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President Obama Visits Ground Zero; Who Was in Bin Laden Compound?; Obama to Meet Bin Laden Raiders; Bin Laden's Wife Interrogated
Aired May 05, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What happened on Sunday, because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence, sent a message around the world, but also sent a message here back home that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
The president after the death of Osama bin Laden has made his visit today to New York to Ground Zero, where he laid a wreath, the scene of bin Laden's ultimate crime, of course, the attacks of September 11, 2001.
And as we just heard him say, the daring operation to kill bin Laden showed that America meant what America said when it pledged to bring the world's top terrorist to justice.
And if you watched our coverage today here on CNN, you saw that it was a low-key visit, apparently by design. We saw very little of President Obama coming and going. He spent most of his time in closed-door private meetings with family, with colleagues, even friends of victims of Osama bin Laden.
But we did see the president with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani here at -- this is fire station known as Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9. And we saw him walking through, paying tribute to the station's fallen heroes, 15 of whom died right there at Ground Zero.
Also, the president had lunch there at that fire station. And, of course, as firefighters can do very well, they did the cooking. And here is what they told us just after the president's visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARD KILDUFF, NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT CHIEF: It was a wonderful lunch. There was a -- it was a very informal lunch. The president was very much at ease, but still wanted everybody to know, again, how much he appreciated all the work that the first-responders and firefighters do for them. JOE CERAVOLO, NEW YORK FIREFIGHTER: He loved the shrimp. He loved the veal. He really liked eggplant Parmesan. He was a really down-to-earth guy, sat down, like the chief said. Everything was formal. We were just -- you know, just like hanging out with the rest of the guys in the firehouse.
(CROSSTALK)
CERAVOLO: He look like he liked everything. It seemed like he liked everything.
QUESTION: Sir, did you have anything that you wanted to say from him? This firehouse has suffered a lot.
CERAVOLO: No, we thank -- thank him for just the recognition. Coming by, it was really a spectacular thing. He came. Genuinely, he thanked us all. We just wanted to tell him -- we thanked him for what he did on Sunday.
And all the troops and all, we want to let them know that we're with them, you know, every step of the way, and thank -- God bless them. Thank them. I mean, if it wasn't for them, you know, we'd still be chasing this guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And then, just after 1:00 Eastern time, President Obama laying that wreath of flowers, red, white, and blue at the site of Ground Zero and then silence was observed. Let's just watch and listen.
As we said, a fairly low-key trip to New York, to Ground Zero by the president after the death just this past Sunday of Osama bin Laden, low-key, but quite meaningful, according to the folks we have heard from there on scene.
And I want to speak now to Monica Iken. She lost her husband on 9/11 back in 2001.
Ms. Iken, I appreciate you coming on. And I know you're one of the few who actually met with the president today at Ground Zero. What can you share about that conversation?
MONICA IKEN, LOST HUSBAND ON 9/11: Yes.
I -- you know, I can say I said thank you. We all were very pleased and honored to have him and to -- you know, I told him about the work that we have been doing with the memorial and the museum. We were grateful that he was able to see it and experience it, 129 days to go until the 10th anniversary.
I told him about my husband, Michael Patrick Iken, showed him a picture, and told him about where he worked, and was just honored to be able to tell him about Michael and really express the need to continue supporting this memorial and museum for the future generations to come. And there were some children there. And I think it was a very powerful moment to be able to really tell him about it.
BALDWIN: Yes, it was powerful. As we said, it appeared fairly low-key. And, you know, the White House today said that the president was there. He wanted to pay respects and he also wanted to provide, quoting the White House, a sense of closure.
But Mrs. Iken, is this really closure for you? Is that the appropriate word?
IKEN: No. There isn't any closure for the families. This is just the beginning for us to continue honoring our loved ones, to making sure their memories are never forgotten, to keep inspiring the world with our world-class memorial that's soon to come, 129 days to go.
And I can't keep expressing that more. I think people will be very pleased to see eight acres out of 16 dedicated to our loved ones with a beautiful memorial and a museum to come and how important it is for us to have our memories of our loved ones to tell the story of their lives, and who they were.
And there's no closure. And it's just -- it's moving forward and keep preserving their memories. That's really what we're here to do. And every day I say his name, Michael Patrick Iken, and I honor him and all those who are not here today to witness this moment of the 10th anniversary upon us.
