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Cleaning up after Powerful Tornado; China's Easter Crackdown; "I Met Jesus"; Heavy Shelling in Misrata; Revolution Ignites in Egypt
Aired April 24, 2011 - ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Frightening new images of the tornado that tore through St. Louis, shot by some people in a car who got way too close for comfort.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. It hit a transformer just to the right. The tornado is right in front of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. Another one. Dude, power lines. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if we should go anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm stopping, dude, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). There are power lines down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Yes, we can't get past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't get past.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to back up a little bit?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, it's there (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: They are chasing the tornado and they definitely found it about two miles west of the Lambert Airport.
You know, this is the view inside the airport when the tornado hit. TSA workers running for cover as wind and debris whipped past them. The tornado crippled the airport for more than 24 hours. But today, flights are coming and going at the airport. One of the concourses is still closed. It's not totally back on schedule.
A live report from the airport coming up in just moments; it's been a very long weekend for people who live in the tornado's path. This is what winds of 166-miles-per hour or higher can do. Lots of clean up today and in the weeks ahead in these neighborhoods; 750 homes damaged. But despite the loss of property there was no loss of life. There are no reports of deaths or serious injuries.
You know some massive storms are ripping through much of the country now from Arkansas all the way to the nation's capital.
Let's turn to meteorologist, Alexandra Steele. Alexandra, tell us, where are the hot spots right now?
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There are a few hot spots. Of course, Texas, with those fires that we've seen; and even some lightning there, the PK fire there a little worrisome because of that lightning.
So, a lot to get to Don; let me just show you the big picture in terms of the breadth and depth of where we're seeing the radar and the action. Take a look at this line through Texas into Oklahoma: now, the red, of course, showing you where we have tornado watches which we do until 9:00 and 10:00 local time; the yellow show you where there are severe thunderstorm watches.
But look at the line of some of these storms. I mean some big time storms rolling through here. We've seen, hail, gusts. We've seen also hail three to four inches in diameter all the way from the airport in Abilene; also, 50 to 80-mile-per-hour winds. So some very strong winds here.
So here is the big picture. We'll show you again from Dallas all the way to Memphis. But another hot spot we really haven't seen too much today until the last couple of hours or so; what's happening here in the Mid-Atlantic and now New York City.
To west of New York City, you could see some pretty heavy duty storms. South of that, Baltimore and Washington have some storms as well through earlier. Now, they have crossed the Delmarva, now moving out to sea; now, New York City in the fire line and take a look at this.
If you are trying to get to, go through or fly out of New York City, take a look at some of these delays. In New York and LaGuardia, JFK: ground stop, meaning not going anywhere. Again, these storms just to the west about to move on as we do have a few hours with some rough (ph) air here.
Newark, Teterboro, of course, Washington, D.C., almost two-hour delays at this point. Baltimore, 30 minutes; again, the heaviest storms there really moving through at this point and White Plaines even a ground stop for you.
So that's the picture tonight.
Let's take a look at tomorrow. Long Easter weekend maybe for many of you; you will be heading back to school, back to work for tomorrow. And again, we will see, once again, we've got more severe weather in that same line: Oklahoma, Texas, through the Mississippi, Ohio Valleys. Once again, more severe weather tomorrow and through the next few days. LEMON: All right. All right.
Alexandra Steele will be standing by. And then later on tonight, tomorrow's commute tonight, we are going to figure out exactly what's going to happen tomorrow.
STEELE: Absolutely.
LEMON: It's going to be a crazy one --
STEELE: Yes.
LEMON: -- for a lot of folks. Thank you Alexandra.
STEELE: Sure.
LEMON: You know our Dan Simon has been talking with tornado victims in Missouri all day; and for many of them -- as Dan tells us -- the clean-up is just really beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An emotional Marcy and Kevin Baker see their home for the first time since the tornado hit Friday evening. They have a 15-month-old baby, who slept in what was a nursery on the second floor.
MARCY BAKER, LOST HOUSE IN THE TORNADO: We are alive, our neighbors are alive and our son is alive. And so we are ok.
SIMON: They are ok because the Bakers were out of town in Texas. Today, they grab some boxes, pack up what they can and begin to think about what it will be like to start over.
BAKER: We have a dining room table, couch, love seat, chair, TV and stereo.
SIMON: Across the street, Laura Walter can't believe her bad luck. She shows us why. Pointing to the sign in the front yard; the house was for sale and had gotten a buyer.
(on camera): when were you supposed to close?
