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President Obama to Announce Troop Drawdown Plans; Close Call at JFK Airport; Wildfires Rage Across Many U.S. States; New York Senate Continues Debate on Same-Sex Marriage Bill; President Set to Give Speech on Future of U.S. Operations In Afghanistan; Girl Goes Missing After Testifying Against Her Former Pimp in Sex Trafficking Case

Aired June 22, 2011 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Hi, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Randi Kaye. Thank you so much.

And hello to all of you, folks.

I just tweeted this. We got a jam-packed show for you, busy, busy day here on this Wednesday.

Want to get you straight to some of the news we're working on for you right now, including President Obama just hours away from making his case to his war-weary nation. He is expected to bring home thousands of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, but exactly when and will it be enough? We are all over this story for you today.

Plus, a Dakota town, a North Dakota town, I should say, could be hours away from literal wipeout -- 11,000 people told to get out of town now. The sirens have gone off, I'm told. We're going to talk to the town's mayor here in mere moments.

Plus, some breaking news here outside of Atlanta -- take a look at this, live pictures, I'm told. Look at that thick black smoke coming out of this -- it sounds like it's some sort of corporation. This is Clayton County. This is outside of Atlanta -- 50 to 55 different firefighters trying to fight this thing.

You can see some of those patrol cars and fire trucks there on the scene as they're attending to this. Again, it's some sort of two- alarm fire at the Tensar Corporation, if you're familiar. It's an outside-source fire located on a storage lot. No people -- this is according to battalion chief out of Clayton County -- no people were endangered, but evacuations are in place all around the area.

We're watching those pictures for you. As soon as we get updates from our Southeast desk, I promise I will pass them along.

But I want to begin this hour with this. Want to start with a really, really close call at JFK Airport in New York. Watch this, a Lufthansa jumbo jet speeding down the runway, hurtling towards takeoff -- watch this animation with me -- when a second jumbo jet -- here's the first one going down. A second jumbo jet then from Egypt, there it is, pulls out in front of it. This happened Monday evening. Again, I said this is JFK. This is runway 22-R.

I want you to listen to the control tower as air traffic controllers obviously get a little frantic.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: American 158 heavy. You are ready to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Egypt Air 986 heavy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cancel takeoff plans. Cancel takeoff. Cancel takeoff plans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lufthansa 411 heavy is rejecting takeoff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All traffic is stopped right now.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, how did two huge planes full of passengers come so frighteningly close to colliding? That's one of the questions federal investigators are asking right now.

I want to bring in CNN's Mary Snow there in New York.

And, obviously, Mary, a multitude of questions here, but my first question is why? Do we know yet why that Egyptian plane pulled out, made that turn? Are investigators any closer -- any closer to figuring that one out?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, here's what the FAA does know at this point.

It says that that Egypt Air flight had been given instructions to taxi because it was getting ready to depart. And here's what the FAA is saying, that the pilot of Egypt Air 986 read back the taxi instructions correctly, however, failed to turn as instructed. So, in other words, what the FAA is saying is that it was instructed to turn on to another taxiway, but it went straight.

But the FAA is saying that that Egypt Air plane did not enter the runway. It said what it did was that it passed what is known as the hold-short line. And that is a line that planes are not supposed to cross unless they are given specific clearance.

How close that these planes came is un -- is still unclear. But what the FAA said is that, when it did pass that line, they said that hold-short line is about 250 feet from the runway.

BALDWIN: OK.

SNOW: So that Lufthansa jet did stop before it got to that Egypt Air plane. BALDWIN: OK. So, just so I'm following you, this Egyptian airplane, it was told -- it was told to turn. Instead, it went straight?

SNOW: To make another turn.

BALDWIN: To make the turn.

SNOW: Right. That's what the FAA is telling us.

BALDWIN: So there are -- we were wondering if there were any questions over language, hearing this is Lufthansa and Egypt Air. So anything that would be lost in any kind of translation, that was not at all the issue?

SNOW: You know, we don't know whether it was at this point.

But, you know, I was talking to a former pilot and to a former air traffic controller. And they were saying that, in past cases, you know, it has been a problem because of language and accents, but also so many people talking at the same time.