BALDWIN: Well, we're looking -- Monica, we're looking at some pictures. This is actually an animation of what you speak about this memorial, what it will eventually look at. And folks can go to 911memorial.org, of course, to see that.
Where will you be as you honor your husband this upcoming 10th anniversary of 9/11? Where will you be? Will you be right where you are right now?
IKEN: I -- I -- I will be there. I can't wait -- 129 days, I'm going to keep saying it, so people know around the world to come and see this memorial and honor our loved ones. And I can't wait to go home and say, I'm finally here, Michael. I'm finally home. You're home.
That's going to be a proud day. I'm going to bring my two little girls, who are almost 4 and 6. And, someday, they will know why mommy's there honoring some person they don't know. And I think it's going to be a proud day for America and the world, because it's going to be a world-class memorial. I can't stress it enough.
I'm so pleased to be a part of this process for nine-and-a-half years and I will continue doing it until I can't do it anymore.
BALDWIN: And if I may, you mentioned your two little ones. As a mother, how do you keep -- how do you keep your husband's memory alive? IKEN: By doing this work. I continue to do it. And even though I have a new husband and two beautiful girls -- I'm really blessed. You know, 9/11, I lost my husband, and he was my angel and I was blessed to have him and to know him.
And the gift I can give back and teach my girls is that you can do something powerful and still go on with your life, but you never forget. And this allows me to live my life and actually move forward. And this is, you know, a blessing for me to be -- to have been able to do this work. And I'm proud to one day share with my girls, and, you know, telling them the story of Michael and why, you know, we did this work.
So, nine-and-a-half years later, I'm looking forward to the 10th anniversary and I can't wait.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: One hundred and twenty-nine days. We will never forget.
(CROSSTALK)
IKEN: ... coming home. Yes.
BALDWIN: Monica Iken, thank you so much.
IKEN: Yes.
BALDWIN: Just wanted to say it for you one more time. Thank you.
IKEN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And this trip to Ground Zero today was meaningful for the president, of course, the people who live, who work, and lost so much there, but it's a fine line for the White House to walk in times like this.
Jessica Yellin is going to walk us through that part of the story.
And the class of 2011, they were in second grade at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And CNN has actually caught up with some of those kids who were in that very Florida classroom when President Bush -- we all remember the video -- we remember that picture -- when he got the news. He was reading that story. That is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: President Obama laying the wreath there, observing a moment of silence at Ground Zero today on his trip to New York, after the death of Osama bin Laden.
I want to take you now to Washington, to our national political correspondent, Jessica Yellin. First, Jess, big picture here, why was it so important for the president specifically to be at Ground Zero today?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it's some closure for the country and the victims' families.
And as commander in chief, he's not just paying his respects-, but helping to send a message to the world, that you don't attack the U.S. without paying a price, that justice, he said, will be served.
But you also have to acknowledge that there's an image component here. He's visiting as commander of an amazing military victory for the U.S. and that does help burnish his own image. Some Republicans are complaining already that he risks exploiting 9/11. But he's been really sensitive to that, Brooke. There were no formal remarks, no attention-grabbing moments.
And, frankly, he was smart to bring Rudy Giuliani with him, since he is such a popular hero from 9/11.
BALDWIN: You mentioned the massive military victory, of course being bin Laden's death. And we over the course of the past few days certainly have seen the evolution of the message, what it was that precisely went down inside that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Why, Jess, have we seen so many different iterations of this story over the past couple of days?
YELLIN: You know, it's -- what they will say is they were briefing quickly after the actual operation. So, the SEAL team is over in Afghanistan by then. And they're relaying it to Virginia. Virginia tells the White House. Think of how things get messed up when you're just calling a friend.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: The game of telephone.
YELLIN: Telephone. So it gets -- it's fresh. It gets confused at first.
What's amazing to me is how they have allowed this discussion -- in the public view, they will say it's cable's fault -- but to move away from the fact that the president ordered this daring mission that killed Osama bin Laden, to become a discussion about whether he had a gun or not.
I mean, who really cares so much, except some international lawyers who are going to really fixate on that? It's Osama bin Laden. If we were dropping a bomb on the place, he would have died. So we're arguing about whether women were -- where women were in the room.
I mean, if this were the Bush administration, they'd probably come back to questions like that, saying something like how dare you question actions of these SEAL team heroes? They have let that conversation get a little away from them at this White House. BALDWIN: So, now that, you know, the commander in chief, the president, has tracked down the world's most wanted terrorist, politically speaking, Jess, does this make him untouchable?
