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NATO Airstrikes Level Buildings Inside Gadhafi Compound; Feeling the Royal Pressure; Gas Prices on the Rise; WikiLeaks Releases Gitmo Documents; PlayStation Network Still Down; Crib Bumpers: Safe Or Deadly?

Aired April 25, 2011 - 06:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. A lot happening overnight. let's get you caught up.

Bombs leveling buildings inside Moammar Gadhafi's compound as the dictator continues his siege on a city where hundreds have already died. Now, a U.S. senator says it's time to take him out for good.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans.

Where the terrorists were on 9/11 and more classified info on hundreds of terror suspects. WikiLeaks does it again. This time, secrets from inside Gitmo on this AMERICAN MORNING.

VELSHI: Good morning. It is Monday, April the 25th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's royal wedding week.

ROMANS: It sure is. And a lot going on around the world.

Good morning, everyone.

Kiran is in London, kicking off a week of live reports.

Good morning, Kiran.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I love it. It's been wonderful here. Hi, guys. So great to see you. We're calling it AMERICAN MORNING but it's AMERICAN MORNING plus London today.

Right behind me is Buckingham Palace. This is, of course, the scene of a ton of excitement, one of the locations that is going to be part of the royal wedding parade route and people are lined up for days. In fact, there's rumors of people getting ready to camp out starting tomorrow just so they can get a prime viewing spot.

The City of London certainly ready for this big event, very proud to showcase itself on the world stage. And we've seen evidence of that in the way the city looks, its pristine, the beautiful Union Jack flags flying from every street corner and so many out-of-towners here.

We also have new information this morning about the guest list -- who's officially in, who's out. Some of the controversy, as you know, about the Bahraini royalty being invited and who some of the surprises are. Another big question that you'll hear locals chat about here is, should William be king? Meaning, should Charles abdicate and then allow his son to take over after Queen Elizabeth. So, a lot going on here. We're going to bring you some of the sights and sounds, some flavors of London this morning. We really look forward to that.

ROMANS: More importantly, Kiran, it's foggy London town, but looks beautiful and sunny there.

VELSHI: Smashing, as they say.

ROMANS: You still have a brilliant week, I hope, weather wise?

CHETRY: Absolutely. The funny thing, I haven't been to London since I was six weeks old. I'm told this is very rare. You don't just land here in the middle of April and expect it to be beautiful and sunny. They've been dealing with some very unexpected weather.

I mean, look at it outside. We took a tour of Hyde Park yesterday and people were shirtless and there were bikinis. We packed four different rain coats to be ready for the weather. Now, whether or not that holds for the wedding day is a big question. There is a rain in the forecast. We'll see if some of the clouds clear for parts of the royal wedding on Friday.

ROMANS: All right. Kiran in London, we'll check in with you again soon.

Thanks, Kiran.

VELSHI: All right. To some other news. I want to take you to Libya where NATO air strikes have inflicted heavy damage on Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli. Three buildings in the complex suffered heavy damage. Four people were reportedly injured and as many as four large bombs or missiles hit the complex early this morning.

It's not clear where the Libyan dictator was during the attack. Over the weekend, Gadhafi's forces stepped up their assault on rebel troops in Misrata. Doctors there say 32 people were killed, dozens more wounded over two days of shelling.

Now this weekend, U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina calling on the Obama administration to target Gadhafi and finish the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: My recommendation to NATO and the administration is to cut the head of the snake off. Go to Tripoli, start bombing Gadhafi's inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters in Tripoli.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman also appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and called on the White House once again to assume a leadership role in Libya.

ROMANS: Senator Lieberman is calling on the Obama administration to step up support for the opposition uprising in Syria. Right now there's an enormous military operation under way in Daraa. Witnesses tell CNN, government tanks have entered the city along with 3,000 Syrian soldiers. We're told the soldiers are going door to door shooting people. Daraa is the city where anti-government protests began in Syria. Al Jazeera reports at least five demonstrators were killed in the latest round of fighting with more than 300 people detained.

Prison break in Afghanistan. More than 400 inmates escaped through a tunnel more than 1,000 feet long. And according to Afghan officials, many of them are Taliban insurgents. The jailbreak took place last night in Kandahar's main prison.

CNN's Nick Patton Walsh describes how it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATTON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL: NATO Afghan officials are saying, yes, 470 prisoners have escaped. They're confirming a tunnel was dug. One Afghan official saying it was started from a house 100 meters south of the jail. The Taliban really reveling in this. They seemed to almost break the news, frankly, of this event, talking about a tunnel 320 meters long that took them five months to dig. Also, saying that amongst the escapees there are 106 of their senior commanders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Police now say they have recaptured eight of the escapees. The Taliban is taking responsibility for, quote, "facilitating the jailbreak." In 2008 about 1,000 inmates escaped from the same prison when militants set off a truck bomb outside this facility.

