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American Morning

Six American soldiers killed in Afghanistan; tornadoes hit south and Midwest; Royal Wedding Rehearsals; State of the Housing Market; Separating Fact and Fiction; CIA Director Leon Panetta to Replace Robert Gates at Pentagon

Aired April 27, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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


ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of Americans directly in the path of violent storms right now facing a high risk of threat of tornadoes as extreme weather continues to batter the south and the Midwest right now on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. It's Wednesday, April 27th. I'm Ali Velshi.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans here in New York.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry here in London. Great to see all of you this morning. The anticipation is certainly growing this morning right outside of Buckingham Palace as we get set now two days until the royal wedding.

Coming up this hour, we're going to talk a little bit more about exactly who got invited. There was only actually one official member of the U.S. government invited. That's Ambassador Louis Susman, and he, actually, was kind enough to let us videotape and also get our hands on that invitation. I actually expected it to be a little bit more formal or just a little bit more ornate, but it was cool. So we're going to show you that a little later.

And we're also going to talk about the massive security operation. The police, everybody, out in full force to make sure this goes off without a hitch, but also safely. Back to you guys.

ROMANS: Thanks, Kiran.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VELSHI: We have breaking news from Afghanistan right now. Six American soldiers gunned down during an apparent confrontation with an Afghan pilot at a military base in Kabul. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh following this breaking story for us now. He's live in Kabul. Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. As we're hearing today, six American soldiers according to one Afghan official gunned down with when an argument with an Afghan pilot turned serious. Let's put in context exactly where this happened. This happened on the Afghan national air force's compound, part of Kabul international airport here, where NATO runs its operation from, so absolutely inside the NATO wire, literally under a mile's walk away from the big warehouse hangar where NATO runs its operations here. So it really couldn't be closer here.

As far as we're understanding from individuals, from Afghan officials, this is a 50-year-old veteran with the Afghan army appears to have gotten into an argument. How on this base did he manage to shoot six ISAF personnel. There are suggestions they were in a room and he entered there. The Taliban have said this man was acting for them. He carried out this operation as part of a plan, although that is now the standard, frankly, Taliban response to these instances where Afghan forces appear to fire upon NATO, which are becoming alarmingly frequent, Ali.

ROMANS: So we don't know if this was a fight or if this was a planned terrorist attack at this point? We're still unclear of that?

WALSH: We don't know, no. It's possible that it may be difficult to ever find that out. NATO says there have been 36 NATO fatalities in the past two years from these Afghan soldier or police attacks against NATO.

Now investigating them, they've investigated 16 and told me eight appears to be related as what they refer to as "combat stress," the Afghan soldiers for personal motivation attacking NATO offices, perhaps a row, some dispute they had at work.

I think the issue is the Taliban have taken this on as a propaganda coup each time it happens. They're very quick to claim responsibility, name the attacker often, saying he long infiltrated that base or area and really it's now, they say also, their key infiltrating the Afghan forces to undermine confidence between them and NATO.

VELSHI: Nick, there have been instances of people wearing Afghan police or military uniforms attacking ISAF troops. This is not one of those. This was a real member of the Afghan forces?

WALSH: As far as we know, absolutely. This morning, it does appear the defense ministry accepts he is a 50-year-old veteran of the air force. We just don't know whether or not pressure was put on him to do this, whether he was a long-term infiltrator, the Taliban claims that's possible or this was just an argument that went completely the wrong way and ended violently.

ROMANS: Bottom line, six Americans are dead and it just shows the -- just the difficult situation still facing American troops in the region. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.

Another breaking news story, the threat of tornadoes very high right this second impacting millions of people from Texas to Tennessee. Right now the tornado threat is widespread in the south.

VELSHI: Jacqui is checking this for us right now in the extreme weather center. Jacqui, this is one of those situations where it's not just the story of what happened overnight, there's stuff happening right now.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes. This is going to go on all day, guys. We're going to see this line move through, and then we'll see super cell type thunderstorms redevelop this afternoon. The area of concern right now, right along the I-65 corridor and just to the east of there, a broken line of severe thunderstorms, several of these individual storms within that line are capable of producing tornadoes.