And what one former pilot we spoke to said is that this is not something that is common. It's not unheard of either. It is infrequent. But as you could sense from listening to those tapes that you just played, this was certainly something that was a very close call.

BALDWIN: It was a close call, but at least they are saying it's not common.

But let's talk to a pilot.

Mary Snow, by the way, thank you very much.

Want to bring in Jim Tilmon. He's a retired commercial pilot joining me there -- here from Dallas.

And, Jim, let me start with where Mary ended there. She said -- she said that this is not common, but she also couldn't say that this had never happened before. In your years, you know, as a pilot, have you heard of this? Did you ever have a close call?

JIM TILMON, FORMER AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOT: Oh, yes.

BALDWIN: Oh, yes?

TILMON: Oh, well, I don't remember having anything quite like this. But I got to tell you what we're talking about is called a runway incursion.

And that's one of the most dangerous events, not in the air, but all on the ground. If you remember back in the day when Tenerife was in the headlines because two jumbo jets hit each other, the most deadly accident in aviation history even to this day. And it's all because of some human errors. Now, this particular case sounds like the Egyptian Air pilots failed to follow the full instructions. They may have written -- read it back just fine, but they failed to follow the full instructions.

I don't know that language had a problem here. But I got to tell you that this airport particularly, all high-density airports, have a lot of conversation going on all at the same time. And these controllers talk at rapid speed. And they hardly take a breath. I don't know when they breathe, because in between the instructions for one airplane and another, there's just no break whatsoever.

However --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So -- go ahead. And then I will jump in. Finish your thought.

(CROSSTALK)

TILMON: On the other side of that, the Egyptian airplane was getting ready to take off.

BALDWIN: Yes.

TILMON: Lots of things going on in that cockpit at that time, checklists being read and answered and everything else, all kinds of other checks taking place, locating exactly where you are, communicating about the flight that you're about to -- all this, lots of communication going on all at once. It's easy to get confused.

BALDWIN: Now, hang on a second, though, because if people are sitting there and they're a passenger on many a plane, we know there are hundreds of folks on these planes, and you're saying that places like JFK, yes, it's really busy and some of these air traffic controllers talk at rapid speed because there are many, many planes coming and going, but that's not an excuse. Many lives were on the line.

And thank goodness nothing happened. But, still, who takes the blame? Is it the pilot for, even though they read back the instructions, they turned instead of going straight? Is the air traffic controller for talking too quickly? Would it have been a ground crew who maybe gave improper instructions? Somebody's head should roll.

TILMON: Brooke, you're absolutely correct about everything you said.

The fact is that the responsibility for this rests solely with that pilot. He was given the right instructions. He read back the right instructions. He didn't follow them. Case closed. He didn't -- I don't care why he didn't. The fact is, we would have a different story to report today if the Lufthansa jet had not been able to stop or if the other jet had taxied out on to that runway. So, yes, indeed, the pilot that was taxiing and taxiing prior to takeoff was, in my view, as -- from what we have understand, is totally at fault here. He did not follow instructions. And this is not a good place for that.

BALDWIN: OK, Jim Tilmon. And I appreciate you agreeing with me, because a lot of people fly, and people are worried about that.

But I do have something else I want to share with you. And this is something we actually got in this afternoon. And it's mere serendipity that you were on with us. We want to talk about another airline story involving a pilot at Southwest Airlines.

And I want to get your reaction, sir. You have a pilot here back on the job after being suspended without pay after making some pretty nasty comments from the cockpit. So, he left his mike open on a critical air traffic control frequency. And I want to play here just a bit of what he said that got him into trouble.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's 12 flight attendants, individuals, never the same flight attendant twice, 11 (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over the top (EXPLETIVE DELETED) homosexuals and a granny.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, Jim Tilmon, I want you to stay right there. All right? We're going to play the entire clip after this short break. I want to get your reaction -- back in a moment.

But before we dip to break, wanted to show more pictures here, massive, massive plumes of black smoke here billowing into the air. This is Clayton County. This is outside of Atlanta. And last check from the battalion chief, information I have, 50 to 55 firefighters working this thing, again, live pictures. Look at this.

