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Edmunds Found in West Virginia Hostipal; Southwest Endures Firestorm; Asteroid Narrowly Misses Earth
Aired June 21, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, HOST: Leaving town this weekend? Well, tonight, we've got a warning for cruise ships to stay on alert for terrorists. More on this and many other stories on LIVE FROM.
ANNOUNCER: A major break from across the country. A man sought for questioning in the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping is captured in West Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little about -- after 11:00 this morning our time, the FBI received a telephone call that tipped us to the fact that Mr. Edmunds was in the hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll have the latest on the search for the Utah teen abducted over two weeks ago.
A warning from the FBI. Terrorists may use fuel trucks as their new weapon to attack America. Their targets?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Intelligence indicates the possible targeting of fuel depots or Jewish schools or synagogues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A bloody day in the holy land. As Israelis bury their dead from yesterday's attack, another fatal incident today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Israeli forces opened fire. Within seconds, people were wounded and terrified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A massive, out-of-control wildfire. This time in Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire's going to raise its head and get up and run today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: CNN's live from Salt Lake City, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, Jerusalem, and other datelines around the globe.
Here now is Carol Lin.
LIN: Good evening. Authorities have found the man who could help them find Elizabeth Smart. In West Virginia, 26-year-old Bret Michael Edmunds stumbled into a hospital complaining of an apparent drug overdose. He was spotted in Elizabeth Smart's Utah neighborhood about the time that she disappeared. We have news crews in both states. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Salt Lake City, and national correspondent Bob Franken is in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Bob, let's start with you.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And behind me in the city hospital here in Martinsburg, tonight rests Bret Edmunds, who checked into the hospital as Todd Richards (ph). He checked in yesterday morning, early in the morning, but by this afternoon, there was a strong suspicion in Salt Lake City and here that they, in fact, had found the man they've been looking for so long for questioning to find out if there is any involvement by him in the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart.
So, FBI agents came, U.S. Marshals came. They came to this parking lot where they saw the green Saturn that they had been looking for around the country. They went in, they talked to him for just a couple of minutes. He's in very serious condition, but he was able to confirm that he was the man that they were looking for. And right now, there's very heavy security at the hospital.
We want to get more of the detail now, and we're going to talk to Teresa McCabe. Teresa McCabe is the spokesperson for city hospital. Let me ask you to talk more about what exactly happened.
TERESA MCCABE, SPOKESWOMAN, MARTINSBURG CITY HOSPITAL: Well, Bob, as you indicated, yesterday, on Thursday, around 5:15 in the morning, a gentleman presented to the emergency room was admitted to our critical care unit under a name other than Bret Edmunds. And this afternoon, the nursing staff became suspicious, called FBI, and immediately once they arrived, they confirmed his identity and he was placed under arrest.
FRANKEN: And there is very heavy security. Can you describe it?
MCCABE: Very heavy security. Once it was confirmed that indeed the patient was Bret Edmunds, we had state police, local police, hospital security, federal marshals, as well as FBI agents. At this time, primarily the FBI and federal marshals are guarding the patient, but he is being heavily guarded in the intensive care, critical care unit at this time.
FRANKEN: And the security was so heavy that the other patients were removed from the ward, correct?
MCCABE: Well, initially when we secured the area, yes. We have an eight-bed critical care unit, and we had three other patients there. We did move them to another location within the hospital. Since that time, now that we expect that Mr. Edmunds will be remaining here at least overnight, we have secured one area of the critical care unit and reopened another section so that we can accommodate some critical care patients if needed.
FRANKEN: You can't report this, but we can report that he was brought to the hospital suffering from some sort of drug overdose, suffering from severe liver problems. And let me get back to you and ask you to talk about his condition.
MCCABE: Again, as I had reported before, he is listed in serious condition in our critical care unit. I just checked about 30 minutes ago to get an update on that, and that has not changed. He remains in serious condition.
FRANKEN: What does serious mean?
MCCABE: Serious condition means that vital signs are unstable, there may be some indicators that aren't real favorable. So, it's serious, obviously. He's in the critical care unit.
FRANKEN: It's serious. Right. And thank you very much, Teresa McCabe.
We are told that he lapses in and out of consciousness, that it's been very difficult for officials to talk to him. We are told that if recovery occurs, then officials would plan to take him before a federal magistrate here and we'll take him back to Salt Lake City by extradition. Officials from Salt Lake City, federal and local officials, are on their way here -- Carol.