LAURA WALTER, LOST HOUSE IN TORNADO: Thursday, this coming Thursday.
SIMON: And has that person been informed?
WALTER: I have no idea. I haven't really had much time to do anything but clean up here.
SIMON (voice-over): This is the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton, a tornado cutting a path down this entire street.
(on camera); Tell me about your house.
CHUCK GREEN, HOST HOME AND BUSINESS: Gone. Our roof was sitting on the vehicles out on the street. Inside the house was open to the storm. The back porch and the house was blown out.
SIMON (voice-over): Ironically, Chuck Green lost his emergency service business, too, since he worked at home.
GREEN: Today is calm down my wife, have a good meal and regroup Monday morning. Start all over.
SIMON (on camera): As if you needed more evidence on how powerful this storm was, I want to show you this. This is one of the most unusual things we've seen. This is from the frame of a house, this a two-by-four piece of wood driven right through the radiator of this SUV.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, until you see it in person, I think it's even more devastating.
SIMON (voice-over): One person finds humor in all this misery, a "For Sale" sign in front of a destroyed vehicle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: More reporting from our Dan Simon coming up here on CNN.
In the meantime, dramatic new video in to CNN of a gunman opening fire on a police helicopter in Los Angeles. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(GUN FIRE IN LOS ANGELES)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Again, apparently, there was firing at that police helicopter. It happened early this morning near Van Nuys Airport. Police were responding to a call about a man with an assault rifle. As the police helicopter circled overhead suddenly five or six shots were fired at it. And the aircraft was hit -- it was hit -- possibly in the gas tank but landed safely at the airport because they were close by. No one was hurt. The alleged gunman was tackled by family members and then taken into custody by police.
Millions of Christians around the world took part in Easter services today but it was a different story in China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says that there is an event being held upstairs and you're not able to go.
STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. No, no, ok. No, Brett (ph) move back. Move back Brett. Move back. Move back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN's Stan Grant chased away from a spot where some Christians were planning to celebrate the holiday. We'll find out why.
Plus we'll talk live with an 11-year-old boy who says he knows heaven is real because he went there and he met Jesus.
And many of you have been sending and asking for information on social media. You can reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, CNN.com/don and on foursquare.com/DonLemonCNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, this is one of the very few Easter church services held in China today. That's because this service was at an official state- sanctioned church in Beijing. But hundreds of other Chinese Christians weren't able to worship this Easter Sunday. They're under house arrest.
Today China police blocked some 500 worshippers from attending services at China's largest independent churches. Hundreds were detained, dozens arrested.
CNN's Stan Grant is in Beijing and tried to get inside. Now I want you to watch what happens when police intervened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRANT (on camera): Hundreds of members of the church have been rounded up and detained. The leaders of the church are in fact still under arrest, still being held somewhere.
Now, the church members have said that they would hold this service anyway in defiance of the threat from the police. We haven't seen any of them yet turn up but we have seen plain-clothes police coming towards us, even turning their cameras on us.
(on camera): So we have to go another way?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says that there is an event being held upstairs and we're not able to go.
GRANT: Yes. Ok. Ok. Ok. No, no. Ok. No Brett, move back. Move back, Brett. Move back. Move back, ok, ok, ok, ok. We leave.
Ok. Let's go. Ok, let's go Brett. Let's go.
Now, clearly we're being chased out of here. These people don't want us here. We're not going to be able to get to see the church service today so we're going to leave.
Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Just ahead, an 11-year-old boy describes what he says was a meeting with Jesus. He'll join us live to talk about his trip to heaven.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTION: 826 National is a literacy organization with eight chapters across the country.
Today, we're at the original location in San Francisco called 826 Valencia. Here, kids get tutoring, attend creative writing workshops and watch their own books get published.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ahoy mate. What are you doing there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.
PERRY: And did I also mention it is housed in a power supply store. These kids are writing a story for a grumpy pirate named "Mr. Blue".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We promised them they could write a story. Can we please try?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It better be a good story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It better be exciting and suspenseful.
PERRY: 826 Valencia also offers one-on-one tutoring in any subject students need help with, host field trips, and has a special focus on working with students whose parents don't speak English at home. But today, they are all about creative writing.
You are helping kids in this community use writing to do what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It all begins with writing. And so you have to build from that sort of basis and so the students that we work with, if their writing is great, it follows that everything else that they would do from English to Math to Science.
PERRY: How much are they paying for this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all free.
PERRY: How do you pay for it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have fund raising.
PERRY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of the good will of the community. We work with a lot of foundations and corporations.
