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New York Police Shooting Protests; Tornado Destruction; Superdelegates Even for Democrats; Mexican Drug Wars
Aired May 11, 2008 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SANCHEZ: It's the path of destruction, unbelievable. Fallen trees, blown roof tops, overturned cars. We're going to take you live to the center of it all.
Also, it is now times, once trailing by 100 superdelegates, Barack Obama is now the comeback kid, you might say. Who is the young Democrat that helped him close the superdelegate gap within the last several hours?
Also...
REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: The worst thing in the world is when an entertainer doesn't know when the show is over. The audience is gone, the lights are down. They're going to cut the lights off, and you're still on the stage singing.
SANCHEZ: Hmm. Guess we all know what he feels about this race. Reverend Al Sharpton joining me straight ahead to talk politics, and race in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Hillary Clinton's formidable lead with superdelegates tonight a thing of the past.
Hello, again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
The numbers have been shifting for weeks now as know. And right now, for the very first time in their knockdown, drag-out race to the White House, Senator Clinton and Barack Obama are tied -- officially tied for superdelegates. Just a few hours ago, a California superdelegate backed Obama.
She is 28-year-old Crystal Strait, a Young Democrat of America board member. And now, by CNN calculations, each candidate has 273 superdelegate endorsements. There are about 800 superdelegates in all. Around 250 remain undecided.
Now today's revelation is huge because Barack Obama already leads in every other category necessary to gain the Democratic presidential nomination. We're going to talk to the superdelegates that tied things up. She's going to be coming up in just a little bit. We just made contact with her. She's going to give us her reason for going with Barack Obama. So stay tuned for that.
Meanwhile, the thing is, what does this mean to the Clinton camp? The next big test is Tuesday when West Virginia voters have their primary set. Jessica Yellin, part of the best political team in television, is joining us now from Charleston, where, look, let's call it what it is. Probably going to be a route by Hillary Clinton in West Virginia, and that makes things really weird, doesn't it?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a good word for it, Rick, weird. Yes, Senator Clinton is expected to trounce Barack Obama here. The polls show her up by almost 40 points, some more than 40 points, and yet the question is, does it matter? Even some of Clinton's top supporters, her longest supporters, are sort of describing it as a last hoorah for her, a sort of nice way to go out, because most people agree -- her supporters, superdelegates, even party leaders -- that there's almost no way for Senator Clinton to get the nomination at this point.
So a victory in West Virginia, while very nice for her, doesn't really bring her closer to a -- to the nomination. Now Barack Obama has been campaigning elsewhere. He spent very little time here in West Virginia, knowing that this is really Clinton land. He was in Oregon. And he recently was talking there about the future, about the kind of race he's going to run and the kind of candidate he will be. Why he's so happy the superdelegates are coming his way.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's an encouraging sign that our campaign is making progress and that superdelegates are moving in our direction, that they think I can be a strong candidate in the general election. That they are looking forward to resolving this contest as soon as we can so we can pivot and start talking about John McCain and the general election and our positive unified vision for where we want to take the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Now, Barack Obama, Rick, is walking a very fine line. Sometimes he, frankly, has already pivoted and is focusing on criticizing John McCain's policies and running a general election race on the one hand, but then being very careful to say he doesn't want to insult Senator Clinton. This is still a race and he is still facing a formidable candidate.
But you know, the general sense in his campaign and among the Democratic Party's members, the leaders in Washington, is that this is all but done officially -- Rick?
SANCHEZ: Jessica, stand by there real quick. I might come back to you. And listen, if you want to get back in on this, what I'm about to do, just let Chris in the control room know, and we can get you to ask a question as well. But I'm being told, Jessica, that Crystal Strait is joining us now on the phone.
She is the superdelegate that has literally tilted the scales, you might say, and put Barack Obama in a virtual tie with Hillary Clinton. When we get a chance, Chris, go ahead and put up the numbers so the viewers can see it as well.
Crystal, are you there?
CRYSTAL STRAIT, DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPERDELEGATE: I'm here.
SANCHEZ: What, you're 28 years old. Other than that, we don't know much about you. Who are you?
STRAIT: I currently represent the Young Democrats of America on the Democratic National Committee.
SANCHEZ: What made you decide to go with Barack Obama on this day?
STRAIT: Well, you know, what we've known for a while, that in, you know, 2004, in 2006, we saw tremendous youth turnout. And 2008 is going to be the third crucial year that we know if we actually get people out to vote, they will become a permanent bloc of voters for the Democratic Party.
And this weekend, there was a lot of soul searching and thinking, I realized it was time for me to support Senator Obama. He's shown a clear commitment to the youth vote and I know his commitment for the general -- in the general election for young voters who's going to be paramount.