VELSHI: All right. This may be the most contentious piece of U.S. policy after 9/11. And now hundreds of classified documents dealing with the U.S. prison operation at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being made public by WikiLeaks. "The Washington Post" reports that the documents contain intelligence assessments of nearly every terror suspect held at Gitmo since 2002. They say most of the remaining detainees would present a grave risk to U.S. -- to the United States and its allies if they're released. The documents also detail the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders on 9/11 and their movements afterwards.

We're going to have more on this story at 6:30 a.m. Eastern with CNN's Peter Bergen.

And an attempted hijacking thwarted by crewmembers on an Al Italia flight. Officials say an apparently agitated passenger attacked a female flight attendant on a Paris to Rome flight, demanding that the plane be diverted to Libya. He was subdued by the other flight attendants. The plane was carrying 131 passengers. It landed safely last night in Rome. ROMANS: This morning operations at the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport slowly returning to normal after a tornado tore through the main terminal. The damage was captured on airport surveillance videos.

I mean, take a look at this.

VELSHI: Look at this, it's incredible.

ROMANS: You can see debris swirling all around, the powerful winds blowing out windows and ripped a hole in the concourse roof.

(VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Wow. This is what it sounded like inside the terminal when the tornado hit. Frightened travelers running for cover, total chaos. You could see the black wind outside --

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: -- pressing against the windows. And we know in the end, about half of the windows in the entire complex were smashed.

VELSHI: In fact, the initial assessments were that the airport would be closed for days. It was quite remarkable they managed to get planes out of there last night. But, that's some real damage. You can see everybody tearing for cover.

Those twisters, by the way, also tore through neighborhoods around the airport. A hundred homes were destroyed. Look at this damage. But some are calling it an Easter miracle that not a single life was lost.

CNN's Dan Simon has been talking to tornado victims and joins us from Bridgeton, Missouri.

Good morning, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ali. This is what an F-4 tornado looks like. That's the second highest ranking and that assessment by the National Weather Service was made in part by the damage that you're seeing here behind me. This is the Harmon Estate subdivision in Bridgeton, Missouri. Most of the homes on this one street were destroyed. But, Ali, I want to give you a vantage point of what it looked like inside the house when the tornado came through of this house of this particular house.

The homeowner, his name Dave Kanig (ph). He and his wife were in their back bedroom when the tornado came through. They could literally feel the house pull apart. This is what it looks like when you go inside. You can see that the roof is missing here. And we're going to swing by inside the house. This is the kitchen. You can see just a mess in here.

And I'm going it to show you the part of the house that actually saved his life. That saved both his wife and his wife's life. You can see the furniture move from the furniture to the hallway. Right here, Ali. This is the bathroom. Dave thought this would be the safest place for him and his wife to take cover and guess what, they were right.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The air was being sucked out of the house and in 30 seconds, it was over with. We come out here and we have furniture here, glass busted. We're looking out there and rain was pouring in. It was spooky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, you can't really understate the fact of when this tornado happened just after 8:00 on Friday night. A lot of people have said if it happened at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning people would have been sleeping and you would have had a loss of life -- Ali.

VELSHI: That's just truly amazing, seeing some of that damage there. I'm glad that that family -- the Kanigs (ph) made the right decision to go to that bathroom, because it seems to be the only thing left as intact as it is.

SIMON: That's exactly right. You know, because if you go -- actually go to the master bedroom, you can see that much of the wall is missing. They feel like they actually would have been sucked out of that room and so no question going to that area, it saved their life.

VELSHI: All right, Dan. Thanks very much.

ROMANS: Governor of the state says it's just a miracle. That it's such a huge populated area and an airport no one was killed.

VELSHI: Nobody was killed. That's incredible.

ROMANS: So, really remarkable.

OK, kids taking over the South Lawn today for the White House Easter Egg Roll. And this fun fact may surprise you. The chefs boiling 6,000 eggs are actually ex-convicts.

VELSHI: The team from a successful jobs program that trains former inmates and homeless adults. In fact, 80 percent who graduated from the program in 2009, went on to work in the culinary industry. It is a third year the D.C. Central Kitchen helped prepare for the event.

ROMANS: And that's really cool.

