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Iraq Troop Withdrawals; Detroit Mayor Ordered to Jail; Bust Gone Awry? Maryland Mayor Cuffed, Dogs Shot Dead; Firefighting Chopper Crash

Aired August 07, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A tale of two mayors. A judge orders Detroit's top elected official to jail. And in Maryland, police raid the home of a mayor, but now it looks like it was a very big mistake.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Pretending to be sick so hospitals can cash in. The feds say homeless people were admitted for unnecessary treatment so hospitals could get reimbursed by the government.

LEMON: All right. And get this -- they're called segregation boxes. The Pentagon says they're humane. Human rights advocates say they're a cause for concern.

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

KAYE: And I'm Randi Kaye, in for Kyra Phillips.

LEMON: All right. We begin this hour of the CNN NEWSROOM with some breaking news, breaking news out of Iraq. It concerns a deal that would set a date for U.S. troops to be out of the country.

Our Arwa Damon is in Baghdad, and she joins us now with an update.

What are you hearing from Baghdad, Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, we just heard Haida al- Albadi (ph), a Shia member of parliament, saying that a deal is very close to being signed, that this is -- intense negotiations that have been going on for the last week. Here is the deal according to al- Albadi. That U.S. troops, combat troops, will leave Iraq by 2010. All other U.S. forces would be gone by 2011.

And another very important date, June 30, 2009. According to al- Albadi, that is the date whereby which U.S. troops should withdraw from all Iraqi cities and stay on their bases.

Now, the U.S. officials that we spoke to are saying that, while a specific timetable has not been nailed down quite yet, we are hearing from one source that there are dates that have been put into this deal, but that there are caveats as well. That it will be conditions- based. That is based on how the security situation on the ground is.

And while U.S. officials are telling us that there has been progress, there's still a number of very significant outstanding issues. One of those is the issue of contractor immunity. The number of contractors here number almost that to U.S. troops, and they are essential to the U.S. mission here.

The other outstanding issue is perhaps even more important, is that of detainee authority. The U.S. military wants to continue to be able to detain individuals based on intelligence. The Iraqis only want detentions to take place after an Iraqi judge has issued a warrant.

And this is especially critical when it comes to the U.S.'s black ops. That is the counterterrorism Special Forces operations that we see taking place here. And they oftentimes find themselves carrying out raids at the very last minute, very much driven by intelligence.

Sometimes they're out the door in minutes. And oftentimes, they carry out follow-on raids based on information that they gather from that first location that they have hit. So that's a very important red line for the U.S. military, to be able to continue to have that authority to detain Iraqis.

And while it might see that this deal is about to go through with both sides agreeing on it, there is also something else that's very important to point out. Iraq's parliament has to sign off on this deal, and they just went on vacation. They're not due to come back until the end of August. They could, however, call in an emergency session -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Arwa Damon in Baghdad.

We appreciate it, Arwa.

KAYE: Two mayors, two brushes with the law. In Detroit, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is jailed after violating the terms of his bond in his perjury case. In Maryland, a small-town mayor and his family get innocently caught up in the middle of a drug raid.

A developing story from Michigan. A judge has ordered Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to jail for violating the terms of his bond in his perjury case, as we just told you about. Kilpatrick's lawyers are appealing the order, but reports indicate it won't be heard until tomorrow, meaning he will spend at least one night behind bars. The ruling came after Kilpatrick made an unauthorized trip to Canada on city business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE RONALD GILES, DETROIT DISTRICT COURT: Because you have violated the conditions of bond, the court is, one, revoking your bond. The court is going to order that you -- that all travel be suspended. And two, that you be remanded to the Wayne County Jail for processing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Judge, would you stay the order pending an appeal, please?

GILES: Am I going to stay the order? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Your Honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.

You have the right to file an immediate appeal. But like I said, if anybody else sitting was sitting in that chair, that's exactly what would have happened -- what would happen. And I believe that's how I have to proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, are charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They're accused of lying about having an intimate relationship and their roles in the firing of a police official. Both deny the charges.