Coleman County, Alabama, there's a possible rain wrapped tornado right there. There's a lot of rain with these things, so you can't always see the tornado. So that's something to keep in mind, not to mention it's still dark in parts of Alabama at this hour. So use a lot of caution here. Take cover. You want to get to the lowest level of your home away from doors and windows during these situations.

You can see the watch boxes. That means conditions are favorable and possible tornadoes within those red boxes and that yellow box you can see there, over southern Arkansas, which has been so devastated. Large hail and damaging winds can be expected here.

This is a high risk day. This is our second day in a row with the high risk, meaning a widespread outbreak of tornadoes is possible. That's especially focused in the purple area and when we say widespread, we're talking about the potential of 20 or more tornadoes. In the last 24 hours, we've seen 45 tornado reports. So that's quite a few.

The severe weather threat really does stretch from the Gulf coast all the way into the Great Lakes. So if you're not in that purple or dark red area, if you're in the light red area, that means that large hail and damaging winds will be your big concern. Isolated tornados are still going to be possible here.

The storm moves to the east coast for tomorrow and then finally makes its way out to sea and we don't have to worry about it so much as we head into the weekend.

Lots of flooding to talk about as well. The fire danger remains high across parts of Texas. It is a crazy, busy weather day once again. We'll help you get through it and break in as necessary with these tornado warnings.

VELSHI: Jacqui, that rain, all this rain is happening in the southeast, not getting to Texas yet. Nothing -- they still haven't gotten the rain they need.

JERAS: Northeast Texas had quite a bit of rain and thunderstorms last night, but west Texas, is just as dry as it's ever been.

VELSHI: We'll stay on top of it with you.

ROMANS: A gas pipeline explodes sending a fireball high into the air. This happened in Egypt.

VELSHI: Look at that.

ROMANS: I know. The pipeline pumps natural gas to Israel and Jordan. Authorities are trying to figure out what triggered this huge explosion. Luckily no one was hurt. In February, in the same town, a gas line was set on fire. In that incident state media suspected a terrorist attack.

VELSHI: The bloody government crackdown on protesters has intensified in Syria. Army tanks and snipers patrolling the streets, witnesses say the situation is growing worse. Meantime America's U.N. ambassador says there is evidence that Iran is lending its support to those soldiers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN RICE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is disingenuously blaming outsiders while at the same time, seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by the Iranian regime. We have said repeatedly that we are very conscious of and concerned by the evidence of active Iranian involvement and support on behalf of the Syrian government in its repression of its people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Members of the U.N. Security Council will be briefed today on the chaos in Syria.

ROMANS: It's being called one of the worst online security breaches in years. In fact, I've never heard of one this big and this detailed. Credit card numbers, other vital information, hacked from Sony's PlayStation network. This morning we're learning about how much may have been stolen.

VELSHI: It's a bit staggering, 77 million users of the PlayStation network worldwide could cost Sony billions of dollars. This is some of what was stolen -- names, credit card information, purchase history, billing addresses, e-mail addresses, all hacked.

But, Sony says the hacker didn't get the three digit security codes on the back of credit cards. It's worth knowing, I'm not a gamer, but I'm part of that network because I get Netflix through my PlayStation. A bunch of people you might say I'm not a gamer, what does this mean? People use these devices as the gateway to the Internet.

ROMANS: It's a reminder a lot of your information exists in a lot of places you might not think of or hackers or ineffective security of your own -- of software can really leave you exposed. We don't know if there are cases of identities who have been stolen or who the hacker could have been. All this will be unfolding.

Meanwhile Gabrielle Giffords getting ready for the shuttle liftoff Friday. We'll talk to Sanjay Gupta about what that might entail when you think about her medical history, and I'm curious why even undertake this big medical event to go there in the first place. We'll talk about that.

VELSHI: Sanjay will tell us.

A new report says house prices have dropped again. Mortgage rates still down. There's still a lot of foreclosures. Where can you get a deal on a house if you're looking to buy one? We'll tell you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Final preparations under way for the last launch ever of the space shuttle Endeavour.

VELSHI: On Friday.

ROMANS: Mission is extra special for commander Mark Kelly.

VELSHI: His wife Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will be there to see him off. She's been recuperating from a gunshot wound suffered in the Tucson massacre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's been working really hard to make sure her doctors would permit her to come and she's more than medically ready to be here and excited about making this trip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Let's bring in chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta to this discussion following this very, very closely, he's live in Atlanta with this morning's "House Call."

