Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Ben Carson's Ties to Dietary Supplement Company; Pentagon Says U.S. in Combat in Iraq; Passenger Jet Catches Fire Before Takeoff; China Drops One-Child Policy; Syria Refugees Stuck in Moscow Airport; New Fallout as Pentagon Investigates Runway Blimp; Rain Falls on Haze- Covered Southeast Asia; Space Junk Named "WTF" to Crash Near Sri Lanka. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 30, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:13] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, new rules. Unhappy with the moderators and their questions. Republicans running for president team up to try and change the debate format.
Boots on the ground. For the first time the Pentagon concedes U.S. troops are fighting on the ground against ISIS forces. So is the U.S. once again locked in war in Iraq?
Plus it's called WTF, and the space junk is on a collision course with earth.
Great to have you with us, everybody. I'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause. And NEWSROOM L.A. begins right now.
And we'll start with the very latest in the U.S. presidential race and an apparent revolt by some Republican candidates. Aides from a number of campaigns plan to meet Sunday in Washington. They want to try and take more control of the debates from the Republican National Committee. The RNC has not been invited to the meeting. A few candidates are angry with CNBC's moderators and their questions in Wednesday's debate including the frontrunner Ben Carson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidates. And get to know what's behind them. And what they're thinking processes, what their philosophy is. And what it's turned into is a gotcha. That's silly. And that's not really helpful for anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And during the debate one moderator asked Dr. Carson about his ties to a controversial dietary supplement company. The retired neurosurgeon called it total propaganda that he had a 10-year relationship with the company.
So Drew Griffin with our Special Investigations Unit did some digging.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ben Carson says he doesn't have a special relationship with Mannatech but whatever he had sure has been profitable. Since 2004, Carson has delivered four paid speeches on behalf of the company. A company that sells vitamins, minerals and something it calls glyco-nutrients through Mannatech's nationwide system of distributors. According to a speaker's bureau in Washington, he was paid $42,000 for just one of those speeches. Listen to what he says in the speech from 2004.
CARSON: Let me just briefly delve into how I became associated with the products of this company.
GRIFFIN: Sound look someone with no relationship to the company? Carson goes on in the speech, saying supplements helped cure his prostate cancer. And in 2014 he gave this interview done with a company representative with the company's products on full display. It's produced with music and video overlays of the company's products.
CARSON: You know, I began to recognize that yes, traditional medicine is good. But also, you know, looking at some addition of natural products. You know, making sure that people are well hydrated. Making sure that people get the right amount of exercise.
GRIFFIN: But Mannatech based outside of Dallas is a company with a history of trouble at least with one state regulator. In 2007, the state of Texas filed this lawsuit, claiming sales associates lied to customers about the effectiveness of the supplements. The lawsuit says the company knows those are illegal claims. But refuses to stop making them. Two years later, Mannatech settled without admitting guilt but paid $7 million in civil fines.
DR. MARION NESTLE, PROFESSOR OF NUTRITION, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Even though when they are studied, and this one actually hasn't been, but when they are studied, they don't show any good. It's really difficult to prove that healthy people are healthier if they take supplements.
GRIFFIN: After the debate, Carson insisted Mannatech didn't pay him because he was paid by a speaker's bureau base in Washington to appear before sales conferences including Mannatech's. he says he has no links to the company.
CARSON: It doesn't mean that I'm endorsing them. Doesn't mean that I have any special relationship with them. And there have been some groups that have booked me multiple times. It doesn't mean that I have a special relationship or involved with their product. They can easily go back and find out that I don't have any formal relationships with Mannatech.
GRIFFIN: We did check. All references to have Carson have been removed from the various Mannatech Web sites. The company says to comply with Federal Election campaign laws. In a statement e-mailed to CNN, the company says, quote, "Dr. Carson chose to participate in videos while attending corporate events where he gave his personal perspective and testimony. He was not compensated for his participation in these videos."
[01:05:13] Drew Griffin, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And for a complete breakdown of the winners and losers, the highs and the lows of Wednesday's debate, please head over to our Web site. You'll find everything there and a whole lot more than you could ever possibly imagine. CNN.com/politics.
