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Irene Slams Bahamas, Eyes N.C.; Rebels Seize Gadhafi's RV; NYC Prepares For Evacuations; Steve Jobs Resigns; New MLK Jr. Memorial Dedication this Weekend in D.C.; Tripoli Prison Break; Bush Administration Memoirs

Aired August 25, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: No matter how you look at Irene, it is a monster. Potentially the biggest hurricane to hit the U.S. in six years. It's still on track to slam or at least skim coastal North Carolina on Sunday and maybe New York City late Sunday. Our Chad Myers has the latest facts and figures, and we'll get to those in just a moment with Chad.

But CNN's Jim Spellman is weathering the worst of Irene right now. He's in Nassau in the northwest Bahamas.

Jim, how bad is it right now?

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Randi. It appears that maybe the worst of it has passed Nassau. Still a lot of high winds, still some rains, still some high surf here occasionally coming over the sea walls on the victel (ph) roads, but I think the worst here is over and it's passed. Amazing how well they've weathered this here, we have not seen any damage. I Just did a quick ride through downtown Nassau, and it seems that they've got lucky and their preparations really worked.

Some of the southern islands in the Bahamas did not make it as well, and we've got reports of serious devastation in some of the settlements down there, some of them nearly completely wiped out. And even some of the bigger islands, Cat Island and Eleuthera (ph), that are both popular tourist islands have just gotten -- got hit there really bad. Still trying to get communications back up to try to get word on what kind of damages on those islands as Irene here moves through. Right here tentatively in Nassau, people are pleased that the worst didn't happen here and they've made out relatively OK -- Randi.

KAYE: And Jim, we were getting reports of at least one community that was the 90 percent destroyed. Are you hearing anything about injuries or even deaths?

SPELLMAN: Well, we haven't heard anything about injuries or deaths, but those communities in these settlements in the southern part of the Bahamas, there's a place called Lovely Bay they're really worried about and they're having trouble getting communications set up. One of the first things that goes down in high winds are cell phone towers, and these places are pretty remote, usually only gotten to by boat. But we know that in Lovely Bay there's about 800, 900 people there, at least half are currently displaced at least, and those are just preliminary reports here. They hope to know by the end of the day, but it's still really windy here and it's going to be hard for them to really get access down there to be able to know really what's going on, and more importantly, to help people that do need it. It's a big problem down there -- Randi.

KAYE: As we're seeing some of the surf kick up there behind you, I'm curious about tourists, I mean this is a big vacation spot, are they trapped there?

SPELLMAN: Some are. First thing to happen was the cruise pulled out the night before last, that's a huge amount of people that come here. Then, as many people that could get out were getting out on planes before the airport shut down yesterday.

Some people that weren't able to do that are indeed hunkered down. There were families staying at our hotel that were very concerned. But I tell you, these hotels, I'm really impressed with how they're built versus other hotels I've stayed in during hurricanes. I couldn't hearing anything in my guest room last night, despite winds like this pounding the place.

So, I think the tourists made out OK, but the fear factor for people on vacation and got this unexpected visitor, Irene here, was very real and tangible to those people, but I think they'll all going to make out OK -- Randi.

KAYE: All right. Jim Spellman, appreciate it. Try and stay safe there and our thanks to your photographer for cleaning off that lens there for us so we can actually see what's going on.

And now, let's get to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

Chad, so who really needs to be preparing for this right now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: North Carolina for the direct hit, and then up into New England, anywhere from literally New Jersey and Cape May over to Boston. I can't tell you yet, it's still too far away for that. Our Jim Spellman was right there, and the eye of the storm really did miss him, I would say 50, 60 miles, that was great. But the islands that were right under that eye literally devastated.

We had wind speeds at 100 to 120. We had waves at 15 feet, and islands that are only 8 feet tall. So, you have to understand that water and the force of the water coming over the islands, literally over-washing the islands. And now, you'll see something here into parts of Florida. And Randi, you're pretty interested in this, too, because I know you have loved ones down here.

But here's West Palm, Fort Lauderdale, all the way down to Miami, one of the first outer bands to come onshore here. Going to be thunderstorms, going to see the potential for some of the storms to spin. Look, this is where the eye is, it's way out there, hundreds of miles away, but yet the eye is nothing to worry about right now. It's still far enough away from the U.S. When it gets closer, that's when we're going to start to worry about on in the U.S. We will get huge waves, 10 to 15-footers, waves you cannot surf in.

