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Memorial at Fort Hood, Update on Teen Set on Fire; Tropical Storm Ida Downgraded to a Depression

Aired November 10, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. It is Tuesday, November 10th. And here are the top stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Air Force One flying to Texas this hour at Fort Hood. President Obama will honor the 13 men and women whose lives were ended in a burst of gunfire.

Another memorial service, this one at Fort Lewis, Washington. Vice President Biden will pay tribute to eight U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

And one of the best arm-twisters in all of politics goes to Capitol Hill. Bill Clinton hopes to line up support for health care reform.

Good morning. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. Let's check the wire and the day's other top stories.

Tropical Storm Ida sloshes ashore, bringing drenching rain to the Southeast. Some places could see half a foot of rain. The system is expected to scoot up the East Coast. We will talk all things Ida with the CNN weather team shortly.

A VIP visits Capitol Hill. Former president Bill Clinton will discuss health care reform over lunch with Democratic senators. It will take all 58 Democrats and the two Independents who caucus with them to pass a reform bill.

And protests against a health care bill and big government spending in general. A Tea Party rally held at the Georgia state capitol in Atlanta last night, it drew about 500 fiscal conservatives.

In Cleveland, Ohio, police have identified the bodies of two more women found inside the home of Anthony Sowell. He faces five counts of aggravated murder. A relative of Cleveland's mayor says she used to live with the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would he do this? He took care of me, good care of me. And I never thought that no bodies was in the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: And the D.C. sniper set to die tonight in Virginia. John Allen Muhammad will be executed by lethal injection unless Virginia's governor stops it. Muhammad's son, Lindbergh Williams, is expected to visit his father in prison before tonight's execution. He talked with Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Lind, when you were on this show in 2002, I asked you about the death penalty and you said you reap what you sow. If you were man enough to do it, you're man enough to pay the consequences.

LINDBERGH WILLIAMS, JOHN ALLEN MUHAMMAD'S SON: Yes.

KING: Have any of those feeling changed?

WILLIAMS: No, not really. Not really. If you can commit a crime, you're going to pay the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Now to Fort Hood. President and Mrs. Obama are due in Texas next hour. They will attend a memorial service honoring last week's shooting victims.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us live now.

And Ed, a few questions for you as we get going this morning. Obviously, this is going to be another difficult day for specifically the Fort Hood community. How will those killed last week be remembered in today's memorial service?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we will see today has been described to us as a traditional Army memorial service, something that has played out repeatedly over the last year -- over the last eight years, and obviously something that many of the thousands of soldiers here at Fort Hood are extremely familiar with as well, unfortunately. So, this is just taking place on a much grander scale.

The president will be here, as well as the secretary of defense and dozens of lawmakers and Congress and dignitaries from across the state. But as the lieutenant general and the commanding officer of Fort Hood said yesterday, really the most important guests of this day will be the families of the 13 victims who will be represented here today, as well as many of the soldiers that were wounded and have already been released that will take place in this ceremony as well.

There are about eight soldiers or so, I think, at last count that we were told are still hospitalized. So they won't be able to attend today -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Ed, we've seen all of those steel containers being set up for the memorial site. Why are they there? LAVANDERA: Yes. When this first started being brought in on Sunday, it kind of seemed like an odd sight to us, to be honest. But what officials here at Fort Hood are saying is that they wanted to create essentially a zone around this building called the 3 Corps building, which is essentially where the higher brass here at Fort Hood are offices, and there's a massive courtyard with a flag that has been at half-staff since last week.

That memorial will take place inside of that zone that has been created by those massive steel containers that have been stacked three high around that. We're told that that's done for two reasons. One, since the president and so many dignitaries will be here, that it's done for security reasons. And secondly, it's also being done for privacy issues.

HARRIS: And Ed, who are some of the dignitaries? Let's delve into that a little deeper, who will be attending the memorial service.

LAVANDERA: Well, as we mentioned, we have the president, the secretary of defense. You've got many lawmakers coming in from D.C., some who will be flown here by the Army, others that are making their own plans as well.

There's also many state officials. The governor of Texas will be here as well. And then, obviously, that main focus, as we mentioned, the lieutenant general saying that the families of the 13 victims that died here last Thursday will be here as well.

HARRIS: And Ed, I can't let you go without getting the latest on the investigation, and specifically the links between Major Hasan and a Muslim cleric now in Yemen with known extremist views.