To Vienna now, talks to end the Syrian war will resume in a few hours. And for the first time Iran will be at the table joining the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and other nations trying to find a solution to this crisis. The main sticking point remains the future of President Bashar al-Assad. Western powers are pushing for a way forward without the Syrian dictator but Russia and Iran are his biggest supporters and so far have shown no hint they're ready to abandon him.
The United Nations says the death toll from Syria's civil war stands at 250,000.
Meantime, the Pentagon says U.S. troops are in combat with ISIS forces in Iraq. Until now the U.S. has characterized the American role as advice and assist. But the death of a U.S. commander in an operation to rescue ISIS hostages has underscored the real nature of the U.S. mission.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the very latest now from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Helicopter forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pounding a Damascus suburb. Bodies retrieved from mountains of rubble.
In the north, near the flash point city of Aleppo, Syrian Army units repelled an ISIS attack according to Iranian state media. Russia has focused many of its attacks here across western Syria, part of its campaign to boost Assad's forces. But the CIA director insists the Russians know there is no military solution.
JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: I do believe paradoxically they felt as though they had to strengthen Assad before in fact he could be moved out, and despite what they say, the Russians do not see Assad in Syria's future.
STARR: Just as the Pentagon is detailing new U.S. military options for Defense Secretary Ash Carter to send to the White House. It could eventually mean more U.S. boots on the ground closer to the front lines. ASHTON CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We won't hold back from
sporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground.
STARR: From the U.S. military and admission that U.S. troops are already involved in more than just advising and assisting.
COL. STEVE WARREN, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: Of course, it's combat. You know, our aviators are our connecting combat air patrol. It is the name of the mission, combat air patrol. So of course it's combat.
STARR: The Pentagon is expected to increase more intelligence sharing and communications support especially for Kurds in both northern Iraq and northern Syria. A key U.S. goal, help the Kurds in Northern Syria isolate crucial areas around Raqqa, ISIS' self-declared capital.
(On camera): One option being discussed is to put U.S. advisers out in the field with smaller, more front line groups of both Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish fighters, and of course that puts U.S. troops closer to a potential front line, closer to combat.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona joins us with more on this. He's also a CNN military analyst.
Thank you for being with us, Colonel Francona. When we look at this, we are told from the U.S. that it's willing to commit more troops, but not boots on the ground, and maybe sneakers on the ground. Does this play into those talks in Vienna, Washington at least is willing to up the ante if only a little?
LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, I think that it does. But I think these are two separate items right now. I don't see how one supports the other. Mr. Kerry its convening these talks in Vienna. At the same time, the Defense Department is ramping up its activities in Syria. It seems like they're not on the same sheet of music. I don't see how one supports the other.
VAUSE: OK. I mean, we don't have the carrot-and-stick approach here. We don't have, you know, a warning if you like to the Iranians and to the Russians that if there is no resolution to this then, you know, the U.S. is not going to walk away, that they will essentially be more committed to those Free Syrian forces.
FRANCONA: Well, I think so. But I think everybody realizes that at some point in time everybody is going to have to come to the table and sit down. The goal of the American operations is going to be anti- ISIS operations. I think we pretty much backed away from supporting the anti-regime rebels with the intervention of the Russians. So we're focusing on going after ISIS. And what we're going to be doing with these direct actions that the secretary of Defense mentioned and our advise and assist missions are going to be focused on ISIS. I think we're looking at Syria as more of a long term political solution.
[01:10:07] VAUSE: You know, Chairman Mao, was he right? He said it's always darkest before it's totally black. Do you see these talks in Vienna maybe now there's a glimmer of light that finally, you know, there is going to be a solution here? It has to involve the Americans, it has to involve the Russians, it has to involve the Iranians and the Saudis?
FRANCONA: Well, we got everybody at the table except one group, and that's the Syrian moderates, the Syrian rebels that we're supporting. I guess we could represent their interests. But it's interesting, you've got the Russians there, the Turks and the Iranians. Now we know where the Russians stand and the Iranians stand. Both of them want continued access to Syria. The Iranians would like to keep Assad in power, they have a great relationship with him. His family comes from that Shia area in the north which they would like to support.