ROMANS: Sanjay, how is Congresswoman Giffords recovering since the shooting?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, sounds like she's doing remarkably well considering that overall, about, you know, five, 10 percent of people actually survive a gunshot wound to the head like this if you look across the board. And then if you look at people starting to make this kind of recovery this quickly, it puts her in a higher percentile. So she has done remarkably well.

What we know is the gunshot wound was on the left side of the brain, typically affects the right side of the body and also affects speech. We know she's, for example, being taught to right left-handed because the right side kind of weak. It's still difficult to walk around. She needs the assistance sometimes of physical therapists, uses things like a grocery cart to get some of the physical therapy in.

As far as speech goes, so far, it's there, but it comes more in the form of declarative one word sentences like "Love ya," "Awesome," or telling her doctors at the end of a particularly long day to get out of her room.

So we know that that's coming. She's been improving. The real question, still how long can she continue to improve, how far will she go and that's an unknown. I mean, every patient is going to be a little different because every injury is different. But several months from now she will continue to make gains.

VELSHI: Let's talk about this. I mean this is your area of expertise. She's traveling. A piece of her skull is missing. This was -- I don't know how much of that was taken out for the expansion of her brain, the swelling and how much she lost in the shooting. What would she look like with that section of her skull missing? And what are some of the risks involved?

GUPTA: Yes. That operation is called a craniectomy basically is as you say, to try to control swelling at the time of the injury. Let me show you quickly if I can, I don't know how well you can see this, this is a skull and this is sort of what a craniectomy would look like. I did this on a model yesterday to show you guys, about the size of my palm roughly.

That's, again, so that brain -- when the brain swells, it has no place to swell because of the rigid casing. You give it some room here. As a result to your question, you get some concavity on that side of the head, left side of the head, for example. That would be noticeable because you just don't have that normal contour here of the head.

As you know, that's going to be put back at some point, but for the time being, a person may wear a helmet or something just to protect that part of the head and, you know, the skin is covering it, so there's no real risk of infection. But that's the appearance, really the appearance since the operation until they reestablish that normal contour.

ROMANS: I'm told she didn't find out that people had died in this attack until earlier this week. She's speaking in a few word sentences. She's got, you know, you just pointed out with the physical limitations are.

I'm wondering what exactly is the point of going other than just saying you could do it? I mean she still has a lot of work to do, and, you know, I'm -- I just wonder about that, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes. You know, I'm sure it was a tough, yet collective decision by everybody. I mean, you know, they've been talking about it for some time. I think she really wanted to go, given the significance of this mission not only for her husband, but for all of NASA.

I think she really wanted to go. She said awesome fist pump apparently when she was told she could finally do it. But it was as, you know, late as this week when the doctors finally gave the clearance to do this.

Look, Christine, you know, I see a lot of patients who have this sort of operation, and, you know, when they have the helmet on they can travel really without much in the way of risk. No specialized plane. She may have a nurse with her.

So as dramatic as it may seem from a medical standpoint, you know, it's very, very doable. I think that's what the doctors have decided.

VELSHI: All right, Sanjay, good to see you. Thank you for that. Be sure to watch, this is a very interesting special, Sanjay, "Saving Gabby" detailing the extraordinary efforts to save Congresswoman Giffords' life. That is Sunday, May 8th, 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Kiran --

CHETRY: All right, guys. Well, we just want to let you know a little more about the preparations that are taking place. We're two days out from the wedding here in London. Beautiful shot behind us of all of the people there outside of Buckingham Palace.

And we just want to show you some of this. This is a very unique thing that we had a chance to take video of. It was a full dress rehearsal, the full dress rehearsal where members of the military were literally out in force this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY (voice-over): This was a predawn walk-through of the entire route. There you see the horse drawn carriage. Here you see all of the members of the armed forces including the Army, the Navy, the Royal Air Force, all of them taking part outside the entrance to Downing Street and making their way down to Westminster Abbey.

But very, very unusual to get this type of sight, a real treat if you were out this morning. And again, this is all ahead of the huge day. They want to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. They say that they actually wish there were more bumps along the way because you're supposed to iron out the kinks in the rehearsal. It went really well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back we're going to show you the invite. We got our hands on the royal invitation, of course, not ours.