YELLIN: No one's untouchable in politics. We forget so quickly.
The latest polls show that there's been a big bump in approval for the president. Let's look at "The Washington Post" and "New York Times" polls, which each show about an 11-point increase in overall job approval.
But, you know, the bloom can come off that rose quickly. His numbers on the economy are not great. So the poll numbers could shift. This was a game-changer in a larger sense, Brooke. His Republican critics have cast him as indecisive and like most Democrats weak on national security.
Now even his opponents are conceding that this was gutsy, bold, decisive. So it will be hard for his opponents to push the "weak Democrat on national security" narrative going into 2012.
BALDWIN: So, that storyline's gone, but they will find something, I'm sure. And you will be reporting on that.
YELLIN: They will.
BALDWIN: Jessica Yellin, thank you so much from Washington.
YELLIN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And now to this. The American helicopter that actually crashed outside of that compound, there are the bits and pieces after they had to destroy it. So, they are the bits and pieces that may actually have secret technology the United States military would not want to share.
And while the Pakistani military apparently has the biggest pieces of that wreckage, it looks like children were able to get some souvenirs as well. Our Pentagon correspondent shares what he's uncovered about this helicopter in two minutes.
Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: There are new and changing details coming in about Osama bin Laden's compound and about the deadly Navy SEALs' raid inside of it.
Now, the raid did dispel one rumor, that bin Laden could not live without kidney dialysis. That one has been circulating for years. You probably heard it. But a U.S. official says there is nothing at this point in time to suggest there was any kind of medical equipment, no dialysis machine within that bin Laden compound.
Also, as it turns out, the firefight at the compound was not as widespread or lengthy as first reported. A U.S. official tells CNN the Kuwaiti courier who worked for bin Laden fired at SEALs as they entered the compound. They then fired back. The courier was killed. But from that point on, no one else is believed to have shot at those Navy SEALs.
The SEALs killed the courier's unarmed brother on the main floor inside the home. They then ran into bin Laden's son on the stairs. He rushed at them. He was killed. The son was not armed.
Now, administration officials have also said Osama bin Laden was killed near the end of that nearly 40-minute raid, so he was not armed. But we're told he was moving possibly toward weapons when he was shot and killed by two bullets, one to the chest, one to his forehead.
And with no tape measure handy -- listen to this detail that we just got in just a couple minutes ago -- with no tape measure handy, one of the SEALs actually got down on the ground, laid down next to a dead bin Laden, so the team could calculate bin Laden's height as part of the identification process.
We are also told there was no autopsy performed on bin Laden. A couple of other interesting tidbits -- we're also learning today the CIA was told of repeated sightings of a tall man walking within the compound yard beyond those walls in the months leading up to Sunday's raid.
And they chose Sunday night to assault this particular compound because the weather was good, it was a very, very dark night, and they were afraid bin Laden might run, might -- might move on to another location.
Details of the raid have been shifting, as reports are coming in from the different Navy SEALs who were there in person. And we're also getting some new details from Pakistani authorities. And we will take you live to Abbottabad for the latest there at the bottom of the hour.
Now, the Navy SEALs who took down Osama bin Laden did leave something behind. And we're now today getting a closer look at that. Check this out. These are pictures from Reuters. They were taken at bin Laden's compound just hours after the raid.
You see this picture? This is what is left of what could be a stealth helicopter that was a secret until now.
Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence joining me now live in Washington.
And, Chris, first, I have to ask, since this story is obviously out there now. We have these pictures. Is the military even acknowledging that this helicopter exists?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: No, short answer, Brooke.
(LAUGHTER)
LAWRENCE: They're not saying anything about it. In fact, you know, it's -- they -- the SEALs who were on the ground there tried to blow this helicopter up.
What happened was, when they clipped that compound wall, part of it fell in the compound. Part of it fell outside the compound. The SEALs blew up the part in the compound, but, again, they had Osama bin Laden's body. They're rushing to get out of there. You have to make the call, is it worth going back to try to set a second explosion?
They hustled the body out of there. And that tail section is what was left behind.
BALDWIN: So, are they worried at all, Chris, that because that tail section was left behind, that that could fall into the wrong hands?
LAWRENCE: There's obviously some worry.
I have been told that it's right now in the hands of the Pakistani government, that perhaps it could be handed back over to the U.S. But with the relationship right now between the U.S. and Pakistan, it could just as easily be passed on to some third party, like Russia or China.
