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East Coast Braces for Hurricane; Gadhafi Forces Continue Fight; Interview With Charleston, South Carolina Mayor Joe Riley; Recovering From Yesterday's Earthquakes; CNN Producer Helps International Journalists Gain Release From Hostage Situation in Tripoli; Special Ops Helping Libyan Rebels; Strauss-Kahn Rape Case Dropped; 'Hot Sauce Mom' Guilty of Child Abuse

Aired August 24, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go, top of the hour. Two major stories unfolding right now.

First, the U.S. is one big bullseye, as a Category 3 hurricane barreling now toward the East Coast. The brand-new forecast on Hurricane Irene's path coming in, in this hour. We will have it for you. Chad Myers over in the Weather Center, he will have it for you.

Plus, the hunt is on here for Moammar Gadhafi dead or alive. As the dictator's grip on Libya slips, there is now a bounty out on his head. The news starts right now.

And as we have been reporting, there is heavy, heavy fighting this hour just south of Tripoli at the Tripoli International Airport, and the fighting there has raged for hours. At last report, rebel forces controlling the airport were being fired upon by forces loyal to deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

We have established contact with CNN's Arwa Damon.

Eric (ph), are you telling me we have Arwa?

Go to Chris -- Chris Parry, former British and NATO commander, as we are working to establish contact with Arwa there on the ground.

Chris Parry, to you, sir.

I do want to begin with some of the CNN reporting here with regard to the stockpiles of mustard gas, what we learned today from Obama administration officials there, that NATO has begun these high- level internal discussions on how to protect these supplies if the stockpile is deemed no longer secure. They're using this phrase prudent planning. Can you explain to me what that means, wearing your former NATO hat here? Is this standard operating procedure?

CHRIS PARRY, FORMER BRITISH AND NATO COMMANDER: Well, I think we saw at the end of the Cold War we had a number of countries that had obsolete nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

And we had to make those safe. So we have got quite a lot of expertise in cooperating with regimes after they have come across the fence to the democratic side of actually making safe these sorts of weapons and ensuring that we have got the people, the expertise and the resources in place to make sure they don't harm anybody.

BALDWIN: I know also we were talking with Richard Roth. They're determining how much in terms of frozen assets may be given to the NTC. I was talking to the State Department yesterday saying they may be unfreezing $1 billion, $1.5 billion. Tell me, how does that process actually work, where does the money go and who decides actually how it's disbursed?

PARRY: Well, this is not an area I have had a lot of direct experience with.

But I can tell you in areas where I have worked in this sector, it's most important that, first of all, the assets are given the assurance of knowing where it came from in the first place. A lot of these assets would have been exported by individuals associated with the Gadhafi regime and some of the institutions that are now associated with that regime.

So we have to find out what the providence is first. And before it's disbursed, I think we have to ask to what end are these assets going to be put, because in some cases as we have seen in Haiti, we have seen in Pakistan, Indonesia and other places, they can get into the hands of either criminals or people who are subject to bribery, corruption and all sorts of other inducements that money tends to bring along.

BALDWIN: I want to throw a question at you, Chris Parry, that I tossed to our former CIA covert ops guy, Mike Baker, a moment ago. We're seeing jubilation, he mentioned a flurry of chaos, but what we're not seeing is intelligence operatives debriefing, trying to figure out where Moammar Gadhafi is, trying to figure out where some of his sons are.

What more do you think we aren't seeing that is happening on the ground there?

PARRY: I think it's very difficult to get into the minds of individuals and networks in cultures that we, frankly, don't understand.

This is a regime that has been under wraps for the best part of 40 years, so we don't understand the motivations and some of the characters involved in these transactions. I think what we will see very shortly is all these groups coming together, and they will either cooperate or they're going to compete with each other, both for power and for influence, within whichever sort of society they want for the future.

BALDWIN: Sure.

Chris Parry, let me --

PARRY: And I think what we can do --

BALDWIN: Let me jump in.

Forgive me. But I'm being told we have Arwa Damon on the line. It's been sort of touch and go as far as getting communication established with her.

So, Chris Parry, I thank you very much.