This is the back part of the CNN -- the CNN insignia. So we're here in downtown Atlanta. And I don't know precisely how many miles away. But from our vantage in downtown, you can see the plumes of smoke, and, clearly, on the left side of the picture, the black smoke right up there and the flames blasting through.

This is Tensar Corporation. According to this battalion chief, this is an outside-source fire located on the storage lot. No people were endangered inside the building, but, given the pictures you and I are looking at, evacuations very much so in place.

We're making calls. The fire broke out, I'm told, within this last hour -- more on that story and more on that cockpit sound when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK. Welcome back here to CNN NEWSROOM. There he is, Jim Tilmon, good enough to stick around here, because I want you and the rest of you to listen to this sound here in full with me. We just got this audio today. This is from the FAA.

Let me set it up. It's an incident involving a Southwest Airlines pilot. This happened in March. And I want you to listen to what he said. His mike was very much so open there as he sat in the cockpit about -- talking about some of his co-workers. And keep in mind he is back on duty today.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, but I had Tucson to Indy all four week. And Chicago crews -- 11 out of 12 -- there's 12 flight attendants, individuals, never the same flight attendant twice, 11 (EXPLETIVE DELETED) over the top (EXPLETIVE DELETED) homosexuals and a granny, 11.

I mean, think of the odds of that. I thought I was in Chicago, which was party land.

After that, it was just a continuous stream of gays and grannies and grandes. Oh, I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I hate 100 percent of their (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

So, six months, I went to the bar three times, in six months, three times, once with the granny and the (EXPLETIVE DELETED), and I wish I hadn't gone -- at the very end with two girls, one of them that was part doable, but we ended up going to the bar and then to the crew at St. Louis. And all these two women wanted to do was, one wanted to berate her sister, and the other wanted to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about her husband, literally, for three hours, me and the F.O. When that was done, 2:30, got back to my room, I'm like why the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) did I stay up?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Whoever is transmitting, you better watch what you're saying there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) You know what I mean? I still wouldn't want anyone to know if I had banged them. So, I mean it was a complete disaster for six months.

Now I'm back in Houston, which is easily where one of the ugliest bases. I mean, it's all these (EXPLETIVE DELETED) old dudes and grannies, and there's like maybe a handful of cute chicks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, someone's got a stuck mike and telling us all about their endeavors. We don't need to hear that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, SkyWest 6285, we're 195230, and that was not us.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SkyWest 6285, Houston Center, roger. Climb and maintain flight level 360. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three-six-zero SkyWest 6285. And they wonder why airline pilots have a bad reputation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) 28, contact Ft. Worth Center now 133.1.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Number 7 Hotel Bravo (INAUDIBLE) maintain at level 240.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two-four-zero (INAUDIBLE) Hotel Bravo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it wasn't us either.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. I didn't think that was you.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The pilot, we don't know his name. I don't even know if he was in the air flying or not. You hear the controller talking about maintaining altitude. We just know he was on duty. Might have been on the ground, might have been flying the plane when he was saying all that. He was suspended with pay. He's now back on duty.

Jim Tilmon, I think we heard that the other pilot we hear near the end there pretty much sums it up. No wonder a pilot gets a bad rap.

Was this pilot, is this guy just a bad apple, or is that attitude indicative of a lot of pilots you have served -- worked with in your career?

TILMON: Well, I can tell you, Brooke, in 29 years of flying the line, I can count two pilots who may have had a conversation like that.

And I flew with hundreds of professional pilots who I have the greatest respect for in the world. And I got to tell you, I have no respect for this person, because that person is exhibiting all kinds of attitudes which really are not -- not part of the professional business of flying airplanes.

This is not common at all. I think this is a rare situation. And I think this guy has put an incredible blemish on the profession that I'm very proud to have been a part of and one that I think so many, many pilots would feel the same way about.

BALDWIN: Well, I am glad to hear that, that this is not the norm. You say you have seen two bad apples in your 29 years, pretty good odds, but still unacceptable. And I know you would agree with me.

Jim Tilmon, thank you so much for sticking around. Appreciate it.

And now watch this.

TILMON: Sure, Brooke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the longest tour in the history of the United States of America. We should not be bashful, we should not be ashamed of bringing our troops home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, that is exactly what the president is going to do, bring troops home. But could a withdrawal put U.S. troops and the nation in danger? I'm going to speak with a CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. Folks, he has been to Afghanistan 50- plus times. He is up next.