And the thing about this is, you know, we have been talking to folks who fly Black Hawks and aviation experts. They have never seen a Black Hawk like this one. When they look at it and see, you know, an Army Black Hawk that's not painted olive green, but radar- suppressant gray, when they look and see that it's got an extra rotor that would suppress the sound, they say some of the angles on it are more like an F-22, which would help it defeat radar.
And they say it's got this hubcap-looking thing on the end of it which they have never seen on any other Black Hawk, all of these modifications -- what they say are modifications to what the normal Black Hawk would be.
BALDWIN: Just goes to show there are probably many, many pieces of equipment that are highly, highly classified that you and I would never know about.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
BALDWIN: Chris Lawrence, thank you so much for that.
Also, more information we want to pass along to you. Bin Laden's young daughter told the Pakistanis she watched her father die. And there are other details she's sharing which are in complete contrast to what we have been hearing from the White House this week. So, what is her side of the story? That's next.
But, first, some free money advice from the CNN Help Desk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the Help Desk. This is where we get answers to your financial questions.
With me right now, Gary Schatsky is the president of ObjectiveAdvice.com. And Ryan Mack, he's the president of Optimum Capital Management.
So glad we have your brains here to help us out today, gentlemen.
First question from Judith in Deep Gap, North Carolina. She writes in: "I'm not completely happy with my credit score of 692. I have several credit cards. I have not been late on paying payments. So, I'm thinking I have too many credit cards. When I pay them all off, should I close accounts or just not use them to get a higher credit score?"
This is -- goes against what most people think, Ryan.
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Right.
Well, paying them off -- and she has 692 FICO score right now. Paying them off is one of the fastest ways to get her FICO score improved. But if she cancels that account -- 30 percent of your FICO score is your balance to your lending limit radio, so how much you're able to borrow. So, that's actually going to decrease her total line of credit.
So, she might want to do is, if she wants to improve her FICO score, is maybe rent. If she sells -- her house is on the market right now. If she rents this for maybe six months to get her credit established, she might be able to purchase a home once she moves back -- or out of Deep Gap, North Carolina. I love that name...
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: Yes, that's pretty awesome.
MACK: I love Deep Gap.
ELAM: I want to know what it looks like.
MACK: Yes.
ELAM: All right, let's go on to our next question here from Shannon in Marlborough, Massachusetts: "I am currently contributing both to a ROTH IRA and the 401(k) at my job. Last year, I got married" -- congratulations -- "and found out that I cannot contribute to a ROTH since our combined gross adjusted income is over a certain limit. What do you recommend investing in instead?"
Gary.
GARY SCHATSKY, PRESIDENT, OBJECTIVEADVICE.COM: Well, first of all, double congratulations, because your spouse is earning a lot of money, which is great.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHATSKY: That's a good investment right there.
So, if you can't do a ROTH, you have a few choices. Obviously, A., you want to max out your 401(k). When you get married, it's time to kind of look at the whole family. So, you could speak to your spouse about perhaps increasing their 401(k) contribution. It's the entire family picture.
And then you can do a nondeductible IRA. One thing you might want to consider would be a nondeductible IRA, which, while it's not deductible, it grows tax-deferred. And just for a little twist, later on, you might decide to ROTH convert, which is switch from this to a ROTH, and you will probably pay no tax on the conversion.
ELAM: Yes. So there are still options. You still put your money away.
SCHATSKY: Absolutely.
ELAM: You still plan for the future. It's awesome.
Thanks, guys. All right.
Well, if you have a question you want to get answered, send us an e-mail any time to CNNHelpDesk@CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We have been told that only one other person was in the room when Osama bin Laden was shot and killed and it was actually one of bin Laden's wives, his youngest wife, who reportedly rushed toward American commandos and was then shot in her leg.
Now, we have been wondering who is this woman who would risk her own life to protect the world's most wanted terrorist. I want you to watch.
This is from my colleague Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as Navy SEALs descended up bin Laden's compound, he was surrounded by family, including his youngest wife, Amal al-Fatah, and their three children. She was from Yemen. He married her when she was just 17 after sending a $5,000 dowry to her family. Now 29, she is the woman the White House says came between the terrorist and the troops.