But the ambassador of the United States to the U.K. was kind enough to let us get a look. He has one of the hottest tickets in town, of course. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: It is time for our sponsored watch Ali and Christine fight segment. If you're looking to buy a house right now, is it the right time to buy or are housing prices likely to go lower?

ROMANS: Yes, and yes.

VELSHI: Let's look at the latest S&P Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 cities. Prices as you can see, they're peak in April of 2006. They bottomed in April of 2009. Difference was in April of 2006, anybody could get a loan just for asking one. In April of 2009, nobody could get a loan at all.

ROMANS: In 2006, you could get a loan, a ninja loan, no income, no job, no assets.

VELSHI: That's right. ROMANS: And a bank would give you money to buy a loan.

VELSHI: So this S&P new report shows that prices in February of this year reached the same lows that they were at in '09.

ROMANS: One reason for the drop, 10 major markets. You can see the 10 major markets right here are now at their lowest point since the housing bubble burst. Detroit was the only market to show a gain in February though prices there are still well below their 2000 level.

VELSHI: Now, you can either say that because housing prices have declined, they are going to keep on declining or you can look at this.

If you're looking to buy a house and you have the money and you have the down payment and you have good credit, it's mortgage rates not prices that really matter.

Take a look at this. Americans take out such long mortgages, 30 year rates are 4.8 percent, and the median price for an existing home right now, single-family home is about $160,000.

So let's say that drops, let's say you listen to all the doom sayers and it goes down another 10 percent, your mortgage rate is not going to be 4.8 percent in a year. It's going to be a lot more. I say if you're looking to buy, buy now.

ROMANS: But I'll tell you -- a third of the market, almost a third of the market, 32 percent of the market, that mortgage rate doesn't matter anyway because they're paying cash.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: And they have the money saved and paying cash. They're buying a house today for $150,000 that would have been $190,000 a few years ago. They are locking in.

I'm telling you investors, they are retired couples who are putting money away, buying places in Phoenix and in Florida. They are renting them out. There are people who are making money in real estate.

But the whole buy and hold, you know, those people trying to move into the single-family home for the first time, they are having a harder time.

VELSHI: All right, top stories after a quick break. AMERICAN MORNING coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Conspiracy theories, widespread speculation, all of it surrounding President Obama's birth place. He was born in the United States. CNN sent its own investigators to put an end to this controversy once and for all.

We showed you the first part of our findings yesterday. It leaves no doubt, all evidence indicates the fact that the president was born in Hawaii. Today, the conclusion of our special investigation for those of you who have any doubts left. Gary Tuchman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): "The Honolulu Star Bulletin" newspaper in August 1961 announces not only the birth of Barack Obama, but also where the family lived.

(on camera): The address on the birth announcement is in the eastern part of Honolulu. A half century later, the property is in great shape. There's a yellow house and a bungalow behind it. And they're owned by registered Republicans.

(voice-over): Rick and Nani Smethurst (ph) say they voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008, but were pleased when they found out the history of their home.

RICK SMETHURST, HAWAII: It gives me a little bit of pride. And as you came in, you can see we were obviously painting and taking care of it and sprucing it up a little bit.

TUCHMAN: Interestingly, though, Rick Smethurst is not ready to say Barack Obama was definitely born in Hawaii. Like many Americans, he's unsure.

The only way to be sure he and others say would be to find someone who saw Barack Obama immediately after he was born.

So, you saw him when he was an infant?

REP. NEIL ABERCROMBIE (D), HAWAII: Oh, sure, of course.

TUCHMAN: Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie says he met the future president soon after he was born, because he was close to both of Barack Obama's parents. He remembers his mother, Ann Dunham, living in Hawaii and pregnant and remembers celebrating the birth with his friends, the Obamas.

ABERCROMBIE: His mom and dad went to school with me here, and with other folks here in Hawaii. And of course, we had no idea at the time that the future president of the United States was that little boy, that little baby, and we were very, very happy, of course, that that took place.

TUCHMAN: At the University of Hawaii, where the Democratic governor and the President's parents went to school, Professor Alice Dewey has taught for almost a half century. She was a faculty adviser to President Obama's mother and met her son as a child, whom she knows as Barry.