PERRY: 826 Valencia has nearly 1,700 active volunteers from all different types of careers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you think that's going to be a good story so far? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's a lot of potential there. I like what I'm hearing so far
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excellent. All right. Let's get back to work guys.
PERRY: Steve Perry, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right Steve.
Well, today, millions are celebrating the most holy day of the Christian calendar, Easter Sunday.
Well, we know Easter is the day when the Scriptures say Jesus Christ rose from the dead. All these followers believe when they die, they will see Jesus again. But one 11-year-old boy doesn't have to wait. His name is Colton Burpo (ph). He says he's already met Jesus. It's all in the book "Heaven is for Real", which tops today's "New York Times" list of best selling paperbacks.
The book's author is Colton's dad, Todd. He and Colton are live from their hometown in Nebraska now. Thank you so much for joining us. Happy Easter to both of you.
TODD BURPO, AUTHOR, "HEAVEN IS REAL": Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Thank you. Colton, you met Jesus when you were 4-years-old. You're 11 now. You say Jesus has beautiful blue eyes. What else do you remember about him?
COLTON BURPO, SAYS HE MET JESUS CHRIST: Well, actually, I met him not quite 4, three and ten months because he had really pretty blue eyes, a smile brighter than any other smile that I have ever seen. Brown hair, a brown beard and he had white clothes on.
LEMON: Yes. So people are trying to picture him. I have to ask you, is there anyone today like an actor or singer or someone you see in the public spotlight that looks a lot like Jesus?
C. BURPO: No. I haven't met one yet.
T. BURPO: Ok.
C. BURPO: Yes. There is the painting.
LEMON: He looks like the painting.
(CROSSTALK)
T. BURPO: We have a drawing from a book -- the drawing, the one that he says that he saw that looks like Jesus.
LEMON: Ok. Colton, I want to read this quote from your dad's book. Your dad has just asked you what, you know, what the angels were singing. It's in the book when he does that. He says, "Well they sang 'Jesus Loves Me' and 'Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho' he said earnestly. I asked them to sing "We Will, We Will Rock You", but they wouldn't sing it. Why did you want to hear that song and why did Jesus tell you that they wouldn't sing it?
C. BURPO: Well, when I was younger, that was one of my favorite songs and also, he said that wasn't a good song so life rolls the way he wants it.
LEMON: Because he's Jesus. So, listen, you are 11 now. You like sports. Because you have met Jesus, do you feel he is watching you so you are good all the time?
C. BURPO: Not good all the time, just maybe half of it. The other half is used for mischief with my younger brother.
LEMON: So you're not worried that Jesus is going to say hey, what are you doing? You met me and you know you are supposed to be good.
C. BURPO: No. We still have sibling rivalry in our house.
LEMON: You are still an 11-year-old boy. Dad and I'm sure you'll agree but -- Todd don't answer. I have so many questions for you, especially how you had your doubts -- you had your doubts about Colton's story.
But you think some of it just can't be explained. Stay with us. It's all going to happen right after the break. We are going to talk with you about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Ok. We are back as promised with the family behind the book "Heaven is for Real", which is a "New York Times" best seller with over three million copies in print; that's according to "USA Today". So Todd, you are the dad now. It's your turn.
This is for dad's ears only ok, Colton. Dad, I have to ask you this. I'm getting information, messages on social media. People are e- mailing me saying, hey listen, in the Bible it says that Jesus was dark, with (INAUDIBLE) hair and had dark eyes.
So they are not believing your son's story saying it was a hallucination because there's no way that Jesus has blue eyes. How do you respond to that?
T. BURPO: Well, you know, I know most Jews we see have dark eyes. And I don't know where in the Bible it says he doesn't have blue eyes. But I can say this. His memories he has of heaven, I can't validate all of those. I can look to Scripture and see many of them confirmed.
But a lot of the things that he also says he saw, I can give no explanation for except the fact that it had to have happened. When he can tell his mother and I where we are while he's in surgery; he talks about meeting my grandfather. He recognizes pictures of him -- pictures of him taken back in the 1940s. No Sunday school teacher implanted those memories.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Todd, were these things -- now I have to ask this -- are these things that you are sure you hadn't talked about, you and your wife or with other families members and maybe he overheard?
T. BURPO: Oh definitely. A picture that we had buried -- his grandmother, my mother, had buried in her closet before he was ever born, he never saw that. Even my -- he talks to us about meeting his sister in heaven when he comes in and announces to his mother that she had a baby died in her tummy. He was only just four at the time. And before this experience in the hospital, you know, he wasn't quite 4.
