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American Morning
SEAL Team Back in U.S.; Pres. Obama Goes to Ground Zero Today; Bin Laden Photos Won't be Released Publicly; Inside the Taliban Jailbreak; Engineers to Breach Levee Today; D.C. Test Tampering?; Crisis in the Classroom
Aired May 05, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. A lot going on. Let's get you caught up this morning.
President Obama heading to Ground Zero today to help with the healing after the death of Osama bin Laden. We're live outside of a firehouse he'll also visit. A firehouse that lost 15 men on 9/11.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. He was going for a gun, not quick enough. New details from people who have seen the intel on bin Laden's last moments.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. It took them five months to dig. A CNN exclusive inside of that tunnel that Taliban militants used to escape from an Afghan jail on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning.
VELSHI: Good Thursday morning.
ROMANS: I know, it's Thursday, May 5th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING this morning.
VELSHI: We've got a lot of news to cover on bin Laden, but we begin with breaking news out of Paris this morning.
French police have reportedly retrieved the first body from the wreckage of the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic nearly two years ago. You recall that Airbus A330 was traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board when it went down. Now the wreckage was found last month, 13,000 feet down.
CHETRY: And earlier this week, French investigators announced that a robot submarine had retrieved the second of two cockpit voice and data recorders from that airliner. The official cause of the disaster though is still unclear. Investigators though believe that it may have been caused by malfunctioning speed sensors.
VELSHI: Our other top story this morning. There will be no hero's welcome, but U.S. officials say the elite Navy SEAL team that took Osama bin Laden out is back on U.S. soil this morning. They will not be talking. There are lots of new details coming out though about the night that they killed the most wanted man in the world. CHETRY: We now know that the so-called mother lode of intel they recovered is now being analyzed at FBI labs in Quantico. U.S. officials tell us that the haul includes 10 hard drives as well as five computers and more than 100 storage disks, DVDs and thumb drives. We've also been told that the commandos also came back with five cell phones as well as audio and visual equipment, five guns including AK- 47s as well as pistols and documents.
ROMANS: And there are also these new pictures from inside bin Laden's compound. Reuters says a Pakistani security official took these pictures only about one hour after the SEALs got out of there. It shows the wreckage of a U.S. chopper that was abandoned during the assault and later blown up by U.S. forces. We're also getting new details from officials who were briefed on bin Laden's last moments. Even though he was unarmed, Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she told CNN he was moving and he may have been going for a weapon. That's when the SEALs went for the kill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CHAIRWOMAN, SENATE INTELLIGENCE CMTE.: Well, there were arms directly near the door. And my understanding is he was right there and going to get those arms. So, you know, you really can't take a chance. This is the number one target. This is the mastermind that killed 3,000 of our citizens. And there had to be justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And President Obama will be visiting Ground Zero this morning. He's laying a wreath and meeting with 9/11 families. The NYPD says he'll also visit a New York City firehouse that lost 15 firefighters on September 11th, 2001.
There will be no mega phone moment like we saw from President Bush just days after the attack. President Obama is not expected to make any public remarks. The White House also calling this a bittersweet occasion. Jason Carroll is live at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan this morning, and they are preparing, of course, for the president's visit later today.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And, you know, Kiran, this will be a moment not only for the city but also for the nation to reflect on what happened.
Let me just give you a quick rundown of how things are going to happen out here today. The president is expected to arrive in New York City at around 10:40, and then as you say he'll be heading up to that firehouse in the Times Square area, Firehouse 54, where they lost 15 firefighters on 9/11.
At about 1:20, he'll be down here at the memorial. There'll be a brief wreath laying ceremony at the Surviving Tree. That's a pear tree that was recovered here at the site after the towers fell. At around 1:50, he'll be meeting with first responders and 9/11 family members. That will be a private meeting. And as you know, not all of the 9/11 family members were invited. We want to give you the perspective from those who were invited, those who were not. So you're going to be hearing from two people.
First is Jim Riches. His son, Jimmy, was a firefighter. He will be invited to this event with the president, this private event. Also you'll be hearing from Bob Hughes. His son, Chris, was a trader at the World Trade Center. He will not be attending. Was not invited. I want you to listen to both of their perspectives about what's going to be happening today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM RICHES, SON DIED ON 9/11: I feel sorry for them. I wish everyone could have been there. I mean, I guess logistically, it just doesn't work out. I was one of the lucky ones that's selected and I hope to represent my group, the family of parents and families of firefighters and get back to them and tell them all, you know, what happened.