Please do not try, wait until this thing is over and go out surfing on Sunday, the waves will still be great. The winds will be offshore, they'll be formed perfectly. Do not try to surf when the winds and the waves are coming onshore like this. You just -- you can't go in the water, you can't even be, for that matter, on the shore in some spots because the waves will come onshore and they will drag you offshore. It's called a rip current, and it's going to be ugly. This is going to be up through parts of Carolinas by the time we work up into Saturday, that's the worst.

Now, there's still going to be a lot of erosion up and down the east coast, but that's not so much the issue. The issue, as this moves up across Freeport and up into the Carolinas, is a direct landfall somewhere near possibly Moorhead City. It could be Oak, or Coke, Island, it could be right on the outer banks. With a wind speed of 120 and waves at 8-feet tall, and even some spots 10 feet tall, over washing that barrier Island, some of that island may go away. You don't want to be on that island, you do not want to be on the outer banks at all.

And then, this is worst case scenario. I guess this storm if you follow the center, and we want to make sure that you know it could here and it could go here, but if it follows the center and runs up the Hudson, New York City is going to be in a world of heart. Eight- five miles per hour, power out for days, subways maybe even flooded in some spots. We have a long wait for that, it's still three and a half to four days away, but you need to know that that's possible. You need to start thinking about what you would do if that would happen.

KAYE: Yes, a lot could change, but good warning, Chad. I think we all heard you with that one, appreciate it.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KAYE: To Libya now where the battle for Tripoli and the hunt for Moammar Gadhafi are converging. Two days after rebels took over the Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, they say he and some of his sons may be pinned down in a cluster of apartment buildings nearby. That's where they're focusing their fire power, but they're also fighting to hold onto the Tripoli airport just south of the capital.

Gadhafi hasn't been seen since June, but he has issued audio clips most recently just about 90 minutes ago. And a lot of his stuff is now in the public domain.

CNN's Arwa Damon joins me now from the airport with a remarkable case in point.

Arwa, what is that behind you there? It looks like a big RV. ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well yes, Randi, what we have here is an RV that the fighters say that they managed to capture from Gadhafi's farm around 15 minutes away, although there was a pretty intense firefight there that did kill one fighter and wounded number several. But let me just set the scene a little more for you, because we have the rebels going through the RV, obviously marveling at the fact they do have access to some of the Gadhafi's luxurious things that he did own.

But then, right behind you can see that thick plume of dark smoke, and that is as a result of the ongoing incoming artillery. This location has been pounded by shells, by Grad rockets, they've been firing heavy machine gunfire. Smoke's still coming from multiple directions. That a plane on fire at the tarmac, but then over here we have two golf carts that the rebels say they also got off of Gadhafi's farm. They've been coming through trying them out. Many of them say that they remember seeing Gadhafi coming out of a golf cart similar to this carrying an umbrella, giving one of his infamous speeches.

And what they have been saying is that being on the farm, seeing the life of luxury that their leader led at the expense of the people for more than four decades is making them all that more determined to hunt down his loyalists, but also more importantly to hunt him down as well -- Randi.

KAYE: It's amazing to see these rebels, the opposition forces going through his personal effects. Is there any way, Arwa, that you could take us inside? Is there anything to see still left inside that RV?

DAMON: There is. Can you try and go inside? I don't know if we have the cabling to go all the way in, and I do believe the door is locked, but I'll give it a shot. Can you just bear with us?

KAYE: OK, if not --

DAMON: OK, we don't have the cabling to go all the way in, but we are going to be feeding pictures.

KAYE: And Arwa, what are they doing with these personal effects of his? Are they holds onto them or are they going to destroy them?

DAMON: Well actually, when it comes to the RV, the rebel commander that led the unit that began clearing the farm, he's been making pretty sure that the two back doors there stay locked. So, the people who are -- the rebels who are coming in and out of it actually only have access to the front part, because he wants to preserve those items that he found in it.

The unit that took over this, they're from Sinton (ph), to the south, and they've spray painted the revolutionaries on the side of it. And they say that they want to take it down to the Sinton, and they want to preserve it as it is as best as they can, because they want to show everybody else the type of life that their leader led.

