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Obama Offering Clear Contrast; Obama Returns to Ohio; Red Cross Says Syria in Civil War; Lana Kuykendall Survives Flesh-Eating Bacteria; Heavy Rains Kill 28 in Japan as U.S. Experiences Drought; Americans Kidnapped in Egypt; London Increases Olympic Security; Shell Company Takes Risk to Find Oil

Aired July 16, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Thanks so much, Carol. Good to see you. Hello everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow. It is 11 o'clock on the east coast. 8 o'clock on the west coast. Let's get you up to speed. First off, Americans on a mission trip abducted in Egypt. Desperate efforts to try to free them under way at this hour.

Elsewhere in Egypt, Hillary Clinton under fire, from flying tomatoes and shoes. Hear what he has to say about that insult and her mission to take on the political chaos there.

And a brand new mother broadsided by flesh-eating bacteria fighting back from the brink, an amazing story. She's determined to get home to take care of her little twins. Her remarkable recovery ahead this hour.

But we start with the Olympics and security concerns. Hundreds of athletes starting to arrive in London today for the games. Less than two weeks to go and now we're hearing that a security firm tasked with making sure that those athletes and thousands of spectators are safe has fallen short.

Dan Rivers joins me now from London. Dan, thanks for being here. Appreciate it. So, Dan, this comes down ...

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, yes, this is fast turning into a -- sorry, go ahead, Pop.

HARLOW: I was just going to say that this comes down to a private contractor by the name of G4S, right? They were tasked with providing security for the games, so what's the concern now? Where did they fall short?

RIVERS: Well, they basically haven't been able to guarantee the number of guards that they were contracted to provide at various different Olympic sites were going to turn up on time.

We haven't quite drilled down to the bottom of exactly why that is, but we're being told it's something to do with scheduling problems, with software problems, basically that they can't ensure that the people that they've trained will turn up at the right place or that the people have the right accreditation or can get to one place or another. So, logistical problems by this private security firm who last Wednesday told the government, look, we can't fulfill our contract of supplying 10,000 guards.

You're going to have to help us out, so what the government's now done here is said that 3,500 soldiers will be added into the mix, bringing the total to 17,000 that will be deployed the U.K. as part of the Olympics.

Also, police are being asked to step in, as well, to help secure nine, different Olympic sites and the whole thing is clearly very embarrassing.

The British Home Secretary, the sort of Interior Minister here, is being questioned right now behind me in the House of Commons about exactly when she knew that this shortfall was going to happen and why more wasn't done earlier.

HARLOW: And, Dan, this is my question, right. So, you say they're bringing in police, they're bringing in military personnel, but they're doing this less than two weeks ahead of the games.

How do you train people properly, no matter what their background, to make sure that these games are secure? I think that's the big concern right now.

RIVERS: Absolutely. Yes, I mean, what they're saying is that, luckily, the British armed forces have sort of stepped in. They feel that they have the requisite skill-set to be able to step in at very short notice to conduct things like, for example, running x-ray machines, searching bags, checking tickets and so on.

You know, they're obviously highly organized, highly trained. They don't normally do this kind of thing, but it's the kind of thing they can adapt to very quickly.

The problem is that that means a lot of these soldiers, some of them fresh back from Afghanistan, have had to cancel their summer holidays at very short notice. I was talking to a few of them at the weekend, coincidentally, who were saying that they had only been told the day before that they were going to have to deploy up to London.

They've all had to cancel their summer holidays. A lot of families very upset. People want to know who is going to pick up the bill for all this. G4S, the company concerned, have promised that they will pick up the tab for any shortfall, which could run to about $77 million, we're being told.

HARLOW: All right, Dan Rivers in London. Thank you, Dan. Appreciate it.

Well, let's move to Hillary Clinton now and Egypt. Hillary Clinton a target for taunters in Egypt. Protesters threw shoes and tomatoes at her motorcade in Alexandria last night and this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALES: Monica, Monica! Monica!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Chants of "Monica," referring to Monica Lewinsky. A very disturbing way for the secretary of state to end her historic weekend in the country. She met with the country's newly, democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

CNN foreign affairs correspondent Elise Labott is traveling with Clinton and, Elise, we've been talking throughout the weekend. You're now in Israel, just getting ready to do an interview with the secretary of state.