Remember, the Iranians consider themselves guardian of all things Shia. The Russians on the other hand want continued access to Syria for that naval port. It's their only foreign naval base. So they would be willing to throw Assad under the bus as long as they have a say in the future of what happens in Syria. So they're kind of working at cross purposes. The Turks just want to make sure the Kurds don't have a country. And that leaves the United States. Who are we backing in this? Are we going to represent the rebels? I'm not sure.
VAUSE: Do you think we're now at a point -- you said, the Russians are willing to throw Assad under the bus. That was sort of -- kind of pretty big change in policy, I guess. But is there at least now an evolution that Assad can stay maybe just for at least a time that that's going to be necessary?
FRANCONA: I think that's going to be the Russian talking point to say we're willing to have some sort of transition government with Bashar al-Assad at the head. But eventually we're going to look at some sort of mechanism that moves him out of there. Now the Iranians may balk at that. But in the end their national interests are served by access to Syria. Now that access could come in the form of a new government, a different government. It doesn't have to be Bashar al-Assad. So I would say if I was Bashar al-Assad, I'd be worried right now for my future.
VAUSE: Finally, with the word that we're getting from the Defense Department that, you know, these advise and assist role, everyone is talking mission creep. This is with comparisons with Vietnam, and sort of getting back right into the quagmire again. Do you see it differently?
FRANCONA: No, I don't. And I see these direct missions just exactly that. We've realized that what we're doing right now, the advise and assist, is not working. And we've got get more involved especially in Iraq. And I think we're going to see more of that.
But now you run the risk of putting advisers. And advisers are that magic world that remember from Vietnam. We're talking about putting U.S. Air Force combat controllers, army special forces to call in airstrikes. This is how it starts, John.
VAUSE: Yes, we remember it well.
Colonel Francona, thanks for being with us. We appreciate the insight.
FRANCONA: Sure thing, John.
VAUSE: To Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, now, a commercial passenger jet caught fire on a runway with 101 people on board. Take a look at this, a thick black smoke engulfing the Dynamic International Airways Flight. Officials say 17 people were injured including one child.
Here's CNN's Pamela Brown with more on how the frightening incident unfolded.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine on fire. Engine on fire.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Smoke pours from a Boeing 767, as frightened passengers scramble to the emergency evacuation slide. The Dynamic Airways flight was about to take off from Ft. Lauderdale Airport to Caracas, Venezuela, at 12:45 this afternoon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emergency. Call the fire truck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger 9002.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ground to 119. We're going to do a 180 here and (INAUDIBLE) taxi instructions.
GREG MEYER, BROWARD COUNTY AVIATION DEPARTMENT: His left engine was on fire. The plane was loaded with passengers. They were taxiing. The plane is behind me now. They were taxiing to the north runway to depart for Caracas.
BROWN: Moments before the fire, a pilot on another plane on the same runway noticed fuel was pouring from the engine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Dynamic, the left engine looks like it's leaking a lot of -- I don't know if it's fuel. It's fluid leaking out of the left engine.
BROWN: After the frightened passengers scurried down the plane's chute, some were taken away in stretchers and wheelchairs, while others were able to walk away from the jet. The Ft. Lauderdale airport was quickly shut down. Stunned passengers on other planes filmed the scene unfolding. Emergency crews sprayed the left wing with foam to extinguish the fire before investigators could move in to find out what happened and why.
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: You know, a fuel leak is not something that you can readily determine from the cockpit. It's just not possible to see that until you have a fuel loss situation. BROWN: Dynamic Airways started just five years ago in Greensboro,
North Carolina, and only goes to two international destinations from the U.S., Venezuela and Guyana. Its fleet consists only of Boeing 767s. The plane that caught fire was 29 years old.
[01:15:01] It was a similar scene in Las Vegas last month when a British Airways plane's left engine caught fire on the runway; 13 of the 159 passengers were taken to the hospital, mainly from going down the plane slides.
Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Now the video you won't see on any other TV network. New view inside a Texas restaurant where a deadly biker brawl broke out in May. In this surveillance video you can see bikers open fire. Others running for their lives. Police say they confiscated 480 weapons that day. One officer wrote in his report that there was so many guns, knives, brass knuckles and other weapons they got in the way of the crime scene. One of the bikers said harsh words turned into flying fists and then gunshots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WILSON, COSSACKS BIKER: It was pretty horrific. There were guys getting hit and falling. And I realized that I needed to get away from where I was. And I looked to the guy to my right -- my left, a good friend of mine, and I told him, I said, we got to get off the sidewalk or we're going to die here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Even though close to 200 people were arrested almost six months ago, no one has been charged in relation to the nine people who were killed.
Still to come here on CNN, when one becomes two. China announces an end to one of the world's biggest attempts at social engineering.
Also, there are millions of pieces of space junk floating around the earth. And one piece is about to come crashing down. All those details a little later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.
Will we witnessed history Saturday when either New Zealand or Australia are crowned Rugby World Cup champion for a record third time? Defending champs, the All Blacks, have named an unchanged lineup containing seven players from the 2011 championship.
For the Aussies, the only change is the return of prop Scott Theo. He missed the semifinal win over Argentina after injuring his elbow a week earlier against Scotland.
Chelsea Football Club making headlines again. This time, though, reports are that they're being sued by former club doctor, Eva Carneiro. Carneiro left Chelsea after being removed from first team duties by manager Jose Mourinho. He labeled her naive when she ran on to the pitch to treat a player during the season opener with Chelsea, temporarily reducing the Blues to nine men.
Flavia Pennetta has been extremely gracious in defeat after losing to Maria Sharapova at the WTA Finals in Singapore. The loss brings an end to the Italian's career. She announced her decision to retire after making history at Flushing Meadows last month. Her stunning U.S. Open win made Pennetta the oldest first time major winner ever. And she called the loss to Sharapova a perfect way to end her career.
[01:20:03] And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: For decades, China's communist government has restricted most families to just one child. But now couples will be allowed to have two children. Officials say it's because of China's aging population. In the next 15 years it's estimated Chinese aged over 60 years will number more than 400 million. China's population right now is more than 1.3 billion.
Steven Jiang joins me now live from Beijing. Steven grew up in Shanghai shortly after restriction began. He is an only child himself.
So, I guess, Steven, when you heard the news from the Communist Party, did it come as much as a surprise to you and I guess the rest of the country?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was more a surreal moment when I was reporting the breaking news as a member of the first generation of that policy talking about the end of that policy. Now when I was growing up in Shanghai in the '80s, we accepted this policy as matter of fact. We were taught about it in school. And we bought the government line that the millions of prevented births because of this policy helped China grow its economy and improve its people's living standard.
So it was not until years later that I found out that more sinister, the darker side of this policy, especially in terms of the brutal enforcements in the countryside. You were talking about forced abortions and forced sterilizations. That's why, you know, a lot of activists and NGOs dedicated years of their efforts trying to change this policy. Now change has come. But not probably because of the reasons they would like to see.
The government is changing this policy to address a demographic change as you mentioned. They are facing this double whammy of a shrinking work force and aging society at a time when the economy is slowing down. So the party made it very clear in that document they released after a four-day leadership meeting. They are making one couple, two children a nationwide policy to address the issue of aging population and to promote a more balanced population growth -- John.
VAUSE: Very quickly, Steven, what was it like living out as a generation of only children?
JIANG: You know, I got to say as the early generation of that policy, we were not spoiled. We still lived very close to our peers and playing and, you know, studying together. Just like siblings of huge households. So unlike the later generations of that policy who probably felt a lot more lonely in their luxury high rise apartments -- John.
VAUSE: You know, that is so not true, Steven. I know you. I know that you were spoiled growing up. I used to work there in Beijing. Can't fool me. OK. Thank you.
Steven Jiang, live in Beijing.
