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NATO's Largest Airstrike Against Libya; The Next Space Shuttle; Gulf Still Needs Help; Hitting the Right Royal Notes; Countdown to the Royal Wedding; Gitmo's "High Risk" Detainees; Law Firms Backs Out of Defending DMA

Aired April 25, 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: We begin this hour with one of the biggest NATO airstrikes of the Libya campaign to date, a campaign Libya's government claims is personal.

This is the Tripoli compound of Moammar Gadhafi after a bombing run that flattened at least one building and reportedly killed three people. Gadhafi, not among them.

A government spokesman says -- and I quote -- "The message that was sent by NATO was sent to the wrong address." "Gadhafi is unhurt," the spokesman says, "and not in hiding."

For its part, the White House insists nobody is being marked for assassination. Here is the word from today's briefing less than one hour ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: For the specifics, I would -- the specific bombing mission -- I would refer you to NATO, but it is certainly not the policy of the coalition, of this administration, to decapitate, if you will, or to effect regime change in Libya by force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: I'm joined now by CNN's Fred Pleitgen in the Libyan capital.

Fred, have you seen or heard any more NATO jets or bombings in the past few hours?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We haven't heard any bombings here in the past few hours, Randi, but we certainly have heard NATO jets overhead. And actually, we were just taken to see that building that was hit in those airstrikes that happened last night, and they were pretty much the heaviest airstrikes that we have heard in the past couple of weeks. It seems like pretty large bombs that were thrown on that building there.

The Libyan government is saying that this is an office building that was often used by Moammar Gadhafi. This is one where he often received other heads of state. They obviously say that, as you say, if this was an assassination attempt on Moammar Gadhafi by NATO, they called this illegal under the U.N. resolution and said that it was a shame to NATO.

Of course, NATO is saying something very different. They say that what was effectively in that building was a command and control headquarters for the Libyan military. That was being used to target civilians.

Now, we were in that building, actually, or in front of that building a couple of days ago when the African Union was here in Tripoli, when they met with Moammar Gadhafi in that building, and that was the building that they held a lot of the negotiations with Moammar Gadhafi in there with. Now, it's still up for debate whether or not there might be a bunker under that building or in an adjacent part of the building, but certainly NATO is saying that civilians were being targeted from that building used as a command and control headquarters -- Randi.

KAYE: And Fred, the Libyan government, as we said, spinning NATO airstrikes as an assassination attempt, yet the Libyan government is quick to say that Gadhafi is alive and well.

Are you hearing that there as well?

PLEITGEN: Well, the Libyan government, as you said, yes, they are saying that Gadhafi is alive and well. They're also saying that he is still directing the politics of this country, that he's also directing the military campaign against the rebels, that he's still very much at the helm. And to try and prove this, they put some pictures on the air of Moammar Gadhafi meeting with tribal leaders in Tripoli today. This was on Libyan state TV, simply to prove the fact that he is still there.

And also, as you said, they put out this message earlier that the message that NATO sent to them was delivered to the wrong address, pretty much saying that Gadhafi was not in that compound when it was hit. But this is certainly a building where, from what we're hearing, Gadhafi is there quite frequently. So it's still very much up in the air what that NATO airstrike was directed against.

They say this is a purely military target in their campaign to protect civilians against Gadhafi's attack. Obviously, the word here, very different, but as you said, yes, they are saying Gadhafi is very much alive and well, and trying to show those pictures to prove that. Of course, we don't know when those pictures were shot. They say they are from today -- Randi.

KAYE: Frederik Pleitgen for us, live in Libya.

Fred, thank you. Stay safe.

More severe weather out there right now. In fact, CNN's Chad Myers just told us about a tornado warning in Tennessee, southeast of Memphis, near the town of Collierville. We'll check in with Chad as events warrant. And if you happened to be flying into or out of St. Louis on Friday night, well, you don't need video to keep that memory alive. For the rest of us, no video can fully convey the experience, but this one comes pretty close.

It is today's "Sound Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. This isn't good. We're going to be here all night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep going!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Yes, you would panic, too. The tornado those people were running from did serious damage to Lambert-St. Louis Airport, but amazingly no one was killed.

Here is another look from a security camera. Four airlines have had to temporarily relocate, but the airport is planning to fly 90 percent of its normal Monday schedule.