But let's talk about how bad things got last night at the end of her trip.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, it was pretty harrowing for the secretary's staff and the journalists with her. To be clear, the secretary was never in any danger. Her car, in fact, she ,was around the corner, so her vehicle was not hit.

But there was an Egyptian official that was hit in the face with a tomato. The SWAT teams rushed us into the vans. Basically, what is happening is that there's a real perception in Egypt that the United States really supports the Muslim Brotherhood, is backing the Muslim Brotherhood, and a lot of people in the country that didn't vote for Mohamed Morsi feel that the Muslim Brotherhood hijacked the revolution and is going to move the country in an Islamic direction and that's what these protests are about.

You know, getting very personal about the secretary, but I think the larger issues are about U.S. policy and I think that's what the secretary heard in her meetings. A lot of concern that she's abandoning Christians who have been marginalized, that she's abandoning women, and the secular people that were in the streets in Tahrir Square during the revolution.

HARLOW: But what's interesting, Elise, as you well know, after she met with Morsi, she then went on to meet the next day with Coptic Christians. She also met with the head military leader in Egypt.

So, she spent a lot of time there. She's making the rounds, meeting clearly with the different groups and the different sides in all of this. Has the secretary addressed what happened last night at all to you?

LABOTT: Well, she didn't address that specifically, but she is addressing these concerns and she did hear an earful from Christian groups, from women's groups that are really concerned about what U.S. intentions are and what the values are in the region.

And she, you know, later in the day, made a speech at the U.S. consulate. I think these were kind of impromptu to make clear that the U.S. is not backing winners or losers. They're backing the democratic process. In her meetings with President Morsi and with the military staff chief, Field Marshal Tantawi, saying that they really need to settle their differences and, basically, really trying to address these concerns to the Egyptian people.

But she also told the Christian groups and women, saying, yes, there definitely are concerns. You have rights to fear for your future, but she is telling them, you also need to step. You need to assert yourself because you have a responsibility, too.

So, she was listening to the concerns, but also saying everyone has a role in the new Egypt to play, including people that have been marginalized.

HARLOW: And quickly here, Elise, I know you're sitting down with the secretary in just moments. Syria and, obviously, Egypt, the kidnapping of two Americans there in Egypt, are those going to be the main points of the interview, the main focus?

LABOTT: I think she wants to give her impressions about Morsi. There's a lot of concern in Israel about the Sinai, the border with Egypt that is kind of becoming a pre-Afghanistan-type "no man's land" where there's a lot of terrorist activity.

You had Americans that were kidnapped over the weekend, and then also, the situation in Syria, a very big concern. She wants to kind of trade notes with the Israelis.

But I think the most important thing of these meetings, Poppy, is really Iran. You've had a steady stream of officials coming to Israel over the last couple weeks, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon is here, the secretary is coming, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta later in the month.

This really kind of seems, Poppy, like the "please don't bomb Iran" tour. I think it's a real effort to tell the Israelis, listen, we've got the control. We've got your back. Don't do it.

HARLOW: Right. That's a very, very good point. We'll look out for the interview later tonight. Elise, thank you so much, joining us from Jerusalem.

Israel is the final stop on this two-week trip by the secretary of state. She also spent time in Afghanistan, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, among other countries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: A major decision out of Florida A&M University to tell you about this hour. The university's president, James Ammons, will resign effective immediately. You see him there on your screen.

The FAMU trustees voted Ammons should step down today, instead of waiting for his scheduled resignation date in October and this comes more than seven months after the school band's drum major, Robert Champion died following a hazing ritual. The board is in talks to replace Ammons with provost, Larry Robinson.

Also in Florida, something that could have ripple effects across key, swing states and the polls, come November. Florida will now have access to a federal database on immigrants. It's overseen by Homeland Security.

And this is huge as Florida pushes to purge illegal voters from its voting rolls and it comes after weeks of legal wrangling and locking horns with the Obama administration.