But they've been going through and kind of grabbing everything that's in the front part. There is almonds there, those plastic little containers of water actually from inside as well. There was a pair of glasses, an atlas, a road map. So, people are grabbing little mementos of what was once material belongings, a person who was completely off access to them.

KAYE: Incredible reporting. Arwa Damon at the Tripoli Airport. Arwa, thank you.

So, as we watch hurricane Irene move closer to the northeast, we have to ask ourselves is New York City ready for a major hurricane? The answer to that question is actually pretty scary. We'll take a closer look, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The governors of North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey have declared states of emergency in advance of hurricane Irene. Right now, there's an exodus of ships, trains and people in the northeast. The U.S. Navy has ordered ships from the Norfolk Naval Station to move out to sea to prevent damage to them.

And Amtrak is canceling train service south of Washington from Friday to Sunday in anticipation of Irene's arrival. On the Eastern tip of Long Island, New York folks are preparing for possible power outages and flooding should Irene keep its projected track. And they're even taking hurricane precautions as far north as New Hampshire. People there are being advised to stock up on food and supplies in advance of Irene because of the threat of flooding this weekend.

In New York City, mayor Michael Bloomberg, is saying prepare for hurricane Irene right now. He says, don't wait for last minute to have supplies on hand and have a plan in place in case evacuations are necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: There are different ways to evacuate. One is to suggest that people move, another thing is the mayor apparently has the power to issue an executive order and to force people to move, which we would do, I think, only in the worst of circumstances.

But we certainly would encourage people certainly at this point in time, for example, if you have a car and live in a low-lying area, my suggestion is park it on top of a hill, not in the valley. It's those kinds of things -- and then your house, start moving some stuff upstairs if you have a two-story house. Take some precautions now so that if it gets to that, you'll have less to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: So, the question is, are New Yorkers really ready for a hurricane, a major hurricane? What exactly would happen if a major storm like Irene hits New York City? CNN's John Zarrella takes a look at the worst possible scenario. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Steve and Debbie O'Sullivan and their three children live in Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York. A tranquil setting, beautiful wide shoreline. They never used to worry about hurricanes.

STEVE O'SULLIVAN, QUEENS, NEW YORK: We never really understood, you know, the greater impact of it. We never really had a great fear in them. We used to play out in them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's changed?

O'SULLIVAN: Katrina.

ZARRELLA: The O'Sullivans, whose house sits just one block from the ocean with the Atlantic on one side and Jamaica Bay on the other, are thinking about stocking up on hurricane supplies.

DEBBIE O'SULLIVAN, QUEENS, NEW YORK: I really am seriously considering getting more supplies of water and dry goods. It is a worry for me, I mean he is not as worried as I am.

ZARRELLA: There may be good reason for concern. New York City hasn't experienced a big hurricane since 1938. With the increase in hurricane activity combined with the law of averages, many experts believe another major storm may be coming, and soon.

(on camera): Is it going to be a slow rise as the water comes (ph) up?

NICHOLAS K. COCH, QUEENS COLLEGE CUNY: Yes. Yes. It's going to come up slowly. About the rate that you fill a bathtub.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Coastal geologist Nick Coch, himself a New Yorker, believes if a major hurricane hits, it could be catastrophic. Deaths might surpass Katrina.

COCH : Because the most dangerous thing in new York is the New Yorker. The New Yorker thinks they've been tested by everything, but very few New Yorkers have been in the eye of a hurricane and know how uncontrollable the energy is.

ZARRELLA: National Hurricane Center computer models and comprehensive studies are chilling. The water is pushed into lower Manhattan, steadily rising. Seawater powers through the Holland and Brooklyn Battery tunnels. JFK Airport goes under an astounding 20 feet of water. Water in the Wall Street district could be seven feet deep. The subway is knocked down.

COCH: There's going to be glass all over the street, glass flying through the air.

ZARRELLA: One study put economic loss from a category three hurricane at $100 billion. JEANNE SALVATORE, INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE: Metropolitan areas have high population density and very expensive properties. So you throw a hurricane into the scenario and the results can be really catastrophic.

ZARRELLA: There is a plan in place if necessary to move 2.3 million people out of coastal zones. But how many will go? Delores Orr heads the community board in Rockaway.