Plus, some are describing it as an apocalypse, a Texas community consumed by flames, and you won't believe how it started.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It was President Obama not too long ago just back in 2009 who ordered 30,000 troops to join the war in Afghanistan.

Well, tonight in just about four or four-and-a-half-hours, the president will be unveiling his plan for bringing those troops home, ending what the administration calls the Afghanistan troop surge. It's a major foreign policy decision obviously for the president. And he has had to walk a fine line in making it, in establishing it.

It means drawing a balance between the nation's security and the desires of an American public that is increasingly war-weary. President Obama is expected to announce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will fall by 10,000 by the end of this year and then an additional 20,000 by the end of next year.

That leaves about 70,000 U.S. troops still in country, still fighting the war in Afghanistan.

And I want to go straight to senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, who has done such extensive reporting in that part of the world, and specifically in Afghanistan, really more than any other correspondent. Here's some video of him through the years here.

And Nic has traveled to Afghanistan more than 50 times since the mid-'90s when the Taliban rose to power. In all, he has spent more than a year, if you add it all up, inside Afghanistan.

And he joins me live from London.

And, Nic, good to see you.

With the news tonight that the president will be calling for this drawdown of 30,000 troops, the surge troops by the end of next year, how do you think that will sit with Hamid Karzai and the government in Afghanistan?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's going to be a wakeup call for the government that the time's running out in Afghanistan where they need to stand up their own forces.

We were in Kandahar just before Christmas. And the surge of troops there, U.S. troops on the ground, were really making a difference. They had brought some stability to the city, to some of the neighboring areas around Kandahar. And they were making a difference.

But the commander's problem was, he wanted to move his forces on to other places to take on the Taliban, and he couldn't because Afghan politicians hadn't sort of prepared the way to put Afghan troops into backfill the U.S. troops who needed to move on to other places.

So, for President Karzai, this is going to be a real wakeup call that the moves that he hasn't been making, he needs to make them now. And the people -- and the troops really are not right and not ready to backfill so far.

BALDWIN: So the troops, the Afghan troops, not there to backfill. What about the people? How do the people in Afghanistan, in Kandahar, and in these small villages throughout the country, how do they feel about the American troops leaving?

ROBERTSON: One of the amazing things is there that people really like peace and security. I guess there's kind of no surprise in that. Who doesn't want it? And Afghans are like people around the world. They want safety for their kids. They want to put their kids in school. They want to know where their next meal's coming from. They want to have a job, all the normal things.

But despite all the money that the United States has spent on different aid projects, building schools, helping irrigation, you know --

BALDWIN: Yes.

ROBERTSON: -- we went out and talked to some of those people. And they say, hey, we didn't know the United States built this school. We didn't know they made this irrigation canal, because one of the things is, when you spend money there, you don't want to advertise that the United States or Britain or whomever is behind it, because the Taliban will target the school or whatever it is and blow it up.

So, in many cases, you find people aren't even aware of the sacrifices of money that's been put in by the United States, which is just something you really don't expect for all the money that's been spent.

BALDWIN: It's tremendous. I think it's $1.3 trillion. That's both Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade.

And you mentioned the Taliban. What about the resurgence of the Taliban? And we have some video taken from our colleague Nick Paton Walsh, who's been reporting throughout Afghanistan recently, an example of one town that apparently is where the Taliban has regained control.

Here it is. This is one of these towns. Now, might this, Nic, might this be the beginning of more things to come once Americans leave?

ROBERTSON: Sure.

The Taliban are waiting there to take control in places that they haven't controlled since 2001. And they were beaten out of the country. They have provincial sort of parallel governors, district councilors parallel to the central government. They have people to put in place and take over control of parts of the country.

And there's no doubt, if you look at the south and the east of the country, where the Taliban are traditionally strongest, that's where the sort of ethnic kinsmen are. That's where people share those very sort of conservative cultural views. It's a very sort of countryside mentality, if you will, that they're not as sort of urbanized as the sort of cities are.

