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Two Japan Nuke Workers Hospitalized; Pres. Obama under Fire for Libya; No Response From Air Traffic Control at Reagan National; Nuke Plant's Neutron Beam; American Witnesses Japan's Disaster

Aired March 24, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Have a great day. Thanks so much.

The Japanese nuclear crisis causing new concerns this morning on both sides of the Pacific. We begin our coverage with the latest from Japan. Two workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant have been rushed to the hospital. A total of three workers at the plant stepped in radioactive water. No word yet on the condition of those workers or why the third worker wasn't hospitalized.

Officials say new tests show that Tokyo tap water is again safe for babies. A previous test raised concerns about radioactive material levels. Authorities still plan to distribute bottled water to parents.

And more countries are banning or placing a hold on foods imported from the region around that damaged plant. Russia joins the United States, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong in imposing restrictions.

Tinny tiny amounts of radiation from Japan have turned up in the western United States. Air monitors in Portland, Oregon, detected trace amounts. Health officials insist the amount is so small, there is no health risk. No need to buy those potassium iodide pills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAIL SHIBLEY, OREGON PACIFIC HEALTH DIV.: There continues to be no health concern, no health risk to people in Oregon. I would strongly suggest that people take whatever money they may spend on potassium iodide and send it to a trusted charity to support and provide assistance to the people in Japan.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Air monitoring systems in Colorado also picked up tiny amounts of radiation. Again, health officials say it is harmless. In fact, the EPA says in a typical day Americans get doses of radiation from natural sources like the sun that are about a hundred thousand times higher than what's blown over from Japan.

Let's go back to Japan. We want to show you new pictures from inside the Fukushima nuclear plant. They are the first ones we've seen from inside the plant since the earthquake hit two weeks ago. And as you can see, they show the damage. The pictures were taken by officials from the Japanese Nuclear Safety Agency.

The pictures are from the control rooms of the number one and number two reactors. And as we told you before, two workers inside that plant were -- inside that plant were rushed to the hospital this morning.

CNN's Martin Savidge is following that part of the story from Tokyo.

So, Marty, exactly what happened to these workers?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, these were workers that are working at reactor number three. Keep in mind there are six reactors out of that nuclear facility. But reactor number three has really been the most problematic and it's the one they're most concerned about primarily because of all six reactors out there it is the only one that has a plutonium mix with its reactor fuel.

And as a result of that, it makes it much more dangerous. So the three workers were trying to lay down a new power cable because the idea is, of course, get the power in, get the pumps on, stabilize the circumstance.

As they were working, they apparently splashed through a puddle of water that contained a great deal of radioactivity and as a result of that got radiation burns on their legs. As you mentioned, two of them were transported to the hospital. Why the third one wasn't taken to the hospital isn't exactly clear.

What we do know is that the exposure to the level of radiation they received would be the equivalent of what they would be allowed to get on the job in an entire year. They apparently got it in just this one single incident.

It's not supposed to be life-threatening to have this kind of exposure but they were taken to the hospital as a precaution anyway -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And -- just another word on the Tokyo tap water. I understand it's safe to drink now. They're saying even pregnant women can drink the tap water now. I'm sure there are many people still loathe to do that, though.

SAVIDGE: Right. They are. I mean this is the -- this is the concern here, of course. You can tell people over and over, look, it's safe to drink. Apparently it wasn't safe to drink yesterday for children under the age of 1 year. But the test today show that the levels had dramatically dropped back down.

What's unknown is exactly why you had that sort of 24-hour spike, if it was even that long. The water supplied to the city of Tokyo, which is well over 12 million people comes from three different rivers. So presumably one or all of those rivers have suffered some sort of contamination.

But why it would go up and then drop back down isn't clear. One thing certain even if the level has gone down that hasn't stopped the run on bottled water. Just about every store in town had its shelves cleared in a matter of hours because even if they say look, it's OK for adults, many people here are just simply too fearful and they really aren't sure if they can trust what the government is telling them so the water went off the shelves -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Martin Savidge, reporting live from Tokyo. Thanks.

