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Romney Makes His Case; Couple Swept Away By Flood; Government Attacks Bread Line; Paralympics Under Way In London; Behind the Scenes of Isaac
Aired August 31, 2012 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.
Here's what's happening now:
The storm has moved on, but for the Gulf, the disaster is not over yet. We're going to take you inside the flood zone.
And the Democrats are descending now on Charlotte, ready to roll out their own convention.
And now, just 67 days to go, the fight for the White House. Mitt Romney hits the campaign trail after accepting his party's nomination for president and giving the biggest speech of his life. Romney and running mate Paul Ryan held a rally in Lakeland, Florida, just a short time ago.
At the Republican National Convention last night, Romney said President Obama's promises have turned to disappointments and division.
Brianna Keilar, she's recapping Romney's big night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMNEY: This president can ask us to be patient. This president can tell us it was someone else's fault. This president can tell us that the next four years, he'll get it right. But this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The centerpiece of Mitt Romney's nomination acceptance speech, an attack on President Obama's economic record.
ROMNEY: Does the America we want borrow $1 trillion from China?
AUDIENCE: No!
ROMNEY: Does it fail to find the jobs that are needed for 23 million people and for half the kids graduating from college?
AUDIENCE: No!
KEILAR: Romney laid out a five-point plan to create 12 million jobs, become energy independent by 2020 and cut deficits. But he fell short on details.
The Republican nominee did not shy away from his business experience at Bain Capital.
ROMNEY: That business we started with ten people has now grown into a great American success story. Some of the companies we helped start are names you know and you've heard from tonight. An office company called Staples, where I'm pleased to see the Obama campaign has been shopping.
He had almost no experience working in a business. Jobs to him are about government.
KEILAR: For a candidate who has tried to downplay his Mormon faith, sometimes even avoiding saying the word "Mormon", he pivoted with personal anecdotes.
ROMNEY: We were Mormons. And growing up in Michigan, that might have seemed unusual or out of place, but I don't really remember it that way. My friends cared more about what sports teams we follow than what church we went to.
KEILAR: And his poll shows voters think President Obama is much more likely to understand their problems, Romney declared the time has come to turn the page.
ROMNEY: President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans -- and to heal the planet.
My promise is to help you and your family.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
KEILAR: Romney recasts Ronald Reagan's classic election-year question --
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Are you better off than you were four years ago?
KEILAR: -- telling voters --
ROMNEY: You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president, when the best feeling you've had was the day you voted for him.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: We want to bring in our Dana Bash, who is live from Tampa.
Dana, one of the last reporters standing there and we appreciate your being there. Tell us whether or not the Republicans and Romney believed that they need -- they got done what they needed to at the convention.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think big picture they feel pretty good about that speech that Brianna did a report on, and particularly the last part -- the theme that President Obama was the guy that maybe if you are talking about this as a relationship that really wooed you and courted you and thought that your relationship was going to be wonderful and make your life fabulous and then a couple of years into the relationship you thought, this isn't the guy I fell in love with. That the exactly the kind of connection that Mitt Romney was trying to make, vis-a-vis the president.
But, of course, when -- as you well know, when a challenger is trying to unseat an incumbent president, they have to make it not just firing the guy, it's about why you should hire someone like Mitt Romney, and he did more than ever before have a platform, have stage and try to have a connection about who he is personally, the father and grandfather, and husband. And also as a business guy, and really tried to explain his business and embraced it more than running away from it than he has in the past.
MALVEAUX: And, Dana, of course, you know, they are moving on from the convention and they certainly hope that people are talking about it, but all of the talk is really over Clint Eastwood's conversation with this empty chair that we saw pretending to talk to President Obama. I want to play a clip here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. He can't do that to himself. You are crazy. You are absolutely crazy. You are getting as bad as Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Dana, clearly, a lot of people thought it was funny the audience, but, you know, Twitter has been blowing up and lot of people felt that was very disrespectful to the president. Does the campaign have any regrets bringing him on like that?
BASH: If they do, they're not saying so, at least publicly. I will tell you that I was in the room, and I was on the floor as you said, there were a lot of people there who laughed at that one particular moment which was a cringe worthy moment across the board.
Our Jim Acosta was head on with the Romney family and they sat stone-faced and they did not laugh at all.
Look, I mean, they brought in Clint Eastwood because they thought that he would have been somebody who would have connected with Americans that might not otherwise be watching politics and be kind of an affirmation about Mitt Romney. But he ended up, you know, kind of doing a shtick that was surprising.