In these places, the Taliban are going to be able to take and assume control again. But they have got a political agenda, not just a military agenda. And that's one of the things that can be dealt with here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nic Robertson for us, senior international correspondent -- Nic, tremendous reporting in-country. And I'm sure you will be back. And we will check in with you then. Thank you so much, Nic.

By the way, you can watch President Obama's address -- of course, you can -- tonight 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN, talking about that troop drawdown, 30,000 surge troops by the end of next year. Watch tonight, CNN, 8:00 Eastern.

Now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In July of 2007, Hillary Clinton was going to be the Democratic nominee and Rudy Giuliani was going to be the Republican nominee. John McCain was out of money. His staff had left, and everybody had written him off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, case in point, folks, don't write Newt Gingrich off yet either.

Our own T.J. Holmes caught up with the White House hopeful just this morning., maybe had a little breakfast with him, as he was here in Atlanta. You will want to hear what he told Mr. Holmes.

Folks, don't move. That is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: More troubles for Newt Gingrich.

We told you yesterday two more of his campaign staffers quit. It was senior fund-raising staff this time. Remember, a couple of weeks ago, we were reporting 16 other top aides, they left earlier this month. All of this comes after reports Gingrich actually had a second line of credit at Tiffany's, this one worth somewhere in the neighborhood $500,000, up to $1 million.

Despite his campaign staff defections, Gingrich says he's still in the race for the White House.

And that brings me to my friend T.J. Holmes.

Good to have you on the sofa today, sir.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good -- good to be here with you.

BALDWIN: He was in town, part of this Atlanta Press Club breakfast. You were there, up and at 'em nice and early for this.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. And I know it sounds bad. You know, he's had about 20 staffers leave in the past couple of weeks. His campaign has only been up for a month.

So he would say to you, Brooke, just calm down. I know this sounds bad, but I'm in it to win it still. So, you see him here shaking some hands and whatnot. So he started his comments -- he made a speech and then took some questions, but he started his comments by giving instructions to the reporters in the room, and also reminding us of some recent presidential election history.

So, listen to this.

BALDWIN: Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: I want to say one thing about the campaign, and everything else I'm going to say today is going to be focused on substance.

And I say this in part for the reporters, because I'm not going to answer any process questions.

In July of 2007, Hillary Clinton was going to be the Democratic nominee and Rudy Giuliani was going to be the Republican nominee. John McCain was out of money. His staff had left, and everybody had written him off.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So given the fact that so many people in the last month have really sort of described his campaign as imploding, he seems to want to say, hey, look, let's get it out of the way. Look at this person and this person and this person in our past and, really, I'm A- OK.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes.

And there is precedent for it, no doubt. But it's hard to remember that precedent. He would have to become the nominee and have to win the presidency for us to look back and say, ooh, man, he was right.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: But, right now, it just looks bad.

And, now, we're talking about a number of folks and now these two fund-raisers. And you talked about the Tiffany's thing a second -- so all the press he's getting right now is not the right kind if you're running a campaign. And something else he said here -- and he continued to explain. He started to give some examples.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Ronald Reagan.

HOLMES: And he used Ronald Reagan. So, listen to him now explain how, even though he lost all these staffers, this is actually a good thing.

BALDWIN: OK.

HOLMES: Listen to him explain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: We made a mistake. We tried to be normal. We tried to bring in regular political consultants, very smart people. And it turned out they couldn't do it.

Second example, if you had asked Ronald Reagan that question when 13 people resigned in 1980, you probably wouldn't have believed him if he had turned to you and said, well, look, all I want -- all I wanted to focus on is three things, the recovery of the American economy, the rebuilding of American civic culture, and the defeat of the Soviet empire.

And you would have said, gosh, this guy has 13 people retire -- quit in one morning, and he has this fantasy that he's going to rebuild the American economy, which he did, that he's going to renew our sense of being Americans, which he did, and that the Soviet Union will disappear.

And you would have said, this guy clearly is living in a fantasyland. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, he's saying, brush it off the shoulder, ladies and gentlemen.

HOLMES: You can do it like that. Get that dirt off your shoulder there, Mr. Speaker.

BALDWIN: Right? Right? That's what he is doing.