For the next hour we'll talk with a radiation expert about the risks in Japan and here in the United States and whether we are painting a fair picture for you. Stay with us for that.

It is day six of the coalition strikes on Libya and this morning's explosions echoed across an area east of the capital. Libya's government claims that allied strikes in one Tripoli suburb killed 18 people. State television says civilians are among the dead.

Coalition officials say it's unlikely that there were any nonmilitary casualties in the attack and allied officials say that even though the offensive has put rebels in a stronger position, Moammar Gadhafi's forces still have the upper hand in the battle for that country.

Yet, President Obama says the United States has an exit strategy that will take effect this week. That has some here scratching their heads. As you know, the president left El Salvador a few years early for a flight home so he could deal with Libya. And when he got to the White House he -- he tried to get into some French doors and as you see they were locked because he came back early. He did get in of course but it was perhaps an omen of what's to come.

The House speaker sent a letter to the president complaining of a fuzzy mission in Libya. And Democrat Nancy Pelosi sent her own letter cautiously supporting the president, cautiously supporting him.

So let's go to White House and Ed Henry.

Ed, the president has many lawmakers angry over this and voters aren't sure what's up. So what's on the president's agenda today?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, very interesting strategy from this White House, Carol, because the president really is going to stay out of the public eye, at least according to his schedule right now. He's having lunch with Vice President Biden.

He's somebody who's a very important foreign policy strategist and adviser for this president. And so we would expect Libya will be a key topic on the menu there obviously.

And then in the afternoon the president is going to be meeting with his senior advisers to go over the strategy in Libya a little bit more. But I spoke to a senior aide who said that as of now the president is not planning to come out and address the American people, address the world today, to explain a little bit more and answer some of those questions that both Speaker Boehner as well as some Democrats on the Hill have about exactly what is the endgame in Libya -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So a lot of people say he should come out and address the public on television in primetime. Do you think that he'll be forced to do that by, let's say, those angry lawmakers or those confused voters?

HENRY: I think it's going to be determined, frankly, by exactly what happens on the Hill over the next few days and, more importantly, perhaps, what happens on the ground in Libya. As you noted, the White House continues to stick to this line that they are going to turn over the key handling of the mission and handling of the no-fly zone to allies in days, not weeks.

Well, they started saying that Saturday. So if you start adding it up, days, pretty soon, are going to run out and start becoming weeks. And so if the pressure gets a little bit more intense and they still have not turned this over, you can bet that it's more and more likely the president then would address the nation.

I think right now they're going to do a lot of canvassing behind the scenes now that he's back here to take the temperature of lawmakers on the Hill and see if they can sort of assuage some of those concerns they have by answering the questions about exactly what is the endgame. And if they don't come up with those answers there's going to be more pressure to address the nation. There's no doubt about it.

COSTELLO: Not only about the endgame, Ed, but about this exit strategy. What exactly does that mean? Does that mean that some of our war planes will leave? Some of our warships will leave? Does it mean that we'll just sit back and do nothing? I mean what does it mean?

HENRY: Well, I think it's all tied up in an endgame and an exit strategy is -- we're talking about the same thing. Yes, what does it mean when the U.S. pulls back? NATO allies already saying they don't -- they don't yet have a plan in place to take over for the U.S. So that's one stumbling block.

Secondly, when you talk about an exit strategy what happens with Colonel Gadhafi if he stays in power after all this bombardment, all this pressure, what then does the U.S. do? I mean they've made clear that the U.N. resolution authorizing this in the eyes of the White House does not call for regime change, does not call for directly pushing Gadhafi out.

The White House certainly wants him to go. The president has said that over and over. If he doesn't leave, what then, Carol?

COSTELLO: So many up unanswered questions. Ed Henry, live at the White House, thanks so much.

HENRY: Good to see you.

COSTELLO: More anti-government protests are taking place throughout the Arab world. And Yemen demonstrators rallied against the president there. Ali Abdullah Saleh has the country's legislature voted in favor of a state of emergency. That vote came despite an appeal from government opponents who say it could lead to a new, quote, "massacre." In Syria, 15 people were killed during protests demanding government reforms. The U.S. State Department says it is deeply troubled by these civilian deaths.

