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Five Suspected Al Qaeda Prisoners On Trial in Guantanamo Bay; Funeral for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris; Convoy of Diplomats in Zimbabwe Stopped and Attacked
Aired June 05, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
See events come into the NEWSROOM live on Thursday morning, June 5th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Dangerous weather alert. Large tornadoes and flooding likely today across the heartlands.
HARRIS: The most senior al Qaeda figure in U.S. custody arraigned this hour, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused 9/11 mastermind.
COLLINS: The last burst for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Like Mick Jagger saying, it's all over now, in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And Breaking news from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The confessed mastermind of the September 11th terrorist attacks and four top al Qaeda suspects arraigned this hour.
Pictures momentarily from the U.S. military base in Cuba, where the proceedings are being held. It is the first time reporters will be able to see and perhaps hear from the suspects.
CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Six and a half years after the September 11th attacks, the day of reckoning has finally dawned. Among the accused, alleged mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, accused of helping with logistics, and alleged al Qaeda money man, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, accused of sending thousands of dollars to the hijackers.
The Pentagon wants them executed but promises a fair trial, saying the rules are similar to those facing U.S. service members accused of crimes. BRIG. GEN. THOMAS HARTMANN, COMMISSIONS LEGAL ADVISER: This is an amazingly fair process. It's unprecedented in the history of warfare the kinds of protections that we are providing these cases that are very similar to what we provide to people who wear this uniform.
ARENA: But there's one big difference. If they're found not guilty, defense attorneys are pretty sure their clients will not walk free.
MAJOR JON JACKSON, DEFENSE LAWYER: I think that if he wins, meaning he gets a full acquittal, they stay at Guantanamo Bay.
ARENA: Major Jon Jackson represents al-Hawsawi and says the notion of a fair trial for his client is fantasy.
JACKSON: Everything has been slammed and in favor of prosecuting this gentleman from admitting hearsay evidence to admitting coerced statements, to not having the right to remain silent.
ARENA: Captain Prescott Prince represents Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
CAPT. PRESCOTT PRINCE, DEFENSE LAWYER: I'm not trying to impugn anyone's integrity, but the rules do not allow a full and fairing hearing at this point in time.
ARENA: In this courtroom, the government may introduce statements the defendants made after being harshly interrogated, some say tortured.
In civilian courts that kind evidence is not allowed. The Pentagon's response? Tell it to the judge.
HARTMANN: If you believe that coercion automatically means unreliable, present your argument to the judge. The court is the crucible of truth. It's an engine of justice. You get to present all the facts, all the evidence, all the law before an independent judge.
ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Reminder now on who the terrorist suspects are.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed allegedly met with Osama bin Laden in 1996 to propose hijacking planes in the United States. He is considered the mastermind of the September 11th attacks, allegedly overseeing the entire operation, including training the hijackers. U.S. officials say Mohammed has admitted to almost 30 various terror plots. The CIA admits he was waterboarded. He was arrested in March 2003 in Pakistan.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh allegedly was supposed to be a hijacker but his visa application was denied. He is accused of assisting in finding flights schools and in financial transactions. The government claims Binalshibh was a key member of al Qaeda cells in Hamburg, Germany, where 9/11 plots were developed. He was arrested in September 2002 in Pakistan.
HARRIS: Today's arraignment of the 9/11 terror suspects launches a critical test of the U.S. military tribunal.
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us by phone from New York.
Jeff, great to talk to you. Boy, a couple of quick ones come to mind here. I know the last system to try these men was challenged successfully in court. What's changed to allow the proceedings to move forward?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The Supreme Court has, several times, said that the system that the Bush administration put in place for dealing with the detainees was unconstitutional. The latest system was approved by Congress in the Military Commissions Act, so it does have the approval of Congress.
It does grant the defendant somewhat more rights than the Bush administration originally proposed, but this one, too, is under challenge, and it is by no means clear that these trials will actually take place, and if there are guilty verdicts, that their guilty verdicts will be upheld.
HARRIS: That's interesting. The attorney in Kelli Arena's piece suggested that in the unlikely event, I think you'd have to say, that the men are acquitted, they will remain at Gitmo. If you agree with that assessment, one might ask then what's the point what have we're going through here?
TOOBIN: Well, I do definitely agree with that assessment. This is all about execution. They will not be executed if they are not convicted in this process, but they will certainly not be released either. The government has made clear that they regard all of these defendants as what's called enemy combatants, who can be detained indefinitely, that is until the end of the war, the war on terror, which has no clear ending.
So it is, in some respects, a low stakes trial...
HARRIS: Yes.
