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Inside Gadhafi's Compound; Reports From Mineral, Virginia on Damage; Mayor Michael Bloomberg Addresses Media on East Coast Earthquake Effects in NYC; Big Day On Wall Street; Interview With State Department Spokesman Mark Toner; Hurricane Irene Aiming for U.S.

Aired August 23, 2011 - 15:58   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are walking into Gadhafi's compound. The rebels have taken the compound. We're going in to see what we can see. We can see some the blasts. All of these men armed to the teeth. They're yelling "God is great." This is Bab al Aziziya. They now have people standing at security. OK, they're telling us, OK, OK. We can go inside to the compound.

(SHOUTING)

(GUNFIRE)

SIDNER: Celebratory gunfire going off. You can tell they feel very, very excited, very excited. We're going to go now a little bit further. If you look over here to the right, you are seeing the fire inside Gadhafi's compound.

We are trying to go in to see. We are told the whole place has been secured by rebels and there are cars driving in, not easily but there is still quite a bit of gunfire, that gunfire celebratory gunfire. We see another fire burning right now inside of the compound.

But this is, this is a historic day. Psychologically speaking, this is an important day, especially for the rebels who Gadhafi said would never be able to break his spirit, would never be able to take the city that they have taken, Bab al Aziziya, Gadhafi's compound, and you can see now some of the press coming out. So clearly they have it, clearly they have taken this over, and clearly there is extreme excitement here in Tripoli.

How are you? Your face looks familiar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:

SIDNER: I'm fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you? SIDNER: Hello.

Walking into the compound. OK. I can -- I can hear you. I can hear you. I am in the compound. I am inside of the compound. I'm going to get back near the wall. Any pictures you want to take, feel free to take any pictures you want. I can hold that camera now if you want me to. If you want to use yours, you can use these pictures, they're yours. You can have them there as well.

They have not found anybody, any of the Gadhafi family members in this compound -- through the wall. They have knocked down buildings. They have set buildings on fire. There have been loud blasts, booms, lots of celebratory gunfire here, people just very, very, very excited about today.

This is an important day, not only for the rebels to show that they have large control of this city, but psychologically, it's extremely important because this represents the Gadhafi regime. And more than anything, it represents the Gadhafi regime in the sense this is where people believe that he was holed --

I'm literally walking inside. I mean, I'm inside the compound, walking around looking about. Some of them look like (AUDIO GAP) from what I'm seeing right now. I'm going in a little further to try and see more. It's surrounded by a large wall that's been painted green and cream and light brown.

We are walking through the area. I'm looking at what appears to be damage right now inside of the compound. I see a lot of smoke coming from one of the buildings. I see people running out of the building with lots of ammunition. I see tanks. I see people grabbing at Gadhafi forces' vehicles. They have massive guns on those vehicles.

People are extremely excited. It looks like they are taking out whatever weapons and ammunition that were inside that they were able to secure and repair.

It is safe to say that there is no longer fighting that we can see from our vantage point. We do know though that people have been injured. WE are hearing right now an ambulance that is rushing out of the compound. We are hearing celebratory gunfire very close to us, but we are not hearing the huge blasts and booms that -- there is fire not only in one portion of the compound, but fire in other parts of the compound.

We have not seen that yet, but we are still holding back a little bit as we walk around and not to go too far in because it's a dangerous situation still.

OK. I'm going to stay with you. Sorry. I just needed to go in to see --

So as everybody runs into this compound, you're seeing people go in and take out weapons. Look just over there behind you is a huge box. This box -- can I look? Some of the weapons inside of the Gadhafi compound, a handgun and a rifle.

There's been more guns, more guns these guys have found. And so they have been taking some of these things out. We are seeing regular people. Look to your right. We have seen already some looting going on inside of those buildings.

We have seen that happen already, people very happy that this has gone on. And also the weapons that are coming out of this compound are just massive. There are so many of them, boxes of them, just people carrying them, carrying them out. They're even taking some of the trucks that belonged to Gadhafi forces.

If anything, this is definitely a psychological win. Of course, we still don't know at this point where Moammar Gadhafi and his family, where they are. Nobody has seen him. We have seen his son Saif in the past 24 hours when he visited the hotel, but we have not seen Moammar Gadhafi or any sign of him at this point.