Let's get straight to John Zarrella who's following the developments out of Florida on this. John, I find this fascinating because, when you look at the numbers here, this could have very broad implications.

Now that Florida has access to this database, give us a sense of what kind of information they're going to have and how that could change things.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the bottom line is that Florida for months now has been asking and in a battle with the federal government over gaining access to this database which is very sophisticated and it will tell you exactly who is a non-citizen and who is legally here, but is not eligible to vote.

So, Florida is saying, with this database, we're going to be able to eliminate from the rolls, people who should not be voting in Florida and that there's nothing wrong with that. That's the position of the state of Florida.

HARLOW: So here's what Governor Rick Scott told CNN this morning. Take a quick listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: This is not a partisan issue. You want people to register to vote, get involved in campaigns, and vote. And so we want to make sure this is done the right way, but non-citizens aren't to vote in our elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: But, John, aren't critics saying in combating this, look, this just hits minorities and poor voters unevenly?

ZARRELLA: Yeah, and they're still saying that. We talked to the Democratic party chairman in Broward County. He said exactly that.

He said, look, there's huge Hispanic populations in Florida and, up until now, when Florida was using driver's license records when they first started to look into this, before they had access to the federal database, that they were getting all kinds of people that are primarily Hispanics, primarily minorities so that it's singling them out, and that it was not fair. And they're still saying it could be the case even now, although they're hoping that this database is more accurate.

HARLOW: Well, and this is four months, you know, before the election. And you've got other states that have also been watching this very, very closely, John, wanting to do the same thing.

So, you know, as people look at the map on their screen of those highlighted states that are very involved in this. as well, what happened in Florida affects those states, Nevada, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina. What is this going to mean, big picture?

ZARRELLA: Yeah, Democrats are saying, here, look, we find it very -- quoting them pretty much, that they're saying, we find it very coincidental that all of these governors in all of these Republican states have gotten together at the same time, decided to go out and try and purge their voter rolls.

Now, the governors are saying, this isn't a purge. Nobody wants to see anybody, but people who should be voting, voting. But the Democrats are saying it's awfully suspicious that in all of these swing states that -- and in Florida right now, it's considered pretty much a toss-up, what will happen in November, and that many people when are minorities who would likely vote Democratic, you know, may be scared away from the polls if nothing else.

HARLOW: John, thank you. Appreciate it.

ZARRELLA: Sure.

HARLOW: We want to also bring you this note. A Florida Department of State spokesman told CNN last month that the state identified about 100 people who were not citizens. That was in one sampling, but they were registered to vote.

That was just one sampling, but CNN found that some of those names on that list were, in fact, legitimate voters. They were people who were recently granted citizenship.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: In North Korea, the commander in chief of the military, Ri Yong-ho has been dismissed. This is big news. The state run news agency says it's because of a, quote, "illness."

He was considered a close aid to North Korean leader, Kim Jung- un. One North Korean expert notes this move could signal a power struggle within that new regime.

And in Egypt, a stalemate in the negotiation stage between Egyptian officials and the man holding two Americans from the Boston area hostage along with their Egyptian tour guide.

Pastor Michel Louis and Lissa Alphonse were traveling throughout Egypt on a missionary trip. They spent most of their time in Israel, but when they crossed over into Egypt, they were abducted when their tour bus was stopped in the Sinai Peninsula.

Their kidnapper, interestingly, is not demanding cash. He's demanding the release of an uncle from an Egyptian jail.

Louis's son spoke to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REVEREND JEAN LOUIS, SON OF KIDNAPPED U.S. PASTOR: If you know my father, he's a leader and he really means well for a lot of people. So she said that he stood up and asked that he be taken instead of the woman and they ended up taking him and the woman and the tour guide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Yeah, unbelievable. His wife was there on the bus as her husband was abducted.

Mohamed Fadel Fahmy joins me now on the phone from Cairo. He's a journalist there. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

Can you give us a sense at this hour of what officials are doing in Egypt right now?

MOHAMED FADEL FAHMY, CAIRO JOURNALIST: I have been on the phone constantly with the general from the Egyptian intelligence handling the negotiations and he confirmed to me that Egyptian authorities have refused the demands of the kidnapper.