She remembers Ann Dunham talking about giving birth to her daughter, Maya, Barack's sister, who was indeed born outside the United States.

ALICE DEWEY, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII: She said, you know, when I had Maya, it was -- we were -- a lot more difficult, because Indonesia doesn't believe in painkillers while you're giving birth. And of course, in the United States, giving birth to Barry was quite -- quite different and much more comfortable.

TUCHMAN: Then there is this woman.

(on camera): What's your son's name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stig John Vitalic (ph).

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Stig was one of the babies listed in the newspaper the same day as Barack Obama. And his mother has a unique memory from 1961, from looking at all the newborns in Honolulu's Kapi'olani Medical Center.

(on camera): Do you think you have seen Barack Obama before in person?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a baby, yes.

TUCHMAN: Next to your son in the nursery?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: You're pretty sure about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

In Hawaii in those days, there were hardly ever any black people.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): We asked hospital officials about that, but they would not give out any patient records. But back in 1961, Hawaii's African-American population was less than one percent.

(on camera): When was your son born?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was born August 5th, 1961.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): This is the birth certificate of Monica's son. It's the exact same type of document that Barack Obama has made public. It's the same computer-generated version that every Hawaiian now gets when they need a birth certificate.

The original long-form documents are kept in a vault in this building and are no longer certified for official usage according to the state Health Department. But the former director of that Health Department felt it was her duty to see Barack Obama's original birth certificate.

(on camera): Do you know, has anyone else looked at the certificate?

(CROSSTALK)

FUKINO: The registrar has actually seen it as well.

TUCHMAN: The registrar is someone in your --

(CROSSTALK)

FUKINO: Alvin Onaka, he is the chief registrar for the state, and he has -- he is the one that took me to see the documents.

TUCHMAN: And you are a registered Republican?

FUKINO: At the present time, yes, I am.

TUCHMAN: And worked for a Republican governor?

FUKINO: Yes, I did.

TUCHMAN: And you still say that the birth certificate of this Democratic president is authentic?

FUKINO: Absolutely.

TUCHMAN: Does it anger you that this has become such a controversy and has taken attention away from issues that are important to you?

FUKINO: No. I find it a bit amusing, in the sense that it keeps resurfacing and over and over again, despite whatever I say. And it really tells us that the whole conspiracy notion out there that if there's an issue that needs to have a following, it will find one.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The current governor agrees.

ABERCROMBIE: Obviously, I'm going to do what is legally possible.

TUCHMAN: So much so that when he came into office, the Democrat announced he would release the birth certificate and put the controversy to rest. But he didn't. And that's fueled another part of the conspiracy, that he learned something that would hurt the President and his family, so he kept the original document locked away.

But that part of the conspiracy theory is not true either. He didn't release it because he couldn't. Hawaii state law only allows non- family members with a direct and tangible interest to look at birth certificates, which the Health Department director had because she was in charge of the certificates.

But the law does not allow any non-family member, not even the governor, to release someone else's birth certificate.

ABERCROMBIE: And I would just like to ask people who -- who have this political orientation towards the President, respect us here in Hawaii. Respect his mother and father. Respect the people that I loved and the people that I knew and the little boy who grew up here in paradise and became president.

TUCHMAN (on camera): This is very emotional for you.

ABERCROMBIE: Thank you. Yes, it's certainly; sure, it is.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): It is emotional for many people. But emotions and conspiracy theories aside, facts are facts. And the fact is, according to all the evidence, Barack Obama was born just as the Honolulu newspaper announced it in August 1961. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Honolulu.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: It's interesting the passion starting to come out from people saying, "All right. This is just getting ridiculous. And stop."

ROMANS: Recently Kiran and I asked his sister about this controversy, if it was hurtful to her family that this controversy was going on and she said "Look, my brother was born in Hawaii. My brother was born in Hawaii." And I asked her if it's like when someone is attacking your own brother, do you feel - as a sister, do you feel sort of passionate about that and she kind of just smiled and said, "Christine, my brother was born in Hawaii."

VELSHI: Right. That seems - I can't understand if anybody doesn't think this matter is settled yet, but who knows how many people believe is Sasquatch and -

ROMANS: I know. If you looked and saw how many people, UFOs and Sasquatch, and a number of other conspiracy theories, you will see some high numbers too.

All right. Here are your top stories.