But I have to tell you that this is obviously very unscientific and I'm at a college campus here in Tampa and I bumped into a couple of kids walking by, who said that they are independent voters and I said, what did you think of Clint Eastwood? And they said, I thought it was pretty funny. So part of the rap on it was kind of out of touch in terms of his demographic, age and gender, and, you know, it is unscientific, so you never know how these things play out.
MALVEAUX: Yes, we'll see how they play out the next couple of months.
Quickly here, Dana, we know that Romney, he is headed to Florida and Virginia, he is going to go to stop in Louisiana to get a look at the storm damage. We also know that and President Obama is heading to the Louisiana as well.
Kind of a competition here to see who really feels their pain when it comes to trying to relate to folks here?
BASH: Oh, of course. Look, I mean, it's for Mitt Romney, it's looking presidential, but it is also trying to carry on the theme that he tried to put out there in the convention which is to try to overcome the empathy deficit that he has in the polls. There's no question that this is the next step in trying to do that.
MALVEAUX: All right. Dana, you have put in some long, long hours. Take a break if you can. Perhaps we will see you just in a couple of days at the DNC. Good to see you, Dana.
BASH: See you in Charlotte, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: OK. Mitt Romney's convention speech was a chance for him to connect to Americans, try to sway the undecided, the independent voters, as Dana had mentioned. Our Tom Foreman, he watched the speech with a group of folks who are undecided, track the reaction using some monitors, dial monitors. Here's a report on what connected and what didn't.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was fascinating to watch the reaction here from our 28 undecided voters around here who lean a little bit Republican, but there are Democrats in the crowd a little bit, too, and mainly independents, and watch in particular how they responded to the highest point of the night for this group when Mitt Romney talked about his dad and mom and how they related to his mom's aspirations.
ROMNEY: When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. I could still see her saying in her beautiful voice, "Why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation?"
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FOREMAN: A massive cheer from the crowd there and a big reaction from the women here also when he said about his mom running for Senate and dad supporting her. Why did that make you feel good?
UNIDENTIFIED FEAMLE: It just kind of humanized him that he has parents and he has a warm loving family that he's come from and he understands what we are going through as parents in bringing up our own children.
FOREMAN: Even if that makes you feel that way, does it move you closer to wanting to vote for him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still undecided.
FOREMAN: Even after hearing that. It made a difference, but not a big difference?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not a big difference.
FOREMAN: One things that was interesting in all of this is the reaction of all of you to the attacks.
When the attacks began interestingly enough, the women here liked them much more than the men did. Watch what happened on this. The women are the pink line and the men are the blue. And watch how they respond in this attack on the Obama record.
ROMNEY: But tonight, I'd ask a simple question. If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he is President Obama?
(APPLAUSE)
You know there is something wrong with the kind of job he has done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him.
FOREMAN: Why do you think that men here did not seem to like the attacks as much as women?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, for me, personally, it doesn't do anything for me. It's not informative, so it does not cater to my decision-making at all.
FOREMAN: You just don't really care about that.
Let me see, who's the woman who generally thought that the attacks were effective and a good thing, and you had to be here, because you are registering that way. Who liked some of the attacks?
A little bit? What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was a fair question to ask are we better off than we were four years ago.
FOREMAN: That is all it came down to, a fair and decent question to ask at that time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's fair to take a look at the record, what has Obama done in the past four years? I think he had a right to ask that.
FOREMAN: Let me move to the back here and ask a couple more questions. Did anything happen tonight that changed your mind? Because the overall impact seemed not particularly strong throughout the speech.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it did not actually change my opinion at all. I wish there was something that would have shocked me or persuaded me to, you know, vote that way, but I just kind of was still even-keeled.
FOREMAN: Ready for it, but didn't get it. And how about over here, anything that moved you at all in this?
UNIDENTIFIED MAEL: I like everything that was said, but I wish that there was a better alternative. He sounds much better than Obama, but I don't still give up the hope.
FOREMAN: Well, this is a group as I said from the beginning undecided voters, and they all tend a little bit more Republican, but mainly they are independents, and when you watch the dials tonight, I am telling you that there was not a tremendous amount of movement.