BOB HUGHES, SON DIED On 9/11: Really the fact that you weren't invited. So the word "left out" wouldn't we the right word, but it would have been nice to be invited and to be able to go down there and, you know, thank the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: And just to follow up here a little bit more about what Bob Hughes and his wife Elaine wanted to say. If they had the opportunity to meet with the president, they said they would have said, you had the guts to do it and you did it well. But unfortunately, they will not be able to meet with the president. But obviously those 9/11 family members who will be meeting with the president later today extremely grateful -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Jason Carroll for us down at Ground Zero today. Thanks so much.
VELSHI: Of course, that conversation about the photographs continues.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
VELSHI: Even though President Obama says the evidence is clear bin Laden is dead. And he tells CBS "60 minutes" there is no need to, quote, "spike the football by making the gruesome death photos public."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've done DNA sampling and testing, and so there is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden. It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It's interesting it's been 10 years we've been seeing first the Twin Towers.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And then photo after photo after gruesome photo. The president putting an end to it now, saying this is not -- this is not a trophy that we're showing --
CHETRY: But will it end the debate and the conversation?
ROMANS: True, true.
VELSHI: And even he acknowledged not necessarily.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: When people who don't believe that Osama bin Laden is really dead, may not believe it one way or the other.
CNN's Brianna Keilar live at the White House with more on this, with more on the decision and the reaction. How is it looking so far, Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, as you know, the argument for releasing the photo all along -- and you guys just touched on it -- was visual proof to prove that Osama bin Laden was killed. But you're hearing the White House make the point that there are some people who are never going to be convinced. The White House points to DNA evidence. They say that should suffice. It proves that bin Laden is dead. And they don't want to make a spectacle of this. Here's what Jay Carney said at yesterday's briefing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who is shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now while we heard the other day White House Press Secretary Jay Carney say that this wasn't a roiling debate over deciding whether to put out the photo or not, obviously, there were differing opinions among top members of the president's administration. We heard from CIA Director Leon Panetta that he felt the photo should be released, that he ultimately thought that it was going to be released. And guys, we're also hearing reaction coming from Capitol Hill. Some people who agree with the president's decision, some who don't. And it's not all falling along party lines either.
CHETRY: The interesting thing, Leon Panetta came out yesterday and said he felt that these pictures were going to come out.
ROMANS: Yes. CHETRY: And yesterday, at least some sources were telling us that they thought the White House was leaning toward releasing them. What changed?
KEILAR: Yes, that's right. I think even on Tuesday, we were reporting and we understood from multiple sources that consensus was building to release these photos. And then, yes, the indication yesterday from Leon Panetta was that perhaps it was going to happen. I think what changed is over time you had a lot of people who were saying at this point to put it out would be a spectacle. And I think just over a couple of days, kind of weighing the pros and the cons. And you heard much more strongly coming from the administration this argument that there are some people who are not going to believe that Osama bin Laden is dead and we're not going to be able to convince them. We've heard that a lot more over the last day.
ROMANS: Was there tension between the White House and the CIA director over there? Because he was pretty forceful and opinionated about what he thought was going to happen and it didn't.
KEILAR: You know, it's hard to tell. Some sources have indicated behind the scenes perhaps, but on the record, we're hearing no. That's what's coming from the White House. But yes, certainly there were some differing opinions. But again back to what Jay Carney said, he said this wasn't a roiling debate, that this was a discussion. And certainly it took the White House some time to decide exactly how they were going to proceed.
ROMANS: Brianna Keilar.
CHETRY: Well, a CNN exclusive now. You're about to see firsthand how hundreds of Taliban inmates tunneled their way out of a prison in Afghanistan last month. The jailbreak took place in Kandahar in the political bloc wing of the city's largest prison. That's where Taliban prisoners are kept.
CNN correspondent Nick Payton Walsh got exclusive access to the facility. And that includes the incredible tunnel that took the Taliban five months to dig over a thousand feet long and more than six feet underground, connecting a Taliban jail cell to a small house of a sympathizer just outside of the prison walls.
VELSHI: Wow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PAYTON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the floor of the cell is two or three inches thick. And it would have been literally impossible for somebody digging upwards to have broken through it. So investigators believe the people inside the cell must have finished off the tunnel.
(voice-over): The narrow tunnel doesn't travel straight but has support beams, a tube to feed in oxygen, the light fittings and the dirt was wheeled out on trolleys. It must have been a mammoth operation. (on camera): Inside this tunnel, you get an idea how cramped and difficult it must have been to move through and how really long it would have taken the hundreds of people to crawl hundreds of feet out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's just amazing.
