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Big Storms Heading Toward the Carolinas; Analysis of the RNC; Progress Toward Peace with Syria and Israel; A Possible Troop Drawdown in '09

Aired September 05, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

See events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Friday -- yes, Friday -- September 5th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

It spent a week creeping around the Caribbean. And today, Hanna is sprinting north for landfall on the Carolina coast.

HARRIS: The end of the convention. Let the campaign begin. The Republican ticket hitting the trail in Wisconsin this morning. We'll have live coverage.

COLLINS: A landmark visit today opening a new era for the United States and Libya. Diplomatic ties under construction, in the NEWSROOM.

Double barrel assault. Two big storms aiming at the United States. Hanna is the closest on target to come ashore in the Carolinas and Ike is next in line. Still days away from a potential landfall as a major hurricane in South Florida.

Our Rob Marciano tracking both of those storms from Weather Center for us this morning.

HI there, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Heidi, Tropical Storm Hanna, that's first on the dock. It still with winds of 65 miles an hour. It's about 400 and change from south of Wilmington.

We got some construction going on in the back of the weather board here. Don't you guys know we got a hurricane happening, a couple of them actually?

This one could strike into a hurricane. Westerly flank of a system is beginning to flare and we're seeing some convection, actually rainfall and thunderstorms in southwestern or southeastern parts of Florida. Here's the official track from the National Hurricane Center. We do we expect landfall somewhere between Charleston and Wilmington later on tonight or early tomorrow morning, likely as a tropical storm but it could very well strengthen into a hurricane. So either a strong tropical storm or a category 1 hurricane is the forecast.

And here's the center of it and here's that convection I talked about. You see the circulation, radar doesn't quite go out this far. But, nonetheless, the western side of this thing is certainly firing up with -- man, it's distracting -- back from tropical storm warnings up for a good chunk in the (INAUDIBLE) back through parts of northern Georgia.

Got a tower cam? I want to say it's from Savannah or Myrtle Beach or -- well, Miami, I suppose.

WSVN is our affiliate out that way. You are dealing with Hanna now, you could very well be dealing with Ike, a much more serious situation the beginning of next week.

Here's the forecast track of Ike, with winds right now at 125 miles an hour. It's category 3 storm, was a 4. They'll go through fluctuations and intensity as it -- especially as it gets over some of the Bahama islands here, but the beginning of next week, Heidi, we are certainly looking at a dangerous situation either in the Gulf of Mexico or along the southeast coast or right smack in the middle of South Florida.

Here's the center of Ike here, very distinguished eye and certainly a little bit scary and there's Josephine.

Just want to get back to Hanna real quick just to highlight the fact that that's our most serious situation right now. There you see it, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes.

MARCIANO: And so Charleston or more like Myrtle Beach -- well, Charleston -- anywhere from Charleston to Wilmington tonight and tomorrow morning. Could be a hurricane.

COLLINS: Yikes.

MARCIANO: At least a tropical storm.

COLLINS: OK. Well, we know that you're watching that very closely...

MARCIANO: That's right, guys.

COLLINS: ... and preparing for Ike and hope we won't talk about Josephine ever.

HARRIS: Yes

COLLINS: All right, Rob, thank you. We'll check back later on. MARCIANO: All right.

COLLINS: As you know, Hanna blew past the Bahamas knocking out power to one of the islands and stirring up minor flooding else where. But overall the island chain had no major damage.

A much different story, though, in Haiti where flooding from Hanna has been blamed for 137 deaths. One region in Haiti has been almost entirely cut off by high waters with virtual lakes covering every road.

HARRIS: So, as Hanna closes in on the Carolina coast, our Kathleen Koch joins us live in just a couple of moments from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with the latest on storm preparation there.

Evacuees returning to the Gulf states after Gustav, but life far from normal and most places hit by the storm, power remains out for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Tens of thousands of people remain in shelters in several states.

The government is offering help for families out of their home for an extended period of time. FEMA says it will pay for hotel costs for a period that began Wednesday and ends October 3rd.

You know there are ways you can help the victims of Hurricane Gustav. Find out at CNN.com's "Impact Your Page." There you will find links to some organizations right now offering assistance.

Just go to CNN.com/impact.

COLLINS: Fresh from the spotlight, John McCain hits the trail in Wisconsin in just a few hours from now.