Now the Chinese government has been relating its one-child policy for years, even hinting recently that this day may not be too far away. But as CNN's David McKenzie reports, just because Chinese families will soon be able to have more than one child it doesn't necessarily mean they want to.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every Chinese family revolves around a child. They call her Tao Zi or Little Peach. Like both her parents before her, Tao is an only child.
"Once my cousin visited and we shared a bed for a few nights," says her dad. "I really enjoyed that feeling and I wished I had a brother."
But for decades, the Communist Party has relentlessly pushed its one- child policy. When propaganda like this didn't work, they used heavy fines and forced abortion to curb population growth. Now some experts call the one-child policy a glaring mistake.
PROF. WANG FENG, FUDAN UNIVERSITY: China has already begun to feel an unfolding crisis in terms of its population change.
MCKENZIE: The one-child policy gambled with China's economic future. The world's second biggest economy now faces a rapidly aging population and shrinking workforce.
(On camera): In just 15 years there'll be more than 400 million elderly here in China and many Chinese feel that the one-child policy is out of step.
(Voice-over): So the party has changed its tune, pushing a new ideal family on TV with a daughter and a son, where more is better.
Tao Zi's parents and millions of others are now eligible for a second child. They should be ideal candidates. [01:25:07] But housing in Beijing is costly and they say China is too
competitive. Good schools too expensive to even contemplate a second child.
"Money is only part of the problem," she says. "Your energy and your time is also important. We both have to work. It's hard enough to raise her as a success. It will be miserable if we have to go through that again."
David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In Zimbabwe, at least 22 more elephants have been poisoned with cyanide, raising concerns of a new poaching trend. And a warning you may find the video you're about to see disturbing. Officials say the elephants were found in a remote area of the Hwange National Park on Sunday. A source tells CNN more than 60 elephants have been poisoned since September. The ivory from their tusks remains a lucrative business. And cyanide is easy to steal from Zimbabwe's gold mines.
A short break here on CNN NEWSROOM. When we come back, does Vladimir Putin have a plan? America's top national intelligence officials is talking exclusively to CNN about Russia's president's aggressive moves around the world.
Also ahead, they fled war, and now a family of refugees are stuck in limbo living in an airport. Their story is also ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:00] VAUSE: Welcome back. Thank you for staying with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. 10:30 on Thursday night. I'm John Vause. Time for your headlines.
In the U.S., several Republican presidential candidates are frustrated with the way debates have been going. Campaign aides plan to meet Sunday in Washington to try to take more control from the Republican National Committee. The RNC has not been invited. Some candidates slammed CNBC and its moderators for questions they asked during the debate.
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a passenger jet caught fire on a runway with 100 people on board. 17 people were hurt, including a child. The Dynamic International Airways flight burst into flame as the plane taxied for takeoff. An investigation is under way.
CNN has exclusively obtained this surveillance video of a deadly biker brawl from May in the U.S. state of Texas. Nine people were killed that day when violence broke out between two rive motorcycle clubs at a strip mall restaurant. 200 arrested. More than five months, and so far no one has been charged in the deaths.
New talks aimed at ending Syria's war are set to resume in a few hours. Iran attending this crisis meeting for the first time and will be join diplomats from the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and a number of countries. The Syrian government and Syrian opposition will not be at the table.
A top U.S. intelligence official says Vladimir Putin is winging it in Syria. Director of national intelligence, James Clapper spoke exclusively to CNN's Jim Sciutto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We are expected to know that a decision has been made by a foreign head of state before he makes it. Putin's case in point. He is very impulsive, opportunistic. It is a debate. I personally question whether he has some long-term strategy or whether he is working on being opportunistic on a day-to-day basis. I think his intervention into Syria is another manifestation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Clapper also says the U.S. intelligence community was not surprised when Russia started air strikes in Syria a month ago.
For Edward Snowden, a symbolic victory. The European parliament narrowly voted Thursday to call on members to drop criminal charges and protect him from extradition. Snowden is currently living in Russia, where he was given asylum from U.S. authorities who want to prosecute him for releasing information about government surveillance programs. The vote though is nonbinding. Snowden tweeted out, "It is a game changer."
Two years ago, the world watched as Edward Snowden spent weeks in the Moscow Airport waiting for asylum. Now a Syrian refugee family is experiencing a similar situation as they wait to find out what will happen next.