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: Well, according to several published reports, about two dozen police officers and the head of Kandahar's main prison have been arrested now. It is suspected that they were actually involved in that prison break.
ROMANS: To Japan now, and the latest on the nuclear crisis there. For the first time since the earthquake and tsunami hit back in March, workers have gone back inside the reactor building of unit one at the Daiichi nuclear power station. These pictures were taken by those workers. Monitoring devices show radiation levels in the building now are off the charts.
Workers will spend the next four or five days installing six ventilation machines. They're designed to absorb radiation from the air. Radiation levels in the reactor, they simply must be dramatically reduced before any new cooling systems can be installed. Tokyo Power officials are hoping to get that done by the end of the year.
VELSHI: All right. When we come back, we're going to see some amazing video of a train that burst into flames.
ROMANS: Whoa.
VELSHI: You can see it there. And that's a very, very serious fire. We'll tell you where it was and what happened.
CHETRY: Also, we're following the latest on the flooding. Mississippi River about two feet now above flood stage as millions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs are at risk. Neighborhoods, communities wiped away. We're going to get the latest.
ROMANS: And, you know, they have those dashboard cams on the cruisers. We've got amazing video of a shootout with the police all caught on tape.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: That video --
VELSHI: Oh. Let me back in. Let me back in.
ROMANS: I think he didn't put it in park.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: Anyway, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Massive explosion. I want to show this to you.
A fireball that burned for three hours after a train on train collision with extra fuel inside in Portland, Oregon. Check this out. Fire officials say a train jumped the rails, smashed into another train parked that had --
ROMANS: Oh, wow.
VELSHI: -- four cars full of ethanol. The flame was so intense firefighters had to attack it from across a highway. Everyone living within a half a mile radius was forced out, but no injuries reported.
ROMANS: OK. Here's that police shootout we've been telling you about. Incredible dash cam video of a police shootout. This is in Wisconsin. This happened during a traffic stop last month.
The video shows this guy pulling his pickup truck over the side of the road. And as soon as he gets out, he just starts shooting at officers. He was killed in the crossfire eventually. Police say (INAUDIBLE) was connected to more shootings in other states.
This is what every police officer's worst nightmare, as you pull somebody over -
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: -- and they get out of the car and boom. You know, I mean, you never know. You'll never know who's going out of the car (ph).
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE). Sad.
Well, Alabama native and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has toured the damage caused by tornadoes in and around her hometown of Birmingham. She still has family in the area. Rice met with volunteers and offered her support for the relief and recovery effort.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I used to drive through here all the time as a little girl. And parts of it are just flattened. And you realize that with every house that's flattened, there are dreams and families and memories that have gone with that house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Alabama alone suffered 250 deaths last week during the worst 24-hour tornado outbreak in U.S. history.
VELSHI: And as we've been reporting all week, massive stretches of the Midwest are under water this morning. Flood warnings issued for nearly 10 states now. That's an increase from yesterday. Meteorologists say relief is not expected to come until June, believe it or not. The Mississippi River is spilling across - out across farmland. The Army Corps of Engineers had intentionally blasted open a levee to ease flood pressure. They're expected to break open a third section of levee later today.
Some areas are dealing with feet of water stretching all the way from Minnesota down to Louisiana. And New Orleans is preparing for the worst. Crews are stacking sandbags under the threat of rising water, also threatened people's livelihoods. This is Tennessee you're looking at now. All those businesses surrounded by water forced to pack up and close their doors. The floods actually forced nine casinos to shut down indefinitely.
CHETRY: And just in, information, again, a consequence of the flooding. Twenty-three miles of interstate shut down due to the floods. This is in Eastern Arkansas. Police are saying that Interstate 40 is closed at the junction of White River. This is the westbound part of Interstate 40, major highway there.
Water's backed up and pooling over the top of the roadway and drivers, of course, are now being diverted through detours. More than 30,000 drivers pass through the area every day. According to one of the lieutenants there, they say that they expect the eastbound lanes will also have to be closed later in the day, because, I mean, the water just keeps rising. This isn't a day-long problem.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: This is something that, as you said, is going to continue through this month and perhaps into next month.
ROMANS: And the ground is saturated. So every new bit of rain just means it piles on to an already very soaked situation.