DELORES ORR, COMMUNITY BOARD CHAIRMAN: For those that were raised here, I hear them today talking that they're not going anywhere. And that's a concern.

ZARRELLA: For the O'Sullivans (ph), being prepared just makes sense, even here in New York, where hurricanes as are unheard of as the Yankees not making the playoffs.

John Zarrella, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Isn't that the truth?

Well, the key here is to be prepared. You can get up-to-the minute info on Irene's strength and location 24 hours a day with CNN's hurricane tracker at cnn.com. And it is also available on your iPad and your iPhone. So be sure to check it out.

Coming up, do you think Dick Cheney has regrets over the use of water boarding? You don't want to miss what he has to say about that and some of his former Bush administration colleagues. We'll have that for you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Dick Cheney's much anticipated memoir is due out next week and he is promising it will have, quote, "heads exploding all over Washington." The former vice president takes no prisoners in the book titled "In My Time: A Personal And Political Memoir." According to "The New York Times," which got an advanced copy, Cheney lashes out at several top Bush administration officials. A couple of examples. Cheney says former Secretary of State Colin Powell tried to undermine former President Bush by privately expressing doubts about the Iraq War. And he says that Powell's successor, Condoleezza Rice, was naive in dealing with North Korea.

There are also some real bombshells. In an interview with NBC, Cheney is asked about the Bush administration's use of what he called tough interrogations of terror suspects, what some critics denounced as torture. Excerpts were aired on "The Today Show" this morning and here's what he said when asked about the technique known as water boarding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In your view we should still be using enhanced interrogation?

DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No regrets.

CHENEY: No regrets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should we still be water boarding terror suspects?

CHENEY: I would strongly support using it again if circumstances arose where we had a high value detainee and that was the only way we could get him to talk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even though so many people have condemned it, people call it torture, you think it should still be a tool?

CHENEY: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Another surprise revelation in the book, according to "The Times," Cheney urged Bush to bomb a suspected nuclear reactor site in Syria back in 2007. Bush put it to a vote among other advisers, and according to "The Times," Cheney says not a single hand went up around the room in support of his plan. Now, as for Condoleezza Rice, she may get the last word. Her new memoir, "No Higher Honor: A Memoir Of My Years In Washington" is due out the first of November.

Turning to another bombshell of sorts. One triggered by nature. A magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattled eastern Virginia early today. So far no reports of damage or injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey says it's an aftershock from Tuesday's magnitude 5.8 quake that shook Washington and much of the East Coast.

The National Park Service has now released these new pictures of Tuesday's damage to the Washington Monument. Take a look at the cracks and the damage there. It says new cracks have been discovered in the top port of the monument. The picture also show other damage inside the structure. The monument is now closed to visitors indefinitely.

"These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise." Prophetic words from someone making big news today. We'll tell you who and what he's doing in a live report after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We are keeping an eye on Apple stock a day after Steve Jobs announced that he is stepping down as CEO. You can take a look there. It's down about $4 or so at $371.98. Apple stock had fallen 2 percent at the start of trading today following an afterhours drop yesterday of 5 percent.

And before the break we asked who said this. "These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise." It is Steve Jobs. CNN's Poppy Harlow looks at the legacy of Steve Jobs and the impact of his departure as Apple's CEO.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He resigned?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry to hear it, because he was so great for the company. He's so creative, so innovative.

HARLOW (voice-over): Jobs who has been on medical leave since January, released a statement. "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really hard to overstate just how important Steve Jobs has been to business, to the economy, what he's done because he's really revolutionized so many businesses.

HARLOW: Computers, mobile phones, digital music. Jobs' influence has been unparalleled.

His latest product, the iPad, continues to break records. Analysts say it's the fastest selling technological device ever.

Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 from his family's garage. Nine years later, a power struggle led to his exit. But Jobs returned again in 1996, soon after becoming CEO and transforming the company into what it is today. One of the biggest corporations in the world worth nearly $350 billion.

Earlier this month, Apple briefly passed Exxon Mobil as the stock market's most valuable company.

STEVE JOBS, CEO, APPLE: An iPod. A phone. Are you getting it?

HARLOW: But it's not only because of Jobs' innovation. He's also a brilliant marketer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The secrecy and the kind of theater that Apple brings to every product launch, every other company in the world, whether they're in, you know, electronics, consumer electronics or clothing or automobiles, they can learn from Apple and what they do.