SANCHEZ: Did you -- hey, did you give any thought at all to the fact that you would be the actual tie in this thing? Did you decide last night, oh, my god, he's only one away. I'm going to go ahead and make my decision right now as a result of that?
STRAIT: No, I mean this might disappoint you, but I admit I've turned a lot of the media off in the last few weeks, because you know, it's a lot coming at you all the time of hearing where people are. And you just -- I will admit it's probably the hardest decision I've made in my life. It was a very difficult decision. I respect, you know, both candidates so much.
But you know, listening to how young people voted and caucused around the country, I know this is the right decision.
SANCHEZ: We've got Jessica Yellin standing by as well. She wants to ask you a question. Go ahead, Jessica.
YELLIN: Thanks, Rick. I'm curious, Crystal, I've talked to so many uncommitted superdelegates who say, at this point, why -- they just feel they'd like to let Senator Clinton finish out the race, give her three more weeks, it would be history for women, they say, and important to her. So they want to stay uncommitted until June 3rd, the last primary.
So why did you decide the last three weeks aren't essential?
STRAIT: I think they are essential. And I think my -- obviously my coming out and saying that I'm pledging my vote for Senator Obama, by in no means is a signal that Senator Clinton should not run or we should not see the contest through in West Virginia and Kentucky and obviously Puerto Rico.
But I think, again, I represent the -- an organization, the Young Democrats of America, young people around the country. We have multiple superdelegate votes at this point. We have now one per Senator Clinton. I make one for Senator Obama. And we have third -- still a third undecided. So I think we really, as an organization, reflect, you know, all young people at this moment in time.
SANCHEZ: Final question for you, if you would, Crystal. If Barack Obama now has the pledged delegates, he seems to have also the popular vote. And with your vote, he's now tied and will likely soon lead in superdelegates. Many are saying that is the sign that Hillary Clinton's camp should take and get out of the race. To those people, you say what?
STRAIT: Again, I think this was such a hard decision for me to make, I wasn't looking at those factors. I was looking solely at young voters and where we are, where we've been in terms of all the primaries. I think Senator Clinton is going to have -- has a hard decision to make and she will make the right decision.
SANCHEZ: So you don't think she should get out? Hey, Crystal, tonight at 10:00, our viewers are going to want to hear from you as well, given, I suppose, your new-found notoriety by this numbers game. So is that all right with you, 10 o'clock tonight?
STRAIT: Sounds good.
SANCHEZ: We got a date. Thanks so much.
STRAIT: No problem.
SANCHEZ: Crystal Strait, the superdelegate which has tied things up now between Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. My thanks to our correspondent Jessica Yellin for staying with us throughout that interview as well.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN, your severe weather headquarters.
SANCHEZ: What a story we have been watching over the last 24 hours. It began into the afternoon yesterday, followed through through the night, the morning severe weather. Really, understatement of the year for the day's residents of small towns in places like Oklahoma and Missouri and Arkansas, and Georgia today as well.
Worst of the tornado heavy systems have all but spun themselves out. But look at the damage from overnight and this morning. It's that curious random house-to-house smashing that tornadoes always seem to do. There's one horrible number to share with you as well.
And this number's been changing, by the way, we should let you know. Twenty-plus people, maybe that's the way to put it, at one point we'd 23, then it went to down to 22. We're just kind of got to leave it in that range for now and we'll see how things turn out. At least 20 people have been killed across these states by these sudden and powerful storms. We're going to be showing with you -- showing you plenty of pictures throughout this newscast and throughout the night. Plenty of CNN crews out there tonight in some of the hardest hit parts of the tornado's path. Susan Candiotti among them. She was in place last night, as she is again tonight. She in Picher, Oklahoma. Nicole Lapin is in suburban Atlanta and Ellenwood, Georgia.
Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has been following all of this and really putting it all together for us in the CNN Severe Weather Center.
Jacqui, let's start with you. Give us an overview, if you would, of what we've seen in this country over the last 24 hours.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What we've seen just a tremendous outbreak of sever weather. You know, we've had well over 30 reports of tornadoes on the ground. Over 20 people have died, as you mentioned, and some of the worst of the devastated area was in northeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Missouri.
Today's a day of forensics. Today is the day we look at video like this and we go look at the damage, and we try and figure out how strong these storms were, where they went, how long they were on the ground. This is amateur video that we had from Anthony Inman. He's from Picher, Oklahoma. And this right here, some of the most impressive video that I've seen so far. That's from Wesley Schultz from Picher.
And that is what we call a wedge tornado. Look how wide that thing is. When we see pictures like this, we know this was an incredibly powerful, destructive tornado, the kind that has just amazing capabilities. You know, a lot of times we'll see videos of tornados and we'll see that perfect V shape. But when we look at pictures like that, that's a wedge tornado.