Nic Robertson has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stuck in limbo in a Moscow airport, a family of Syrian refugees with only their phones to plead their plight.
UNIDENTIFIED REFUGEE BOY: My name is Drena (ph). We are from Syria. We are living in an airport. And this is our life. We are living in airport in terminal.
ROBERTSON: For the past 50 days, they've been held in a transit area as authorities check their documents.
UNIDENTIFIED REFUGEE BOY: I have two brothers, one sister, father, mother. We want you to help us please. It is very cold for sleeping or sitting. In here, it is very cold.
ROBERTSON: His father, Hassan, is desperate.
"We need your help," he says, "because here there is no rights of refugees. No one listens to us. It is such a strange law."
The airport is no stranger to surprise guests stuck in its bureaucracy. Controversial whistleblower, Edward Snowden, stuck in corridors for 40 days in 2013 before the Russians finally let him in.
(on camera): The family's lawyer say border officials claim their passports were bogus. Subsequent checks with Damascus proved them and their visas valid.
Foreign ministry officials say the family is being treated no differently to other Syrian refugees and expect their case to be resolved soon.
(voice-over): The youngest just 3 years old. The children's aunt lives in Russia, has a home for them, is trying to help them. Charity workers delivering food and toys. For the past few days, the family has been allowed to spend night in an airport hotel.
Their big fear they may get sent become to the war they fled.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Please help us. It is very bad. They didn't give us anything for us. No water. No food. No anything. Please help us. We can't continue.
ROBERTSON: For now, lost in transit, a limbo with a very uncertain future.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:35:16] VAUSE: Short break here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A. When we come back, that runaway U.S. Army blimp brought done by gunshots and now the entire blimp program could be deflated as well.
Also, thick haze hangs over Southeast Asia impacting thousand of lives. The very latest from Indonesia when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: U.S. officials are investigating what caused a military blimp to break loose Wednesday.
As our Brian Todd tells us, this incident has critics asking if the radar technology is worth the price tag.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN learned in an attempt to finish deflating the multi-million balloon left tangled in dense patches of forest --
(GUNFIRE)
TODD: -- Pennsylvania State Police fired shot guns at it. An embarrassing ending for what some are suggesting is a Defense Department boondoggle.
CAPT. MATTHEW VILLA, U.S. ARMY: When they were shooting, I didn't want to watch it. It was sad like shooting your dog.
TODD: Officials at North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, not saying what caused the aircraft to become untethered, drifting 160 miles north, tearing down power lines and destroying property before thumping down.
The aircraft was half of a pair of unmanned blimps carrying sophisticated classified radar. Blimps designed to work in tandem.
[01:39:55] UNIDENTIFIED MILITARY ANALYST: The first one is to do broad area surveillance and look out for threats, 340 miles. The second is designed to hone in on a potential threat, target and cue it for a weapon system like a fighter jet or a, or even a patriot missile defense system. In both, the aerostats, the radar is in a pod underneath, right here.
TODD: NORAD officials say this is the second targeting blimp which came unmoored.
The two aerostats, called the JLENS system, are designed to detect cruise missiles, low flying aircraft and projectiles. But critics are calling the crashed white blimp a white elephant.
A 2012 Pentagon report cited its, quote, "low system reliability." An "L.A. Times" investigation published last month said the program was slow to roll out, inefficient and expensive, costing taxpayers $2 7 billion. "The Times" report says the blimps can't distinguish friendly aircraft from threatening ones.
Still, some independent analysts defend the program.
UNIDENTIFIED MILITARY DEFENSE ANALYST: That system has been tested successfully at White Sand against simulated targets, real targets. And it does the job it was designed to do.
TODD: Back in April, the JLENS missed its chance to prove that. When a Florida man pirated the gyrocopter, the JLENS blimps should have seen it coming. They weren't operational that day.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: That was game day for this device. It was in the locker room.
TODD: Why? NORAD officials say the blimps were going through software upgrade.
