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Severe Southern Storms; President Obama Visits Afghanistan; U.S Census Causes a Stir; Carolina Storms; Inside a Libyan Prison; Could Libya's Approach to Extremism Work in America?

Aired March 28, 2010 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, breaking news. The president makes a top-secret trip to Afghanistan.

But first, a tornado outbreak in the Southeast. This video just in to CNN. It's from our affiliate, WCNC. A mobile home park, it's in Belmont, North Carolina, took a direct hit. Nearby homes and businesses also torn up. It's a very big mess there. You can see lots of downed trees and also some pounding hail. Let's get straight to our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, in the CNN severe weather with the very latest.

Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's been an incredible night, Don. We've had at least 32 reports of severe weather in Georgia and across the Carolinas. Eight of those reports were of tornadoes. These are unconfirmed yet by the National Weather Service.

There you can see the ones west of the Charlotte area. We're talking about much of the damage between Lexington on up towards High Point, where a large tornado touched down. At least 20 homes, sturdy homes, were damaged here. And at least three people are injured. We're not sure exactly how severe those injuries are.

Tornado watches remain in effect. And all the action has really been right along the I-85 Corridor from west of Charlotte on up towards the Greensboro area, and that threat continues as we speak.

We've got a tornado warning in effect for Person County right here. That's near the state line. And then we also have one into parts of Georgia at this hour.

I want to take you down toward Charlotte. No tornado warning just yet, but a severe thunderstorm warning remains in effect and large hail will be very likely. And look at all that lightning, just popping up there. This storm has been intensifying so we'll have to watch it for that potential of rotation.

Now, we do think once we get past the midnight hour, the threat will start to diminish. We've lost our daytime heating now, so things look much better. By tomorrow morning, we'll tell you what you can expect, though. Could we see some more severe weather tomorrow afternoon? We'll let you know, coming up with today's forecast.

LEMON: And much, much more ahead with Jacqui coming up. I want to tell our viewers, Jacqui, I'm also hearing -- we're getting some new video in and having time now to survey the damage. So, we'll get back to Jacqui. We'll get that video that's happening with those tornadoes in just a bit here on CNN.

Meantime, at this hour, President Barack Obama is on a very long plane ride back home after a surprise visit to Afghanistan. The secret journey began in the middle of the night with the president leaving Camp David and flying out. Soon after touching down, he met with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai. Then he met with military officials at Bagram Air Base and spoke to a crowd of about 2,000 U.S. and Allied troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If this region slides backwards, if the Taliban retakes this country and al Qaeda can operate with impunity, then more American lives will be at stake. The Afghan people will lose their chance at progress and prosperity. And the world will be significantly less secure.

And as long as I'm your commander-in-chief, I am not going to let that happen. That's why you are here. I've made a promise to all of you who serve. I will never send you into harm's way unless it's absolutely necessary. I anguish in thinking about the sacrifices that so many of you make. That's why I promise I will never send you out unless it is necessary.

But that's only part of the promise, because the other part of the promise is that when it is absolutely necessary, you will be backed up by a clear mission and the right strategy and you will have the support to finish the job, to get the job done. And I am confident all of you are going to get the job done right here in Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The president got in and got out very quickly. The entire visit lasted just a few hours. This visit came as the U.S. ramps up the war effort in Afghanistan. And our Chris Lawrence is live via broadband tonight in the Helmand Province.

Chris, you've been embedded with troops on the front line, so how are they reacting to the president's surprise drop-in?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, I can tell you, I was in a room full of Marines who were preparing to go out on a patrol mission last night when we all got word that the president had come to Afghanistan. The reaction, honestly, was pretty much like, OK, I doubt if he's going to come to a base like this one. Pretty remote area, dangerous area of Helmand Province. They got right back to work and went out on patrol. So not much change here.

And I think it illustrates that there are two Afghanistans. There is the stable, more secure north of Afghanistan, where President Obama was there last night. And there's down here, the dangerous south, here in Helmand Province. And it really points out that the key issue that President Obama came here to drive home to the Karzai administration and that is accountability in government and corruption.

It is those two reasons whether Taliban were able to seize control here in Helmand Province, because the people here felt that there was no other recourse. They didn't have a government that they felt they could trust. Everything was done through cronies, through payoffs, kickbacks, things like that. They felt they had nowhere else to turn, although the Taliban justice was brutal, it was, in some form, justice.