My wife had kind of dealt with that hurt privately. She didn't talk about that except to close friends. And how do you explain that to a 3-year-old without scaring them to death that babies can die in their mommy's tummies? I'm confident that that was new information he was sharing with us that we didn't share with him.
LEMON: What's been the reaction since the book came out? Do people believe it or are you getting more doubters reaching out to you than you expected? Obviously people are interested because it's a best seller.
T. BURPO: Yes, we have a lot of people that are finding hope from it. That moment when he talked about my having a daughter in heaven, I was just blown away. And the peace that my wife and I experienced when we heard him talk about that was incredible.
And one of the things that God kind of really impressed upon you was it wasn't right to keep that peace to myself. When we hear story after story after story of people commenting about the healing and the hope they now have to see their children in heaven, it was worth it.
LEMON: Do you speak about this in your sermons?
T. BURPO: Oh, yes. We talked about this for a number of years and in a small town, especially in a small church, people to Colton all the time. They realize that this is coming from him, it's not coming through me. What he saw and experienced is his own.
LEMON: Colton, I know your book is making a lot of money and you are planning to do some good things with it. Can you tell us what are you going to do with it?
C. BURPO: Well, I really don't have much choice over the money. They might put a little bit into college. What are you going to do with the rest of it?
T. BURPO: Well, one of the things that we really love to support are orphans. And that's something that is really a big deal to us. We really are going to look that way to probably donate a lot. And there are a lot of other churches we would like to support. LEMON: Yes. Well, Todd and Colton, thank you so much. Happy Easter to you. Whatever it is, you appear to be a great family and you are going to do some good things with the money. So best of luck to you, ok.
T. BURPO: Ok. Thank you, Don.
C. BURPO: Thanks for having us.
LEMON: Thank you.
Today is also a holy time for Jews. It is the fifth day Passover. The religious observance involves Jews cleaning house and getting rid of specific leavened items. It marks the time when God freed Jews from slavery in Egypt more than a thousand years before Christ was born. Passover began last Tuesday and will end this Tuesday at sunset.
To Britain now where it is just five days from the royalty flocking to this wedding around the world in London for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. But Bahrain's Crown Prince won't be one of them. Today the Prince declined an invite to attend Friday's royal wedding citing ongoing unrest in his country. He expressed deep regret in a personal letter to Prince William. Bahrain has been criticized by human rights groups for its handling of the protests sweeping that nation.
If you are excited about the royal wedding, CNN's got you covered. Next hour, we take you behind the scenes with "CNN PRESENTS: THE WOMEN WHO WOULD BE QUEEN". And make sure you join us on the big day. It's Friday, April 29th at 4:00 a.m. for CNN's royal wedding experience. Watch, DVR, participate. We'll bring you every unforgettable moment.
And it's been a year of dramatic change in the Middle East and our Nic Robertson has seen it happen first hand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- tracer fire flying in the air.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He's been a witness to revolution throughout the region. Ahead: a look at the bigger picture. What it all means when I talk with him about the historic events of the past few months.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's check your top stories right now.
Flights are coming and going again at Lambert Airport in St. Louis two days after a powerful tornado tore through the city. The clean-up has just begun for people living in the pathway; about 750 homes damaged; some of them totally blown apart as you can see in that video. And despite all that destruction, there are no reports of any deaths. The FBI is hoping the public will help them locate and capture this man, 65-year-old Earl Albert Moore. Moore has been named as a suspect in last week's failed bomb attempt at a mall in Littleton, Colorado. He has an extensive criminal record and was released from jail less than two years ago. The pipe bomb was planted near a mall's food court on the anniversary of the Columbine school massacre. The FBI says they don't know if the two events are linked.
Heavy shelling in Misrata today. Just hours after Moammar Gadhafi claimed his forces were retreating from the city. One of the attacks was caught on amateur video.
You can hear the bomb explode and see the plume of smoke just a few hundred yards away. Meantime, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham today calling on coalition forces to up the ante in Libya, suggesting they bomb Gadhafi's inner circle.
Events across the Middle East have been so explosive and fast moving, it's sometimes hard to step back and take in the big picture. CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has been in the thick of all these stories as they have swept across the Arab world.
I sat down with him to talk about his experiences and close calls to bring historic breaking news to CNN viewers around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: You started out in Egypt. Did you have any idea, Nic, when you started in Egypt with what might be a revolution that you'd end up where you ended up?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not really. I mean, when we were in Egypt, it was sort of (INAUDIBLE) was going on, and we even went to a funeral of somebody who burnt themselves but there was no big spark, if you will, at the funeral. There was no sort of massive people coming out on the streets, just a few family members.