LAVANDERA: Well, the FBI and from various sources, the FBI and Army officials, essentially the FBI is saying that they learned of Major Hasan last December, December of 2008, that they intercepted communications between Hasan and this radical cleric that used to be the imam of a mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. That cleric is believed now to be living in Yemen.

The investigators said that they had looked into several communications between those two, but they found nothing of it. That the questions and the communications were in line with the type of work that Major Hasan was doing for the Army. So the investigation really ended there. They didn't think there was anything beyond that.

HARRIS: All right.

CNN's Ed Lavandera for us.

Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.

And, of course, we will continue to bring you the latest news from Fort Hood as we lead out to our coverage of the memorial service at 1:30 Eastern Time.

Last hour, the Senate paused for a moment of silence. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Eight minutes after the hour. And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Obama, listening to advisers about troop levels in Afghanistan. And we are listening to your views about the war.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: Hello, Tony. This is Will (ph) in Atlanta. I think the president should go with his campaign promise that he made to the American people and pull the American troops out of the Middle East. These people were fighting long before we entered this war, they'll fight after we're gone. How can you defend against someone who is willing to strap a bomb to himself and kill as many people as possible?

Thanks.

CALLER: Mike from Omaha, Nebraska.

We cannot run a war from the back of a desk. You listen to the generals that lives this and breath this. We need what will happen. People will wake up if there's a bomb that happens in the USA, and then we'll say we should have, could have, why didn't we listen?

God bless America because we need help. Listen to the generals that do this for a living.

CALLER: I think Obama is screwing up Afghanistan just as good as he's screwing up America. This is David from North Carolina.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HARRIS: And thank you all for your comments. And you can still phone in your thoughts. Here's the phone number: 1-877-742-5760.

And here's the question. Let us know what you think the U.S. should do next in Afghanistan.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's do this -- let's update you on the case of a 15- year-old who was set on fire, a story we have followed closely here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Prosecutors have now charged some of his friends as adults in the crime.

CNN's John Zarrella joining us now from our Miami bureau.

And John, if you would, what's the latest on these charges?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. You know, this is just one horrific story. The lives of six teenagers now literally changed forever.

Late yesterday, three of the teenagers were charged as adults with attempted murder in the second degree. Now, those three teenagers appeared in bond court today. All three of them standing next to each other before the judge.

The three of them, Matthew Bent, Jesus Mendez and Denver Jarvis. Now, all three were given no bond by the judge, and the judge basically said that based on the horrific allegations -- you can see the three of them there -- that they turned the child into a human torch. That for the sake of the community, they were going to be held without bond.

Now, as everyone -- most people know, it was October 12th when the five teenagers -- two others now, Tony, have still not been charged as adults. The state says it still could come back and charge them as adults later -- but it was October 12th when they surrounded Michael Brewer and set him on fire, allegedly, according to the police and the prosecutors. They poured alcohol on him and then lit him on fire -- Tony.

HARRIS: Oh boy. This is -- you feel bad for three kids now. And as you mentioned, their lives changed forever. But it seems that a really strong message has to be sent in this case.

The victim, Michael Brewer, we saw the pictures of him just moments ago. He sustained burns on more than 65 percent of his body. Any information on his condition?

ZARRELLA: Yes. You know, Tony, yesterday afternoon we had an opportunity to go to Jackson Memorial Hospital, to the burn center there, and we talked with his doctor at length about his condition.

And the situation is this: As you might expect, with those extensive burns -- the way the doctor put it to us, he said, you know, Hollywood has not even dreamt up yet what we see in these burns. It is that horrific, that bad.

And the process of healing is day to day, and it will be many, many months. They expect him to recover, but the doctor said to us it still would not surprise him if in fact Michael Brewer does not survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NICHOLAS NAMIAS, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI/JACKSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: We can come in each day or get a phone call at any time that things are getting a lot worse or getting a tiny bit better. People get sick real fast. They get better slowly. And right now with him, we're getting tiny bit better every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, again, to refresh people's memories, you go back to -- what had happened back on October 12th was, when these five teenagers surrounded Michael Brewer, according to police, supposedly what happened was that Brewer reported them to police, saying that they had stolen or one of them had stolen his father's bicycle.

And that that bicycle was stolen because Brewer didn't pay those other boys some $40 for a video game that they supposedly sold to him. And they were calling him a snitch, according to authorities, and that that's how all of this got started.