Arwa, tell me where you are. It's good to see you. Tell me where you are and about this fighting. I know you have been covering the fighting at the International Airport.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we're still at the International Airport, although we have had to move inside because the artillery barrage was quite simply too intense, some of it landing a bit too close.

And this has been going on for hours now. There is right now as we speak a plane in flames on the tarmac, part of it exploded. There is still incoming artillery. There is still a heavy exchange of machine gunfire. And so the battle here has been quite intense and has been going on for quite some time now.

The rebel fighters are growing increasingly frustrated for a number of reasons. They still don't control the vital airway that runs -- the vital highway -- sorry -- that runs from this location and north to Tripoli. They still don't control these areas to the east, and that is where the majority of the assaults on the airport complex are coming from.

The fighters are telling us that Gadhafi forces are using villages that are not too far away as cover to launch the various attacks on this site. They say that that is preventing them from being able to fire back because they're concerned about civilian casualties. They say that that is what's also preventing NATO from being able to target these positions.

A lot of this frustration also emanating from what many here believe is that this area has been used by Gadhafi loyalists to try to perhaps smuggle him out. What one of the senior commanders here was telling us is that he believes, based on the intensity and ferocity of the assault from multiple directions on this airport complex, that Gadhafi loyalists are trying to figure out some sort of a route to either get Gadhafi out of Tripoli or that he perhaps may already be in the area or traveling through the area -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So you're saying, given the barrage of firepower that you have been witnessing, you mentioned this plane on fire right now on the tarmac, that that's directly correlated potentially according to your sources there at the airport, that that could be correlated with the position of Moammar Gadhafi?

DAMON: Well, what the senior rebel commander here is telling us is that he believes the intensity of the fighting is directly related to Gadhafi's whereabouts.

All of the fighters that we have been speaking to from the top down have been saying that the level of resistance that they're getting from the Gadhafi forces in this area has been unexpected.

BALDWIN: Got it.

DAMON: And the senior commanders here will point to the fact that the attacks are coming from multiple directions. They're absolutely relentless and so they say that someone is being protected and they believe that it's Gadhafi. They believe that the loyalists are trying to keep the rebels pinned down at this location, preventing them from gaining control of land to the east, preventing them from gaining control of the highway to Tripoli.

BALDWIN: Arwa, we have heard that Gadhafi may have a farm in that area somewhere around the airport. Do we know precisely where that is and are the rebel forces actively trying to find him?

DAMON: Well, they haven't been able to reach that farm. And it is located just off the main highway that runs from this airport to Tripoli. It's a fairly elaborate, sprawling complex, but it's not well-protected or heavily guarded. So no one really believes that he may have gone there to try to seek shelter.

What they do believe, though, is because these areas are still controlled by Gadhafi loyalists that they will be able to maneuver him through. Last night, the rebels spotted a convoy. And they say it also contained an armored Mercedes.

(EXPLOSION)

DAMON: I don't know if you were able to hear that explosion just there.

BALDWIN: We heard it.

DAMON: But this convoy also contained an armored Mercedes that they believe Gadhafi --

(EXPLOSIONS)

DAMON: And there's another one and another one. That just gives you an idea of the intensity of the ongoing artillery barrage here.

But back to the convoy, they believe that there was an armored Mercedes in it.

(EXPLOSIONS)

DAMON: And that -- I'm just going to go off to the side a bit.

BALDWIN: Yes. Let me jump in, Arwa.

(CROSSTALK)

DAMON: -- may have actually been traveling inside that armored vehicle. And --

BALDWIN: I just -- I wanted to jump in. What is it exactly that you're hearing? We definitely heard it as well three times over. What kind of firing is that?

DAMON: That's incoming artillery, most likely mortar rounds. They have been pounding it in that exact way for hours now.

It started in the morning. They were Grad rockets that were being fired at this complex, and then it intensified into a nonstop barrage of artillery. We also do hear at times the rebels trying to fire back out, but again, they say that they're constrained because of their concern for civilian casualties.

We have also been hearing some pretty intense heavy machine gunfire. And the Gadhafi fighters are not just concentrating this barrage from a single direction. They will launch a barrage of artillery from one direction. Then they will send a unit of fighters to try to loop around and attack the rebel fighters that have positions outside of the airport complex, trying to attack really from multiple locations at the same time, because they're not just trying to regain control of the airport, the rebel fighters are telling us.