LIN: Bob, very quickly, do they know what Bret Edmunds was doing in West Virginia, and if they know where he was, are those areas being searched?
FRANKEN: They don't know where -- what he was doing here, or at least they're not telling us they know. They did take his car from the parking lot, as you might expect. They're waiting to go through the paperwork to be able to search it. It's sitting in an impound lot in Martinsburg, West Virginia as they try and unravel the mystery of what he might know about the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart and whether he had any involvement.
LIN: They need this guy alive, and they need him conscious. Thank you very much, Bob Franken there in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Well, obviously, word spread very quickly that Edmunds had been found, and Elizabeth Smart's father is still trying to stay optimistic that his daughter will be found. CNN's Ed Lavandera has that part of the story now. Ed, this has got to give the family some hope that there might be some answers with this man.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they appreciate today's news, but they still remain cautiously hopeful. The news came to FBI investigators 32 hours after Bret Michael Edmunds had checked himself into the West Virginia hospital, about 11:00 a.m. Mountain time, and it's a very welcome news for him. He'd last been seen in the Salt Lake City area four days after Elizabeth Smart's abduction. There was a candlelight vigil at a park nearby. Police say he was loitering around that area when that happened.
And we had a chance to speak with Bret Michael Edmunds' brother- in-law this afternoon. He says that they haven't seen Bret Michael Edmunds in five months, yet they're still worried about what kind of condition he might be in.
Now the question is, how will Bret Michael Edmunds help police? Will he become the suspect, or will he help police zone in on Elizabeth Smart's abductor? Those are still questions that remain to be answered. And to find those answers, an FBI agent and a Salt Lake City police officer are now on their way to West Virginia to interrogate Bret Michael Edmunds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF RICK DINSE, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We have no more suspicion about his participation in this than we've given you all along. He's just somebody we want to talk to. He is a fugitive. He is wanted. He has a criminal background. All of those things are important to us, obviously, and we want to talk to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Now Edmunds is a -- considered to be a suspicious character, that's how family members and some police have described him. He's also considered to be a fugitive. He had several other run-ins with police here in the two months prior to Elizabeth Smart's abduction, so he had already been wanted for several other issues. And family members and police say that he had been known to hang around this neighborhood a little bit. They considered him a drifter.
But even though today's development is considered good news by the family, it still doesn't change one thing for them, and the most important thing, that Elizabeth Smart is still missing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE SMART, ELIZABETH'S UNCLE: You know, you've heard the term "emotional rollercoaster" used time and time again, and once again we know this individual is just being -- he's wanted for questioning. And to what degree that's going to bring, we're not going to hang our hat on. We're just not going to hang our hat on anything until we have Elizabeth in our hands, in our arms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Now, barring any new details emerging in this case, we understand that police investigators and the family themselves will no longer be making -- through the weekend, won't be making any more press briefings unless there are major developments to report.
There are also some vigils and get-togethers scheduled for this weekend. And onto Monday, a group of Elizabeth Smart's friends will be getting together Saturday night for a concert, where all of her friends would be playing their harps, as well as you know Elizabeth Smart was known for her performances in front of church groups and friends on the harp.
So that's one of the things that the family members will be doing as they continue to urge a lot of people not only in Utah but across in the surrounding states and across the country that they continue to search for Elizabeth Smart. They say they've organized about 70 percent of this state. In their search efforts this weekend, they have reason to believe they'll have about 10,000 people helping out in this search effort this weekend. So they're urging people to take new routes to work, new routes to their recreation this weekend, anything that might pop up new clues or new leads in this case for investigators. Carol, back to you.
LIN: What about the leads coming in on the tip line, Ed? Anything there yet?
LAVANDERA: Well, what we've been told is on the tip -- I think they've gotten some 10,000 tips up to this point; 1,300 of those were considered to be valid tips that needed to be followed up on. And they still have about 400 of those to go through. But nothing that they're sharing with us at this point as to what's emerging from there.
LIN: All right. All eyes focused right now on West Virginia and what Bret Edmunds might say. Thank you very much, Ed Lavandera, in Salt Lake.
Well, Marc Klaas is a father who knows the pain of losing his daughter, and he started the Klaas Kids Foundation after his daughter, Polly Klaas, was taken from their home and killed. Marc, you've become a bit of an expert on this now for us. Take a look at the situation with Bret Edmunds in West Virginia. Do you think that this man knows what happened to Elizabeth Smart?