And again, Tony, just in the process now of one horrific story for both the victim and five other teenagers -- Tony.

HARRIS: Once again, John, just a really strong message has to be sent in this case. And I'm curious -- we may not know the answer yet, but I'll ask it anyway. Do we know whether or not Michael been able to talk to police, investigators, prosecutors handling this case? There was some question about whether he would be able to do that.

ZARRELLA: No, not at this point. He's heavily, heavily sedated. His bandages are changed every day. It takes four hours of changing bandages.

They haven't even begun yet any process of grafting new skin on to his body. He's still in a very horrific -- literally, as the doctor said, and, you know, on a ventilator. And every day they are trying to wean him a little bit at a time off that ventilator, according to his doctor. But yes, at this point, Tony, no, he has not been able to be of any help to the authorities.

HARRIS: This is just absolutely horrific. And John, thanks for jumping on this for us.

John Zarrella for us in Miami.

Tropical Storm Ida sloshes ashore, bringing rain and wind to the Gulf Coast. The storm has since been downgraded to a tropical depression.

Tropical storm warnings are no longer posted for Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana. Ida flooded streets in some areas and knocked out power to about 2,000 people in the western Florida Panhandle.

Our weather team is tracking the remnants of what was Tropical Storm Ida. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is in the Weather Center and meteorologist Rob Marciano is in Pensacola, Florida.

And Rob, let's start with you. What exactly are you seeing? A little high surf, maybe a little storm surge?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There was storm surge last night. The tide has since receded.

Very interesting storm across the board. Aside from the fact that this is one of the latest tropical storms to make landfall in U.S. history, and just to have any sort of tropical storm, let alone a Category 2 hurricane at one point, in November it's just crazy to me, especially during an El Nino year. To answer your question, we did have a surge last night. As a matter of fact, it came up to right about here. The good news is that when the winds turned onshore, when Ida made landfall earlier this morning, the tide was actually going out. So we're at about low tide right. As the tide comes in later on this afternoon and the winds continue to help it along, we may see a surge further up the beach.

But I don't think it's going to get past this protective barrier on either side of Pensacola Beach. You're looking at potentially more of a surge or less beach to work with.

But aside from the water, the wind has been pushing the sand and building these sand dunes or snowdrifts. I mean, all the way up to this wall right here. They even have a protective fences, kind of like snow fences, here to try to keep the sand on the beach and out of the city. And this is likely an ongoing problem in an area that sees a decent amount of beach erosion just from the water, let alone the wind.

You know, people here have just been kind of scratching their head going, we didn't really have anything happen in all hurricane season long. Here we are in the middle of November and we have a tropical storm on our hands.

Big waves continue to batter the coastline here. And Jacqui Jeras, the folks here, they don't care what you call it, tropical storm, extra tropical. They just know it feels kind of like a hurricane, and they're almost laughing about it.

And they have that luxury because the damage certainly wasn't that bad. Most of the roads are open. All the bridges are open. Just the ports are closed temporarily by the Coast Guard.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Let's get a check of our top stories now.

At least 25 people are dead, another 43 wounded in an explosion near Peshawar, Pakistan. It is near the border where Pakistan's army is battling Taliban militants. Authorities suspect today's marketplace blast was a suicide car bombing.

How do you feel about efforts to fight the H1N1 flu outbreak? In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 53 percent say the government and private companies will eventually produce enough flu vaccine, and the majority approve of how President Obama is handling the government's response. However, fewer are confident in the government's ability to prevent a nationwide epidemic.

Former President Bill Clinton talks health care reform with Senate Democrats. Sources say he will attend their weekly caucus luncheon today.

Clinton's failed attempt to overhaul health care contributed to the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994. His visit comes as the Senate faces a tough fight over reform legislation. Federal funding for abortion could tip the balance in the health care debate. As you know, Saturday, the House passed health care reform which includes a ban on federal money being used to pay for abortions.

Would you like to see a similar prohibition in the Senate health care bill? Here's what do you. Go to our blog, CNN.com/Tony, leave us a comment, and we will share some of them on the air in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

And let's do this -- you can also phone in your comments. Call us at 1-877-742-5760.