Remember, they believe that they're trying to clear a route for Gadhafi himself to be able to escape. And I think this is an indication that even though the rebels say that they control large parts of Tripoli, there are still areas like this where Gadhafi loyalists are really posing them a very serious challenge.

BALDWIN: Well, Arwa, while I have you -- and, guys, let's just on the fly here throw the map up, because help us understand. If you say that the Gadhafi forces have control of that main jugular, the main artery between the airport and the city, and they're trying to gain control, obviously, where you are at the airport, what ultimately could their endgame be?

You mentioned it's not likely that Gadhafi would be at that farm nearby. Would it be possible -- we know he's from Sirte, which is east of Tripoli. Maybe it would be circuitous for them to try to go that way, but would that be a possibility?

DAMON: Yes, actually, it would be. And that is what the senior commanders here believe.

They believe that the loyalists will be trying to move Gadhafi and his family either to areas in the far south of the country, the central south of the country or perhaps loop around and take him up to Sirte, a city that still remains pretty much firmly under his control. It is his hometown.

It is filled with people who are loyal to him. And so that very much is the thought here. And there are, of course, great concerns that he is going to somehow slip away, because he is the ultimate prize for the rebels. They want to see him and his family captured. They want to see them brought to justice. They want to see everything that they have suffered through for the last 42 years, they want to hold somebody accountable for that, so they most certainly do not want the type of scenario where Gadhafi is going to somehow slip away, survive, continue sending out those taunting messages, saying that he is still alive and that he is calling on people to rise up and fight with him.

BALDWIN: Arwa Damon there inside for her safety and our crew's safety inside the Tripoli International Airport, Arwa, thank you very much.

We will have much more on the unfolding situation in Libya here in just a moment.

But coming up next, millions here in the United States bracing for a direct hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are few evacuation options. The island is only about 40 kilometers long. So outrunning the storm isn't an option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The entire East Coast on alert, the warning now from the Obama administration as Hurricane Irene barrels towards the U.S., its path constantly changing. But find out where it's expected to hit as of now. And we will talk live to the mayor of Charleston, South Carolina.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All eyes on Irene today, and for the next couple of days here. The dangerous category 3 hurricane could deliver a glancing blow to North Carolina before taking aim at New England.

Take a look here at the image of Irene from the International Space Station, and you can see must -- it's huge. She's huge.

Right now, Irene is whipping parts of the Bahamas with strong winds, conditions expected to worsen by nightfall. Irene caused widespread damage and flooding in Puerto Rico. Evacuations underway on the Barrier Islands in North Carolina and folks in southern -- excuse me, costal South Carolina could get the word to go tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think, if anything, Thursday is the day that we'd be talking about evacuations if we needed to do that, but it's one when that when we do say it we want the state to certainly listen and make sure they're paying attention to. But right now that is not the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It is still uncertain right now where this hurricane could head. Chad Myers is tracking Irene's moves. We're going to talk to you about where she is right now. We'll talk Bahamas momentarily. But I want you to join me in this conversation because we're going to talk now to the Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.

Mr. Mayor, nice to have you on.

I know you have weathered a number of storms in beautiful South Carolina. You've been around nine terms, I hear. Let's just talk about preparations.

Are you -- how are you preparing or do you think you're going to miss it?

MAYOR JOE RILEY, CHARLESTON, NORTH CAROLINA: Well, for Charleston it looks like we are going to do OK now. We still have all of our preparation systems in place, but we take hurricane preparation very seriously and it's a year-round thing for us.

But certainly, when the season begins we communicate again with our citizenry about each citizen having their own hurricane plan, about their -- (AUDIO GAP)

BALDWIN: Mayor --

RILEY: -- about which preparations --

(AUDIO GAP)

RILEY: -- in advance and so much more.

BALDWIN: I know Charleston doesn't have a lot of major evacuation arteries. If you get the order to go, do you anticipate any problems for folks trying to leave town?

RILEY: No, we don't. We encourage people to leave early who can, and they can go whatever route they want.