So that's the thing that Mitt Romney probably most has to worry about, because these are the voters that he has to get all over the country, the undecideds, the independents. They will decide it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And there are not any official polls out to gauge the reaction of the convention speech, but a CNN Facebook asked whether the speech changed opinions of Romney. So, this is where we got so far -- 39 percent say they are more supportive of Romney after the speech, 34 percent say they are less supportive, 27 percent said the speech did not change their opinion one way or another.
The Democratic National Convention is kicking off on Tuesday. I'm going to be there live in Charlotte, North Carolina, to cover the parties, the speakers, high profile guests and, of course, all politics.
If you ask Ann Romney, her husband might have changed some minds last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S WIFE: Those who may not have voted for Republican in the past are coming up to tell me this, that enough is enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: But is it enough to turn her into the next first lady?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
ROMNEY: As promises gave way to disappointments and division, this is something that we don't have to accept. Now is the moment that we can do something, and with your help, we will do something.
I'm running for the president to help create a better future, a future where everyone who wants a job can find a job, where no senior fears for the security of their retirement, an America where every parent knows that their child will get an education that leads them to a good job and a bright horizon.
Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, I'm an American. I make my destiny. We deserve better. My children deserve better. My family deserves better. My country deserves better!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
MALVEAUX: Those are the highlights and the most important speech of Mitt Romney's political career and his wife, Ann, tells us that her husband walked away from nomination acceptance speech feeling confident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN ROMNEY: We shared more about the fact of the journey and shared more about the feelings that we had for our parents that had passed on and how we wished they could have been there, and it was more of a reflective thing. We -- I mean, I knew he had done a great job and I think that Mitt was pretty confident that he felt very good about the speech and was very excited to deliver it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Romney's speech getting mixed reactions.
Larry Sabato, he's director of University of Virginia Center for Politics. He's joining us from Charlottesville.
Professor, tell us a little bit about your response, your reaction afterwards when I listened to this and I listened to some of your analysis. We had Republican analysts Alex Castellanos summing it up as good enough. We had David Gergen describing it as lots of heart but needing a little bit more soul and fight.
What did you think?
LARRY SABATO, DIR. OF CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIV. OF VIRGINIA: It was workman-like, and you have to take the speech in the context of what the Republicans were able to do at their convention. And yes, they were able to humanize him, and warm him up. His wife helped a lot with that. Some of other speakers did as well.
Look, is this speech going to live in history? No. But these things rarely do. They're not the Gettysburg address. They're more like the State of the Union address that meanders all over creation.
But I don't think he did anything to hurt himself. I think basically, he helped himself. He'll get a bounce out of it. Whether the bounce lasts is another question.
MALVEAUX: And, of course, he is taking the show on the road now.
One of the things that he talked about, the big theme is the need for a job, and he did say that he has a specific plan. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It does not take a special government commission to tell us what America needs. What America needs is jobs, lots of jobs.
And unlike the president, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: All right. Larry, he did not explain how he would do that and I don't know if people really specifically were looking for that prescription right now, but certainly in the weeks to come, they are going to be looking for more details here. What does he have to do?
SABATO: Well, he's certainly right to focus on jobs, because the only way he can be possibly elected is as a Mr. Fix-it, who presents himself not as the warm next door neighbor that you want to have a beer with, but rather as somebody who has the experience to fix the economy and provides jobs.
Did he give a specific plan last night? No. They'd say it's all on the Web site, but of course, people want more, and I guess they will have to deliver more. But we are also into the dreamland phase of the campaign. It's when candidates simply throw out phrases and slogans and we often don't get to the specifics.
MALVEAUX: Larry, is there something specifically that the DNC has to counter after watching the RNC convention?
SABATO: They have to get back into their mode of presenting this election as a choice rather than as a referendum on President Obama. They have to make voters comparatively shop. And I'm sure that they will be doing that not just on the economy, but also on the social issues, and that is where Republicans are vulnerable with groups they'd like to have including women and young people.
MALVEAUX: And, you know, obviously, it was Romney's night to shine, but we have been all been talking about, a lot of people talking about the Clint Eastwood situation, actually stealing the show, talking to the empty chair, representing Obama. And you even sent out a tweet last night, you said, "I'd feel better if I knew for sure that Clint doesn't see anyone in the chair."
Do you think that there is a certain lack of dignity or lack of respect for this president, I mean, when you have someone like Clint Eastwood looking to the chair and saying, you know, well, you know -- don't tell him that, you can't do that to yourself and we know what that means.