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Bin Laden's wife rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. FOREMAN: According to G. O. -TV, a Pakistani news source, this passport was found at the compound, but CNN can confirm if this is Amal. Another woman was killed in the same building, and CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank suspects she may have been another wife, the mother of one of bin Laden's grown sons. He also died in the assault. PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, over the years, bin Laden liked to have his wives with him, near him, living in the same house, and if he was, indeed, in this compound for up to around seven years, he will have wanted his wives to be there with him to look after his children, to bring up his daughters, to bring up any sons that were still with him at this point.
FOREMAN: Cruickshank helped research the book "The Osama bin Laden I Know" written by CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen. It includes many details of the terrorist's five wives.
The first was Najwa Ghanem, a teenaged first cousin whom he married in 1974. A family member called her "meek, submissive, highly religious and constantly pregnant."
The next wife to join the family, Um Ali, Saudi Arabian. Bin Laden divorced her after she complained about his life of hardship.
Another wife, Um Khalid, a sister of a fellow jihadist, was highly educated in religious law.
Yet another, Um Hamza, had a degree in Arabic language.
And of course, the youngest, Amal al-Sadah.
(on camera): Bin Laden's wives knew each other, shared family events, and are generally described as devoted to him. And yet they also are believed to have lived apart in homes around Afghanistan and elsewhere, at times seeing him only occasionally.
(voice-over): Bin Laden and his wives produced close to 20 children, although how many family members remained in touch with him at the time of his death, like much of his life, remains murky.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Well, U.S. wants answers. Now, Pakistani officials say they will get some. We're getting all kinds of new details just in this afternoon on the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, including how long he may have actually lived behind those compound walls. We're going to take live to CNN's Nic Robertson in Pakistan next.
Plus, this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a salvo of 12 Grad missiles and because of that, quite, understandably it looks like the ship is cutting and running.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A reporter gets caught up in the chaos as a ship desperately tries to dock in Misrata. We're going to show you the dramatic pictures as Moammar Gadhafi's forces shell that city's port in broad daylight.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Getting some information just in to us here at CNN. We saw the president paying his respects and meeting with families' victims, members of fire department and police at Ground Zero today in New York. But we're also getting information on some folks he's meeting both today and tomorrow, closed door meetings, who played integral roles with regard with to that operation that went down in Pakistan Sunday night.
We want to go straight to the White House, straight to Dan Lothian, who's just getting this information.
Dan, who is he meeting with?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I should point out that, you know, the president has publicly thanked the U.S. forces who took part in that operation that killed Osama bin Laden. Well, now, I'm being told by a White House official that tomorrow, when the president travels to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he will be thanking and meeting personally with some of the members of the Special Operations team that carried out that attack on the compound in Pakistan.
Also, the White House official telling me that, yesterday, here at the White House, the president met face-to-face with the head of the Joint Ops, his name is Admiral William McRaven, the president again thanking him personally.
Now, this trip that the president's taking to Fort Campbell was designed for the president to speak in broad terms about the U.S. efforts overseas and to thank the service members there -- some of them who have recently returned from Afghanistan. But, again, the president will get a chance to meet face-to-face with team members who were involved with the operation in Pakistan.
I should point out, President Obama just returning now here to Washington after, as you pointed out, taking part in those ceremonies in New York, at Ground Zero, laying the wreath at Ground Zero, and also meeting privately with some of the family members, the 9/11 victims.
Again, the president returning here to Washington and will hit the road again tomorrow to continue to thank those who have put their lives on the line, as the White House says, to provide a safe place here in the United States.
BALDWIN: Dan Lothian, the president has now landed. He is home. Dan Lothian, thank you so much for that information.
We're also going to get some more on Admiral McRaven for you, head of JSOC, commanding this amazing operation Sunday night a little later on in the show. Fascinating stuff.
Also, how could -- in term of Osama bin Laden -- how could the most wanted man in the world move to a big compound in a suburb of Pakistan and manage to live under the radar? And how long was he there, just about a five-minute drive from Pakistan's version of West Point?
Nic Robertson is in Abbottabad.
And, Nic, I know you have some new information from Pakistani investigators who have been interrogating Osama bin Laden's wife. What is she telling them?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She's telling them quite stunning pieces of information and the one that they've revealed to us is that she says she had been living in that compound, along with Osama bin Laden, for the past five years. Now, over that time, we've imagined perhaps Osama bin Laden as scurrying between different caves or hideouts in the border area.
But now, a different image emerges. Osama bin Laden in this one building, for five years, you can now see this terrorist mastermind that perhaps has been spending his time there sitting, just planning other potential attacks and moves for his organization -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Five years they were there. What about, Nic, what about the wife and the 13 children, perhaps some of whom were not there, who were found inside the compound Sunday night? Where are they now? And what happens to them?