It's like the bottom half of the triangle is just cut off. So you know it's very, very wide. We're talking at least an EF3 tornado, what we could a severe tornado. Possibly much greater than that, Rick. And the National Weather Service assessing this. And the track of this one tornado could have been as long as 63 miles. That's like driving down the interstate at 60 miles per hour and you'd have an hour of damage that you would see the whole way long.
So as we continue to get that information, we'll bring it to you. And believe it or not, this area could see more severe weather by Tuesday. We'll have more information on that coming up a little later in the show.
SANCHEZ: Wow. A wedge tornado. Thanks for illustrating that for us, Jacqui. We're also goings to be joined by the Red Cross's Nelly Kelly in Picher, Oklahoma. This tiny town of 800 was nearly leveled.
Let's do this. Let's go over to Susan Candiotti now. She's joining us as well.
Susan, you are in Picher, Oklahoma, right? SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm in Picher, that's right. And as you get a little bit of a taste of the destruction over my shoulder, I want to tell you a little bit about this town. The town of Picher, for years, has been part of a massive multi-million dollar super fund cleanup. Why? Because of that huge gravel pit way over there.
They call it chat pile. But gravel pit is how most of us know it. Because of lead pollution, the government has been in the process of buying out the homeowners in the town of Picher, essentially with the idea of moving everyone out and shutting the town down. And then on the eve of Mother's Day, Mother Nature lent a hand to that, and this is what you see.
I want to have you take a look at this piece of carpet, for example, flung over that tree. And if you pull over a little bit more to the right, look at how powerful the winds were. They stripped the bark off of those trees. I mean I've covered a lot of tornadoes. You don't see that very often, but that's how strong it was.
And we also spent part of the day with the John Hutchison family, a family who hid in their closet and the storm was so powerful it moved the -- the house off the foundation a good 70 feet. He tells us his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN HUTCHISON, TORNADO VICTIM: There was a (INAUDIBLE) right here and there's a closet door going to each bedroom each time. But we got in this closet right here and we all huddled down together on the floor.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): But the storm shoved you way over here. And where did you wind up?
HUTCHISON: Under this door, just on the other side of this little table. And my wife was right next to me and she had the little grand baby in her arms.
CANDIOTTI: How old?
HUTCHISON: About two.
CANDIOTTI: About two.
HUTCHISON: And my daughter Tressy(ph) was just on the other side of her with the other grand baby. She's about four, between four to five.
CANDIOTTI: So all of you were under this...
HUTCHISON: Well, I was right here.
CANDIOTTI: ... crash here.
HUTCHISON: Then my wife was here with one grand baby, and Tressy was holding the other one and was all laying right there.
CANDIOTTI: Oh, my goodness.
HUTCHISON: We all walked out alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: And incredibly, Mr. Hutchison's wife is all right. She is in the hospital. Suffered what appears to be a cracked rib. His daughter and two grandchildren thankfully are alive. Now, of course, the massive cleanup begins. He will probably be moving out of here, collect what he can from insurance, and/or the government, and that's what a lot of people here will also be doing.
Rick, back to you.
SANCHEZ: Susan, I remember last night you were in Oklahoma. What did you do? Did you drive through the night to get to -- you were in Arkansas, I should say. Did you drive to Oklahoma through the night?
CANDIOTTI: We spent much of the time there and we did not, because there were so many tornadoes hop-scotching in the dark. We waited until early, early this morning to drive through three states to get here. But we did. Through Oklahoma, through Arkansas, through Kansas, and on here to where we are now.
SANCHEZ: Unbelievable.
CANDIOTTI: Missouri as well.
SANCHEZ: The journey itself seems to be worth a story. Good job, Susan Candiotti...
CANDIOTTI: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: ... filling us in on the latest information coming from really a devastated area there in Oklahoma.
We also got Nicole Lapin out. She's in suburban Atlanta. She's in Ellenwood, Georgia. She's been following the situation for us.
What happened there, Nicole?
NICOLE LAPIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sheer devastation, Rick. This is actually a new community, new homes built five years ago, and people like Andrew Dickerson -- I want you to meet him, we're going to take a little walk around what's left of his house. Built his home custom from the cabinetries to the granite to everything. And we talked about this earlier today. We said that your house was beaten up.
ANDREW DICKERSON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
LAPIN: You say that it's worse than beaten up?
DICKERSON: Yes, it is. I don't want to say what I really want to say. But the devastation speaks for itself. So it's done. It's finished.
LAPIN: Talk to me about where you were this morning, about 5:00 in the morning. This was an F2 tornado.