HARLOW: In the only commencement address Jobs ever gave in 2005 at Stanford University, he touched upon the secret of his success.

JOBS: The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking and don't settle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And Poppy joins us now from New York.

You know, Poppy, a lot of people, of course, are worried about Steve Jobs and his health, but a lot of others are also asking, well, what does this mean for Apple and Apple investors?

HARLOW: Absolutely. You know, Randi, just following the stock all day. I'm looking at Apple trading right now. It's only down 1 percent. So this is good. This is a sign of confidence that Apple, the company, had a plan. That plan was their chief operating officer, Tim Cook, who will now become CEO of Apple. And this is a man who knows Steve Jobs inside and out.

What does it mean for the company long term? That is the big question. You have to decide if you believe or don't believe that Apple, the company, is bigger than one man. There is no question about it, Steve Jobs was a visionary. He is the man that started the company, completely turned it around, got it off its knees.

The question is, is that vision embedded in the DNA of the company or not? Does it rely on him being there every single day. What we've seen, Randi, this is his third leave of absence since 2004, and what we have seen is that even when he has been way from the company and Tim Cook has been leading it, it has succeeded. It has continued to put out products that sell in record numbers around the world. As my colleague at Fortune, Adam Lashinsky, put it, it was very interesting, he said, Steve Jobs has the ability to change and revolutionize an entire industry with the wave of a hand. And not many people can do that, Randi.

KAYE: No. Certainly not. All right, Poppy Harlow, thank you very much.

So who would you choose to run against President Obama? The revealing numbers that could turn the GOP presidential race on its head, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A lot we want to update you on. Time now to check in on some stories that you may have missed.

Hurricane Irene carving a destructive path across the Bahamas and has demolished dozens of homes. The category 3 storm now battering Nassau, the popular cruise ship port.

As Irene makes its way stateside, Amtrak is canceling train service for Friday, Saturday and Sunday south of Washington. Service for the northeast corridor is not affected at this point, but Amtrak says additional cancellations may become necessary.

In the meantime, communities along the eastern seaboard are in full preparation mode in case Irene is the first major hurricane to slam the coast in years. You're looking at the latest projected path for Irene. Look at it closely here. Emergency crews, state and city officials from the Carolinas up through New England are dusting off their evacuation plans and, yes, getting those sandbags ready.

We're also watching fast-moving developments in Libya. The big question right now, where is Moammar Gadhafi? Rebel fighters have sent more troops to scour a cluster of buildings near Gadhafi's compound. Rebels say they believe Gadhafi, who has a $1.4 million bounty for his capture or death on his head, may be holed up nearby. Meanwhile, rebel fighters and allied special forces are still encountering pockets of resistance across Tripoli. Libya's rebel leaders are working to consolidate power and have started to move the rebel base in eastern Libya to the capital.

Back here in the U.S., the battle for the GOP presidential nomination has taken an interesting turn. Texas Governor Rick Perry is now leading the Republican presidential pack beating out former front-runner Mitt Romney. According to this new Gallup poll, Perry is at the top. You see it there, 29 percent. Republican-leaning independents say Perry is their guy. That's a 12-point lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Representative Ron Paul comes in third at 13 percent, followed by Michele Bachmann with 10 percent.

In Los Angeles, Dr. Conrad Murray who is to be tried for Michael Jackson's death wants the jury in his case to be cut off from news coverage. A judge is hearing arguments for Murray's request to sequester the jury today. Murray's attorneys say the doctor's trial will likely draw massive media attention citing the Casey Anthony murder trial. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter for Michael Jackson's 2009 death. The doctor's trial is set to begin next month.

So you've heard location, location, location for real estate, right? Well, apparently it also applies to your marriage. A new U.S. Census bureau report found the south has the highest rate of divorce and the northeast is the lowest. The report is based on data collected in 2009. The states you see here in blue are below the average rates, while the head states have above average states. Of all those red states, Arkansas had the highest divorce rate in the nation.

So you may be asking, so why that? The report says the reason may be as simple as more people in the south get married and are married earlier so more marriages equals more divorces.