Then, if you wait until the mandatory evacuation, we have many highways where all lanes are reversed, so that people can easily get out. And we are comfortable we can successfully evacuate whatever community needs to be evacuated, if the call comes.

BALDWIN: Chad, go ahead.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Mr. Mayor, it's Chad Myers.

I'm wondering about Edestahl and about Wild Dunes. I've been there and there's not much protection. The dunes are essentially gone.

Do you think that they'll evacuate those outer barrier islands simply because of the waves coming on shore? I know the storm may be a hundred miles to your east, but if it's a 135-mile-per-hour wind and waves 20 to 30 feet, the erosion could be tremendous.

RILEY: You know, there's likely to be erosion and this will be monitored, you know, in the next 12 to 24 hours. But if the storm remains the 100 to 150 miles offshore from us, then the barrier islands adjacent to Charleston I don't believe will need to be evacuated. But that's carefully monitored and we always want to err on the side of caution and will not hesitate and the state will not hesitate to call for a mandatory evacuation if that's important.

What is more dangerous is if the storm comes at us and it creates a surge, which is more damaging than the waves. A surge is a wall of water that comes up instantaneously, and that's the greater fear of the hurricane is the storm surge and in a near or direct hit, the evacuation is essential. The killer in hurricanes is rising water. You need to be out of the way of rising water.

BALDWIN: I know Chad and I have been talking, and some of the concern is some of these barrier islands, but when I think of Charleston, I think of beautiful historic homes there, Rainbow Row, you have the Battery, and I know that you all suffered quite a tough hurricane, what was it, back in '89, Hugo.

RILEY: That's right.

BALDWIN: A lot of damage then. Can these homes, these very, very old homes withstand a potentially category 3 hurricane?

RILEY: Well, they did in 1989 with Hugo, and they've all been wonderfully restored and city's more beautiful than it ever was. They're sturdy.

The main thing is to get the human beings out. You know, you can rebuild a building after a hurricane, you can't replace a lost life. So that's our first concern. If need be, get our citizens in safe areas, in evacuation shelters or out of this region, then if damage comes, we'll work hard and rebuild the several hundred-year-old houses as they've been rebuilt over the years.

Hopefully, in the case of Irene here, that won't be necessary. But the hurricane season is early, we're on ready alert, until the hurricane season is over.

BALDWIN: OK, Mayor Riley, I thank you for coming on. Hopefully, you will not have to deal with evacuating anyone. Thank you very much, sir.

Quickly, Chad, you'll get some sort of update, right, by the end of the hour. You'll bring that to us. But for now, Irene over some of these, some of the Bahamian Islands?

MYERS: Right now, 120-mile-per-hour storm, wind gusts to 130, tearing up those islands. And we're waiting for the turn. Remember, we've been talking about the right-hand turn? We wait and we wait and we wait. And sometimes it's late and if it's late turning it's closer to Charleston than we were predicting.

So we will watch it closely, I'll update you in about 35 minutes.

BALDWIN: All right, Chad Myers, thank you very much for that. Still ahead as we don't go very far from the situation in Libya, this man, our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance getting ready to join me live from Tripoli where Moammar Gadhafi, his thugs held him and 34 other international journalists captive for days in that hotel. Wait until you hear about the dramatic negotiations for his freedom.

Also up next, Americans scrambling for safety after that earthquake shakes entire regions. Many, many of you felt it. We're getting some new video of those moments from yesterday afternoon.

Plus another earthquake hitting the U.S., and this one causes some damage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's talk about that earthquake that hit many, many states up and down the Eastern Seaboard yesterday. First it had a lot of people scrambling for safety, then they scrambled to grab their cameras and posted videos online.

Take a close look at this. This is surveillance cameras inside a pharmacy in Chester, Virginia. The quake hit, see the pharmacy tech, she goes and opens that window and out she jumps.

But wait, here is some reaction, this is at a Richmond office building.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And now, how is it animals tend always to sense these sorts of things? There is a dog asleep on the sofa. Chair on the right-hand side of the screen. Moments before the quake hit the dog gets up. See, the doge got up first, then the chair started to shake. Dog says see you later, I'm leaving this room.

