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No Civilian Trials for 9/11 Suspects; Radioactive Water Into the Sea; 'Baggage' for GOP Contenders; Libyan Rebels on the Attack; Deadly Anti-Government Clashes in Yemen; U.N. Military Action in Ivory Coast; The Dream: 43 Years Later
Aired April 04, 2011 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And we want to remind you that we are waiting on a press conference. You're looking at a live picture there at the Justice Department. We're waiting to hear from Attorney General Eric Holder, who will make it official that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, will be tried in a military commission.
This will be a very interesting press conference, we're sure. And we'll bring that to you as soon as it happens.
A military tribunal, as we said, will now hear the case of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. We're awaiting that press conference and the announcement that he and four other defendants will be tried at Guantanamo Bay.
You may remember this was the trial the Obama administration wanted held in Manhattan, in New York City. But controversy and criticism led to a review by Holder and the Justice Department.
Joining me now on the phone to talk about today's decision is Carol Rosenberg. She's the Gitmo correspondent for "The Miami Herald."
Carol, let me first get your reaction to this.
CAROL ROSENBERG, GUANTANAMO BAY CORRESPONDENT, "THE MIAMI HERALD": I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, but (INAUDIBLE) Eric Holder that they will be moving the 9/11 trial back to Guantanamo, resuming a process that was started during the Bush administration. In prepared remarks, the attorney general is blaming congressional limits on the ability to hold these trials in the United States, and saying that they need to move forward and have this trial, and so they have settled on Guantanamo -- Randi.
KAYE: And how significant of a reversal do you think this is?
ROSENBERG: This is a tremendous reversal. The attorney general, himself, in November, 2009, said that he wanted to hold this trial in Manhattan, in federal court, just down the road, up the road from Ground Zero, where the attacks were perpetrated. So this is a complete 180 by this administration.
KAYE: And you mentioned money. We have heard from our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence, that this did come down to money, that the Justice Department has felt that there were few options. Any more of that on your end?
ROSENBERG: I'm sorry, did you say money? I'm unaware of the problem with money.
Congress said that in fact they could not move these trials to the United States. They imposed limits, I guess you could say, on financing of the transfers. But the fact is that the Congress had made it impossible to hold these trials on U.S. soil.
They're going to start this. I'm going to run, Randi, if that's OK.
KAYE: All right. Carol, we appreciate you talking with us about this.
And of course we will bring you that press conference with the attorney general as soon as it happens. We'll continue to watch it here on CNN.
Now, to Japan and a dangerous plan to head off a more dangerous crisis at Fukushima Daiichi. Workers dumping more than 11,000 tons of radioactive water into the ocean to make room in a waste treatment plant for highly-radioactive water they hope to contain. That's cause for concern by itself, but there is also an uncontrolled leak of radioactive water from a pit next to reactor number 2. That also is going into the ocean. It's unclear exactly where that water is coming from, but safety officials hope that by pumping out the reactor's turbine plant, they will lower the water levels enough to stop the discharge.
No mystery where much of this water came from. Countless tons have been sprayed on reactors devastated by the tsunami to try to keep the fuel rods stable. Runoff has spilled into basements and tunnels and seeped into groundwater.
Tokyo Electric says water going into the Pacific in the controlled release has radiation levels about 100 times the legal limit. The leaking water apparently is even worse. Now radiation poses three kinds of danger to marine life.
If it's high enough, it can kill fish and other species outright. Lower levels can affect the DNA and that of their offspring, and the impact can spread through the food chain.
So I want to turn again to John Till of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. He's also the president of Risk Assessment Corporation. He joins me by phone from South Carolina.
Dr. Till, give us your take on the radiation coming into the water off the Fukushima plant right now.
DR. JOHN TILL, NATIONAL COUNCIL ON RADIATION PROTECTION AND MEASUREMENTS: Well, I think you look at it in two regards. One is the water that's being released to the sea and the proximity of the facility, and this is something that you certainly want to monitor and keep track of. I would not expect to see any permanent effects on marine biota, even close in to the facility. Certainly this water that's being dumped further out to sea would be of very little concern, in my view, because the material -- the sea is so vast, this material is going to be quickly dispersed --
KAYE: All right. Dr. Till, we have to interrupt you. I'm so sorry, but we want to get our viewers to the Justice Department and listen to Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking about the 9/11 attacks.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: -- in the terrorist attacks on our country on September the 11th of 2001.