MARC KLAAS, FATHER OF POLLY KLAAS: Well, I haven't thought so until now, but certainly again, we're getting a mixed message out of law enforcement. Their lips say he's not a suspect, but their actions are showing otherwise. The heavy security around him, sequestering him, sequestering his vehicle. It looks like they're paying an awful lot of attention, but I guess they really have no choice.
LIN: Why don't they just come out -- go ahead -- I'm just wondering why don't they just come out and say he's a suspect, we're going to question him, he was seen in the neighborhood?
KLAAS: You know, this whole business of suspects -- it's like in Chandra Levy, there were no suspects. In Salt Lake City, everybody is a suspect. In Boulder, Colorado, there was an umbrella of suspicion. So you know, I don't know. I think they'll be able to clear this individual up very quickly. Let's hope that he doesn't die on them. It sounds like he's in some pretty awful shape right now.
LIN: It really does.
KLAAS: Yeah.
LIN: Now, the Salt Lake investigator, the FBI are heading out there to question him. Obviously, they're doing a lot, everything they possibly can on the ground right now. But given the situation as it stands, and it sounds like you've got some doubts about how this investigation is going, how can these guys blow it? Are they in trouble here?
KLAAS: Well, you know, again, the messages are very mixed. And what we're doing is we're receiving information in a very haphazard way. Stories seem to change. Nothing really ever seems to make sense. And if they're inquiring and working on the information in the same manner that they're distributing it to the media and to the public, I would say, yes, there is a problem with this investigation.
All I can say, Carol, is that what they need to do is they need to use the strengths of Salt Lake City Police, which is certainly their manpower and their local knowledge with the strengths of the FBI, which are the fact that they've got protocols on dealing with this kind of information, they've got agents that are dedicated to this, and they've got unlimited resources, both evidence resources and manpower resources, and use those to the best possible advantage to the girl.
And quite frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if everything is being done on behalf of little Elizabeth. It just seems to me that so many things seem to be working counter to what she needs.
LIN: Well, what more should be done right now?
KLAAS: Well, certainly this whole business about clearing members of the family. Either they have passed their polygraph tests, or they haven't. But what they have to do is they have to eliminate individuals so that they can move all of the resources to whatever it is that actually happened to the little girl.
I think there are certain family members that are not necessarily working on behalf of the little girl. I think that that's obvious by the way, certainly in the early days, the family responded. The fact that they didn't want to bring Jeannie Boyle (ph) in to do a composite of the individual, then they did, then they didn't. The fact that, again, the stories are constantly, constantly shifting. There doesn't seem to be any single spokesperson for the family. It all seems to be done in shifts.
They take days off. I mean, none of this stuff really makes a lot of sense to me. It just seems to me that something's not right, and I don't know what it is.
LIN: So do you think that -- do you think Bret Edmunds is a decoy, in a sense, then?
KLAAS: Well, I never thought that Bret Edmunds should be taken too seriously. Law enforcement didn't even show his picture to the family before they showed it to the media. I think if they suspected that he had something to do with this, they most definitely would have shown it to little Mary Catherine, and they didn't even go that far. So I think that this is somebody who they saw, who's peripheral to the case, but now who has to be dealt with very seriously since really there has been so little information maybe even acquired, but certainly distributed.
LIN: Questions to be asked as this guy regains consciousness. Thank you very much, Marc Klaas, we'll know more then. Marc Klaas in San Francisco.
Well, CNN's Larry King is going to tackle this subject on tonight's show with Heidi and Tom Smart, Elizabeth's aunt and uncle, and that show begins right after this one, at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
Well, a guilty verdict in the trial of two brothers accused of working for Hezbollah in North Carolina. Both men were convicted of money laundering, credit card fraud and cigarette smuggling today. Now, just this afternoon jurors told the judge they were deadlocked on one count, whether or not Mohammed Hamud conspired to provide support material to the militant group. The judge told them to deliberate more. Two hours later, they did reach a verdict.