At least six American troops have been killed in Kabul, Afghanistan. They were shot this morning during an argument with an Afghan pilot. It happened in an Afghan military base. The Taliban is claiming responsibility saying the pilot was one of their suicide attackers.

In Libya, NATO air strikes may be forcing Moammar Gadhafi's troops to pull back from positions near the port of Misrata. The rebel held city has been the scene of relentless shelling from Gadhafi forces.

CNN's Reza Sayah said that "fighting has laid waste to almost everything in Misrata."

And millions of Americans are facing the threat of tornadoes or severe weather today. Nine states stretching from Kentucky to Texas could see twisters, baseball-size hail and 70 mile an hour winds. Overnight in Arkansas, another fatality, 11 people in that state have now been killed by powerful storms in the past two days.

VELSHI: Let's get an update on what's going on right now from our extreme weather center. Jacqui, still storms moving across the southeast.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We got this huge line that we're watching right now at this hour, guys. It's a line of broken thunderstorms, so it's not a consistent line and embedded within this line, we could see tornadoes. And this stretches from Kentucky all the way down into Alabama at this hour. And what concerns me the most right now is what's happening across parts of Alabama is that we have this squall line and see how this thing kind of bows out. That's what we call a bow echo. We see that type of a signature, that's indicative of some really strong damaging winds. We could see 70 plus-mile-per-hour winds within this bow line and then just to the north of there, that's where we're seeing some of these isolated tornadoes and they're likely going to be wrapped in rain. Meaning, you're not going to see them. So when those warnings go off, you really need to take cover and take them seriously.

This is another high risk day, just like yesterday, guys. We had about 45 reports of tornadoes yesterday. When we talk about an outbreak, we're talking 20 or more and that's what we're expecting in this purple area. So northern parts of Mississippi, northern Alabama into southern parts of Tennessee, even moving into northwestern Georgia later on today, the dark red area, that's what we call a moderate risk. So they're possible here. But the slight risk stretches all the way up into the northeast. So damaging winds here and hail is going to be impacting much of the East Coast and the deep south throughout the day for today.

In addition to that, you know, we've been talking about flooding for weeks now. Extremely widespread from the Great Lakes almost all the way down towards the Gulf Coast. All these red boxes is where we have flooding that is already occurring and many in rivers and streams are going to stay in flood. We're going to have to watch this probably at least another week. So the severe weather continues. A high risk day today. Tomorrow slight risk on the East Coast. And looking a lot better guys, finally, by the weekend.

ROMANS: Jacqui Jeras.

VELSHI: It's a long time between now and the weekend though.

ROMANS: I'll say.

VELSHI: All right. Jacqui, thanks.

A plane trying to land at Chicago's Midway Airport during a downpour skidded off a runway. Passengers say the Southwest jet, you can see it there, was all over the place with turbulence and then it hit the ground hard, stopping only after its wheels got stuck in the mud. None of the 139 passengers on board were hurt. But as you know, Christine, Midway is on the south side of Chicago in a residential area.

ROMANS: In a terrifying situation if you're trying to land there. Kiran Chetry is over in London where she is waiting for the big event in two days. Hi there, Kiran.

CHETRY: I know. We're dealing with a couple of hard turns this morning. Guys, a lot of big breaking news. I totally get it. And here we are talking about the royal wedding. But you know, this is really a city and a world in celebration for this big day, the royal wedding.

Prince William going to be marrying his long-time love, Catherine Middleton. There is a lot of excitement certainly. One of the things is that this is a very coveted invite. Only 2,000 people were invited to the wedding. There are no plus ones here. You get an invitation and it is for you and for you alone.

President Barack Obama didn't even get one. But, we got our hands on one thanks to the U.S. ambassador to the U.K., Louis Susman, who is going to the big day. So we'll show you what that invite looks like, coming up. Ali, Christine, back to you.

ROMANS: Kiran, also watching here, Syria in chaos. What's at stake for the Middle East and for the United States and its policy ambitions in the region. A former assistant U.S. secretary of State Jamie Ruben is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Some news in. CNN has confirmed that Leon Panetta will be named as secretary of Defense of the United States replacing Robert Gates who we have known is going to leave. We are expecting his departure to be within the next few months. We are getting more details on this but Leon Panetta will be named as secretary of Defense.