Now the U.S. Marines that we've been working with here and seen them work, they are really engaging the local, down at the district level, the district governor, working on projects to de-mine this area.

Where we're standing right now is probably one of the most heavily mined areas in the entire world. 20,000 people had to flee this area when the Taliban took over here and the fighting was going on. Now the Marines are down here, trying to get that area de-mined, working with the Afghans, trying to build up that local government from the grassroots level, so people have a more stable place to come back to.

LEMON: Hey, I got to ask you another question here. And real quickly, Chris, we have some other breaking news, but you've embedded with the Marines for a little while now. So how are they feeling about the overall war effort? You talked about the president's visit, but the overall war effort? How do they feel?

LAWRENCE: I got to tell you, extremely positive. These are a very aggressive group of Marines, and they feel like they are really making a difference here. A lot of them are telling me, I remember what this place was like even four months ago. And they're telling me, I can see the difference. Maybe people outside don't, but we see the difference and some of the locals see the difference. They feel like they're on the right track and they want more time to carry it out.

LEMON: Our Chris Lawrence in Helmand Province tonight.

Thank you very much, Chris.

The U.S. is fighting a war in Afghanistan as a direct result of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. And as of today, there are 83,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan. By the end of the year, that number is to jump to 98,000. In addition, there are about 39,000 troops from other countries with another 10,000 to follow. 1,022 U.S. troops have lost their lives in combat in Afghanistan since 9/11. 83 of those deaths were this year.

The administration's new strategy is having a measurable effect on public opinion. Last November, only 32 percent believed the Afghan war was going well. Now that number has spiked to 55 percent. So what every president finds out sooner or later, foreign policy is never far from domestic politics.

I want to walk over now and go over to our political editor, Mark Preston. He is joining us here in Atlanta tonight, usually in Washington working things out, but now he is here.

Good to see you, sir. Good to see you. So, listen, it was a very interesting week for the president. He won on health care. He's got the Afghan war. Was this strategic, coming off the heels of that vote?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Look, he had to go to Afghanistan. He hasn't been to Afghanistan yet, Don. And the fact of the matter is Afghanistan is his war. He ran on it when he was running for president in 2008. We'll always say that Iraq was President Bush's war. Afghanistan is now President Obama's war.

LEMON: OK. So also I said -- I mentioned he had a good week -- so in Afghanistan, the health care vote, he won on health care, but yet he is still out there selling it and he is going to have to sell it. Why?

PRESTON: He has to sell it. And if you look at the "Washington Post-ABC" poll that was just released, 50 percent of Americans do not like this bill. And the fact of the matter is, Don, you had a lot of Democrats that Democratic leaders had to really twist their arms.

You had President Obama making telephone calls, trying to get their support. A lot of Democrats took a hard vote. President Obama needs to sell it. And in fact, we'll see him this week. He's supposed to be in Maine, talking about health care reform.

LEMON: And he's going to continue to do that. Meantime, the Tea Party Express, it's been going across the country. He's going to have to deal with that as well.

Mark Preston, good to see you here in Atlanta. I'll see you soon. Thank you, sir.

PRESTON: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Twisters tear through North Carolina as a line of storms rumble east. We'll have more, much, much more on this aftermath and where that storm system is headed to next. This is our breaking news tonight on CNN.

And also, they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. One of our old adversaries has a new approach for helping jihadists put down their guns. What can we learn from Libya?

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He goes on there right here. Why would Negro be there? It should be African-American?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The census doesn't usually offend, but just one word is stirring up outrage. Our panel looks at an issue that isn't black and white.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. This is our breaking news tonight. At least three possible tornadoes in North Carolina. I want you to take a look at this. It's video of a partially ripped off roof from an industrial warehouse in Belmont. It's just west of Charlotte. Severe storms have soaked the area for much of the day.

The National Weather Service says an apparent tornado toppled trees and brought down power lines, leaving hundreds of people in the dark.

And we just got this video in. Check it out. This video is from YouTube, right? You can see the funnel cloud forming right here over High Point, North Carolina, even more evidence that tornadoes descended on the Carolinas today. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's go inside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, amazing to capture that and you warned people earlier to get out of harm's way, that this was going to come through.

JERAS: Yes. You can see kind of a wide one there. And you can see those transformers, which were blowing, and so a lot of people without power tonight. And that tornado threat still ongoing.