And this --

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here you go, Little League World Series, Pennsylvania. The camera as you can see, they're shaking. Apparently first ESPN photographers, someone thought it was messing with them, took them a couple of minutes for them to realize it was an earthquake.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And little shaking there in our CNN studios there in Washington, D.C.

Finally, let me show you this. There is a man in Chantilly, Virginia, who is in the middle of making a furniture commercial yesterday afternoon when it shook things up for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just thought we'd take this opportunity to show you our new showroom -- you feel that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You feel that, he says? Yes, indeed, a rare magnitude 5.8 earthquake. Goodness.

Let's not, though, forget about Colorado. They got hit by an earthquake yesterday as well, a 5.3 magnitude quake hit the southern part of the state early yesterday morning. People reportedly feeling it as far north as Denver, even into Kansas, into New Mexico.

The earthquake tied for the second largest in the state's history and the biggest in 40 years. No reports of injuries, but you can see from the surveillance video the quake big enough for some of those store items to get tossed about.

Now this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And they said look, you know, we're not going to stop you from leaving anymore. All we had to do then was arrange some kind of transport out of the hotel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hear the excitement in his voice? Held captive for days. Finally today, journalists freed from their hotel there in Tripoli, including our own CNN crew. You will hear who was behind these dramatic negotiations to set them free. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In case you hadn't heard this update yet, our CNN crew was among dozens of those international journalists freed this morning from the Rixos International Hotel in Tripoli. And the end came today -- you're looking at our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance -- but the end came when our CNN producer persuaded the local Gadhafi commander that the fight outside on the streets was over and that Gadhafi forces had lost.

I want you to listen to this if you would. You're going to hear from CNN producer Jomana Karadsheh. She was the one who helped do the negotiating in Arabic at the end.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, I actually -- we spent time over the last few days just sitting and talking to him about his kids and his family. And so, I just started telling him I really miss my family and I really want to go out and see my family who are really worried about me now. And same thing for these 30-plus journalists sitting in the hotel. And he got tears in his eyes at that moment. He felt a bit emotional about that, too. And you know, slowly myself and other colleagues here and our cameraman, we both sat there with him and told him things are changing out there. So, slowly he started listening to us and like, you have to think of your kids. You know, you're left here alone. Just let us go.

And it just happened. It was a slow process, it was a messy one at times, but it worked out at the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the things that was so amazing about what happened today is that the guys that were holding us hostage essentially, they didn't know that any of us had taken place outside the perimeter of the hotel. They thought the country was still in the control of Colonel Gadhafi. They didn't realize outside the hotel doors, the whole world for these people has changed.

And when they finally that, when they finally realized there was no reason for them to stay there and carry out these bizarre orders to sort of keep the journalists in the hotel and not let them out, when they accepted that, they literally cast away their weapons, said they were sorry to us and said you're now free to go.

And we just organized these vehicles, these cars, and they took us out. It was the International Committee of the Red Cross. They took us out to a safe location somewhere else. It's just been an amazing coming out to Tripoli because all of these people are so happy. They don't even know about our situation obviously. They're just focused on the fact their country, their entire country from their point of view, is now free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It is nice to hear and see Jomana and Matthew, but the fighting continues in Libya. And we are now getting some White House reaction to the situation on the ground there; that is coming up.

Also a major accident in space. Russia losing contact with the unmanned rocket. It disappears and crashes to earth. We'll tell you where and what happened. Plus -

(VIDEO PLAYS)

BALDWIN: A school bus carrying 16 kids. You saw it, goes up in smoke, then explodes. Up next, we'll play you this dramatic video and what the bus driver did in those horrifying moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: More on breaking news out of Libya. Joining me now from Martha's Vineyard, CNN's Dan Lothian. Dan, what are you hearing from the White House in terms of reaction to what we've been witnessing on the ground?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you first of all that the national security team has been closely monitoring the situation, watching some of those pictures over the last 24 hours on television, monitoring social media. Also in touch with the NTC, the rebel group.

The president himself did receive a briefing from John Brennan his counterterrorism adviser. Unclear, though, whether the president himself is seeing those dramatic pictures on television. But we're told that he has gotten all of the reports.

The White House has been unable to tell us whether or not they believe they know exactly where Gadhafi might be, but they do think that he is still inside Libya. That is less important, though, than the fact that they believe that he is no longer in control of that country.