He is saying this would be an insult to the Egyptian state and the law and this would actually be encouraging more kidnaps.

The kidnapper is very determined not to release the hostages unless the authorities release his uncle who is detained on drug charges in Alexandria. The hostages are in good condition, they're safe.

It has been confirmed to us several times that they are not being threatened. The kidnapper was interviewed on national TV here, stating that he does not have the intention of hurting them, but he vowed to kidnap more tourists if authorities do not release his uncle.

HARLOW: Well, and, Mohamed, what is interesting, too, is that this is sort of what we have seen now since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. We've seen an increase in kidnappings in this region of the Sinai Peninsula, but generally, they're asking for cash and generally what we've seen is that the hostages have been released quickly. This has been a matter of days now.

Do we have a sense of the area that they're in? You know, it's pretty unbelievable that the kidnapper was interviewed on national television there. What else did he say about it? Is he moving the hostages or is he staying put until he gets what he wants?

FAHMY: There's been at least six kidnappings in the last year and a half, all of the hostages have been freed without any damage, and this area has become an area of lawlessness after the uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Security forces are trying to take control of the situation, but the Bedouin have been twisting the government's arm, demanding release of their families from prison, cash, at some times.

And most of the kidnaps have taken place in Southern Sinai. In this case, it was close to the state's monastery church where a lot of religious tourists go to the see the church or go to see Mt. Sinai.

Speaking to the general from the intelligence, he also confirmed to me that the kidnapper is on the move. He's moving around the Israeli-Egyptian border. He's using more than one cell phone, which makes it harder for them to track him down and, actually, the weather is very hot in that area and it's hard to pin him down.

HARLOW: Thanks very much, Mohamed. Appreciate you staying on top of this story for us. Thank you.

Well, in a message posted on Twitter Friday, the U.S. embassy in Cairo said it was, quote, "in close touch with Egyptian authorities who are doing everything they can to bring about the safe release of those American tourists."

We're certainly thinking about them and their families.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: A big gamble under way this morning. Shell is spending billions of dollars hoping to find oil in the Arctic off Northern Alaska. If it pays off, this company will reap the benefit of being the first to establish a new source of oil in one of the harshest climates on the planet. Translation -- they're going to make a boat load of money.

Last year, I spent time on a Shell offshore oil rig. That's us flying in on the Gulf of Mexico.

As you can see, it's a major investment, a major undertaking. The equipment, the machinery, they're huge, but Shell is betting that there are massive amounts of black gold in the Arctic. They're going to take rigs like that one and put them in the Arctic and drill very, very deep.

Our Miguel Marquez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a massive gamble. If it pays, Shell will reap the benefit of being the first to establish a new market for oil in one of the harshest climates in earth.

PETE SLAIBY, VICE PRESIDENT, SHELL ALASKA: We will be drilling these wells like they are the most complex, most difficult wells we have drilled in company history.

MARQUEZ: The plan? To sink two into Arctic waters. One in the Beaufort Sea, the other in the Chukchi.

The wells won't bring up oil, but are designed to confirm what Shell believers is down there, at least 26 billion barrels of black gold, enough to supply 10 percent of America's energy needs.

ROB REISS, AUTHOR, "THE ESKIMO AND THE OIL MAN": If Shell really hits something this summer, then I think things will heat up even more.

MARQUEZ: It's going to be a gold rush -- for oil.

REISS: It will be an undersea gold rush for oil.

MARQUEZ: But some of the native people who live here, the Inuit Eskimos, fear that if the oil starts to flow, their way of life could be threatened.

ABAGAIL NASHUPUQ, RESIDENT: Our subsistence for the winter, it all comes from the ocean, the fish, sea mammal and the whale. It's going to ruin our ocean.

MARQUEZ: Abagail Nashupuq has lived in the tiny Eskimo community of Point Hope her entire life. She's doing what she's done for years, preparing a seal skin to be made into winter boots or "mukluks," as they call them here.

NASHUPUQ: I'm near 79 years old. You don't move like a young lady, but you have to keep on working on these skins.