TOOBIN: ... because no one's going to be released at the end of it.
HARRIS: Could these men have been tried in our civil system?
TOOBIN: Well, this is one of the great legal questions that has not given -- has not been given a clear answer. Certainly civil libertarians say look, this all should have been done in an ordinary U.S. courtroom. We've tried Musawi -- Osama bin Laden is, in fact, under indictment in a federal court in New York.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who is on trial -- going on trial now -- he is under indictment in New York's federal court. Better, they say, bring them over here, give them the full protections of our system, try them, convict them if you can.
That's what a lot of civil libertarians that the Bush administration had said no, we want to have a separate system for them and that's where we're going for now.
HARRIS: Jeffrey Toobin with us from New York, and Jeffrey, we'll see you again in the 11:00 a.m. Eastern hour.
Jeffrey, thanks.
COLLINS: We want to get these pretty incredible pictures out to you now coming in from our affiliate in Los Angeles, KABC. Live pictures, in fact, of a huge fire going on there. You see all of the fire engines putting their water on top of this building. It's a roof where they had begun to fight the fire and then had to evacuate because of the instability of the structure.
I'll tell what you we know at this point. Three-story commercial building, downtown Los Angeles -- as you can , that heavy smoke and flames coming apparently from the rear of the building and in case you know the area really well, Los Angeles Street and Olympic Boulevard is where this is located.
Not exactly sure of what is inside that building at this point. We will try and find that out for you. But the garment district, if you do know the area. Again, they had to evacuate the firefighters because those flames had begun to spread so quickly. They were worried about the building collapsing.
No collapse -- no report of injuries at this time. We're going to keep our eyes on this (INAUDIBLE), again, from our affiliate, KABC, in Los Angeles.
Deadly storms rake the U.S. and it's not over. Tornadoes, flooding, violent thunderstorms, all possible again today.
Those are the sounds of tornado sirens last night as they wailed in central Illinois. Unbelievable pictures of a funnel cloud there, too. Storms swept from the Midwest to suburban Washington, killing three people along the way. A woman in Annandale, Virginia died when a tree crushed her SUV.
The National Weather Service today going out to determine if any tornadoes actually touched down.
Flooding and mudslides closing numerous roads. Two people, in fact, killed trying to drive through rushing waters. A state of emergency now declared in parts of West Virginia because of flash flooding.
HARRIS: Boy, let's get to Jacqui Jeras quickly in the Severe Weather Center.
Jacqui, boy, what's on tap for today? (WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: More severe risk today than yesterday?
JERAS: Yes, in fact, so severe we sent our own Reynolds Wolf to the Storm Prediction Center to get word from the experts out there. They're the ones that actually issue the watches.
HARRIS: OK.
COLLINS: Great.
HARRIS: We'll be hearing from him later this morning?
JERAS: Very soon, I believe in the next five minutes so don't go away.
HARRIS: Oh great. OK. Thanks, Jacqui.
JERAS: Yes.
COLLINS: Thanks, Jacqui.
HARRIS: Bowing out and backing Obama. Hillary Clinton makes plans to exit the presidential race after a long, hard-fought campaign. Clinton holds an event Saturday to thank supporters and throw her support behind Barack Obama. She is suspending her campaign days after Obama wracked up enough delegates to secure the nomination.
Obama kicks off his general election campaign with stops today in Virginia. He is stepping up his hunt for a running mate. He has named Caroline Kennedy to his three-member search team.
On the Republican side John McCain gives a speech later today in Florida. McCain has challenged Obama to a series of town hall debates.
COLLINS: She's closing the door on her epic White House run but Hillary Clinton is also keeping her options open.
Suzanne Malveaux live from New York now with what's next for Senator Clinton.
Suzanne, do you know? This would be great. We've been asking those questions for days and days now.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have a sense of the next couple of days, at least. She is going to suspend her campaign. That is going to happen on Saturday. She's going to endorse Barack Obama. She's going to talk about it before a group of supporters.
I want to show you how this is playing out here in her home state. It says, "OK, I'll quit." Another one, "Exit: Do Not Block," "Kicking and Screaming, Hillary Ends Quest for Pres."
These headlines coming out of New York, because, obviously, she had a tough decision to make. She met with the New York delegation that really her most loyal supporters. We heard from Congressman Charlie Rangel yesterday saying that he's in it until the very end but the end has come and that now is the time for her to end it as well.
A difficult decision, but she did make that decision, so what you're going to see is really kind of this process of coming to this point today in -- D.C., rather. You're going to see the New York delegation on the steps of the U.S. Capitol endorsing Barack Obama.