From an idea among friends to the first monument on the National Mall honoring an African-American. More on the new memorial honoring Martin Luther King Jr., next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It all started as an idea among members of Martin Luther King Jr.'s fraternity sitting at a dining room table in Maryland. Well, now 27 years later, a massive 30-foot granite statue of Dr. King sits in a prime spot at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Visitors are catching the first glimpse of the new memorial this week. It took more than 15 years and about $120 million to make it all happen.

President Obama will be on hand for the formal dedication of the memorial on Sunday. The dedication also marks the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. King delivered the famous, "I Have a Dream" speech. As we get closer to Sunday's dedication, we want to look at the life and countless contributions of Martin Luther King Jr. CNN's T.J. Holmes took the CNN Express on a journey to some of the places where Dr. King made history. One of those stops, Birmingham, where an attack on four young girls marked a turning point in the civil rights movement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Is it all right? Can I step in here for a second? You know, you hear about it, you read about it, you talk about it, but to be standing on this side of the bars where Martin Luther King was standing, was locked up writing a letter from a Birmingham Jail.

I always remember the story Ambassador Young tells me about that letter. He had to write it on toilet paper and whatever he can find. He wrote it on the edge of a "New York Times," I believe is what they told me, Ambassador Young told me. He said, but they handed it in to the secretary, and she was upset, like what is this mess? What is this chicken scratch from Dr. King? And, because of that, she typed it up, threw it away. So the original letter we will never have. But still, to think it was behind these actual bars. This is not a replica, folks. The actual bars. That's just incredible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had just got to about right there when the bomb exploded. I used to stand outside the church sometimes and just kind of lean my face against the building where the bomb was, and sometimes I would just stand here and think for a long time. All of those girls were friends of mine.

HOLMES: No, this isn't Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta, Dr. King's church. This is 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. And, no, even though it's not Dr. King's church, he certainly had an impact here, and what happened here certainly had an impact on Dr. King. So any journey you're going to take through Dr. King's life, you have to make a stop here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In his funeral eulogy for the girls killed here, Dr. King said to us, what has happened in Birmingham, the death of these girls may well serve as a redemptive force, not only for Birmingham, but for Alabama and the rest of the nation and what we saw this sort of revived all over the world. Things changed with what happened in Birmingham. Things changed all over the world.

HOLMES: And it seems odd to say now after all that's happened, but at that point he was just another preacher?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, basically. But we reverenced the preachers. When other people out there said we were slow and we couldn't learn, our preachers said that's not true. Here's what god says about you. You're beautifully and wonderfully made. Everything about you is good.

When the outside world said you were ugly, the preacher said that's not true. Here's what god says about you. I think if they had told us to try to walk on water, we probably would have tried to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And be sure to join T.J. Holmes along with Candy Crowley and Soledad O'Brien, Sunday morning for CNN's live coverage of the dedication of the memorial commemorating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That is Sunday 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

An American held in a Libyan prison for nearly six months is free.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He sounded exactly the same as always. He sounded just like himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: His mother and fiancee just spoke with him for the first time about how he escaped with hundreds of other prisoners. I'm going to talk with them next and show you the new video we're just getting in of that prison escape so keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: An American journalist who has been held in a Libyan prison for nearly six months is now free.

Check out this video we're getting in that appears to show the prison escape Matthew Vandyke was a part of. This is from YouTube. CNN cannot independently confirm its authenticity but it does appear to show prisoners at Tripoli's prison Abu Salim prison freeing other prisoners. Look at that.

And that is what Matthew Vandyke has told us happened to him. He's a freelance writer who disappeared in Libya on March 13th, and yesterday after being held for nearly six months in solitary confinement was freed.

He spoke to his mother a short time ago about his escape and what it was like to be held for so long. Sharon Vandyke joins me now along with Matthew's fiancee Lauren Fisher.

Thank you both for being with us. Wow, what a wonderful day. I'm certain -- I'm sure that both of you are celebrating.

Sharon, let me begin with you, though. Tell us what it was like when you finally heard your son's voice for the first time in so long.

SHARON VANDYKE, SON ESCAPED LIBYAN PRISON: Well, since we realized in march, late march that he had been captured, I've waited almost six months to hear him say, "Hi, mom," and that's what I heard yesterday when he was on the phone.

So it's just an unbelievable feeling. It was joyous. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. You get that queasy feeling in your stomach. It's just -- it's so hard to describe and it was just wonderful.