So even though this Egyptian man had sort of emulated what the Tunisian street vendor had done, setting himself on fire, it didn't create a big ground movement and the people I was talking to in Egypt were saying, "What the Tunisians have done is broke that barrier of fear."
LEMON: Yes.
ROBERTSON: And that was as far as it was going. The Egyptians could see it, but they hadn't done it themselves.
LEMON: Was there one moment that you - what was the moment, I should ask you, because I'm sure there was, that you realized, oh, my gosh. This is turning into something that no one expected. ROBERTSON: I have to say, I was in Beirut and I was watching Ben Wedeman on the air and I could hear in Ben's voice on the 25th of January what he was witnessing on the streets, in the center of Cairo.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Basically, the crowds and protesters have taken over Tahrir Square, the heart of Cairo.
ROBERTSON: All these people. And I was thinking about the interviews that I'd done in Cairo and the people I'd talked to. And what Ben was saying, was suddenly matching what they were saying. People had lost their fear. No one could imagine a scenario just a few days earlier. We'd been shut down by police on the streets of Cairo for just shooting a standup. No one could imagine people coming up, and taking to the streets and running in the face of the police, running against the police.
So I think that was it. It was the expression in Ben Wedeman's voice that I think convinced me above what we've seen already that it was really happening.
LEMON: And much was made about journalists being roughed up. And you had your moments as well as other journalists. Was it frightening? Do you think too much been made out of it? Is that what we do, we go into danger and have the possibility of being roughed up. What do you make of that moment?
ROBERTSON: I think when we get roughed up by government forces I think we have to call it for what it is. And the situations that we were in Alexandria, which was sort of outside of Tahrir Square in the center of Cairo, where I think people had a far worse time, you know, Anderson Cooper and others had a far worse time at the hands of sort of government loyalists there.
What we experienced was on a smaller scale but it was very intimidating. I mean these people looked like everyone else on the street. You think that you're in a crowd full of people who are out there protesting against the government. And suddenly they're not. Suddenly they're taking you away down the street and you don't know where you're going, and you can't stop it happening. We were lucky, we didn't really have any sort of physical blows laid on us.
LEMON: Yes.
ROBERTSON: There actually was one time, I can't remember did get beaten up.
LEMON: So Hosni Mubarak, are people satisfied now with the way things are or - ?
ROBERTSON: Some are, some aren't.
LEMON: What's to come?
ROBERTSON: Some are saying "Look, give time." And these are some of the leaders in the revolution, too, give time for the army to create the space to have the elections. Let's trust them on this and others are saying "Look, the army is part of the institution here. We need them to take more steps and take these steps more quickly. Essentially, we don't trust them." It seems at the moment that the weight is with the people are saying, "Let the process play out."
And in reality, if there's going to be a steady transition to democracy, perhaps taking it a slightly slower pace will be better. But that's not satisfactory for everyone. They're afraid of the old days when they say we'll do it and then they don't.
LEMON: Yes, but you think about the way that they've lived there. Building a democracy is not going to happen overnight. You may have a revolution, you can have a coup, you can have an uprising, which will happen very quickly but building a democracy does not happen.
ROBERTSON: Everyone knows they want to go vote for the guy they like but who do they like, and can they trust them, and which political party and who are his allies and what's he going to stand for. So suddenly all these questions pop to the forefront because you haven't had to ask them before. There's been one choice and it's been the leadership pretty much.
LEMON: All right. So if we can jump forward to Libya, right? The allied coalition get involved. You're standing there, you're on a balcony and I can tell you probably had not had much sleep and you said, "Don, they're starting the bombing," and you can hear it in the background and I'm talking to you and there's a delay and we're stepping on each other. What's that moment like?
ROBERTSON: It's a pretty incredible moment because you sort of know that it was going to come but you don't know how it's going to be and how it's going to play out. So you're aware of the immediacy of what's happening. How many bombs are dropping? Where's the anti- aircraft gunfire coming? How long is it going to go on for?
But you know, are we in danger here? We're probably not because this building isn't a target. Those are immediate things. Then you're thinking, OK, what is the population's reaction going to be? Because there are people here that are going to be angry by it. Is Gadhafi going to enable these people and say, why don't you storm the hotel where all these journalists we've been talking about on state television, us, foreign journalists, why don't you storm the hotel and show them how angry you feel. Or is Gadhafi going to take the line of, everyone just sit tight. We can weather through this.