Syrian state television says the governor of the province where the protests took place has been fired. The director of a human rights group tells CNN Syrian security forces fired live ammunition at unarmed protesters.

The turmoil across much of the Arab world has hit Americans in their back pockets.

Here's a look at the fuel prices lately. The national average on gas has held steady overnight. It crept up less than half a penny a gallon, keeping unleaded at $3.55 a gallon. But oil prices keep climbing. The benchmark U.S. contract closed at $105.75 a barrel. Earlier in the day, it passed the $106 threshold and that's the highest level in two and a half years.

Right now the U.S. is leading the mission in Libya but President Obama is promising that Washington will hand over the reins within days. We'll find out how tough it will be for the U.S. to take a backseat.

General Wesley Clark will join us.

And the silence from the control tower at Reagan National Airport. The lone air traffic controller does not respond when pilots ask for help in landing. The FAA is looking into reports he was asleep.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Right now the United States is leading the charge on Libya but President Obama claims the United States will step back from that leadership role in days.

NATO is meeting now to figure out the next steps and Britain will host a meeting next week to figure out where the coalition is going with the operation.

Let's talk more about this with General Wesley Clark.

Welcome, general.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, (RET.), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: So the president says that we have this exit strategy. Yet all of these meetings are taking place. It just doesn't seem logical.

CLARK: Well, he is expressing the intent of turning over the military operation leadership to a different organization. Obviously, the U.S. would still maintain control of its own assets and we would plug our assets, our timelines, our requirements into a different coordination mechanism.

It could be NATO, it could be something else. And above that the French are saying there should be a political council that decides on the broad course of policy.

It's really a question for the United States. The U.S. military has done fine. We've accomplished the mission that we accepted under the U.N. Security Council resolution. It hasn't met the policy objectives of the administration which is to get rid of Gadhafi.

Normally, when you commit military forces you expect them to meet the full policy objective. So the political objective is met by military means. In this case, that's not quite the case. The military means have saved lives. They haven't yet proved to be adequate to force Gadhafi out of office. So other measures will have to be taken beyond the military.

COSTELLO: What kind of measures?

CLARK: There could be legal measures, indicting Gadhafi for war crimes. There could be economic measures. There could be arms and assistance to the rebels, or the opposition forces in Libya. All of that under the protective envelope of an air umbrella, in which the United States is one of several participants.

COSTELLO: That those things have not been figured out yet, though, that means that no one has this postwar plan. And haven't we been there, done, that and seen what horrible effects it can have?

CLARK: Right. The normal process for intervening is, get it thought out before you go in. Have a clear, obtainable, decisive objective, put the military in, and get it over with.

In this case, what happened is -- and every case is different -- it's every chess game is different, here. And in this case, Gadhafi was changing the facts on the ground so quickly that the international community and the US and our leadership felt that it was necessary to stop the humanitarian slaughter that was about to take place in Benghazi, and then sort out the rest of the operation.

They bounded the US military commitment, absolutely no ground troops, get us out of the lead, and then, we'll sort of assemble this on the march. It's a very tough process to do this in the glare of publicity while your forces are in the air over Libya.

COSTELLO: OK, you say that, and this is -- this is what it makes -- this is what it brings to mind. The president has also said that there will be absolutely no ground troops involved, no US boots on the ground. But since the mission isn't quite gelled and we don't exactly know what the end game is, and maybe we don't know what the next step is once this no-fly zone is completely established, might that mean that, at some point down the line, we'll think about American boots on the ground?

CLARK: Yes.

COSTELLO: As far as special forces and arming these rebels?

CLARK: Yes, that is possible. Once you intervene and put forces in, and then once you get the political leadership committed to a goal, and then you're not attaining it. And if it ever became defined as Obama versus Gadhafi, then you're on the slippery slope to a much deeper intervention.

The administration is doing everything possible to prevent moving down that slippery slope, trying to avoid putting the president out in front, keeping -- saying that we're going to transfer the military command, listening to the French as they talk about political leadership, letting NATO allies work this. But it is a slippery slope.