MARQUEZ: She, like everyone else here, uses every bit of the animal. Same goes to walruses and, especially, whales. The people here still get by mostly like they have done for thousands of years, surviving the brutal winter by hunting whales and other sea animals during the short, but intense summer.

The winter here, a much different story. The winds can blow at hurricane strength. The ice can move like a freight train weighing a million tons. An unforgiving and rapidly changing climate.

This is the point of Point Hope. It separates the Bering Sea there from the Chukchi Sea there. About 90 miles that way, that's where Shell hopes to drill this summer.

But if you look out this way toward the Bering Sea, we've just been here for a few minutes and, in that short time, the weather has changed enormously.

It's a story we've heard before, tradition and culture threatened by change, modern life, and necessity. This time, the stakes couldn't be higher. Oil that could help power an American boom pitted against a way of life for people living on the edge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Let's bring in Miguel Marquez live. Miguel, first off, great reporting. That's fascinating to be up there and see what they're doing, really breaking boundaries if they're successful.

But getting to this area is very dicey, right? As we said, the harshest climate arguably in the world, and what we're hearing this hour is that one of Shell's ships actually slipped off of its mooring just trying to get out there.

MARQUEZ: Yes, there are all of these ships. It's an armada of about 20, 24 ships or so in Dutch Harbor right now, moving toward the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

One of the oil rigs, the Challenger, apparently, its anchor was in soft soil and it came loose in the winds and drifted several hundred yards toward shore. It may have touched up on shore a little bit, but so far, underwater cameras have shown that there's no damage to the hull and Shell still says everything that is on track for the first week of August.

But of course, environmentalists are making a big deal of this. They're saying, look, if Shell can't protect their ships in a protected harbor, how in the world are they ever going to do it when it's out at sea?

It has caused some concern, especially among the native populations up there, but at this point it looks like all systems go, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yeah, and as we talked, a massive amount of investment, $4.5 billion and, as you said, Shell might spend $20 billion before they get any oil from the Arctic.

MARQUEZ: Yeah, that's certainly the shocking thing is that they could spend -- it could be 15, perhaps 20 years and another 20 billion bucks before Shell ever sees a drop of oil. Incredible.

HARLOW: Miguel, thank you. Great reporting.

All this week on "Erin Burnett OutFront," Miguel's special, "Cold War -- Battle Over Arctic Drilling," that's 7:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, a clear contrast -- that's what President Obama says the American people are facing in this presidential election. And in an interview with CBS's Charlie Rose, the president defended his campaign ad strategy saying he's been mostly positive up until this point. And he noted there's a need to inform the electorate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a sharp contrast, probably as sharp as we have seen philosophically between myself and Mr. Romney. I think he's a patriot, I think he loves his family, but he has a particular theory of how to grow the economy that has to do with providing tax cuts for folks at the very top, eliminated all regulations and somehow that is going to generate solutions to the challenges we face. I have a very different approach and I think it's entirely appropriate for the American people to understand those two theories and the more detailed we get into what he's saying and what I'm saying, I think that serves the Democratic process well and I think --

(CROSSTALK)

CHARLIE ROSE, CBS HOST: Always about choices?

OBAMA: Politics is about choices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The more details we get, it sounds like there are going to be many more attacks. When it comes to Bain, that's for sure.

The president is back on the trail today. He's taking his message to the people of Ohio again. He was just in Ohio a little over a week ago. Getting a sense of how important the buckeye state is. How is this? No candidate has won the election without winning Ohio since 1964.

CNN's Dan Lothian joins me from the White House.

You know this well, you have been in Ohio. I spent time a few weeks ago, this is a state, even towns right next to each other, divided, and we expect to hear a new attack aimed at Mitt Romney about corporate taxes, right?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and for weeks now, the president has been focused on this issue of tax fairness. Again, at this town hall meeting in Cincinnati, the president will be going at Mitt Romney, saying under his tax policy, some 800,000 jobs could be shipped over seas, more than 70,000 to China. The Romney campaign are not taking this accusation sitting on their hands or sitting down. Saying that this is just another, quote, "dishonest attack" meant by the president to distract from his own failed policies. So a big slugfest.