So you're kind of wondering how it's all going to play out. And that night in the early hours of the morning there was a protester came right into the hotel and the security guards wouldn't let us out, were letting people come in and protest in the middle of the hotel. It's worrying, because really that was the biggest threat to us there. An angry mob that's uncontrolled and unrestrained.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: You just heard Nic and what he said about the risks. The woman who ignited a clash in which this camera, what's left of it, was a casualty, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So before the break, you heard Nic Robertson talk about the risks of covering the uprising in the Middle East amid highly charged and unpredictable crowds. Well, this camera is evidence that things can change really quickly and get out of hand and become very dangerous.
In my conversation with Nic, he recounts the events that led to this altercation. But first, the night coalitions forces launched their first air strikes against Gadhafi. Nic covered those moments live on this show.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: You were among the first, if not the first, to report on the air strikes and to bring that to the American public. Live.
ROBERTSON: That's our job. I mean, I'd gone to bed and then I heard the anti-aircraft gunfire start and the cameraman was in another room.
LEMON: Who's your photographer again?
ROBERTSON: Haleila (ph) Abdullah.
LEMON: Great job. He did a great job.
ROBERTSON: He did an awesome job. I mean, he was absolutely incredible. We couldn't have done what we did without him. He speaks Arabic. He's got an excellent editorial head on his shoulders. He's a great guy, a great asset.
LEMON: He knew what -
ROBERTSON: Well, he was in his room setting up, because he heard this. He got the camera out and he was setting up to go live with our transmission equipment to do that. I was in my room and I could hear it. I remembered back to 2003 in Baghdad hearing are the first bombs coming in then, and calling through the international desk to get the story on the air.
And I was - my cell phones were dead because the government cut those services off. I was trying to use the hotel phone, and then I realized that I could, I still had internet in my room so I could Skype. So I was connecting here to Atlanta through Skype. Got put through to the show, and then I think you were saying, "Well, let us hear what's going on?" and I think by that stage I'd opened my balcony doors, I'd taken my laptop outside on to the balcony because it was wireless internet, and so my computer was open and then you could hear the noise of everything that was going on.
And then I realized, you were saying "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you got live pictures coming in" and that made me realize, Haleil's got his camera up and running. I got to get there. I got to get there. I think I said, "OK, give me like a minute to move. I put my shirt on and then raced down the hall." That's the first time I've relived that moment.
LEMON: Yes. That was a great moment and that moment has replayed, it's all over the internet, and we said it was perhaps one of the most dramatic moments of the conflict. Imam al Abattie (ph) goes into the hotel and causes quite just a raucous, quite a stir around the world.
ROBERTSON: And, really, because if she'd been allowed to speak to the journalists, probably we would have heard her story and it would have made headlines, but it wouldn't have made headlines in the way that it did, because the government enforcers came in, took her away. You know, hotel staff pulled a knife on her, a bag was put over her head, she was taken away. This just told everyone, everything they feared about the regime, that it was there, that it was stifling the voice of decent. This was all happening if you spoke up against the government. This is what everyone thought and feared and here it was playing out in front of our eyes.
LEMON: Was it a decision on her part to go to that hotel and do it that way and not just grant an interview? She knew that journalists are staying there, you were staying there. She kind of knew what she was doing.
ROBERTSON: The government officials subsequently say "Well, why didn't she go to the police station?" Well, of course, she wasn't going to the police station because there was people at the check point that she alleges that picked her up and raped her. So she was never going to go to a police station and say this because this story would go nowhere.
And that's why she came. And I realized when I met her about two weeks later that this is a very strong lady. That she's full of passion. She believes in what she's doing, and she's not going to be put down. I mean, I saw her talking face to face with one of Gadhafi's sons and answering back to him. Most people would not do that.
LEMON: Where does that come from on her part?
ROBERTSON: You know she's trained as a lawyer. She's clearly come from a family where women are, you know, enabled. You know, some women in the Muslim culture are not given such a strong voice in a family, but clearly she had in her family, and she felt empowered to speak.
LEMON: Does she represent in that part of the world the sort of, the fear as we said, about Egypt, that barrier slowly being broken down, that people feel they can come forward and talk?
ROBERTSON: She got to a point where she lost everything. I mean she'd been violated. She lost her dignity. She lost her honor. Her family had lost their honor. I mean, this is a very conservative Muslim society but still very tribal. I mean, a woman can be killed for that easily and it wouldn't be her fault. She would just be killed because she has brought dishonor on the family. That's how it would be viewed.