Last night, McCain revved up Republicans and then wrapped up his convention. He accepted the party's presidential nomination promising change.

Jessica Yellin is with us now with all of the highlights live from St. Paul, Minnesota.

All right, so, Jessica, from what you've been able to gather by talking to people, how was this speech received on both sides of the fence?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, the pundits are giving it mixed review, but John McCain wasn't trying to woo the pundits last night. He did sell this crowd of Republican stalwarts who are gathered here in Minneapolis with his speech -- with revealing stories of his time as a POW and his commitment, he said, to service and to the country as a result of his experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

He also made a play for independents and undecided by promising to bring change to Washington if he's elected. He tried to, once again, assert that he is the maverick person that he'd been tagged as for -- was tagged as for so many years.

Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'd fight to restore the pride and principals of our party. We were elected to change Washington and we let Washington change us. We lost -- we lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: So what you heard him do there, Heidi, was take on his own party, distancing himself from the leadership with which so many Americans have been disappointed.

The Obama campaign fired back quickly pointing out that John McCain had been in Washington for 26 years, essentially, why would anyone believe he could change it now.

It is yet to be seen how folks out there, the undecideds, really reacted to this. One thing is certain, everyone leaving this Republican convention, almost without exception, is jazzed and excited and you can thank Sarah Palin for that.

John McCain truly solidified his base with that VP pick -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Well, I think you do bring up a great point, though, because when we talk about the base, the base is one thing, but, really, are we not needing to talk about these undecided voters especially at this point in the campaign? Only a couple months left until people go to the voting booths.

YELLIN: Absolutely. And they will decide this election and you will see both John McCain and Barack Obama going to those battleground states, making a play for blue-collar voters, older folks, the undecideds, some women who they believe will determine who becomes the next president.

And one of the issues that has to evolve is we have to see John McCain take back the spotlight from Sarah Palin and go head-to-head with Barack Obama and you can be sure we'll start seeing that beginning today -- Heidi?

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Jessica Yellin from St. Paul, Minnesota -- thank you, Jessica.

Police versus protesters. The two sides clash in demonstration outside the Republican convention.

Police fired precaution grenades to keep protesters at bay and each time demonstrators tried to cross a highway separating them from the convention center, police moved to stop them.

Joe Johns live from St. Paul, Minnesota now with more on the protests. Actually, he's going to be joining us in just a little while. He's got the very latest on that situation and how it all ended up.

HARRIS: Boy, oh, boy, more disappointing economic news. Fresh numbers out just last hour. The unemployment rate hitting a five-year high.

Let's get to our senior business correspondent Ali Velshi. He is in New York.

And Ali, now that all the (INAUDIBLE) has ended on both sides, maybe we can get back down to business here...

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HARRIS: ... and figure out what we're going to do about this economy, what we're going to do about jobs. And we were talking about people's abilities to take care of their families.

VELSHI: Yes.

HARRIS: All of these things.

VELSHI: You and I discussed as many times, this is the thing, I think, is the most important, because these -- those other things, whether it's a mortgage or energy prices, you can make adjustments. If you don't have an income, you're in big trouble.

The jobless rate in America has now soared to 6.1 percent. That is much higher than we expected to come out. It was 5.7 percent in July. This is a five-year high. You have to go back to September of 2003 to find an unemployment rate that that's high.

Now the unemployment rate measures those people who are in the workforce or looking for jobs. So it's almost a bit of misnomer. So I want to get that out of the way and I want to talk about the more important number and that is the number of jobs that were lost in August. 84,000 jobs lost in August.

We were expecting 75,000 jobs to be lost. So when you put this 84 into the mix, and you make some adjustments for a few prior months which were worse now than we initially thought, the total number of jobs lost for 2008 so far is 605,000 jobs.

So that's 605,000 people -- fewer people who are working now than at the beginning of the year, Tony. And that's taking all the pluses into accounts, too, all the jobs that have been created in with health care and education and by the government.

So the loss has been pretty massive.

HARRIS: What explains the massive sell off yesterday?

VELSHI: You know, yesterday we had retail sales. America's retailers are saying that their sales in August were not as good as expected. And the bottom line here is the combination of jobs and interest rates and energy prices means that American consumers are keeping money in their pockets.