LEMON: And Randi, here's that other mayor story we told you about. Last hour, we told you the strange story of the suburban D.C. mayor who was minding his own business at home when the cops suddenly stormed in.

The next thing you know, his two dogs were shot, and the mayor and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and questioned. It happened last week in suburban D.C., where police apparently didn't do their homework before sending a S.W.A.T. team in for a no-knock drug bust.

Here's the mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CHEYE CALVO, BERWYN HEIGHTS, MARYLAND: They bound me and forced me to kneel in the corner. My mother-in-law was bound on the kitchen floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MELVIN HIGH, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND: That was not about the mayor, not about his home, but the place where drugs had been sent to. And the offices had sufficient cause to enter that premise to address a criminal issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. Just to give you the latest on this, two men now have been arrested in an alleged scream to smuggle hundreds of pounds of pot by shipping it to unsuspecting people like Mayor Calvo and his family.

Any minute now, Mayor Calvo is to hold a news conference, which we'll bring to you live right now. As a matter of fact, why don't we go to that press conference that is happening right now, and just give you some live pictures here to tell you about that. Mayor Calvo, I would imagine we are looking at pictures -- is this from his front lawn? Are we looking at that correctly, guys? OK.

So the press conference is going on right now on the front lawn. So we're going to listen in as this person speaks to talk about exactly what happened.

CALVO: Good afternoon. Thank you for coming to our home today. And thank goodness for our new sunshine which just came out.

I want to thank the -- I want to just thank so many of our elected officials and residents who have come out to just stand by us today and stand with us in what is a very difficult time, but at a time that we felt the need to make some public statements. I can't recognize them all, but so many of them have been calling.

I want to at least recognize Senator Paul Pinsky, Senator Jenny Forehand, Delegate Tawana Gains (ph), Delegate Al Carr (ph) and so many municipal officials -- Eric Olson (ph) -- county council member Eric Olson (ph), mayors and council members from across the area. It means so much to me to have you all here. Thank you so much.

Trinity and her mom, Georgia Porter (ph), and I are very pleased that two arrests have been made and a large quantity of drugs have been seized. It is a great relief to us to be removed from the glare of suspicion.

We knew that we were not involved. Our friends, our neighbors, our community knew that we were not involved. But people who didn't know us really didn't know what to think.

Apparently, based on yesterday's statement, the Prince George's County police chief still doesn't know what to think. But the rest of the world now knows what happened, and we're relieved that the truth has finally come out.

Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim of identity theft. Apparently, so were four or five other county residents whose name and addresses were stolen and used as addresses on drug packages.

However, Trinity and our family have not been treated as victims of a crime. Instead, our home was invaded, our two beloved Labrador Retrievers are dead. My mother-in-law and I were tied up for nearly two hours.

A shadow was caused over our good names. We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us. But now that truth has come out, the leadership of our two county law enforcement agencies have actually made things worse.

They have falsely blamed the dogs' death on the dogs. They have blamed their illegal no-knocks entry on my mother-in-law for shouting when she saw a S.W.A.T. team in the yard.

And although the rest of the world knows it, the chief of police can't quite bring himself to say the word "innocent," although he certainly isn't casting suspicions on the other five homeowners whose identities were stolen by the delivery man. Sheriff Jackson said yesterday that deputies were engaged by our dogs. This is simply false.

The deputies opened fire and executed our dogs the very second they broke down the front door. The thoughtless execution of Peyton (ph) and Chase (ph) was premeditated without provocation and appears to have been done for sport.

The officers were aware of the presence of our dogs before they broke down our front door. They had seen Peyton earlier when the undercover officer delivered the package to our house. They had seen me walk both dogs through the neighborhood moments before they invaded our home. In fact, I waved to them.

Peyton was shot some difference from the front door. He was shot where his body was found, near the entrance to the kitchen. After Peyton was shot, Chase reacted to the gunfire and ran away from the deputies. He was hunted down and shot in the back while he fled. His body was found here the rear of the house.

We loved our dogs. Our community loved our dogs. They are part of our family. They have didn't deserve to die. They don't deserve to be blamed for their own deaths.