Tomorrow you're going to see New York state officials, the governor and others in a press conference doing the same, leading up to Saturday, and that's when she's really going to thank her supporters, say this is a good fight, that she's sent a letter to her supporters essentially saying now is the time to get behind Obama -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Kind of interesting, isn't it, Suzanne, when you look at those headlines in her home state? They seem pretty brutal.
MALVEAUX: I think it expresses, I guess, kind of in "The New York Post" kind of way, the sense of frustration that she had and the split in the Clinton camp. On the one hand, you had some folks who said, look, give her some time, take a few days. Some people said perhaps, you know, explore your options to move on here, continue the fight.
She really needed to figure out a way to break apart this huge machine that she has to thank her supporters so -- some people were understanding about that. There were others, on the other hand, who said look, the time has come to end this thing, to shut it down.
Even some of her supporters felt like perhaps they were being used as bargaining chips for whatever it is she may want for the next administration for a potential Obama ticket.
COLLINS: Sure, all right. Well, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux following the story for us in New York this morning.
Thanks, Suzanne.
HARRIS: Just want to give you a quick update on the fire, downtown Los Angeles in the garment district that Heidi told you about just moments ago. "AMERICAN MORNING" also following it.
Firefighters are battling the blaze. Essentially (INAUDIBLE) from this shot appears that the flames may be out. When we zoom that, we'll get a wider view and see what the situation looks like.
Firefighters have done a pretty good job on this, it seems, and pouring water on it from the ground, from the air. It broke out at about 5:00 a.m. in a building on south Los Angeles, the South Los Angeles Street by east Olympic Boulevard and engulfed a two-story commercial building in the garment district.
Live view of all of the smoke and still some flames. We will continue to follow this story. No reports so far of any injuries. And for a second day in a row, a major airline announces plans to cut jobs and ground planes. "ISSUE #1" in the NEWSROOM.
ANNOUNCER: CNN NEWSROOM brought to you by...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We want to get you back quickly to these pictures again coming to us live from our affiliate in Los Angeles, KABC. Looking a little bit better now but this fire in a building in the garment district there, actually about a half-mile from the Staples Center, is pretty intense.
You actually still see a flame there in the center and maybe off to the side a bit. Firefighters are, obviously, pouring as much water as they can on top of this building now. They were actually fighting it on the roof and then had to evacuate because they were very afraid that the building would just plain collapse.
So at this point, we do not know of any injuries. There are none reported. The whole thing broke out about 5:00 a.m. this morning. If it's possible for to you send in any iReports if you're in the area, that would be terrific so we can continue to show people what's happened here.
CNN.com/ireport.
HARRIS: And breaking news now for travelers. Continental Airlines announces big cuts to jobs and, boy, flight capacity.
Ali Velshi in New York "Minding Your Business." Wait a minute, didn't we -- the second verse same as the first here?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yes, we reported this 24 hours ago from United Airlines. They were cutting planes and capacity and now Continental doing -- Continental announcing 3,000 jobs will be cut. 3,000.
I mean, Tony, we get immune to these numbers but that's 3,000 jobs...
HARRIS: Thank you.
VELSHI: ...being cut. I mean we have to remember these things, hard to concentrate -- 67 aircraft being taken out of service, those will be the 737s, the work horse of the commercial aviation industry.
They're reducing capacity by 11 percent because they're expecting that there will be a decline in the number of people traveling, because it's getting much more expensive. The CEO and president have decided to decline their salaries for the remainder of 2008.
Tony, yesterday, we told you about United taking 100 aircraft out of service, including some of their Boeing 747s and 737s. They want more fuel-efficient aircraft. A few weeks ago we reported American Airlines doing the same. We've got another airline grounded in that amount of time.
So massive, massive changes and it all comes down to fuel costs.
HARRIS: Fuel costs -- are we seeing the tipping point here? I sent you a note about this this morning...
VELSHI: Sure.
HARRIS: ... and I just want your thought on this.
VELSHI: Sure.
HARRIS: When you take a look at what Ford is doing, what GM is doing, when you -- take a look at what the airlines have announced over the last few days now, are we seeing the tipping point?
VELSHI: The -- America's major industry, which depend on the use of fuel, whether it's the automotive industry or the transportation industry, have seemed to make a decision that Americans are changing the way they consume fuel...
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: ... and that we don't think we're going back to low fuel prices any time soon. Because if thought, if the airlines and the car companies thought, you know, we're going to go back to even $3 a gallon gas, people will come back to buying the big trucks. Fuel prices will go down, air fares will go down.