Now take a look at this. We've got the watches in effect. The first one here from Georgia through North Carolina. This expires at 11:00 Eastern Time. And the second one expires at 1:00, and that includes you into the Raleigh area.

And things have really been very heated, especially right along the I-85 Corridor since about maybe 5:30, 6:00 tonight. And it's just been storm after storm after storm. And some of these areas have been hit two, three, even four times with severe thunderstorms.

In addition to those tornadoes that you mentioned, Don, we've also had a lot of damaging winds and large hail, baseball to tennis ball-sized. Yes, that's huge. And that in and of itself can cause some major damage. Severe thunderstorm warnings still in effect for Charlotte.

You can see, this has moved on the east side of the town, moving up towards Concord and Kannapolis. And you've already had a storm move through here tonight, Don, which did cause quite a bit of damage.

We're going to take you down into Georgia. This is just outside of Milledgeville, and we do have a Doppler radar-indicated tornado here. That is still in effect for at least another 15 minutes or so. And all of these storms have been tracking up to the North and to the East. And again, this is a radar-indicated tornado, but a tornado could touch down at any given time. So we'll continue to monitor that area.

We do also want to mention what's been happening across parts of Florida. No watches in effect here, but this really strong line has been pushing through and our wind shear, our wind profiles are favorable, that we could potentially see a little spin-up. So we'll continue to monitor that situation.

The Storm Prediction Center says that they don't expect that they'll be issuing any watches. We're going to continue to track this storm, Don, because this is going to be heading up the coast, believe it or not, and this is going to cause some big problems for folks in the Northeast tomorrow. Travel delays already abundant today. Wait until you see what we've got in store for tomorrow. We'll have more details on that coming up in the back half hour of the show.

LEMON: OK. Here we go. Thank you, Jacqui.

And make sure you stay right there because just ahead, roundup. We have a roundup of the stories that will be making news in the coming week that you'll want to know about, including a big tech debut.

And the census deadline is rapidly approaching. Problem is many people are confused and upset about the questions about racial identity. We'll talk about that right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now the stories you'll be hearing about in the week ahead from the White House to the economy to entertainment. We start tonight on Capitol Hill.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian at the White House, where early this week the president will sign the reconciliation bill, which includes final revisions to the health care legislation. This, after a contentious battle over reform that Republicans are still pledging to fight.

Then on Thursday, the president heads to Portland, Maine, where he'll continue selling the immediate and long-term benefits of the new law.

And he wraps up the week on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina, talking about the economy and what his administration is doing to turn things around.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM ANCHOR: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Here is what we'll be tracking this week on CNNMoney. The all- important monthly jobs report is due out on Friday and investors are looking for any signs that the job market is improving.

And also coming up, we'll get a key reading on consumer confidence and the auto industry will be back in the spotlight with the latest sales numbers. And the New York auto show also gets under way. We'll be following it all.

A.J.HAMMER, ANCHOR, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I'm "Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer. We are expecting big news from Usher this week. Now, reportedly, he's going to reveal why his marriage fell apart.

We're also expecting more fallout in the Sandra Bullock cheating scandal. Will more of Jesse James' alleged mistresses come forward?

Perhaps most importantly, though, I am excited to tell you that beginning on Monday, "Showbiz Tonight" is going to be live every day 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday on HLN. And we are still, of course, TV's most provocative entertainment news show at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

LEMON: All right. So what's happening domestically and internationally? We start with two members of our team here. First, Chris Friedman with the domestic list. So, you start with the Speaker of the House?

CHRIS FRIEDMAN, CNN NATIONAL DESK: Speaker of the House, yes. Last week at this time, we were counting the votes in Washington, we were all here late. Tomorrow, she's back in her home district in San Francisco. She'll be meeting with seniors at a senior center, addressing their concerns. Almost sort of a victory lap, you might say.

LEMON: All right. So we'll be watching that. Remember, we were covering this huge story about Somalia and all the pirates. What's going on with that?

FRIEDMAN: That's right. That cargo ship that was hijacked off the coast last year. The one person that was captured -- remember, there was a daring rescue, the captain of the Alabama Maersk was rescued. The one suspect who was captured, he's in court on Thursday.

LEMON: So we'll be following that.

And this -- and I've got to walk around with a bigger version of this?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Because next week...