We've got a complete look at what's going on, including an update on the Mississippi River levee. Our Rob Marciano is standing by in Mississippi County, Missouri.
But first, let's check in with meteorologist Reynolds Wolf. He's in the Extreme Weather Center in Atlanta. And I'm no meteorologist, Reynolds, but I know that it's been such a wet screen that any bit of precipitation is a problem for all of these areas as they grapple with closed highways and flooded fields and the like.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unfortunately, you're right. You're absolutely right. And in this quick weather update, we're going to talk about that. But really going to try and accomplish three things.
First and foremost, we're going to tell you what's happening right now. Then, we're going to talk about what's going to happen today. And then the third thing is what we can expect in days to come.
But, first and foremost, here's the ground work for you. You see parts of the Mississippi River, mid-Mississippi Valley including parts of Little Rock back into Memphis, even small communities like Paducah, you've got the heavy flooding. I-40, as you mentioned, is closed westbound for about - again, well over 20 miles, which is just insane at this point. But that's going to be typical for a day like today with all this flooding that we have on parts of the Mississippi River.
Now, the problem is, as you mentioned, we don't need any additional rainfall. But unfortunately, we've got our frontal boundary that stands for over a thousand miles from the Western Great Lakes clear down to the Plains of Texas and even into the Big Bend of Texas that is going to be pulling its way from West to East. That's where it will bring some scattered showers for many places including the Great Lakes and, unfortunately, including the flood zone. That's the bad news.
A bit of the good news is that it could be heavier. Thankfully, the latest forecast models that we have shown that for the next 24 to 48 hours, the precipitation that we do expect in places like Chicago, southward to Paducah, including St. Louis, even just the north of Memphis, is expected to be very light. That's good news.
Rain on the way, but it should not be very significant. Let's go back to you.
CHETRY: All right. Reynolds, thanks so much.
We're going to get a look at what it's like on the ground with Rob Marciano. He's in Mississippi County, Missouri, right now touring parts of the state. I understand you had a chance to go out there with a team of scientists, and they're trying to explain what exactly is going on with the levee.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, they're - oh, which is just extraordinary. We're at pretty much the Missouri-Illinois border where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers meet, and they're both swollen beyond compare. So we're seeing an extraordinary event, for sure.
The president has declared this area a major disaster to open up some funds for these folks. Yesterday, as you mentioned, I went out with the USGS team of scientists to measure the flow, get an up-close look at the levee that was - that was broken. We measured the flow - average flow of about three million gallons per second of this water pouring into this floodway. They - they told me that the peak intensity at one point, 14 million gallons of water per second, if you can imagine that.
They take these measurements so they give - they can give the Corps of Engineers - the Army Corps of Engineers an idea of what's going on so they can make a decision, do we blow or not blow. You've seen this extraordinary video this past couple of days. We have nighttime video of the Northern levee explosion. We had daytime video of the Southern explosion, releasing some of that water out of the floodway. And later today, they're going to do a third hole in that - in that levee and make a crevasse there that will free things up just a little bit.
But this has been designed for this. And as the USGS, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Nature Conservancy will tell you every river needs its flood plain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL REUTER, NATURE CONSERVANCY: The river system needs its flood plain. The flood plain is part of the river. It's the low lying areas adjacent to the river. And during high water flows, it naturally would spread out over those and take energy out of that system and help convey that water downstream.
Today, we expect a lot from these river systems. We're asking more and more of them than we ever have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: 1927, 1937. Those are the big floods of record, and then the Flood Control Act was put into effect and then they built this levee system. They designed this for exact- for exactly this purpose. Farmers aren't happy about that, but we are stressing these rivers, we're manipulating them. And when Mother Nature dumps all this rain and all the snow we had past winter, there's a huge amount of stress, not only here but down river.
As Reynolds was talking about, this is going to be weeks before we get rid of this river - this water down the river and into the Gulf of Mexico, guys.
VELSHI: Rob, thank you very much. We'll keep checking in with you. This is a very, very serious issue. Thanks for bringing it to light for us, Rob Marciano.
ROMANS: Meanwhile, we've been telling you for the past few days about all of these people, millions of them who were hacked. You, PlayStation users or uses PlayStation networks, Sony, have been breached -
VELSHI: Including this one.
ROMANS: -- including Ali. Guess what? Lawmakers are very upset with Sony. We'll tell you what's tipping off their complaint by Congress.
CHETRY: Also, we're going to check in with Barbara Starr. She has exclusive new details about Bin Laden's last moments in that compound in Abbottabad. We're going to checking with her in the Pentagon, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 26 minutes past the hour.