As I said then, the decisions between federal courts and military commissions was not an easy one to make. I began my review of this case with an open mind and with just one goal -- to look at the facts, to look at the law, and to choose a venue where we could achieve swift and sure justice most effectively for the victims of those horrendous attacks and their family members.
After consulting with prosecutors from both the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, and after thoroughly studying the case, it became clear to me that the best venue for prosecution was in federal court. Let me be clear. I stand by that decision today.
As the indictment unsealed today reveals, we were prepared to bring a powerful case against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his four coconspirators, one of the most well-researched and documented cases I have ever seen in my decades of experience as a prosecutor. We had carefully evaluated the evidence and concluded that we could prove the defendant's guilt while adhering to the bedrock traditions and values of our laws.
We had consulted extensively with the intelligence community and developed detailed plans for handling classified evidence. Had this case proceeded in Manhattan, or in an alternative venue in the United States, as I seriously explored in the last year, I am confident that our justice system could have performed with the same distinction that has been its hallmark for over 200 years.
Now, unfortunately, since I made that decision, members of Congress have intervened and imposed restrictions blocking the administration from bringing any Guantanamo detainees to trial in the United States, regardless of the venue. As the president has said, those unwise and unwarranted restrictions undermine our counterterrorism efforts and could harm our national security. Decisions about who, where and how to prosecute have always been and must remain the responsibility of the executive branch.
Members of Congress simply do not have access to the evidence and other information necessary to make prosecution judgments. Yet, they have taken one of the nation's most tested counterterrorism tools off of the table and tied our hands in a way that could have serious ramifications.
We will continue to seek to repeal those restrictions, but we also must face a simple truth. Those restrictions are unlikely to be repealed in the immediate future, and we simply cannot allow a trial to be delayed any longer for the victims of the 9/11 attacks or for their family members who have waited for nearly a decade for justice.
I've talked to these family members on many occasions over the last two years. Like many Americans, they differ on where the 9/11 conspirators should be prosecuted, but there is one thing on which they all agree -- we must bring the conspirators to justice.
So, today, I am referring the cases of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Waleed Mohammed Bin Tash (ph), Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed al-Wasawi (ph) to the Department of Defense to proceed in military commissions. Furthermore, I have directed prosecutors to move to dismiss the indictment that was handed down under seal in the southern district of New York in December of 2009, and a judge has granted that motion.
Prosecutors from both the Department of Defense and Justice have been working together since the beginning of this matter, and I have full faith and confidence in the military commission system to appropriately handle this case as it proceeds. The Department of Justice will continue to offer all the support necessary, as this critically important matter moves forward.
The administration worked with Congress to substantially reform the military commissions in 2009, and I believe that they can deliver fair trials and just verdicts. For the victims of these heinous attacks and for their families, that justice is long overdue, and it must not be delayed any longer.
Now, since I made the decision to prosecute the alleged 9/11 conspirators, the effectiveness of our federal courts and the thousands of prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officers and defense attorneys who work in them have been subjected to a number of unfair and often unfounded criticisms. Too many people, many of whom should know better, many of whom certainly do know better, have expressed doubts about our time-honored and time-tested system of justice. That's not only misguided, it is simply wrong.
The fact is, federal courts have proven to be an unparalleled instrument for bringing terrorists to justice. Our courts have convicted hundreds of terrorists since September 11th, and our prisons today, safely and securely hold hundreds, many of them serving long sentences. There is no other tool that has demonstrated the ability to both incapacitate terrorists and collect intelligence from them over such a diverse range of circumstances as our traditional justice system.
Let me be clear -- and let me be very clear. Our national security demands that we continue to prosecute terrorists in federal courts, and we will do so. Our heritage, our values and our legacy to future generations also demands that we have full faith and confidence in a court system that has distinguished this nation throughout its history.
Finally, I want to thank the prosecutors from the southern district of New York and the eastern district of Virginia who have spent countless hours working to bring this case to trial. They are some of the most dedicated and patriotic Americans I have ever encountered, and our nation is safer because of the work that they do every day.
They have honored their country through their efforts on this case, and I thank them for it. I am proud of each and every one of them.
Sadly, this case has been marked by needless -- needless controversy since the beginning. But despite all the arguments and debate that it has engendered, the prosecution of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his coconspirators should never have been about settling ideological arguments or scoring political points.
At the end of our indictment appear the names of 2,976 people who were killed in the attacks on that deadly September day nearly 10 years ago, innocent Americans and citizens of foreign countries alike who were murdered by ruthless terrorists intent on crippling our nation and attacking the values that we hold dear. This case has always been about delivering justice for those victims and for their surviving loved ones. It is about nothing else.