I just want to get you beyond this wall here. Seeing ammunition coming through. This part of the compound, we are inside. You see what looks like an unfinished building that's been hit pretty hard in this conflict. You see a police car.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Our intrepid international correspondent Sara Sidner and our crew. Those were the first images we got as she was speaking, and seeing what the rebels were bringing out of Moammar Gadhafi's massive compound, a tremendous, as she mentioned, victory both literal and psychological, for these rebels. This has been many, many months in the making there in Tripoli.

She also mentioned today that the tea was still on the fire, perhaps, according to the rebels a belief that some of these Gadhafi forces had to leave quickly. There is a labyrinth tunnel system underneath that compound, so it's really anyone's guess at this point where Moammar Gadhafi is.

We have much more coverage on the breaking for you on the breaking story out of Libya.

Also here, top of the hour, this earthquake, it has now been downgraded just a smidge. It's now officially a 5.8-magnitude earthquake according to the USGS.

Quick update for you. We're hearing from in terms of airports, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., that is all clear. Some of those air traffic controllers were evacuated out of their towers. They're back, they're up and running as well. Also, the North Anna power plant just about 10 miles down the road from the epicenter of this quake in Mineral, Virginia, they're now up on backup power. They have these four generators, trying to keep those spent fuel rods cool. So we're watching that closely.

Also, we have some video from Washington, D.C. As you know, we have a bureau there. We have correspondents and producers. And I just want to show you this video. This is from actually our CNN en Espanol correspondent and his crew. They were apparently outside about to do an interview within the CNN studios when the earthquake struck. Take a look here as the camera just so happened to be rolling.

Juan Carlos Lopez there. Here, we will play it again, standing there, our correspondent. Hear the shaking? And a number of you I know are still feeling aftershocks, aftershocks.

We want to bring in Chad Myers.

And just a quick reminder. We're waiting for the president to speak. And we're also waiting to hear from Mayor Bloomberg, mayor of New York City. We will bring those to you live.

But, Chad, what do you make of that video there? You see the shaking there in Washington, D.C., some 80 miles from the epicenter of this thing.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that was a big shake for D.C.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: Yes.

And they said there may even be some loose things outside on some of the cathedrals and some of the monuments. You may not want to be right next to those things, next to those buildings, if you are standing outside, because who knows what could fall off of the top, even if it's just somebody set their lunch on the windowsill. It may be coming down if you get another shake.

So here you go. Let me tell you what happened today. A very large piece of the trust shook. That's because we don't have a lot of cracks in the crust here on the East Coast, so you get a very large piece of the East Coast all the way from New York City all the way down to even Atlanta, Georgia, felt it because it's literally almost one big piece. Doesn't have a bunch of cracks in it like California.

If California shakes, well, then only that little bit shakes and then the rest kind of stays in the same place. Well, the entire East Coast shook because it is literally one big piece. And here's what it looked like on the seismogram recorded at Virginia. This was at NIU.

The whole area here, I want to tell you how these -- and some people were saying this, Brooke, and I will get to that in a second, that they felt two separate shakes. The first shake is almost like if you would run into the back of a train and that back boxcar would get shoved forward, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom and all of the sudden that's the first shake you feel is the box car from behind you hitting you from behind.

And then the rest or the way, that's the P. and then the S., and the S. literally looks like an S. And that's the shake or the wave that can really tear things apart. You put a building right there in that wave and all of the sudden it's doing this and this and this, that's when you start to break things apart. That might have been the two shakes that people did feel, not one aftershock after the first quake.

It was the P-wave, first of all, and then the secondary wave.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Chad, let me just jump in and ask you, because I know a lot of people are wondering historically speaking.

And I know those of you on the West Coast are saying, oh, this is nothing. But it is a little something for us out East.

MYERS: Well, because our houses and our buildings are not built to your standards in California. You can't build a house on a foundation with concrete against and just a bunch of cinder blocks and hope that will stand up there in California. You have to have some type of insulation from the ground.

And so our building codes don't tell you to withstand a 7.0 or a 6.0. The biggest quake that I could find was actually out of Charleston. It was in the 7's, mid 7's a long, long time ago. The biggest one in Virginia was actually a 5.8, and this ties it. But that was 100 years ago -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Chad, thank you so much.

MYERS: Sure.