OK, what's not cool -- rising gas prices. They have been going up and up and up. I think the cheapest in the country is in the lower 48 is like someplace like Tucson. Most expensive is Chicago. Are they going to continue going up? That's the big question. We're going to have the answer for you.

VELSHI: Some think that the rate at which it's increasing is slowing down. I'm not sure that that's true.

ROMANS: Doesn't feel like it.

VELSHI: Doesn't feel like it.

And should William be king? Should we skip Prince Charles --

ROMANS: Oh, come on!

VELSHI: -- altogether?

ROMANS: Queen Camilla. We've been --

VELSHI: There's lots to talk about.

And Kiran, we continue to debate here whether it is that you and London look -- what did we say?

ROMANS: Smashing and brilliant.

VELSHI: Smashing or brilliant.

CHETRY: That's the proper terminology. I've been getting a few weird looks when I say "awesome" for everything. I really have a big sign that says "I'm American."

But, you guys, that's a big question, by the way, what you asked about whether or not Charles should step aside, perhaps, and allow William to be king, and, of course, with his new bride Catherine, should she be queen? Interesting polling about how people feel.

We're going to be talking with royal watcher Mark Saunders. He joins us about that, little new tidbits about the guest list and some of the controversies sure it to surround the wedding, coming up.

We'll be right back. We're live here at Buckingham Palace.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. A gorgeous shot today of Buckingham Palace. This is a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING, live in London today.

Boy, it is 59 degrees right now. It's going to go up to a high of 71 today. Not your typical April weather here for sure in London. But we're certainly enjoying it.

Well, talk about pressure. You're getting married in front of the entire world, you're becoming royalty overnight, how is Kate Middleton holding up and will the pressure of the tabloids and the royal family be too much? We're talking about that this morning with CNN's Royal Wedding Contributor and Royal Biographer Mark Saunders.

Nice to see you this morning. Welcome. We were remarking on the view and beauty of - of London right now.

MARK SAUNDERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is.

CHETRY: This is unprecedented.

SAUNDERS: It is absolutely. But the really good news about Friday and the weather is that the weather men are saying it's going to rain.

CHETRY: So you're -

SAUNDERS: And when they say it's going to rain, we'll have sunshine.

CHETRY: Well, we hope so.

SAUNDERS: Yes.

CHETRY: But this unfortunately it is set, we have brilliant sunshine today, and by Friday showers are in the forecast, fingers crossed.

SAUNDERS: It will be sunny.

CHETRY: But, meanwhile, the pressure on this bride, a couple of interesting articles out saying, you know, the entire eyes of the world on this 29-year-old girl who - is she - even though she's been with him so many years, quite sure of what she's walking into here?

SAUNDERS: Yes. She's absolutely certain of what she's walking into. Bu I always think when we talk about the pressure, if you're playing in the Super Bowl, I don't think you really think about two billion people watching you. You tend to get on with the job. Same as we're on television now, we don't really think, you do the job.

And I think Kate Middleton will have - there will be a great element of that. She's rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed. And she will get on with marrying William, it will be her special moment, but she wouldn't be thinking about the billions of people that will be watching.

CHETRY: They expect - there were 750 million people estimated to watch Prince Charles and Diana get married. They expect two billion television viewers and then this unique royally authorized YouTube stream of the actual wedding as it's taking place. I mean, this is the first interactive multimedia royal wedding we've experienced.

SAUNDERS: Well, yes. Yes, it is absolutely. But I wonder if we're going to reach a point where every person on planet earth watches this wedding in - in some way. Because the idea of the YouTube, I think that Buckingham Palace are really using the multimedia well. A lot of the announcements have come from Twitter and they've got their official monarchy website.

CHETRY: Right.

SAUNDERS: And now they're utilizing YouTube. So they - they're on the ball with this one.

CHETRY: Yes, they certainly are. And they're on the ball when it comes to making London fit. I mean, every single flower it seems is out and beautiful. The streets are pristine. I mean, they're certainly preparing.

This is not coming at - at an inexpensive price and this is quite costly.

SAUNDERS: Yes.

CHETRY: Are the British taxpayers picking up the tab or something?

SAUNDERS: The British taxpayers are picking up the vast majority of the - of the expense. There is the absurd notion that the Middletons are supposed to be sharing the expense with the queen. Now, how exactly do you share the expense of a wedding with the richest woman on earth?

CHETRY: You buy the flowers?

SAUNDERS: I guess.

CHETRY: You do something small, a token.

SAUNDERS: Yes. Maybe they're hiring the disco in the evening or something like that.

CHETRY: Nice.

SAUNDERS: But they did have lunch with the queen the other day at Windsor Palace and, you know, I wonder if they discussed it then.