FRIEDMAN: As long as it fits on your waist. You see, the iPod goes on sale on Saturday. We'll talk about that.

LEMON: It's like four of these put together. So you can't really put it...

FRIEDMAN: As long as we can get a hold of you when we need you. LEMON: Thank you very much.

Christine Theodorou joins us now from the international desk. So, what do you have for us? You were talking about the Pope Holy Week coming up, right?

CHRISTINE THEODOROU, CNN INTERNATIONAL DESK: Exactly. Pope Benedict XVI today, he indirectly addressed a lot of the scandals that are occurring. Now, he's going to hold several masses for Holy Week throughout the week. We'll be listening for any additional comments and looking further ahead, he's going to be visiting Washington, D.C. on the 15th.

LEMON: And a visit we have from the Israeli prime minister, right? He's coming, is that right, to the White House? Is that correct?

THEODOROU: Exactly.

LEMON: OK. And what day is that happening? Do we know?

THEODOROU: No.

LEMON: No, we don't know.

THEODOROU: I'm not quite sure. Off the top of my head right now.

LEMON: Canada hosting foreign ministers for a group of eight leading industrialized nations. That's on Monday and Tuesday. Tell us about that.

THEODOROU: So Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon is actually meeting with eight of his counterparts from the Group of Eight. He's hoping to increase pressure on Iran, come up with a more cohesive strategy on how they're going to proceed with that issue. And, of course, the U.S. is still on the same plate. They want to go ahead and press for additional -- for a fourth round of sanctions with the Security Council.

LEMON: So you'll be watching that and lot of stories to watch. A lot of them too many to remember. Sometimes better to keep them all in here...

THEODOROU: Going back to Netanyahu, it's not exactly his visit to the D.C. that we were keeping an eye out for. To be completely honest, they're closing the West Bank tonight. So nobody's going to be allowed in and out, except for journalists and those seeking medical attention. And it's going to remain closed until April 6th. So what I'm really going to be keeping an eye out for is reaction out of D.C. this week.

LEMON: There you go. Great information. That's why we have her here. We appreciate both of you. Thank you so much.

In the meantime, on Thursday, the president has a deadline to return the U.S. census forms. It is supposed to be a simple counting of all Americans for every 10 years. But this time, questions about race causing some anger and some confusion. Question 8 focuses on Hispanics, but it prohibits anyone from claiming Hispanic as a race. Question 9 goes even further. It uses the term "Negro," which many African-Americans find offensive.

The Census Bureau says the language is intended to be as inclusive as possible. Filmmaker Raquel Cepeda asked New Yorkers to look over the census forms. Their responses were revealing about attitudes toward race in America. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAQUEL CEPEDA, FILMMAKER (on camera): Are you at all confused by the racial categories that are offered to Latinos in the census?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Because there are a lot of African and there are a lot of black that are Latino and Hispanic. What I also see very interesting is underneath the Hispanic, Latino or Hispanic origin, you've got a Mexican, Chicano, Puerto Rican and the Cuban slot. So, you know, I was born in Puerto Rico. All my family is Cuban, and on top of that, I'm white.

CEPEDA: I don't know if you've noticed this, but they -- we introduced the term Negro to the black category.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

CEPEDA: When you hear that word...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like Negro or Negro?

CEPEDA: Negro. It's in the black...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Negro in English?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Negro is on there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. Exactly. Yes, right there.

CEPEDA: Negro is on there right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would Negro be there? It should be African-American.

CEPEDA: When you hear the word Negro," what do you...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not politically correct. So, that's what you've got to think about. You know, they're trying to include everybody from Negro to black or whatever or whatever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you would choose Negro before African- American?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't choose Negro. No. Of course not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would choose African-Americans, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but then, you know, we were called Negroes before we were called black. Then it jumped into black.

CEPEDA: The easiest category here is white. Why is it so easy? Because white people also have very diverse...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, absolutely. I always wonder why we're always grouped together as white, although I wouldn't necessarily know what I am. Where do I belong? When you talk to some Indian, and they're there, too. So, you know, but one drop of Indian doesn't make me Indian. I'm still classified as white.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So the comments and a discussion on census controversy straight ahead after the break.