It is my sincere hope that through the actions that we take today, we will finally be able to deliver the justice that they have so long deserved.
QUESTION: If I could, I have two questions.
What you described as the block from Congress which just passed at the end of last year, yet there was a whole year when that indictment was handed up to the grand jury. So why not move faster?
And the second question, in February, you ran into some 9/11 families on Capitol Hill, and you told them in your opinion that going to military commissions was rolling the dice. Now, today, you've said that going to the military commissions, you have complete faith in the process.
So has there been a change in your thinking?
HOLDER: Well, I made clear back in November and I made clear today that, in terms of what I think are the best venue for these cases, I continue to think the Article III courts are the best place to bring them. With regard to the amount of time that it took, you have to remember that in 2009, we were in the process of reforming -- we reformed the military commissions, there was local concerns expressed about the bringing of the cases to Manhattan. We had to deal with that. And then Congress started to deal with these restrictions that they put in place. We tried to fight them. We have made this decision as quickly as we could, taking into account all of the factors. And as I indicated, I considered the possibility of bringing this case in a place other than Manhattan, but within the southern district of New York.
QUESTION: Mr. Holder, is it your understanding that bringing these cases in military commissions allows for seeking the death penalty? That's one of the concerns that was raised previously about bringing these cases there.
HOLDER: I think the death penalty can certainly be sought. It's an open question about whether or not somebody can plead guilty in a military commission and still receive the death penalty. That, I think, is still an open question.
QUESTION: What is the decision due to the administration's plan to close Guantanamo? If these military commissions are held at Guantanamo, won't that mean that the facility is going to have to stay open for many months, if not years to come --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLDER: Well, we will fight to get those restrictions lifted. I think it will necessarily have an impact on our ability to close Guantanamo. We'll probably extend the time. It is still our intention to close Guantanamo. It is still our intention to lift those restrictions.
QUESTION: How long do you anticipate these commission trials will take?
HOLDER: I would refer those to the Department of Defense, which I think will be issuing a statement sometime later this afternoon.
QUESTION: Mr. Holder, can you -- you've been pretty clear on how you feel about the congressional actions here, but, presumably, most of those lawmakers represent constituents who have their own views. Is it your thinking that you know best and that there is just no room for the public's view on where a trial should be held?
HOLDER: No. I don't want to hold myself out as, you know, omniscient or anything like that.
The reality is, though, I know this case in a way that members of the Congress do not. I have looked at the files. I have spoken to the prosecutors. I know the tactical concerns that have to go into then to this decision.
So, do I know better than them? Yes. I respect the ability to disagree, but I think they should respect the fact that this is an executive branch function, a unique executive branch function. I have to deal with the situation as I find it, and I have reluctantly made the determination that these cases should be brought in a military commission.
QUESTION: And the public, such as the groups in New York City that came to oppose the trial there, should they have any voice at all in such a decision?
HOLDER: We took into account a whole variety of things in trying to make a determination as to where these cases could be brought. It was one of the reasons why I considered the possibility of bringing it in Otisville Prison, which is in the southern district of New York, but its in upstate New York. It would not have come up with any of the concerns that people had about bringing the case to Manhattan, it would have lowered the costs pretty dramatically. But even that option was taken off of the table by Congress.
Look, I grew up in New York City. You know? I grew up in Queens. I went to school in Manhattan for high school, for college, for law school. It is still a place I consider home.
I had full confidence in the ability of the people of New York, the authorities in New York to try this case safely and securely in New York City. If I didn't have that faith, I would not have made that initial determination. It is still my view that that case could have been tried in Manhattan.
QUESTION: Based on what you just said about the death penalty, you said it's an open question. Does that mean there's a very real chance that they could serve life in prison, as opposed to getting the death penalty, which you would probably have a better chance of that in the eastern district of Virginia?
HOLDER: Again, I will defer that to the folks at the Department of Defense who will be responsible for these cases. It is an open question, but it is one that could be resolved. And we'll have to see how it plays out.
QUESTION: That sounds like 10 more years of litigation, all the way back up to the Supreme Court. Maybe 20 years after the anniversary, this could still be litigated.
HOLDER: Well, I have confidence in the ability of the folks in the military commissions and on the military side to bring this case -- these cases before the appropriate authorities within a relatively short period of time, and to resolve them, ultimately. And what I hope I have done today is to hasten the date by which victims and the families of victims will have some certainty.
Thank you.