If you think Ida is causing travel delays now, just wait two weeks. The Thanksgiving holiday is getting more congested with fewer flights and more passengers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

One of basketball's greatest says he is battling a rare time of blood cancer. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with chronic myeloid leukemia last December. Many patients are able to control the disease with medication and stop its progression.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, FMR. BASKETBALL PLAYER: For me, I was having hot flashes and sweats. And, you know, I'm not having menopause, so...

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That you can rule out now, right?

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: You know that.

ABDUL-JABBAR: But what was that all about? You know?

CHETRY: Right.

ABDUL-JABBAR: So I went and spoke to my doctor about it. He said let's go to the lab and get some blood work done. And the next day they said, "Your white blood cell count is sky high. You need to go see a specialist and find out what's going on."

ROBERTS: Wow.

ABDUL-JABBAR: And that was December of last year.

ROBERTS: So you were very private about this since December of last year. I had no inkling when we spent the afternoon together recently that you had this.

Why have you decided now to come out and make this public?

ABDUL-JABBAR: Well, I think that someone in my position who gets public attention can do a lot of good because a lot of people are faced with this condition and they think it's a death sentence. I know for myself, I had a very good friend who died just three or four years ago from a different type of leukemia, but when that happened, it was devastating. And I thought I had the same thing and that I had months or weeks to live.

CHETRY: And so your doctor told you it was not a death sentence, but you had to obviously seek treatment, take medication. How are you doing right now and what has been that process for you?

ABDUL-JABBAR: I'm doing very well, but it's something where you have to have some discipline. Fortunately, as an athlete, you have to go through that just to keep your job. But you have to find a specialist that understands your condition. You have to get your blood checked regularly, and you have to take your medication. If you do that, you can manage this particular form of leukemia and live a very productive life with minimal intrusion into the things that you love to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The drug maker Novartis is paying Kareem to participate in a leukemia awareness campaign.

A teenager set on fire. Today, some of the teenagers accused in the case are charged as adults. And coming up, you will hear from the first firefighter on the scene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A bond hearing was held this morning in the case of a 15 year old set on fire. Three teenagers would be tried as adults as John Zarrella is back with this from our Miami bureau.

If you would, John, just walk us through again the charges and as you mentioned earlier in the hour, the lives of these three teenagers really changed forever.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, at least the three teenagers and possibly two others because there were five in all involved and then of course, Michael Brewer, the victim who has burns over 65 percent of his body. It's a day-to-day call whether he will survive or not. You're looking there at the images of the three charged with second-degree attempted murder. Those charges came down last night. Today, those three, Denver Jarvis, Matthew Bend, and Jesus Mendez, all appeared in bond court standing side by side.

In that bond court hearing that lasted just a few minutes, the judge said, "based on the horrific allegations," and you can see that video, "that you turned the child into a human torch and for the sake of the community you are not going to have bond, you'll going to be held without bonds." So, those three being held without bond. There are two other juveniles. Now, remember, these are all juveniles under the age of 18 years old and they are being held without bond. The other two have not been charged yet, but the state saying that they could still charge them in this case also as adults but have not yet charged them as adults. Tony --

HARRIS: Hey, John, how are the first responders describing the scene of the crime?

ZARELLA: You know, I talked yesterday morning with the very first firefighter who arrived on the scene there, and he said that he's only been on the force for four years. But, he told me during this interview with him that he had never seen anything and neither had some of his friends who work with him, had ever seen anything as bad as this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw the bushes on fire. We saw the t- shirt with a fire extinguisher next to it and we could hear the patient screaming at the pool. So, right away, we knew we needed him on the back board. We needed him to get him ready for the helicopter. We needed to get him in the truck, and on to the landing zone immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You what's amazing about this is that throughout this ordeal, he was conscious. You know, the boy is conscious. He's telling -- that they're asking him, firefighters saying that he asked him, OK, can you tell me your name? Can you tell me where you live? Can you tell me your mother's name? Give me a phone number, and he was coherent even with these burns all over his body, coherent enough to tell the firefighter all of the information that he need before the firefighters were able to start administering him with the painkillers that he needed, which they did do. He told us the firefighters took them from the time they got there to the time they got him to the helicopter, only 13 minutes to stabilize him and bring him to that helicopter. Tony --

ZARELLA: Man, oh, man. You ask all those questions because you certainly want the information, but you also don't want had him to pass out if you can avoid that.

HARRIS: That's amazing. All right, John Zarrella for us in Miami. What a story and we'll keep following it.