CHETRY: Yes. Perhaps they did or perhaps it wasn't proper to talk about money over lunch. I want to ask you a question about this. This Harris poll that was out asking an interesting question, would you like Prince Charles to step aside for Prince William? Forty-four percent of people said yes, 12 percent said no and 45 percent aren't sure.

It's not as - it's not as easy as it sounds that he could just step aside.

SAUNDERS: It's impossible that he could just step aside. First of all, there - there is no constitutional precedent to allow that to happen. The only time it can happen is if an heir apparent of a future king was incapable of performing the duties of monarch. And also, Prince Charles himself would never do it. Prince William would never want him to do it. Her majesty would never want him to do it.

It's fun that those polls, it doesn't make any sense because it can't happen.

CHETRY: But it's fun to talk about, I guess.

SAUNDERS: It is. Yes.

CHETRY: People - people are, I guess, sort of fantasizing about a young - a young king and queen.

SAUNDERS: People have warmed now to Charles and Camilla. Don't you think that it's working (ph)? They're going to be on the throne for a very short time. But William and Catherine will take over the vast majority of the big jobs.

CHETRY: Right.

SAUNDERS: Certainly, we got Canada coming up.

CHETRY: Right.

SAUNDERS: Australia. I hear America is next year. So they're going to be the stars.

CHETRY: Well, Mark Saunders, it was great to talk to you. We'll be talking to you a lot throughout the week. Appreciate it.

We also want to let you know that you can be a big part of Will and Kate's big day as well. "CNN's Royal Wedding Experience" brings you every unforgettable moment. You can watch. You can DVR and you can participate with your own iReports. Our coverage starts this Friday, 4:00 A.M. Eastern Time.

And by the way, we also want you to drop into our newest blog, it's called "Unveiled." It brings you everything you need to know about the royal couple. The latest dish on the dress, on the menu, how you can get a taste of the royal treatment, see it at all at CNN.com/UNVEILED.

Sending it back to New York right now.

A bit later, you guys, we're going to be showing you what it's like to have high tea. Our own Zain Verjee took me through the paces, I guess you could say, yesterday at the Dorchester Hotel. So it was pretty fun and we're going to bring it to our viewers coming up.

VELSHI: It's a little different -

ROMANS: Yes.

VELSHI: -- from early mornings in New York where you get the cup -

ROMANS: Paper cup.

VELSHI: -- the coffee in the paper cup. Exactly. Kiran -

ROMANS: Light and sweet.

CHETRY: Exactly. It's a little different than just popping the can of Diet Red Bull.

VELSHI: I think it's fair to say that our coverage of this can't be missed.

ROMANS: It can't be missed and it wouldn't be missed. OK. Kiran, thank you.

You know, they pay more for gas and they don't - they don't listen to our belly aching in these days about it, I guess (ph) -

VELSHI: They're not interested. It's about $10 U.S. for a gallon there, but they also drive less than we do.

ROMANS: Right.

VELSHI: There's this new theory roaming around out there that maybe gas prices are close to peaking just because they've been rising a little more slowly. I don't really buy it.

ROMANS: And that new details about Osama Bin Laden, believe it or not, and new WikiLeaks material released about where the terrorists were on 9/11. Some interesting insight into what was happening then. And I wonder what it means for today for the search, the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and for these terrorists - accused terrorists at Gitmo.

Peter Bergen will stop by in about 10 minutes and we'll have all of that for you. So don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: So I don't go by what it is a gallon of gas, I don't. I go by what it costs me to fill it up.

VELSHI: Because you live - now you live in the suburbs.

ROMANS: Right. And now it's $49. Last time, it was $51.

VELSHI: You can always tell at CNN who was interested in doing the gas stories and who wasn't. Anybody who takes the train and lives in the city couldn't care less and everybody who drives in the suburbs tells you exactly how much gas cost.

ROMANS: Fifty-one dollars is real money and it hurts. And I can just imagine, oh, my gosh, it's like especially if your budget is really tight, how $51 to get to work -

VELSHI: It's money you're not spending somewhere else.

ROMANS: And Carmen Wong Ulrich is here. The stretched commuters -

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That would be -

ROMANS: -- the people who go 50 miles -

ULRICH: Yes.

ROMANS: -- each way back and forth these days -

ULRICH: Well -

ROMANS: -- those people are really getting hit.

ULRICH: Listen. This is influencing another thing, like folks are all moving closer towards the city - ROMANS: Right.

ULRICH: -- because nobody wants that big commuting anymore.