It seems now that they are betting -- because these are long-term bets to take planes out of service and fire staff -- that means the bet is that we're probably going higher from here, not lower or at least higher in the interim before we go lower, and that Americans are changing their habits.
HARRIS: See?
VELSHI: Well, the car companies have no choice. They're just not buying those trucks and SUVs anymore.
HARRIS: Change in habits...
VELSHI: Yes.
HARRIS: ... folks are riding bikes, folks are walking, trying to combine trips, getting in better shape as a result and as evidence of that? Take a look at Mr. Velshi this morning.
VELSHI: We're all getting fit.
HARRIS: Everybody is doing something to get into better shape these days. Oh, shake it like a Polaroid picture.
Now the business angle to this -- the business angle to this as I try to keep it relevant here is that this game is really -- it's really moving off the shelves, isn't it? VELSHI: This is the Wii Fit.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: This is the little fit, the little unit that that goes with the Wii which was supposed to be sort of the not-so-tech video game...
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: ... that first flew off the shelves because it's interactive. You can play tennis and you can do bowling and boxing and baseball.
Well, they've just come out with this Wii Fit board, where, you know, tone and aerobics. Clearly you can see I'm not the most toned fella.
That was Sunny Hostin, our legal analyst there. And she's -- I got winded coming up the elevator, Tony.
HARRIS: I heard that. I'm with you, Doctor. Hey, are you doing a radio show today? "ISSUE #1"?
VELSHI: I absolutely am. You can call in about anything including my performance there. We're doing this from 11:00 to 12:00 Eastern, 1-877-266-4189. Call in, tell us what you think about the economy, where it's going, what you want to know about the economy. We'll get you answers.
HARRIS: That's terrific.
All right, Ali, great to see you. Thank you, sir.
VELSHI: All right, buddy.
HARRIS: Thanks for the entertainment.
VELSHI: See you.
COLLINS: The horrors of war, the struggles of coping. New help for servicemen and women trying to heal from traumatic brain injury.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It's main mission -- help military servicemen and women recover from their injuries.
Next hour a ground-breaking ceremony for a new state of the art treatment center in Bethesda, Maryland. You're looking at some renditions of it there. It's called the National Intrepid Center of Excellence.
This facility will provide leading edge services for post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Post traumatic stress disorder rising this year among U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here now to talk a little bit more about this.
Before we go to the ceremony, Sanjay, tell us exactly what post traumatic stress disorder is and how common it is among our service people now returning from this war.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's something that a lot of people didn't talk about for some time which makes today all of the more remarkable, Heidi, that they're actually having a center of excellence devoted to this very issue.
It is an anxiety disorder -- post traumatic stress disorder -- that is often sort of has cardinal systems of flashbacks, trouble sleeping, sometimes people become estranged from their families, from their lives. It can be debilitating and it can come on months, sometimes even years after a particular traumatic episode.
Now, as far as the rate, they're hard to -- they're hard to really project because sometimes people don't talk about some of these symptoms...
COLLINS: Sure.
GUPTA: ... even today because of the stigma. But according to some of the best studies we found, 13 to 14 percent of people actually returning from Afghanistan and Iraq seem to have some component of PTSD and the average age is young, young, sometimes as young as teenagers, a little bit older than that, but this is a thing that affects people in their primes and it can last for a long, long time, Heidi, as you know.
COLLINS: Yes. And you know, one thing that we don't talk about very often is, you know, it seems that it's easier just because of visually you could tell when someone has been physically injured in one of these wars when talking about amputees and so forth.
GUPTA: Right.
COLLINS: But when you think about how they may have come to those injuries, isn't it true that, just because they suffer a physical injury, doesn't mean that that's the only injury they've suffered? The whole body has likely suffered, you know, from the stress and from the concussion of IED explosions. It can also result in the CDI.
GUPTA: Yes, you know -- so it's a very good point. And I think part of that is both logistic and part of it is what happens over time in the sense that if somebody has a physical injury that's where the doctors and the health care teams -- they can spend most of their energy and time and sometimes to the point where these concussive symptoms that might lead to PTSD or something later on down the road is not addressed at the time, and that can be a real concern.
We do know that soldiers who have concussions are much more likely to go on to have PTSD. You know I saw this firsthand when I was out in Iraq, Heidi.
COLLINS: Right.
GUPTA: You and I have talked about this. But, you know, look at what happens when someone has one of these explosions. The brain is actually sort of a fluid medium within the skull and it moves around. That can result in concussions and subsequently later on, post traumatic stress disorder.