Another terrorism advisory is also going out to police across the country, and this one involves fuel trucks and Jewish landmarks. CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena has been following this story live from Washington -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, this information, like most information that's come out in recent months, is uncorroborated. But in this post-9/11 climate, the FBI is not about to be blamed again for not telling its terrorism sighting partners what it knows.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Jewish schools or synagogues may be targets of a possible terrorist threat. The FBI says intelligence suggests certain terrorist elements may be interested in using fuel trucks for attacks in the U.S. or against overseas U.S. interests. The information, according to sources, comes from al Qaeda detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Those sources caution the information is vague and its credibility is questionable.
Still, the FBI says it can't take any chances.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, anytime we get any kind of threat that we think is serious, we'll put it out, and people need to respond accordingly.
ARENA: The FBI says, quote, "out of an abundance of caution," it has shared the information with 18,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide. There were no specific targets mentioned, but intelligence indicates they could include fuel depots, Jewish schools, or synagogues.
RABBI AVI WEISS, HEBREW INSTITUTE OF RIVERDALE, NEW YORK CITY: We're concerned. We've been concerned for a long time because this is a high-profile synagogue. But we have wonderful relations with the local 50th Precinct, and there will be private security on premises now that this warning has come forth.
ARENA: In New York City, which has maintained a higher degree of security readiness, police are taking extra precautions, including putting police posts at sensitive locations, patrolling additional locations, placing additional counterterrorism assets in Jewish neighborhoods, and promising increased vigilance of fuel depots and delivery locations.
The information that sparked the advisory was not deemed specific enough to warrant raising the government's threat level, which now stands at yellow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: As one senior administration official put it, the government has an obligation to pass the information along, but doesn't want people to change their routines -- Carol.
LIN: Kelly, if this fuel truck scenario proves out to be true, do law enforcement officials think that there's likely to be -- or more likely an attack around the July 4th holiday?
ARENA: There's been a lot of talk about a possible attack on July 4th, a lot of concern. However, there's no specific or credible information about a July 4th attack either.
Security has been stepped up. Local law enforcement is preparing to protect the festivities that are going on that day. The work force will be at a normal level, not at a holiday level, as far as law enforcement is concerned. But again, all of this is swimming around, Carol. There's nothing specific that's coming in through intelligence circles that points to any target or any day.
LIN: Thank you very much, Kelli Arena, live in Washington.
We are back in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Next, bloodshed on both sides. As Israelis bury their dead, Palestinians are killed in another bloody incident. We'll go live to Jerusalem for the latest.
Blazing in Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're very much not in control. Nature is in control. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go to the front lines in the battle against a massive wildfire.
And later, is the war in Afghanistan over?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No bombs have been dropped for weeks, and there is no visible enemy to shoot at. What exactly is the U.S. military doing now in Afghanistan?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go to the Pentagon for an answer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: More than 1,400 Palestinians and more than 500 Israelis have been killed since the latest round of violence broke out in September 2000.
LIN: Confusion over an Israeli-imposed curfew leaves more dead in the West Bank. Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joins us now from Jerusalem with the latest there -- Christiane.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, today, in response to these attacks in Jerusalem over the last week, the Israeli prime minister convened his Security Cabinet, and they have decided to go deep and stay long in towns and cities in the West Bank that are under Palestinian control. They say that they are not using the word "reoccupy," but that essentially is what they're doing. In a sense, they're going to go in and do what they did during Operation Defensive Shield, try to root out terrorism and stay there as long as it takes to do the job.
In the meantime today, there was a funeral in a settlement called Itamahanya Nablus (ph) in the West Bank. Five people were buried. Last night, a Palestinian gunman had infiltrated the settlement, which is inhabited by very militant Israeli settlers. The Palestinian killed four members of one family, a mother and three children. As I say, they were buried today in that settlement.
Israeli tanks and troops went into Nablus, the town nearby, and also they are in other towns and cities. They've been in the town of Jenin, for instance, for the last several days. There, there was an incident. The Israelis say that they were looking house-to-house for an explosives laboratory, when all of a sudden Israeli tanks and machine gun fire opened fire on civilians. Four people were killed, including children as young as 6 years old, and dozens more were wounded. This by the Israelis' own admission, and as Sheila MacVicar says, it's sparked an investigation by the IDF.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For two days, the West Bank city of Jenin has been under Israeli military curfew. On Friday morning, residents thought the curfew had been lifted, so they went to the shops and the bakery to try and stock up on supplies.
What happened next and why is still not clear. In a moment, with no apparent threat and no apparent provocation, Israeli forces opened fire. Within seconds, people were wounded and terrified.