"Minding Your Business" this morning. Stocks sink ahead of two key reports. This morning, first time filings for unemployment claims will be released. And tomorrow, the big, important monthly jobs report.
Yesterday, the Dow dropped 84 points. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 also closed lower. GM recalling more than 150,000 Chevy Cruze models. The automakers say the steering wheel on some 2011 models could have been installed wrong.
Also, gas prices just a penny shy now of a dubious milestone. According to AAA, the national average is now $3.99. Something all of you know if you filled up this week. Right now, we're just 12 cents from the all-time high set back in July of 2008.
The largest social network in China going public for the first time in the U.S. Shares of Renren soared nearly 30 percent yesterday. China has about 475 million Internet users. That's the largest in the world.
A trip down the cereal aisle is going to cost you more money. Kellogg announces it plans to raise prices by four percent to offset higher costs for transportation and ingredients like wheat and sugar.
Lawmakers hammering Sony for declining to appear at a Congressional hearing on data theft. They're also upset over the fact that it took Sony days to notify customers about a very serious security breach.
And President Obama turning to Vice President Joe Biden in a high stakes budget battle. Later today, Biden will meet with a handful of Republicans and Democrats to discuss cutting federal spending and raising the debt ceiling.
We're back in a minute with the top stories.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Three minutes past the hour.
A beautiful shot of New York City on this Thursday, May 5th. Oh, that's Atlanta. Why does that always happen to me sometimes? All right. I should know that Atlanta has that cone-shaped --
VELSHI: Right. But up close it's hard to tell. Now that they're broadening it out you know it's Atlanta.
CHETRY: Clearly, it's Atlanta. Happy Cinco de Mayo, by the way. Yes, that's right Atlanta, CNN's world headquarters --
VELSHI: Happy Cinco de Mayo back.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: It's going to be a beautiful day in Atlanta if you're celebrating it, sunny and 71 for the high.
VELSHI: Cinco de Mayo parade, it's going to be a great weather in Atlanta.
All right. Checking the morning's top stories now: President Obama visiting Ground Zero in New York City today to mark the death of Osama bin Laden. There are no plans for him to speak publicly. The president will lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site and meet with families of the 9/11 victims and first responders.
A slow-motion disaster along the Mississippi River. The river continues to rise to historic levels, threatening communities from Illinois, all the way down to Louisiana. The river is so swollen that in parts its tributaries are starting to flow backward. In Memphis, Tennessee, it's more than two feet past flood stage and not expected to crest until next week.
And Japanese workers are going back inside the number one reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time since the earthquake and the tsunami hit. They're rushing to install ventilation equipment in an effort to lower radiation levels which have been off the charts.
ROMANS: OK. They lost 15 firefighters on 9/11. The pride of Midtown, Engine 54, Ladder 4, New York City. And the death of bin Laden has reminded many of them of the horrors he committed.
Today, President Obama will pay his respects there. He will stop by this firehouse.
Mary Snow is live outside the firehouse for us this morning.
And, Mary, you know, for all of us who lived through and reported on 9/11, you know, the pain and resilience of these firehouses, these bands of brothers and what they went through, I mean, it's fitting, I think that the president is going to be -- is going to be paying respects to them.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Christine.
This firehouse suffered huge losses as you just pointed out. Every firefighter on duty on the morning of 9/11, an entire shift, was all killed on that morning, 15 members of this firehouse. As you can imagine, this has been a very emotional few days.
And on Monday, we were here for quite a time. Firefighters were saying that they were on the phone with families of their lost colleagues checking in on them. And this is also a firehouse where tourists often come by to just pay their respects to the members of this firehouse.
But there are also some emotions that were very visible on Sunday night when members of this firehouse, they're so close to Times Square, went in to Times Square after the news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed. And for a few brief moments, they absorb the news. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPTAIN THOMAS VENDITTO, ENGINE 54: Last night, people came out of their hotel rooms. They came out of theaters, wherever they were, in restaurants. They showed up and they smiled and kissed us and they hugged us and took photos and they cheered us on.
And it's not just about us. It's about the United States. We're cheering the United States. We're cheering the firefighters. We're cheering our troops. It's all good things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: And, you know, Christine, these firefighters, though, say, that they don't find closure, but call this rather an end to a long chapter. And they said they were elated for a few moments, but really they've been on guard. And even the fire commissioner expressed that saying that he is very worried about retaliation and told members in the field to be on high alert.