In other news, more hot, dry weather is in the forecast for parts of Texas today, making it harder to contain the wildfires there. One of those fires scorched every inch of a 10,000-square-foot ranch in north Texas near the city of Strawn. The family that owns the farm lost 15 percent of its cattle herd and nearly all of its grazing land.

A massive prison break in Afghanistan. Hundreds of prisoners escaped through a tunnel, many of them Taliban fighters. Taliban leaders are claiming responsibility. They say 541 prisoners got out, but NATO says the number is closer to 470.

A spokesman for Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai calls the mass escape a disaster. In a similar escape in Afghanistan three years ago, nearly 1,000 prisoners got out.

A White House spokesman says the U.S. is considering targeted sanctions and other options against the Syrian government. Syria launched a major crackdown on dissidents today, sending thousands of troops into the town where the protests began. Seven people are confirmed dead and witnesses report a trail of dead bodies in the streets. The government news agency claims that the Syrian army is trying to protect residents from "radicalists and terrorists."

Some U.S. senators say the U.S. should take out Gadhafi. Does that mean kill the Libyan leader? We'll ask a former supreme commander of the NATO forces.

Also, Gabby Giffords. Will she attend the blastoff of her husband's space shuttle flight on Friday? We'll tell you her plans right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: As we mentioned, NATO airstrikes today hit the compound of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Gadhafi survived, but this latest attack raises the question, is NATO trying to kill Gadhafi?

The Obama administration said today it's not U.S. or coalition policy to assassinate Gadhafi to bring about regime change, but some U.S. lawmakers are coming pretty close to advocating just that. Here is Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: My recommendation to NATO and the administration is to cut the head of the snake off. Go to Tripoli, start bombing Gadhafi's inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters in Tripoli.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Joining us now with his take on this delicate issue and others, former NATO Supreme allied commander George Joulwan.

General, thanks for joining us.

Let me ask you, what do you make of this latest NATO airstrike on Gadhafi's compound? Was there an intent to kill here?

GEN. GEORGE JOULWAN, U.S. ARMY (RET.): I think my interpretation of it would be that this falls into the U.N. resolution, take all necessary means to protect civilians. And the shelling of Misrata, for example, has been brutal. And that, to me, lets the command and control network controlling those artillery and missile strikes to be targeted. And I think the command and control -- the major command and control is in Tripoli, at Gadhafi's headquarters. And so, to me, that falls into the U.N. resolution.

KAYE: Do you see a disconnect though at all between the Obama administration and some members of Congress who are calling for Gadhafi to be taken out, with the Obama administration saying that's not part of this mission?

JOULWAN: Personally, I think what has to happen is a little bit of clarity. I believe to hold the alliance together, to hold the Arab League and the African Union, you must stay -- I would recommend you stay within the U.N. Resolution 1973.

I think you could interpret that to include targeting Gadhafi's headquarters without saying we want regime change at this point unless the U.N. -- or, excuse me, the United States -- wants to do it unilaterally. So I would recommend that we stay within the U.N. resolution.

KAYE: Did the Obama administration, in your opinion, make the right move by handing off military control to NATO?

JOULWAN: I believe so. We're involved in two major wars now in the Middle East. A third one would be very difficult.

Remember, if we take the lead here, and it's going to be a long, drawn-out affair, not just with Gadhafi leading, but then what happens with the rebel forces, with building up the country? Do we really want to get involved in a third effort in the Middle East?

Personally, I don't think so. I think they there are other ways to do it. NATO and the EU need to be involved. It's in their vital interests. So, I would recommend that as the proper course.

KAYE: And as we're staring a possible stalemate in the face, do you think Gadhafi has to be taken out? Is that the end game here?

JOULWAN: I'm not sure if Gadhafi -- we went through all that with Saddam Hussein, as you can remember, in Iraq, and that wasn't the end of the game either. So I think we have to be very careful here to get political clarity about, what is the end state we want to achieve?

Is it get rid of Gadhafi? Is it create a more democratic state within Libya? What is the end game that we want before we start committing more U.S. assets to maybe even include ground forces? I would be opposed to that at this time.

KAYE: General, your insight is always appreciated. Thanks for coming on the show today.

JOULWAN: Thank you.