DICKERSON: Yes.
LAPIN: 120-mile-an-hour winds. You don't have a basement here.
DICKERSON: No, I do not. So I just did what I was taught in school, just go into a bath room. I went to the bathroom in the middle of the house where I thought it would be the safest part so.
LAPIN: Let's peek inside here. You have some leather couches.
DICKERSON: Yes.
LAPIN: You have a big screen TV.
DICKERSON: Oh, yes. Right now, you don't...
LAPIN: Can you see all that over there?
DICKERSON: So I'm going to save all that. I'll just -- I don't know -- I know what to do. It's just going to take time to get all that out and just demolish the rest of the structure and move on from there.
LAPIN: You're seeing all of your stuff that's scattered on the ground. I mean there was your windshield over there.
DICKERSON: Yes, well...
LAPIN: You have some tools over here. Your microwave, that's not where your microwave is supposed to be.
DICKERSON: Yes. The whole house is devastated from the kitchen on back to the living room. I'm just going to salvage what I can, and just either rebuild, or get buy a new house.
LAPIN: But this was your dream house. You wanted to build this five years ago. You had everything in mind. I mean, you went into the bathroom this morning. What did you think when you got out, when you opened the door?
DICKERSON: I thought it was just a little wind damage, to tell you the truth. Until I looked to the right, then I saw this major wall was gone. That's when I knew it was a lot more damage than I thought. Then when I came outside, I recognized my garage was gone, too. So I'm just going to have to start back over, that's all.
LAPIN: Start over, but you're OK?
DICKERSON: I'm not OK, but I'm just going to have to start over.
LAPIN: All right. Rick, you know, that's the situation here. Andrew probably the worst hit house in this cul-de-sac. But these are the kind of stories we're getting. We hear the numbers, but it's really about the stories.
SANCHEZ: Yes. OK, a relative term. There's OK and there's OK.
Nicole, thanks so much.
LAPIN: Right.
SANCHEZ: We appreciate you going out there and talking to some of those folks as the situation develops in Georgia as well.
Now we're joined by the Red Cross's Nelly Kelly. She's in Picher, Oklahoma, this tiny town of 800 that was nearly leveled as you saw moments ago in that report by Susan Candiotti.
What can you do for these people?
NELLY KELLY, RED CROSS: Well, the Red Cross has about 25 volunteers on the scene today. The Red Cross is delivering hot meals, snacks, we're giving people water, when they're sifting through their homes and they're thirsty and they're hot, and just giving them a hug and trying to make them feel better.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting you'd say that, giving them a hug, because you think so much of this has to be psychological for these folks. Describe to us what you experience, maybe even vicariously, in your meetings with them. What do you hear? What do you say? Take us through it.
KELLY: This is such a sad scene. You know, these people are coming home after a long night of not really knowing what happened. And coming home to find their whole neighborhood is just decimated. A lot of the houses, you can't really differentiate what used to be the living room versus what used to be the bathroom. So people are just sobbing when they come home.
But on the other hand, they find a picture, and they smile, and they're so joyful about that. Or somebody will give them a bottle of water from the Red Cross and they're so thankful. So there are some moments of joy there and that makes us all feel better.
SANCHEZ: What about the folks, as difficult as it is even to ask, who are dealing with either serious injury or deaths in their family as a result of this? What do you do for them?
KELLY: Well, unfortunately, there has been a huge loss of life here in Oklahoma. And the Red Cross does have seasoned mental health professionals that will be able to help them. In fact, tomorrow the Red Cross will have a whole building available just for families to come for both emotional support, and also to start individual case work of figuring out exactly how the Red Cross can help them.
But until then, they can stay in the shelter. We have a Red Cross shelter, have a hot meal, a hot shower... SANCHEZ: And....
KELLY: ... just be with your family and friends.
SANCHEZ: And just -- we're out of time, but let people know real quick how they can reach you, how they can contact the Red Cross.
KELLY: Well, the easiest way is to go to RedCross.org online. You can make a financial donation and really know that your dollars will go to work to help people that are in need.
SANCHEZ: Perfectly said. We thank you so much for bringing us up to date on that situation. Nelly Kelly with the Red Cross.
You see any storm damage where you are. We want photos of what you've seen thus far. We've been sharing them over the last 24 hours. All you got to do is go to CNN.com on your computer and click to the iReport icon.
Of course, we say this, of course, we underscore, be real safe out there. That doesn't mean we want you to get in harm's way.