COSTELLO: General Wesley Clark, thanks so much. We appreciate it, as always.

CLARK: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Under control but not out. We'll tell you the latest on the massive fire overnight at Miami's international airport and how it might impact today's air travel.

Also ahead, planes coming in for a landing at Reagan National contact air traffic control and get no one. No one answers the call. Pilots left to fend for themselves. Now, a federal investigation is underway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The FAA is trying to figure out what in the world happened at Reagan National Airport. Two planes coming in for a landing, trying to get a hold of air traffic controllers so they could land their planes. No response. The pilots were forced to land on their own.

Keep in mind, the plane had passengers aboard, and the airport is just two miles away from the White House. This all went down just after midnight on Wednesday. After getting no response, one of the pilots contacted a regional air traffic control tower. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRACON CONTROLLER: American 1900. So you're aware, the tower is apparently not manned. We've made a few phone calls. Nobody's answering. So, two airplanes went in the past 10 to 15 minutes, so you can expect to go in as an uncontrolled airport.

PILOT: Is there a reason it's not manned?

TRACON CONTROLLER: Well, I'm going to take a guess and say that the controller got locked out. I've heard of this happening before.

PILOT: That's the first time I've heard of it.

TRACON CONTROLLER: Yes. Fortunately, it's not very often, but, yes, it happened about a year ago. But I'm not sure that's what happened now, but, anyway, there's nobody is in the tower.

PILOT: That's interesting. TRACON CONTROLLER: It is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yes, that's very interesting, and all of what they said, absolutely true. The transportation secretary Ray LaHood issued this statement saying, "Today I directed the FAA to place two air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport's control tower on the midnight shift. It is not acceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space. I have also asked FAA administrator Randy Babbitt to study staffing levels at airports around the country."

So, this all ended well. The planes landed safely, but what the heck happened? Initial reports say the lone air traffic controller on duty might have fallen asleep. Doesn't that make you feel enthusiastic about flying?

Mary Schiavo is a former inspector general with the Department of Transportation. Thank you for joining us.

MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, US TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So, what do you suppose happened here?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think probably what happened is there was lone air traffic controller on duty, and he fell asleep. When I was inspector general, I had investigated several incidents like this where the traffic controller had fallen asleep.

However, none at the very strategically located airport in Washington, DC. I remember I had one in the Midwest where the controller fell asleep, and they actually had to break into the air traffic control tower because it was locked.

But here, you've got the other question of, where was the supervisor? There does have to be a supervisor responsible for the tower, and there are a lot of questions to be answered.

COSTELLO: A lot of questions. Especially in light of this. There's a great "Washington Post" article, and it says air traffic controllers who direct more than 1.5 million flights annually in the Washington region made a record number of mistakes last year. Those dozens of errors triggered cockpit collision warning systems. This is serious.

SCHIAVO: Very serious. And the real question here is, where was the supervision and where is the FAA in terms of consequences? For example, everyone remembers the Hudson River midair, where a number of people were killed when two planes collided about a year and a half ago. In that case, so far at least, those controllers, one was talking to his girlfriend about a cat, a dead cat. They haven't been fired. And the supervisor --

COSTELLO: No, no, no, no! Really? They have not been fired? SCHIAVO: Really. No. No. And the supervisor was missing from the tower, and so the FAA has to ask not only what happened with the controller, after all, the controller might have fallen very ill.

I had a situation where, for example, controllers could have a heart attack. There could be something very, very wrong medically with the controller. But you have to ask, where is the supervisor?

So, I think in a case like this and other situations, the supervisors have to take responsibility, too, because they're supposed to be running the place.

COSTELLO: So --

SCHIAVO: You and I wouldn't get a pass.

COSTELLO: No, I was just going to say that. So, I was just going to ask you about the FAA. What's the deal with them? Why aren't they handing down harsher punishments?

SCHIAVO: Well, the problem with the FAA, and this has been a problem for decades, is they do tend to circle the wagons. When somebody gets in trouble, they tend to promote them up or out of the situation and then try to deal with the situation later.