HOLMES: That's what he's saying. He's essentially saying, we made a mistake. These are consultants. These are the folks who will tell you to run a campaign a certain kind of way. I'm a different politician. I want to do things differently, so of course I had a beef with these consultants.

BALDWIN: Can't let you go without asking. His wife Callista was in the room.

HOLMES: She was there.

BALDWIN: The bit about the headline today, the second line of credit at Tiffany's. Did anyone ask about that?

HOLMES: We didn't get a chance to. I did ask, had a pretty good conversation with his campaign spokesperson, and he kind of just laughed it off. He said, you know what, a lot of people look at that and say, yes, your wife is upset with you. Your wife is yelling at you because you didn't have a line of credit. You didn't bring that little blue box home.

They explain it simply this is a guy who's made a lot of money in his career since he left politics. This is a guy who has a wife where maybe she likes a nice thing or two there. If they have a line of credit, fine. They explain even though this one's $500,000 to $1 million, but they won't say how much of that they use, how many things they bought, what they bought. It's at zero now.

BALDWIN: They're saying it's closed, zero, case closed, I suppose.

HOLMES: I'm going to go open up a line of credit.

BALDWIN: You've got the Tiffany's blue tie on today, too. Now, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God created us man and woman. He created the marriage husband and wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can continue to have their beliefs. I can continue to have my beliefs, and we can all co-exist peacefully.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: You know the story. Two sides, one very fiery debate up in New York as the state considers making same-sex marriage legal. They are one vote away here. And it could happen any moment now. We're all over it.

Plus, Al Gore taking the gloves off against President Obama. We're going to tell you what he's saying that has a lot of folks frankly shocked. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Keeping a close eye as promised to this massive fire here burning outside of Atlanta. This is a two-alarm fire in Clayton County, Georgia. The fire is near Tinsar Corporation south of the city. Fire broke out just about 20 minutes, half an hour ago. Huge, huge black plumes of smoke there, 50, 55 firefighters fighting this thing.

Also, firefighters facing danger battling more than 50 wildfires now, 5-0 across the U.S. a fast moving fire near Grimes County, Texas, has destroyed at least 26 homes. The sheriff's department has identified a person of interest in that fire. But they don't think it was intentionally set. A witness describes this scene as an apocalypse. Experts say it'll probably be mid-July before fire crews get a handle on this thing in Texas, Arizona and other parts of the southwest. That is when those seasonal rains come.

Heavy rains today did bring some much-need relief there to crews in Texas. Firefighters say they could use a week's worth of rain but they will take what they can get. The grimes fire is now 35 percent contained.

Fires are raging today in 12 states. Take a look at the map from Alaska to Florida. That means an area just about the size of Delaware if you add it all up. More than 1.5 million acres has burned this season. That is triple the amount burned last year.

A couple of other top stories here. Dozens of suspected Al Qaeda militants in Yemen are on the loose. They escaped this morning from a Yemeni prison which came under attack by armed militant. Now, CNN cannot independently verify these escaped members are of Al Qaeda, but a senior security official says a soldier and a prisoner were killed and two other soldiers were injured in that attack.

One week here after the New York state assembly approved a same- sex marriage bill, the Senate may be closer to that final vote. Today, demonstrators both pro and anti-same-sex marriage hit the hallways of the Senate, shouting, you can hear them, with signs as conservative Republicans ultimately are the ones to determine the bill's fate and decide to schedule a vote or not. If this measure passes, New York would become the sixth state to allow for same-sex marriage.

And former vice president Al Gore criticizes president Obama for failing to take on what he's calling, quote, unquote, "merchants of poison." Gore's essay, you can read it in "rolling stone" titled "Climate of Denial" suggests the president failed to stand up to Congress after it stripped his green stimulus package of major funding. Gore also takes a punch at the media, comparing the industry to professional wrestling referees.

And 11,000 North Dakotans are being told to get out, get out now ahead of what could be the worst flooding the state has seen in decades. That is coming up. I'll talk to the mayor of one town.

In about four and a half hours President Obama will be addressing the nation and expected to announce troop drawdowns in Afghanistan. But will it also be enough to appease a nation with war fatigue? We're going to talk a lot more about that, coming up next.