Coming up, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: You interrupted my speech. You let me talk, will you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Bill Clinton in a heated moment in defense of his wife. We're going to show you the entire thing from beginning to end.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Let's talk some more politics now, heated politics. I want you to take a look at this exchange which says as much about the man as it does the moment. Now, I've interviewed former President Bill Clinton and I can tell you two things about him. When he's at his best, it's because he's being challenged. And the guy never walks away from an argument, like this one, with a heckler at a campaign speech Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Just think about it. Every time you make a health insurance premium, you are contributing -- what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She promised health care one time when you were president, (INAUDIBLE)?
CLINTON: And you know why it was defeated? Wait a minute. Wait, wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's (INAUDIBLE) right now to even work for it.
CLINTON: Are you...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember that. I...
CLINTON: Wait a minute, ma'am. We had rallies all over this country. She worked 40...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Before the election. After the election...
CLINTON: No, you're wrong. You are wrong. Wait -- wait a minute. I can't believe you're saying this. There are millions of pages of documents that we have released showing the exhausting work that was done, the tens of thousands of people that were consulted, the rallies and movements we had all over the country.
Now wait a minute. I listened to you. You interrupted my speech. You let me talk, will you? You interrupted my speech. You interrupted my speech. I'll ask you -- wait a minute.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: This is one of the problems -- one of these problems of this whole presidential campaign is how many things that people have said that are flat untrue. She worked her fingers to the bone. I worked my five fingers to the bone.
We got beat because Robert Dole, who promised to work with me on it, got a memo which said, you will never be elected president, and the Republicans can't win the majority unless you keep them from adopting anything, and they filibustered my health care bill.
That's what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Speaking of all things political, I've been traveling all over the country talking with first-time voters. While I was in Indiana, I spoke with one group in particular. They are the Mennonites.
Now, I know, when you think of Mennonites, you probably think of something that looks like this, right? Do we have the pictures? Yes. And in many cases, you would be right. The Mennonites I talked to are a little different, though. Socially, maybe more contemporary, they are idealists. Their beliefs are still rooted in tradition, though. Global traditions.
They talked with me about how the U.S. government needs to think that way, globally. And you'll be surprised as to who they are backing for president.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (on camera): What is global thinking? That is different from the way most Americans think globally?
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: It's thinking about how issues and policy impacts people in an international setting rather than just here in America.
SANCHEZ: Are you saying that too often we, as a country, are a bit too ethnocentric?
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: Especially in politics, we focus a lot on what does it mean for us and how will this affect us. But what if we start thinking about how it not only affects us, but how it affects the world as a whole?
SANCHEZ: Many people would say if you're not nationalistic, if you're thinking of us, then you're not patriotic.
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And you say to them, what?
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: I think as a Mennonites, we consider ourselves not unpatriotic, but more than patriotic. Citizens of both the -- this world and of another world.
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: I think being patriotic is also being a neighbor to those actually in our country and those far away.
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: Our world view, what you've grown up with, is not the only way of doing things. People everywhere think about things differently. When you go to another culture, you learn that the way that you were raised isn't the only way, and that maybe not even the correct way, or the right way.
And so you learn how to respect other people's views and other people's ways of thinking.
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: In a world where our technology is ever increasing and we have all these new ways of communicating, and reaching across cultures, we're so aware of what's going on in the world, then we become this interdependent world. Then that's why this idea of global citizenship and becoming a part of that is so important.
And people are energized by their want to connect with people and to understand our world.
SANCHEZ: Rather than being at war with them?
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: Right. I think especially being Mennonite and taking a pacifist perspective is about reaching across those boundaries and finding ways in which to facilitate that peace through relationships and through getting to know people.
SANCHEZ: Barack Obama said when he was asked in one of our CNN debates whether he would talk to people like Chavez and Hamas. Other candidates, McCain and Hillary Clinton said, no, we wouldn't talk to them. Barack Obama said, sure, I would go talk to him. He was called naive for having that position.
Would the Mennonite position, would your position be that he was naive?
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: My position would be that we need to talk to the people -- regardless of whether or not we like them. How else do you fix the issues that you have between countries if the leaders won't even talk to each other? How else do you fix the divides that span across the world?
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: Where is the diplomacy, the creative thinking, the alternative solutions? From a faith perspective, I think engaging in diplomacy and trying to find alternative solutions is something that involves a leap of faith, because you don't know where it's going to end up and you don't know how it will play out.
But if you're willing to take that risk and to have that faith, you find hope in something greater than yourself.
SANCHEZ: What's the broader faith-based perspective?
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: To me it's thinking about the poor of our country and around the world. This is about -- thinking about how does what we do here affect the rest of the world, like with the environment, with our foreign policy and wars. We would think more about how we live, how our resources -- the resources that we use affect the rest of the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: You can't think just about what you want. You have to think about other people's well beings as well. And maybe some of the choices they make aren't the greatest, but they're still human beings and they deserve the respect. And I think basing things on that respect is the important fact of having a broad-faith basis.