So I think that she in some ways is sort of an exception because she was willing to stand up. But it was because she'd lost everything. She had nothing else to lose. She could, you know, she was strong enough character, but there was no going back for her. Whatever she did it wasn't going to get any worse.
LEMON: It's interesting. She cared so much that she didn't care anymore, right?
ROBERTSON: Exactly.
LEMON: Is she going to be OK? How is she doing?
ROBERTSON: We don't know. She's still - she's still in Tripoli. She can't leave the city. She still faces, you know, people calling her names, taking her to the police when she's out on the street. The police can't do anything. They don't have charges outstanding against her. Is she going to get her case heard in court and bring these alleged rapists to trial? It seems unlikely. And there are some in the government that say that's what should happen. There are others who are saying that she should be allowed to leave and go and join her family. But she's become essentially I think a pawn in a much bigger political military game that's being played out now, and she's suffering for it.
LEMON: Americans would say, why doesn't she leave? Why doesn't she come to America? She would have a safe haven here. Why doesn't she go to another country with safe haven?
ROBERTSON: She tried to and she got to the border and she was turned around and brought back. When you drive through the border from Tripoli, you go through 20, 30, 40 check points. I lost count and I was trying to count. I lost count of how many check points you go through. But not only do they check your passport but they check you have travel documents and you're authorized to drive through the border. She just wouldn't get there without government permission.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: One bombing target in Libya ignited a war of words between CNN and Fox News. You're going to hear what happened and how Nic Robertson fought against what he said were flat out lies by Fox. Just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: On the night of March 21st, viewers of this program watched as CNN's Nic Robertson took us inside a compound belonging to Moammar Gadhafi that had been hit in an apparent missile strike. But first, I want you to listen as Nic pushes back hard against a competitor who falsely accused him of being used as a human shield after Moammar Gadhafi's compound was bombed by NATO forces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON: For them to say and call this - to say they didn't go and for them to call this and say this was government propaganda to hold us there as human shields when they didn't even leave the hotel - the correspondent didn't leave the hotel and go see for himself is ridiculous.
LEMON: Let's talk about going inside Gadhafi's compound. That caused a bit of a spark, didn't it?
ROBERTSON: It did.
LEMON: There was controversy. Even with you here, do you want to talk about it? The whole Fox thing. You were all over with the Fox News thing.
ROBERTSON: You know I don't like distracting from the story that we are doing. We're journalists and we're there to cover the story and we shouldn't be part of the story. I felt at that moment in time Fox crossed the line. They lied about the situation, maybe unwittingly but they lied about it. But they lied about what had happened. And I really felt that they should be called out on that. I didn't want to talk about it again afterwards and I think we are much better moving on.
LEMON: And you moved on right after. You said your piece and you moved on. Now that you're back.
ROBERTSON: I think we laid a marker down. That's all.
LEMON: Yes. Now that you're back, I just wanted to ask you, do you think (INAUDIBLE)?
ROBERTSON: I think we laid a marker down at that point that they need to get their facts right. It's that simple. And the rest of us will just carry on and do good journalism.
LEMON: End of story. So let's talk about going inside of the compound. What's that like? You get a call. Do they come round you guys up? What happened?
ROBERTSON: They have a P.A. system in the hotel. And you know, it just got to be the P.A. system itself got to be a bit of a joke because it would ding-dong at 2:00 in the morning, come to a press conference. But this time I think it was 11:30 at night, somewhere around that and they said, the bus is going to leave, we're going to take you somewhere to see something. So we didn't know where we were going or what we were going to see but we did know that the bombs had just fallen and we heard some falling sound as if they were coming from Gadhafi's palace compound area.
We were guessing that's where we were going but even the people taking us on the bus, the (INAUDIBLE) didn't seem to know. So there was so much traffic on the road that night because everyone that was sort of a Gadhafi supporter was coming out in their streets, hooting their horns, waving their green flags, showing their support for Gadhafi and defiance in the face of all the bombing which is quite a spectacle to see. I mean, it's quite amazing.
LEMON: Let me ask you, you're not naive. You know the possibilities that there could be a bombing or some sort of strike while you're there. You get that.
ROBERTSON: Yes. I was in Iraq in 2003. We know what governments will try and do and we know the dangers that you can be in from air strikes.
LEMON: But you're there to get the story so you went to see.