I call upon -- we call upon Sheriff Jackson to retract his false statement that our dogs engaged his deputies, as well as any suggestion that his deputies were justified in shooting our dogs. We also call upon law enforcement to release the photographs they took of our dogs after they were shot.

These images are shocking. They will show you what they did to them and where they were located when they were killed. These photographs will tell the truth, even if law enforcement refuses to do so.

I also call upon Sheriff Jackson to retract his statement that the no-knock invasion of our home was justified because my mother-in- law screamed when she saw the S.W.A.T. team in our yard. Last week, the county spokesman -- a county police spokesman said that the officers were justified in breaking down the door because a no-knock warrant had been issued.

This, too, turned out to be false. No such warrant was ever sought or obtained. In fact, when law enforcement invaded our house, they knew nothing except that someone had addressed a package containing marijuana to Trinity.

Although more than a dozen officers were at our house all day, they did not spend five minutes investigating who we are or what our lives are about. If they had, they would have found that we are regular, law-abiding, community-minded citizens. We have spent our lives in community service and certainly are not a threat to the public's safety. What is now most disturbing is that the police chief and the sheriff have reached public conclusions about the propriety of what happened without conducting any investigation whatsoever, and without even talking to us all. They are defending the indefensible. They are unable to apologize for themselves. They are unable to investigate themselves. And they are clearly unable to reform themselves to make sure that this does not happen to any other innocent family in the county.

In this regard, we are receiving reports of similar misconduct, including service of warrants at the wrong address, excessive use of no-knock entries, and other unjustified killing of family pets. This has happened before, and without oversight, it will happen again. Our community is losing confidence in law enforcement based on what they did here and on how the leadership responded to what they did.

For this reason, we are asking the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice to investigate not only what happened to us, but also the larger question of policies and practice of county law enforcement agencies in executing warrants. We have witnessed a frightening law enforcement culture in which the law is disregarded, the rights of innocent occupants are ignored, and the rights of innocent animals mean nothing. We would never have believed it if we hadn't seen it with our own guys.

Major McGall (ph), who heads the county's Narcotics Enforcement Division, has denied the very existence of no-knock search warrants. This is despite the passage of House Bill 577, which was a 2005 amendment to Maryland's Search Warrant Statute which specifically provides for such warrants under proper application to a judicial officer.

We today ask Sheriff Jackson and Chief Hyde (ph) what other statutory protections and civil rights are believed not to exist in Prince George's County. Why are senior law enforcement officials unaware of basic principles of Maryland law? We need the federal government to intervene and educate county officials about the rights and protections to which all Americans, including those in Prince George's County, are entitled.

My family has come to deeply understand the pain and personal sorrow that results from injustice at the hands of our government, particularly the injustice that occur all too frequently here in Prince George's County. We know that we are blessed in so many ways. We have the love and comfort of our community, our friends and our families, not to mention so many countless strangers who have given us encouragement and support. What saddens us most often is that these injustices all too often go unnoticed by law enforcement officials, and those who are victimized are forced to suffer in violence.

When these actions first occurred and I was on the floor, bound my boxer shorts, looking at the dead bodies of our wonderful, loyal family members, my initial reaction was that there had been a terrible, terrible mistake. Now that the county has arrested the people responsible for this, and I have been forced to listen to them defend their actions without even reaching out to hear our story, it has become clear to me that these problems that we face -- the problems that we face in the police and sheriff department are systemic. And today, my family and I, with our many friends, begin to speak out to ensure that, while we are certainly not the first victims of brutal injustice in Prince George's County, we have to bring about far-reaching changes that will make us among the last.

LEMON: All right.

That is the mayor there of the county, Prince George's County, and painting a very vivid picture about what happened -- what he claims happened to his family. He, in his boxer shorts, he said, being tied up and held by police at gunpoint, along with his mother- in-law. And then his two Labrador Retrievers being shot by police. All, they say, part of a scam by other people who were arrested.

This certainly brings into question what a lot of people have been talking about here, no-knock warrants. He is asking for change. And if this is indeed true, suffice it to say they picked the wrong person to get their business wrong with, not to check -- cross their Ts and dot their Is.