Soldiers who had have concussions are about 43 percent of them are likely to develop some sort of PTSD symptoms. So there is a target group for the folks at the Intrepid and doctors across the country to look at when they're trying to evaluate for this.
COLLINS: Yes, and you know when you look at that video, it really reminds you, I mean, how serious these injuries can be. Does this mean, though, that their physical symptoms are all in their head? I mean you talk about that culture and the lack of reporting sometimes that they're suffering.
GUPTA: Right, and I think that's been one of these psychological impairments, is that people think it's a -- is this all in your head, is this more of a subjective thing?
Admittedly, if you look at some of the symptoms of concussion, they can be vague. They can be headaches, they can be difficulty with sleeping, they can be depression. Oftentimes there is a -- there's a (INAUDIBLE) sort of mental -- specific mental thing, depression, for example, substance abuse, anxiety.
But make no mistake, post traumatic stress disorder, as things stand now, is one of the most common anxiety disorders that soldiers are returning with. It's more common than depression, it's more common than substance abuse, it's more common than other anxiety disorders and, again, this is something that people haven't talked about for some time.
Head injuries, TBI, as you mentioned -- traumatic brain injury -- is becoming one of the signature injuries of this war and one of the ramifications is PTSD.
COLLINS: All right, CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, thanks for clearing that up for us. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thanks, Heidi. Thanks for having me. Yes.
COLLINS: Stick around for the opening, too, coming our way, 10:00 a.m. this morning.
Meanwhile, brain injuries and post traumatic stress -- a state of the art place where the troops can be treated. We're going to begin by talking with an army general and ahead of the Fisher Foundation coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Got an awful lot going on this morning. First, we want to begin with a hearing that is going on in Guantanamo Bay. We've been talking about it already this morning. Camp Justice as you see there. Live pictures coming in.
Our Kelli Arena is there following the hearing today.
It's going to include five of the top suspected al Qaeda prisoners of course including 911 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh. They will appear before a Military Commission today. It's going to be going on all day long. Again, our Kelli Arena is following it for us. We will speak with her just as soon as she becomes available.
HARRIS: And let's take you to the New York Stock Exchange now. Let's get the business day started. The Dow starts the day at 12390 after dropping 12 points yesterday. A better day for the NASDAQ, up 22 points. We're looking at a retail sales report today.
Oil moving higher slightly, but still at about $122 a barrel. Boy that is so far down from $135 for about ten days ago in the opening moments of the trading day. Yes, the NASDAQ and DOW futures indicated a good start to the morning and there you have it. The DOW up 32 points. The market checks throughout the morning with Susan Lisovicz right here in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Jacqui Jeras standing by now because Jacqui, we understand it's going to be a very busy day weather wise as well. I was reading some of the notes from the Meteorology Department talking about a possible tornado outbreak today.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. We've been watching the potential for this for days. And now that risk we've been talking about has been upgraded to high from the Storm Prediction Center. And we don't get very many days like this in a calendar year. Though I will say this year we've seen more than usual.
There you can see in the hot pink area, our biggest area of concern -- Minneapolis, Sioux Falls, Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City and Wichita all at a high risk. A moderate risk surrounding this, it goes all the way up towards the U.S.-Canadian border, down towards Oklahoma City, and then a slight risk which extends across much of the Great Lakes area.
Now, how is this different from that moderate risk we were talking about? Let me show you. This is how the SPC defines a high risk day. A great concentration of severe storms with a high possibility of violent winds or tornadoes. There could be 20 plus tornadoes, two of those what we would consider severe tornadoes or an EF3 or greater.
Numerous reports of wind damage, 80-miles-per-hour gusts or more and structural damage reports. So this is very significant. This could be very severe and it's being compared to some other tornado outbreaks that we've seen back in the 70s. At least the atmospheric conditions are very much like this. So it's an unusually strong storm that's injecting out of the four corners area. And it's going to be making its way into the plains.
Now we do have watches in effect at this hour. And there you can see our tornado watch starting to shave off a little bit across parts of Wisconsin down into Southeastern Iowa. Northern Illinois getting hit hard at this hour. The Milwaukee area seen incredible storms moving on through just south of there towards Racine and Kenosha into Waukegan.
We're seeing this severe line moving through. And also some heavy downpours, over an inch an hour with this. The real ignition is going to really start taking place during the next couple of hours. We're starting to see some firing coming out of Colorado. Also into southern parts of Nebraska. And we have one tornado warning in effect for Lincoln County. A tornado warning there.
This is the Doppler radar indicated tornado. And so, remember, that sometimes even if it's a severe thunderstorm watch, tornadoes can and do occur.