But the plan for this morning, the president is expected to come and meet privately with members of this firehouse before he heads to Ground Zero -- Christine.
ROMANS: Thanks, Mary.
You know, a firefighter friend of mine in New York, he says every ride they go on, they think of the guys that aren't going down with them. No matter what it is, no matter what the call is.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: -- outside of the firehouse.
VELSHI: They stayed up. This firehouse just down the road here, they've never taken those --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: And also, you know, they go to the eighth grade graduations of the kids of the guys who didn't come back. And it's a very tight group of people who endure this. And they have grown and moved. It's just -- I think it's very moving today and the president is going there today.
The Navy SEALs got out of Pakistan with bin Laden's body and the so- called "treasure trove" of intel we're finding out.
CHETRY: Also, some new details about those final minutes of bin Laden's life.
Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon right now with that angle of the story. You have some exclusive information on bin Laden's last moments, because there had been a lot of conflicting accounts, was he armed, was he not armed, was the woman there a human shield, was she his wife -- what exactly are you learning?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.
We are getting more information, because as the field reports have finally come back to Washington, people are able to refine what they have been saying and what they know. We now know now that Osama bin Laden was moving around at the time he was initially shot. Sources are telling us, who have read the reports, that the first shot struck Osama bin Laden in the chest. And as he reacted to that, a second shot struck him in the forehead just above the left eye. Bin laden was dead within seconds of that Navy SEAL team entering the room.
And the photographs have not been released. Sources have seen them tell us that it does show this gunshot wound to the head just above the left eye with the skull partially blown away. So, all of that matches now, and it's well understood.
You know, Navy SEALs are really trained to, if at all possible, take that first hit to kill shot by aiming dead center between the eyes and then the chest shot, according to an official we talked to who is very familiar with their techniques. This is known as the double tap. And this is the shoot-to-kill technique that they use in the field.
CHETRY: All about the stuff that they talk about found in the compound -- new information about what they found and where exactly it is now being analyzed.
STARR: Well, what we know now is that the FBI has the originals of, if you will, of all of this material. That's for evidentiary purposes. You know, something goes to trial, they want to show chain of custody.
So, at Quantico, they now have 10 hard drives, five computers, more than 100 storage devices, you know, the disks, the DVDs, the thumb drives. And there are other items that were found in the compound, cell phone, audio and video equipment, AK-47s, pistols, documents -- all of this being analyzed by parts of the intelligence community, looking for tips about future plots, looking for tips about where other al Qaeda operatives may be hiding.
VELSHI: Barbara, we saw the compound in flames. And part of that is this helicopter that went down that they weren't able to retrieve. We saw new pictures of the chopper in the yard of the compound. It's first time we're getting a close are look at it. It looks like it might have started off as some kind of a Black Hawk but that it's been adapted.
STARR: You know, this is the -- maybe the fascinating mystery of this whole event. This is a helicopter that probably was never meant to be seen by anyone other than Special Operations forces. No one can tell us what this helicopter is.
We've talked to a number of analysts. It is now believed to be some sort of stealth helicopter, if you will, designed perhaps to avoid those Pakistani radars as the assault team was coming in.
Clearly, this is a helicopter that has been modified in some fashion to avoid radars. The tail assembly is different, the blades are different. The whole profile of this helicopter is really different than anything else anybody's seen.
And I have to tell you, aviation buffs around the world are scratching their heads wondering what it exactly is.
VELSHI: Barbara, good information. More of it coming out. Thanks very much for that. Barbara Starr joining us on the latest information -- Christine.
ROMANS: You guys, Osama bin Laden has topped the FBI's most wanted list for more than 10 years now. But now that he's listed as deceased, we want to take a look at who might become the FBI's new number one most wanted terrorist.
Number two right now on this is Adam Gadahn. He's an American who was born in California, moved to Pakistan in 1998 at the age of 20. He's charged with treason and providing material support to al Qaeda. The FBI offering $1 million for information leading to Adam Gadahn's arrest.
Number three on the list is Daniel San Diego. He's also an American. He's wanted for his alleged involvement with the bombing of two office buildings in California in 2003.
Number four: Ayman al-Zawahiri. He's been al Qaeda's second in command. He's said to be the psychological force behind the terror ground. He's a trained physician. He was bin Laden's personal doctor.
Zawahiri is wanted in connection with both 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and also 9/11 attacks. He's charged with murder. There's a $25 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Next on the list, number five: Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso. He's wanted in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Christine. Thanks very much for that.