ROMANS: And the big expectation the president was going to tweak his national security team, tweak - and naturally so, because you are looking into an election season and that's typically what happens. Leon Panetta as secretary of Defense. We'll give you more details as we find them.

But in just a few hours the U.N. Security Council will meet to discuss the chaos in Syria. The government's brutal crackdown on protesters shows no signs of letting up. Syrian army tanks and snipers taking aim at civilians in the streets of Daraa. What's at stake here for the U.S. and for the other players in the Middle East?

Jamie Rubin is the former assistant secretary of State joins us now. We heard ambassador Rice, Susan Rice, our ambassador to the U.N., say that we know, she knows that, in fact, Iran is lending support to the Syrian regime in its endeavor to kill its own people. What does that mean support? What do you think is happening here between Iran and the Syrian regime?

JAMES RUBIN, FMR. ASST. SEC. OF STATE: Yes, Syria and Iran have an alliance of sorts involving the transshipment of weaponry from Iran through Syria to their allies in Lebanon, Hezbollah, potentially and Hamas as well. Syria and Iran for decades now have had a working relationship, which is unusual for an Arab country to be working so closely with Iran, Persian nation, and in this case, the Iranians see Syria as a crucial way for them to have an influence, not only in Syria itself, but in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East and have access to border country with Israel where they want to cause problems.

VELSHI: How do we explain that we readily went into Libya, where the atrocities against civilian Libyans were nowhere near what's going on in Syria now, and what's historically happened in Syria. The Syrian Bashar al Assad is the son of a man who was in power for a long time and oversaw a great deal of cruelty against Syrian civilians. So how do we justify this difference in the way we act?

RUBIN: Well, I think the administration has had a rough time explaining precisely what they're doing in each different country. But I think it is important in foreign affairs, especially when it comes to the use of force, to not get into a situation of a cookie cutter you do this if this happens. Libya had some specific circumstances.

Number one, Gadhafi was essentially an international outlaw before this. We were trying to make nice with him, but he had been responsible for great evil in this world. He also spoke very clearly about his intention to kill individual -

ROMANS: He promised to go into Benghazi and let the blood flow.

RUBIN: We had a really bad leader who had an international reputation like that and an argument that he was going to sit - go house to house and start killing his own people. Syria, the difference, one difference is they are claiming that they are cracking down only because of the protesters, they're trying to reform their country. They're outsiders are playing a role, but I think you're right. The Assad family has a lot of blood on its hands, 20,000 in the city of Hama back in the early '80s for people rising up against the regime.

ROMANS: Some western leaders who seem to think or have said that he is a reformer, I mean reformer, I guess with quotation marks, and, in fact, later in the month of May, this country, Syria, is actually up for a vote whether it should be on the human rights council at the U.N., which seems less and less likely by the day.

RUBIN: Oh, yes. Look, the reason why people think Bashar al Assad might be a reformer is because of his manner, his style where he comes. I interviewed him for Sky News when I was an anchor there. I spent the day with him. He comes across, let's be frank, as a very appealing relatively normal guy. The problem is, the things he says, have nothing in common with the things he does.

ROMANS: Right.

RUBIN: And when it comes to the doing, it's pretty horrific show.

ROMANS: Let's talk about the doing because there's been criticism this week because of a "New Yorker" article about the president's strategy in the region saying, "That he's leading from behind in the region." You're kind of critical of leading from behind. How do you do that as the United States?

RUBIN: I got to tell you, that is one of the single dumbest quotes I've seen in administration official make in a long, long time.

I think what they were trying to say, however poorly, is that the president believes that the United States can't be responsible for all the military actions in the world, that we have to use our alliances, that when it's in Europe or near Europe, we should be helping Europeans do the -- doing themselves so that we're not expending all of our burden the way we are Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya. So the idea of burden sharing and having regional power centers and rather than the world policeman, the United States, is a correct idea. But you're not going to do it by leading from behind. You've got to do it with consistent involvement in these issues. You've got to convince your allies of your seriousness.

One of the problems is in Libya, it's been going on for weeks and weeks and weeks, is because we're sort of are half in and half out. But for a few airplanes, AC-130 aircraft and particular fighter A-10 aircraft, Gadhafi would be in a much worse position. But we've pulled those aircraft out of the fight. That's kind of hard to understand, lending them to the fight the unique equipment and then pulling it out.