KAYE: And you've been listening there to Attorney General Eric Holder speaking about the 9/11 conspirators, alleged 9/11 conspirators. The headline there, really, as you've heard, is that there will be no civilian trial for the 9/11 suspects, including the alleged mastermind.
The attorney general saying that he has been looking for swift justice. He pointed fingers at Congress for imposing restrictions, as he said, and blocking the administration from trying these suspects in the U.S.
He said, "Congress has tied our hands." That's what he said of the administration.
But, of course, they will continue to see how they can repeal the restrictions on this trial. And, of course, it also brings up the questions, as you heard from one of the reporters there, about Guantanamo, because the president has said that that was one of his plans and promises, that he would like to close Guantanamo, but now it seems it will have to remain open, at least for some time, to handle these military tribunals.
Moving on now.
From broken marriages to a health care flip-flop, it's just some of the baggage carried around by possible Republican presidential contenders. Who is carrying the heaviest load and how they are going to deal with it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: President Obama made it official this morning, that he is running again in 2012. No surprise there.
So far, a few of the possible Republican contenders have been out on the stump, mostly in states with early primaries. You can bet their advisers are already working, too, on strategy and ways to handle campaign baggage.
CNN's Jim Acosta takes a look for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, boy. What a guy.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are right ways and wrong ways to deal with candidate liabilities. Take the state health care plan signed into law by Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts back in 2006. It wasn't much of an issue during Romney's first run for the White House in 2008, but now many Republicans see Romneycare as the model for Obamacare.
KEVIN MADDEN, 2008 ROMNEY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: There's no doubt that it's going to be a challenge. Every single candidate in this race has something in their record that they're going to have to explain to a Republican electorate.
ACOSTA (on camera): Do you think he understands that?
MADDEN: I do. I think, absolutely.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Because Romney understands it, his former spokesman Kevin Madden believes the ex-governor can overcome it in his widely expected campaign encore.
MADDEN: I think any candidate who goes into a prospective presidential campaign thinking that they're not going to have any problems as far as they're not - they're not going to have to explain their record, that their record is going to fit perfectly with every single voter in that particular state's electorate, you know, I think that is, obviously, that's a - that's a fool's folly.
ACOSTA (on camera): Is that how you deal with it? You get it out?
TERRY MCAULIFFE, FORMER DNC CHAIRMAN: Sure, you get -- oh, absolutely. If you've got a vulnerability which you think is going to be a weakness on your side, you want to get it out as soon as possible, deal with it and then move on from there. I'm puzzled, bewildered that they have waited so long to get into this race.
ACOSTA (voice-over): While former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe says speed is important, so is credibility noting, Newt Gingrich's stumbles in a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on the subject of his personal life.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: There's no question that at times in my life, partially driven by - by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate.
MCAULIFFE: I think if you want an absolute - the worst case scenario is the way Newt Gingrich put it out, blaming the problems he had in his marriage on he was working hard for his country. I'm - that became a laughing stock.
ACOSTA: And that's where message discipline comes in.
A few knew that lesson better than Bill Clinton. In 1992, then candidate Clinton tried to make the election about tomorrow, not his private past.
JAMES CARVILLE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: As then candidate Clinton, or Governor Clinton, would say, I want to make this election about you and your life and - and not me and - and my problems. They want to take the election away from you and make it about me, I'm not going to let them do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: And Jim joins us now from Washington.
Jim, what do you think that today's Obama announcement means for potential GOP candidates? And what do you make of the party's official reaction?
ACOSTA: Well, it certainly got their attention, Randi. You can bet that all of these Republican potentials out there are thinking about how to deal with this announcement from President Obama today that he's running for re-election.
As a matter of fact, Mitt Romney sent out a tweet this morning, hitting the president on unemployment. Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, put out a Web video which is essentially the first attack ad of this campaign, if you can believe it or not. And they all know that the longer they wait to get into this race, the harder it is going to be to raise the money they need to run against President Obama.
Democrats are already expecting the president to raise something like a billion dollars for his re-election bid. That is going to be a tall order for these Republican candidates.
And you asked about the Republican Party. They have also put out a Web video this morning called "Hope Isn't Hiring." So the reaction is very negative thus far, but that is to be expected, and it's just the beginning, Randi. We are just getting started here.
KAYE: All right. Jim Acosta, great report. Thank you, Jim.
ACOSTA: Thanks.
KAYE: All right. So he beat 18 chefs to become the top. Now Richard Blais joins me here to tell us just how he did it. There he is.