In addition to that, the president also will be talking about the auto industry, how his administration bailed out the auto industry. How that helped to turn the economy around in the state of Ohio, and we expect the president to also continue hammering Congress to extend the Bush era tax cuts but only for those in the middle class.

HARLOW: And I read, Dan, that the president has spent more time in Ohio than any state in his presidency, and it really does come down to the auto bailout because there are so many auto suppliers, so many tied to the auto industry in one way or another. Mitt Romney and the president on opposite sides of what happened there. The president responded to calls from Mitt Romney's campaign to apologize for ads questioning his connection to Bain Capital. He laughed it off and said we're not saying we're sorry, right?

LOTHIAN: He's not backing down. He said take a look at the SEC filing where it shows that Mitt Romney when he said he was no longer at Bain Capital, was still listed as CEO, as chairman, as president of that private equity company.

So the president making the argument here that this is a legitimate attack, that these are legitimate questions that need to be asked of Mitt Romney. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: No, we won't be apologizing. Sometimes games are played in political campaigns. Understand what the issue is here. Mr. Romney claims that he is Mr. Fix it for the economy because of his business experience, so I think voters entirely legitimately want to know what exactly, was that business experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: And why is this timeline even important at all? Well, the reason for that is because Mitt Romney has said that at the time when the Obama campaign is accusing him of being part of a company that outsourced jobs, he was not there, and so the Obama campaign saying he was still part of that company when jobs, U.S. jobs, were being sent overseas. And as you know, outsourcing has been a big claim and counterclaim on both sides of this battle here. Outsourcing jobs as part of Bain Capital, and the president continued to drive that message today saying it's a legitimate question to ask.

HARLOW: All about the jobs.

Dan, thank you. Appreciate it.

We turn now to Syria where the Red Cross says the violence has now turned into a civil war. It points to this, the onslaught of fighting that has spread across the country over the past 16 months. The bloodiest battles just in recent days, and now the implications of a civil war to President Bashar al Assad and his regime could be huge. As we speak, the bloodbath is intensifying in Syria's capital, Damascus, as more of Assad's senior leaders defect. The latest, one of Assad's most senior diplomats, whose defection is seen as a huge blow to the regime

The former Syrian ambassador to Iraq sat down with our Ivan Watson. He's been following this very closely.

I found this a fascinating interview to watch, how candid he was. This is a man who was within the Syrian regime for 34 years. So how telling is this defection?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, it's a blow to the regime. It's not going to bring it down, but it definitely weakens it. This man had been a top official in the ruling Baath Party. He had been a provincial governor for 10 years. and in 2008, he was given the very delicate diplomatic assignment of being Syria's first ambassador to its neighbor, Iraq, in more than 20 years. And he claims to know an awful lot about Syria's dirty laundry when it comes to allegations that Syria allowed al Qaeda militants to cross through Syria to Iraq, to attack U.S. forces and Iraqi targets in Iraq and in the worst days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. He is probably somebody that Western intelligence agencies would like to talk to. And he's currently under the protection of the government of Qatar, which has called for armed Syrian rebels to overthrow Bashar al Assad. He's joined the camp of the Syrian president's enemies.

HARLOW: When you sat down with him -- I know it was about an hour-long interview in Qatar -- did you get any indication from him that there's a sense that more top Syrian officials could defect? Is this the beginning of the destruction of the Assad regime?

WATSON: Well, he said that certainly we are seeing daily defections from the Syrian military and the armed forces. I'm seeing that here in Turkey, another one of Syria's neighbors where we se soldiers and even brigadier generals crossing the border, fleeing nearly every day over to here. He said we're not likely to see more ambassadors defecting because most European and Arab countries, including Morocco just this week, have expelled Syria's ambassadors from their capitals.

I asked him, I tried to get a sense of what the mentality of Bashar al Assad and his inner circle are like. Here is an excerpt from our lengthy interview. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Does the Syrian president and his supporters, do they believe they'll win in the end?