But again, holding a press conference with his wife at his side there.

This all happened this morning. The mayor of Berwyn Heights there in Prince George's County.

He was walking his dog and then saw one of the members of the S.W.A.T. team out in front of his house. When he got back to his home, he picked up a package, took it inside, went upstairs to shower and change clothes. And then all of a sudden, the S.W.A.T. team came in, he says, and then shot his dogs, and then tied up him -- he -- this is in his words -- and his mother-in-law.

So, again, this is all happening. The fallout from this, of course, is going to be huge. And of course we'll be following this story for sometime now to see what happens. But just wrapping up the press conference there.

KAYE: First there were reports that hospitals were dumping homeless patients. Now there are charges that hospitals are recruiting homeless patients.

We'll try and find out why when we talk with L.A.'s city prosecutor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So it happened last week. The mayor of Berwyn Heights in Prince George's County, Maryland, said that he was the victim of the wrong police raid, a S.W.A.T. team raid at his home early one morning.

Just a short time ago, he held a press conference on the lawn of his home. And his wife broke down in his arms and talked about her experience and how she felt. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRINITY TOMSIC, BERWYN HEIGHTS, MARYLAND, MAYOR'S WIFE: A little girl came to our house after this happened the next day. I didn't know who she was. She didn't know us. But she saw us walking the dogs every day and waving at her.

And she came in and she gave me a big hug. And she said to me -- she said, "If the police shot your dogs dead and did this to you, how can I trust them?" And I don't want people to feel like that. I just want them to be proud of our police and proud to live in Prince George's County.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Just moments ago on the lawn of the Calvos' home. That's Trinity Tomsic, but she is the wife of Mayor Cheye Calvo.

Again, this all happened last week. There was a police raid because some marijuana was delivered to their home and left on their doorstep. The mayor took it inside. This is according to him -- took it inside, put it on the kitchen table, went upstairs to change, and then all of a sudden, he hears his mother-in-law screaming because a S.W.A.T. team has busted down his door in his home. And then he claims they shot his two Labrador Retrievers in the process.

You can hear the wife there saying all she wanted to do -- all she wants is for people to be proud of the police department there. So there is going to be some fallout with this, you can better believe, with no-knock warrants and all of this.

And we would like to hear the other side as well. We would really love to hear from the sheriff on -- some perspective on this -- on why they chose to do this, exactly the way that the Calvos are saying they did it.

KAYE: And they went on to make two other arrests. So, clearly, it was the wrong move on their end.

LEMON: And I've got to ask you about this. This is sort of -- this is a little bit different, but you did the no-knock warrant. There was some discussion and some controversy about a no-knock warrant right here in Georgia with an older woman who was killed.

KAYE: Yes. This was quite sometime ago. And that family has sued the city and is apparently going to get millions of dollars.

LEMON: Millions of dollars.

KAYE: But it does happen. I mean, it happens -- you know, they think they're doing the right thing. And really, in their defense, this is very dangerous for these people even going in with these no- knock warrants if it is the right place. It's a very dangerous job for them. But you can see how important it is to get it right.

LEMON: Absolutely. OK. We'll continue to follow this developing story, as well as others throughout the day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM -- Randi.

KAYE: News breaking today out of southern Arizona. An SUV carrying 19 people rolled over on a rural highway near Florence. Officials are reporting nine people are dead and the other 10 occupants all injured. Apparently, according the Florence Department of Public Safety, they were all border crossers. The SUV apparently was the only vehicle involved.

LEMON: We have a heartbreaking rescue to tell you about. It turns into a recovery in a rugged section of northern California.

Nine people are presumed dead after the fiery crash of a firefighting helicopter. Four others were badly burned.

And CNN's Dan Simon joins us now from Weaverville, near the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

It's a really sad story, Dan. Tell us what you have.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hey, Don.