They're keeping money for that rainy day and the rainy day is now. So as a result, they're just not spending money and that's what got people worried about the economy. And after this jobless report, you're seeing the Dow futures looking pretty rough right now.

Yesterday, we had 345-point sell off. That's the fourth biggest sell off this year. It's pretty significant. Look at the Dow. That's what the Dow looked like over the last year. It hit its highs last October, almost a year ago, that sort of been sailing all the way down.

But I have to tell you, Tony, for those of our viewers watching this, this is not a good time to start selling your stocks. If you've taken those losses in your either 401k or IRA, readjust it, try and buy those things that are more likely to go up.

HARRIS: That makes sense.

VELSHI: Don't lock in your losses by selling.

HARRIS: Yes. That -- makes sense.

Ali Velshi for us this morning -- Ali, great to see you. Thank you, sir.

We will see what the markets think about all of this news.

As Ali indicated, boy, stock futures down this morning. Susan Lisovicz joins us at the bottom of the hour live from the New York Stock Exchange.

COLLINS: Want to get back now to our correspondent in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Police versus protesters. The two sides clashing in demonstrations outside the Republican convention. That correspondent, Joe Johns, is live now with us to tell us a little bit more about what took place there.

Hey, good morning to you, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. 396 people or so -- that's an estimate -- arrested just last night. A pretty big deal here in St. Paul. That would bring the totals for the week to about 819 in all of the protests.

Quite a night last night. The first night and the last night seem to be the biggest ones. A cat and mouse game last night going through the streets of St. Paul. Protesters had hoped to march at the convention center but every time they tried one route the police cut them off.

Then there was something of a street chase that ended up going through a shopping mall parking lot that was not too far from the capital. Horses, motorcycles, bicycles and so on. There are, apparently, more than a few releases of pepper spray last evening, and a couple of times this week we've tried to point to the authorities, some of those instances that occurred in front of our cameras.

We do have one to show you -- hopefully we can. Now we were told after this first aired on CNN that these were Minneapolis police officers who sort of confronted a woman who appeared, at first, to have her hands up. She seemed to repeatedly get sprayed in the face with pepper spray

There was also a man in fatigues there. Not sure about that. We counted at least six officers, apparently, inside that picture. So we've called the Minneapolis police to try to talk to them and see what they have to say about that.

Otherwise, as I said, a big night. 396 people, maybe more, maybe a few less arrested here in St. Paul and you have to imagine that everybody who lives in this area is pretty glad -- at least for the question of security -- that this thing is over.

Back to you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Hey, Joe, did we ever find out who these people are, like, where they came from? And what it is -- I mean if you had a chance to speak with them that they're protesting exactly?

JOHNS: Yes, the people who were protesting last night seemed to mainly be protesting against the Iraq war. However, when you look at the signs they carry, they're always a variety of other different causes. And that was pretty consistent along the week.

That started out as a crowd of probably over 1,000 over at the state capital here and then it reduced and distilled down to about 300 or so people and then even fewer. They ended up on an overpass and they sort of got trapped by police and that's where they were arrested.

COLLINS: All right, CNN Joe Johns, get back to us if you learn more about the Minneapolis Police Department in that video there.

Appreciate it, Joe.

The Republicans' week in the spotlight. Did McCain/Palin win a ticket to the White House? Our political experts sound off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Change is coming. John McCain's message as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination, vowing to fight for Americans.

With us this morning to talk about McCain's speech and the GOP convention, Al Cardenas, convention, delegate and former chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

Al, good morning to you. He is in St. Paul and...

AL CARDENAS, FORMER CHAIRMAN, FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PARTY: Good morning.

HARRIS: ... in New York, Democratic strategist, Keith Boykin.

Good to see you again. Thanks for being here.

KEITH BOYKIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: All right, gentlemen, let's start with John McCain last night talking about his image as a maverick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: I've been called a maverick, someone who...

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: Someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes it's meant as a compliment, sometimes it's not. What it really means is I understand who I work for. I don't work for a party. I don't work for a special interest. I don't work for myself.

I work for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: All right, Al, let me start with you. How plausible is it really to position yourself as a maverick, an agent of change, while also being a 26-year veteran of the system that you're now criticizing?