ROBERTSON: Well, the government's not saying exactly where they are, except they have them in custody. But the wife who was shot in the leg is being treated well, getting good care and attention, but being questioned. The working assumption of most people is they've been taken to the military headquarters, just outside the capital, Islamabad, about 45 miles directly over the hills here, a couple of hours' drive down the mountain valleys, to the big military containment area known as Rawalpindi, it's the military headquarters. So, it's widely believed that's where they're being held, that's where they're being questioned, Brooke.
BALDWIN: In terms of Pakistani reaction, Nic, what are they saying about the news bin Laden had been living in the compound for five years without anyone reporting it?
ROBERTSON: Well, they say they're going to have an investigation. There was a meeting of the military chiefs, again in Rawalpindi, the military headquarters, to question several things, the bin Laden's case was the top of the list. And one of the things they said they'll do is investigate how come they missed it. Another thing they said they'll do is send a very clear warning, a message to the United States, don't violate our sovereignty again because that will threaten the cooperation we're giving you at military and intelligence level.
So, what happens then to Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's number two? If he's hiding in Pakistan, does that mean now he gets off scot- free? If he's not in Pakistan right now, he's got to start figuring that maybe Pakistan would be a good place because the United States risks damaging its relationship further, according to these military chiefs today if it comes in on another such mission.
BALDWIN: Or as experts have said to me, maybe this is Pakistan's opportunity to save face and track down al Zawahiri. Nic Robertson in Abbottabad, Pakistan -- thank you, Nic.
Now this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what I'm going to do. It just breaks my heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The worst part for these flood victims, the water is still rising in parts of the M River basin. In fact, Chad Myers said flood crests may go six feet above record levels in some places. And, folks, the worst, we're told, is weeks away. We're going to take you and show you some of these pictures, tell you the biggest danger right now. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: As if the tornadoes weren't enough, right now in the Midwest and South face floods that are being called historic, some people using the word epic. Mississippi and Louisiana are already declaring states of emergency today and the Weather Service is warning the worst is yet to come.
The Army Corps of Engineers started the blasting of a Missouri levee Monday, trying to spare some of the towns downstream. Just moments ago, they tried again, blasting even more holes in this levee.
I want you to take a look here. This is -- these are pictures of Memphis. In parts of Tennessee, rivers are so swollen water is backing up, causing serious, serious concerns in some of the low-lying areas. Now in Arkansas, the water's so high there, look at this, look at those cars, some of which can pass by. It's closed about 20 miles of westbound I-40.
So, the pictures obviously really drive this story home for all of us. But I want to go to Chad Myers -- because the big question is, when does the water go away? When do these folks get a reprieve and I'm afraid you're going to tell me not for a while.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Depends where you live. I mean, for the floodwaters that they allowed to go into Missouri, you know, when they blasted that levee, that may not go away until June, honestly.
BALDWIN: June.
MYERS: June. They blasted water and it's going into that area, they blasted levee on the downside, so it will eventually go out of that area. But there will be puddles, there will be areas there, where farmers will not be able to plant this year. There may be able to do some short crops, this is -- this is bottomland, this is beautiful land that grows, that's America's heartland. That's the bread basket of America.
BALDWIN: Highly used farmland.
MYERS: And you can get shorter crops, you can get shorter soybeans, you can get shorter crops and corn as well, depending on what you're going to plant, but you don't get the yields that you have if you have a very long growing season. And you can't plant anything when your farm is underwater like that. You can't get the tractors in. You literally can't get them there because they're going to, in the ground is sitting over because that Missouri River water, Mississippi River water, brings in a bunch of junk with it, too, that's not fertile.
BALDWIN: You know, talking to a member of the Missouri National Guard yesterday, was walking through one of these rescues, it wasn't a river rescue. It was like, you know, a 93-year-old woman tried crossing over some of this heavy water.
One of the most difficult parts is once you have -- you know, once night falls and the water continues to rise, you don't see it.
MYERS: You went to work, the road was dry. You came home after dark, and all of a sudden, there's water over the road that you didn't know was going to be there. You saw, although there is, you didn't realize it was over the road. If you drive through it, you don't know how deep it is, especially at night. It's turn around, don't drown from the Weather Service. For years and years and years, we've talked about this.