KAYE: We are now just days away from the next space shuttle launch. We have details on the attendance of injured Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords and the president of the United States. Also details on what the next U.S. spacecraft will look like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We are now just a few days away from the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. Endeavour is the youngest space shuttle in the fleet. It first launched back in 1992 as a replacement for the Challenger space shuttle. It took 10 years to build.

Friday's 3:47 p.m. Eastern Time launch will be a star-studded event. Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will attend the launch. She was shot in the head at a town hall event in Tucson back in January.

Her husband is Mark Kelly. He will command the space shuttle Endeavour in its final mission. He and the other five astronauts are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow.

We have also learned that President Barack Obama and his family will attend the space shuttle launch Friday afternoon. And after it, the president will give a commencement speech at Miami-Dade College.

So, this is the final space shuttle launch for Endeavour. The final space shuttle launch ever is set for June. So, what, we wanted to know, will the next spacecraft look like? Well, of course we turn for that answer to our very own space expert, John Zarrella, joining us live from the Miami bureau.

John, let's start with the Dragon spacecraft, if we can.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Randi.

Well, you know, NASA awarded $270 million to four companies to go ahead and continue development of the next generation spacecraft, the one that will take astronauts into low Earth orbit to rendezvous with the International Space Station. The Dragon is the spacecraft design by Elon Musk, the multimillionaire founder of PayPal and his SpaceX Corporation.

Now, he's already flown that, and that's it there from back a couple of months ago in Washington, D.C., where I caught up with him. And that vehicle actually was the first vehicle to ever circle the Earth, a commercial company -- circle the Earth and land successfully back in the water.

And so he is about three years, he says, away from being able to fly humans to the International Space Station once he gets a NASA contract. He already has a contract to take cargo to the International Space Station with that same capsule, and that could happen as early as next year -- Randi.

KAYE: And maybe you could also shed some light on this. We have heard that SpaceX is not only going to the space station, but also to Mars?

ZARRELLA: Yes. Well, you know, Elon Musk has also announced that he is planning to build a kind of medium-heavy lift vehicle. So, he says that using four of these heavy-lift vehicles that he is building, he could actually fly to Mars, fly a Mars mission, land a couple of astronauts on the surface, spend some time there, and then return them to Earth.

And he said in an interview recently that he could do it within -- if anything goes right, within 10 years or, at the outside, 15 to 20 years. Still, awfully ambitious.

KAYE: Yes, I would say so.

ZARRELLA: Yes.

KAYE: What about the Dream Chaser? How ambitious is that one?

ZARRELLA: Yes. You know, Dream Chaser looks like the space shuttle, and that's Sierra Nevada Company's incarnation of a space shuttle. And it's going to launch on top of a rocket.

It will go up. It will go to low Earth orbit, just like the space shuttle, go to the International Space Station, and then glide back to Earth. It can hold up to seven astronauts.

KAYE: And what's Boeing's involvement in all this? ZARRELLA: Boeing has got one called the CST-100. It's like an Apollo space capsule, similar to Elon Musk's space capsule as well. And their plan is that by 2015, they would be able to launch their vehicle, also carry seven astronauts, and they, too, would be taking the astronauts to the International Space Station.

KAYE: All right. I have one more to test your knowledge on, the Blue Origin spacecraft.

ZARRELLA: Yes, Blue Origin has come up with something called the New Shepard, and it too will launch on top of a rocket and come back to Earth, and would carry up to seven astronauts. They have been more secretive than anybody else in this whole process as to exactly what their vehicle would look like.

But, you know, I talked to NASA administrator Charlie Bolden about a month ago, and he said, "Look, I would like at least two companies to survive this competition, at least two," because he wants at least that -- those options available to him in order to get astronauts to the International Space Station, because, you know, the only way between now and at least 2015 for astronauts to get there is going to be on a Russian rocket.

And one final piece of advice. If you're coming to the space shuttle launch on Friday, get there real, real early. They expect half a million spectators for this launch.

KAYE: Wow.

ZARRELLA: So, it's going to be bumper to bumper in Titusville, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, and all those great spots.

KAYE: You better get there early, John.

ZARRELLA: Yes. I may just sleep there Thursday night, into Friday morning.

KAYE: You can roll out that sleeping bag. There you go.

ZARRELLA: Exactly.

KAYE: All right. John Zarrella, thank you.