Israeli Defense Forces have issued a statement saying a tank crew fired two tank shells at a group of Palestinians violating the curfew and that -- quote -- "the force erred in its action."
CAPT. JACOB DALAL, IDF SPOKESMAN: According to initial inquiry, the force made a mistake in the context of the situation, and the matter is under full investigation.
MACVICAR: And while the IDF says its investigation continues, there is no explanation for the repeated bursts of machine gun fire; fire that came from at least one gun mounted on an Israeli tank.
At the Jenin hospital, they were dealing with the casualties. More than a dozen wounded and four dead, including three children. One was a 6-year old girl who was shot sitting in the front seat of her father's car.
"She was in the car," says her father. "The tanks came to the market and started shooting us."
Buying bread this Friday was a deadly errand.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: The Palestinians have now called again for international observers to come to the West Bank and to try to help monitor the situation as Israel steps up its military incursions there. Israel, of course, has always been opposed to that, having any international monitors there.
Now, on another issue, the Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, today told an Israeli newspaper that he now belatedly accepts the Clinton peace plan that was proposed shortly before President Clinton left office more than a year and a half ago. This, of course, comes several -- rather too late in order to have been accepted, because President Clinton had taken that off the table when he left office.
But this apparently is an attempt by the Palestinians to try to jockey for position, if you like, ahead of an anticipated proposal by President Bush, a speech by President Bush, which is scheduled to lay out a road map for some kind of interim solution here -- Carol.
LIN: Christiane, I want to tap into your extensive experience here in the region. What is your sense of where all of this is going to go in the short term? AMANPOUR: Well, it's very, very hard to know. Clearly, a lot of people had been hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel with a speech by President Bush. Many, many people, not only in this particular region but around the world believe that only almost an imposed settlement by the United States is going to have any impact right now. But that has been put on hold because of the suicide bombings and because the situation and the atmosphere is not right right now.
But in terms of what exactly comes out of this speech, whether it will be accepted by both sides, whether it has any hope of taking shape, it's very difficult to tell at the moment, with emotions and feelings so raw, both amongst Israelis and now amongst Palestinians as Israel sends in its troops and armor again. Hard to tell which way this is going to go in the future, in the near future.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Christiane Amanpour, live from Jerusalem tonight.
We are back in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Next, firefighters face furious flames in both Arizona and Colorado. We'll go live to the front lines of the blazes in both states.
And later, the Andrea Yates tapes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After you drew the bathwater, what was your intent? What were you about to do?
ANDREA YATES: Drown my children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Chilling words from a woman who drowned all five of her children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She comes across as a pitiful figure, a very sad and very tragic figure. And that's because she comes across as the person that she was on June the 20th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: As of today, 18 wildfires are burning in eight states across the nation. Those blazes are located in Colorado, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Georgia.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two of those fires are the largest in their states' history. This is the one in Arizona where firefighters face a nightmare. It is on the verge of merging with another fire. CNN's Bill Delaney is just miles from the front line in the town of Show Low, while our Mark Potter is keeping watch on Colorado's massive fire. But first, we go to Bill in Arizona -- Bill.
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, all day we've had conditions here that in firefighting terms you might describe as the mother of all worst case scenarios, a recipe for disaster, one fire official said, very high winds buffeting me here right now, severe drought and unlimited timber feeding the huge Rodeo wildfire.
It's already consumed 120,000 acres. It's approaching the size of those big fires in Colorado we've heard so much about. It's the worst fire already in Arizona history. Look at the plume of smoke behind me here. That's the Rodeo fire.
Several miles away, smoke some 30,000 feet in the air, kind of a thunderstorm effect we're told. The winds descend and then churn upward like a thunderstorm, except here intense ferocious heat, an inferno, and it's expected to burn for weeks. Listen to Jim Paxon of the National Forest Service.
JIM PAXON, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: The fire's going to rage its head and get up and run today and we are very much not in control. Nature is in control.
DELANEY: Five thousand people have already evacuated from this fire. In Show Low where I am, evacuations have not begun yet officially. People are on a one-hour notice to get out if they're told to, but we are now being told that some hundreds here in this region of some 15,000 have decided to get out.
Now everybody, of course, most concerned about the nightmare scenario that was alluded to at the top of the broadcast, the big Rodeo fire could merge with a smaller fire. If that happens in the next few days, and there appears to be an 80 percent chance that it will, expect 300,000 acres of Arizona to go up in smoke, back to you.
