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Security Beefed up at Important Locations in U.S.; The Team That Got Osama bin Laden; Cost of Hunting Osama bin Laden
Aired May 04, 2011 - 11:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed.
The public waits to see if the White House will release photographs of bin Laden's body inside his home in Pakistan. CIA Director Leon Panetta says he thinks a picture should and will eventually be made public.
Some U.S. officials are concerned that the grisly images could incite extremists. Others say that the pictures will prove to skeptics that bin Laden is dead.
Well, President Obama will meet with 9/11 families at Ground Zero. That's happening in New York tomorrow, but his predecessor is not going to be there. George W. Bush's spokesman says that the former president declined Obama's invitation, preferring to stay out of the spotlight.
Security has been beefed up at important locations around the country after the killing of bin Laden.
Our CNN homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, she has the very latest from Washington.
And Jeanne, I understand that you actually are getting some new information from the attorney general, Eric Holder.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: From the attorney general, and also from Secretary Napolitano. Both of them, still appearing on the Hill at this hour.
Napolitano says that her department is already getting intelligence that has been gathered from the materials, those computers, hard drives, and storage devices that were seized during the raid on Osama bin Laden. Already getting that information, she says.
And the attorney general, Eric Holder, was asked what his department is going to do about the people whose names are found in that material. Here's a bit of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The material that was seized from that residence is being reviewed by an interagency team. The CIA, Justice, other intelligence agencies, other law enforcement agencies are all contributing people and machines to go through that material. As we glean information from that material, we will make appropriate decisions with regard to who might be added to the terrorist watch list, the no-fly list, all those things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you expect you probably will add people as a result of what you found?
HOLDER: My guess would be that we probably will.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Holder said that he held a conference call with U.S. attorneys earlier in the week to fill them in on the possibility of retaliatory attacks. Napolitano said security resources were searched at airports and seaports, and land borders. She also said that information was pushed out to local law enforcement and owners of critical infrastructure so they could take additional protective measures if they chose to do so. But she said at this point in time, there is still not the sort of specific threat information that would warrant issuing an advisory under the newly-revised threat warning system.
Suzanne, back to you.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Jeanne.
Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. Today's question: Should the United States release the bin Laden photos?
Well, our Carol Costello joins us for this.
It's a very controversial topic. A lot of people have very strong opinions. There's nobody who seems to be wavering on this.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. Very strong opinions.
The photos are described as quite gruesome. The shot to Osama bin Laden's face apparently blew off a piece of his skull. So if the government has confirmed through facial recognition and DNA that it really is bin Laden, why do we need to see these grisly photos of his corpse?
Even lawmakers are split on the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I just don't see a need to do it. The DNA has been positive.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: Unless al Qaeda acknowledged that bin Laden was dead, it was important for the United States to release the picture of his body that confirmed that he is dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As if to prove that point, the Taliban says it doesn't believe it. The administration is worried that releasing these graphic photos will spark violent acts of revenge. But 56 percent of Americans want them released, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, not to mention those conspiracy theorists all over Twitter and Facebook.
Even the son of a 9/11 victim is demanding more proof, saying, "They should submit video. It would be somewhat gruesome but it's something we should be able to see."
The thing is, most people believe bin Laden's dead. So why is it so important to see the death photos?
Well, here's one big reason. Osama bin Laden remains a heroic, defiant figure to many in the Islamic world. As CNN terror analyst Peter Bergen says, seeing bin Laden really, truly dead will end the myth and puncture what remains of his heroic glow among his followers.
So, the "Talk Back" question today: Should the U.S. release the bin Laden death photos?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your responses later in the show.
MALVEAUX: And Carol, I thought it was interesting, too, because Nic Robertson said they're debating in Pakistan whether or not they're going to blow up the bin Laden compound. You know, for similar reasons, whether or not people will come and gather at this place and consider bin Laden a martyr. Should they just blow up the whole thing and be done with it?
COSTELLO: They've already had hundreds of tourists going by.
MALVEAUX: Right. Right.
COSTELLO: It's the talk of the neighborhood. So it's already become sort of a -- at least a place of interest, right? At the very least.
MALVEAUX: Right. A tourist attraction. All right, Carol. Thanks. I can't wait for the responses. Thank you.