Now, I want to bring in my colleague, Reynolds Wolf. And we send him over to the Storm Prediction Center, because Reynolds, like I said, high risk days, this doesn't happen all the time.
What are you hearing from the experts, the experts who actually issue these watches and these outlooks? What are they saying about today?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the latest that we've got, Jackie, is of course that high risk that was posted near the top of the hour. And we got it from right here at the NOAA Storm Prediction Center which is in many ways is very similar to, I guess you could say an investigative laboratory.
What they do is they examine. They kind of look for clues in all different levels of the atmosphere, and try to decipher what you, the viewer at home, can expect later on in the day -- currently or for days to come.
Now take a look at what I have behind me. Got a couple of monitors that are popped up, and this is just a slice of what they're taking a peek at. There are many different elements they see. For example, this first one, you're seeing this is just the water vapors. You'll see areas where you happen to see red and blues. Blues, the coldest, the highest cloud tops. You have the most convection or rather the strongest storms.
We go from that one to a little bit more to the right. They're also taking a quick peak at the infrared satellite imagery. As we zoom over and take a look at that, you can see some storms developing over parts of the Midwest which, of course, Jacqui, you've been talking about all morning long.
And then we move a little bit more off to the right and you can see the lightning, lightning popping up. Great deal of electricity and great deal of lining with those storms over parts of the Midwest. And of course the last one shows up radar that we're seeing more development over parts of the western Great Lakes.
You'll notice we have that severe thunderstorm watch now in effect for parts of Michigan and could be a live day there. Also back into that high risk area that we were talking about. Now, it is a very interesting place here, there's a lot of energy, a lot of people really pouring over, not just these elements you've seen behind me but a lot of numbers. A lot of number crunching that goes on here.
You're going to see right over here lead forecaster and there are lead forecaster John Hart. He's been here since 1992. He's been here since early this morning, too, and he's been taking a look at what's going to be happening in the atmosphere.
Coming up, we're going to talk to John and find out not only what we can expect later on today and for tomorrow, but perhaps for days to come. And also talk about why this storm season has been so hectic. A lot of tornadoes we've been dealing with.
JERAS: Yes. Hey, Reynolds, before you go, talk to me about timing. What time do they really think things are going to kick in hard this afternoon or tonight?
WOLF: You know, it looks like it's going to be a late day event. What I mean late day, we're talking mainly between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00. We get a lot of that peak heating which is going to help further destabilize the atmosphere. But then we're looking at the possibility of this being kind of a nocturnal event, too, because you're going to have the possibility of the jet stream really playing a factor as we get into the later evening hours.
So we could see this really begin to develop into the late afternoon, evening and then possibly overnight. Looks like a stormy time ahead.
JERAS: Certainly does, thanks very much. Reynolds Wolf live at the Storm Prediction Center. One of those NOAA weather radio nights, guys. Certainly, any one of this --
HARRIS: There you go.
JERAS: This is what you need, every house should have one just like a smoke detector.
HARRIS: Where do you get them? Where do you get them? Where do you get them?
JERAS: You can get them, you know, at any electronic store. You can get them on the web. You can get them at some Krogers and publics, even some at the grocery store.
COLLINS: Great. Not hard to find being the point.
JERAS: Not hard to find.
COLLINS: All right.
JERAS: More like 50 bucks, 60 bucks.
COLLINS: All right. Very important. Money well-spent. Jacqui, thank you. We'll check back later, of course, if we need to do that.
Happening right now, we want to take you back to France. A somber day there. The funeral for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. This is taking place at a church near the Louvre.
As you may remember, the designer died on Sunday at age 71. In the front row I'm not quite sure if you can see but the leader of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, First Lady Carla Bruni. She will be speaking along with Claudia Schiffer and Catherine Deneuve. We will keep an eye on this one for you. Live pictures once again coming from France today.
The government says he was behind 9/11 -- actually, the brains behind the whole plot. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed arraigned today at Guantanamo Bay. A live report in 15 minutes here in the NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: The wounds of war, not just physical but mental, too. Troubling numbers in fact to tell you about. There have been nearly 320,000 reported cases of servicemen and women suffering from traumatic brain injury since October of 2001.
The Pentagon says the number of military personnel diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder jumped from 9,500 in 2006 to 14,000 last year. A 47 percent increase. All together, 40,000 have been diagnosed with PTSD since 2003.
But now good news, a new world class treatment center will be built to treat the troops. Ground-breaking gets under way in just a few minutes in Bethesda, Maryland. We're going to bring that to you live.