One other point, the White House does have some concerns about the NTC, that rebel group's ability to carry out that peaceful transition to democracy. But nonetheless the White House saying they still have confidence in that group and will provide any assistance that they need. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Dan, just curious, we saw French president Nicolas Sarkozy meeting and speaking with the head of the NTC, Mr. Jibril. Any indication from the White House that President Obama might try to speak with him as well?

LOTHIAN: No indication at all. But as the White House and the president have said, this is a very fluid situation. So what they might not be talking about doing today might completely change tomorrow. But what we do know is that the White House is communicating with the NTC. But at this point we know of no plans for the president himself to have any direct contact.

BALDWIN: OK. Dan Lothian in Martha's Vineyard where the president is vacationing. Dan, thank you very much.

And more news unfolding right now. Rapid fire, let's go. Some news that will bring relief to iPhone-envious Sprint customers. Here you go. According to "The Wall Street Journal," Sprint will sell the new apple iPhone 5 in mid-October. That will bring the popular smartphone to all three major U.S. carriers. Verizon began selling the iPhone back in February. Apple has yet to release any details, though, on the new and improved iPhone 5.

A frightening moment caught on tape in Texas. Three people, one you saw with a gun, storm this food mart. One leapt over that counter to grab the cash. The clerks try to fight back, no luck. The cashier says the robbers took about $2,000 they got out of there. The trio could be men dressed as women.

And in Iowa, as if for some kids the first day of school wasn't frightening enough, try this happening.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You are looking here --

(SOUND OF EXPLOSION IN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: -- and there it goes. First, the school bus is on fire and then it explodes. This is Pleasant Hill, Iowa. Sixteen students were on board before it exploded. Let's just - let's watch it one more time.

Goodness. All the students and the driver got off that bus safely minutes before it exploded.

And a Russian rocket carrying three tons of supplies to the international space station went rogue today. Russian mission control lost contact with its unmanned rocket three minutes before it was set to reach orbit. Russian emergency officials now say the rocket crashed in a remote area of Siberia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very real, these weapons systems are dangerous. He has literally thousands of anti-aircraft missiles, shoulder-fired missiles. He has about 25,000 pounds of mustard gas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As the confusion grows in Libya, new concerns about Moammar Gadhafi's chemical weapons. One U.S. lawmaker says something must be done now before there is a, quoting him, "black market bonanza."

Plus, we're finding out which countries are doing what and secret missions to help out those rebels. We're live at the Pentagon next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As critical as the past couple of days have been in the battle for Tripoli and the leader there of that country for 42 years, Moammar Gadhafi, the next couple of days and weeks could be even more crucial. Why? Because of prime concern, what happens to Gadhafi's cache of chemical weapons.

We want to go to Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence. And Chris, obvious uncertainty over where Gadhafi is, his sons are. But talk to me about these stockpiles of mustard gas. Does the Pentagon even know who is even in charge of the stockpile?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they do, Brooke. Right now, they believe that stockpile is secure and know exactly where it is. It's at a place called the Rapta site. It's south of Tripoli. They've been keeping a very close eye on the place for days if not weeks. They've been using drones, satellite airplanes, other aircraft, to keep a very close eye on exactly where that stockpile is and to make sure it's still secure.

BALDWIN: So, they know where is it. What are they doing to try to secure it?

LAWRENCE: Yes, right now, we've learned there are some talks within NATO at some of the very highest levels about just that question: what to do if for some reason it does not become secure? They are talking in terms of sending in -- how they would send in teams, how those teams would be made up, whether they would be military, intelligence agents or even contractors with the kind of expertise need to secure a chemical stockpile.

BALDWIN: Is it weapons-grade, Chris?

LAWRENCE: It's not, meaning you can't just take it, put a few canisters in, say, a briefcase it or release it or detonate it somewhere. But the real concern, Brooke, is that it could be sold off to a third party or fall into the wrong hands and at some point later be weaponized.

BALDWIN: We're also learning, Chris, a little bit more about the role NATO is playing in the battle. We know special forces from Britain, France, Jordan, Qatar, all - Libya, stepping up operations in the capital. What are they doing right now?