In Syria, we've got new tape of fighting between anti-government protesters and security forces.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
VELSHI: This video is said to have been shot on Sunday in the town of Hauran. You can hear what sounds like gunshots as protesters are seen running for safety. A human rights group says 542 people have been killed in Syria during the six weeks of pro-reform protests.
CHETRY: All right. Well, how did you do in high school? Were you a good studier? Did you work hard?
Well, I don't know. This seems a little obvious, though. If you did well in high school, it's an indicator of how you're going to do in college.
VELSHI: I will tell you about that, what do you think about that.
Also, we're going to look at the impact of these floods on the Midwest. We know that it's affecting towns and farms. It's got a much broader impact, by the way, across the country. That's going to start affecting you.
We'll have all that and more when we come back.
It's 41 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, parts of the Midwest drowning under floodwaters this morning. Meteorologists say that they're not expecting relief until June. Government engineers are expected to blow up a third section of the Mississippi river's levees to try to manage the flooding.
ROMANS: Gosh! You know, my family lives along the Mississippi River. And this is one of those things you're obsessed with. Every morning, everyone wakes up and checks the Army Corps of Engineers, you know, what the levels are because people are very concerned about what's happening there.
CHETRY: So, this is also -- I mean, they are saying they haven't seen the situation this bad for 500 years.
VELSHI: It's really quite remarkable. You know, we're saying about how some of the tributaries are starting to flow backwards. These choices between flooding towns versus flooding farmland in one of the most productive parts of the country.
ROMANS: That's right. It's been a ferocious spring and what is always a flooding problem is really -- is just unbelievable this year.
You know, it's 44 minutes after the hour. Let's get a check of the morning weather headlines. And Reynolds Wolf is in the extreme weather center.
Hi there, Reynolds.
WOLF: Hey, guys. You're right about the Mississippi River. I mean, you know, it's essentially the spine of the United States. It means so many things to so many different people.
And right now, of course, the situation is very grim. The water continues to rise. You get the warnings and watches, in effect, up and down much of the river. Everything that happens to be shaded in green is a place where there's certainly some deep concern about the waters rising, including parts in Memphis and probably down to Natchez, even to Vicksburg. So, this is going to be something we're going to watch the next couple of days.
So, now, the big concern is more rain that will be on the way that's going to extend from the Great Lakes clear down to parts of the central and southern plains. Also, just get away from the floods for a moment. You can expect a few delays in places like the twin cities back in Chicago, perhaps, even in to, say, Milwaukee before the day is out. Out to the west, we see another frontal boundary that are going to be pulling into the pacific northwest.
We could see some delays in Seattle before the day is out at Sea-Tac Airport. Southern and Central California look pretty good. Same deal in the great basin, and a beautiful trend of weather for much of the central eastern seaboard clearly down to the gulf coast. It's pretty good (ph) with some scattered showers in effect for parts of South Florida.
But in terms of thunderstorms, in terms of incredible rainmakers, thankfully it does not appear that we're going to see much in terms of precipitation, especially, for the next 12 to 24 to 48 hours. In fact, light to moderate shower activity from Minneapolis or Des Moines, Kansas City, Springfield over to Paducah and even into Nashville. So, rain is on the way. Thankfully, though, it's not going to be too heavy in these places that have the rising flood waters. Let's send it back to you.
VELSHI: OK. Reynolds, thanks very much for that.
ROMANS: The president says we don't need to spike the football. President Obama explaining why he's not releasing a photo of a dead Osama Bin Laden.
VELSHI: So, we want to know what you think. Today's question of the day, what do you think of the president's decision not to publicly release the photo? You can e-mail us. You can tweet us @KiranChetryCNN, @ChristineRomans, or @AliVelshi. You can go to our blog @CNN.com/AM. You can tweet us @CNNAM or go to our Facebook page --
CHETRY: So many choices.
VELSHI: So many ways to get to us.
CHETRY: So you can find us.
VELSHI: We'll be reading your comments in ten minutes. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We're back after a quick break. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Ten minutes till the top of the hour. I want to get you caught up on the latest headlines this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): The team of Navy SEALs responsible for killing Bin Laden is now back on American soil. The members arrived yesterday at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington. The evidence they seized is now being examined at an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.
New Orleans preparing for major flooding in the next few weeks. Crews are reinforcing levees, and thousands of sandbags are now in place near the LSU campus.