They have many instances -- this is one of the things I investigated when I was inspector general is, why is there no -- are there no consequences for often egregious behavior from everything like Pan Am 103, where the persons responsible for the -- for not overseeing security properly didn't have serious consequences, to air traffic control errors, where there aren't consequences.

And so -- they're not underpaid. They're not low-paid employees. Air traffic controllers in the busiest airport tower --

COSTELLO: Well, I think we lost Mary's Skype signal. But very interesting information. Mary Schiavo, thanks so much for joining us. I hope you can hear me.

Air travelers bound for Miami today could face some serious delays. That reason tops our look Cross Country this morning. Check out the flames bursting from this fuel facility at Miami's international airport. Blaze ignited before midnight. If you're flying into Miami today, you might want to check your airline for flight status.

A tricky rescue early this morning for emergency crews in Ft. Worth, Texas. The driver of this tractor-trailer ended up dangling off an exit ramp off Interstate 20 for an hour as crews rescued him and two others -- two others trapped in the vehicle. There was actually a car underneath that truck. They managed to get out, they were rescued, they're safe.

And near Pittsburgh, a funnel cloud spotted in nearby Westmoreland County. Here's what's left after the suspected twister tore through the area. The American Red Cross says 20 homes were damaged in Wednesday's storm. Moammar Gadhafi's forces have taken six days' worth of pounding, but he's still in power. In fact, his forces, apparently, still have the upper hand. We'll take you to Tripoli in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The fallout from the disaster in Japan is spreading. We talked about automakers shutting down production in Japan. Now, the same thing may be happening here at home.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: it's just past 9:30 in the east, 6:30 a.m. out west, 10:30 at night in Japan, where three workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant stepped in radioactive water. Two of them had to be rushed to the hospital. No word yet on how they're doing. Also officials says tests show Tokyo tap water is safe again for babies.

Air monitors in Oregon and Colorado have detected trace amounts of radiation from Japan. But health officials in the United States insist the amounts are so small there's absolutely no health threat.

And it is day six of the coalition strikes against Libya. Allied officials say that even though the offensive have put rebels in a stronger position, Moammar Gadhafi's forces still have the upper hand.

Nic Robertson is in Tripoli. He joins us now.

And Nic, allied commanders say they're in a better position but Gadhafi's troops still have the upper hand. Does that square with what you're seeing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly squares with the strikes that we're seeing here in Tripoli. There were quite heavy strikes in the early hours of the morning and early in the evening last night, and they seem to be focused on military bases.

The early strikes in the west of the city, although we don't have direct confirmation of what was targeted there, eyewitnesses say they saw smoke rising from what the direction of a military base there.

And in the east of the city here, where there's a massive military air field, the strikes seem to be centered around there and government officials have said that fuel tanks in the south of the city were hit, that it microwave communications system in the east of the city here close to that military facility was also targeted, and they say that this communications system is vital for the country, which seems to indicate that this is part of the command and control the coalition forces targeting here.

But the fact that these strikes have been hard and heavy on the military base here seem to imply that there's an effort to degrade Moammar Gadhafi's military infrastructure. While it's difficult to target some of it, there's actually active in the battlefield in other parts of the country, Carol. COSTELLO: Nic, I also want to ask you about civilian casualties, because we're hearing conflicting reports. And, of course, if there are a lot of civilian casualties, that the Arab support that we do have might go away completely.

What is your sense of the number of civilian casualties?

ROBERTSON: We don't have an accurate assessment of the number. We know that on state television here, the government claims that the targets here are women, are children, and the elderly. It's making -- painting themselves as the victim here.

The government has offered us and shown us no proof of civilian casualties so far. Twice, they've taken journalists to try to show them what they claim as civilian casualties and twice they have failed quite spectacularly. It doesn't mean that there aren't any, but it means that the government hasn't been able to show us.

And the bodies they showed to Reuters Television overnight in a morgue, who I was told were people who were killed in a strike the night before, at least one of them was wearing what appeared to be a military uniform. So these appeared to be soldiers.