BALDWIN: And we have been talking a lot about the epicenter of this quake. That is Mineral, Virginia.

And we know -- I was talking to someone from in and around that area. They said that they had felt multiple aftershocks thus far. That could continue for days, possibly weeks, according to a civil and environmental engineer I spoke with just a moment ago. But we're now learning a woman from Mineral, she has just called in. We will talk with her next.

Plus, take a look here at the Big Board. Take a look at those gains today, the Dow up 322 points. We haven't seen gains like that in at least a couple of days. This is the third biggest gain of the year. Find out why next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, welcome back. What a day here.

And let me just brief you here, as I'm checking my e-mail from one of our White House correspondents, Dan Lothian, who is traveling with the president in Martha's Vineyard. We are now learning the president -- we won't actually be hearing from the president. They will be releasing some sort of paper statement -- that is confirmed -- from the White House. So, as soon as we get that readout with regard to this earthquake, magnitude 5.8, the president felt it, people felt it all the way up and down the East Coast, we will pass that along to you.

Also, in New York we are still waiting to hear -- you can see the -- there we go -- the live signal there as we're waiting to hear from the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. We should be hearing from him any minute now with regard to how the city coped, handled, moving forward. We will get it all for you live.

Meantime, we mentioned the epicenter of this earthquake, it's this town called Mineral, Virginia, and on the line I have Desi Fleming, who lives, works in Mineral.

And, Desi, thank you for calling in. Tell me where you were when this quake hit and what it felt like.

DESI FLEMING, MINERAL, VIRGINIA RESIDENT ( via telephone): We were in our business at the time and helping a customer when it took place. It just felt like a train was coming to a stop on the tracks is the way it kind of started and after that, just everything started falling off the walls and the building just started pretty much swaying back and forth.

BALDWIN: The building itself was swaying? It was that strong?

FLEMING: It was a pretty strong --

BALDWIN: What kind of damage? Are there cracks in walls?

FLEMING: The building was built in 1900 so all the walls are plaster, every wall is cracked or pretty down to the (INAUDIBLE). We've lost both chimneys of the building.

BALDWIN: What were the chimneys made of? Brick?

FLEMING: Brick and mortar.

BALDWIN: So the chimneys are down, this is an old, old house. There are cracks in the walls. What was everyone's response there in this building?

FLEMING: We -- none of us had any idea what was going on. We all just thought it was a train track because we're right across from the train tracks, but as it kept moving along and things were falling and breaking, we kind of just realized what it was.

BALDWIN: And I understand that the post office in town is shut down. How is the town in mineral responding to this?

FLEMING: So far, it looks like everybody's shut down. The post office from what I've been told is pretty much shut down indefinitely. The building's not safe enough to send anybody in.

So right now I haven't heard from anybody from the town. We're all just kind of taking care of our own, you know, figuring out what we need to do.

BALDWIN: Of course. I was talking to someone on TV from not too far away from you, from Louisa, Virginia, and she told me they felt some five aftershocks. Have you felt some aftershocks?

FLEMING: There was one larger one, all of the rest have been pretty minor.

BALDWIN: How big is Mineral, Virginia?

FLEMING: One traffic light, I think we have 400 residents.

BALDWIN: OK. Desi Fleming, thank you so much. I'm sure it's the talk of the town there. Hopefully, everyone is A-OK. Thank you.

As promised, here we go, Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Well, good afternoon.

Joining me today are NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, FDNY Commissioner Sal Casano (ph), Emergency Management Commissioner Joe Bruno (ph), Buildings Commissioner Robert Lamandry (ph), Transportation Commissioner Jeanette Thetakan (ph), and Chancellor of the Department of Education Dennis Wolcott (ph).

As I think by now everybody knows, about two hours ago, like people up and down the coast, New Yorkers across the five boroughs felt the effect of this afternoon's earthquake, which we're told was centered in Virginia just outside Richmond. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that there was also a smaller aftershock in the Virginia area that was not felt here, and we're staying in touch with the USGS for further updates.

Thankfully, the NYPD, FDNY, Buildings and Transportation Departments and other city agencies there have been reported no major damage or injuries or transportation or utility service disruptions in our city as a result.

As of now we have investigated two reports of possible minor damage. In all cases, we are not evacuating buildings.