Now, if that's the part -- now, you don't even know if that roadway's still there, right? The water's been rushing, you know, for hours and hours. The road and the road bed maybe washed away. So, you think, oh, it only looks about three inches deep, that's OK.
What if the road as your driving falls as way and it's been washed away? All of a sudden your car is floating, too. So, there's that. And there's also the danger of levees breaking. Levees are working right now. What we're seeing the flooding --
BALDWIN: Not the purposeful explosive sort of nature. You're talking accidental breaking.
MYERS: Correct. We're talking about water seeping under the levees, through the levees, and, all of a sudden, breaching the levees in towns that were supposed to be OK. Now, they're not OK because the levees are breaching, and they're piling sandbags as fast as you can, you're piling on the back of the levee.
Let me go over here. I mean, I just want to take you over here for just a second.
BALDWIN: Go on over.
MYERS: Here's what happens to the Mississippi River over the years. And I'm just going to draw on this map because we can. It was high, and then you get this -- you get this bump up here, which is where the levee is. This is where the river goes, another levee, and then there's what the land looks like, something like that. OK?
So, the water runs in here. You have all of this water trying to be held back by earth and berms like this. This is why the water's going up so high. Back in 1937, we talk about this kind of equal flood of that, these weren't there, so the water wasn't this high. It spread out for miles, miles to the east and miles to the west, and so much more farmland was flooded at a high rate.
The number we're seeing this year, Naches, Mississippi -- Naches, Mississippi, will get to 64 feet. The old record flood as far back as they've been keeping score was 58 -- six feet higher, Brooke, than ever before.
BALDWIN: Six feet.
MYERS: Six feet more water on top of those berms, on top of those levees that have to hold up, that have to try to hold up for the next couple of months.
BALDWIN: Amazing. Chad Myers, obviously, we'll be talking about this for a little while. Thank you, sir.
MYERS: Until June.
BALDWIN: Until June.
Now, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Those were the 38 of the most intense minutes, I have no idea what any of us were looking at at that particular millisecond when the picture was taken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: You know the picture Secretary Clinton's referring to, this one. Captured, covering her mouth, you see her with her right hand over her mouth in the moments the raid went down in Osama bin Laden's compound. So, was she in shock and awe, as some people have sort of thought or was it something else? Today, Secretary Clinton sets the record straight. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: There is an image it is already iconic, several days later, snapped inside the Situation Room from Sunday night.
And we're getting a clarification about what exactly the White House photographer captured. Take a look at the picture here. We'll show it again. This picture shows reaction from the president's inner circle while Navy SEALs were on their mission in Pakistan to kill bin Laden.
And a lot of you wondered what was going through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's mind. You see her, bottom right, her right hand covering part of her -- part of her mouth there, seemingly, perhaps, in disbelief. Well, today, Secretary Clinton set the record straight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Those were the 38 of the most intense minutes, I have no idea what any of us were looking at at that particular millisecond when the picture was taken. I'm somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs. So, it may have no great meaning whatsoever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Today, Secretary Clinton is in Rome, meeting with international leaders about the crisis in Libya. There, keeping up the pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to stop attacking rebels who oppose him. The group agreed to set you up a fund to get desperately needed money and supplies to anti-Gadhafi fighters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANTAL GUERRERO, SARASOTA MILITARY ACADEMY: It's still really meaningful, because I was there that day and I did see -- I was kind of there for part of history. So, obviously, I'm always going to remember it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: These young women and men witnessed history like no one else -- students, many of them just 7 years of age, in the same room with President Bush the moment he learned of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Well now, nearly 10 years later, we visit those students as they and the nation turned another chapter. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: President Obama sharing a moment with families of the 9/11 victims there at ground zero just this afternoon and it's certainly an image that is likely to become iconic of this day during his administration.
But there's another picture -- I'm sure you remember, another equally iconic photo in a different way, from 9/11/2001. You remember this? This was then-President George W. Bush getting word of the terror attacks. He was visiting an elementary school in Florida.
Now, that school is in Sarasota. And on that very day, the kids in that classroom became witnesses to a violent moment in our nation's history and they are now in high school.
CNN's Marty Savidge catches one some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is a story about a story, that begins at an elementary school in Florida and ends in a compound in Pakistan.
About 10 years ago, a group of mostly 7-year-old students gathered inside of this elementary school in Sarasota to read a story to the president of the United States, George W. Bush.
(voice-over): The event was famously interrupted, as now high school junior Lenard Rivers remembers.