Listen, according to a survey yesterday, though, gas prices may have peaked. After rising nearly $1.20 in the past seven months, slowing demand and milder rise in crude oil prices have put gas prices at an average of $3.86 a gallon according to AAA.

Now, that's up only 11 cents in the past two weeks. So we've stalled a little bit here. We're close to the trigger point of $4 a gallon, but we stalled well behind the all-time high of $4.11 a gallon back in 2008.

However, one gas station in Orlando, decided recently to far - far eclipse the all-time high on Friday. Sun Coast Energy is near the Orlando Airport, was charging $5.69 a gallon for regular. The highest -

VELSHI: For what?

ULRICH: -- price in the nation according to Gas Buddy.

ROMANS: Near the airport. So that means you have to fill up your rental car -

VELSHI: Well, that's exactly that.

ROMANS: -- and you're stuck.

ULRICH: But, you know what, local legislatures were so upset by all these prices being so high near the airport in Orlando, they have now put a legislation you have to clearly show by the street what your prices are.

VELSHI: So to all those visitors to the theme parks going back, taking their rental cars back, they're going, let me fill up because they're (INAUDIBLE) -

ULRICH: But you better do it because it's going to be $8 at the rental place.

ROMANS: Oh, man.

VELSHI: That's what you call gouging.

ROMANS: That's what - yes. All right. Carmen Wong Ulrich -

ULRICH: Thanks, guys.

ROMANS: -- we'll see you again next hour.

VELSHI: Hey, listen. I was - I have to tell you, I was pleasantly surprised to learn last night that flights were taking off from St. Louis's airport. Because the initial reports that the damage was so bad it was going to be days. But, wow, take a look at - ROMANS: Midwestern -

VELSHI: -- this. Look at them running for cover inside the airport.

ROMANS: That's what it looks like when an - when an F-4 - F-4 tornado hits an airport. About half of the windows smashed, people running for their lives down these corridors. We're going to have more about that.

Also, protecting your family from toxic chemicals. A new recommendation from a pediatrician's group. Anybody with a child, anyone who lives in your home and your home is full of a lot of imported products or a lot of consumer products, you need to watch this story. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 30 minutes after the hour. It's Monday, April 25th.

That's a live look outside our studios here in New York, 63 degrees right now, going up to 71 with a chance of --

VELSHI: Wait. Showers.

ROMANS: Right. Jacqui Jeras is going to be here with the full national forecast in just a minute.

VELSHI: Prince William and Kate Middleton tying the knot in a few days.

ROMANS: No! Really? I hadn't heard that.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: As the royal wedding gets closer, some important details are being revealed. Kiran is at Buckingham Palace in London.

Kiran, what do you have coming up for us this half hour?

CHETRY: Being revealed. Yes, you just made a joke about the fact that it's raining there. It's ironic that I had to come to London to find brilliant, bright sunshine, right? Especially in April -- 71 degrees and bright sunshine today.

And there is a look outside, Buckingham Palace. The streets are packed with people -- a lot of excitement. And you're right. You talked about some of the details being revealed. Well, coming up in the next 30 minutes, we're going to talk about the guest list. It has some people scratching their heads about who's invited and who's not, some of the surprises.

Of course, even if you are just a pedestrian bride and groom, you know there's always seating chart controversies. Well, can you imagine if you're the heir to the throne? So, we're going to talk a little about where friends and family are seated, who may have to be separated and who actually sort of has the nose bleed seats, if you will. I mean, we're talking Westminster Abbey, 2,000 people in there. But because of the way that the seating is can feel very intimate if you're at the altar.

So, we're going to talk much more about that coming up as well.

ROMANS: Kiran in London -- thanks, Kiran. Can't wait for that.

VELSHI: Let me bring you the top stories right now.

NATO jets over Tripoli take out buildings inside Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound. Four people reportedly injured early today. That's after 16 people were killed in Misrata yesterday. Pro- government forces are shelling the city while their troops retreated.

And back up and running -- Lambert Airport in St. Louis recovering after Friday's tornado blew out windows and peeled the roof off the concourse. Check out those pictures.

Now, the reports are that the twister was an EF-4. Just to give you a sense of that, it packed winds of up to 200 miles per hour. That's the second most powerful kind of tornado on the scale.

No one was killed. But there's now a massive cleanup effort for the trail of devastation that twister left behind. Look at the folks running.

And a new warning about harmful chemicals, what they can do to your kids. The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for changes in the way the government regulates them. Studies have shown that children are absorbing all kinds of harmful substances, sometimes by merely sucking on a plastic baby bottle or a rubber duck. Child advocates warn chemical exposure may be increasing autism, allergies, ADHD and early puberty in girls.