At the Red Hook West Housing Authority development in Brooklyn, there was a partial chimney collapse, bricks fell from the chimney to the roof and on top of a water tower, no one was injured. NITRA (ph) and Buildings Department engineers as well as the NYPD and FDNY has responded and said the building is safe for re-entry. Engineers are assessing the next steps that may need to be taken.

Another incident on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn was investigated and engineers concluded no damage occurred as a result of the quake.

But I think it's safe to say, property owners should do due diligence and visually inspect buildings for cracks and contact building management in the city if they feel the situation warrants it.

Turning to transportation, flights in and out of Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports have resumed. Amtrak service in and out of Penn Station was also suspended for about half an hour before resuming. As a precaution transportation department bridge inspectors are visually inspecting the major river crossings, but there is no indication of any damage.

The Department of Environmental Protection reports no damage to the water infrastructure in or outside the city. As a precaution we are continuing to inspect dams and other significant infrastructure.

Calls to 911 and 311 naturally spiked but have returned to normal levels for this time of day and year. Let me just remind New Yorkers to only use 911 for genuine emergencies.

We have activated the Office of Emergency Management's situation room. We also evacuated city hall briefly just before 2:00 p.m., but quickly returned to work.

And now I do understand for many people this was a stressful afternoon, but so far we've been lucky to avoid any major harm. Our thoughts are clearly with the people of Virginia and other areas more directly affected by the earthquake.

Let me, before we take questions, summarize today's announcement for Spanish speaking New Yorkers.

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

BALDWIN: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg essentially saying airports back to normal, Amtrak back to normal. Also said, there are bridge inspectors out and about checking the bridges, but thus far, no visual damage so far. He said, lucky to avoid any major harm in the boroughs in New York.

And as we go to break, we are getting a little bit more information from the folks at the White House with regard to this earthquake. We'll check in with Dan Lothian in Martha's Vineyard right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are now getting some reaction with regard to this 5.8 earthquake from the White House.

Let's go to my colleague, Dan Lothian, who is traveling along with the president who is on vacation there in Martha's Vineyard.

And, Dan, mea culpa I am not with the president on the golf course, I do not know if the president felt the earthquake but I can tell that you felt the earthquake.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I did, I feel it here. I was on the ground floor of the hotel that we're using as a work area, and I felt the ground start to sway. Being that I have spent quite a bit of time out in Los Angeles, I was quite aware that we were dealing with an earthquake. We looked up and some of the light fixtures were moving around, so we knew we were in the midst of the earthquake.

The president, we don't know if he felt it on the golf course, but we are getting information from the White House. Deputy Spokesman Josh Ernest saying that at 2:50 the president led a conference call with DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and a whole host of other top level advisers. They discussed the earthquake and the status of critical infrastructure. The president was told there are no major infrastructure damage at airports and nuclear facilities and that there were currently no requests for assistance. The president asked for regular updates on the situation.

The president also was provided an update on Hurricane Irene by Secretary Napolitano and Administrator Fugate. So the president still out on the golf course, but staying on top of this earthquake, and also dealing with the situation in Libya where I'm told by a White House official that the national security team has been closely watching all the developments as we have on television.

BALDWIN: I am sure they have, then certainly not a dull vacation for the president there in Martha's Vineyard.

LOTHIAN: That's right.

BALDWIN: Dan Lothian, I'll let you go. Thank you so much. I'm glad you and the crew are OK there.

Let's take a look now at the stock market because it's been a great day on Wall Street.

Alison Kosik, we haven't seen gains like this -- this is the third best gain we've seen all year.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is. We had a great day today. And you know what, I think you're seeing happen is investors really looking for those cheap stocks. I mean, these stocks have really been beaten down. This is what they call an oversold market, so this is a really good part of why you're seeing the gains this strong.

What set things of was a better than expected manufacturing report out of China, and also believe it or not, a downbeat housing report. We found out new home sales fell in July. You'd think that would hurt the market but this is a backwards way Wall Street looks at things. It knows there's that there's this big conference of central bankers happening on Friday and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will be giving this big speech. So the expectation is that perhaps Bernanke may hint at some sort of stimulus coming our way, and that is what Wall Street is really looking for at this point, because what it would wind up doing is giving a boost to the market, kind of create this wealth effect in people's 401(k)s, so that's also why you're seeing the market rally today -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: What a day. Alison Kosik there thank you very much there at the New York Stock Exchange.