But among those attending the ceremony today is Army General Richard Cody and Arnold Fisher, honorary chairman of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
Gentleman, thanks so much for joining us this morning. It's a big, big day and I wanted to begin with you, General Cody. I know that you have visited many times this Florida operating bases both in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you have seen some of these terrible injuries.
You know, it's a shame we have to build a facility like this at all but what does it say to the military families and those who are injured, that this in fact is being built and that they will have treatment?
GEN. RICHARD CODY, U.S. ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, thank you, Heidi. It is a great day for every man and woman in uniform because the man standing to my right traveled with me to Afghanistan and Iraq not too long ago, and talked to our soldiers in all the different operating base and said -- you know, I understand the signature wound of this war caused by the IEDs as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and mild traumatic brain injury.
And he looked all those soldiers in the eye and said "Just like we built the center for the intrepid for amputations and retraining to get the best world class amputee training center like we did down at Brook Army Medical, he said I have now shifted the focus of the intrepid foundation to build a world class mild TBI/PTSD research center, treatment center, education center."
And today, we're going to break ground on Arnold's dream. And it's a great American story, because this is being funded through the intrepid foundation and they get donations from all over the world, and mostly from American citizens that want to let their soldiers know they care about them. So this is a great man I'm standing next to, who has had a great, great concept and dream.
But not only that, he's been down range with our soldiers and told our soldiers basically the American people are behind you. And teaming with the intrepid foundation, the Department of Defense Military Medicine is going to be able to man this world class center.
COLLINS: Yes. And we're talking about Arnold the $70 million facility. I know you did it the first time with the Center for the Intrepid down at San Antonio, particularly for the treatment of amputees -- incredibly successful, beautiful facility of course.
What does this mean to you? I know you went on that trip specifically because you said I want to be able to tell the soldiers directly to them that we'll take care of you when you come back from serving your country.
ARNOLD FISHER, INTREPID FALLEN HEROES FUND: I think it's so important that our volunteer army and their families know that if, God forbid, they get wounded, that they will get the finest medical service that this country can provide.
And when we built the San Antonio, 600,000 Americans contributed to that. Americans care about our troops and our troops should know that. And this facility will be the center of a new TBI/PTSD center for us to help these returning veterans. And guardsmen and reservists, we're very proud today as it's happening and we can start the ball rolling. We have basically, have about half the money now, and we will get the other.
COLLINS: I know you will. There's no question about it. General Cody, I want to go back to you because without a doubt, when you look at the numbers of the increase in PTSD and traumatic brain injury, it is undeniable that this is as our medical correspondent and neurosurgeon earlier said, this is the injury that has become the signature of these wars.
This facility is going to open in December of 2009. Where do you see these type of injuries and the prevalence of them, when the facility actually opens?
CODY: Well, right now, we're not standing still, as you know. We've gone and done four of our mental health assessment teams. We got over 200 behavioral scientists and specialists down range, looking at what's happening to our soldiers. Six years into this war, multiple deployments, you can imagine combat stress moving to, what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
COLLINS: Right.
CODY: Or with the IEDs, sometimes you don't even get a physical wound but the repetitive concussion effect of the blast causing mild traumatic brain injury. And we're all learning as a nation, not just military medicine, but as a nation, we're learning more and more about how the brain works.
And -- so we're building our databases. We have trained over 900,000 of our soldiers as to the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, mild TBI. We're now training our family members so they will seek help. One of the reasons why the numbers have risen is because we have eliminated the stigma and told our soldiers this is an injury and a wound just like anything else. So we had to start initially with an education program.
COLLINS: Is that stigma really removed, though? Because I'm sure it was very deeply felt all across the lines in all the different branches of service. Very, very difficult, oftentimes, for a soldier to say I need help, and you can't see the physicality of why I need that help. It's actually in my head.
CODY: No, the stigma is not eliminated at all and we know that. And that's why we're continuing to not just train our leaders and the soldiers to take care of each other, but also we're training the family members also. And I believe over time and especially once we get this center up and running, we will move towards it. It's very, very hard for soldiers who are tough in combat to admit that they've had injuries.
COLLINS: Right.
CODY: I mean, many of them played with injuries anyways.
COLLINS: They play hurt.
CODY: And they go out patrol after patrol -- they do. And what we do with this new training that we have is to raise the level of awareness, and then as we get more research and development. One of the beauties of what Arnold has done with his foundation is he has gone out and sought a consortium of our best and brightest in our universities.
COLLINS: Right. Right. CODY: And bringing them all together so we can get better identification early on, and then get the therapeutic modalities to work so we can really turn this around.