NAWAF AL-FARES, DEFECTING SYRIAN DIPLOMAT (through translation): They are trapped. He committed crimes and they entered into a war of blood and they are aware that they're going to pay for it. They're just buying time. Maybe we'll get a chance to escape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: And I was very surprised that this lifelong, career top official strongman in the Syrian government said he would support a foreign military intervention to overthrow the Syrian president because he thinks only force can knock Bashar al Assad out of power.

HARLOW: A very strong message.

Ivan, thank you very much.

And for folks watching at home, consider this number. The United Nations estimates that more than 10,000 people have been killed in Syria over the past 16 months. Also today, Kofi Annan is meeting with Russia's president as well as their foreign minister to talk about Russia's role in all of this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, if you're leaving the house right now, a reminder, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone, also live from your desktop, go to CNN.com/tv. Well, just two months ago, a new mom with twins was in critical condition with a flesh-eating bacteria, but Lana Kuykendall has made incredible progress. She spoke to Elizabeth Cohen, who joins us live from Greenville, South Carolina.

Elizabeth, obviously, a happy day for this mother and her whole family. What did she tell you?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: She told us, Poppy, that she is feeling great. She is so excited to go home.

I got to interview her and I asked her, what was your lowest moments? She said there weren't many low moments although there were sometimes there were a few.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANA KUYKENDALL, BATTLED FLESH-EATING BACTERIA: Sometimes I cried over, you know, the fact that I'm sick. Sometimes I cry over missing the babies. Sometimes I have cried over knowing that life will never be like I guess, I had always thought it would be. But it will still be a good life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Now, her doctors told us that her recovery, her full recovery won't be quick. It will be a matter of at least many months -- Poppy?

HARLOW: Do we have any sense of when she's going to get to go home?

COHEN: You know, they said soon. One of the doctors actually said tomorrow. So some time this week is probably the best estimation.

HARLOW: You know, I had heard that it was really heartwarming that she got to held her twins at one point and some thought that may have helped speed up her recovery and her friends raised money to help pay for all of the treatment.

COHEN: One of the -- you hear doctors talk about this all the time. Your state of mind is important to your recovery. This is a woman who was very, very sick. She was critically ill. She had more than 18 surgeries to get the bacteria and tissue cleans up that the bacteria killed. This is woman, one of the doctors said we did not think we would actually reach this day. There was a time in which we weren't sure if she was going to live.

HARLOW: What do you think people can learn from her?

COHEN: You know, I think what people can learn from her, what happened is she noticed a strange bruise on the back of her left thigh and she showed it to her hospital, and they got to the hospital immediately. What we can learn is when something looks strange, don't just say, oh, forget it, I'm sure I'm fine. Act on your instincts. Even if the doctor says don't worry about it, tell them this is strange. We have to take it seriously. If she hadn't done it, she would likely be dead right now.

HARLOW: Absolutely.

Elizabeth, thank you very much.

We also have an update to tell you about on Georgia graduate student, Aimee Copeland. She lost parts of four limbs to a similar flesh-eating bacteria. She's going to return home from rehab next month to a nearly 2,000 square foot addition to her family's home. Aimee has been meeting with interior designers to personalize her new space which is expected to be done in 40 days. We're wishing the best for her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It is a place that needs no more rain, but as you can se here, that prayer is not being answered. Looking at southern Japan where the rain has set off mudslides and caused rives are overflow. At least 28 people reported dead, four missing as a result. Hundreds more cut off in very isolated regions of the country. And the forecast calls for even more heavy downpours there.

Back here in the United States, we desperately need the rain. A new report from the government says we are now experiencing the worst drought in more than a decade, worst on record. Authorities have already declared more than 1,000 counties in 26 states as drought natural disaster areas.

Let's bring in Chad Myers with that.

A very big deal.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's not a big deal for northeast because it's been raining there. That's why you haven't heard a lot about this. Literally, this is not a northeast news story, because all of the people making the news live up here and there's no drought. If you're living in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, back into Kansas, even Oklahoma, there's a significant drought going on.