LAWRENCE: We know some of the French and the Qatari special forces have provided weapons to the rebels. And they've -- also as a whole, all of these special forces teams have been helping them better plan some of their tactical missions, and really helping with communication.

When you've got a rag tag bunch like these rebels are, we're all of the sudden thrust into a fighting role a lot of times it can be hard for the right hand to know what the left hand is doing.

The special forces have been instrumental in helping these groups coordinate and also calling in some of the very precise air strikes from some of the NATO war planes that are providing air support.

BALDWIN: What about -- final question, what about us? What about the U.S.? What's our role here?

LAWRENCE: Well, the U.S. is involved in those talks with NATO about what to do if for some reason the chemical stockpile is no longer deemed to be secure, but at this point they're not talking about U.S. troops being part of that team, no U.S. military troops being part of that team.

The thinking is that if this had to happen in a worst case scenario it might be easier for one nation to send its team in, because if you take it as a whole NATO mission, then a lot of different countries have to agree on parameters and like that, it may be faster and easier for one nation to send a team.

BALDWIN: Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon. Chris, thank you.

Coming up see how this dramatic day in Tripoli unfolded in real time. Also, is washing a child's mouth out with soap, is that considered child abuse? How about this? How about feeding your child with hot sauce as punishment? One mother did just that, and she could go to jail. If so, though, what happens to her kids?

And the Dr. Phil show which aired the video, Sunny Hostin is on the case. She's got some answers. Welcome back Sunny Hostin. Back after this.

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BALDWIN: A slam dunk case blows up in prosecutor's faces, gets kicked out of court, I'm talking about Dominique Strauss-Kahn who was accused of raping a maid in a swanky Manhattan hotel suite. The former IMF chief free now to return to France, but he's not totally a free man.

Sunny Hostin is back. She is on the case for us. Sunny, Dominique Strauss-Kahn still faces legal challenges. Here in the U.S., we know he's being sued by that maid who accused him of attacking her. Let's listen to what one of his lawyers said on CNN the last night.

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WILLIAM TAYLOR, STRAUSS-KAHN ATTORNEY: The same difficulties, the same lies will come back to haunt her in a civil case as occurred in the criminal case and we're not really worried about the civil case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sunny, so this civil case, I don't know it could take years and years. Does she have a chance of winning that?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think she does. What people have to remember about the civil case, Brooke, there is a different standard of proof there. We're not talking about reasonable doubt, which is the standard -- beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the standard in the criminal case.

We're talking about a preponderance of the evidence. So she just has to tip the scales in her favor. I've got to tell you I'm surprised they have sort of come out swinging in terms of the civil suit. That is a case I think that is ripe for settlement.

That is a case that can let him go on with his life and perhaps if this did happen give her some semblance of justice, and so I am surprised that they intend to fight that as vigorously as they seem to be professing, very interesting turn of events for me.

BALDWIN: OK, so he faces a civil case. We also know there's this ongoing investigation in France, and does it help him at all that his accuser here took eight years, she's a French writer, took her eight years to come forward and say he tried to rape her? HOSTIN: Well I think it does, in a sense, right, because of all the publicity around, there's certainly the argument she only came forward because he's a powerful man because perhaps she wants money. Perhaps she wants something else. She's making this up.

But in France, the statute of limitations for sexual assault is three years, but for attempted rape 10 years. So she's still within the statute. Prosecutors can still bring charges against him but it's certainly I think in front of any jury, in front of a judge it is going to help she waited so long to report that.

But my understanding from a lot of the reports she has reason for waiting that long and so perhaps we'll still see that case go forward in France.

BALDWIN: OK, case number two, we talked about this last week when you were actually off and got under a lot of people's skin. We're calling her the hot sauce mom. Her name is Jessica Beagley.

She was found guilty now we've learned of child abuse for punishing her adopted son by pouring hot sauce into his mouth. Let's just watch it. This is a clip she submitted to the Dr. Phil show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Open. Close your mouth. Did you swallow it? Do you lie to me? No, don't spit it.

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BALDWIN: OK. So what happens next? Could she go to jail?

HOSTIN: She could go to jail certainly. She was convicted of misdemeanor child abuse. She faces up to a year in prison and she should go to jail. Every time I look at that clip, Brooke, as a mother when I put my mommy hat on it makes me blood boil.