CARDENAS: Well, he proved it during the primary. John McCain was left for dead in the primaries a year ago because party insiders didn't want him. He won because, finally, when he got to the people and the electorate, they decided, yes, we want an outsider, we want a reformer, and he beat out everyone else for that reason.

So he spent more than a year in a primary process proving that an outsider could win because Republicans ended up wanting reform and change as much as everyone else in America.

HARRIS: Keith, what do you think?

Well, John McCain won not because he was a reformer, but because they had no other candidates to offer it, to be honest.

I mean, the reality is John McCain is offering more of the same. He's been in office for 26 years in Washington, suddenly he -- he wakes up in 2008 and realizes, hey, the winds are blowing a different way, we want change. Let's give them change.

It's not going to fly because John McCain voted for George Bush's agenda 90 percent of the time last year. John McCain is offering more of the same on the economy, more of them same on tax cuts, more of the same with the war in Iraq.

He didn't offer a single substantive policy where he's going to really differ with George Bush last night.

I don't think it's going to -- I don't the public is going to buy that.

HARRIS: Well, Al, let me jump in...

CARDENAS: John McCain...

HARRIS: Go ahead. Go ahead. Al, go ahead.

CARDENAS: John McCain -- this was a great convention. It exceeded my expectations, everyone else's expectations. He energized the base. He redefined change. He raised the bar of what voters should expect in terms of a presidential leader and it's not about writing memoirs or giving grandiose speeches in opulent settings.

HARRIS: OK. Got you.

CARDENAS: It's about -- it's about being able to convince Americans that to be your public servant, you have to give up yourselves.

HARRIS: All right. Al...

CARDENAS: Five years in horrible jail cells --

HARRIS: Sorry, Al, I -- we're going to get to the personal biography in just a moment because it is very compelling. But I want to move on to another point.

Libertarian candidate for president, Bob Barr, former Republican, a man who, many say, could cause John McCain some problems in his home state of Georgia was on "AMERICAN MORNING" and here are some of his thoughts on the speech last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BARR, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There were very, very few specifics in his speech last night and this points out the sort of dearth of ideas in the Republican Party.

There's nothing really in terms of deep cuts and federal spending. He gave a mild sort of lukewarm passing off handed support for maybe there might be some tax cuts or at least we'll try and keep taxes low.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So, Al, on a day when the Dow dropped close to 350 points, did John McCain -- and I guess you're aware of the new unemployment numbers this morning -- did John McCain have to do more in the way of offering specifics as to how he will build the economy as president than he did in that speech last night? CARDENAS: Listen, if anybody turns in -- tunes in to John McCain's Web site, there are a lot of pages where a lot of specifics about economy, about education...

HARRIS: Al, you're really going to...

CARDENAS: ... energy independence.

HARRIS: You're going to drive people to the Web site?

CARDENAS: Yes, listen...

BOYKIN: Al, Al, he had a chance to talk to (INAUDIBLE) people last night.

CARDENAS: He had a 45-minute spot.

HARRIS: Keith, let him speak.

CARDENAS: In a 45-minute spot is not when you give a detailed menu. You come across as a leader who's going to lead America through turbulent times by reforming the country, getting Washington to do what it needs to do, there are plenty of good ideas out there.

Problem is, Washington hasn't done any of them. He selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate because they're going to reform Washington and get all these good things done.

HARRIS: Al, would it -- Al, would it have been...

CARDENAS: The energy issue was the first issue.

HARRIS: Would it have been helpful for him to offer one idea on building...

BOYKIN: Yes.

HARRIS: ... the economy last night and if I missed it, would you share it with me.

CARDENAS: He offered plenty of ideas.

Look, the three central themes he offered yesterday which will get our nation back on its feet is to give a very detailed plan on how we get off dependence on foreign energy. The second thing he did was very detailed.

We're going to live within our means. I'm going to fight Democrats', you know, earmarks, and I'm going to fight for a balanced budget, and I'm going to fight for deficit reduction.

Those are the key...

HARRIS: OK.

CARDENAS: ... parts of building up an economic base. And the other thing he did was he talked about ethics which is a critical part of Washington.

HARRIS: OK. Now Keith...

BOYKIN: Yes, what, what -- what he did last night he talked and talked and talked, but he didn't offer a single policy difference with George Bush. He didn't offer a single substantive policy solution about anything he's going to do about anything.