LIN: Hey, Bill, from what I understand of the area, one of the problems with the evacuations near Show Low is that there are only two major roads that intersect and the rest are small Forestry trails. Is anybody concerned there about moving large numbers of people out of that region, out to safety?
DELANEY: Yes, well, they sure are. As I said, this is a pretty remote region, but right in this immediate area here of Show Low and the surrounding community, there's about 15,000 people. Now if 15,000 people decide to move all at once down these narrow roads that twist through the mountains down toward Phoenix in one direction and very much single lane mountain roads in the other direction, that could be a big problem for this region.
Some people do seem to be getting the message, as I said. Some hundreds, we're told, are leaving, but as I look here over an area of Show Low, well there's plenty of people just walking around and driving around and things still pretty normal here. We'll have to see what happens in the next couple of days if the fire approached Show Low.
LIN: Hey, Bill, I learned the reason why it's named Show Low is because of poker players way back when who claimed territory in the area with the lowest hand.
DELANEY: That's about it. About a hundred years ago is when that happened. The guy who had the lowest hand won Show Low.
LIN: All right, well let's hope it's a winning hand out there real soon. Thank you very much, Bill Delaney, out there in Arizona.
Well, conditions are a lot better for the crews battling Colorado's largest fire. That is the one authorities say was deliberately set by a Forest Service employee. CNN's Mark Potter joins us with the latest from Lake George, Colorado. Mark, how's it going out there?
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, a much different scenario than in Arizona here south of the Hayman fire. Firefighters say that they have had very good conditions. They consider themselves very lucky and that has been in effect for the last two days.
We actually had some rain here today, and as you can see, over those mountains where the fire is burning and where the firefighters are working, there's a heavy cloud cover and we're expecting more rain.
We just saw some lightning. Now that's not good news. There were a couple of lightning fires that were set, but they were contained pretty quickly. Overall, though, the weather conditions have been very good for the last couple of days.
There have been -- the humidity has risen. The winds have become very steady and everything is good right now for the firefighters, so they are taking advantage of this situation to do as much as they can to work as aggressively as they can in what they are calling this window of opportunity.
They are trying to get as close to the fire to fight it head-on. They are trying to contain as much of it as they can right now, working 24 hours a day in two shifts, and the reason they are working so hard is that they know that the conditions here are not going to last.
In fact, tomorrow they're expecting the conditions to worsen, the temperatures to rise, the winds to change and become erratic, and they are expecting also much drier conditions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY EVANS, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: We don't want to have too much left that's not contained, because we're expecting lower relative humidity. That's in the teens and that's pretty, that's kind of like the conditions and when this fire began.
(END VIDEO CLIP) POTTER (voice over): Now unfortunately in other parts of the state, the weather was not so good today, particularly in the southwest where the two other major fires are burning. Those areas are under a red flag alert, meaning hazardous conditions. The firefighters there are having a much more difficult time.
The Missionary Ridge fire north of Durango is only 25 percent contained. The so-called Million fire is not contained at all. So, the overall situation here in Colorado is still quite serious. There are 152 homes now that have been categorized as destroyed.
POTTER (on camera): A quarter million acres have been lost and still there are thousands of evacuees. So this is still clearly a work in progress and firefighters working around the clock.
Now, as for Terry Lynn Barton, the Fire Service employee who has been indicted, charged with setting the Hayman fire, a trial date for her has now been set in Denver. That's set for August 26. She has pleaded not guilty.
Yesterday a judge, if you recall, agreed to let her out on bond, a $600,000 bond, but she has to come up with 10 percent of that, and she has not done that yet. So, she is still in jail and federal authorities tell us that she will not be getting out of jail this weekend because federal offices will be closed. Carol, back to you.
LIN: All right, thank you very much, Mark Potter there right near the fire lines in Colorado.
All right, well Mark was talking a little bit about the weather. They keep hoping for some more drain, but it's a drought situation out there in the west, but CNN's Orelon Sidney has got that future scope out. Orelon, what do you see out there, any rain at all?
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Carol, it looks like our area of concern is going to be across the Southern Rockies through tonight into Saturday morning. As we go into Saturday, though, the winds are expected to die down, so that's certainly some good news, but the problem, of course, is that the temperatures remain fairly warm, and in the afternoon we still have a chance of seeing some thunderstorms.