KAYE: And did he tell you how he managed to get out? I mean, we've looked at that video of the rebels. They seem to be freeing others. Is that what happened?

VANDYKE: He said that he heard men in the outside of his cell, but he thought they were actually coming to either execute him or torture him. And when they were at the cell telling him to come, at first he said no because he thought were guards were in back of the prisoners to grab him. And then they used something to break the lock off of the cell, and then he went -- he went out with the prisoners, who were mainly the rebels, and he said, hundreds of them left the prison.

They went to a mosque first and were given some Libyan money so they could get cabs or get transportation to leave the area. And he walked with three or four of the prisoners that he actually didn't know until the time of the break because he was in solitary confinement. And they started walking, and a Libyan man who had a very nice home in a compound actually took them in.

KAYE: Wow. That's amazing.

VANDYKE: And harbored them and fed them.

KAYE: Lauren, I can't imagine what the last six months have been like for you. Here you are trying to plan a wedding, and your fiancee is in, what, solitary confinement all this time?

LAUREN FISCHER, MATTHEW'S GIRLFRIEND: Yes. Well, we didn't know that was the case until yesterday. We knew he was in prison, we didn't know who he was with or any of the circumstances until yesterday.

KAYE: How worried were you about him, and what did he tell you it was like to be in prison like that?

FISCHER: Well, of course, I was very concerned. I was worried, you know, from the beginning. He's traveled in other countries, he's been embedded with U.S. troops, so, you know, I knew -- I had confidence that he knew how to handle himself, and that made it easier for me.

In terms of what -- how he described it, he was fed and he had water, but he said he basically stared at wail for six months.

KAYE: Sharon, do you know how he ended up there, why he was even taken to prison?

VANDYKE: He's not sure exactly what he was charged with. He was in Brega when Gadhafi's forces captured the town. He doesn't remember what happened. He apparently was hit on the head and was unconscious and came in and out of consciousness over a couple of days when he believes he was in prison in Sirte. And he awoke to the man above him in a room being tortured.

KAYE: Lauren, do you know when he's going to be home?

FISCHER: We're working on that. It should be soon, though.

KAYE: Yes, is there any plan -- any wedding date set or anything like that like that?

FISCHER: No. We'll work on that.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: I'm sure. I certainly hope that Matthew gets home to both of you soon. I'm sure you have a couple of big hugs waiting f him. So we appreciate you sharing the good news with us, and best of luck to all of you.

FISCHER: Thank you.

VANDYKE: Thank you for the time. We appreciate it.

KAYE: And, of course, we'll continue to stay on top of any breaking Libya coverage.

But up next, bulletproof skin created with spiders and genetically modified goats. No, it is not the next Marvel comic, but you do need to see this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Busy news day here at CNN, so let's update you and check some of the stories that you might have missed.

Hurricane Irene is carving a destructive path across the Bahamas. It's demolished dozens of homes. Category 3 storm now battering Nassau, the popular cruise ship port.

And as Irene makes its way stateside, Amtrak is cancelling train service for Friday, Saturday and Sunday that is south of Washington. Service for the Northeast Corridor is not affected at this point, but Amtrak says additional cancellations could become necessary.

In the meantime, communities along the Eastern Seaboard are in full preparation mode just in case Irene becomes the first major hurricane to slam the coast in years.

Take a look at this. You're looking at the latest projected path for Irene. Emergency crews, state and city officials from the Carolinas up through New England are dusting off their evacuation plans and getting those sandbags ready.

We're also watching fast moving developments in Libya. The big question right now is: Where is Moammar Gadhafi? Rebel fighters have sent more troops to scour a cluster of buildings near Gadhafi's compound. Rebels say they believe Gadhafi, who has a $1.4 million bounty on his head for capture or death, may be holed up nearby. Meanwhile, rebel fighters and allied special forces are still encountering pockets of resistance across Tripoli. Libya's rebel leaders are working to consolidate power and have started moving the rebel base in eastern Libya to the capital.

Back here in the U.S., the battle for the GOP presidential nomination has taken an interesting turn. Texas Governor Rick Perry now leading the Republican presidential pack, beating out former frontrunner Mitt Romney. According to this new Gallup poll, Perry is at the top -- you see it right there -- with 29 percent. Republican and Republican-leaning Independents say Perry is their man. That is a 12-point lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Representative Ron Paul comes in third at 13 percent, followed by Michele Bachmann with 10 percent.