He said he's going to continue Bush's policies on the economy, which mean more tax cuts for the wealthy. He's going to continue Bush's war in Iraq.

HARRIS: OK.

BOYKIN: He's going to -- he's going to continue with no solutions on health care and the only thing the Republicans...

HARRIS: That's...

BOYKIN: ... are offering about education is school choice, the same thing he's been offering for the same eight years. It's the same old...

HARRIS: Guys, guys, guys.

BOYKIN: .... retread of the old policy he offered.

HARRIS: Guys, honestly, I hope we move forward. There are a lot of people who are losing their jobs and we need some real specifics from both candidates on what we're going to do to get this economy going...

BOYKIN: Exactly right.

CARDENAS: Well, reform. There are plenty of good ideas in Washington.

HARRIS: Helping people to take care of their families and...

CARDENAS: Reform is all about getting things done.

HARRIS: All right. Al, appreciate it. Keith, good to see you again.

BOYKIN: Thank you, Tony.

HARRIS: Gentlemen, both -- to both of you, thank you.

BOYKIN: Thank you.

HARRIS: She wowed the crowd with her speech and made history as the first female vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party. Alaska governor Sarah Palin making her mark this week.

Palin described herself as part hockey mom and part pit bull. She blasted Barack Obama while defending herself against questions about her own experience.

COLLINS: The Obama campaign firing back at John McCain. A barrage of statements issued. Some while McCain was still speaking last night on taxes. The campaign says Obama's tax plan offers bigger cuts than McCain's for most workers.

Obama is on the trail in Pennsylvania today. He holds a town hall meeting at 11:00 Eastern. We will take you there live.

A budding friendship with a former enemy. The U.S. secretary of state calls on Libya's leader today.

ANNOUNCER: "Making Their Mark" is sponsored by...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live breaking news, unfolding developments, see for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Condoleezza Rice calling it a historic moment. She sits down today with Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi -- the first secretary of state to visit Libya in more than 50 years.

CNN State Department correspondent Zain Verjee is live now from Tripoli this morning.

So, Zain, how did this all come about? I mean there was quite a bit of planning, quite a bit of a deal that was struck here. What does it mean for the U.S.?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is really a significant moment for the United States. Heidi, this is a big deal.

Muammar Gadhafi was really seen as the Osama bin Laden of the 1980s. Now, in just a few hours, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to land here in the capital Tripoli and shake hands and sign deals with Muammar Gadhafi, possibly even meet him in his Bedouin tent to do that where he conducts a lot of official business.

How did this happen? Well, the Bush administration can point to something that they say is a really rare foreign policy success case. They say that Gadhafi has turned around. He's rehabilitated himself. What has he done? He's given up weapons of mass destruction. He helps the U.S. with its counter-terrorism. Officials have said he's been really helpful.

And importantly, too, for the U.S., Gadhafi has acknowledged responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing in 1998, Pan Am flight 103 that exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland and has also agreed to give payments to the families of victims.

There are a lot of questions and loopholes about that right now. But Secretary Rice clearly has confidence in the process that he's going to be here. Also people of the United States, Heidi, oil, Libya has huge potential. There's a vast amount of untapped resources here and by sealing and signing deals here today, Secretary Rice is going to make it a lot easier for American oil companies and other American companies who want to do business here to just be able to do it and not be hassled either here or back in the U.S. -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes, earlier we were talking about that, the Lockerbie, Scotland, and we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. I'd love to know more what some of those loopholes are and how that will move forward.

But for now, I just want to ask you, what is it like being in Libya at this time?

VERJEE: Well, it's sweltering hot here, Heidi. It's also the Muslim holy month of Ramadan so everyone's fasting during the day. It makes it really difficult to get things done. People aren't working. They clock into work, many around 11:00 p.m. they're eating, shopping, hanging out until dawn.

We've driven around Tripoli a fair amount and you see huge Gadhafi posters that loom over you, striking different poses in many of them. There's a huge construction boom here. You know you look at the skyline and the landscape here in Tripoli and you can see the kind of foreign money and investment coming in.

It's very beautiful and picturesque. The Mediterranean is here and I haven't had a chance to stick my toe in it. It's supposed to be beautiful and warm, but maybe when Secretary Rice leaves -- Heidi.