SABATO: In a word, Suzanne, yes. It was a Clintastrophy. Fortunately, it reflects more on Clint Eastwood than it was on Mitt Romney. I'm mystified as to why they didn't provide him with the text. I thought that is what the actors did, read scripts and if anybody needed a teleprompter, it was maybe 82-year-old Clint Eastwood.
But is it going to affect votes in November, no. Was it one of the great low points of not only this convention? But any of the 19 I have attended, yes, it was a low point.
MALVEAUX: All right. Larry Sabato -- thank you. I appreciate your perspective.
My Twitter account was blowing up last night after I asked about Clint Eastwood's empty chair bit. Here are just a few of the tweets that caught our eye. You've got film critic Roger Ebert tweeting, "Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic. He didn't need to do this to himself. It's unworthy of him."
T.D. Jakes was tweeting me saying, "I like Eastwood, but that was utterly disrespectful to the president."
And now, it is so-called Eastwood-ing. It is trending on Twitter. What is it? It's actually people tweeting photos with empty chairs. Even President Obama tweeted a response saying, "This seat is taken."
And they had to swim for their lives to avoid Isaac.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the water kept coming, kept coming and eventually swept us both off into the water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Now for the latest on Isaac, which has weakened now to a tropical depression. The storm has pushed into the center Arkansas, that is where the flood watches had been issued now. Over the next few days, Isaac is expected to move into Missouri as well as Illinois. That's a relief to a lot of the farmers in the Midwest because they are in the middle of the worst drought in 50 years.
But back along the Gulf Coast, the disaster is not over. More than 800,000 homes and businesses have no power. Many of them for the third day in a row. Flooding from the storm surge is still having some of the communities under water.
Our Rob Marciano, he caught up with a couple from Plaquemines Parish who barely, barely escaped. They were trying to evacuate Wednesday at the height of the storm when water started pouring into their truck.
Here is what happened next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Coast Guard choppers continued the work of rescuing victims of hurricane Isaac.
JOE BEKERIS, ISAAC VICTIM: We were directed by the sheriff's department to evacuate, but we couldn't get too far down the road before we got swamped.
MARCIANO: Joe and Melanie Bekeris were caught by the storm surge in Plaquemines Parish.
BEKERIS: The water was rising inside the vehicle. Dogs getting anxious. Needless to say, we were too. We had called 911. They said stay with the vehicle. We're trying to do that.
But then the water kept coming over, kept coming over and then started cracking the front windshield. And so we felt that the best thing to do was try to get out.
MARCIANO: Melanie's declining health made it difficult to evacuate before the storm and even more treacherous during the storm.
BEKERIS: I had her wheelchair in the bed of the truck, and so we were able to crawl through the back window. I broke it out and set her up on the wheelchair, getting her elevated. And the water kept coming, kept coming, until it swept us both into the water. It was estimated 10 to 12 feet deep.
MARCIANO: Joe is retired marine colonel, a strong swimmer, helping his disabled wife stay afloat.
BEKERIS: She said, I'm not going to make it, I'm not going to make it. And I said, yes, you are. We're going to make it.
MARCIANO: He could now see dry land.
BEKERIS: We were only a couple 300 yards from the levee. We could see the cattle walking on it.
MARCIANO: They managed to get to some reeds and other debris, something to latch onto.
BEKERIS: She was already shivering and obviously getting close to hypothermia. So I tried to stabilize her best I could on a telephone pole. And put another piece of wood underneath her head to keep her elevated. And I actually climbed over the reeds to get to the levee.
MARCIANO: Having to leave his wife to run and get help was not easy.
BEKERIS: That was my biggest decision I ever had in my life to leave her.
MARCIANO: But she was still there when he returned.
BEKERIS: Considering her health and her mobility, I'm pretty proud of her and her ability to withstand the severity that we went through.
MARCIANO (on camera): What are you most thankful for right now?
BEKERIS: That we're here talking to you.
MARCIANO: Rob Marciano, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: It was a rare moment for the campaign, putting Mitt Romney's faith on display.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and if you understand the amount of commitment and volunteerism that goes into it, I think it's an amazing part of who he is and what he has done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: But will voters put the first Mormon into the White House?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Politics and religion are in the spotlight after Mitt Romney opened up about his faith in his speech at the Republican national convention, and sometimes Romney avoids using the word Mormon, but not last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: We are Mormons and growing up in Michigan, that might have seemed unusual or out of place, but I don't really remember it that way. My friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we went to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring in Dan Gilgoff, because he is the co- editor of the CNN Belief Blog, which covers the faith angle of big news stories. Dan, first of all, some people may have been surprised that he was so open about his faith and religion, and why is this so important to bring it up now?