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BALDWIN: We are three and a half hours away from the president speaking to the nation, addressing the country regarding his plans for American troops in Afghanistan. He's expected to announce as we've been reporting this drawdown of 10,000 troops by the end of this year and then add to that another 20,000 by the end of next year.

These numbers are the equivalent of the additional troops ordered by the president back in 2009, the surge. So I want to bring in Republican congressman William "Mac" Thornberry of Texas. He's the vice chairman of the House armed services committee, and he was in Afghanistan very, very recently, just over the Memorial Day holiday meeting with troops and villagers, tribal leaders, and also members of the Afghan government.

Congressman Thornberry, thank you so, so much for being on with me today. I want to talk to you first about the troops and the tribal leaders, folks you talked to there. But we have to -- we have you on because the president is speaking tonight, as we mentioned, outlining his plan of troop withdrawal. From everything I've read, sir, you agree with secretary of defense Robert gates that there's too much talk about leaving and not enough talk about getting the job right. Sir, how do we get the job right?

REP. WILLIAM "MAC" THORNBERRY, (R) TEXAS: Well, it's give the troops a chance to do their job. I mean, I admire the president's decision to send in the 30,000 troops. And it's made a tremendous difference. As you mentioned, I've walked around villages in Afghanistan within the past few weeks that I could never have walked around just a year ago.

But any time you start setting deadlines, telling the enemy and your friends when you're going to leave, it undermines your effectiveness. And so I worry about this national security decisions by the calendar and making it harder to achieve ultimate success.

BALDWIN: You have the mission in Afghanistan. You also, though, have the economic mission here back at home. In terms of dollars and cents, the U.S. has spent $1.3 trillion in these two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, in the last decade. Here at home, you know the unemployment rate, 9.1 percent. What do you say to an unemployed American who says to you, sir, please stop building, you know, bridges and buildings in Kandahar and build them back home in Clarendon, Texas?

THORNBERRY: I tell them the first job of the federal government is to defend the country, and we can never again let Afghanistan be a sanctuary for terrorists to use to attack us and that we have to work with the population so that they can stand on their own two feet and provide for their own security just like is happening right here in Iraq, where all of our troops are scheduled to be gone by the end of the year. We need to give the Afghanistanis (ph) the same opportunity. If we do they can provide for their own opportunity and we can come home successful rather than come home in some kind of compromise position.

BALDWIN: Just so I'm hearing you right, priority number one is defending our country in Afghanistan. Priority two is our own Americans and jobs?

THORNBERRY: Well, priority one for the federal government is to defend the country. It's not going to be the federal government that creates jobs. It's the private sector. We've learned from the mistakes of the stimulus-type approach of the federal government going out and creating jobs. The federal government needs to get out of the way of business to create jobs here at home. And that's how that guy in Clarendon, Texas, is going to get a job, not from the federal government.

BALDWIN: As we mentioned, congressman, you were in Afghanistan. You were there in April, as recent as Memorial Day. You described the trip as inspiring, meeting these American troops. But how did the troops themselves, these men and women, how did they feel about the mission? How worried are they that politics might be getting in the way here?

THORNBERRY: Oh, you hit the nail on the head. You know, when you kind of get these guys aside without all the generals around, talk to them about what they're worried about, it is that their effectiveness will be undercut by Washington politics. And they'll tell you with a tear in their eye about a friend they've lost, and they don't want that loss to be for nothing. They want that sacrifice to be lasting. And the thing they worry about most is politics in Washington cutting the legs out from under what they've accomplished.

BALDWIN: Congressman Thornberry, my final question is this. Will there ever be a time when there are no American boots on the ground in Afghanistan?

THORNBERRY: I can't tell you ever. It depends on the circumstances there. As long as we have a government whose primary function is to defend us, then our government and our military must take whatever actions are needed to defend us.

I hope, though, that we can learn from the success in Iraq so that one day the Afghanistan people can provide for their own security in a way that the Iraqis are providing for their own security and that all our troops can come home in the way that they're going to come home from Iraq by the end of this year. BALDWIN: And 30,000 troops will be out of there by the end of 2012. That is what the president is supposed to announce tonight. Congressman Thornberry out of Texas, appreciate it, sir. Thank you very much.

By the way, you can watch the president's primetime address tonight, again, 8:00 eastern. Watch it with us right here on CNN.