Was it really the foie gras ice cream? Yum.
Stick around. Richard Blais, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Eighteen competing chefs, one winner. And if you watch "Top Chef," you know this season's winner was Richard Blais. And Richard's here with us now.
And Richard, congratulations, first of all.
RICHARD BLAIS, "TOP CHEF" WINNER: Thank you so much.
KAYE: Before anything else though, I want to show our viewers the moment.
BLAIS: OK.
KAYE: OK. We'll go back there for just a moment and then we'll talk more about how it all came to be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever happens here tonight, I'm sure that both of you will have long and successful careers. I would suggest that either one of you is worthy of this title, but unfortunately only one of you will get it.
Richard, you are "Top Chef."
BLAIS: I didn't think I could do it, you know. You don't know. And I don't want to say where there's a will there's a way, but I willed it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: That is amazing and what is really amazing is to watch you watch it. You looked stressed all over again, actually.
BLAIS: I know, I know. It is still kind of sinking in.
KAYE: You said you willed this. What was going through your mind when you heard that you were the top chef?
BLAIS: Honestly, when I -- even watching it now - and honestly, I have seen it, like, a couple dozen times. And just trying to convince myself that it actually happened, but it is something that I worked so hard for, and so it was very emotional. And you know, I just was really focused on trying to win, and that is really the first time in my life that I said to myself, I have to win this. And you know to do it was a tremendous emotional release.
KAYE: Yes, it is amazing. And I was looking at the menu, and it is certainly impressive. I love the foie gras ice cream to top it all off. But I knew that you normally used science to improve food, but many times along the way in this season, you went old school.
BLAIS: Sure. I mean, if you can use science and technology to make the food better, then I'm all for it. So, but sometimes people have a tendency to maybe use gimmicks or technique just for the sake of, you know, for creativity's sake. So, it was very important for me to come back on this season and prove to everyone that, yes, I can cook with a rotary evaporator and an immersion circulator and some of my -
KAYE: Butter.
BLAIS: Yes, I can use butter in a saute pan and salt and a spoon and knife just as well.
KAYE: I know this is -- you got your start, and you really learned what you know a little bit of at least at McDonald's, right? And I don't know if you saw the news today that McDonald's is hiring 50,000 people in one day. Could you see maybe another future chef there among those people at McDonald's? A little bit of yourself in there?
BLAIS: Absolutely. I mean, I love telling the story that that was my first job.
KAYE: What did you do there?
BLAIS: OK. Well, you know, I was the actually the (INAUDIBLE) at McDonald's -
KAYE: OK, what is that?
BLAIS: Which is French for fish coo. Which is very prestigious position at McDonald's, you know, being that they have one seafood item. And actually the first Filet O Fish I sent out, I forgot to put the bun on the top. So I was being avant-garde way before I knew that was my calling.
KAYE: Well, look at you now! What are you planning to do with the money?
BLAIS: You know, again, use it for what the show says to use it for and kind of advance my career and, you know, investment some of it into the restaurants I'm working on right now to sort of start some new projects. And then of course some real-world needs. My kids' education and stuff like that.
KAYE: Things like that. What do you think it is about -- our fascination with these cooking shows like "Top Chef" or any other cooking show? What is it about it?
BLAIS: I mean, I think the neat thing is that everyone eats, right? So, it is a topic that everyone is very personal to everyone. Everyone eats, so that the mass market appealed to it. It is amazing, and then you can't taste the food through the TV.
KAYE: And this is your winning menu, speaking of what everyone eats. I think a lot of people would like to try this menu. What is your favorite thing there? Was it the ice cream I mentioned?
BLAIS: And that is my hand, too, but my hands are better now.
KAYE: Oh, nice! And you have a future as a hand model and a chef.
BLAIS: Exactly. What was the question?
KAYE: Was it the foi gras ice cream? Was that your favorite?
BLAIS: You know, I think it was the least successful element of the menu that night. But at Flip Burger Boutique, we do have a foi gras milkshake, and that is kind of where it came from. And it's delicious. That night, it wasn't the best thing. But the foi gras milkshake at Flip is delicious.
KAYE: Well, you did something right. You willed it, and it happened.
BLAIS: I did.
KAYE: It was great! And I loved to see you watch that. It was really fun.
Richard Blais, as always, pleasure. Congratulations.
KAYE: Thank so much. Great to see you.