And as we go to break, I want to leave you with some video. Sara Sidner reporting in and around the Gadhafi compound, major, major news story developing there, history unfolding in the capital city of Tripoli. As we have seen now, these rebel forces infiltrating, breaching this Moammar Gadhafi's compound, really the symbol of the Gadhafi regime.

I'm going to talk to a spokesperson with the State Department and get their assessment as they've certainly been watching what's happening on the streets there. Tripoli may be breached, but is Tripoli captured? What's their assessment?

Back after this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: While these rebels in Libya may be ringing out their victory gunshots through the day and the evening hours now, still the question remains where is Moammar Gadhafi.

Let's get reaction from the State Department. I want to go to Mark Toner, he's the State Department spokesman.

And, Mark, we have been watching these amazing events playing out here, you know, minute by minute today in the capital city of Tripoli. Just give me, quickly, your take off the top here as far as what we've been witnessing today.

MARK TONER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN (on the phone): Sure, well it's obviously a very fluid situation. Certainly, we're seeing -- again you mentioned the dramatic footage from Gadhafi's compound. And as I said, you know events are unfolding very quickly.

But one thing that is clear the tide has turned. The Gadhafi regime, if not completely collapsed, is in the process of collapsing. And really the best thing can he do, although his location remains unclear is to relinquish power and step aside so a real Democratic transition can take place.

BALDWIN: From - Mark, from a State Department perspective, define victory in Libya for me.

TONER: Well I think victory is an end to the violence, again, which would be a clear signal if Gadhafi stepped down. And then a democratic transition. The Transitional National Council, who we recognize is legitimate government, interim government for Libya, has already put forth a plan to lead that democratic transition and lead toward a democratic change that's in the best interests of the Libyan people. That's really going to be success here.

BALDWIN: I know Secretary Clinton has spoke with U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon. I know they've been saying as you mentioned this is Libya's to lead. But what can be done with regard to the United States, to assist in this transition?

TONER: Sure. Well, it's worth taking a small step back and looking at where we've come in the last 200 days. It was February 16th when the protests began in Libya. Gadhafi immediately carried out violence against the people. The U.S. led within the U.N. to build this coalition. We had two U.N. Security Council resolutions, a NATO mandate and operation that allowed -- that saved countless lives around Benghazi and elsewhere.

At this point, we're looking for other ways we can assist the Transitional National Council in its attempts to bring security and lead this democratic transition. One of the ways we're going to do that is work within the U.N. to free up some of this frozen money. It's about $1 billion give or take so that we can then to transition this to the Tranitional National Council.

BALDWIN: When will that money be freed up, Mark? And then who, who decides how it gets disbursed?

TONER: Well, we don't want to get out ahead of ourselves. We are working, as I said, within the U.N., looking at ways we can get that money to them in the coming days -- I would be hopeful for that, because clearly there's a desperate need for it.

But also, you know, going forward, the Transitional National Council, we have been in very close contact with them. We have a mission in Benghazi and representative there, Chris Stevens, who works closely with the TNC as we call them.

And you know, there is a procedure in place, a process in place to ensure these funds would be used in a transparent and accountable way.

BALDWIN: Okay, Mark Toner, State Department. Mark, I appreciate it very much, thank you.

TONER: Sure thing.

BALDWIN: Still to come, we'll talk to our CIA covert ops guy - our former CIA covert ops guy, I should say. Mike Baker on the other side of the break. Get his take on what we've been witnessing with regard to the situation, the very fluid situation in Tripoli. I have a feeling he's going to say no one really knows what will happen next.

Also, we'll talk to Chris Perry, former British NATO commander. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truly happy, very, very happy. Gadhafi finish, Gadhafi finish. Now Libya freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: We'll take you back to the situation in Libya developing now. It's just after 10:30 at night in Libya. The skies are dark, rebels storming the compound today of Moammar Gadhafi there in Tripoli. Gadhafi's defenders, they fought back but appear to be outnumbered. They appear to be right now. The fighting has gone on for hours and hours, still no sign of Moammar Gadhafi.

Joining me from New York, Mike Baker, former CIA covert operations officer. And we also have Chris Perry, former British and NATO commander. Gentlemen, welcome to both of you. Mike, first question, talk to me about this compound, this Gadhafi compound surrounded by these massive concrete walls. How big is it? And what I really want to know about, this tunnel system underneath.