Brace yourself all of you credit card holders and of course, that's most of us. Banks putting a squeeze on customers ahead of new credit card rules. So, let's do this. Let's get details now from Christine Romans live in New York.

So, Christine, wait a second here. The issue we've been tracking has been banks running up fees ahead of new regulations, and now we're talking about a different kind of squeeze on customers.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we're talking about the senior loan officers for banks talked to the federal reserve. The federal reserve does this report saying what banks are doing and what we know is that the bank loan officers their saying, this is what's happening right now. They are cutting your credit limits. They are raising interest rates. They are raising annual fees. They are requiring higher minimum credit scores. This is because, Tony, the whole world has changed.

And some will say this is trying to get ahead of those February 2010 new rules that are in effect. The industry will say, no, we are repricing for the new reality, which is so many -- a record number of people can't pay their bills anymore and so that loan they're trying to call in that loan when they can, that credit card, of course, is a loan. It's revolving credit. This is essentially a loan.

Basically, Tony, consumer debt levels are too high based on how much money we earn, the projection for our wages, our household income, our wealth, the value of our home, and so all of this is being readjusted in a very painful way. I will say that senior loan officers say, that a minority of banks, Tony, said that they would lengthen their grace periods for their good customers and would be cutting penalties for their good customers in the very near term. Trying to keep the good customers as they are whittling away their credit card accounts they think they're going to lose money on. Tony --

HARRIS: So, both things are happening. You're getting squeezed on both ends. You're not being able to -- but, the other side of this Christine is that if you're restricting credit, that's been one of the big factors in the economic downturn. The lack of real availability to get credit, so in a sense you could be constricting this and making a bad situation worse?

ROMANS: It's true, but you will hear from some in the banking industry that they are having a hard time finding credit worthy borrowers. They are restricting credit in many cases because a lot of people don't have the hope of being able to pay them back in the near term. I think the pendulum has probably swung too far. It swung too far in one direction when you were getting 36 solicitations every year for a credit card or for a cheap, you know, home equity line of credit.

And then it swung too far in the other direction when the banks are seizing up and saying, oh my goodness, we're trying to making sure that not everybody goes down the tubes on us. Somewhere in the middle is where we should be, but there's no doubt the consumer deficit levels, Tony, even after all of this are still too high. They are still too high. We still hold too much debt relative to what our earnings are and what our net worth is.

HARRIS: OK, so it has to change. New world --

ROMANS: It's got to change.

HARRIS: New reality, new normal. All right, Christine, appreciate it. Thank you.

And we're about two weeks away from Thanksgiving. One of the busiest travel times of the year, but a new study suggested many cash strapped Americans won't be flying this time around. But, if you are expecting planes to not quite be as crowded as you're seeing these days, forget about that. Susan Lisovicz is on the floor in the New York Stock Exchange with more. Susan, explain this to us. Fewer people traveling, but the planes are going to still be plenty crowded.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty easy to explain, Tony, because airlines are cutting back so much. The Air Transport Association says, air travel will fall -- expects to fall 4 percent over the Thanksgiving holiday season because of the economy. All right, we get that. But, airlines are cutting back capacity even more. Which airlines? Well, you name it, I mean, we saw Delta, American, United, Southwest, all cut capacity in September.

The ATA says capacity reduction this year is the greatest since 1942. How are they cutting capacity? Well, fewer planes of course, but also smaller planes, right and that's how you get that lovely cattle car effect. So, let me brighten your day, Tony, because at least during your wait, Google says, it will off free Wi-Fi for 47 airports until the end of the year. So, hopefully, if there is bad weather and you have to wait, at least you get free Wi-Fi.

HARRIS: Well, thank you.

LISOVICZ: But, the fact is, yes, your plane will be crowded.

HARRIS: Exactly.

LISOVICZ: That I can assure you.

HARRIS: All right, so let's see here. We have fewer people traveling.

LISOVICZ: Right.

HARRIS: Fewer seats for sale obviously so what's happening with pricing?

LISOVICZ: Well, you know, there is some disconnect here. I think a lot of people are going to be shaking their heads about this. The ATA says the average domestic airfare in second quarter of this year, so March through June, was at the lowest level since 1998.