You know that Patrick Dempsey plays a doctor on TV, but he also understands the real-life challenges associated with cancer. And he is doing his part as a real-life lifesaver in this week's "Impact Your World."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK DEMPSEY, ACTOR: Hi. I'm Patrick Dempsey and you can make an impact on cancer. Cancer awareness started with my mother's diagnosis of ovarian cancer, and she survived. Then I decided to open up the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing. And we've come a long way with technology and with the surgeries. And we treat the whole patient psychologically, physically and spiritually.
Impacting your own world. It's really, look outside your own door. For me, it was cancer.
Join the movement and impact your world at CNN.com/impact.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. Let's get you caught up now on the latest headlines and some stories that you may have missed.
Attorney general Eric Holder just made an announcement that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will face a military commission at Guantanamo Bay instead of being tried in the U.S. civilian court. Mohammed and his four co-conspirators will be tried at the detention facility in Cuba. Holder says he still stands by the decision that the best place to try the alleged plotters is in federal court, but Holder blames Congress and their restrictions for tying his hands.
Southwest Airlines cancelled 70 flights today as investigators carefully scrutinized the fleet. The airline says 57 planes were inspected and returned to service. Southwest grounded 79 planes Friday after one of their Boeing 737s ripped open, leaving a massive hole in the fuselage. The passengers said they could see the sky, but the plane landed safely. So far, that investigators have found cracks in three other Southwest planes.
A United Airlines plan ran off the runway while trying to make an emergency landing this morning. United flight 497 was on its way from New Orleans to San Francisco when pilots reported smoke in the cockpit just after take off. An airline spokesman says the pilot was having problems with the flight instruments and did not have control of the front wheels when the plane landed. The jet, an Airbus, was carrying 100 passengers and five crew. Luckily, nobody was hurt.
NASA says it is is pushing back the launch of the shuttle Endeavour by 10 days. Mark Kelly, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' husband and his crew, are now set to launch on April 29. The delay is because of a scheduling conflict with a Russian cargo ship that is set to dock at the international space station around the same time. Giffords, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to her head, still hopes to attend that launch.
If you are going to go storm chasing, you need the right set of wheels. And that, right there, is the right set of wheels. Chad Myers will show it off in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAYE: We saw some storms doing damage over the weekend. In Oklahoma, it blew part of the roof off of a school. No one was hurt. Luckily the school was closed at the time. Classes canceled today. In Kansas, CNN affiliate KNBC caught what is likely a gustnado. It is not necessarily a tornado, but a nastier version of a dust devil that comes out of a thunderstorm -- a gustnado. No damage or injuries reported after that one.
And that brings me to "Off The Radar." Chad Myers is with us from outside our the building here and Chad, you have one very cool vehicle that you want the show off. It has everything to do with tornadoes and severe weather.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It does. It is one of the most successful chase vehicles of all time. It has been inside of four tornadoes -- inside of the tornado. Spins all around it; winds going in opposite directions all the way around the vehicle.
Now, we do have some severe weather happening today. Even some damage near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and weather down to Arkansas. That weather will charge east. It will go into central Kentucky, central Tennessee, even Mississippi, Alabama, and eventually Georgia. So, there is something to watch,
But the story today is that Imax theaters now -- tornado alley is there and it is a high-tech 40-minute extravaganza of what is it like to be inside of a tornado. Now we are going to go ahead and show you what it is really like. If you want to get into a tornado - and it feels like we have one out here. Hit it!
And you see a tornado coming, you need to roll everything down so that the wind doesn't get under you. How about that?
KAYE: That is pretty cool!
MYERS: The U.S. military might like to see this thing. Look. That thing -- 14,000 pounds of metal right there. Josh Wurman, one of the lead scientists on this movie is with today. I know that the movie is fantastic, but there is science behind all of this, too.
JOSHUA WURMAN, OPERATOR, DOPPLER ON WHEELS: Well, the scientists are trying to understand how the tornadoes are formed, and we are here sponsored by the National Science Foundation. We're at the Burbank Museum.
MYERS: What is this thing?
WURMAN: Well, it is a Doppler on wheels. We scans through tornadoes, and then we drop these tornado pods in front of the tornadoes trying to map out the wind.
MYERS: All right. So show me inside here. And I know these are just stock videos, stock footage, but what is this?
WURMAN: This is our mission control. (INAUDIBLE) This is where we connect the data inside of the tornadoes to watch how they form. MYERS: OK, is this dangerous? It seems dangerous?
WURMAN: Well, we've seen 170 tornadoes on this radar and we have never been hurt. We are pretty armored, pretty heavy, and unlike the (INAUDIBLE), we try to stay just outside.