Minot, North Dakota, bracing for catastrophe this hour ahead of this deluge of floodwaters, it could break records. The mad scramble to get 11,000 folks out of harm's way. Stay here.

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BALDWIN: The water is getting so high in parts of Minot, North Dakota, people are being ordered to evacuate now. In fact, they're calling for historic proportions of water. This year's floods are coming. They're there. Look at the water levels. The folks who live in Minot all agree, saying they have never seen water like this ever.

Floodwaters are topping levees. We heard that the sirens as a result have been going off in the last hour or so and much more water is expected. Many people are, in fact, heeding these warnings. Folks in the community were given until tonight to get out of town because of the historic proportions of water.

The issue is this river through town. It's called the Sirrus (ph) River. I don't speak French but it's a French word for "mouse." this is the river that flows through town. You can see some of the homes perched precariously close to the river, homes, businesses. They're all being asked to leave tonight. Some are pulling up carpets now. We're watching that. Chad Myers over there watching that as well.

Now this.

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SARAH COLLINS, MOTHER OF MISSING GIRL: This girl made your case by coming and testifying.

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BALDWIN: A victim of sex trafficking goes missing after testifying against her alleged captor. Her family says the system let her daughter down. That story coming up next.

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BALDWIN: Today's CNN In Depth Freedom Project focuses on the growing problem of human trafficking, including sex trafficking. And getting victims to speak out against their abusers is one of the greatest difficulties police and activists face.

Emily Collins, she was just 17 when she precisely did that, testified against a man who allegedly forced her to sell her body. But as our own Patrick Oppmann reports, Emily's decision to speak out did not end her ordeal.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sarah Collins admires a daughter she knows she will probably never see again.

SARAH COLLINS, MOTHER OF MISSING GIRL: When she was a baby, she had gray eyes and they eventually changed to green.

OPPMANN: Just a month after testifying in a sex trafficking case that led to an indictment, Kelsey Collins, who goes by her middle name Emily, just disappeared. As a girl, Sarah says, her daughter suffered with learning disabilities and an abusive stepfather. As a teen dealing with that pain, Sarah says, drew Emily into the underground world of sex trafficking.

COLLINS: Smoking, drinking, using marijuana -- she did start using ecstasy, but I think that started when the sex trafficking began. It was a self-destructive path and I didn't know how to stop it.

OPPMANN: And then Emily's path crossed with a man 20 years older. Sarah says that man drove her daughter to Portland, Oregon to sell her body along this seedy strip of motels and sex shops.

OPPMANN (on camera): This is where officials picked her up working as a prostitute. She was only 16 and told police she didn't want to keep selling herself.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Doug Justus retired from the Portland police force but still fields calls about trafficking. He was the man that convinced her to testify against her accused pimp.

DOUG JUSTUS, RETIRED POLICE OFFICER: He bought her clothes, condoms, told her what to do, how to do it. He kept every penny. You could just tell she was freaking out, because she knew what she said in there was going to put this guy in jail for a long, long time, and he was a very bad guy.

OPPMANN (on camera): Emily's testimony threatened to put the man she says trafficked her in federal prison for the rest of her life. After she testified, prosecutors sent Emily back to live with her family without any security. About a month later she told her mom she was going to leave from this bus station to go and see a boyfriend about 30 minutes away in Seattle. That was the last time Emily's family ever say her.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Prosecutors indicted her alleged pimp, but without Kelsey Emily Collins, the case fell apart. The United States attorneys' office would not comment on any connection between the case and Emily's disappearance but in a statement to CNN said "Our heart goes out to Kelsey's family. We are pursuing every viable option and putting together every single puzzle."

But after two years Sarah Collins believes prosecutors have abandoned her daughter. COLLINS: This girl made your case by coming and testifying. She made your case.

OPPMANN: For now, she's focusing on drawing attention to people like those she says forced her daughter into child prostitution.

COLLINS: They are good at what they do. They make a lot of money doing what they do. And the girls are expendable. There is always another girl out there.

OPPMANN: Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Everett, Washington.

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BALDWIN: Coming up here, four people gunned down execution style, and now a national manhunt for a man caught on surveillance video. That is coming up.

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