Gray Wolves making a comeback. Later today, the federal government will officially remove them from the endangered species list. Idaho and Montana plan to reinstate a wolf hunting season in effect this fall.
The photo of President Obama and his national security team monitoring the raid on Bin Laden could set an all-time record for views on Flicker in an unprecedented 1.6 million hits on that website 38 hours after it was posted.
Pediatricians are urging parents to stop bottle feeding their babies by the time they're two years old. A new study found kids still using bottles after the age of two are 33 percent more likely to be obese by the time they're five.
Zoe Romano almost done with her cross country run. The Georgia woman has covered 2,600 miles since January. She's raising money for the boys and girls club and just 300 miles from the finish line in Charleston, South Carolina. Congratulations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (on-camera): Well, you're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be back in just 60 seconds.
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ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. The controversial former head of the Washington, D.C., school system, a school reformer now, Michelle Rhee, under fire this morning. High test scores during her tenure as chancellor, her short tenure, really, as chancellor, are being called into question. A report in "USA Today" says nearly 4,000 parents and teachers have petitioned for a federal investigation.
They're calling for an in depth analysis of the students' test scores, and they want Rhee and other school officials to testify under oath about possible test tampering.
VELSHI: Another crisis in the classroom. American students flunk the most recent National Civics exam. The test result show less than half of eighth graders knew what the bill of rights was for. Just one in ten had any knowledge about checks and balances between the three branches of government. At the same time, only a quarter of high school seniors scored at proficient or advanced levels in civics.
CHETRY: Oh, wow. Come on, guys. Read a book. Please.
All right. A new study suggests that students who work long hours during high school are actually less likely to finish college. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that for high school students who worked less than 15 hours a week, more than half of them got their bachelor's degree, but for every five additional work hours, there was an 8 percent drop in college graduation. Only about 20 percent of those who worked 31 hours or more a week in high school finish college.
VELSHI: Do we want outside of --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: We're talking about a job, labor.
ROMANS: But here's the thing. I don't think that it's the job that necessarily is the thing that's the reason why the kid can't graduate from college.
VELSHI: Responsibility.
ROMANS: It's because the reason why the kid is working all these hours is because, maybe, there's, you know, financial setbacks in the family. Maybe the kid has to go back to work because they're supporting other people. It might not necessarily be that working takes your eye of the ball.
That's just my opinion, because I worked a lot in high school. I'm a real advocate of having a job and working and learning that responsibility and hoping to pay for college. I mean, it's important.
VELSHI: Am I allowed to think about that for a while?
ROMANS: Think about it. Did you work in high school? Did you work in high school? Did you work in high school?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROMANS: Yes. So, three people who worked in high school.
CHETRY: I worked a lot in college.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: Maryland, right?
CHETRY: Yes. University of -- go Terps.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: You know a Terp is a turtle, right?
CHETRY: It's a tortoise. It's the fastest tortoise on the planet.
VELSHI: It should be a long time to understand that.
ROMANS: The fastest tortoise on the planet.
All right. There's mixed reaction this morning to President Obama's decision not to go public with those Bin Laden death photos. The president says he will not use the graphic images as some sort of trophy. So, we want to know what you think about the president's decision not to release photos of Bin Laden's body.
So, e-mail us at CNN.com/AM. Give us a tweet @CNNAM. You can tell us on Facebook. That's facebook.com/americanmorning. We'll be reading your comments later in the show, and I just got with Tom Wynter (ph) that says, you guys, I already saw a picture on the internet of this. Why do --
VELSHI: You didn't, Tom. You didn't.
ROMANS: Tom Wynter (ph), you did not see a picture.
VELSHI: Tom is not the only one who thinks he saw a picture, by the way. Several United States senators were under the impression that they had seen a picture of Bin Laden, and that kind of surprises me when you are a United States senator because you actually have access to be able to confirm things. Tom may not.
ROMANS: Just for the record, everything on the internet isn't true (ph).
VELSHI: Yes. So, no. For those of you, we welcome your views on it, but those of you who are going to respond saying you saw a picture of it, we're just going to tell now, you didn't see a picture of it.
CHETRY: It's not being released, and there are several photo shopped versions that are not accurate.
VELSHI: All right. We have this big story developing right now. It is a disaster really along the Mississippi river. We know it floods every spring. This is much more serious. There's danger in now at least ten different states from the Great Lakes all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans. Rob Marciano is in the flood zone. Reynolds Wolf is covering it from our Extreme Weather Center. We're going to give you a detail look at this when we come back.
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