MYERS: Describe to me what the movie is going to be like, and what do I learn? It's amazing stuff. But what do I learn from this movie?
WURMAN: The movie really combines the adventure of storm chasing and amazing shots of tornadoes with the science. We're trying to understand how they form. We need to make better predictions of the tornadoes so people have more time to get to safety. This movie really exposes people to both and the amazing beauty of nature, but also the science, trying to understand it to make better predictions.
MYERS: Josh, we have 13 minutes lead time right now. But 75 percent of the tornado warnings don't have tornadoes on them.
WURMAN: We want to make that better.
MYERS: We have to get it better, and that is what this and that is all about. Randi?
KAYE: Well, Chad, that is pretty cool stuff. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Rebels on the move in Libya. Will the end of U.S. air strikes end their fight against Moammar Gadhafi? That and much more in "Globe Trekking," coming up next.
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KAYE: In Libya, rapid developments that could change the course of the civil war. Joining us now is Fionnuala Sweeney to talk about a little bit about this fighting still on the ground and the rebels still being pushed back -- what is the latest there?
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: It is still pretty much back and forth. The rebels have surrounded the important town of El Brega. It's an oil town and they say that they have that covered, but Gadhafi's forces are still reported to be inside the town.
No one seems to have the knock-out punch to bring this to a close, but there are reports in fact, it's known that the Libyan deputy foreign minister went over to Turkey and Greece to try and talk peace.
There are noises coming from the Gadhafi camp that they would like to find some kind of solution.
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SWEENEY (voice-over): But the rebels have completely rejected an offer reportedly from the Gadhafi camp that in any transitional government in Libya. That their sons, the sons of Mr. Gadhafi, Colonel Gadhafi would be in power, and the rebels say that is not on.
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KAYE: Right. Supposedly the only way he would step down if it was handed over power to someone within his inner circle, right? And they don't like that idea.
SWEENEY: They are saying absolutely not, no one with the Gadhafi.
KAYE: I want to bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Barbara, I want to ask you to bring us up to speed on the plan to stop the U.S. airstrikes today.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Randi and Fionnuala, this is really interesting because we've been talking for days. It was this weekend that the U.S. was to no longer be involved in conducting any airstrikes over Libya. NATO was supposed to take over the whole operation, and what a surprise that did not happen.
The U.S. continuing its airstrikes through today. NATO asked for an extension and they said it was due to bad weather, and it is the U.S. that has the aircraft that can still fly in the poor weather both A-10 aircraft and AC-130 gunships.
These are planes that fly very low and very slow, and they can loiter an attack Gadhafi troops and weapons formations on the ground with great precision avoiding civilian casualties.
But here's the question, of course, bad weather, it happens all the time. So is the U.S. really in this now for the long call once again if NATO going to keep calling the U.S. back into play?
KAYE: And will NATO be able to carry the load on the airstrikes without the U.S.?
STARR: Well, that is fundamentally the question. With this extension which NATO said was due to bad weather, is that really what is going on here? Or have they realized that they need the unique capability that the U.S. has that NATO does not?
KAYE: All right. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you. Fionnuala, I want to get back to Yemen with you. At least 14 protesters killed. The violence there seems to be really ratcheting up.
SWEENEY: Fifty five thousand people took to the streets of capital Sinai today, 14 people reportedly killed in the town of Tahiz. President Saleh has said for some time that he will step down, but there is no indication that he is actually doing so. And indeed reports today that the United States would like to see Saleh step down and what actually Washington is saying is they want the mediate a peaceful transition to power and they want to see that happen soon.
But of course, the problem is that if there is a power vacuum of any kind in Yemen, that might allow al Qaeda to step in.
KAYE: I want to make sure we get to the Ivory Coast. The fighting there and do you have some the breaking news? Of course, the issue there is who really should be recognized as the president there, but tell us what the breaking news is in terms of the Ivory Coast.
SWEENEY: All right, well, briefly, Laurent Gbagbo is the incumbent president. He says he won the elections. Everyone else, and the international community says he did not. He lost.
KAYE: And he needs to go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWEENEY (voice-over): He needs to go and he is held up now in Abidjan, which is as the main city, the largest city in the country. And he has two pockets of - two camps where he is fighting from and the difficulty is for Alassane Ouattara's troops, which the man who is alleged to have won the election is that heavy weapons are being used within from these two camps.