We are inside a community center auditorium. And a few hours from now, the National Transportation Safety Board is going to holding a press conference here, and we believe they will officially announce that nine people, eight firefighters and one crew member, did die in that helicopter crash. With nine people dead, it will be the single worst accident involving a firefighting aircraft in U.S. history.

And Don, you can just imagine what it must have been like there at the scene. There were other firefighters on the ground who witnessed the crash. They themselves were waiting to be picked up by a helicopter, and they actually helped rescue the four survivors. The four survivors being three firefighters and a crew member.

We are told that those four people are in area hospitals. They all are banged up quite a bit. But one of them was able to talk.

He spoke to the "Los Angeles Times," and he told them that it appeared that one of the helicopter's chopper blades actually hit a tree. And that's what apparently caused this helicopter to go down.

But of course, this investigation just beginning. And hopefully we'll know a bit in a few more hours when the NTSB holds this press briefing -- Don.

LEMON: All right. CNN's Dan Simon.

Dan, thank you very much.

KAYE: John McCain and Barack Obama in their own words. Later this hour, we'll hear what they're both saying on the campaign trail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. We're about to talk about the economy. And we're going to talk about some good news? You got it.

For the 21st consecutive day, gas prices have fallen. According to AAA, the price per gallon went down another penny overnight, giving us a new national average of $3.85 for a gallon of regular unleaded. Diesel is down 2 cents from yesterday. It's now $4.61 a gallon.

America's troubled housing market is seeing a small increase in the latest pending home sales report from the National Association of Realtors, rebounding form a disappointing May to a 5.3 percent jump in June. Pending home sales reflect the number of homes that are under contract to sale.

KAYE: First, hospitals were dumping homeless patients on L.A.'s skid row. Now there are charges that hospitals are actually recruiting homeless patients.

What is going on? We'll ask L.A.'s city prosecutor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Time now to tell you about some of the stories we're working on for you today right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Things get worse for the mayor of Detroit. Kwame Kilpatrick is already facing a perjury trial. Now he's been tossed into jail for violating the terms of his bond.

Apparent progress in U.S. troop negotiations with Iraq. Negotiators are said to be close to an agreement that could pull U.S. combat troops out of Iraq in just over two years and pull all remaining U.S. forces out of Iraq in three years.

At least nine people are dead near Florence, Arizona. An SUV overturned on a rural highway. The other people -- 10 other people were injured.

KAYE: Using the homeless to bilk the government. That's the accusation today against a Los Angeles hospital CEO and the operator of a homeless center. Prosecutors accuse them of recruiting relatively healthy homeless people, admitting them to the hospital, then collecting government payments to care for these bogus patients. Investigators say the operators of other hospitals also may have been involved in this scam.

And joining us live to discuss the probe, Los Angeles city attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

Hi there, Rocky. How are you?

ROCKY DELGADILLO, LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY: I'm doing well, Randi. Thank you so much.

KAYE: Tell me first, how did this scheme work? How did they get these false patients into the hospitals?

DELGADILLO: Well what they would do is they would send runners down to Skid Row here in Los Angeles. They would recruit patients who were eligible for Medical or Medicare. They would then give them false diagnoses, they would give them false medical records, they would then send them to a hospital. They would receive that bogus treatment and then be sent back to Skid Row. They would then bill taxpayers for the bill.

KAYE: How many homeless are we talking about?

DELGADILLO: Well, we believe over a period of about four years, maybe longer, there were hundreds, maybe thousands of homeless individuals who were involved. We believe that represents millions of dollars to the taxpayers, and we are hoping that we get that money back.

KAYE: So from what we gather, there were raids on three hospitals, two arrests, including the CEO of one of the hospitals. Do you believe that these hospitals were all working together on this?

DELGADILLO: We allege that this was a grand conspiracy amongst the hospitals, the intermediary (INAUDIBLE), as well as the assessment center that he ran. And they have collected up all these individuals and simply ran them through the system, gave them treatment that they didn't need, unnecessarily treatment. In fact, if they had received treatment that they might have needed, it was only by accident. And in some cases, they got treatment that actually made their condition worse.

KAYE: So these hospitals were getting insurance money based on false medical conditions. How much money did these hospitals actually rake in?