Now, if you have been checking fares lately, you'll probably say, not I'm not seeing that. Why is that? Because those fares get jacked up when everybody wants to travel. More nickel and diming, you see an average 10 to $20 one-way for peak travel, which is around this time of year right through the end of the year. And that's in addition to the other nickel and diming for bags, you know --

HARRIS: Yes.

LISOVICZ: Good seats, that kind of thing. We are seeing quickly some nickel and diming on Wall Street after the big rally we saw yesterday. We've seen a little movement on the DOW and NASDAQ, and gold is actually down today, but it's above $1,100 an ounce. Tony --

HARRIS: Wow, $1,100 an ounce, that's -- what a hedge that is. Okay, what do we hedge it against? All right, Susan, appreciate it. Thank you.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

HARRIS: Profits at Ford and Toyota, better results at Chrysler and let's see. Let's get you to see it in money.com because the thinking is that there is still plenty of bumps ahead for the auto industry. Once again, that's cnnmoney.com.

And let's get a check of our top stories now, President and Mrs. Obama are due to arrive at Fort Hood, Texas, in less than an hour from now. They will meet with survivors of last week's shooting rampage and attend the memorial service for those killed. A live coverage of the ceremony begins at 1:30 eastern time.

As Susan mentioned, waiting at the airport, many of you travelers can now enjoy free Wi-Fi Google flipping the bill for wireless service at 47 of the nation's busiest airports. Google calls it a holiday gift to travelers. The perk starts today and last through mid-January.

We are about two hours away from the memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas. This morning we're taking time to show you the men and women who died in the attack and share some information about each of them.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK, let's get you to the severe weather center and Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui, you're really tracking a real rainmaker here. I know, the southeast is getting soaked now, but this storm is going to move up the coast into the mid-Atlantic and the northeast as well?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, probably the northeast, kind of iffy but, at least up to Philadelphia. You know, people along the coast are, like, what do we need to worry about? Tropical storm, tropical depression, whatever you want to call it. It's extra tropical basically now, which means it's losing its tropical characteristics and combining with the different storm system, but yes, bottom line is rainmaker.

So, if you play your cards right, you know, you play it smart, use a lot of caution if you have to travel today. Don't drive over any of those roads that happened to be flooded with water because you never know how deep it is. If you live in a low-lying area that's flood prone, you know, just be prepared to evacuate in case some of those rivers and creeks start going up. They're going to because the rainfall amounts have already easily been 3 to 5 inches into the coastal areas here and we're going to watch numbers like that spread all across the southeast.

Now, we've got a little interesting factor coming into play here as we watch what the Remnants of Ida is going to do in the next couple of days. We have this little piece of extra energy as we call it, out here outside of the Bahamas. That will get absorbed up with our frontal system, and just add an extra punch of tropical moisture and energy for this system as it moves up towards Norfolk and say towards the Delmarva region, and this is going to come into play by Thursday. This will continue to be a storm that we're going to want to watch.

We have an update on the forecast rainfall totals. Our latest computer models now really bringing a big bull's eye here across the Atlanta metro area potentially more than five inches. It's backed off a bit in places like Charlotte and Raleigh, but you get all that rain in a short period of time. It's still going to cause some trouble. I want to show you a live picture here out of Atlanta.

There you can see the raindrops still falling so it will be a tough commute home. Winds here in Atlanta gusting at 30 miles an hour so just as bad here as it is along the coast, and thank you for that nice little windshield wiper swipe. I love that. There are some delays in Atlanta by the way so if you're traveling by airport, 40- minute delays, but, Tony, insider information from my pilot husband.

HARRIS: Yes.

JERAS: He's two hours late tonight so you might want to check your airline. That 40-minute might be a little bit minimal.

HARRIS: But, you got to keep supper warm for him. Come on. All right, Jacqui, thank you.

Memorial service at Fort Hood army base this afternoon remembering the dead and encouraging the wounded. Here's a look at some of the victims of last week's shooting rampage.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Seven soldiers killed in Afghanistan are being remembered today at a memorial service at Fort Lewis, Washington. Vice president Joseph Biden will speak at the ceremony. Our John King has been talking to some of the troops at Fort Lewis about the toll of war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The pain is excruciating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't lock your right knee, there you go.

KING: But, to specialist, Michael Ballard, pain is the price of progress.

MICHAEL BALLARD, SPECIALIST: We ran over an IED in Afghanistan. I broke the top of my femur with the plate and screws. Two months later, I'm actually able to walk, I do some walking on my own. Physical therapy is coming along very well.