ZARRELLA: Take care.

KAYE: And you will be able to see the shuttle launch live here on CNN this Friday at 3:47 Eastern Time. That's 12:47 Pacific. You don't have to deal with all that traffic that John was talking about.

Also, our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta is doing a special next weekend on Congresswoman Gabby Giffords called "Saving Gabby." It airs May 8th, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

One year has passed since more than 200 million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico. And environmentalist Philippe Cousteau says there is still a lot of work to do. Here is today's "Impact Your World" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILIPPE COUSTEAU, ENVIRONMENTALIST: Hi. I'm Philippe Cousteau. And we can make an impact on the environment and the people affected by the Gulf oil spill.

I have spent countless hours and days here in the Gulf working to remind people of the tremendous crisis that that oil spill caused. And we really don't know what the long-term consequences of this oil spill will be.

The economy here along the Gulf has not recovered, the tourism, the fishing industries. This is as much a human disaster as it is an environmental disaster. When we destroy the environment, we are ultimately destroying ourselves.

Join the movement, and "Impact Your World," CNN.com/impact.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Tornadoes, wildfires and floods. Chad Myers will tell us who is getting the worst of it all. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: All right. You know what time it is now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is time.

KAYE: It is time to go "Off the Radar." Yes, it is.

A new ground-based telescope can spot space junk deep in space, from what I understand. The Space Surveillance Telescope is apparently helpful in keeping military satellites from colliding with space debris and space rocks and other satellites and all that stuff.

So what have you got on that one?

MYERS: Twenty-two thousand things in the atmosphere, in the sky, in orbit, flying around the Earth, big enough to cause damage to satellites, the space station, or anything else that is floating up there. Finally, now, there's a telescope with a wide view that can find these things.

They are expecting the 22,000 number to triple in 20 years. So there is going to be more junk flying around up there, more junk flying towards the ISS, more junk flying -- you know, going toward our astronauts.

KAYE: That doesn't sound good.

MYERS: Finally, now, there is the little guy. This is obviously a rendition, an artist's rendition.

KAYE: Not drawn to scale, I take it?

MYERS: No, I think it's pretty big, because it has to have a very wide view. And so this thing is going to be out there tracking space junk.

You know, I have a little telescope that I try to track the moon every once in a while with my 6-year-old. I can't imagine tracking 22,000 objects. It's pretty cool.

KAYE: No. So it's taking some images and it seems like it's working well.

MYERS: It's going to work, yes.

KAYE: All right.

MYERS: It took nine years and many, many millions, tens of millions of dollars, to make it.

KAYE: Just a little bit higher quality than the telescope than you have in your house? Just a little smidgen?

MYERS: It's about that.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: Yes.

All right, Chad. Thank you.

MYERS: Sure.

KAYE: The royal wedding is just days away, and one palace guard has been pulled from duty for his Facebook posts about the soon-to-be princess, Kate Middleton. His outrageous comments, coming your way, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It is just about half past the hour. Let's get you caught up on some of the stories you may have missed.

In Afghanistan, the search is on for more than 470 escaped inmates. Officials say they escaped from a Kandahar prison through a nearly 1,050-foot-long tunnel dug by the Taliban.

It took four-and-a-half hours to get everybody out, and apparently a few more hours for guards to even notice anyone was missing. This was the second mass escape from the prison which houses some of the country's most dangerous Taliban prisoners.

One of the biggest airstrikes of the Libya campaign so far flattened at least one building at the Tripoli compound of Moammar Gadhafi, reportedly killing three people. Gadhafi, not among them. The Libyan government called it an assassination attempt and said that, "The message that was sent by NATO in the early hours this morning was sent to the wrong address." Libyan officials say Gadhafi is unhurt and not in hiding. The White House insists nobody is being marked for assassination.

Prices at the pump have gone up for 34 straight days now, inching the cost of gasoline, of a gallon of gasoline in particular, closer to $4. According to the AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.86, just 25 cents from the July 2008 record.

Cameron Riley, a Buckingham Palace guard has been pulled off of the royal wedding duty because of offensive posts on his Facebook page. Riley used an offensive term to describe Pakistanis on the page and called Kate Middleton a, quote, "stupid, stuck-up cow." The British Ministry of Defense ministry says it would not be appropriate to have him work the wedding on Friday. No kidding.