DELGADILLO: Well we don't know for sure. This is really the beginning of our investigation.

We do know that this intermediary (INAUDIBLE) received $20,000 per month from at least two hospitals and from a third, a little bit less than that. If that's the case, we know that that's millions of dollars over a period of four years and maybe longer than that.

KAYE: And these are taxpayer-funded health programs.

DELGADILLO: These are taxpayer funded health care programs. It's Medical here in California, and Medicare. So that's national tax payers that were being bilked out of hard earned money. And, in addition, it's rising the cost of health care.

KAYE: Is there any proof of this? I've been to Skid Row. We have done many stories there on the patient dumping by these hospitals who didn't want to care for these patients any more. There has been videotape of that. Is there any proof or any video of these homeless people actually being recruited?

DELGADILLO: We actually discovered this because of a video taken by LAPD of an ambulance who was dumping five patients onto Skid Row. They initially though it was a homeless patient dumping case, so they sent it to our office. Then, we did our follow-up. And as you know, Randi, we're also on Skid Row. Our prosecutors are on Skid Row. They're out there listening to people, and they started to hear something different. That this was a different scam, almost patient dumping turned on its ear. In fact, using homeless individuals to bilk taxpayers out of millions of dollars.

KAYE: And what's so sad is that so many of the people there are on Skid Row are mentally ill and may not have even known what was actually happening to them.

Rocky Delgadillo, the city attorney there in Los Angeles. Thank you so much for your time. We will definitely continue to follow this.

DELGADILLO: Thank you very much.

KAYE: And we want you to know we have contacted the hospitals named in the investigation. Pacific Health Corps, which owns three of the hospitals, released a statement saying "PHC plans to continue to cooperate with authorities and believes it will be cleared of any illegal actions."

The City of Angels Hospital also released a statement saying it is cooperating with the investigation.

Texas police are still waiting for a woman accused of running off with a Katrina evacuee's five children to surrender. Rhonda Tavey has told the "Houston Chronicle" she wants to hire a criminal lawyer first. Tavey has told reporters the children's mother, Erica Alphonse, threatened her so she disappeared with the children last month for their own safety.

Alphonse denies those allegations. She and her children came to Houston from New Orleans three years ago after Hurricane Katrina. She says she agreed to let Tavey care for her kids while she tried to find work. She left them with Tavey two years ago to go back to New Orleans.

LEMON: And Randi, we should learn by the end of the day how long Osama bin Laden's former driver will have to stay in prison. Prosecutors at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked a military jury to give Salim Hamdan from 30 years to life. Defense attorneys recommended a sentence of 45 months or less. Hamdan was convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda but cleared of terrorism conspiracy charges. Hamdan addressed the court today in unsworn testimony and described his relationship with bin Laden as that of that of an employer and employee.

The U.S. Navy now says the case of a leaky nuclear submarine was worse than initially reported. It says the USS Houston leaked trace amounts of radiation as far back as June of 2006, nearly two years longer than disclosed last week. The sub made at least three port calls in Japan. It also stopped in Malaysia, Singapore, Guam and Hawaii. Navy officials say the radiation leaked was extremely low level and the amount was negligible, less than what is found in a 50 pound bag of fertilizer. KAYE: So we've all heard of solitary confinement. In Iraq, there is a version that has grabbed the attention of the human rights community.

Here is our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're called segregation boxes. Wooden crates the U.S. military uses in Iraq to hold violent prisoners. These grainy pictures rarely have been seen. Military officials say some of the boxes measure three feet square and about six feet tall, leaving little room for a prisoner to move.

Human rights advocates say little is known about how the military treats prisoners it puts inside these boxes.

JENNIFER DASKAL, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: There's concerns that they could be used in places detainees are enclosed in extremely hot conditions. It's important to know whether or not detainees are provided food.

STARR: The military insists the boxes are humane, that they are checked every 15 minutes and typically prisoners are isolated for no more than 12 hours.

A military spokesman telling CNN, quote, "Someone in a segregation box is actually observed more than those anywhere else."