KING: Once the hip heals, Ballard will need knee surgery. His mission, all this struggle is about more than just walking pain-free. What's your ultimate goal?

BALLARD: Get back out in the fight, return to duty.

KING: Eight-plus years of war have taken a heavy toll on its army and its major installations and communities like Fort Lewis. As it said farewell to one of its men this past week, Private First Class, Bryan Russell Bates was killed in an IED attack in Afghanistan, Fort Lewis buzzed with news of the horrific shooting underway at Fort Hood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are a community of brothers and sisters at arms, and an event like this affects us all.

KING: All the more shocking here, because the post is a soldier safety net. The place to be with others who understand, a place to train, a place to honor and remember, and now, more than ever, a place to repair.

Many, like Specialist Ballard, have physical wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's 10 pounds more than you did last time. Keep going.

KING: Other wounds are harder to detect. At the Fort Lewis warrior transition battalion, twice a month on average, a soldier either attempts suicide or tells counselors of suicidal plans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we now understand more than anything else, is there is a cumulative effect. We understand this mainly from multiple deployments, but from multiple, as you said, explosions or incidents that take place.

KING: Two thirds of Fort Lewis' combat troops are already overseas, yet Brigadier General Jeff Mathis says troops and their families know the debate about sending more troops to Afghanistan could mean more deployment cycles.

BRIGADIER GENERAL JEFF MATHIS: If we continue to these kinds of deployments, will there be stress in the force? Absolutely. I meet with families. We have consultants that meet with families, trying to do everything we can to ensure that we're alleviating that stress in every way. So, I would like to see longer dwell times, but we're going to do what our nation asks us to do.

KING: Lieutenant Colonel Danny Dudeck went to Iraq after the last political debate without sending more troops.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL DANNY DUDECK: I was a unit, part of the surge, I was with the 4th Stryker Brigade.

KING: On his office wall, constant reminders.

LT. COL. DUDECK: July 2007, an explosively performed projectile, which is a pretty vicious type of an IED, came through the back of that stryker. It killed the kid next do me and hit me in the back. It damaged my plate, hit my spine and immediately, you know, I couldn't use my legs. KING: On his wrist, a reminder of the comrade killed in the attack, and his experience now shapes Colonel Dudeck's command of the warrior transition battalion. As many as 600 soldiers at a time, with issues ranging from ankle strains to post-traumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injuries.

LT. COL. DUDECK: I don't think we've really cracked the nut on how to get at PTSD and TBI. This is the most complex job I've ever had, being in a battalion where people are going through the most difficult thing they have ever had to deal with.

KING: Specialist Ballard's goal is to get back on the battlefield. Colonel Dudeck's injuries are too serious for that, but he's in the army to stay.

LT. COL. DUDECK: Having to separate from the uniform is really the heartbreaking piece of it. That's the hardest thing I can't imagine, is not being a soldier, taking the uniform off is something I dread. I've got to be honest with you, I really want to be a soldier and have the uniform on until they make me take it off.

KING: John King, CNN, Fort Lewis, Washington.

HARRIS: Here's a look at what we're working on for the next hour of "CNN Newsroom." Remembering the victims of the Fort Hood massacre, President Obama, among those attending the memorial service. We will also take a look at Muslim reaction to the shooting rampage from the mainstream to the radical views.

The D.C. area sniper, John Muhammad scheduled to b executed tonight. The former D.C. police chief talks about the investigation that brought Muhammad to justice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: President Obama listening to advisers about troop levels in Afghanistan, and of course, we are listening to your views about the war.

CALLER: Hi, my name is John, calling from Vegas. About the war in Afghanistan and the crazy things that are going on here at home, I believe we should bring back the draft, take every one of these gang members we got, these kids that are killing each other whatever, put them in uniform and send them over to Afghanistan where they can shoot all day long.

CALLER: My name is Robert. I'm 22, and I'm from Jacksonville. I think President Obama should do what general in Afghanistan says he should do, you know? It just seems like he knows more about it than anyone else. He's the general in command in Afghanistan. That's what I would do, I would listen to the general.

HARRIS: OK, thank you for calling. There's still time for you, plenty of time actually, to call us with a comment. 1-877-742-5760. Let us know what you think the U.S. should do next in Afghanistan.