And within the last hour, the U.N. has said that it launched a helicopter attack on one camp along into Laurent Gbagbo because heavy weapons were being used on civilians. So really perhaps this is the climax for reaching to be the tipping point in this ongoing situation since the elections.
KAYE: So U.N. airstrikes there.
SWEENEY: Incredible, yes.
KAYE: That is. All right, Fionualla. Thank you so much for bringing us up to date on all of that. Appreciate it.
Forty years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, but where do we stand today in the fight for civil rights? I'll ask his son, Martin Luther King III next.
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KAYE: Forty three years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee outside his room at the Lorrain Motel. A nation mourned, a young family had to come to terms with the loss of their husband and father.
Martin Luther King III, joins me now. You were a little boy when you lost your father.
MARTIN LUTHER KING III, PRESIDENT AND CEO, REALIZING THE DREAM: Yes.
KAYE: What does it feel like on a day like this and as every anniversary of his death has passed, how do you feel on this day?
KING: Well, I feel that I don't like to use the term bittersweet, but I have mixed emotions. The first is the emotional pain of losing a parent, but then I think about what he would be doing.
And I'm looking at what is going on in our nation today as we are attacking teachers, public workers, collective bargaining, and so today, we are engaged in continuing the work. His dream is not fulfilled yet. We have made great strides, but he wanted to eradicate poverty, racism and militarism, and great strides in racism, but we have a ways to go.
The poverty and the militarism, we have made almost no progress, but today, specifically, there is we are one campaign which is laborers, working people, public workers, teachers, I don't understand how we can create pain for the teachers who spend the greatest amount of time with our precious resources our children.
KAYE: What do you think that your dad would think about the state of civil rights?
KING: Well, I think civil rights, and what I'd like to say is that my dad grew from civil rights leader to human rights leader. When we talk about health care that is a basic human right, when we talk about decent jobs is human right, when we talk about decent education that's a human right.
So he and his team sort of accomplished many civil rights certainly by the late '60s, but he moved to a human rights leader, and that is I think that he would be focused today. He'd be standing right with the workers, saying that we want to sure, yes, we are concerned about being fiscally responsible.
But we have to find a way to work through all these issues and bring all the parties together whether it is Tea Party, Republican, Democrat or independent.
KAYE: We talk so much when we talk about your father about civil rights and human rights, but there really was this other side of him that a lot of people never got to see. So what would you want us to know about your dad? From what I understand, he had a pretty good sense of humor.
KING: He did. That is the part that most people, the public never saw. Dad was unusually funny and I think that they had to make light of the things that they went through because they could have lost their lives at any moment.
And so, you know, he often told jokes. I don't remember them now, but if you talk to some of the people still with us, and they would tell you that dad was a character. KAYE: And we just have a few seconds left and what do you want the world to remember about your father, and what do you remember most about him?
KING: I want -- what I remember most was he was dad to me. You know, he was our friend. He was our buddy. We played together. But I want - I think the world, we are getting ready to inaugurate a mall in Washington.
I flew into Washington last week and when you look at the fact between presidents and wall memorials, now there will be a memorial dedicated to a man of peace.
And I hope that we will learn as Egypt just went through a peaceful transition. We're seeing other parts of the world that are not using peace. Somehow we have to learn how to live together as brothers and sisters and move this nation and our world forward in a positive way. That's what Martin Luther King Jr --
KAYE: What do you think he would say today if you could talk about the facts here, we have President Obama is announcing his re- election campaign. How do you think that would that sit with your dad?
KING: Well, certainly, dad would be so pleased with the fact that the nation came together in 2008 and elected President Obama and that now he's seeking another term. This date, I don't know how the quite filter that, because I have a lot of mixed emotions.
I think I already knew that the president would seek the re-election again, and there will be many and we have to continue to work to build a coalition of those who will support the president.
KAYE: And with everything that we are watching going on around the world and all of the unrest throughout the Middle East and North Africa and so much of that is just awful to watch. What do you think he would say about that?
KING: Well, he would say that we still have not learned humankind has to learn nonviolence or we may unfortunately have the face nonexistence. He showed us the model, he and Gandhi and other great leaders of the world.
The human being has an incredible capacity. I don't think we are yet utilizing it at the fullest. We're not operating yet on optimal level. We are operating at an OK level, but we have to keep working to reach that optimum level.
KAYE: Well, we thank you for coming in and remembering your father along with the rest of us today.
KING: Thank you.
KAYE: We really appreciate it. Thank you.
All right, well, that is going to do it for me. Our CNN NEWSROOM continues with Brooke Baldwin right after this break.
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