And a police helicopter in Los Angeles makes an emergency landing after taking a bullet to the fuel tank. An 18-year-old man was arrested for attempted murder yesterday after witnesses saw him fire at the chopper from his front yard. The man was reportedly upset about someone's death.

ROMANS: A WikiLeaks is at it again, this time releasing a cache of classified military documents concerning the activities of terror suspects being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

VELSHI: Now, these documents reveal extraordinary details including about the movement of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders after 9/11.

CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen wrote a book on bin Laden called "The Osama bin Laden I Know." He joins us now from Washington.

Peter, you know more about Osama bin Laden than most people. After sort of looking at the reports of this document release, anything particularly stand out to you that we didn't know before that's important?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think the WikiLeaks documents are sort of filling in details that historians will find of interest. You know, I find of interest. I don't think they -- you know, they don't change our basic knowledge of the events that happened after 9/11. They do fill in details.

At one point, Osama bin Laden was so strapped for cash after the 9/11 attacks, that he borrowed $7,000 which I think adds to our general understanding that, you know, Osama bin Laden didn't have, you know, a great deal of money at the time of the 9/11 attacks. We also get some portraits of what bin Laden's henchmen were doing on 9/11, most of them were in the southern mega city of Karachi and, you know, watching the events of 9/11 unfold on television.

And, you know, we get additional details about the people who are held at Guantanamo, many of which have already been out there, to be honest. But -- and one I think important point here is that these documents are secret, they're not top secret. You know, 750,000 Americans have top secret clearances, many more have secret clearances. So, these are not the crown jewels, but they are it interesting.

ROMANS: Just a lot more information. And, Peter -- I mean, the $7,000 -- Osama bin Laden having to borrow $7,000 after he escaped from Tora Bora in 2001, fascinating to me.

VELSHI: Apparently paid it back within the year, though.

ROMANS: Mostly fascinating to me because the United States spent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to try to find and kill this guy, and he need -- I mean, doesn't that just paint a picture to you? Why couldn't we get him? Why do we still not know where this man is?

BERGEN: Well, I mean, it's hard to find people. It took 15 years for the Israelis to find Eichmann after the Holocaust not for a lack of trying. So -- which is not to excuse the fact we haven't found bin Laden 10 years after 9/11.

We spent half a trillion dollars on our intelligence since 9/11 and this very big question, which I think all Americans want answered is: where is Osama bin Laden? And can we bring him to justice? Still hasn't been answered.

VELSHI: Let's talk about the source of this material. It came apparently from a prisoner, from prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. What does that say to you about the argument for keeping Guantanamo Bay or for the success or failure of interrogation of these prisoners?

BERGEN: I don't think it really says very much either way. I mean, you know, Ali, that's a very long discussion about, you know, how and why Guantanamo should be closed. I mean, these are essentially the records interrogations of prisoners, they don't shed much light on I think many of the legal issues surrounding the prison. They don't shed much light around the treatment of the prisoners. I haven't read all the documents, but from the summaries that are available in "The Times" and "The Washington Post."

You know, I don't think they're going to make influence the debate about whether or not the prison should be closed or not in any material way, Ali.

ROMANS: Let's talk about this escape, this prison break in Kandahar. Four hundred prisoners escaping Monday from --

VELSHI: Old style, old school.

ROMANS: Oh, yes, tunneling under 1,000 foot under. And we know that maybe a year ago, some -- well one thing that is the concern here is that some of these are senior Taliban inmates.

What do we know about this? What does this tell you, I guess, about security in the fight we're having with the Taliban in the region?

BERGEN: Well, I think this is quite a big deal. I mean, there are two major prisons in Afghanistan, one is in Kandahar and one is near Kabul. The one near Kandahar, which is the heart of the Taliban insurgency, you know, houses some of the most dangerous Taliban prisoners, 500 of them approximately have escaped -- similar to a large escape that also happened from the same prison in 2008.

It's, I think, quite a black eye for the U.S. and NATO and the Afghan government, who have put quite a lot of resources in trying to improve the prison systems and here you have this massive prison break with, you know, certainly some pretty hardcore Taliban prisoners who escaped in the last 24 hours from this prison.

VELSHI: I didn't think you could still tunnel your way out but, obviously, they have the Taliban on the outside.

ROMANS: Helping out facilitating --

VELSHI: Facilitating this thing.

ROMANS: Facilitating is the word they've used.

VELSHI: Peter, thanks very much. Good to see you this morning.