DAN GILGOFF, CNN BELIEF BLOG COEDITOR: Yes, Suzanne, we are not accustomed to hearing Mitt Romney utter the m word so last night was a departure from what he has been doing, and it is important for the campaign now. He is reintroducing himself to the American public and one of the big stumbling blocks is that he has not been able to humanize himself and that is because he can't talk about the fundamental aspect of who he is, his Mormonism, and he started to pivot on that and goes some way to humanize him as he reintroduces himself to the voters.
MALVEAUX: Dan, it was interesting to watch the convention, because the testimony of some of the people in the Mormon church and particularly very moving is one couple who talked about how Romney met their 14-year-old son diagnosed with lymphoma and the experience with that young boy. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAT OPAROWSKI, FRIEND OF MITT ROMNEY: How many men do you know would take the time out of their busy lives to visit a terminally ill 14-year-old and help him settle his affairs? David also helped us plan his funeral. He wanted to be buried in his Boy Scout uniform. He wanted Mitt to pronounce his eulogy. And Mitt was there to honor that request. We will be ever grateful to Mitt for his love and concern.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Dan, it's well known that Mitt Romney really doesn't like to talk a lot about some of the things that he has done in terms of helping people. Do you think that this really made an impact, that people are, that he is more likable type of person, and that this will actually have some weight when people think about him as somebody in the polls?
GILGOFF: I think it did, Suzanne. You could look at the crowd in the convention last night, and there were a lot of delegates openly shedding tears through those testimonies. You know, a lot of what makes people skittish about Mormonism is the specific doctrines and the beliefs of the religion, but what Romney did last night and the other people he knew through church did was to shift the conversation on to life within the Mormon church and how noble that life is. So he really connect and succeeded in changing the conversation and opening up a real intimate window into his life and the life of the church that a lot of people will admire.
MALVEAUX: Dan, good to see you and appreciate your reporting. A tourist hot spot turns into the site of a bloodbath. We will explain the violence in Mambazo, Kenya.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Normally a tourist hot spot, but right now the Kenyan city of Mombassa is under fire. Our reporter spoke exclusively to one of the long-time confidants, and I have to warn you that the images are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REPORTER: The evidence of a driveby shooting in Mombassa, Kenya, and this is clearly an orchestrated hit. Some family members, some still wounded are in shock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [speaking foreign language ]
REPORTER: Slumped over the target, the prominent cleric blacklisted by the U.N. He is accused of recruiting Kenyans to fight and revolt, and the response to his killing? Chaos. Days of rioting in Mombassa, Kenya's sickest city, and three police men were killed in the attack. Amongst the youth in Mombassa, the support for the Shaikh ran deep, and the situation is still tense. They brought the Shaikh's body right after he was killed and took it away from the police and brought it to the mosque just down the street, and what is striking is this area is nearly completely deserted. You have paramilitary police stopping anyone coming in or out in vehicles, and here you see the burnt remains of tires. This neighborhood is angry, and this place is al but deserted. One of the long-time confidants has agreed to meet us. He has been hiding for days. He says the Kenyan police have killed him and he could be next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If a policeman comes to arrest me, I have to go to with him. If I go, I am dead. I have to stay in any house, because if they come for me, I am going to be killed.
REPORTER: He is on the same blacklist for supporting al Shahab.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I prefer to go back to Somalia to live with al Shabab and I will have peace there and live a normal life.
REPORTER: The police have dismissed claims that they killed the Shaikh, but in Mombassa, the same claims that many feel unforgotten by the state, and some have fallen under the influence of a militant influence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a democracy and Islam and whoever opposes democracy with Islam gets killed. What is happening in Kenya is going to affect the peace in Kenya. If they are going to kill us like this, we have to fight back.
REPORTER: Ominous words in a country where sectarian violence is an ever-present danger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Bringing in David McKenzie from Mombassa, and I have been there several times and it is so strange to see this picture, because it is a tourist place and looks like things are falling apart there. How do you explain this, what is taking place there, and this is a group of a fringe group or are they actually gaining power in that tourist city?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, authorities here say they are a fringe group, but if you talk to the radical Muslim leaders here in Mombassa, they say they are gaining traction, and the especially amongst the youth feeling disaffected, because the actions here have affected the people here which is normally calm. Today, it is calm, Suzanne, but the feeling is that with the killings of the killing like this Muslim cleric could spark up again at any point, and in those underlying tensions remain. Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: David, Kenya depends on Mombassa for the tourist industry, and it has a high Muslim and Indian population there, and it is obviously on the water. A lot of people come there specifically to spend money and to see the country, and have people basically scattered?