UNIDENTIFIED MENNONITE: I wan in Iran three months ago and going to the axis of "evil" as George Bush puts it. The welcome I received there, and the incredible warmth from the Iranian people which I never experienced traveling anywhere else to be welcomes as an American, was absolutely shocking. And the stereotypes coming in, and the fears were just blown to pieces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can recall an English teacher I had in 12th grade of high school that told us there's a difference between a tourist and a pilgrim. And we had gone on a choir trip to Europe. And we stayed in the houses with host families. We didn't stay in hotels, you know, like - and we got to feel what it was like to live there. And we interacted with their kids, who were our age. And we connected with them. And I think that's the difference. I think that when you start to understand the way of life, and the world view, and the way that people view the rest of the world, when you have that enlightenment and that understanding, you become much more informed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: They are Mennonites. They are unique and they are politically extremely active this election cycle. I will go all over the country, as I have for the last several months, and talk to different groups, unique groups with different perspective. Some going for McCain, some going for Barack Obama, others still not decided and some for Hillary Clinton. I'll bring you those reports as we go and if you want to see what we've done so far, all you have to do is go to cnn.com/league. CNN.com/league, that's the website. You can talk to us, let me know if you want to come and talk to your group and I'll pay you a visit.
A brutal police beating caught on tape coming up. We break down the pictures and try to figure out exactly what went wrong here.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, it's the police who are under attack. Drug cartels are hunting down the country's top law enforcement officials. Stay with us.
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SANCHEZ: Yes, we've got breaking news. It's coming in from Brevard County in Florida. And there you see the fire. That normally would not be a big story. Because oftentimes being a Floridian myself, I know that this happens in some areas. To a certain extent, it's actually necessary to burn down some of that foliage, unless, of course, it starts affecting areas where there are homes, or important traffic patterns. Now, would you say i-95 is an important traffic pattern? Most in the state would think so. And around the country. And we've just been told that parts of i-95 there in Brevard County have been shut down both ways as a result of this fire. Or probably more likely as a result of the smoke. Because the winds have shifted and the last thing they want if you're a state trooper or a Florida Highway Patrol is to have cars not being able to see in front of them while they're going 60, 70 miles an hour. That's the reason they close the interstate. We're going to keep an eye on this. If we get any new developments, we're going to be sharing it with you.
Meanwhile, you've seen the unbelievable pictures. But is this a case where the pictures alone don't represent the entire story? I'm talking about this video. It surfaced this week of a police beating in Philadelphia. Officers kicking and punching and hitting three restrained men. The whole country seems to be talking about it. It raises a lot of questions. Nobody knows how to dissect this stuff like CNN's security analyst Mike Brooks. He's good enough to join us now. We're going to be looking at this in different ways.
The first thing we should do is just take a look at this video. Roger, if you would, roll the beginning of it. I'm going to stop it when we ask you to. Concentrate on this area right here, right there on the bottom. You see that right there. That guy right there who seems to be doing the kicking, it looks like -- that's good, Roger. It looks as you look at this video that what you're seeing is officers that seem to have an idea in their minds they were determined to go in there and use this kind of force. The question to you is, why?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: All right. Initially they thought that these three had been involved in a shooting. Police witnessed a shooting on a drug corner in Philadelphia and gave chase. And apparently when they pulled him over, this is what was happening. Now, we don't know if they were noncompliant. We don't know exactly what they were doing. What they weren't doing. But what we did see, Rick, first time I saw this, I was a cop for almost 27 years, and, you know, it is disturbing. I know the Philadelphia Police, new commissioner, Commissioner Charles Ramsey. He h he just took over there in January.
SANCHEZ: Competent guy.
BROOKS: Very competent guy. I used to work directly for him with the Metropolitan Police Department in D.C. and he wants to get to the bottom of this.
SANCHEZ: What's - have you talked to him by the way?
BROOKS: I've spoken to him. I've spoken also to a high ranking law enforcement source there that tells me 13 officers have already been taken off the street because of this incident, and Rick, possibly six more could also be removed off the streets.
SANCHEZ: Let's look at the video again. Roger, give me another roll as Mike and I take a look at this. Now let's pay attention to the top up here if we possibly can. Look at that area right there on top. There's some kicking going on right there as well. Now, we're looking at that. It's hard to look at. Because I mean, you've got a scene here, you've got a scene here. I mean, there's three things going on.
BROOKS: All right. What they're trying to do right now, they're actually having this video enhanced to try to find out exactly, are there more officers. As I said, 13 are already off the street. Six more may be taken off the street.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a really direct question that people at home I think would want asked. Is there ever a reason where a police officer needs to go in and subdue someone, kick them?