BERGEN: Good morning.

VELSHI: Peter Bergen our terrorism analyst.

ROMANS: And one of the stories the WikiLeaks story looking backward, really, giving you -- filling in the picture, but the Kandahar jailbreak looking forward because now you have, as he points out, some very bad guys on the outside.

VELSHI: I'm with you about -- I think that Osama bin Laden having to borrow $7,000 tells you a lot about who he is.

ROMANS: And when you put that in context with what has been spent to try to find him, it's just -- it's a fascinating detail.

Thirty-nine minutes past the hour.

The threat of severe storms again in the South today. Jacqui Jeras is there for us in the extreme weather center.

Jacqui, some tough weather from Ohio to Texas right now.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's a huge area that we're talking about under the risk today. And we're starting out with severe thunderstorms in the northeastern Texas here and into Oklahoma. These are primarily hail makers. We're looking at hail quarter size or so and damaging winds in excess of 60 miles per hour.

And, of course, we're keeping our eye on the St. Louis metro area that was so devastated late on Friday. Take a look at some of the pictures, more than 750 homes were damaged and destroyed.

There you can see some of the video that is just heartbreaking to watch, but it's unbelievable to me that an EF-4 tornado with winds up to 170 miles per hour, blew through these neighborhoods and nobody was killed. So, that was kind of an Easter miracle.

St. Louis, we are thinking today, is that most of the severe weather is going to stay just to your South. We're not going to rule it out altogether. You're going to see some showers, maybe some isolated thundershowers. But the worst of the weather is staying towards the Ark Latex region.

The Northeast, just some spotty rain showers here, but we're already getting delays at the airports. Yes, we got ground stops in effect at LaGuardia and Philadelphia as well. That means planes aren't taking off to get into these airports until 7:00. We'll have to wait to see if that gets extended.

All right. Let's talk about that severe weather threat -- most of the action in the nation's midsection again today and that darker red area is where we have the greatest threat of tornadoes. This is really going to get going, guys, I think late this afternoon and into the early evening hours and then likely continuing over the next couple of days, unfortunately.

ROMANS: All right. Jacqui Jeras -- thanks, Jacqui.

All right. We're looking at the royal wedding guest list. You know, we've got it. And, you know, there's some really famous people, Isaac Newton, for example.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: Dr. Livingston, I presume and a bunch of others.

VELSHI: Lots of people.

ROMANS: But depending on where you sit, you might not want to sit next to -- VELSHI: Well, the seating list -- look, I'm not a big fan of weddings. Going to weddings, I find them a little endless. So, I actually like when I'm not close to the action. But, apparently, there's some people who are pretty peeved about where they're seated. We're going to tell you who they are and why they're mad.

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VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

The royal wedding is the hottest ticket in town -- not in this town but in the one that Kiran is at. The exclusive guest list has been revealed.

ROMANS: That's right. Kiran is at Buckingham Palace in London.

Kiran, what did you find out?

CHETRY: Well, I was going to say you said the hottest ticket in town. It's so funny, though, when you talk about who's excited about this. They say there are three times more Americans checking in as hotel guests than they are here in London than Brits, and they also have, when you take a look at what flights are coming in, there are from Boston, from New York, from Miami. So, a lot of excitement for a certain segment of the population in the U.S. all preparing to come here.

Some 600,000 additional tourists. So, that should be exciting. In terms of the guest list, of course, everybody is obsessed with who got invited and who didn't. A lot of people made much of the fact that President Barack Obama was not on the guest list, although, many people say that wasn't really a snub, you guys, that it was more security concern.

So, with everything they're dealing with here to actually have to figure out a way to protect the commander in chief of the United States, it might have been actually too difficult.

ROMANS: Not friends with the royal family, right? I mean, Kate and Will, if we can call them that, you know, on a first-name basis, they got to pick a lot of the people in the royal family, but the president and his family aren't really that close with the royal family, am I right?

CHETRY: Right. And I mean, a lot of people say that she actually didn't get to pick that many people at all because they do have a certain protocol. I mean, when you take a look at some of the people, they have business leaders, they have diplomats, they have foreign royals from all over, Greece, Malaysia, Denmark, Morocco. So, by the time you get all the you have to invite these people, it is hard, it is difficult.

But yes, I mean, I would think personally that the president of the United States would be somebody you'd want -- would be one of those must-dos, but apparently not. Here's a look at a couple of the royal celebrities that are going to be going to the royal wedding. You got Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, David and Victoria Beckham. Even royal watchers here in the U.K. are scratching their heads over guy, Ritchie.