Also wanted to let you know I spoke with former president Jimmy Carter on this very issue about whether or not this is really going to have a big impact on the war on terror. Here's how he responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Osama bin Laden is dead.
JAMES CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.
MALVEAUX: What is the significance?
CARTER: I think it's quite significant. I wouldn't say that the threat of terrorism is eliminated, but I think it's substantially reduced.
MALVEAUX: Do you think that President Obama, now, having brought bin Laden to justice, will serve another term?
CARTER: Well, it's too early to predict. I hope so. And I believe this has substantially enhanced his political standing, his reputation among people, particularly those that didn't think he was a strong, competent person that could carry out a mission successfully.
MALVEAUX: Is the war on terror over? Is it time to get out of Afghanistan?
CARTER: I would hope that this could expedite our exit from Afghanistan, but certainly the war's not over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Going to have more on my exclusive interview with Jimmy Carter. It really was a pleasant interview, a great experience. I spent about an hour with him at his Plains, Georgia, office. Very accessible.
COSTELLO: Very accessible, very charming. And what a busy guy for his age. It's amazing.
MALVEAUX: Eighty-six. You know what he did before I interviewed him? He said he wrote the op-ed for "The Washington Post," called world leaders. He's writing a book on Sunday school classes that he's teaching, and he bagged a turkey.
COSTELLO: He bagged a turkey?
MALVEAUX: He killed a turkey, yes.
COSTELLO: He went hunting and bagged a --
MALVEAUX: He bagged a turkey.
COSTELLO: Good for him.
MALVEAUX: All in a day's work. Eighty-six.
COSTELLO: I want to be like that when I'm 86.
MALVEAUX: Not bad, huh?
COSTELLO: That's awesome.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Carol.
Well, she should have turned around, but a 93-year-old woman tried to drive across a flooded highway in southeastern Missouri. National Guard troops pulled her from the water. They say she is fine.
Farmers in southeastern Missouri are sharply criticizing the Army Corps of Engineers for flooding their land. Engineers blew up a levee to lower water levels on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Well, it saved the town of Cairo, Illinois, but it ruined 200 square miles of farmland for the planting season.
The United Way of central Alabama and Birmingham TV station -- that is WTVM -- are hosting a telethon for tornado victims today. You can direct your donation to any state affected by the tornado outbreak that happened one week ago.
Now, here are three ways that you can donate. First, you can text "tornado" to 50555 to make a $10 donation, or you can go online to UWCA.org, or call the toll-free number. That is 855-205-HELP to make a donation.
A very good cause.
And here's a look at what's ahead this hour "On the Rundown."
First, taking down bin Laden, how Navy SEALs actually train.
And the cost of killing bin Laden. It goes way beyond the raid.
And then finding bin Laden, tracing the intelligence route.
And a White House photo that has gone viral because of its presidential death stare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He looks like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This picture will go down in history. It's amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And finally, an intentional flood zone. We're live in Missouri, where farmers are now really angry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We may never know their names or even their faces. Members of the elite Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden abide a code of silence, but their raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan is going to go down in history.
Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence, he takes us inside of this operation and the training that it takes to become a Navy SEAL.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The team that killed Osama bin Laden had gone through thousands of scenarios for assaulting a compound just like this group of Navy SEALs on U.S. soil. But the team that went after bin Laden was special, part of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU.
STEW SMITH, FMR. NAVY SEAL: This SEAL team is the all-star of the SEAL teams.
LAWRENCE: Stew Smith is a former SEAL who says the men in that raid have at least five years as special operators.
SMITH: This SEAL team is based on combat experience. And all these guys probably have 100, 200 missions.
LAWRENCE: The CIA provided detailed satellite pictures of bin Laden's compound, enough to build a replica where the SEAL team practiced. A senior defense official says for a time they trained without knowing who their actual target was. But by Sunday, they knew the location of every gate and window in that compound, the exact height of the walls.
BRENNAN: They operated according to that, and they didn't know when they got there exactly what some of the internal features of it would be.
LAWRENCE: The defense official says by the time the SEALs ran out of the House with bin Laden's body, they could probably count the exact number of steps to the helicopter outside.
Special operator training is brutal --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't see (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
LAWRENCE: -- at least six months of sheer hell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, Johnson. Buck (ph) just passed you up.