I don't think there's any question that it's child abuse. You don't treat a child like that, a 7-year-old little boy who was adopted from Russia. He had some issues. He had some separation anxiety.

I mean, this is just child abuse in its clearest form for me. So I think she should get the book thrown at her. That's a year in prison if Judge Sunny were rendering that.

BALDWIN: I'm thinking about the boy, though. I'm thinking the boy, Sunny Hostin, what happens to him? And by the way, she has five other kids.

HOSTIN: Isn't that something? I mean, apparently he also has a twin brother and it's been reported that perhaps they will be taken from her. Russian authorities are looking into that, and I really hope that that is something that happens. This is not a woman fit to be a mother, not from what I see on that videotape.

BALDWIN: Quickly, can prosecutors go after the Dr. Phil show too here?

HOSTIN: You know, we're hearing a lot about that. I don't know whether or not prosecutor also go after the Dr. Phil show. I think this is really about the mother, right, because mothers are supposed to be protectors. They're supposed to be advocates for their children. They're supposed to have the best interests of their children in mind at heart. I think this is all about the mother, not about the Dr. Phil show.

BALDWIN: Judge Sunny has ruled. Sunny Hostin, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Now this, looking over at Chad and our weather team, they're watching the computers here. We've got thumbs up from Chad good deal. So we are getting a brand new update where Hurricane Irene is heading. Stay right there.

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BALDWIN: All right, the update is now in from the National Hurricane Center. Chad Myers, what is the latest?

MYERS: A 120 miles an hour, didn't change although the track got smaller. The window got smaller. The cone up to the north east because the closer we get to where the model runs compared to where it actually makes landfall, the cone get smaller.

Only 15 miles away, we would know within a mile where it was going to hit. The cone still offshore, potential miss, but still right over Long Island, maybe into Boston and into northern New England. Look at that 100-mile-per-hour storm.

BALDWIN: People holding their breaths up and down the east coast Chad, thank you.

But you know what? We were holding our breath today, all of the events unfolding around Libya from the outskirts of the Gadhafi compound where it seems Sara Sidner hadn't seen the end of the shelling to the drama unfolding inside and outside that Rixos Hotel.

As producer -- as senior international correspondent Matthew Chance and Jomana Karadsheh, and dozens of other international journalists negotiated with Gadhafi's men to release them.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the moment that they have broken in to Gadhafi's compound. Celebratory gunfire going off. They feel very, very excited, very excited. We're going to go in a little bit further. If you look over here to the right, you are seeing the fire inside of Gadhafi's compound.

All right, I'm going to back up. Let's pull back a little bit, let's just pull back because I'm getting hit by some of the shells. See that truck? That truck is going around the square blowing off rounds. These kids are out here and you hear all this gunfire. You've got gentlemen walking by with guns, you know, and doing doughnuts and shooting out the window, anything can happen.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Breaking news situation here. We have now left the compound of the Rixos Hotel, all of the 36 journalists that were kept inside essentially against their will in what we all considered all along to be a hostage crisis.

It's been a very complicated, a very frightening, a very emotional roller coaster of the past five days. We managed to negotiate the Red Cross to get in and we've got all the journalists into these four cars plus a civilian car.

And we're now driving out of the Rixos. We're driving through the deserted streets of Tripoli to our freedom essentially. It's been an absolutely, it's been an absolute nightmare.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Matthew, is your producer, Jomana with you? Is she able to talk to us by phone?

KARADSHEH: Hello, guys.

GORANI: Jomana, nice to hear your voice.

KARADSHEH: I cannot tell you what an emotional roller coaster it has been. It's been unbelievable. You know, especially today, was really hard. One of the most difficult things for me was speaking the language, speaking Arabic.

I was involved in most of the negotiations between those guys who were holding us there and trying to talk to the people on the outside. I came out here and even in Libya I was shocked at the new Tripoli. I didn't see any green flags. It was the rebel flags. I saw children waving the flags. It felt like a happy Tripoli.

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BALDWIN: For more on the development out of Tripoli and for the breaking news on Hurricane Irene, Joe Johns in for Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.