Just to give you an idea, back 15 years ago, in a prior life, I owned a corn farm in Nebraska. When I sold my corn going to the silo I'd get $1.6 to sometime $2.10 a Bushel. That was a big year. Right now it's selling for $7.50 a Bushel. That's more than three times, OK, it was 15 years ago, but three times more than what the normal price was for many years.

And this drought's not getting any better. The brown areas here continued the drought all the way through rest of September. That's the end of the growing season. I've seen pictures of crops and there are about a foot and a half high. I know the old story, knee-high by the Fourth of July. I'll tell you, corn is higher than that in the Midwest by the fourth of July, trust me. It's over your head by the fourth of July and it's not this year. Not enough rainfall out there. So what are we talking about? Some of the numbers here, it's the top 10, one of the top 10 largest in the past 100 years. 56 percent, 56 to 61, depending whose numbers you're using of the lower 48 states are in a drought. Talked about the fires in Colorado that's how dry it has been. A lot of those things are dead because there hasn't been enough rain. There's been that rocky mountain weevil there going in there and killing all of the trees. Why isn't it as bad right now as the dust bowl? We've done better things. We have hedge rows, better farming techniques we don't dig the dirt up when it's dry like they did in the dust bowl. Yes, it's better, but it's a big drought. You'll feel it in your pocketbook come the end of the season when there's not that much food out there to get.

HARLOW: That's a big concern, what this is going to mean for people's grocery bills. Ag Secretary Vilsack was addressing that yesterday.

Chad, appreciate it. Thank you.

Thinking about all of the farmers there as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: I love this next story. Brittany Viola will be competing as a diver in the Olympics this summer. But had you asked her 15 years ago, she would have had the same Olympic dreams for a completely different sport.

Randi Kaye takes us through the journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brittany Viola's Olympic dream began 16 years ago.

BRITTANY VIOLA, USA OLYMPIC DIVER: What got my eyes focused on the politics was in 1996, when the magnificent seven won the gold medal as a team in gymnastics, I was a gymnast at the time and I wanted to be those girls.

KAYE: Viola excelled gymnastics stopped being fun. When it was time to decide whether to move away from Florida to Ohio for advanced Olympic training, Brittany said no.

KATHY VIOLA, BRITTANY'S MOTHER: I thought about, you know, renting a place up there, splitting our family up, going back and forth, which a lot of gymnast families end up doing, to find better training, and she broke down and started crying after the American Cup, and she said, I don't want to live away from my family. And we had to sit down and we talked about it, as a family. We said, this is crazy, you know? We are not going to break our family up and put her through something for an Olympic dream.

KAYE: As that dream died, another was born.

BRITTANY VIOLA: I was playing on diving boards at my high school, Lake Highland Preparatory School, and the swim coach saw me doing front double flips, old gymnastics moves I used to do, always to my feet, and asked me if I wanted to join the dive team there. I never knew it was a sport. At one time, it was something that I was up for the challenge.

KATHY VIOLA: Most valuable diver, let's see, diver of the year, another most valuable diver.

KAYE: The Violas are an athletic family. Brittany's mom ran track in college, and her dad former World Series MVP and Cy Young Award-Winner Frank Viola.

FRANK VIOLA, BRITTANY'S FATHER: She's got my makeup internally. She's a perfectionist, which I was. If she would do a school paper, make a mistake, instead of erasing going on, she'd rip the paper up and started over again. The paper had to be pure. That's her mentality in diving.

KAYE: Unlike gymnastics, she could stay in Florida to train. Still, making it to London was no easy task as she had to overcome injury and an eating disorder.

BRITTANY VIOLA: A lot of an eating disorder is believing in something that is not true, that is a complete lie. And for anyone who thinks that I'd look at myself in the mirror and say, I need to change something in my body, I'm not beautiful, they'd think I'm crazy, and so just knowing something as simple as I'm beautifully and wonderfully made is a truth I need to keep reminding myself and believe that over anything else that enters my mind.

KAYE: What's top of mind now is winning gold, something her dad finds hard to imagine.

FRANK VIOLA: I think I'd be just like this, I'd be in awe. I'd be like, my god, that's my little girl, look what she's achieved.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: That will do it for me today. NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL with Suzanne Malveaux starts right now.