LAWRENCE: Bit the men that took down bin Laden don't necessarily look like linebackers.
SMITH: They have a great deal of muscle. Just not everybody is massive. You know, you don't have to be, you know, 6'5", 250 pounds to be a SEAL.
LAWRENCE: Two teams were supposed to fast-rope down from the Black Hawks, but one helicopter had mechanical problems and had to land hard, put one team directly on the ground. There was a contingency plan, and the SEALs scrambled out to continue their mission.
SMITH: And there's a reason why they brought two helicopters. Because in the SEAL teams, we say two is one; one is none. And, you know, they knew what to do even in the event of a downed helicopter.
LAWRENCE (on camera): An official told me that the White House left the actual selection of the team up to the military. And the question they asked themselves was, how much force do we need? He says this special SEAL team was selected because it best fit the mission, not because it's necessarily better than, say, Delta Force. He says a 12-man Green Beret alpha team might have been too small to assault a compound this size, whereas he knew they didn't need an entire battalion of Army Rangers. He said the special SEAL team was the best combination of size and capability.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: One former Navy SEAL says the unspoken code is to be a quiet professional, but he is providing us with some insight into the mission to capture and kill Osama bin Laden.
Chris Heben spent 10 years as a Navy SEAL. He is currently vice president of a company that provides products and training for police, fire departments, and other first responders. And he joins us from Cleveland.
First of all, thanks for being here.
Give us a sense of how the SEAL team prepared for this mission.
CHRIS HEBEN, FMR. NAVY SEAL: Thanks for having me, Suzanne.
The SEALs had an exact replica of this compound that was built just off of the base at Bagram in Afghanistan. They trained on this site hundreds and hundreds of times. They knew the height of every wall, the thickness of every wall, the distance from one wall to the next. They knew every intimate detail in that compound just like you or I would know every detail in our own kitchen or our own bathroom.
It was very methodic, very rehearsed, very calculated.
MALVEAUX: Do you know any of the SEALs who took part in the operation, in the mission? Have you spoken to anybody?
HEBEN: I have not spoken to any of them yet. I do know a few of them, and that's all I want to comment on that.
MALVEAUX: Do you know who fired the shot that killed bin Laden? Will we ever know? Or is that something that's really super-secret?
HEBEN: That is information that I pray to God is never released. I do know some of the gentlemen that took the shots on the Somali pirates last year. The information will probably filter down to me very shortly.
I pray that information never gets released. That person would be in immediate jeopardy, as would his family, perhaps for generations to come.
MALVEAUX: And you bring that up. It's a very good point, because I know the SEALs' code is to be a quiet professional, as you say. How important is that code of silence in a mission like this? I mean, that it be kept secret for such a long time.
HEBEN: That is essential to almost every operation that these guys do, whether it's Delta Force or DEVGRU. The proverbial saying, "Loose lips sink ships," that is very, very true.
We even kept this intelligence information in-house. We didn't share it with any other NATO organizations. We were concerned that much with having anything leak.
MALVEAUX: Is it the kind of thing, Chris, where you can't even tell, you know, like, your spouse?
HEBEN: Definitely. If a guy's about to do any operation, especially one of this magnitude, you'll call home, you'll speak with your wife, or your kids, and just say, hello, honey, how's it going? I hope you had a great day. And we'll chat again soon. I love you. Let me talk to little Bobby.
That's pretty much how the call will go. It's not, I'm about to do something dangerous, I may not come home. Those words are never spoken. The conversations are always, always upbeat. Just keeping it real.
MALVEAUX: That's amazing.
Were you surprised that no SEALs were killed in this operation? I mean, the level of danger that we actually saw?
HEBEN: Not surprised. As SEALs, as Delta Force guys, we are afforded with the utmost in technology. These guys had high technology body armor on. They had ballistic helmets which probably had Team Wendy pads inside. That's a Cleveland company. They make the best helmet padding system in the country. So I'm not surprised.
These guys probably took some rounds somewhere. But because of this protective equipment, they were able to come home safely.
I can imagine those guys in the helicopter that had a hard landing and rolled, I would bet you dimes to dollars that quite a few of those guys had some significant orthopedic injuries, whether it was a fractured ankle, a broken hand or wrist or an elbow. But true to form, as SEALs are, we're thoroughbreds. We just jumped out of a helicopter and completed the mission. That's what we're known for.