So still, so far, the government hasn't been able to show and demonstrate that there are civilian casualties here, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Tripoli. Many thanks.

Deadly violence breaking out in Syria. Will this be the next Arab country to be overtaken by the unrest in the Middle East? We'll get some perspective on the region coming up.

And it's called being the Arab spring. People are rising up against their leaders, but why are the changes happening so fast in some countries and not in others?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

In Syria, anti-government protests have turned deadly. Fifteen people were killed in Daraa, during protests demanding government reform. The U.S. State Department says it is deeply troubled by these civilians deaths. Syrian state television say the governor of the province where the protest took place has been fired. The director of a human rights group tells CNN Syrian security forces fired live ammunition at unarmed protesters.

So where is this likely to lead? Here now to talk about the instability in Syria and throughout the Middle East is former CIA operative Robert Baer.

Robert, welcome.

ROBERT BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Carol, how are you doing?

COSTELLO: Robert, we really haven't heard a lot about anti-government activity in Syria before now. So tell us what's going on. BAER: Well, what you're seeing in Syria is different from Libya in that Syria is run by a minority. It's a Shia group, about 15 percent of the population. They have not been particularly well liked by the Sunni. In 1982, they took a city called Hamah (ph), destroyed the city.

And what the Syrians are afraid of, is that this could spread in Syria to the other important Sunni cities and that Daraa is just the beginning. And what they're waiting for is Friday after mosque. This could very well bring down this regime and there's truly a fear inside the regime that if they don't stop it in Daraa, it will.

COSTELLO: And why is this important from a United States point of view? Because Syria is probably much more important than, let's say, Libya, as far as unrest in that part of the world and how it affects the United States.

BAER: Because it would directly affect countries like Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia. The Syrians -- and right now feel that the Saudis -- they have this fear that the Saudis are putting money into these demonstrations and retaliation for what's going in Bahrain. All of these pieces are very interlocked.

And if Syria went up in flames in any way, it would spread to Lebanon. And it's a virus that everybody's worried about and Syria, politically, is a crucial country in the Middle East, much more so than Libya.

COSTELLO: And this is also fueling attentions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Can you get into that for us?

BAER: We're talking about Bahrain. The day before yesterday, Bahrain canceled all flights from Manama, the capital, to Shia countries. We're seeing another sectarian divide there, which is what -- my feeling is much worse than what's going on in Libya, because it could bring in Iran and Saudi Arabia into a wider conflict. We're not there yet, but there's a real possibility it could.

COSTELLO: Robert Baer, thanks you for your insight. We appreciate it.

As we watch what's happening in Libya, some are asking why the people of Tripoli haven't risen up against Moammar Gadhafi the way people of Egypt united against Hosni Mubarak. Some of it has to do with the dictator in charge, but a lot it has to do with the makeup of people in each country.

CNN's Zain Verjee joins us from London.

So Zain, what are those differences? Why is it different?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. Well, let's take a close look at the situation here. It's a very complex and complicated region. Let's try to break it down. If you look at places like Tunisia and Egypt, hat a lot of experts say is that these are countries that had some kind of a civil society. There were state institutions like the military in Egypt that was a cohesive force and bigger than the leader itself and they could function. And there were openings for the opposition and for the supporters outside of those countries to try and back them.

Now, let's look at the map and look at countries like Yemen and Libya, for example. I mean, these are countries that are very tribal in nature. So you have a lot of different political groups, a lot of tribal groups that have different agendas. And so the leaders of these countries, the death (ph) spots, will try and exploit that to stay in power. So, kind of like a divide and rule strategy. And they're also telling us in the west here that, hey, if we go, there is going to be civil war and you don't want that, do you?

Let's look at Bahrain, too, now, because Bahrain addresses a lot of the religious differences that we see in this part of the world. So they're dealing with things like a Sunni/Shia dynamic. They're also an important strategic place there for the United States. They're Saudi Arabia's neighbor, and it's also an important bull (ph) walk against Iran. So Bahrain has all of these competing interests for the United States.

