as a vice presidential running mate.

But I don't think he's going to go before her. If she says she's out of it, obviously that's different. But right now, he's not going to preemptively -- he's not going to say it's his. He also doesn't want to jinx it, he says.

LEMON: OK, Wolf. I see you there in the video that we have that is previewing this. You took your jacket off so it's got to be a heavy-hitting interview.

BLITZER: No, no. no. It wasn't that heavy-hitting. But we had to hook our ear pieces up, his ear pieces, the microphones. SO that -- you saw the -- sort of the ugly side of television.

LEMON: Come on. Behind the scenes. Nothing ugly about that, Wolf. Nothing ugly about that.

Of course we'll be watching "THE SITUATION ROOM." It's bound to be a great interview.

Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much.

You can catch Wolf's entire interview with Barack Obama of course at 4:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." It's something you'll see only here on CNN.

Thanks again, Wolf.

KEILAR: Ignoring calls to drop out. Hillary Clinton is, instead, pushing ahead. She has three states on her radar today, that includes West Virginia. CNN's Dan Lothian joining us now from Charleston.

She is in it, Dan, but is she in it to win it? A lot of folks say no way.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She certainly believes that she is in it to win it.

And she was talking to her supporters at a rally here in Charleston at the state Capitol, in the rotunda, a very enthusiastic crowd. Focusing on issues that are important to voters in this state -- she did talk about her gas tax holiday, which she said may not sound like a whole lot of money, but it will provide some relief. She talked about providing some kind of relief for people who are dealing with the foreclosure crisis. She also talked about her health care policy.

But Senator Clinton also talked to her supporters about the kind of pressure that she's been under in the past couple days to get out of the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a little bit like deja vu all over again, some in Washington wanted us to end our campaign, and then I won New Hampshire. Then we had huge victories on Super Tuesday. Then we won Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania. And I was never supposed to win Indiana.

Well, I'm running to be president of all 50 states and I want to be sure that we count all 50 states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Brianna, as you pointed out, Senator Clinton was not only campaigning here in West Virginia, but she is campaigning in South Dakota and also in Oregon. The former president is campaigning here on behalf of his wife. He'll be here at a number of different events.

As for Senator Barack Obama, he was not on the campaign trail today. But as you saw, he did sit down for an interview with Wolf Blitzer. He was up on Capitol Hill meeting and greeting some young kids and also meeting with House members. He told reporters that he's not taking anything for granted in terms of getting the nomination.

He did point out that he thought that Senator Clinton would do well here in West Virginia and also in Kentucky, but he said that he would be spending time in both these states. In addition he said he would be campaigning in South Dakota, Oregon and even in Puerto Rico, Brianna.

KEILAR: And we saw, Dan, some really sharp words, basically loggerheads between these two candidates ahead of the Tuesday primaries. In the wake of those primaries, have the sharp words kind of subsided, as some people say it's a forgone conclusion that Obama will be the nominee?

LOTHIAN: At least at today's event, and certainly yesterday as well, she was not really attacking, going after Senator Barack Obama. She did talk about Senator John McCain. She also went after President George Bush.

But what she did say today is that she is the best candidate to be president; she is the best candidate that take on Senator John McCain in November. So she clearly is not talking like someone who is getting out of the race. She's looking forward to running in the general election.

KEILAR: Dan Lothian for us in Charleston, West Virginia. Thank you.

Going in circles in an east Tennessee wheat field. Who or what is behind this design?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A mystery in east Tennessee. Take a look at this wheat field. The property's owner says these circles -- you can see them from the ground there -- says that they appeared Monday morning quickly and quietly, just like last year when the same thing happened a half mile away in another field. Investigators who do crop circle research deemed last year's incident as non-manmade -- non-manmade. They plan on testing these designs if they can get the farm owner's permission.

Gun battles in the streets of Beirut, Lebanon.

Our man, Cal Perry, is in the middle of it.

And Myanmar's misery and the worst may be yet to come. Thousands dead already. How many more when the flooded coast becomes unlivable?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Beirut erupts as Hezbollah vows to defend its secret weapon. Not guns or bombs or personnel, but telecommunications. We're live in Lebanon with the fallout from the deadly fire fight.

KEILAR: And she can't run from the numbers, but Hillary Clinton can still run and she is. Barack Obama is, too. But today, he took a stroll through "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf Blitzer joins us with a preview of their conversation.

Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar at CNN Center in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon here at the international disk.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.