MALVEAUX: All right. Chris Heben, thank you so much for breaking it down. And as you say, keeping it real. Appreciate it, Chris.
HEBEN: Suzanne, thank you.
MALVEAUX: Well, it took a decade to find Osama bin Laden. Do you ever wonder how much that actually costs? Well, the CNN Money team is checking out the bottom line on the bin Laden manhunt.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Getting some amazing pictures, live pictures now from some flooding that's taking place in Memphis, Tennessee.
Want to bring in our own Chad Myers to explain what is taking place there.
I understand it has nothing to do with, like, levees breaking or anything like that.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Or Cairo, no.
MALVEAUX: Yes, nothing like that.
MYERS: No, nothing to do with that blast. Nothing to do with that. That's well upstream from Memphis.
That water bubble, that high water, still has to come to Memphis. So what you see here is only the beginning of the flooding.
We were a little bit ago right over Mud Island State Park, right up to the barriers. A lot of that nice, pretty grass along Mud Island, completely covered. And this is going to go up another four, maybe five feet. We could see some of these waterways, some of these roadways right there, inundated.
There you go. There's the pyramid. And then what you see there in front, in the foreground, Mud Island.
As you get underneath the bridge, that's the bridge that looks like an "M" for Memphis. We kind of pretend that. It's a couple -- double-decker bridge thing, or a double-hoop bridge. Then you see the trees are under water.
This water level has a long way to go before the flooding is finally over. We have many, many more feet to add to this flood.
And there will be people along those rivers, all the way up and down, from where we're talking about, Cairo, where Rob Marciano is -- that water has to get to the Gulf of Mexico. It has a long -- that bubble, that high water mark, has a long way to travel before that bubble of water finally gets to the Gulf of Mexico.
MALVEAUX: When we look at these pictures, is there any way of knowing how high the water has risen just looking at this? It certainly looks like it's gotten up to the trees. I don't know if it's the tops of the trees.
MYERS: You know, there's no way to know where we are at this point in time on this river.
I have my producer in the weather office.
Monica (ph), could you please put up the graphic that shows Memphis river levels, please, anywhere? There's been so much rain in this area, 10 to 12 inches of rainfall just in the past two weeks. Then you add on the fact that all this snow has melted to the north. Right? Because we're still -- and then for a while, when the rain was happening, the rain wasn't soaking in because the ground was still frozen.
Now where are we now? We are one month from hurricane season. Can you imagine even a tropical storm running up the Gulf of Mexico into this Mississippi River Valley, how much more flooding could possibly occur?
OK. Here's the river level right there. And the difference between pink and orange, major stage, major flood stage. And we're still well above where we have to go to get to record.
But that line is still on the uptrend. And the more it rains, the more it will. The blue is where it is right now. The green little dots that you see to the right, that's the forecast where it's still going.
MALVEAUX: That's the forecast.
MYERS: And so in the next five days, we're up another three feet. And it's still going up from there. This isn't done. This still has --
MALVEAUX: No chance that that line's going to go down, huh? It's only going to increase?
MYERS: There will only be a slight dip when we see where that water now -- because of the blast near Cairo, that blast will have -- we just released a little bit of the high water bubble. And we will see a slight dip there, even in Memphis, because of the water that's inundating these farms.
And I know the farmers are upset, and I lived along the Mississippi and the Missouri River for a lot of my life. It's not so much that the ground is going to get wet. It will, of course, but it will get silted.
There's junk in this water. There's silt in this water that will make the land not as fertile as it was.
Now, that said, all of this land that we're talking about is a floodplain. It has been a floodplain for hundreds of thousands of years. And that's how the ground got so fertile in the first place.
MALVEAUX: So they expected this?
MYERS: Well, I heard Rob talk to a man who went through the '37 or '39 flood, and he said it just happens, sometimes it just happens.
Now, what we have done, we have put people in the way. We have put houses in the way. We have put communities in the way that weren't there in 1939 and '37. And that's what's getting flooded this time. MALVEAUX: All right, Chad. Thank you. Appreciate that.
MYERS: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Now a look at business headlines.
CNNMoney.com's lead story, how gas prices are impacting the average family.
And a check of the markets. The Dow is now down about 120 points or so.