MIKE BAKER, FORMER CIA COVERT OPERATIVE: Right. It's a massive compound. You mentioned that before, several kilometers wide. And there's a lot of territory inside there, and Gadhafi has spent decades fortifying and also preparing that compound. He's a rather paranoid individual, and there are tunnel systems. I mean, some speculate there's a tunnel system that leads out to the coast, as far as that.

But certainly there was opportunity for a lot of the troops that were loyal to Gadhafi to disappear through the tunnel systems and to blend into the local communities or to make their way out of Tripoli possibly, again using the tunnel system and other methods.

So, there is a great deal of concern at this point over the question of well, we didn't meet that much resistance or certainly the resistance we expected. So, where are they?

BALDWIN: Yes, where are they and who has the plan? I talked to Fareed Zakaria about this because up until the last couple of days, these rebels we've been watching have been fighting in the cities east of Tripoli. That's been the story.

But this whole rebel force came up out of the south. My question is, how were they trained? Were they trained by Western intelligence agencies like maybe your former employer, the CIA? How did they get their weapons? Are they trustable?

BAKER: Yes, there's a variety of elements that make up, we've been using the term rebels. But there's militias, legitimate rebel groups of volunteers that come from civilian life. There's defected army forces that came over from Gadhafi's side.

But over the past several months, there has been a significant effort to provide training, and whether that train is outside the country to some degree in places like Qatar, or whether it's been through private contractors -- we know the British forces, the private contractors have been in there for some time working on the ground as have French to assist in the training.

We also know early in the year it became public knowledge that President Obama had signed an order authorizing ground assistance in support of the U.N. resolution against Gadhafi. So there have been a variety of efforts, and as we've gotten closer and closer to this day, it's been more of an official effort through serving forces as opposed to just private contractors arranged through the various governments.

BALDWIN: Chris Perry, if I can just get your reaction to that, too? There are reports that this group of rebels or militias, whatever you want to use to characterize these people, there may be caches of weapons dropped in through the Nefussa Mountains. Who are they is my question to you. And also, based upon what we've seen today, it appears the rebels are on the precipice victory, but will we be fools to think that is the case?

CHRIS PERRY, FORMER BRITISH NAVY AND NATO COMMANDER: I think we've got to look at the complexity of what's going on in Libya at the moment. I think most of the rebels we're seeing at the moment came out of the mountains in the west. They had a good chance to get themselves together before they went into Tripoli. They had literally survived with weapons from the outside. They captured quite a lot of force from the regime.

But I don't think we should be under any illusions if Gadhafi's compound is captured, this would be anything other than messy for the next couple of weeks.

BALDWIN: Messy how?

PERRY: Well, I think as authority crumbles, as the dictatorship is seen to be out of the way, power will become more distributed throughout the country. And people will compete for power and influence. It's as simple as that.

This is a country that has never known democracy in the true sense, and I think you'll find that we'll see the emergence of strong men, particularly those who have been associated with the rebellion, asserting themselves.

BALDWIN: Mike, I think Chris makes an excellent point. This whole idea these are different tribal groups. I know some of these rebels, if we want to call them that, that wouldn't have dinner together prior to this whole war in Libya. Now it's sort of this marriage of convenience; they all want Gadhafi out.

But let's just look ahead to a potential post-Gadhafi era. There have to be potentially pockets of opposition. I mean, do you see this transition as being smooth?

BAKER: Not at all, no. I agree completely with what Chris has said.

In a sense, we've had for some time this inability of the rebels or the militia groups on the east side to make any headway. And he's correct in that what we're seeing, this push from the mountains from the south and as a result of the forces that were present in the west. Better trained, better resourced.

And there is already criticism coming from certain elements in the east side about, you know, the behavior and the way they're conducting their operations on the ground in Tripoli. There is some concern from the west side about the ability of the TNC, the Transitional National Council, to hold authority over the entire country.

And there will be -- I mean ,most of these groups quite frankly in Tripoli are operating somewhat independently of each other. The strategy, the tactics used to move into the city, the secure area that was already taken, has been very poor. You can see the fire discipline is non-existent. There's a lot of problems on the ground right.