MCKENZIE: Well, there is a feeling that the tourism is already down here in Mombassa and I don't think that necessarily if this does continue, we will have a long-term effect, but along the coast, it is long problems not dealt with in Kenya, and another thing that the Muslim leaders are telling us are that the actions of the police in the riots have fueled the tension even further. The Kenyan police have been frequently accused of taking extrajudicial killings, meaning to take the law into their own hands. The Shaikh on that ambush was on the U.S. terror watch list and as well as awaiting trial for terror charges here, but the fact that he was killed in broad daylight with the family some 16 to 18 bullet holes very near a police station here in mombassa and people are asking how this was done and not done in the court of law is making many here, particularly the youth, angry.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, David Mckenzie.
They were standing in line waiting for bread, and a human rights group says that what happens next is evidence of a massacre in Syria.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We're hearing about new fighting in Syria's largest city, Aleppo. Opposition activists say 30 government soldiers have been killed in battles with rebel fighters. And in Homs, we are seeing scenes like this. Syrian state TV says government forces have inflicted, quote, "big losses" and have also reported a raid on what the regime calls a terrorist den in Homs province.
Human Rights Watch says these people were just waiting in line for food when they were attacked by their own government. Mohammed Jamjoom, he shows us how bad things are getting in Syria. I've got to warn you, you might find this quite disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The horrific aftermath of an air strike in Aleppo. A scene of utter chaos. The dazed and wounded smothered in dust and smoke. And it seems this was no random strike. According to Human Rights Watch, this attack happened on August 21st. Witnesses said a helicopter had been circling overhead hours before the Acul bakery opened. A cue of some 200 people had form. A bomb was dropped on an adjacent building, spraying shrapnel and debris all over the bread line. Hospital staff told Human Rights Watch that some 20 people were killed. The group says there is a pattern of such attacks.
OLE SOLVANG, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (voice-over): On at least 10 occasions, government forces have attacked such bread lines using artillery helicopters and fighter jets. Several of these attacks killed and wounded dozens of civilians.
JAMJOOM: Human Rights Watch says that in all of the cases they've documented, (INAUDIBLE) for one, government forces attack the bakery when local residents were waiting in line, that they gave no warning.
The bakeries were in neighborhoods or towns where no fighting was taking place. These repeated attacks are either deliberate attacks on civilians or they are reckless, indiscriminate attacks, both of which are war crimes.
They have been just one part of the deadliest month yet in Syria's conflict. Just last week, the brutality seemed to reach new depths with opposition activists reporting that over 200 bodies had been found in Dayara, a suburb of Damascus that had fallen out of government hands. The regime claimed that terrorists had carried out the killings.
Hundreds of civilians have fled other districts around the capital amid intensified artillery attacks. Eighteen months after protests against President Bashar al Assad began, Syria's uprising has become a grim war of attrition. The rebels gradually acquiring more effective weapons, but the security forces still possessing an overwhelming advantage.
Amid the insurgency, a growing humanitarian crisis as Syrians continue to flood out of their war torn homeland at record numbers and neighboring countries worry if they can coping with the influx.
For his part, al Assad remains defiant, saying the battle for Syria is one of persistence, even insisting things are improving. And the international community looks on with few options for intervening.
Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: He's a wounded warrior who lost a limb on the battlefield, but that is not holding him back at London's Paralympics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: It's the second day of the Paralympics in London. At a glitzy opening ceremony Wednesday night, physicist Steven Hawking challenged the athletes to look to the stars as they compete for gold. A record 4,280 athletes from 164 countries are now taking part. Among them, several disabled athletes wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Matthew Chance met one British veteran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JON-ALLAN BUTTERWORTH, BRITISH PARACYCLIST: I was injured in Asra (pH), Iraq, by rocket attack. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The (INAUDIBLE) shot from a rocket that lacerated my left arm which resulted in amputation. (INAUDIBLE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Jon-Allan Butterworth, an Air Force Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, it's been an agonizing journey from battlefield to racetrack. His injuries were so horrific he spent 12 months in rehab, only finding sport after intensive therapy. Now he's a double world champion. His sights firmly trained on Paralympic gold.