LEONARD RIVERS, SARASOTA HIGH SCHOOL: Someone came in and then, all of a sudden, we had to just stop reading to him and then told us he had to leave.
SAVIDGE: Mariah Williams, now on the high school track team, was also there.
MARIAH WILLIAMS, SARASOTA HIGH SCHOOL: Like a bunch of confusion and people scared and stuff.
SAVIDGE: It was the moment the president was told the news of 9/11. Ever since, these students have had a unique connection to the life and death of Osama bin Laden.
For Chantal Guerrero, that front seat on history had a profound effect.
CHANTAL GUERRERO, SARASOTA MILITARY ACADEMY: It helped me realize and be a little bit more serious and learn how to deal with certain things more firsthand at a younger age.
SAVIDGE: Her mother noticed the change almost immediately, a daughter growing up faster than most.
ANGELINE GUERRERO, MOTHER: She is an achiever and I really think it has to do because of the impact that had on those kids that were there. I think they just see the world differently.
SAVIDGE: Today, Chantal is an honors student at Sarasota Military Academy and a regular visitor to Ground Zero. For all three students, the news of Sunday night came as another complete surprise.
WILLIAMS: I was just really shocked because I didn't expect them to catch him at all because it's already been 10 years. So, who would think that they would catch him after 10 years?
SAVIDGE: Rivers says both events have taught him something about life.
RIVERS: I know that anything can happen at any moment and how things can change real quick.
SAVIDGE: Guerrero says the end of bin Laden does nothing to change her connection to that terrible day.
C. GUERRERO: It's still really meaningful because I was there that day and I did see -- I was kind of there for part of history. So, obviously, I'm always going to remember.
SAVIDGE (on camera): The students say that the death of bin Laden doesn't end the story. It's more like closing a chapter. Instead, they say that the story will continue to be written through the rest of their lives -- Brooke.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Marty Savidge, thank you.
I want to bring in Wolf Blitzer. I mean, I have people through that piece, Wolf, who have been tweeting me, you know, everyone remembers that moment when the president was notified there in that classroom. I mean, I was in -- I was in northern Virginia. I was just down the road from the Pentagon on that morning.
Where were you?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": When the whole thing went down, I was in my kitchen at home, right here in Washington, and saw, you know, these reports about a plane going into the World Trade Center. And I said to myself, must be a small piper or small -- some small plane that just accidentally went in. And, then, all of a sudden, the situation got worse and I immediately ran upstairs and packed a bag because I said I'm going off to New York.
BALDWIN: Yes.
BLITZER: And then I started driving to the bureau and then, all of a sudden, we heard about what was happening at the Pentagon. And so, I got to the bureau and got on the air. But it took a long time. And people were scrambling to get out of Washington. You know Washington, D.C.
BALDWIN: Right.
BLITZER: And everybody was just left work and they were trying to get home. And so, at one point, I thought I would have to ditch my car and just start running to the Washington bureau of CNN.
It was a really, really scary time because we didn't know what was happening. And we didn't know if it was going to stop at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, more planes were on the way to the White House, the Capitol. And it just was nerve wracking. And so, all of us were scared.
BALDWIN: Yes. It's a day none of us will ever really forget. And today, we watched you for a couple of hours on air, we saw the president down at Ground Zero. And we also know the vice president, speaking of the Pentagon, was there today, paying his respects as part of a ceremony as well.
BLITZER: You know, let's not lose sight of what happened at the Pentagon --
BALDWIN: Yes.
BLITZER: -- almost 10 years ago and the president and secretary of defense were there, the vice president, I should say, Vice President Joe Biden laid a wreath at the Pentagon. That plane went right into the Pentagon, killed a lot of very, very wonderful men and women, military and civilian. And we should never forget what happened there. There's a memorial at the Pentagon now.
We remember them. We always remember them. I have a very soft spot in my heart. I was a CNN Pentagon correspondent during the First Gulf War and I used to walk those corridors of the Pentagon all the time. Our office was not very far away from where that plane struck the Pentagon. So, it just brought back a lot of memories and a lot of -- a lot of the emotion on these days, only a few days after bin Laden was killed.
So, what happened at Ground Zero, what happened at the Pentagon, what happened in Pennsylvania, we'll never --
BALDWIN: Pennsylvania.
BLITZER: -- we'll never forget any of that.
BALDWIN: We won't at all. Wolf Blitzer, thanks for sharing your day with us. Thank you.