(on camera): We pressed Raytheon, the manufacturer of the radar, to respond to criticism of the program. They referred us to NORAD. NORAD officials stress the blimps are one year into a three year test period. They haven't determined their effectiveness.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Wind and rain helped disperse some of the thick haze which has blanketed Southeast Asia for weeks. The haze is the result of illegal and intentional wildfires, set mostly on Indonesian islands to clear the land for the production of pulp, paper and palm oil.
CNN's David Molko joins us now from Indonesia with more on the developing story.
David, we sent you all the way to Indonesia. Starts raining. The cleanest air that they have had there for months. But I guess, is that the end of the problem with the haze?
DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, that is right. A little good news, a rain shower coming down. You know this place, in Borneo, epicenter of the worst of the haze. We saw numbers here, pollution index readings up above 2,000 over past few weeks. Five or six times the hazardous level. Look behind me. What's remarkable, we talk haze, pollution, tens of millions of people living in harm's way, it all starts here. This is one example of peat land, of the carbon rich soil, that when it is dried out, when it cleared, when it's drained, turns into a tinderbox when ignited. Most fires set illegally.
A little while ago, this morning, we saw a local team of fire fighter head out here near the airport on the outskirts of the city. There were smoldering spots. This was not fire flames out of the ground. Instead smoking coming out. Why the fires are challenging to fight and why not as simple as, you know, taking a hose and fighting the, the burning trees, it's that peat burns underground. Efforts last 90 minutes. Mixing wear it, chemicals, a frothy mix. They had some success and moved on. This is just one fire, John, I have to mention across the country. The past few weeks, we've seen tens of thousand being or the ground. It helps you understand just how tough this fight is.
VAUSE: David, there is a lot of anger in the region. That part of the world, mostly in Singapore and Malaysia, and it's directly, squarely, Indonesia, ground zero for the fires. Are the Indonesians capable of doing anything to stop these illegal burns?
MOLKO: John, I have to say it really starts as the community level. What's remarkable about being here in the community is the amount of dedication you have from disaster officials, military police, and also volunteers. We talked to one gentleman from the island of Java, from the other side of country. He came here seven days ago, says, "Everybody needs to do their part. It happens year after year."
This is the bigger question. Will they take steps, back in the country, take steps to stop this from happening in the future. It's balancing act between economic growth and caring for the environment -- John?
[01:45:02]VAUSE: Economic growth and air to breathe.
Thank you, David Molko. Live for us in Indonesia. David, thank you.
We go to Iraq, where heavy rain left parts of Baghdad flooded. People could be seen driving and walking through streets as they tried to get to higher ground. Rainfall lasted for more than 10 hours. Don't often get a lot of rain in Baghdad.
Let's go to Meteorologist Derek Van Dam with more.
Wow, they wouldn't know how to deal with that would they? Just a rare occurrence?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You are right, John. As if thousand of displaced Iraqis don't have enough to deal with already. What they had to contend with Thursday. Heavy ran moved through.
Let's look at it. Here is Iraq, Iran. Rain fall totals in excess of 70 millimeters when Iraq, typically, this time of year, the month of October, only receives about five to eight millimeters. So, well in advance, in what would typically see this time of year. Slow moving storm system to blame. Fortunately moving east of Baghdad. We have potential for flooding rains into the eastern sections of Iran, near Tehran in fact.
Now I need to transition to a popular holiday celebrated across the world. That being Halloween, October 31st. A near miss asteroid that will fly precariously close to the House. Asteroid, this is not a trick, more of a treat in fact. This particular asteroid could be seen by you with a typical device at home. Just look into the sky early on Saturday morning to perhaps see this with your own telescope. And, yeah, we did add a few effects with this particular asteroid. Doesn't look like a jack-o'-lantern by any mean. To put this in perspective, 400 meters wide. This is as tall, believe it or not as the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. Also known as the Sears Tower. And again, as I have mentioned, flying precariously close to mother earth. In fact, over 480,000 kilometers away from us, which is a near miss. Believe it or not, only 1,000 kilometers outside of the orbit of the moon. So -- a little bit too close to call for me. Little too close for comfort, John, but, also, thing to see if, if you are a -- well, an astronomer, perhaps, or just a wannabe scientist. See something phenomenal early Saturday morning.