COLLINS: Well, we're looking forward to the ceremony. And I have to say how far we have come. I'm sure you're very aware, General Cody, of the famous picture of General Patton, years and years ago, who slapped a service member. Who said that he had major anxiety about going back to the battle lines, and he said "You know what? Get over it." And then tried to slap him out of it. And really come a long way from there. At least in recognizing PTSD and TBI.
So I know you guys have to get seated very shortly and we appreciate your time this morning. We'll be carrying the ceremony live throughout. Thanks once again to the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, General Richard Cody, and Arnold Fisher from the Fisher Houses.
Thank you, gentlemen.
CODY: Thank you.
FISHER: Thank you.
HARRIS: And another story we've been following from the top of our CNN NEWSROOM broadcast. The confessed mastermind of the September 11th terrorist attacks and four top al Qaeda suspects being arraigned this hour. Live pictures as you can see here of the U.S. military base in Cuba, where the proceedings are being held.
Our CNN producer Mike Mount is there. He is just outside of the courtroom and he has noticed some things and done some reporting for us. He tells us as the defense was being introduced to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, KSM could be seen wearing a white prison outfit. He appears much thinner than his photo -- is the observation from Mike.
He has a long, full salt and pepper beard. He was wearing a black square-rimmed glasses and a white cloth cap. More observations going on right now. We'll take a quick break and we'll bring you more of those observations from the hearing going on this morning in just a couple of minutes, right here in the NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: Quickly we want to get this information to you as we are getting it, actually out of Zimbabwe. We have learned -- CNN has been able to confirm that a convoy of diplomats there who tried to go and check some of the violence that we've been reporting for several days now in the area were stopped and attacked in Zimbabwe.
That convoy included British and American diplomats. Two American embassy cars, one British car stopped by police. The American ambassador is in Zimbabwe is available. Hopefully, we're going to be able to speak with him shortly to make sure we understand what's going on here.
But once again, the headline that we have is that apparently a convoy of diplomats in Zimbabwe. We were going to check on some of this violence that's been going on there. They were stopped and attacked, again, in Zimbabwe. We, of course, will stay on top of the story for you and bring you any more information just as soon as we get it.
For now, though, quick break and we'll be back.
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HARRIS: The older you are, the harder it is to have children. Here's CNN's Judy Fortin with today's "30, 40, 50."
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come here, baby.
JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anna Wolfgang is daddy's girl. But two years ago, Ray Wolfgang and his wife, Jacqueline, weren't even sure if they could have children. Both devoted time to their careers, hoping to have a baby in their early 30s. But when the time came, it wasn't that easy.
JACQUELINE WOLFGANG, ANNA'S MOM: I was older. My husband's sperm count was a little low but not so low that it shouldn't have prevented us from getting pregnant. So nobody could really come up with a definitive reason.
FORTIN: For over six years the Wolfgangs tried to conceive, eventually turning to In Vitro Fertilization. A technique where egg cells are fertilize by sperm outside the woman's womb. After a number of tries and thousands of dollars spent on treatment, Jacqueline at age 38 gave birth to Anna.
RAY WOLFGANG, ANNA'S DAD: It was well worth it, but very, very stressful.
FORTIN: According to the American Fertility Association, more than 15 percent of couples in the U.S. have difficulty conceiving a child. Many couples like the Wolfgangs are delaying having children. About 20 percent of women in the U.S. now have their first child after age 35. But after a certain age, having a child becomes more difficult.
DR. ROBERT STILLMAN, SHADY GROVE FERTILITY CENTER: This is the natural normal aging process. And women can make that worse, if you will -- smoking, alcohol abuse, excessive weights, high or low.
FORTIN: In her 30s and 40s, a female's reproductive cycle begins to change. As a woman ages, her eggs are more likely to develop abnormalities. The probability of having a baby drops between three and five percent per year, after the age of 30. A rate that can be even higher after 40.
In fact, a woman in her 40s faces a 50 percent risk of suffering from a miscarriage and there can be other problems. STILLMAN: As women age, they can wind up with uterine problems such as fibroid tumors, ovarian cysts or growth, development or expansion of endometriosis.
FORTIN: When women get into their 50s, typically menstruation and ovulation cease with menopause. You wouldn't necessarily know that by looking at Hollywood.
STILLMAN: If they're going to be on the cover of "People" they have responsibility to their following, not to mislead people by thinking that fertility is easy at 52. It's not. They're donor eggs.
FORTIN: Jacqueline and Ray consider themselves lucky.
J. WOLFGANG: She's fun, she's great, she's growing and just a joy and everything that we thought she'd be.
FORTIN: Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.
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