COLLINS: OK. Yes, you don't want her to see you doing that, maybe. Or, maybe you can do it together.

All right. Zain Verjee coming to us live via broadband from Tripoli, this morning.

Thanks so much, Zain.

Good morning, once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris, welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HARRIS: Hanna suddenly in a hurry. The storm makes a bee-line for the Carolinas, today. CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So, we're watching tropical storm Hanna this morning and you can watch right along with us. It's flooding being blamed for 137 deaths in Haiti. Now the storm just shy of hurricane strength, is aiming for the Carolina coastline. Our Rob Marciano has the latest from weather center. And Rob, I guess the question is, do you expect Hanna to be a hurricane at landfall? And I ask because a lot of folks make that go or no-go decision based on sort of the answer to that question.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, it's going to be right on the cusp. And my argument would be, what's the difference of five miles an hour, between 70 and 75, or 74 miles an hour. And that's what we're talking about here.

So, if you live right along the beaches of Charleston, into Wilmington, definitely be listening to your emergency managers and your local officials and take heed to whatever advice they're giving you because they're dialed into the folks that are briefing them on an hour-by-hour, if not minute-by-minute basis as far as what the storm is going to do.

So, they've got their plan in place. These folks are no strangers to hurricanes. And this could become a hurricane. It's got winds of 65 miles an hour, gusting to 75. And the western flank of this storm is certainly flaring up a little bit. And Florida, although not getting a direct hit, is feeling the effects right now.

Here's the forecast for the track and notice it does remain in the open -- the open symbol there, says that it's tropical storm. So, tropical storm in through landfall, Charleston to Wilmington, late tonight, early tomorrow morning. But that doesn't mean it couldn't bump up five more miles an hour to a hurricane. And that's certainly a possibility.

And actually, it looks a lot better now, than it did any other time in the last 24 hours. Already some of the outer bands beginning to roll back into the Carolinas. So there you go, from Charleston, up through Virginia Beach. We have tropical storm warnings posted for this area. And then watches for parts of Jersey, might even be extended to Long Island, as this thing kind of recurves out to sea.

And then here's Ike, guys. Major hurricane expected to continue its westerly movement, potentially a Cat 4. Tuesday morning, somewhere near Florida. That's a scary proposition and we are hoping we can move that track one way or another, or knock down the intensity. But right now, Ike, it's certainly a great concern across hurricane country.

COLLINS: And you've moved that up a bit, too, right? Wasn't it supposed to be a little bit later in the week and now it seems like it's moving a little faster?

MARCIANO: Well, you know, every day -- yesterday the cone ended here. So, we just extended it another 24 hours and that's where we are right now.

So, yes. Monday, Tuesday morning, this is where it's going to be. And by then I'm sure, maybe these people will on the move.

COLLINS: Yes. Well, we certainly hope so, if that's the case.

Rob, we'll stay in close contact with you. Appreciate that.

Meanwhile, Hanna hit the Bahamas yesterday. A glancing blow. Some flooding and power outages but, no deaths reporter.

Reporter Vanessa Medina, from our affiliate WSVN, surveyed the damage on Abaco Island.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA MEDINA, WSVN REPORTER (on camera): All it took was a few hours and the water has already started to gather here. This is the main road in Abaco. This road takes you, for the most part, east and west.

Now, this is not unnatural for this area. Standard hardware, he built that store much higher because of this very problem.

(voice-over): A problem, yes. But for Bahamians, Hanna, Ike, Josephine, all the way down the alphabet, it'll never kill their spirit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The drive is pretty good right now. We're prepared.

MEDINA (on camera): You've got the music going on, so you're OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We're jamming with Shaggy tonight.

MEDINA: Government officials here in Abaco, say that everything will be suspended until further notice. They will be having a meeting on Saturday, to decide what will happen with Ike, and what will they do to prepare.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: You can send us your iReport images on Hanna and we will put them on air, like those folks did. Just e-mail us at CNN.com.

Hey, wasn't that our director, Michael?

HARRIS: Was that him?

COLLINS: E-mail us at CNN.com/ireport. So, please, of course, as always, do not put yourself in any danger.

HARRIS: Don't you have enough to do?

U.S. troop cuts in Iraq, not so fast. Top military brass say further reductions this year would be impractical despite improved security. Live now to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

Barbara, good morning.