And the discovery of wreckage of a World War II bomber like this one prompts a viewer to send us a message on Facebook. We'll give you an update on that. Very interesting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So just before the break, we were telling you about the new U.S. census form, which is due to be mailed back this Thursday. But questions about race in the census have upset many people. Earlier, I spoke about it with filmmaker Raquel Cepeda, Baratunde Thurston of JackandJillPolitics.com and Christian Lander, author of "Stuff White People Like." Their comments were very interesting and insightful. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: What were people's responses, in general, about the census? Did they -- did they understand how serious it is to the country or what it means for the country, or were they just really sort of taken aback by the language?

CEPEDA: I think because we live in a racialized, an extremely racialized community, people couldn't really get past what the census -- participating in the census does for the community. They were really taken aback and offended by the inclusion of the term Negro and just how confusing all this, you know, especially for Latinos.

I'm a Latina. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to check off the Hispanic/Latina and/or Spanish origin, even though I'm not of Spanish origin.

But racially, it's confusing. I don't think they took the time out to really help people fill out the form, explain that you could check more than one box. I don't know. I just -- I feel like because -- the people that I spoke to were just stuck on the whole race issue and the confusion behind it to talk about anything else. LEMON: What's the solution here as far as acknowledging race without sort of being labeled racist?

CHRISTIAN LANDER, AUTHOR, "STUFF WHITE PEOPLE LIKE": Well, I mean, it's a tough thing. When I saw the census form and I saw those words in there, you know, for Negro, African-American, black, I was confused. I mean, as a white person, we're desperate to have a black person tell us exactly what we're supposed to say and we'll say it forever. But we're completely confused as well.

And so as far as a solution goes, I mean, you know, to say something like, I don't see color, is ridiculous. I mean that's to say you don't recognize this person has a heritage, that this person hasn't had a different experience in America than you. And that's completely ridiculous.

But at the same time, to fail to recognize that person as a human being is a huge mistake. And that's where -- that's where racism comes from.

LEMON: Is it a distraction because of the one or two words that's on the census form, the greater good that comes out of the census may be overshadowed by just this one issue?

BARATUNDE THRUSTON, CO-FOUNDER, JACKANDJILLPOLITICS.COM: Well, and that greater good is important for people watching this to keep in mind. Over $400 billion in federal money are allocated based on census information. Redistricting is coming up in a number of states and the number of representatives that folks get in the House of Reps are going to be determined by this census. So, that's real money, real policy implications.

I think it's always going to be a challenge to try to take a static snapshot that captures everyone in a fluid environment of race. This country was sort of forged in the fire of race and our future likely lies in it in some way. But no single, simple form can really appeal to and respect everyone's different perspective.

Two Latinos or Latinas are going to have a different idea. Two black people or a black person and a Negro are going to have a different idea. And I hope in the next version of this, they keep that in mind. But I hope we also recognize the whole art is really imperfect.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thanks to our guests.

Straight ahead here in CNN, a fearful evening ahead for North Carolina residents. We'll have the latest on the damage done. The tornado warning in effect, and a live report from emergency officials.

And the Pope weathered a storm of controversy this past week. The storm clouds haven't cleared yet, but he has some words of wisdom for doubting Catholics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, breaking news tonight. People across North Carolina have a miserable Monday ahead of them, picking up after a line of vicious storms tore through several towns. Now this YouTube video is in High Point, North Carolina, where some 20 homes were damaged. At least three tornados appeared to have really smacked down from the sky, snaked down from the sky, I should say, all over there. Fortunately, only one injury has been reported. Listen to this a little bit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's go inside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Amazing video to capture there. Delano saw some damage of its own and the storms are packing high winds and hail the size of baseballs. People have been telling us they've seen that. A tornado watch remains in effect until 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time. 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

So, is it possible the worst isn't even over yet? We want to head out to Julia Jarema. She is with North Carolina's Emergency Management and she joins us now from Raleigh, North Carolina.

What are you seeing there? What's the situation?

JULIA JAREMA, N.C. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via telephone): Well, Don, as you said, it's been a very active evening for most of central North Carolina. In fact, just a couple of minutes ago, we had another tornado warning go through the Greensboro -- for the Greensboro- Jamestown area again. So, the area that you were just mentioning that was hit earlier may be in for some more rough weather.

LEMON: So, we have been seeing lots of trees, lots of -- and I would imagine along with those trees, they are taking power lines down. How are people dealing with that? Are you without power anywhere?