VELSHI: Right. Jamie, good to see you. Thanks very much.

RUBIN: Thank you.

VELSHI: This is going to continue to be a very complicated situation. Jamie Rubin is a former assistant secretary of state and executive editor with the "Bloomberg View."

ROMANS: All right. Do you have a Sony PlayStation?

VELSHI: I do.

ROMANS: You do have Sony PlayStation. You don't use it to play games.

VELSHI: I use it to watch Netflix.

ROMANS: There you go. Well, hackers have stolen names, addresses and passwords of users like you Mr. Velshi.

VELSHI: Yes. More than you would think. More than 70 million people's information may be at risk.

Plus, developing right now, CIA director Leon Panetta is going to be taking over at the Pentagon. We'll bring you details of that breaking news right after this.

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ROMANS: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day. Breaking news of a national security shakeup. CNN now confirms that CIA director Leon Panetta will be moving over to the Pentagon and replacing Robert Gates, whose retirement was expected. Severe weather and the threat of tornadoes facing millions of Americans today. Nine states stretching from Kentucky to Texas could see twisters, baseball-sized hail and 70-mile-an-hour winds.

If you game on PlayStation, you could be the victim of identity theft. Sony says a hacker took down the PlayStation network last week, stealing names, possibly credit card numbers, purchase records and a whole lot more. Earl albert Moore, suspecting of planting a pipe bomb inside a Colorado shopping mall, he will appear in federal court this morning. Although the bomb was found 12 years to the day of the Columbine massacre, authorities have ruled out any connection.

You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. We're covering the royal wedding from London. I'm Kiran Chetry here outside of Buckingham Palace. Beautiful day, yet again. Brilliant sunshine, very rare weather this time for London. A lot of people keeping their fingers crossed it holds for the big day, Friday. Unfortunately, rain is in the forecast. But, boy, if they could only have it be the type of weather it's been over the past couple of days, I'm sure they would be very pleased.

Well, it the hottest ticket in town, probably the hottest ticket in the world, a seat to the royal wedding. Inside Westminster Abbey on Friday, there will only be under 2,000 people that got that coveted, coveted invitation. And one of them was America's top diplomat over here, Ambassador Louis Susman. He has one.

We talked to him about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: What is it like to be one of the few people from the states getting a chance to go?

AMB. LOUIS SUSMAN, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.K.: Well, it's obviously exciting. They've invited the diplomatic corps. I will be the only representative of the United States government at the wedding so that adds a little special touch to it. And I'm very proud to represent my government there.

CHETRY: Is it strange that President Barack Obama wasn't invited?

SUSMAN: No, I don't think so. This isn't a state function. William is second in line to become the king and concept was a family and friends' wedding. And to the best of my knowledge other than the commonwealth, no heads of states were invited. So the president of France, the president of Italy, et cetera. So, no, I don't think it's that unusual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: It also took a bit of CNN diplomacy, I guess you could say. I had a chance to actually hold that invitation. I mean, that's not one you want to lose.

Here's the ambassador's royal invite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: We just had a chance to wrap up our interview with Ambassador Louis Susman. He is the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom and he is the only U.S. ambassador invited to the royal wedding. So, guess what he has? This is literally the golden ticket. An actual invitation.

You see here it says the Lord Chamberlin is commanded by the Queen to invite his excellency, the Ambassador of the United States of America, to the marriage of his Royal Highness Prince William of Wales with Miss Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey.

And this is interesting. It says under dress, uniform morning coat or lounge suit. Amazing that we actually got our hands on this invite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: I was joking about the lounge suit. It clearly means something different in the U.S. I don't think you want to go there in your lounge suit if you're coming from America.

We want you to be part of our global viewing party, CNN's special royal wedding coverage starts at 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time Friday. And, of course, you can get all of your royal wedding information any time at CNN.com/royal wedding.

You can also check out the new CNN blog, unveiled. Everything you want to know about the nuptials, the ceremony, the dress, when they finally give us some detail about the dress. It's all at CNN.com/unveiled.

We also want to know where you are going to be watching the royal wedding. Are you going to have a party? Some are. And we want to see it. Send us your wedding iReports at ireport.com.

Top stories coming up right after the break.

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