In the decade between the September 11th attacks and Sunday's killing of Osama bin Laden, defense spending now has soared from new agencies, expanding new missions, to thousands more of intelligence analysts, all of those things.
And our Alison Kosik, she's got the total of the cost. She's been totaling up all of this. I can't imagine that's an easy thing to do.
She joins us from the New York Stock Exchange.
Alison, how much do we know has been spent to protect our country?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The good old calculator, Suzanne, says that hundreds of billions of dollars has been spent on fighting terrorism over the past decade. But you know what? Catching the number one terrorist, it comes at a cost. But how much of a cost?
Well, the funding surge that started, it started immediately after 9/11. That's when the Department of Homeland Security was created.
Its budget last year was sitting at $45 billion. That's big money. That's more money than the GDP of Iraq, Cuba and 130 other countries combined. So we're talking about a lot of money -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Wow. And those figures don't even count the Pentagon's budget.
How does that weigh in? How does that factor into all of these figures?
KOSIK: You said it, because the Pentagon actually dwarfs DHS in budget and size. When you think about it, the Pentagon handles a lot more in overseas military operations.
You know, before 9/11, the Pentagon's budget was sitting at $300 billion. And we actually stayed at that level for 15 years.
Then, boom, 9/11 hit, and that spending seriously surged. The budget last year was at $700 billion. You have to remember, a lot of that went to fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- Suzanne. MALVEAUX: Alison, I've got to ask you here -- obviously we're all happy that bin Laden's been captured. And we see these big results, that the money has paid off. But can this spending go on with the budget crisis that we're dealing with, at those levels?
KOSIK: You know, with our debt issues front and center these days, I'll tell you what, everything is on the table right now when it comes to those budget cuts. You know, President Obama, he's proposing cuts in defense spending.
And I'll tell you what though. It can really be a tough sell, because no one wants to look soft on terrorism after 9/11, but we're in these extraordinary times right now in terms of where we can cut the deficit at this point.
But analysts say that they're seeing reckless growth in the defense budget, especially because in the past what you saw was Congress pretty much rubberstamping defense spending. But that could really change as our debt problems really get closer and closer. So we'll really have to see where these cuts come from -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Alison, thank you for breaking it down. Appreciate it. Thanks.
Well, he hasn't run for office for nearly three decades, over three decades, but Jimmy Carter always keeps politics on his radar. In my exclusive interview, Carter weighs in on the next generation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Will we see another Carter in the White House?
CARTER: Well, you know, it's a much bigger obstacle to overcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: More of my exclusive interview in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown on some of the stories we are working on. We've got more of my exclusive interview with former president Jimmy Carter. Hear what he has to say about President Obama and racism.
Plus, angry farmers in Missouri are speaking out after their farms were flooded by an intentional levee breach.
And later, the famous photograph of President Obama and his top aides during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. We're going to take you behind that picture.
Years ago, he laid out a plan for Middle East peace, bringing all sides to the negotiating table., including a group considered to be terrorists by the Obama and Bush administrations. Well, that group is hamas. Today in Cairo, Hamas is at the bargaining table once again to unite Palestinians. Former president Carter wrote an op-ed today in "The Washington Post," and I pressed him on whether he is promoting a terrorist organization.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They obviously don't admit that they conducted terrorism because there are a lot more Palestinians killed in the altercations than other people. So, no, they don't acknowledge that they are terrorists, of course.
MALVEAUX: Do you believe they are?
CARTER: They commit some terrible acts of violence against civilians, and so do other people involved in those altercations in the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: He is also weighing in on racism and whether or not President Obama is a target.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: What do you make of the birther movement? Do you think that there is a racial motivation behind people questioning the president and whether or not he is actually a citizen of this country?
CARTER: I think that's one of the motivations, yes. I still believe that racial issue is one of the factors, not the only factor, in people accusing President Obama of not being a citizen of America. To de-legitimize his administration and his actual election, yes.
MALVEAUX: There were some people who believed it was beneath him and the office to produce this long-form birth certificate. Do you agree? Do you think that was the right thing to do?
CARTER: I know it was a difficult call for him. And his closest advisers were divided on the issue. I understand.