In Los Angeles, Dr. Conrad Murray who is to be tried for Michael Jackson's death wants the jury in the case to be cut off from news coverage. A judge is hearing arguments for Murray's request to sequester the jury today. Murray's attorney says the doctor's trial will likely attract massive media attention, citing the Casey Anthony murder trial. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter for Michael Jackson's 20009 death. The doctor's trial set to begin next month.

All right, so you've heard location, location, location, right, for real estate, of course. Well, apparently, it also applies to marriage. A new U.S. Census Bureau report found the South has the highest rate of divorce, the Northeast has the lowest. The report is based on data collected in 2009. The states you see here in blue are below the average rates, red states have above the average rate and Arkansas has the highest rate in the nation.

So why is that, you may ask. Well, the reason says the reason may be as simple as more people in the South get married and they get married earlier. So more marriages equals more divorces.

Two of the biggest names from the administration of George W. Bush are putting the finishing touches on their newest books. Joe Johns will bring us all the details right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Let's check in now with Joe Johns on a couple of very interesting political stories that we are watching today.

Joe, what's this about these competing political memoirs?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It almost sounds like dueling memoirs, doesn't it? We'll know more.

OK, let's just start out with the woman who was the source of endless fascination in the Bush administration, talking about Condoleezza Rice here, the former secretary of state. Her memoir chronicling her time in D.C. is scheduled to hit bookstores around November 1st. According to a release from her publisher, it's called "No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years In Washington," it's being handled by Crown publishers.

Rice is expected to tell her story of both her job as a national security adviser as well as the time when she was secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, which means quite naturally she's going to have to get into things like the September 11th terrorist attack, things like her testimony before the 9/11 Commission and all the rest.

Of course, we'll all be very interested to see what she says about the administration's internal debates, we were heard were contentious as the country moved toward war with Afghanistan and especially Iraq.

This will actually be Condoleezza Rice's second memoir. The first one told of her upbringing in segregation-era Birmingham, Alabama, which was a pretty good read in itself.

KAYE: And there's also, of course, word that Dick Cheney has his memoir coming out.

JOHNS: Yes.

KAYE: Boy, not to be outdone, of course, he is spilling the beans.

JOHNS: Absolutely. Well, yes, I mean, this would -- the always understated former Vice President Dick Cheney, as we like to say, already we do know one of the headlines from Cheney's new book because he has done, number one, an interview with NBC. He's also got an article about this book in "The New York Times." I think they may have gotten a hold of an uncorrected proof or something.

Cheney says that when the United States found out about a suspected nuclear reactor site in Syria in 2007, Cheney says he advised that we ought to blow it up, but President George W. Bush wouldn't go along with it. Now, remember, and sort of put it in context, this was 2007, years after we went into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cheney said other presidential advisers -- hint, hint -- were reluctant because the U.S. had previously gotten bad intelligence information on suspicion of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But in the end it really didn't matter because while they were doing all this talking, the Israelis went and bombed the location in Syria later that very same year of 2007.

KAYE: Yes.

JOHNS: Sounds like it's going to be some very interesting reading here.

Interestingly enough, Condoleezza Rice has already said she's not going to comment on Dick Cheney's memoir, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about what's going on behind the scenes here.

KAYE: Yes, because, of course, she's mentioned in that, at least according to what we've seen in "The New York Times," that he calls her naive in some of her dealings with that, but she isn't commenting.

JOHNS: Yes, absolutely. It's totally fascinating, you know, that they obviously knocked heads. There was this issue of whether President George W. Bush ought to apologize for the infamous 16 words in his state of the union address talking about yellow cake uranium in Niger.

And apparently, according to what we're hearing, Condoleezza Rice actually thought the president perhaps ought to say something about it, might have to apologize, in other words, but Cheney didn't want that to happen.

So that's the kind of conflict it sounds like we're getting, but we all want to read and hear more about this.

KAYE: Yes. All right, well, I guess I'll have to figure out which one to read first. Cheney or Condi, I don't know, but we'll figure it out.

JOHNS: You bet.

KAYE: Joe, great to see you. Thank you very much.