VAUSE: Interesting looking asteroid.
(LAUGHTER)
VAN DAM: Didn't know asteroids looked look jack-o'-lanterns, huh?
VAUSE: Who knew?
Thank you. I will try to keep an eye out for it. Appreciate it.
(LAUGHTER)
VAN DAM: Thank you.
VAUSE: Scientists are keeping an eye out for space junk which is on a collision course with earth. Next here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., we'll talks with a former astronaut about where it will crash. For the first time ever, we know a precise location. Exciting. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:49:43] VAN DAM: Good day. I'm Meteorologist Derek Van Dam with a quick look at your "Weather Watch."
(WEATHER REPORT)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: This is animation a piece of space junk, appropriately named WTF. Experts say it will crash off the coast of Sri Lanka, November 13th. The first time calculated when and where a piece of space junk will hit the earth. Scientists think it's manmade, about seven feet, two meters long. They say WTF will catch fire once it hits the earth's atmosphere, probably burn up before it can do damage.
Let's get more on this from our favorite space expert, a retired NASA astronaut, special adviser to human space flight for the Space Foundation, joining us from Park City, Utah.
Always great to take to you, Leroy.
The first time they worked out where something like this is going to impact. How did they do it?
LEROY CHIAO, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT & SPECIAL ADVISOR FOR SPACE FLIGHT, SPACE FOUNDATION: We have atmospheric models and a trajectory. We can make a pretty good estimate. Nothing is perfect. There is going to be a pretty big circle error probably, a big ellipse or circle of where it might hit with certain dispersions. But as you mentioned, likely it's all burn up in the atmosphere but there could be a few pieces that survive.
VAUSE: We are looking off the coast of Sri Lanka, 100 miles, off the coast of Sri Lanka? Don't go fishing? What's the advice?
(LAUGHTER)
CHIAO: Yeah, might be a good idea to avoid the area when the impact is predicted. You never know. It's a pretty big -- pretty small chance you would get hit. If you actually did, it was probably just, you know, your karma.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: What do they think this is? From one of the previous space missions. How do they know that?
CHIAO: Right. There's some speculation is could be a spent third stage from one of Apollo moon mission, going around in space with this many decades. It's in a highly elliptical orbit. That's kind of what caused it to come in so sharply.
VAUSE: Now, the official name of this is, "WT", a bunch of numbers I can't remember, and then an "F." How did they come up with WTF?
CHIAO: Well, I think it's appropriately named. However, at the same type, you have to remember there is a lot of space debris up there. This is just one piece. So, we have space debris in the atmosphere every day. But this is kind of a larger than there mall piece they were able to track. So, they're keeping special tabs on it.
VAUSE: Yeah, that gets us to the old question. How much junk is up there? How far away are we from the day of reckoning rather when a really big piece comes down and we're wiped off the face of the planet?
[01:55:00] CHIAO: I don't we on earth have to worry about space debris too much because most are spent boosters like this one or smaller pieces down to grains of sand. What might be a big concern, as you mentioned earlier, on Halloween, we are supposed to have an asteroid come within about the moon's distance from the earth. That may seem like a lot. On a cosmic scale, it is small. Kind of a karma. The dinosaurs were wiped out 300 million years ago. Look at that two ways, we are either due or we've got a lot of time left.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: I don't know what the dinosaurs did wrong.
(LAUGHTER)
Leroy, good to speak with you. Leroy Chiao, Park City resident space geek. Thank you.
CHIAO: Thank you.
VAUSE: A U.S. astronaut has hit a major milestone high above earth. Scott Kelly broke a U.S. record for most amount of time spent in space on one mission. Doesn't look happy though. 216 days. During the time, snapped a couple selfies. He's been tweeting from the international space station. After breaking the record, he wrote, quote, "It is an honor to be here," and said he looked forward to making progress in space. Kelly has taken to Twitter in space, documenting moments and sharing incredible images along the way.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
Stay with us. The news continues with George Howell and Natalie Allen after a very short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