Since the abuses at Abu Ghraib, the U.S. has improved conditions for the 20,000 detainees it holds. But live is tough behind the wire, hundreds are still deemed to be al Qaeda loyalists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not a place that you want to hang around.

STARR: The U.S. hopes to continue releasing prisoners. Recently, some 20 foreign fighters were sent back to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and thousands of Iraqis have been set free.

GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: We are able to capture threats to the Iraqi government, and to the population, detain them, rehabilitate them and 99 times out of 100 release them.

STARR (on camera): The U.S. Military says those put in these boxes still get food, water and access to a toilet. But human rights advocates warn that as long as the U.S. Military puts people in these conditions, the day may come when a captured U.S. Military member is held in a wooden crate somewhere in the world.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We certainly are your hurricane headquarters, and we're right in the middle of hurricane season. Our Chad Myers is standing by with some new predictions just out today -- Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: As you're speaking, we're getting a lot of lightning strikes happening right there behind you.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

All right, Chad Myers, we appreciate it.

MYERS: You got it. No problem.

LEMON: Thank you very much -- Randi.

KAYE: Don, President Bush arrives in China. We'll tell you how his comments about human rights abuse are playing in Beijing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: President Bush got a red carpet welcome in Beijing today, just a few hours after he blasted Chinese human rights policies. The president criticized China for detaining dissidents. As if to show their indifference to the president's remarks, plainclothes police officers today dragged Christian protesters out of Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Authorities used umbrellas in an attempt to stop the media from getting pictures. The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to President Bush's criticism, saying no one should interfere in China's internal affairs.

Now, despite China's human rights record, most Americans think President Bush has done the right thing by going to the Beijing Olympics -- 63 percent of those questioned in a CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll said Mr. Bush should attend the games, while 35 percent said he should not. In a related question, 70 percent of those who responded consider China an economic threat to the United States, 30 percent said they do not.

LEMON: Energy and the economy. They're the issues getting all the attention right now on the campaign trail. We'll hear from John McCain and Barack Obama in their own words.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It's anyone's game at the 90th PGA's Championship. Golf's fourth and final major of the year is underway in Bloomfield, Michigan. You're looking at Anthony Kim on the 10th hole. Maybe not a household name but there's no Tiger Woods this year. He is recovering from knee surgery, as you may know. His absence leaving the field wide open. Australian Geoff Ogilvy is another hopeful. The field also includes some prominent Europeans looking to give the continent its first PGA championship win since 1930.

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LEMON: The toss-up state of Ohio -- it is a big player in the presidential race with 20 electoral votes. John McCain is hoping the time he is spending there this week will pay off. The Republican candidate is in Ohio for a second straight day, talking economic and energy issues.

Here's what he had to say just a short time ago at a town hall meeting in Lima.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Obama says he's going to change Washington. But his plan is to raise your taxes and spend more of your money. It's not my idea of a solution to what troubles Washington. In fact, it sounds a lot like the problem.

In the few years he's been in the Senate, he has requested nearly a $1 billion in earmarked pork barrel spending. That's $1 million almost for every day that he's been in office.

We need to end this out of control spending in Washington. And I'm president, we will stop it. And I'm proud to stand before you to tell you I have never asked for, nor received a single earmarked pork barrel project from my state. I'm proud of it. I will veto --

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I will veto every pork barrel bill that comes across my desk. I will make them famous and you will know their names, my friends. You will know their names. We will stop this corruption.

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We'll stop this corruption in Washington. And it is corruption. Former members of Congress now are residing in federal prison because of this system. You know, I often steal a lot of lines from Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan used to say, Congress spends money like a drunken sailor. Only I never knew a sailor drunk or sober with the imagination of Congress. That's a pretty good line , gets a laugh.

I used it so often, I'm not making this up. I received an e-mail from a guy that said, as a former drunken sailor, I resent being compared to members of Congress. You know, you can't blame him. You can't blame him.

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Senator Obama says he'll only raise taxes on the rich. But in the Senate, he voted for tax hikes that would have impacted people making just $42,000 a year. He's proposed increases on income taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, Social Security taxes. Pretty much anything you can tax, he wants to tax more.