I really think it was the right thing to do, to go ahead and just clear the air once and for all. Whether or not he had to have a big press conference, that was an additional factor someone might question. He made the decision. And I think it's better for people like me certainly who have served in the White House not to be critical of actions of people that are there and are faced with all the different arguments back and forth. And then they make the final decision as best they can. Sometimes we have, and they do, make mistakes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Tomorrow we'll have more from president Jimmy Carter, raw and uncut. You'll hear his views on church, feminism and his favorite pastimes, including turkey hunting.
Tens of thousands of acres of prime farmland are underwater from flooding along the Mississippi River. A lot of farmers now are angry. We're going to get the latest from the flood zone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: One week after a massive tornado outbreak, parts of the South are shifting their focus now from rescue to recovery. Alabama, as you know, was hit the hardest. And the state's governor is promising quick action to clean up and rebuild. More than 20 large tornadoes touched down in Alabama, killing at least 250 people.
The decision to blow up a levee along the Mississippi River has eased the flooding crisis around Cairo, Illinois. Water levels have now started to drop. But tens of thousands of acres of Missouri farmland are now underwater. And a lot of farmers are upset.
Our CNN's Rob Marciano is in Mississippi County, Missouri.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Day two of the exploding levee extravaganza. Extreme measures taken for really an extreme flood event. We haven't seen this level on the river here in Mississippi and along the Ohio since 1937. And yesterday they blew up a second levee.
Take a look at this video, extraordinary stuff, during the daytime. Soil and earth being blown above the tree tops. That is at the opposite end of this floodway so that some of this water can begin to drain. This is farmland. This is now not so good farmland, at least for this year. And that has a lot of farmers upset. There's class-action lawsuits happening, the state of Missouri not happy about the solution that they've had.
We tracked down one famer, a retired farmer, old timer who was here during the 1930s flood and here'd what he had to say about the situation.
NORBERT ROLWING, RETIRED FARMER: Some of them are farming a lot of acres and they've just been lucky these last few years that they haven't had a flood. This is one of the things that happens once in a great while and it just had to take it on the chin.
MARCIANO: Needless to say, it's not just farmers who are affected. There are hundreds if not thousands of homes that are going to be flooded in this situation and there are several towns that are completely evacuated.
We went out yesterday with the Illinois DNR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and they toured us around a couple of spots, this one in Olive Branch, where the entire area flooded out. The roadway, now water rushing over it. And these folks won't get back into homes probably for several days, if not several weeks because the water's going to kind of remain steady here.
Even though they've released some of the pressure, now they're releasing more water upstream that's been held there in dams with all of the rain that we've seen in the last couple of weeks. This is going to affect people here for another week or so before the waters even begin to recede somewhat. And then downstream and through Memphis and Mississippi and eventually Louisiana, for the next couple of weeks -- Suzanne.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Thanks, Rob. Missouri governor Jay Nixon has gotten a firsthand look at the flooding in his state. And he says the key focus now is recovery.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GOV. JAY NIXON (D), MISSOURI (on the phone): I try to bring people together. The tougher the times, the more Missourians stand together. Obviously we didn't want this levee blown up, but we're well past that point. They're talking about another explosion lower today to get that area cleared out so that the water can move through more freely, which may have a deleterious impact on downstream.
The bottom line is, we have to get beyond what has happened and to get to the point of what we can do to help families in those areas. We want to rebuild, we want to recover, we want to replenish -
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MALVEUAX: Governor Nixon says floodwaters now cover 130,000 acres in Missouri.
Connecting the dots on Osama bin Laden. A look at how the threads of intelligence came together to finally track him down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The compound where Osama bin Laden was killed is already becoming something of a tourist attraction. Our CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson gives us an up-close look inside and outside of bin Laden's final hideout.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's just across the fields here, about 100 yards away. There is already a big crowd of people gathering around there. I can see some soldiers. There's one soldier walking in across the field.
But when you look at this building, look at it there, it is different from all the other buildings around it. It is taller. And it has got a higher wall. The compound starts right here. You can see how high the wall is.
Look at this. OK. I'm 6 foot. My arms may be another two feet. And that gives you an idea of just how tall the wall is. Of course, there is razor wire at the top of it as well. And if you come back come over here, come and stand up over here, we can take a look here. And you can get to see the high part of the compound building here. It was up there on the second and third floor where bin Laden was killed, two shots, one to the head one the chest.