Kids rule at the White House today. It is the annual Easter Egg Roll, a tradition dating back to 1878. 30,000 people from all 50 states are there for a day of live music, story-time readings with celebrities and the first family, cooking demos and yes, of course, some egg rolling. The event's theme this year is the promotion of health and wellness in children.

Showing no mercy. Syrian army and security troops opened fire on anti-government protester. How the U.S. and others are reacting to the latest attack against Syrian civilians. That's right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Deadly gunfire erupted in several Syrian cities today. Part of a massive government crackdown on anti-government protesters. Witnesses say that at least seven people were killed and many others were arrested. Michael Holmes has been following the developments, and he joins us now.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, here we are again, Syria. Yes. There is a gain in Daraa, this southern city near the Jordanian border. And what we saw for the first time really is tanks coming in, rolling into the city. This is a big move by the government perhaps in an attempt to sort it out once and for all. Daraa being the sort of growth area, or the spark of all of the conflicts we've seen spreading around Syria. We're going to see now whether the protesters will be forced back by the use of this very serious force or whether, you know, they are going to continue the protest. But it is an uptick in what we have been seeing in Syria, tanks on the streets.

KAYE: So, is the government pointing fingers and saying, oh, no, not us.

HOLMES: Oh, the same sort of thing. Outside interference and agitators and criminal groups -- all that kind of stuff. There is a lot of concern from the outside in what we are seeing there. You have Iran worrying what is happening in Syria because that is their best friend in the region. They have been wanting to prop up Assad's regime throughout this. And you have even Israel, the United States and others worried about what would happen if the regime just fell tomorrow, whether there would be some sort of Iraqi-style insurgency in the country, civil war of sorts. Because it is a real check borders of ethnic groups, religious group and rivalries.

KAYE: But even if it changed into emergency rule, if this still continues.

HOLMES: And yes, a lot of people were cynical about the change of emergency, the lifting of the emergency law, which has been around for decades. Of course, it's been replaced by an anti-terrorism law, which a lot of people think is the same thing with a different name.

KAYE: All right. Moving on along the rest of the region. Afghanistan, we have been talking a lot on today's show about this prison break.

HOLMES: Extraordinary.

KAYE: When you think about these guys, as many as 470 working their way , shimmying their way through the tunnel --

HOLMES: Five months it's said it took to build this tunnel. The Taliban said they rented a house, basically, about 300 meters, 1,000 feet away from the prison and spent five months tunneling in. Once they got in, it took four-and-a-half hours to get these guys out. 480 inmates; the Taliban says 540. A hundred of them commanders. And where was the guards? You know, where?

KAYE: Yes, it took hours for them to even know they were gone. Missing 500 prisoners?

HOLMES: Absolutely! They didn't know until an hour and a half after they had all gotten out, which took four-and-half hours to do. Yes, this is real slap in the face for those who have been trying to turn around Kandahar, NATO and others, because they've made great advances in that region.

Kandahar, remember, is the birthplace of the Taliban and they have managed made great advances with on the community there to get the Taliban out of the city and surrounding areas. This is just a slap in the face. The Canadians have been training the guards there, teaching them how to be more humane, how to treat prisoners with respect, which presumably didn't include letting them go overnight.

KAYE: They took it a little too far.

HOLMES: Oh, it is not a good thing.

KAYE: You've actually seen this prison.

HOLMES: I've been to the outside.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: Where would these guys be?

HOLMES: I was actually talking to a friend of mine who's in the Canadian military who was telling me it's very austere inside. Women are in there, too. And it is a very, very dire place to be in. The security, on the outside, anyway, is very good.

But obviously, there was collusion. There has to have been collusion. And remember back in 2008, there was a truck bomb that blew down a wall and 1,000 prisoners got out as well. After that, you saw an uptick in Taliban violence. Now we've got another 500 or so out. Will there be uptick in violence in the region as well?

KAYE: Yes. Let's hope not. What about Yemen? More anti- government protests there.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Yes, we saw it spread over 14 provinces over the weekend. This is all coming after President Saleh promised he would step down within 30 days or so, if he and everybody else in his regime got immunity from the prosecution. So, let's face it, they have been corrupt over the years.