We have, my friends, the second highest business taxes in the world. The second highest. And Senator Obama thinks the way to keep jobs here at home, is to make taxes higher. Raising taxes in a bad economy is the worst thing that you can do. Because it'll kill even more jobs and send more jobs overseas.

What we need are policies that create jobs. What we need is an economic strategy. An economic surge. A successful economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new...

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LEMON: And for Barack Obama, it's all about energy and the economy this week. That is the key issue as the Democratic candidate, that he is talking about as he takes his campaign to big battle ground states. After several campaign stops in the Midwest, he headed home to Chicago and that's what he had to say to reporters on his flight home.

Take a look.

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SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No. 1, John McCain pretending that that was some centerpiece of my policy, as opposed to a response to a town hall meeting. So, he had a misleading ad, which everybody knows was misleading.

Then it turns out that John McCain himself said actually inflating tax is a smart thing to do, as did President Bush, as did the AAA, as did NASCAR. And so I thought it was a good example of the fact that the other side's not serious about real energy savings that can push down the price of gas. They're interested in scoring political points.

And as long as we're speaking truthfully about what we need to do to meet our challenges, I'll let you guys worry about the politics of it.

QUESTION: The price of oil and other commodities has dropped sharply in the last couple weeks. It should be reflected at the gas pump soon.

Do you think it's time to retool your program into, you know, into the light of the fact that gas prices might not always be over $4 a gallon?

OBAMA: Well, listen, the fact that they're $3.70, is not the kind of relief that people need.

I think that they're -- I've been talking about these energy issues for a year and a half, well before gas was $4 a gallon. I believe that this is critical to the long-term health of our economy. And I think most Americans agree. We may see some fluctuations in gas prices, short term. And I welcome relief for American families. If we can see further drops, that is terrific. But, I think most Americans know what the experts know. Which is the long-term trend is rising demand and supply that is not rising as quick as demand. And that's going to put upward pressure on oil prices. We've got home heating oil prices that we're going to have to worry about as we go into the winter. Every projection is, is that they are going to be significantly more expensive than they were last year.

Gasoline, even after these price drops are significantly more than they were last year. People's wages and incomes aren't going up to keep pace with these hikes. And so we've got to start now, moving forward aggressively on a new energy policy. Otherwise, what's going to happen is we're going to look back 20 or 30 years from now, just like we have for the last several decades, seeing that we didn't take any serious action. And our economy becomes more vulnerable. Climate change continues of haste. And working families get hurt.

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LEMON: And remember, you can always hear the candidates in their own words, live and uninterrupted on the campaign trail. Go to CNN.com/live.

KAYE: From Green Bay to Broadway. You're looking at a live picture there of former Packers' quarterback Brett Favre over in New Jersey, where he will begin his second life in pro football with the New York Jets.

LEMON: Oh my gosh. The chopper shot.

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KAYE: Get used to saying this. Brett's a Jet. Future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, has the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in the rearview mirror. Way back there. He was traded late last night to the New York Jets for a draft pick. All of this prompted by Favre's well publicized cold feet after announcing his retirement. He will be the Jet's biggest name since Broadway Joe Namath.

LEMON: Do you remember that teary press conference where he's like, I'm going to retire?

KAYE: Yes. But, you know what's interesting.

I did a little checking here, on eBay, on the jerseys. Because we were interested. They're already selling his brand-new number 4 Jets jersey. And it's going from anywhere from 80 bucks to 100 bucks. But then I scrolled down a little bit and I looked at the Packers jersey, his former Packer jersey -- 10 bucks, 20 bucks. So, nobody wants that. They want the number 4 New York Jets.

LEMON: We'll have to buy some.

Just some moments ago, we had the chopper shot. It was very interesting of him flying off to --

KAYE: Going home, to his new home.

LEMON: Very interesting.

KAYE: Well, a deal is near. That's the word from a top Iraqi official who says there could be an agreement soon on when U.S. troops will leave Iraq.

LEMON: That's right.

And the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.