We thought we might get, at least a moderate troop withdrawal, a draw down this fall, based on the Congressional testimony from General Petraeus in May. It doesn't look like that's going to happen now.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Tony, the bottom line is we will see. Things are moving rapidly. There may, in fact through, be some very good news for some U.S. military families.

Sources very close to the process about this whole question of troop cuts are telling CNN that General Petraeus now believes that the situation would allow for a cut of up to 8,000 troops out of Iraq, from now until January. That would be perhaps as much as two brigades moving out of Iraq, coming back home.

This is something that has been briefed to President Bush, we are told. The key issue here is we have not heard from the president, yet, about what he wants to do. And there is a wrinkle in all of this because some Pentagon officials are saying just what you said. Which is, it may not be practical to get everybody packed up and back home by then, depending on the situation on the ground. That this could actually extend well into next year.

It does look like the bottom line is there will be some troop cuts, perhaps fairly modest, perhaps bringing those 15 brigades now in Iraq, back down to 14 brigades or less. That's good news for troops. They want to come home as fast as they can, obviously.

HARRIS: Yes. Absolutely.

Could this ultimately mean more troop support in Afghanistan?

STARR: Well, that is actually, of course, pardon me, the real goal here at the end if the day. Because the U.S. Military is in complete agreement that they need more troops in Afghanistan and the only way they can find them to send there, is if they don't have to send fresh troops to Iraq.

So, there is a considerable amount of pressure, if you will, on the whole military system to get troops out of Iraq, turn them around, send them to Afghanistan for the fight there. And there is a commitment by the top military leadership to try and make that happen in early '09, early next year.

So, all of these things really tied together. But a lot of military families through the holiday season will be watching very carefully.

HARRIS: What a terrific thing if we could actually get some kind of a draw down right around the holidays for these families. That would be terrific.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Barbara, thank you..

STARR: Sure.

HARRIS: Civilians caught in the crossfire. The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says two civilians were killed and wounded. It happened during a firefight in Farah province. The coalition says militants ambushed U.S. and Afghan troops. Six militants were killed in three other Afghan provinces. The coalition says troops killed several militants and operations targeting bombing networks.

In northern Iraq, coalition troops report killing a suspected al- Qaeda suspect in Iraq. He was said to have been a liaison who's applied bomb-making materials for militants. Also today, gunman killed an Iraqi defense ministry official near his home in Baghdad.

COLLINS: A rare conversation with Syria's president. He talks about Israel, Iran and the U.S. election. A CNN exclusive.

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COLLINS: A U.S. Navy command ship arrives in the Republic of Georgia. It's anchored outside the key port of Poti. U.S. Military officials say the USS Mt. Whitney is delivering humanitarian supplies. It's intended for Georgians affected by the conflict with Russia.

Two other U.S. ships have already brought in aid and Moscow, not happy about it. Our Matthew Chance has an interview with the foreign minister coming up next hour.

Syria and Israel. Archenemies that could soon take a historic step forward to peace. An exclusive interview with CNN. Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad says, indirect negotiations with the Jewish state will hopefully lead to face-to-face talks. Al-Assad talks about that possibility and other critical issues, like Iran's nuclear ambitions during a summit with French President Nicolas Sarcozy and leaders of Turkey and Cutter.

Reporting from Damascus, CNN's Cal Perry.

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CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We were given a very rare opportunity to speak one-on-one with the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in English, which, of course, is something that he does not normally do. We hit on all the major issues that were discussed in this summit. But first and foremost, the issue of Iran.

Now, very recently, the Syrian president travelled to Tehran. I asked him what was discussed in those meetings.

PRES. BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIA: We don't report any military. nuclear problem. Whether in Iran, or in any other country.

PERRY: And did you say this while in Tehran?

AL-ASSAD: Yes, of course. And they agree with this.

PERRY: So clearly, in agreement already regionally about as the president told me off camera, weapons of mass destruction and the need to not have nuclear weapons within the region or in Iran. He was very explicit on that point. I of course took advantage as he was speaking English and I was at the presidential palace, to ask him his thoughts on the U.S. presidential election and whether or not he was following the election closely.