BUTTERWORTH: I (INAUDIBLE) inspiration is to be an athlete. It just came after the explosion, after (INAUDIBLE) kind of, you know, introduced me towards sports and I tried some different sports out. Then, you know, I just got into (INAUDIBLE) cycling, said I was good.
CHANCE (on camera): It is a very sobering thought, but there are now more military veterans injured in battle competing in the Paralympics than there have been for years. If it weren't for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, people like Jon-Allan Butterworth would have had very different lives.
CHANCE (voice-over): And each has a remarkable story of survival. Derek Derenalagi, now a gold hopeful in the discus, had his legs blown off in Afghanistan. He says he was being zipped into a body bag when Army medics noticed he still had a pulse. Samantha Bowen, a Royal artillery gunner, was so badly injured in Iraq, she says her comrades couldn't recognize her. Now she's a key member of Britain's Paralympic sitting volleyball team. Captain Nick Bayton lost his legs in Afghanistan and he's hoping for a medal in rowing. Former Gerka soldier Netra Rana was injured in Afghanistan too. Sport, he says, has restored his self-respect.
NETRA RANA, BRITISH VOLLEYBALL PLAYER: We just don't want to, you know, just sit on the corner and hide. We just want to come forward and just do what we want to do. And that's the mentally (INAUDIBLE), you know, of being (INAUDIBLE).
CHANCE: There are not athletes given to regret.
BUTTERWORTH: The way I think of it is now is, it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's kind of, you know, I've met new people. I've, you know, tried (INAUDIBLE) sports and do most of the things since -- you know, that I never did before. And, yes, it's kind of made me the person I am today and, you know, have changed since, you know, kind of losing my arm, but I think only for the better.
CHANCE: It's testament that sport can change lives for the better, even lives shattered by war.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Legendary astronaut Neil Armstrong is being memorialized today at a private funeral service in Ohio. The first man to walk the moon died last weekend. He was 82 years old. And it appears that even the moon itself paying tribute. If it's clear where you are, take a look. You'll be able to see a rare lunar event in the sky tonight. A blue moon. It's not really blue, but it happens only when two full moons occur in one month. There won't be another blue moon until the summer of 2015.
Bringing you storm coverage from the front lines. It is not for the faint of heart. We're going to take you behind the scenes for a look at how our own CNN reporters weathered Isaac.
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MALVEAUX: Our reporters head into hurricanes when most folks are trying to get out. And you may not have thought about what it actually takes to get some of those amazing shots. Our Rob Marciano takes a look behind the scenes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually Tropical Storm Isaac.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The areas within the city limits have been significantly improved. They are much more protected now than they were seven years ago.
We see that barrier that is essentially a souped up seawall that goes two miles across. I was surprised by how new everything looked. I mean, I know it went right up in a hurry, but it looked like everything was fresh out of the box. Fresh concrete. The steel casings. Everything looked to be fairly new and not really weathered. (INAUDIBLE) got a really great ride from the Coast Guard. Really like going up in the chopper, right, John?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
MARTIN DOUGHERTY, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: Isaac is just going to be swirling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I think Charlie said he thinks it's going to come in this way.
DOUGHERTY: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we definitely don't want to be here.
DOUGHERTY: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We might want to just like tuck right over here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I do. Do you hear me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want him to move a little bit? I don't know how much tether you have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, no. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all right, Brian?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm good. This is a PG family --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to tuck in here.
ROD GRIOLA, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST: This is what we do to remember all the work that we do. We take these ridiculous things and we send them to our significant others. Like our kids. I look rough. This is what 36 hours on the clock will do to you.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: You get wet -- so wet. You get more wet that you ever remember you could -- like you didn't even know you could get this wet. And every time you try to dry off, because there's no point in even trying to dry off after a while. It just, just wet.
MARCIANO: The worst -- the worst part is the waiting. Get out there and get ready and wait. And we'll be right to you. We're coming to you next. Oh, no, somebody first. Oh, we just lost the shot, we'll be right to you. That's the waiting. But other than that, there's no better place to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I have these this year, which is really helpful. The rain is extremely --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest challenge has been water. It gets into the cameras, it gets into the audio, gets in the viewfinders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). The camera's already wet. There's like 1,000 challenges out here. Any challenge in particular can just