JAREMA: Scattered power outages, but to be honest, things are changing very rapidly. We haven't been able to get a confirmed number for the number of power outages. As you said, a lot of high winds, some tornados, some straight line winds, and some of those straight line winds can be just as damaging as some of the tornados.

LEMON: We reported that there was only one injury in the town. What about where you are? Are you seeing any injuries, fatalities?

JAREMA: No, not in the Raleigh area. In Wake County, we've fared OK so far. But we've heard of reports of a few minor injuries, but don't have any confirmed numbers.

LEMON: So, tomorrow is going to be a rough day of cleanup and commute for people living in that area and then it's heading up the east coast. JAREMA: That's what we hear. And of course, as daylight comes, we'll know more, really, about what kind of damage we are facing.

LEMON: Julia Jarema with North Carolina's Emergency Management in Raleigh, thank you so much.

Celebrating Palm Sunday. Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians today not to be intimidated by the chatter of public opinion. The Pope has been the target of withering criticism over reports linking him to a German priest convicted of child abuse. The "New York Times" says Benedict, while heading the Munich Archdiocese, was told that the priest was returning to his duties despite being treated for pedophilia.

A bomb explodes in Greece, killing a teenage boy and injuring his mother and 10-year-old sister. Police say it happened tonight outside a government building in Athens. Officials could not confirm the identity of the dead person, but the Afghan mother identified him as her 15-year-old son. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The Coast Guard is calling it a non-credible threat, but security teams scrambled overnight after a reported bomb scare on this cruise ship. The Carnival Sensation was returning from a three-day trip to the Bahamas when the threat caused the ship to stop just off Port Canaveral in Florida. The Coast Guard searched the ship and gave it an all-clear by 10:00 a.m.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I questioned their idea of jihad directly, you know. This is crazy. It's not Islamic. It's against the Sunni understanding of Islam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Combating al Qaeda with books, not bombs. Jihadists take on their former comrades in arms using the Koran. But you won't believe where this all took place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This next story, I promise you, you're going to find it riveting. In Afghanistan and around the world, fighting terrorists poses problems our army has never seen before. But what to do with the bad guys after you capture them?

For our next story, CNN's Nic Robertson went where no journalist had gone before -- to a Libyan prison. What he found behind the walls could change how we handle prisoners in the war on terror.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Behind these walls, Muammar Gaddafi's son has broken a peace with hardened jihadi fighters, who once waged war on his father in Bosnia, Afghanistan and beyond.

It is the middle of the night. We are about to become the first journalists to enter Abu Salim Prison. As we go in, it is almost surreal. It feels like anything but a jail. We arrive during family visits. Life for the prisoners is so relaxed. Wives can spend the night. Many children have been conceived here. An easy-going strategy the regime has relied upon to win the prisoners over.

SAIF AL ISLAM, SON OF LIBYAN LEADER: They can stay with their wives, you know, and you can receive the families. Sometimes they go to their homes and come back to jail. And we treat them, you know, drink, food, visits, books, TV, radio, satellites, Al Jazeera, CNN. Yes.

ROBERTSON (on camera): You gave them a lot.

AL ISLAM: It's not -- it's not Guantanamo here. No.

ROBERTSON (voice over): But these creature comforts would not be enough to earn the trust needed to bring about the peace agreement Saif Al Islam sought, which is why he turned to Benotman, one-time ally of Osama bin Laden.

Secretly, he was brought back to Libya, promised he wouldn't be arrested. And so became Saif Al Islam's go-between with the prisoners.

When Benotman first walked into Abu Salim jail, his former brothers in arms were shocked.

NOMAN BENOTMAN, FORMER LIBYAN JIHADIST: It was a surprise. And when they -- when they entered the room, just started to go like this. You know, just like trying to focus the zoom. You know what I mean? Is it real? Am I seeing the same person, you know? It was a shock for them. And they insisted that I should be arrested with them. Yes.

ROBERTSON: Black humor aside, Benotman's job was deadly serious.

BENOTMAN: They knew I was there to help them, and it's just the first meeting of many to come.

ROBERTSON: He kept careful notes of the meetings, which he has given exclusively to CNN. They're scrawled on Libyan internal security note paper. Some details are still too sensitive to tell, Benotman says, so he blocked them out.

BENOTMAN: There were a lot of obstacles and problems and -- oh, my God, you wouldn't believe it.