Most of these will be those dry thunderstorms. That means that the rain evaporates before it hits the ground. You'll get lighting, though, for Southern Colorado, all the way down through the Sangre de Cristo mountains, and it just doesn't look like much relief for you, all the way into Saturday. Thunderstorms will be isolated, at best. The heaviest rainfall, certainly, out to the east.
Still looking at high pressure and hot temperatures all the way through Sunday and even into the early part of next week. In fact, your daytime temperatures will probably be somewhere in the 90s to the 100s, of course, across parts of the desert Southwest -- 108 degrees for Phoenix on Saturday. Don't be surprised to see these types of temperatures through much of Arizona through northern portions of New Mexico and into Colorado -- Carol. LIN: All right. Well, check this out. The Sunshine State has what the West wants, rain and lots of it. It is coming down so hard that a number of counties in the northeastern part of the state are under flood watches tonight.
Well up next, is it mission accomplished in Afghanistan? It has been months since U.S. forces there have seen the enemy in battle. So, why are American troops still scouring the countryside? That answer, when we come back.
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LIN: Welcome back. Here's a look at our top stories right now. The man wanted for questioning in Elizabeth Smart's disappearance turned up today in West Virginia. Bret Michael Edmunds was arrested at a hospital in Martinsburg, where he allegedly checked himself in using a bogus name. Authorities say Edmunds suffered a drug overdose. He is not considered a suspect, but neighbors say they saw his car in Smart's neighborhood before she disappeared.
The FBI is issuing a new terrorism advisory. The Bureau is telling police around the country to keep a special eye on fuel trucks and depots and Jewish neighborhoods. However, the advisory mentions no specific targets.
Well, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is accusing Iran of helping al Qaeda terrorists flee Afghanistan. One thing is certain, allied forces in Afghanistan are finding fewer al Qaeda targets. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr says it could signal a new and difficult transition in the U.S. led war against terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): U.S. troops in Afghanistan haven't seen combat with large numbers of al Qaeda since Operation Anaconda in March.
Remaining al Qaeda went on the run. Recent arrests in Morocco, Pakistan, and other countries, underscore just how much the al Qaeda is everywhere but Afghanistan. No bombs have been dropped for weeks and there is no visible enemy to shoot at.
What exactly is the U.S. military doing now in Afghanistan? British and Canadian troops are already returning home. Is the war inside Afghanistan really over?
Combat has given way to another priority, training the Afghan National Army to take over the country's long-term security. But analysts warn that the Bush Administration is facing the same challenge as the Clinton White House in Bosnia and Kosovo. When is a country secure enough that U.S. troops can go home?
In Afghanistan, that could be months away. If troops left now...
IVO DAALDER, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: The warlords that are still in control of large parts of this country will start to fight for control directly with each other, so Afghanistan will descend into chaos.
STARR: More than 7,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan and another 50,000 spread out in neighboring countries. The U.S. believes they have made it tougher for al Qaeda to return.
COLONEL ROGER KING, U.S. ARMY SPOKESMAN: If the al Qaeda try to come back in that area, they better bring their pick axes and air hammers, because they're going to have to dig new places to work from.
STARR (on camera): But with allied troops already pulling out to go home, the U.S. may find a long road ahead, more work for U.S. troops and an enemy that is harder to find. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Well a cruise can be extremely relaxing, but these days the Coast Guard has a close eye on the ships. We're going to show you why next.
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LIN: The nation's waterways have produced a sea of concern since 9/11. In fact, this week the Transportation Department pledged millions of dollars to help local authorities check shipping containers. Cruise liners and dive shop owners are also on the lookout for suspicious activity. CNN's Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA FROELICH, DIVE SHOP OWNER: You're going to need to check your regulators and once you've checked them, go ahead and turn the air back on.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): Barbara Froelich runs a dive shop in the Florida Keys. A little over a year ago, Froelich says she received an e-mail from a Pakistani man who wanted to take an advanced diving course.
FROELICH: He sent me a deposit for a course that was on a cashier's check. The check cleared, but the gentleman never showed for the course.
ZARRELLA: Froelich alerted the FBI. It may never be known whether her mystery man posed a threat. But, in the wake of a recent Coast Guard warning that terrorist divers carrying explosives might target ships, security at the nation's seaports has been tightened.
CAPTAIN JAMES WATSON, U.S. COAST GUARD: It's been defined as a credible threat and, you know, as we've sorted through all the different information, this one is something that we need to act on and we are acting on that.