Places like Syria and Libya, you got leaders there that many say will fight until the bloody end. And that in Syria's case, where Bashar al Assad, for example, he and his fleet have a really tight grip on power. I mean, they control everything.

So, when you're looking at the region you have to look at the specifics. The one general thing, Carol, that binds everything is that there's no more fear in a lot of these countries, so whereas, people were scared to be out on the streets, they're not anymore and that's why the stakes are so high and we don't know what is going to happen.

COSTELLO: I know. And that's the scariest part of it all.

Zain Verjee, live from London, thanks.

Radiation worries off the west coast. We'll check in with meteorologist Rob Marciano to see which way the wind blows from Japan's crippled nuclear plant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Three workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been exposed to radioactivity big time. Japan's chief cabinet secretary says the exposure happened when the men stepped in some contaminated water at the plant. They got radiation burns on their legs. Two of the workers have been hospitalized and the other was not taken to the hospital. We don't know exactly why. But we're hoping those other two are going to be ok.

And then there's this from Japan's Kyoto News Agency it is reporting that a neutron beam has been observed more than a dozen times emanating from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.

I want to bring in Rob Marciano because you know when you hear terms like that --

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

COSTELLO: -- neutron beam. What is that?

MARCIANO: I mean you start, you start visioning you know, "Star Trek" and things like that.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MARCIANO: Stuff that can hurt people, blow things up; that kind of thing. Let's talked what a neutron beam is, first of all let's -- a refresher of course on what nuclear fission is, it's an -- you've got radioactive material uranium, for example. And then you hit it basically with a neutron. And that creates the fission, that creates the splitting of that -- of that atom. And -- and then -- and then you have some leftover neutrons so it's these leftover neutrons that kind of tell two friends and split and tells two friends and so on and so on and so on. And that's the nuclear chain reaction.

So what you're -- what you're left over with is a whole bunch of neutrons right here. And so if there is any sort of leak, let's -- let's say that this is the reactor dome and if there's any sort of leak or crack, well, you'll get a -- a beam, a neutron beam that comes out of there.

Now, you don't see it. They can detect it, but you don't see it. It's kind of like an x-ray beam that you don't see it and it shoot in to your chest. And the amount of radiation that comes from this, in theory, from what -- from what I'm being told is -- is similar to that and it has to be directed -- pointed directly at you. These are pretty concentrated beam.

So it's not something that you see, Carol, but it -- what it does tell us and tell -- tell the folks over there, is that there are some leakages there that is letting out those -- the neutron beam.

COSTELLO: And you know it's no wonder people in Japan who live around the Fukushima plant and also in Tokyo and other places are scared, but people are also scared in the United States.

And let me just say that sometimes it doesn't matter what we say or what the government says or what health officials say, people still don't believe they are safe on the West Coast of the United States because we're picking up these traces of radiation from Japan.

MARCIANO: And you know, I -- I kind of believe it's one of these things where if you look hard enough for something, you're going to find it. You know, this is something that probably is detectible 365 days of the year and it's a little bit higher than what we normally would but we keep illustrating this; it's just not enough to do any sort of harmful damage. Obviously, on the islands of Japan, that's a whole another story and they have high levels of radiation. It's into the food supply and it's into the water supply, in some cases. And in some -- and -- and also, in some cases, we have seen it, you know, kind of hover over the area because winds aren't always offshore.

This particular weather setup is going to bring the winds offshore once again. And as -- as that happens that's good news for the folks who live in Japan. As it moves to the east, again, it -- to have all of this move to the West Coast in some sort of unhealthy concentration is a lot to ask unless things go way downhill from here.

Tokyo to Fukushima, things are going to offshore here the next day or two right -- right over the weekend. If it does -- now, rain -- rain or snow and there is going to be some precipitation with this. Rain or snow, by the way, Carol, not necessarily a good thing for the folks in Japan because that will precipitate some of that radiation down into the ground and into the water supply and on to the vegetation.

So we just -- we would like to have clear skies and strong west wind that bring things offshore, ideally but we're going to have episodes of precip every once in a while and -- and some small episodes of onshore winds for those folks.