ROBERTSON: Nine months into the negotiations, al Qaeda's leadership is so worried, they tried to derail the peace process, posting this al Qaeda video on the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We announce a great step forward toward a holy victory. A group of jihadists from the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya are integrating with al Qaeda.

ROBERTSON: It wasn't true, but Benotman saw the danger in this propaganda and risked his own safety by sending an open, defiant letter to al Qaeda's leaders.

BENOTMAN: I questioned their idea of jihad directly, you know. This is crazy. It's not Islamic. It's against the Sunni understanding of Islam.

ROBERTSON: Benotman's risk would leave him vulnerable to attack. But after 2 1/2 years, it paid off. More than a simple peace agreement, the Libyan jihadists issued their manifesto. More than 400 pages of complex religious arguments that challenge, point by point, the very justifications al Qaeda uses to recruit young men to violence.

TAREK DURMAN, FORMER LIBYAN JIHADIST (through translator): I have over 20 years experience in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

ROBERTSON: This prisoner, Tarek Durman, was picked up in Jordan, where he was a commander running a cell. He previously fought in Afghanistan, hidden out in Sudan and Yemen.

DURMAN: We came to the conclusion that trying to establish the Islamic state by using violence and fighting was not the way forward. To start with, we look at Sharia law, and there is just no evidence in the Koran or in the sayings of the Prophet that what we were doing was right.

ROBERTSON: Durman and other prisoners say they want to win over young Muslim radicals to their new peaceful code. On page 203, the code quite boldly states, "Jihad has ethics and morality because it's for the sake of Allah." This means that killing of women, children, old people, Christian priests and businessmen is wrong.

HAZEM AL AGDAL, FORMER LIBYAN JIHADIST (through translator): This code will be of interest to everybody in the Islamic world. We are an experiment, of course, but we hope what we have done could be duplicated all over the Muslim world.

ROBERTSON: The impact of the code is already being felt. CNN has learned that the British security service, MI5 is handing it out to radical Islamists in Britain, and an American Muslim group will use it to combat Islamic extremism in the United States.

Saif Al Islam wants the message of peace to spread wherever al Qaeda gets recruits -- Africa, the Middle East, even United States, and that's where Benotman is heading.

BENOTMAN: I believe radicalization is not part of Islam. It's very dangerous. So, I'm going to fight radicalization through a process called de-radicalization. If someone decides to be my enemy, this is his problem and he has to face the consequences. It's as simple as that.

ROBERTSON: But the first real test for this new deal will be back in Libya. Just a few weeks after our prison visit, the men we'd met inside were released -- their reward for writing the recantation theories, the path from violence to peace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: CNN's Nic Robertson reporting what lessons learned in Libya could mean for America's fight against extremists. Nic Robertson joins us straight ahead.

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LEMON: Just before the break, we told you about Nic Robertson's exclusive look at how Libya reforms jihadists. I spoke to Nic about the stunning turnaround and he explained how it's even more shocking when you consider the group's past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: It's surprising because, you know, these -- the Libyan government and this group fought a really intense war, and even though the Libyan government doesn't like to accept it, back in the 1990s, a lot of the prisoners from this group were murdered inside jail.

So, there's been a huge trust deficit there, if you will. This group was trying to kill Muammar Gaddafi, trying to kill his son, Saif Al Islam. So, the very fact that they would get together and talk about it and then come up with something that is so radically different towards this group that has been aligned and close to al Qaeda in the past is huge.

Some of these guys involved in writing this document are really respected on the insides of al Qaeda and the Taliban. These guys have clout and weight. So what they say really carries for something.

LEMON: So the question is, will this make a difference then for -- when it comes to U.S. foreign policy or just fighting the war on terror overseas in Afghanistan, in Iraq. Could something like this make a difference in those efforts?

ROBERTSON: You know, there's one Muslim group in the United States that we mentioned in the story there. They're trying to create a Web site so that they can stop young Muslims in the United States turning radical and trying to go and join al Qaeda. And one of the things they want to do is to put out this text, because it's a religious text. Because, you know, when al Qaeda goes to fight, gears up its people to go in to fight, it's all done in a religious pretext.