Now, the TNC is doing something very smart, hopefully. They're a bit of a technocrat group, a bit of quiet, lawyerly types. So, it will be interesting to see if they can strong-arm what will be some aggressive interests from the various tribal concerns.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BAKER: But they are aware of, because of the Iraq experience, they're fully aware of the importance of securing very quickly just the basic things. The power and electricity supplies. Getting oil back into the city. Providing some measure of security. Right after, you know, we went into Baghdad that was one of the biggest concerns was our inability to just do something simple like keep the lights on at night.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BAKER: And that can have an immeasurable effect on overall security.

BALDWIN: No, it's a good point.

And Chris, I direct my next question to you. Mike brings up Baghdad and we can't forget the Gadhafi loyalists who have very much so vehemently said they will live and die for their leader. I don't know, I'm not there, I don't know if there are loyalists right now on the ground in the hundreds or in the thousands. But might this be like Baghdad, where the supporters, they kind of disappear as could be the case right now, and then appear later in droves?

PERRY: Yes, Brooke, that's a good point. I think in these circumstances, what we have learned is it's easier to topple dictators than it is to replace them immediately. And I think that's going to be a vacuum in authority. There aren't the state institutions to bring people together to make them behave.

As far as I can see the rule, of law has been written very well but I'm not quite sure who is going to enforce it. And people will naturally gravitate towards those people who can protect their interests and of course security. Right now, that security is in the hands of the people with the guns. And that's not a great recipe for a good democratic transition.

I agree with Mike that it's going to be quite difficult for the people from the east, from Benghazi, to assert their control over what is going on. And I think unless the Libyans are very careful to map their own future very quickly and to seek outside help as soon as possible, they're going to find themselves very much in a vacuum of power. And that always means there's trouble.

BALDWIN: Despite these images of jubilant rebels today, gentlemen, excellent points made. Victory not yet clenched in Libya. Mike Baker, Chris Perry, my thanks to both of you. Back to Libya in just a moment.

But of course we're monitoring the aftermath of the 5.8 earthquake that rocked much of the Eastern Seaboard. Including brand new video of the damage; we're going to turn that around and show that.

Also, new reports of more aftershocks. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, I want to move from Libya here in just a moment and talk about this earthquake, so many of you on the East Coast felt it. It has been downgraded just a tad by the USGS, it's a 5.8 earthquake.

The epicenter in this one stoplight town essentially in the center of Virginia in Mineral, Virginia, about 80 miles from Washington, D.C. and I want to show you some pictures here. We've got some images of some damage actually out of Mineral.

You can see the aerial pictures of this brick chimney in pieces. I was talking to a woman from Mineral not too long ago and she told me they continue to experience aftershocks there. There has been some minimal damage, case in point what you're looking at right there.

From the USGS, they tell people to continue to expect aftershocks in the range of 2.0 to 3.0 magnitudes, again, people experiencing the shakes all up and down the east coast this afternoon.

Quite a story there and of course, we had cameras out and about as CNN always does. I want to just hear some of the sights and sounds and reactions from some of the people in our nation's capital. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just looked out the window, I saw the building shake. We were in a meeting. I said I need to leave. I went and grabbed my purse, I'm gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was on the line with someone in Virginia and they were telling us, it's shaking and shaking. What is it? And then I felt, it's shaking over here, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a small vibration, and then it got worse and worse and worse and worse, and I thought gosh, we really must be having an earthquake. I looked out the window, but I couldn't see anything moving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've lived through over 50 earthquakes, so my feet are really sensitive so I felt the first light tremor, and I even told a co-worker, I said we're having an earthquake. He said I didn't feel a thing and then the big punch hit, building rattled. I grabbed my coat and cell phone and said "let's get out of the building."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And cue Wolf Blitzer with our description of the eighth floor. Our newsroom in the D.C. bureau, you know, eight, nine, ten, you guys are high enough. What was that experience like for you, your desk shaking a little bit?

WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM: I was writing my blog, "THE SITUATION ROOM" blog and all of a sudden, I'm in my office and started to feel something, you know, the walls shaking a little bit, the floor shaking just a little bit.

I thought some construction was going on, maybe they're doing something on the floor above or floor below, but a few seconds in all of a sudden you could really, really feel it. It was significant.