Well, it is becoming already a tourist attraction in of itself. I mean, look at the all the people that are gathered here right now. People got have their cell phones out, taking pictures, professional journalists down here, but a lot of people just coming to take a look.
And the door here -- soldiers guarding the door.
Salaam Alaikum (ph). How are you?
You see the doors are sealed, these pink labels here and here. No, no, no. They are sealing the doors to the compound.
(voice-over): Behind the doors, blood on the floor. This video was taken just after the fight finished. Now all that damage is off limits.
(on camera): As you walk around the compound, there is nothing to give away that the world's most wanted terrorist was living inside here, but this is incredibly ironic, painted on the outside, an advert for a girls college on the wall of the compound where the world's most wanted terrorist lived.
But think about it. More than that, this man, Osama bin Laden, denied women access to education. His view of Islam denied women the opportunity to progress in life. And here it is on the outside of the place he was hiding, an advert for girls to get an education.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEUAX: U.S. intelligence community came under fire after the September 11 attacks for not connecting the dots. But capturing and killing Osama bin Laden required weaving together threads of information, starting with the identity of one man.
Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr looks at how it all came together this time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It would be a leap of faith by Navy SEALs, the CIA, and President Obama that Osama bin Laden really was hiding at this million-dollar compound in Pakistan.
JOHN BRENNAN, U.S. DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There was no one single piece of information that was an aha moment.
STARR: The final trail to getting bin Laden really started in 2003, when the CIA focused heavily on bin Laden's use of couriers to communicate.
MICHAEL HAYDEN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: You know, he's not communicating electronically, so he's got to meet face to face. That's much more difficult for us to track, but it's an opportunity. And they began at that point.
STARR: A U.S. official provided CNN with many details of the hunt. By 2005, they were looking for one man in particular, a courier who is a protege of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the chief planner of 9/11, and Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a top bin Laden operative. Both men are under CIA interrogation. KSM refuses to talk about the courier. It's a clue how important he may be.
In one government report posted by WikiLeaks, it notes the courier may have accompanied bin Laden in Tora Bora before the al Qaeda leader disappeared in late 2001.
ELLEN LAIPSON, PRES. & CEO, THE STIMSON CENTER: Our ability to monitor this individual who was the courier turned out to be the critical piece of information.
STARR: In 2007, the CIA learns the man's name, Abu Ahmed al- Kuwaiti, from what one official calls classic espionage. A U.S. official says Pakistanis provide some information, but the U.S. won't say what it was. By 2009, the CIA knows the general area in Pakistan where the courier is living. Once they even spot him on the street.
In August 2010, they learn the courier and his brother are living at this compound. But something isn't right. Why do they need 18-foot- tall walls, security gates and a $1 million mansion?
By late 2010, the U.S. is covertly watching the compound around the clock. Overhead satellites keep an eye on it. Telephone conversations of the courier are intercepted. The courier and his brother are practicing extraordinary operational security, the official tells CNN. They don't use their real name in the town. They burn their trash. Again, why? Who are they protecting?
The U.S. comes to realize there's a third family there, and the family matches the makeup of Osama bin Laden's family. One of his wives, a son and three children. But no sign of bin Laden.
In September, the CIA briefs President Obama for the first time in-depth. They tell the president they have found a really interesting compound and a courier with ties to Osama bin Laden.
STARR (on camera): Just before President Obama authorized the assault, the CIA conducted one last analysis. A so-called red team analysis to see if there was any other explanation that it was Osama bin Laden at the compound. CIA Director Leon Panetta was told, nope, it still looks like it's him. We have no proof, but we think it's him. The president authorized the mission. But nobody was certain until they got to the compound and saw bin Laden there.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: From a childhood of wealth, to a U.S. ally against the Soviets, to 9/11 mastermind. How Osama bin Laden became the world's most wanted man. This Friday, CNN takes an in-depth look at one of the most hunted terrorists of all time. Join Anderson Cooper for the CNN award-winning documentary "In The Footsteps of Bin Laden" Friday night at 11:00 Eastern on CNN.
Well, it happened for the Bush family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Could we see another Carter in the White House?