Again, you have seen the protesters on the street saying he is buying for time. It is a sham. We don't buy it. The opposition not sure which was to go, don't know whether to get in on that. Might be an opportunity for them to get some power, whether to distance themselves from him altogether. And the demonstrators basically chanting out in the streets, out, out, out, now and now. It is spreading and it is not looking any better. Saleh is in deep trouble, and he is probably going to have to go.

KAYE: Yes, it certainly looks that way. All right. Michael Holmes, we have to leave it there, because we are out of time.

HOLMES: Aww?

KAYE: But you're back tomorrow.

HOLMES: Really?

KAYE: Yes.

HOLMES: You are excited about the wedding, aren't you?

KAYE: I am very excited about the royal wedding! We could talk about that one, but we are going to talk about that, so you can feel free to listen.

HOLMES: That's my segue, isn't it?

KAYE: Yes!

With the royal wedding coming up, you are probably finally resigned to the fact that no, you are not invited. Find out who else missed the cut right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is less than four days away, and with 1,900 names on the guest list, you might think that everybody who is anybody would be there. Unfortunately for those who didn't make the cut, that is not true. Who is in and who is out is the subject of today's "Big Breakdown."

First, who is in? The guest list includes 50 members of the British royal family including of course, Prince William's brother, Prince Harry, their father, Prince Charles, and their paternal grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Members of 27 other royal families are also invited as are leaders of other countries in the British commonwealth - counties, actually. 21 British government officials are there, including the prime minister David Cameron. So are six senior British defence service leaders and yes, the Brits spell defense with a C.

The guest list also includes 27 religious, leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury. It also includes some celebrities. Singer- songwriter Elton John, who was a very close friend of Princess Diana. Soccer star David Beckham and his wife, Victoria Beckham, formerly Posh Spice of The Spice Girls. Filmmaker Guy Ritchie will be there as well. So will actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson, the star of the Mr. Bean films and a friend to Prince Charles.

Also invited to the royal wedding, former British prime minister John Major, who became a guardian to Prince William after Princess Diana's death. Several members of Princess Diana's family, the Spencers, will also be there. The guest list also includes Prince William's former nanny and a butcher and a postman from Kate Middleton's home perish in Berkshire.

That may sound like a pretty inclusive, but some big names are missing. The President and Mrs. Obama, they won't be going. Nor will any government leaders from any noncommonwealth countries. Also not invited, former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

And then there is the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson. She's the ex-wife of Prince William's uncle, Prince Andrew. But she fell out of favor after she was caught trying to sell an undercover reporter access to her ex-husband for a whole lot of money. Fergie wasn't invited to the wedding, but she can find out what she missed from her daughters, it turns out. Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenia. They are invited.

There is a whole lot of anticipation and excitement building over Will and Kate big day. There's a flurry of last-minute preparations. And a big part of setting the right tone on their wedding day is, of course, the music. Max Foster gives us a sneak peek at what the musicians will be playing during the royal wedding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC) MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The service at Westminster Abbey will have music to match this most of settings. No state occasion can begin without a fanfare from the Household (ph) Cavalry. Their outfit is the oldest in the British army, and they take their place in British history once again for the royal wedding.

(on camera): Once she's inside the church, Catherine will come through the choir screen there with her father, past the choir stalls where the choir will be standing. We expect her to come up here to the high altar where she'll meet William and be married.

(voice-over): Bringing a sense of spirituality to the proceedings will be the boys of the Chapel Royal Choir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is really exciting. Quite an honor actually. So looking forward to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 50 years, this will be like major history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so lucky that I got to participate in such an event which only happens once in a long time.

FOSTER: And to add to the music of church and state, a personal friend of Prince Charles, Christopher Warren Green, will conduct the London Chamber orchestra, playing here at a recent concert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both Prince William and Miss Middleton are very actively involved in what they want for their wedding. And they have great taste in music, very strong ideas.

FOSTER: No pop singers are expected at the wedding, though we are assured Catherine and William do have a wide range of musical tastes.

FOSTER: I also have an all-embarrassing taste of music. I don't drive home after conducting a Milo symphony and listen to a Milo symphony. I usually drive home and listen to jazz. Or Beatles. Actually, I like heavy metal.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And Max Foster joins us now from Westminster abbey. Max, while the musicians are busy making sure they hit the right notes, I am hearing the weather may not play so nice.