But for the U.S. it's still not going to be a huge concern.

COSTELLO: You know, I get a lot of messages on my Facebook page. And people are saying you know, if there is no danger and we don't need to fear anything, why are we reporting this? Why are we reporting these traces of -- of you know, radioactivity in the air in Oregon and Washington State and California? And as a journalist, you say, well, because I want you to have this information.

MARCIANO: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's not our job to hide information, right?

MARCIANO: No, and it's reportable. And there are scientists out there that are going to go looking for it. And if they find something, it's our job to -- to share that with them. But they're also saying on the other hand, is that it's not harmful.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: Right.

COSTELLO: We're going to get into that later in our show. So stick around.

He survived both the killer earthquake and the tsunami that followed. And now former Fukushima nuclear plant worker Danny Eudy is back home and he's talking to our David Mattingly about the day he'll never forget.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY EUDY, FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI PLANT WORKER: It kind of, like, slowed down just a little and then all of a sudden it got worse and worse.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the quake hit, he was in a turbine building attached to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear Reactor Number One. The shaking was so violent, American contractor Danny Eudy says he didn't need a translator to know what the Japanese workers were shouting.

EUDY: You know run is run.

MATTINGLY (on camera): Did you think you were going to make it out of that building?

EUDY: I wasn't sure.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Once outside, Eudy says he saw cracks in the ground around the plant. A hillside had shifted onto the road. And one office building had collapsed. He was confident, however, that the reactors were fine.

EUDY: To the best of my knowledge, everything shut down when it was supposed to. I was not worried about the reactors.

MATTINGLY: But it wasn't long before his Japanese co-workers were shouting the alarm about something else: the massive tsunami, topping the flood wall and hitting the plant. Eudy had already run to high ground over a hill and wasn't able to see the wave. But he was able to see what it did. And that affected him deeply.

EUDY: It just -- it's gone in a matter of seconds. But there's no precursor, no warnings, nothing. Other than when it hits.

MATTINGLY: Eudy was evacuated to Tokyo and within days was back in the U.S. But his thoughts remain with the workers he left behind in Fukushima.

(on camera): Are those workers, in your mind, heroes?

EUDY: No, sir, I don't know about heroes. I would just call them like myself, just workers trying to do the best they can.

MATTINGLY: David Mattingly, CNN, Alexandria, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we have a bit of news just into CNN about the Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann. She is now forming a presidential exploratory committee; that means that this committee will help determine whether she should run for president in 2012. And as you know, she joins a long list of other Republicans, potential candidates like -- like Mitt Romney and -- and Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, although Sarah Palin has not, of course, formed a presidential exploratory committee, but Michele Bachmann has.

We'll toss to a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: We're following a lot of developments in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. let's check in first with Ed Henry.

ED HENRY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol. The President has returned from Latin America facing all kinds of questions about the mission in Libya. Most importantly, what is the exit strategy? I'll have details at the top of the hour.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in New York. You know there's some people out there that think the world is going to end in 2012? That means big business for companies that make doomsday bunkers. I'll explain coming up in the next hour.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Jason Carroll also in New York. You know, some parents are upset, they are saying that a school is going too far to protect a student with food allergies. I'll have the controversy coming right up.

COSTELLO: Way too far. Thanks to you all.

Still ahead in the next hour, the crew of the USS Ronald Reagan scrubs every single surface of that ship. It is not your normal cleanup. It comes after the aircraft carrier's exposure to radiation in Japan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Let's look ahead at stories making news later today.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. He's the doctor accused of giving the late pop singer Michael Jackson a fatal dose of anesthesia.

This morning at 11:30, former Bell, California city manager Robert Rizzo and three other city officials will appear in court. They will face more than 50 counts of misappropriation of funds and conflict of interest in relation to allegations they took $6.7 million in city funds.

And this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. shuttle Endeavor commander Mark Kelly and his crew will hold a news conference to discuss their upcoming mission to the International Space Station. CNN will provide live coverage of the event. The final mission of Endeavor scheduled to launch April 19th.