ROBERTSON: We went to see. And they took us into the compound. We had been there before. We went through several layers of security to go in. And they took us to the building and even before we got to the building we didn't know what we were going to see. But once we got through security, got in, walked up to the building and then we could see, OK, this looks like it's been struck by a couple of missiles and little bit later, 10 minutes later maybe, after we were taking quite a few pictures, then a government spokesman comes up, who is standing there by all the rubble. And we did an interview with him.
Then after another 10 minutes or so, they took us to Gadhafi's tent which was very close to the building that was hit. We had a couple of minutes there, by the tent, which they wanted to show us basically this was how close it was to Gadhafi's famous tent. And then that was it. We were sort of taken away.
LEMON: So as you go in, tell us what we are seeing in the video that you sent back that you and your cameraman are gathering.
ROBERTSON: We didn't start rolling until we got right up on the building itself. It's dark and there are a lot of people standing in front of it. The only lighting is the lighting from the camera light. So there is a small light. You're not getting an overall picture, but you can see that the building has collapsed. The front part collapsed and the roof collapsed down so it's at an angle.
LEMON: How big?
ROBERTSON: Four stories high, heavy concrete. You can see two puncture holes in the roof and the roof collapsed down two or three stories like this. There is a sort of lower level on this side that doesn't have a lot of destruction. This end of the building isn't heavily destroyed and this end isn't heavily destroyed. There were so many people crowded around the front section where the main destruction was and I said, let's go inside the sort of right hand end of the building. We did a couple of sort of walk and talks inside there with the sort of minimal destruction inside that building.
LEMON: And I noticed as you're walking through people are looking at you, and they're actually showing you some of the equipment they believe -
ROBERTSON: That's right. When we went into, sort of on the left-hand end of the building, we went on sort of the lower area and I climbed over the wall and you could see the end of the room and people were literally passing out pieces of still-hot - what seemed to be missile fragments. That turned out be missile fragments. We could look at the serial numbers and examine them more closely in daylight later. But it was clear these were parts of what seemed to be a cruise missile. (INAUDIBLE)
LEMON: Was there some nefarious behavior on the part of Gadhafi and his militia going on inside? Was there a war effort being generated from there?
ROBERTSON: A command and control, I think, was how the Pentagon later described what that building may have been. It wasn't possible for us to see that. If you imagine a building in three parts, a center and two end parts, the end parts were relatively undamaged and the center was completely collapsed, which showed me that these were precision munitions fired accurately but designed to have low collateral damage.
I have seen huge craters blown in the ground in the middle of buildings before. This wasn't that type of bomb. It seemed to be more of a message but it did leave the rest of the building intact. The rest of the building didn't appear to have what sort of what I would expect from command and control which would be at least be monitors of some kind, phone lines, wires, cables. There wasn't a complex array of antennas on the roof.
And journalists who were there present at the time had been to that building several days earlier because they were used as a glorified tea house or waiting room to go and meet Gadhafi in the tent nearby. So you know, it appeared to us to be what these other journalists thought it was which was just a holding room where you would sit, with VIPs would sit and wait before they would go meet Gadhafi.
It seemed very much to me on the ground at the time, and analyzing it subsequently, a message - a very personal, direct message to Gadhafi. We've got precision weapons. If we see you, we might be able to take you out.
LEMON: Give me a having been there moment, final thought. Having been there, what -
ROBERTSON: Having been there there's a REAL possibility of wide scale bloodshed because of the tribal structure of the country if the conflict doesn't come to an end. And it would be a shame if it is allowed to run out of control. This can be brought under control more quickly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Our thanks to Nic Robertson. Straight ahead, gunfire in this country.
Gunshots hit a police helicopter and forced it to land.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: I want to update your top stories, flights are coming in and going again at Lambert Airport in St. Louis, two days after a powerful tornado tore through the city. The clean up has just began for people living in the pathway. About 750 homes were damaged, some of them totally blown apart. And despite all that destruction there are no reports of any deaths.
A very close call early this morning for the crew of an LAPD helicopter. It happened in the Van Nuys Airport. Police responding to a call about a man with an assault rifle. As the police helicopter circled overhead, suddenly five or six shots were fired at it. The aircraft was hit possibly in the gas tank but landed safely at the airport. No one was hurt and the alleged gunman was tackled by family members and he is now in police custody.
Later tonight on CNN, wildfires burning out of control in Texas. See how one family is taking stock right in the wake of these fires. They lost nearly everything on their ranch, but have hope for the future. Hear them explain why, about two hours from now, 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
In the meantime, we want to thank you for watching. We'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. CNN PRESENTS "THE WOMEN WHO WOULD BE QUEEN" is next.