FOSTER: Well, it is all about a big show isn't it, Friday and certainly a world class musical experience there in the abbey on Friday, and after that, you have the carriage procession.

It is a key moment of the day to have all of the state carriages travelling down here back to Buckingham Palace for the reception, but the question is which carriage. Look at the carriage they are hoping to travel in. You may recognize it from Charles and Diana's wedding.

It is the 1902 state landau. It's the queen's favourite. It really is the number one carriage, but if it is raining obviously that won't work. So they are currently planning on having, if there is rain, this carriage called the glass coach.

It's covered and at the moment, it looks like there will be rain on Friday according to the official weather forecast that is what they are planning around. We don't know until the last minute, but lots of preparations still underway.

But everything has been carefully planned. I'm sure they got their backup plans in place. Randi --

KAYE: I'm sure, they do. Well, I certainly hope the weather does in the end cooperate for all of those people who will be lining the streets there. Thank you so much.

Of course, we will be there on Friday starting at 4:00 a.m. You can celebrate Will and Kate's big day right here on CNN, along with the rest of us.

CNN's royal wedding experience and you can watch it, and if you are not up in time, well, be sure to set your DVR so you can check out our coverage of the royal wedding here on CNN.

Osama Bin Laden short on cash? That is one of the details coming out of a new Wikileaks' document dump, but have the so-called watchdogs gone too far this time? We'll ask the stream team next.

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KAYE: Wikileaks has dumped another roughly 800 pages of classified military documents. These detail enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay. They also show the movements of al Qaeda after 9/11 including Osama Bin Laden borrowing $7,000 from a bodyguard.

The documents paint a picture of who is being held at Gitmo, both high-risk and low-risk detainees. Some set free only to appear in places like Libya. So are there any bombshells? Here is CNN's national security analyst Peter Bergen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, one I think important point here is that these documents are secret. They're not top secret. You know, 750,000 Americans have secret clearances and many more have secret clearances so these are not the crown jewels, but they are interesting.

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KAYE: The Defense Department condemned the release of the documents, but it is the latest dump of Wikileaks, and others carried more intrigue and controversy. So we wanted throw this out to the stream team today, is Wikileaks good? Having a self-described watchdog releasing classified documents? On the team today is computer security consultant Kevin Mitnick and Sirius XM radio host Pete Dominick. Pete, let me start with you, is what Wikileaks is doing, peaking behind the curtain so to speak, a good thing?

PETE DOMINICK, SIRIUS/XM RADIO HOST: I absolutely think so. We could pick it apart and say certain documents may compromise our national security or we wish they weren't out there or they're embarrassing and ruin our relationship with other governments.

Or in this case, we're going to hear a lot about our relationship with the ISI, which we found out the government considered just like al Qaeda and Hamas, et cetera. But yes, they are a good thing.

Wikileaks is doing the job that we in the media haven't been able to do well enough, and the government told us that these people who were kept there were the worst of the worst. We found out, well, not so much the case, Randi.

KAYE: Kevin, your take?

KEVIN MITNICK, COMPUTER SECURITY CONSULTANT: Yes, I think that it is quite interesting, as a U.S. citizen, you know, I'm fascinated by the information in the documents. Of course, I always call into question the authenticity. I mean, how do you really verify what is being released is really true?

So I have that in the back of my mind, but it is really fascinating to look at some of to dirty deeds of the government and seeing that, you know, things that they are doing to extract information is, you know, above the law.

And they are kind of getting away with it, so I think it is really giving us good visibility into what's really going on in Guantanamo Bay.

KAYE: Pete?

DOMINICK: Randi, I would just ask - I would just ask Kevin if you were concerned about the authenticity, Kevin, don't you think the Pentagon and the government would challenge the authenticity right away? Why would you be concerned about the authenticity of the documents if the government, itself, is not challenging it?

MITNICK: Well, maybe the government would challenge it for, you know, particular reasons. They probably want to confirm or deny. I always -- when information is released, you know, how do you know it is real? Unless you could verify it.

So it is a small question in the back of my mind, you know. You know, I really don't know if any of the documents could be tampered with in any way. I would not think that Julian Assange and his group would do such a thing, but you never know.

KAYE: Yes, but let's not forget these are stolen documents. I mean, so should the workers at Wikileaks face prosecution for putting them out there, do you guys think, Pete?