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, you know --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: We're going to show you more of my exclusive sit-down with former President Carter and reveal the budding politician on the Carter family tree.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Former President Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, just got elected to Georgia's state senate for a suburban Atlanta seat in a special election. We'll see how he does. He's a 34-year-old lawyer who captured 65 percent of the vote.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wow, that's awesome.
MALVEAUX: At any time the White House could announce its decision to release photos of Osama bin Laden's body, which brings us to the "Talk Back" question and Carol Costello.
Carol, folks must be really weighing in on this one.
COSTELLO: Lots of responses to this "Talk Back" question, should the U.S. release the bin Laden death photos.
This from Brandon. "As a troop, yes. This is what we have busted our butts for for nearly 10 years. Show the pics."
This from Michelle. "The attacks on 9/11 are seared in the minds of millions. The American people are faced with those images forever. Bin Laden's death photo is necessary to put to bed any doubt. Let that image be remembered as a consequence to terrorism."
This from Mac. "If the government shows the picture/footage of Osama, it will only show how the country can become as bloody and sickening as the terrorists we seek to stop."
This from Kwan. "Why should they show the images of bin Laden dead? So the conspiracy theorists can say that they were all Photoshopped?"
Please, continue the conversation, facebook.com/carolcnn, facebook.com/carolcnn. And, as always, thank you for your insight. MALVEAUX: And, Carol, it's interesting, because Nic Robertson was reporting that the compound where bin Laden was actually captured and killed has now become a tourist attraction. And they're considering whether or not they should blow up the whole thing so that people don't congregate and consider him to be a martyr or a hero.
COSTELLO: And continue to remind everyone within Pakistan how embarrassing this is for the Pakistani government. Maybe that's another reason why the government wants to blow it up.
MALVEAUX: Uh-huh, I wouldn't doubt that.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.
Well, if looks could kill. The stare-down from President Obama. That's right. We are talking about his intense expression during the Navy SEAL raid to take down bin Laden.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Late night comedians are showing no mercy. The bin Laden jokes just keep coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": It's been reported that Osama bin Laden was killed by -- have you heard this -- by an elite squad of Navy SEALs called Team Six. Yes. These guys are amazing. Because not only did they kill bin Laden, they also killed Donald Trump's shot at being president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: A photograph released by the White House of the Obama team watching the raid that killed bin Laden is already famous. And not just for its historic significance. Our CNN's Jeanne Moos takes us behind the picture.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bet you've never seen President Obama look like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He looks like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders.
MOOS: Or Hillary Clinton look like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her facial expression is so intense and so scared and so concerned. MOOS: By now, you've probably seen this photo, and so will future generations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This picture will go down in history. It's amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A serious and profound moment.
MOOS: Well, not for everyone. It's already being photoshopped with hats from the royal wedding, with President Obama holding a video game controller. Some refer to the president's look as the "deaths- stare." As in, if looks could kill. And Osama bin Laden is dead.
The photo was taken in the situation room.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN, "THE SITUATION ROOM": You're in "The Situation Room."
MOOS: No, not that situation room. Though the president has taken note of Wolf Blitzer.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only other man in America with his own situation room.
MOOS: The various rooms in the real situation room have bells and whistles even Wolf doesn't have, but a president gets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be able to fog the windows to give him that level of privacy.
MOOS: This is a tour posted on the White House website.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phone tubes or we call them Superman tubes.
MOOS: For top-secret or unclassified calls. But it was simplicity, rather than gadgetry in this photo that captured the public's imagination as the national security team was transfixed by real-time updates on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They all seem very vulnerable.
MOOS: Especially Hillary with her hand to her mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This can't happen. You want to hold your mouth -- you know you can't -- it's unspeakable.
MOOS: On the web, the photo is being blown up and dissected from the words on Hillary's binder, "top secret code word," to the intentionally blurred, apparently classified document on the table, to the burn bag used to burn papers too secret to merely shred.
MOOS (on camera): Reporters have asked but the White House wouldn't say exactly what everyone was staring at the moment the photo was snapped. MOOS (voice-over): So the guessing game began. What was Obama watching? "Sex and The City" reruns? We imagine it was something like the scene in "Patriot Games." A military raid, targets neutralized. What seems written all over these faces is a phrase made famous by the Bush administration --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shock and awe.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A different shock and awe.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Randi Kaye, who's in for Ali Velshi.
Hey, Randi.