And it lasted at least 20, 30 seconds, at which point I ran out of the office and I saw everybody just beginning to run to the stairways, because it was an earthquake, and it was pretty scary for a lot of the folks here.

BALDWIN: Of course.

BLITZER: And then when we got outside as you saw, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BLITZER: There were hundreds of people from all the high-rise office buildings up here on Capitol Hill near Union Station, where the main train station is in Washington, D.C., they had evacuated all these buildings out of precaution.

And there were a lot of nervous folks, still pretty much gridlocked traffic here in the nation's capital, pretty awful right now. What it does underscore, Brooke, is that, you know what? We're not necessarily all that ready for a disaster here in Washington, D.C.

Cell phones stopped working very quickly, traffic was a disaster. You know what? We're going to get into that at length in "THE SITUATION ROOM" at the top of the hour.

Some of the lessons that are immediately being learned as a result of what happened over the course of 30 or 40 seconds when the earth basically moved and it's amazing, too, Brooke, 5.8. But it's been felt -- I've been getting tweets from folks from all over.

BALDWIN: Up and down.

BLITZER: From Michigan, Ohio, from upstate New York, from my home hometown Buffalo, no, New York. People felt it not only in North Carolina, but even further south than that. So, you know, millions, probably tens of millions of people felt this earthquake, and everyone wants to know the extent of the damage, destruction, or are there any physical injuries. We'll get into all of that in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

BALDWIN: I know, as if the day wasn't exciting enough given the developments in Libya and suddenly this happened. It's been quite a day of news. Wolf Blitzer, I know you'll be all over it and we'll check the blog as always, cnn.com/situationroom. Thank you, sir. See you a couple of minutes.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up, next back to the breaking news out of Libya. Rebels storming Moammar Gadhafi's compound. We will show you how it all went down, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is just about 11:00 at night in Tripoli right now and we're hearing it's almost eerily calm in the night sky, quite a dramatically different scene from a couple hours ago when some of the Libyan rebels stormed into Moammar Gadhafi's Bab al Aziyah compound.

CNN reporter Sara Sidner was there on the ground as it all went down. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're walking into Gadhafi's compound of Bab al Ziyah. The rebels have taken the compound. We're going in to see what we can see.

You can see some of the blacks, all of these men. They're yelling "God is great." They have not found anybody, any of the Gadhafi family members in this compound.

They have knocked down buildings. They have set buildings on fire. There have been loud blasts, booms, lots of celebratory gunfire here. People just very, very excited about today.

ABDELHAKIM BALHAG, LIBYAN REBEL LEADER (through translator): So I would urge all the people especially in our circle, and asking them, asking my people, our children, the ones who fought alongside us in order to reach this great hour, now you are responsible in front of your people and in front of the whole world to show the big picture of who you are.

SIDNER: The weapons that are coming out of this compound are just massive. There are so many of them, boxes of them, just people carrying them -- carrying them out. They're even taking some of the trucks that belong to Gadhafi forces. If anything, this is definitely a psychological win.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Gadhafi's Bab Al Aziya compound. Sara Sidner, thank you.

Also, just in to CNN, we're getting a brand new update on where Hurricane Irene is heading. It's look like The U.S. could see a direct hit. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Before we let you go, we are just now getting an update on this hurricane, Hurricane Irene. Some of you may be in its direct path. Chad Myers, I don't want waste any time. Just go straight to you. Where is Irene right now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Leaving the Dominican Republic and it's leaving the influence of Haiti and the D.R.'s mountains and it's getting into the Turks and Caicos in very flat and warm water area. No mountains here to tear it up.

It is going to get stronger although right now it just got dropped down to a 90-mile-per-hour storm. It was 100 all day yesterday, this all afternoon and evening. But it is forecast to turn to the right and still make landfall somewhere between South Carolina and maybe a complete miss.

But the middle of the cone is over North Carolina and something that just changed, you talked about people being affected number one Category 1 that center of the cone is very close to New Jersey and New York City with an 85-mile per hour Category 1 still possible for Sunday, could you knowledge that in the city?

BALDWIN: No, not at all, Chad.

MYERS: Stay tuned.

BALDWIN: We will. Tomorrow, we'll talk more about Irene, more about obviously the earthquake and Libya, big breaking news day. Wolf Blitzer picks up where I'm leaving off. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.