BROOKS: No, not really. You know, if he doesn't have a baton, in fact I saw one of them using a baton. They have pepper spray, they have - they have enough equipment that there's no reason for kicking. There's nothing in their manual, nothing in the police training that says, yes, you can kick an individual.
SANCHEZ: So, these guys were on edge. They were worked up because one of their own had been killed, is that right?
BROOKS: Two days prior to that. In fact, the attorneys for the three men are saying that it was as much of a case of mistaken identity. They're saying. The attorneys are saying that the reason they pulled over - pulled them over was because one of the men in the car resembled the one who was still out and wanted when this happened. But the police department is saying, no, that has nothing to do with it.
SANCHEZ: Heaven forbid if that's the case and it turns out these guys are perfectly innocent. Oh, my goodness, what a headache they're going to have on their hands then. That's not confirmed though.
BROOKS: But something else, I just want the viewers would enjoy.
SANCHEZ: You got about 30 seconds.
BROOKS: All of these officers involved in this beating, one of their own, part of their squad, the same squad they were with, had been killed back November 1st of 2007.
SANCHEZ: Well, Mike Brooks, as usual, thanks for coming on.
BROOKS: Rick, always a pleasure.
SANCHEZ: Always great. We made several calls to the Philly Police Department. We should tell you that. We've asked for a comment obviously. They're declining to comment or issue a statement at this point other than what they said at the outset of this thing. Note this though, the department has pulled more than a dozen officers, as Mike was alluding to moments ago, off the street, while they continue to investigate their own.
Let's do this now. Reverend Al Sharpton has met with one of the Philadelphia men today in prison, we understand. The outspoken civil rights activist has been very busy lately with a number of hot-button causes. We're going to cover some of those. He was arrested earlier this week during a rally for Sean Bell, the groom to be killed by police in New York. Reverend Sharpton joins me now on the phone from Philly. As a matter of fact, he's not on the phone. There he is, Reverend Sharpton. You look at this video that we were just breaking down with Mike Brooks. What are your thoughts?
REV. AL SHARPTON, ACTIVIST: I mean, it's very disturbing. I went to the jail this morning and met with the young man who does look very much like the person that has now been arrested after this incident that we're looking at on film. He looks very much like the young man being accused of killing the policeman. Though there's no direct connection at all.
SANCHEZ: Wait a minute, you're saying - we need to back this up. It gets a little confusing for the viewers. The original statement from police is that they pulled these three guys over, and Mike, you help me out here if I'm going a little off-kilter on this thing here, but the original story from the police is that these guys had nothing to do with the shooting of a police officer.
SHARPTON: Right.
SANCHEZ: You're saying now that you believe that the reason they were acting this way, and that the reason they pulled them over is because they did think he may have had something --
SHARPTON: No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying he does look like - a lot like him. I don't know the reason. I don't think anyone knows the reason. I talked to the young man. He says he was not involved in any shooting. He is still in pain. I met with him in the prison, with his mother for an hour. I also did the mayor. I think that it is the right thing to do to let the mayor and commissioner, or Chief Ramsey to do their investigation. But I think that no one could say that what we're seeing is not very disturbing. You must remember, Rick, there was no weapons or anything found in the car of these young men. So, you have to ask what provoked this?
SANCHEZ: That's the question I want to ask you. How do you explain police behaving this way, and I ask you that from somebody who's dealt with this kind of thing in the past. How do you put this in perspective for people? By the way, I want to say, I love our police department. They do a good job most of the time. They're hard working guys.
SHARPTON: I think that there's some police that go overboard, break the law. There's some that do not. Let me also say, we can't have selective outrage. It is just as outrageous that three policemen have been killed in Philadelphia.
SANCHEZ: Right.
SHARPTON: So I don't think that one should be forgotten with the other. Though I don't see a direct connection. We can't have selective outrage. I think what we saw here appears to be very unjustified, and very wrong. But at the same time, I think that we've got to let the sorting out by the mayor and police commissioner, while many of us watch it. You can't tell the --
SANCHEZ: Well, that's interesting. I would have expected that you would have been a little more heated on this. I'm going to stop for a moment and let Mike Brooks. He wants to ask you a question, Reverend.
BROOKS: No, Reverend, I think it's absolutely, you're being very balanced on this. And like Rick, I thought I was going to hear more outrage from you. But what did this gentleman that you met with today in jail, what did he say happened? The kind of chain of events that sets this off? What's his story?