But here you have these real strong Islamists who come up with another understanding of how to get what you want, and it's not through fighting, it's through political means. So, by using that, it's going to be powerful and we're seeing it have an impact in Morocco, in Algeria, in Mauritania, Tunisia, all places where al Qaeda is trying to build up a strength and a following in the north of Africa. And for the Libyans, it's really important because if you look at all those young men from the Middle East that were going to fight U.S. troops in Iraq, you know, a big percentage of them were Libyans -- Libyans and Saudis. So the Libyans have got their own internal problem, so this deals with that problem, too.

LEMON: Nic Robertson, again, great reporting. Thank you very much. We appreciate you joining us tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Nic Robertson discussing Libyan's winning ways with converted jihadists.

We're getting more and more evidence that tornados have struck in the Southeast. A funnel cloud sighting and damage from the air and from the ground as well. Just ahead, we'll take you on a tour of the severe damage in the South.

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LEMON: Severe thunderstorms in the Southeast dumped much more than just rain on the Carolinas. I want you to take a look at this funnel cloud that formed over High Point, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's coming for us. Holy (BLEEP).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Look at that. This video was captured by a storm chaser and posted on YouTube. The National Weather Service says at least three likely tornados hit the state. And one of those was in Belmont where several mobile homes were damaged. Severe storms have soaked the area for much of the day. Storms produced 70-mile-per-hour winds and hail as large as baseballs.

Jacqui Jeras, take it away.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Wow. Yes, we do have a few reports of injuries, by the way, with the one that was in the High Point area. So they have been causing damage. People have been injured. We don't know how seriously at this point. And that threat is ongoing yet. And there you can see the watches, which remain in effect.

Watch means conditions are favorable for tornado to occur, and those will be ongoing until 1:00 in the morning here. This one expires at the top of the hour. And it's really been right along this I-85 Corridor, where the most rotation has been occurring. And we've seen storm after storm after storm move through here.

We still have a tornado warning in effect for this storm just east of Greensboro. This is for Guilford County, and this a Doppler radar-indicated tornado. It's pushing northeast very, very quickly, 50 miles per hour. You can't outrun this kind of tornados. It's exactly why we tell you not to. And sometimes you can't see this, you know. It's nighttime now. There's a lot of rain wrapped into these tornados.

We're also watching a possible tornado near Aiken County. Tomorrow, that severe weather threat not really out there. Isolated maybe into the Piedmont. This storm will move up into the Northeast and bring some heavy rains. And we're also expecting to see some major airport delays. We've already had those today. Tomorrow, focusing especially on the megalopolis. We also have a storm system out west. Really windy and several feet of snow expected in the coming days -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Jacqui. Thank you very much.

A fascinating find on the West Coast. The discovery of wreckage of a World War II bomber like this one and the Facebook message that I got after it first aired this weekend.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New home sales hit a record low last month, raising doubts about how quickly the housing market will bounce back. One of the top U.S. homebuilders, KBHhome, lost more than expected in the first quarter as costs rose and demand for new homes remained sluggish. Look for a report on Thursday about how much is being spent on new construction.

For parents who want their kids to spend summer break out of the house and on the job, listen up. According to an online survey, almost half of hiring managers don't plan on adding extra seasonal workers this year. So teens and college students wanting to pocket some extra cash should start their searches now. Watch for more on the job market when monthly unemployment numbers are released on Friday.

And finally, those who can't shred the half-pipe like Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, at least they can dress like him. The tattered jeans-like pants won by the U.S. snowboard team during the Vancouver Winter Olympics go on sale this fall. The price? $250. But that doesn't include the snowboarding skills or the shaggy wet hair for that matter.

That's this week's "Getting Down to Business." Stephanie Elam, CNN, New York.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Steph.

Hey, check this out. Loggers in Oregon have discovered the remains of a military bomber missing more than 60 years. It is a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, which vanished during a routine flight in August of 1945. This is what a Curtiss look like. It was a small two-seater used during World War II.

We received a Facebook message from a woman whose father flew one of these planes in the war. It's an incredible story these veterans have to share. And here's a photo of Robert J. Adams. He just turned 88. So to Mr. Adams -- you see that handsome guy in the picture right there? Thank you, sir, for your service and happy birthday. We really appreciate it.

And thank you, Barbara Adams, who sent me the Facebook. I got it at like 3:00 this morning. So Facebooking me at 3:00 in the morning. Anyway, it's a great story. Thank you again for that.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

"STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY" begins in just a moment, but first, President Barack Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Sunday, meeting with President Hamid Karzai and reaffirming the partnership between the two countries.