DOMINICK: Well, if you are going to prosecute Wikileaks, Randi, you absolutely have to prosecute "The New York Times," the "Guardian" the "Telegraph" and NPR. They all did the same thing. Wikileaks got their hands on them.

But so did the "New York Times." You would have to prosecute Bob Woodward. You would have to prosecute any journalist ever who publicized and published what was in these documents. There's no question about that. I don't think.

KAYE: So, Kevin, I mean, is there anything do you think in your mind that should actually be off limits for Wikileaks?

MITNICK: Well, anything that could really harm anybody physically I think should be off limits. I don't really know if any of the documents that were released really jeopardize U.S. interests other than being extremely embarrassing, but of course, I wouldn't want to see anybody harmed. So, but, then again, it is not my call.

KAYE: Yes, but, I mean, having our diplomatic dirty laundry aired out there can be certainly embarrassing.

MITNICK: It's embarrassing, but as a U.S. citizen, I like to know what the government is doing, and some of the things that I'm reading about, I'm quite surprised.

KAYE: All right. Pete, final word.

DOMINICK: Well, I would just ask our viewers to go read in "The New York Times" or preferably in my opinion, I read both "The New York Times" and the "Guardian's" articles today. The "Guardian" did a really, really good job.

If you are interested in the subject and you should be as a taxpayer and American, go read the whole entire thing and decide for yourself and think for yourself.

KAYE: All right. We heard your advice, Pete. Thank you, Pete and Kevin. Appreciate it.

And it is time now for CNN political update and an interesting last-minute change in Congress. CNN senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill. Dana, we are talking about the Defensive Marriage Act. What is going on?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Really interesting twist in the politics of gay marriage, and that is that the law firm hired by House Speaker John Boehner to defend the Federal Defensive Marriage Act, they dropped the case today.

Now the Defensive Marriage Act basically bars the federal government from recognizing gay marriage and you remember that the Justice Department, the Obama Justice Department, they said, Randi, that they will no longer going to defend the case.

But the House speaker then hired private counsel and the firm that was hired, they were under intense pressure from gay rights activists not take this case. They in fact did drop it, but another interesting twist here Randi, the lead lawyer on the case, he was so upset about it, he quit the firm.

And he still taking the case and he's still working for the House speaker. Another interesting item ticker that we are watching closely here on Capitol Hill is that it has to do with the possibility of finding some common ground to reduce the deficit long-term.

Tom Coburn, he, of course, is one of the most conservative senators here. He said over the weekend that he would be OK with what he called an increase in tax revenue. Now, effectively that is decoded meaning some tax increases.

A conservative senator I sag saying he will be OK with some tax increases as it relates to tax reform to reduce the deficit. He is part of that so-called gang of six trying to find a long-term solution to reducing the deficit. Randi.

KAYE: All right, Dana Bash at Capitol Hill for us. Thank you, Dana.

BASH: Thank you.

KAYE: Could your kids' teacher be a convicted criminal? Yes, you probably want to know that so you don't want to miss my "XYZ" that is next.

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KAYE: Time now for my "XYZ." Do you know who is teaching your children? Well, some parents in and around New York City may be in for a huge surprise.

According to a really well-done series by the "New York Post," more than 500 teachers convicted of crimes in the last five years from drunken driving to assault to manslaughter are still in schools simply because the Department of Education can't get rid of them. It sounds pretty crazy, right?

The hold-up seems to be disciplinary hearings. They take a really long time to get resolved. Who pays the price for that? Your children. One elementary schoolteacher from Staten Island was allowed to teach special education students after she had been convicted of failing to keep her pitbulls from malling a 90-year-old neighbor to death. She is a convicted felon. Is that who you want teaching your kids?

There's also a teacher in Brooklyn convicted of stealing nearly $40,000 in federal funds, yet, she's still in the classroom. Others still on the district's payroll have been convicted of securities fraud, stealing from their own department's fund and tackling a student in the classroom.

Just think of all of the teachers getting pink slips across the country. You have to wonder why these teachers, convicted criminals are allowed to keep teaching and collecting a paycheck. No matter the reason, New York's Department of Education in my book gets a failing grade.

CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Brooke Baldwin. Hi, Brooke.