SHARPTON: He said that he and some friends went to give their condolences to a mother of someone who was killed that they knew. And they heard some shots. They got in the car to leave the neighborhood and the next thing he knew he thought he was being shot, because they hit the window, which ended up being police. He was dragged out. His friends were dragged out and they were beaten. Which I think is outrageous. I think what he's saying is that he doesn't want in any way to be identified with cop killing. Or looking like he in any way sympathizes with that. So, I think what has happened is outrageous. He and his mother don't want to be confused that they are like in any way condoning what has happened to the police. And this has nothing to do with what happened to the police. Which is why they're saying, they want this to be dealt in a just and fair way. And at the same time, they do not want to act as though they don't understand the crime that was going on in their city. I think they've taken a responsible view.
SANCHEZ: Reverend Al Sharpton, we're going to have to leave it there. Good to see you again. We haven't talked in a while, at least a couple of months.
SHARPTON: Thank you, Rick. SANCHEZ: Thanks again.
SHARPTON: Take care.
SANCHEZ: And Mike, thanks to you as well. We appreciate it.
Drug cartels, hunting and executing Mexico's top cops. This is happening just across the border. We learned of it so we've commissioned a correspondent to get to the area. He's going to be explaining to you what's going on there in just a moment. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: We welcome you back to the World Headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez. Violent gangland justice in Mexico. Terrible spike in drug related assassinations of top cops. Over three straight days, we learned Thursday, Friday and yesterday, three high ranking law enforcement officials have been brazenly gunned down in public. What's happening? It's a sad reality. Where it's happening as officials there even more worried than ever. CNN's Harris Whitbeck explains.
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HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the victim of one murder was being buried, an investigation was launched into yet another killing. In the past week, three high-profile and high- ranking members of Mexico's security forces have been shot to death. President Felipe Calderon wasted no time in laying blame on Mexico's drug lords.
PRES. FELIPE CALDERON, MEXICO (through translator): During my management, there have been many soldiers, many marines, especially federal police, who have lost their lives fighting to liberate the citizenry from crime. It's a fight for liberation from the enslavement or control that they try to impose via crimes of diverse means.
WHITBECK: The killing of Eduardo Millan, acting chief of Mexico's federal police, was attributed to the Sinaloa drug cartel. One analyst said it was believed to be in retaliation for the January arrest of one of the cartel's top leaders, Alfredo Beltran Leyva. U.S. ambassador Tony Garza issued a statement urging urged U.S. lawmakers to give Mexico more money for its fight against the drug traffickers.
The bodies keep piling up. The government estimates more than 3,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the cartel a year and a half ago.
WHITBECK (on-camera): But the violence never really reached the capital Mexico City. And that's what has many analysts and citizens alike so worried.
They see the latest killings as brazen acts of defiance, a message from the drug cartels that more action against them will result in more killings. President Calderon vowed the fight against the cartels will not stop. Many worrying the killings won't either.
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WHITBECK: President Calderon also said this most recent wave of killings, Rick, is a backlash by drug cartels, he says are weakened by the fight against drugs. The concern particularly here in Mexico City is that the fight is getting a bit too close to home. Rick.
SANCHEZ: And you know what's worrisome. We've seen the situation in Colombia, for example, where the cartels are almost validated. Seen by some almost as a people's army, sort of speak. Is there a fear that that type of thinking or ideology in places like, you know, Wahaka and Japas could develop in Mexico as well?
WHITBECK: Absolutely. In fact, we've seen reports coming out of some of the northern border states near El Paso, near other cities along the Texas border, a lot of people in the poorer communities there actually look to the drug lords. They see them as almost heroes of sorts, because some of the drug lords are funding schools, they're funding community development projects that the local governments haven't been able to do. So, they actually see them as heroes. I read one report from a local journalist there saying he had interviewed a kid who said when he grew up, he wanted to be like one of the (setas)ph. The setas are one of military wings of the drug cartels who are extremely violent, yes.
SANCHEZ: Ominous sign. Harris Whitbeck, as usual, fine reporting. Thanks for joining us there from Mexico City.
Parts of Florida on fire as we speak. These are live pictures we're now getting in from WFTV there is Brevard County. It's a fire that may shut down parts of i-95. We'll tell you more about it when we come back.
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SANCHEZ: Let's catch you up now with these fires that we've been following for the last 20 minutes or so. The information that we have now is that it's a fire that could be as large as several acres in one area. 120 acres in other near Coco Beach, Florida. That's that area around there, that side of Florida, around where Jacksonville is. I- 95 has been shut down as a result of the smoke. There is an unconfirmed report of a home destroyed and 60 to 70 homes threatened. We're watching it for you. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: Once again, that fire in Florida just east of Orlando. For clarification's sakes, we're going to continue to follow it for you. We'll have updates throughout the night. And of course, the latest right here on 10:00, and we'll see you then. I'm Rick Sanchez, "Lou Dobbs."
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