They're not exactly sure of what that connection is. Joss Stone, she's one of the, you know, one of the singers that's invited, as well. So, you got all of that and then you have the issue with the seating, who's going to be sitting where, and so, the bride's side and the groom's side in the front row, of course, you're going to have Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla and Prince Harry.

So, they're all going to be on one side, and then on the other side, the Middletons, Princess Diana's family also going to be seated, but they're actually going to be seated with the Middletons. So, that's an interesting situation there. There are some buzz about just the comfort zone that Camilla feels under the shadow of Princess Diana, the late Princess Diana. So, that's interesting that the Spencer Family is going to be, as you see there, on the left side with the Middletons.

VELSHI: So, who's -- I heard that the Middletons are not pleased with some of their seating or some of the Middletons are not pleased, is that the case?

CHETRY: Well, what's interesting, it's sort of like, I mean, you're sitting there witnessing your daughter, forget the fact that she's going to be marrying into the royal family.

VELSHI: Right.

CHETRY: You kind of want to be able to see it up close.

VELSHI: Right.

CHETRY: And again, we're talking about Westminster Abbey. The way it was explained to me by one of the wonderful tour guides is that there's an area that's sort of the inner sanctum that feels a lot more close and a lot more intimate, and then, there's 2,000 additional seats. Not everybody, again, when you get through all the protocol, not everybody in Kate Middleton's family can sort of have that great, close, intimate view.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: I mean the altar area is actually quite small.

VELSHI: You want to be close when your daughter gets married, don't marry your daughter to a prince.

ROMANS: There you go. That's one way to solve it, Kiran, right? And you can be part of the Will and Kate global viewing party with Kiran and the rest of us. You can catch CNN's royal wedding experience. You can watch it, you can DVR, you can also participate. You can join Kiran, Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan, Richard Quest, Cat Deeley, they're going to bring you every unforgettable moment starting Friday at 4:00 a.m. VELSHI: How exactly would I participate?

ROMANS: You can DVR, you can watch it, and you can participate. You can participate with your own viewing party, Ali. You can join me on Friday morning.

VELSHI: You can also count down to the big day by checking out our newest blog, good name, "Unveiled." You'll find everything you need to know about Will and Kate, the dress, the ceremony, even the menu. See it all at CNN.com/unveiled. AMERICAN MORNING coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day. A NATO air strikes hitting Moammar Gadhafi's compound, taking out three buildings early this morning. It's not clear where Gadhafi was at the time of the attack.

Government tanks have stormed the Syrian city of Daraa. Witnesses tell CNN they're opening fire on protesters, and government soldiers are going door-to-door shooting people.

Operations are beginning to return to normal at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. A tornado tore through the main terminal on Friday night. Windows were blown out, and part of the roof was ripped off a concourse.

Nearly 800 classified military documents have been released by WikiLeaks. They reveal details about alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Texas is burning from border to border. Seventeen new wildfires started on Saturday. The weather forecast is not good. The next two days are expected to be in the 90s with very low humidity and very high winds.

And gas prices still trickling higher. AAA reports a gallon of unleaded now averaging $3.86 nationwide.

You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back in 60 seconds.

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VELSHI: Sony says it's working around the clock to get its play station network back up and running. Sony says an external intrusion -- who wrote that?

ROMANS: External intrusion?

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: What does that mean?

VELSHI: Yes. Somebody at Sony thought that was a good thing to say. Cost (ph) if the suspend service most likely a hacker attack. That's what we called it. The network has been down for four days now. It's a way for users -- I actually like this Sony business. It's a way for users to download movies, TV shows, games, over a play station. Amazon is also working to repair a major outage.

ROMANS: External intrusion.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: This conflicting safety advice this morning on the use of Crib Bumpers. A new study reported in "USA Today" says there's no evidence that cushions attached to crib slates aren't safe. Earlier research linked Crib Bumpers to dozens of infant deaths. Many child safety advocates warn against using soft pillow-like bumpers because of the risk of suffocation. If you don't have them, pacifiers fall of on the floor variously.

VELSHI: OK. I was going to say it. Good you telling me what these are for. Hey, Wal-Mart is going to test home grocery delivery in the San Jose, California market.

ROMANS: Wal-Mart, huh?

VELSHI: Customers can order groceries, household supplies, health and beauty products from the company's website for delivery. Part of the company has expanded options online.

ROMANS: All right. Kiran live in London. You know, the U.S. is excited to watch a real-life fairytale across the pond. Every little girl in this country somehow knows how to don a tiara and use a wand. It's part of our prerevolutionary days, perhaps, but Kiran is going to have that.

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