ZARRELLA: In Miami, one of the Coast Guard's biggest responsibilities is keeping cruise ships safe. Helicopters watching from the sky, police boats and cutters on the water enforce a zero tolerance, no access to the channel policy whenever cruise ships are docked.
ZARRELLA (on camera): For obvious reasons, many of the deterrent measures are kept secret.
ZARRELLA (voice over): Authorities say while they won't show us, highly trained police divers are in the water on a regular basis to check for anything suspicious in the shipping channel.
Since they were warned, cruise lines say they too have further enhanced shipboard security above the water line, the hijacking of the Liner Achille Lauro in 1985, still clearly remembered by the industry.
This video, shot by the industry, shows every piece of passenger luggage being x-rayed and passengers and crewmembers getting ID cards with corresponding pictures stored in a database.
MICHAEL CRYE, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF CRUISE LINES: One hundred percent of every person that comes onboard is screened, positively identified, and tracked in our system, while they're with us as a passenger or a crewmember.
ZARRELLA: While no security is infallible the cruise lines believe the umbrella of protective measures, those they acknowledge and those they don't, could avoid a repeat of the past. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: So, what frame of mind was Andrea Yates in when she drowned all five of her children?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREA YATES: The cartoon characters were talking to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: A recently released videotape gives eerie insight into the thoughts of the troubled mother. See it, hear it, when we come back.
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LIN: In Los Angeles, the parents of a child who drowned at a friend's pool party are suing the homeowners for negligence. You may remember what happened. The seven-year-old disappeared at the party June 2nd, but his body was not found for about a day in the deep end of the pool. Authorities say no one saw him because the water was so murky.
Well, a year after Andrea Yates drowned her children in the bathtub; authorities have released another interview tape. Yates was convicted in March and sentenced to life in prison. CNN's David Mattingly reports the newly-released tape may prolong the debate over her state of mind. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was a good thing or a bad thing for you to be executed?
YATES: Probably a good thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would that be a good thing for you to be executed?
YATES: Because I'm not righteous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you're not righteous.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was the interview defense attorneys had hoped would prove to jurors that Andrea Yates was so mentally ill she wasn't responsible when she drowned her five children in the family bathtub.
In the tape, we hear Yates explaining how the devil was inside her and she killed her children to send them to Heaven and keep them from going to Hell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What sort of things did they do which showed you they weren't righteous?
YATES: Well, they weren't - they just did a lot of silly stuff and didn't obey.
MATTINGLY: This latest of videotapes released by Houston's Harris County District Attorney reveals Yates as she was three weeks after her arrest. She appears gaunt, pale, her eyes deep set and dark, answering in almost a monotone voice. She worried about cameras in her home watching her, and on one occasion she says she heard voices from the television.
YATES: The cartoon characters were talking to us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cartoon characters.
YATES: And saying, "hey kids, stop eating so much candy."
MATTINGLY: Interviewed by Dr. Phillip Resnick, the noted psychiatrist and star defense witness, testified last spring that Yates' actions were the result of a cruel dilemma, which turned upside down her sense of right and wrong, but also just released by the DA, Yates' audio taped confession.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After you drew the bath water, what was your intent? What were you about to do?
YATES: Drown my children.
MATTINGLY: Prosecutors used these words to prove Yates still knew right from wrong and deserved to be found guilty of capital Murder. The jury agreed. GEORGE PARNHAM, YATES' ATTORNEY: The problem is that our law, as it presently stands, has no room for the type of mental illness that Andrea Yates was suffering from.
MATTINGLY: This latest release brings to five the number of tapes submitted in evidence during Andrea Yates' trial, now available to the public. Concerned about sensationalism, Yates' attorneys have asked that court documents in the case be sealed and may take action to block further releases of tapes and photographs, pending the outcome of her appeal, David Mattingly, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Exactly one week ago, the Earth faced a dangerous threat no one knew about, but this was science not science fiction. We'll tell you about a near hit that could have been deadly when we come back.
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LIN: A bit of science fiction almost becomes science fact. Scientists say an asteroid, yes that's an asteroid, the size of a football field hurled past Earth last week, missing by a mere 75,000 miles. That is less than a third of the distance to the Moon.
And that is our report tonight. Thanks to our Graphics Department. I'm Carol Lin. "LARRY KING LIVE" up next.
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