AL-ASSAD: Of course. Any president would be welcome here to make (INAUDIBLE) out of everything, with no exception. But we don't bet in Syria, on who's going to win. We're not going to bet. It's American matter. We cannot say who's going to be better for me, who's going to be better to my issue. The peace issue, my occupied land, the (INAUDIBLE) in the Middle East, including Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, everywhere surrounding and affecting us. That's what our concern now.

PERRY: Now, this summit may have been billed at the beginning as a regional summit, but certainly by the end it became a global summit.

Syria is not just figuratively in the middle of everything when you look at the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, when you look at Syria, potentially negotiating with Israel. Syria is geographically and literally in the middle of everything.

Cal Perry, CNN, Damascus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Problems from home trailing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on to the national stage. An exclusive from CNN's special investigations unit.

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HARRIS: While the nation gets to know Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican VP candidate remains under investigation. Alaska lawmakers want to know whether Palin abused her office in an attempt to get her former brother-in-law fired.

The ex is talking and our Drew Griffin got the interview.

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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The ex-brother-in-law, trooper Mike Wooten says he has no ill-will towards the Palin family, says he's actually excited about Sarah Palin's vice presidency.

What he's not excited about is the fact that his bitter divorce and ensuing custody battle with Sarah Palin's sister is now turning his private life into headline-making material. He sat down with us exclusively on condition his union representative be at his side, to set the record straight.

How do you feel about just having all of your life plastered in newspapers and TVs and now, picked up nationally?

MIKE WOOTEN, PALIN'S EX-BROTHER-IN-LAW: It's definitely not very easy. It creates a lot of stress. That's for sure.

GRIFFIN: What would you like the people who have read all these reports to know about you? WOOTEN: Well, you know, I guess, you know, my priorities are my kids and being the best father I can be to my children. And my job, being the best trooper that I can be for state -- the citizens of the state. You know, I was young and I made mistakes and I was punished for those mistakes. I learned my lesson, they're behind me. And I'm trying to move on to be the best dad I can be to my children and be the best trooper I can be. You know, I love my job and I love this state. You know, those are my priorities.

GRIFFIN: Trooper Mike Wooten is 36 years old. He has been married four times, all four marriages have ended. He has a long list of reprimands as a state trooper.

He admits that he did taser his 11-year-old stepson in a demonstration. He admits he killed a moose illegally. There are allegations he was drinking in his patrol car, which he denies. And there are allegations he threatened to kill Sarah Palin's father, which he also denies.

After all of that, he is still a trooper. He was suspended for just five days. But his record's not the issue here. It's whether or not the governor used her office of to try to pressure the public safety commissioner here in Alaska, to fire Wooten. And when the public safety commissioner would not fire Wooten, that the governor actually fired him.

Governor Palin denies that, said the firing was over a budgetary issue. But the state investigation goes on.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Anchorage, Alaska.

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COLLINS: They call Sarah Palin, "Sarah Barracuda." But Heart doesn't want its '70's song, "Barracuda," used to promote her candidacy. There it was, bringing down the house last night at the close of the Republican convention. Heart's Nancy Wilson says, she's asked the campaign to stop using the song. She says Palin does not represent the band's views.

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COLLINS: Seems like bank robbery stories are a dime a dozen these days, but here's one with a different twist from greater Cincinnati. Police say a man took a taxi to a bank, robbed it and then used the same taxi as a getaway. Isn't that nice that he waited for the guy? The taxi driver said he didn't know anything about what was happening. That changed, though, when he passed the same bank and saw police. He'd already dropped off his passenger who had paid the fare with $20.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it possible the money he paid you with was stolen from the bank?

CHEIKH LEMINE, TAXI DRIVER: Yes. I gave it back to the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you're out? You worked and you got nothing, right?

LEMINE: Hopefully I get my money back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Police are still searching for the suspect.

HARRIS: What can brown do? Well, apparently a lot for this driver. 51-year-old Brett Boyd, listen to this, has surpassed the 1 million mark in his UPS delivery van. And yes, all those miles chartered in the same vehicles over 22 years. The odometer on Boyd's 1987 GMC truck rolled over to all zeros as he began his delivery route near Palenstine, Texas, yesterday. Boyd has gone through at least three engines and as many repaving jobs. He says, he's turned down offers for a new van because his truck quote, "feels like home."

COLLINS: See, there's the next ad for GMC right there. It's already done.