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Day of Destruction in Iraq; Questions Unanswered Following President Bush's Address?

Aired May 25, 2004 - 15:00   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Drew Griffin. Here is what's happening at this hour.

PHILLIPS: Promoting his health care agenda in a key battleground state, President Bush attended a town hall meeting in Youngstown, Ohio. It's his 17th trip to that state since taking office. Mr. Bush highlighted his plan to expand community health care centers while serving the uninsured.

Thick smoke and a strong chlorine smell fill the air in Conyers, Georgia, just east of Atlanta. A chemical fire is still burning at a warehouse that produces chlorine and other poll products. Residents in a 1.5 mile area around the plant have been evacuated and part of Interstate 20 has been closed.

"The river took everything." That's the reaction of one stunned resident on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola after rain pushed rivers over their banks. Some reports say at least 245 people have been killed in those floods. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the two-nation island.

GRIFFIN: It's been a day of destruction in parts of Iraq, rocket fire and an explosion in the capital and a sacred shrine damaged in the holy city of Najaf.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck is monitoring it all from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two powerful explosions were heard this Tuesday afternoon in central Baghdad. Apparently two mortars were fired at an Iraqi national police station. A U.S. military medical evacuation helicopter could be seen over flying the area around this police station and it was later seen landing and picking up at least one wounded U.S. soldier.

Another wounded U.S. soldier was driven away in a military Humvee. Those explosions came after a car bomb went off near the Australian Embassy in Baghdad's Jadiriyah district, injuring, according to U.S. military spokesmen, at least five people, but according to Iraqi national police, four people would have been killed. The explosion went off near a building that also houses members of the Australian military and offices of the United Nations World Food Program. Meanwhile, more fighting in the holy city of Najaf has taken a toll beyond the human one in that city considered sacred by Shiites worldwide. A battle between U.S. forces and militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resulted in at least seven deaths, according to local hospital officials, and a projectile hit the Imam Ali shrine, considered to be the holiest site for Shiites.

Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr accuse U.S. forces of firing mortars at the mosque, but the U.S. military denied it was carrying out military operations in the vicinity of the shrine and said that great care has been taken to avoid fighting near holy sites in Iraq to avoid damaging religious sensibilities.

Meanwhile, there is some reaction to the speech given by U.S. President George W. Bush on his plans for Iraq after the handover on June 30. The point that seemed to resonate the most had to do with the possible destruction of Abu Ghraib prison. People here said that if the prison were to be destroyed, it should be after a decision taken by Iraqi leaders and not by the United States. And the point made by some was that the prison should remain standing as a symbol of the oppression suffered by people under Saddam Hussein's regime, but also under the American occupation.

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So who will be running Iraq 36 days from today? Will they have any say in the comings and goings of non-Iraqi soldiers or even Iraqi soldiers? Will the new arrangement have the U.N. Security Council seal of approval? These and other questions have followed President Bush from Pennsylvania to the White House, to Youngstown, Ohio.

That's where we find CNN's Elaine Quijano -- hi, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.

President Bush making a stop here to Youngstown, Ohio -- Ohio, of course, a key state for the president, a state that he won in 2000 by just a small margin, four percentage points. Today, though, he is here to promote his domestic agenda. But, as you said, reaction still echoing over his speech last night at the Army War College in Pennsylvania on Iraq, a speech in which the president laid out what he called five steps in the administration's plan for Iraq's future.

And leading up to that speech, aides has said it was meant to show that the situation in Iraq was not as chaotic as it might seem, that there was a concrete plan in place. But critics contend the speech which did not include any new initiatives was not detailed enough, especially regarding the U.S.'s role with respect to the interim Iraqi government.

Now, this morning, the president in the Oval Office met with a group of Iraqis who were tortured under Saddam Hussein's regime. They had their hands cut off as punishments and eventually they received prosthetic limbs here in the U.S. Now, their visit comes at a time when the White House has been very mindful of the need to counter some of the negative images coming out of Iraq with the prisoner abuse scandal and the continued violence against coalition forces and Iraqis as well.

Now, on the diplomatic front, President Bush today reached out to French President Jacques Chirac in a 20-minute phone conversation, looking for backing on that new U.N. resolution supporting the interim Iraqi authority. Now, France has expressed concern that the handover be a real transfer of power. President Bush, though, maintains that the U.S. has absolutely no interest in occupation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll be there to help and we'll help in a variety of ways. We'll help by making sure our security forces are there to work with their security forces. We'll help to make sure the reconstruction money we have set aside is well spent. We'll help by getting -- to continue to work with other countries to help aid a free Iraq. We'll do what we need to do to help the interim government succeed in getting to the free period of free elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Meantime today here at Youngstown State University, the president turning his attention, as I mentioned earlier, to domestic matters, meeting with local doctors, among others, to promote his health care agenda. The president would like to open 1,200 health care centers, primarily, he says, to help the uninsured and the underinsured.

But, of course, as I say, Kyra, reaction to that speech on Iraq still echoing. That speech, by the way, last night in Pennsylvania just a first in what's expected several speeches leading up to that June 30 deadline for the transfer of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi authority -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Elaine Quijano, thank you.

Well, the job of hand-picking an interim Iraqi government falls to U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is due to unveil it days from now, but just how many days remains to be seen. Brahimi is choosing a president, two vice presidents, a prime minister and 26 Cabinet ministers. And "TIME" magazine's Joe Klein tells our Paula Zahn the job has been every bit as difficult as you can imagine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE KLEIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The president said that Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special envoy, was going to announce the transitional government this week. Well, that was the plan, but I am told by high-ranking diplomatic sources at the U.N. that Brahimi is having a very difficult time getting the Iraqis to agree on a roster of candidates. It may go into next week, it may go into the week after. There's all kinds of haggling going on at this point, and...

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Will the U.S. make the deadline on June 30? Or will he make the deadline?

KLEIN: Well, I mean, you know, the thinking is that, probably, at the end, you know, there will be some sort of compromise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Secretary of State Colin Powell said today that the Bush administration is in daily contact with the respected U.N. troubleshooter, whom Powell describes as quite skilled at these kind of things.

GRIFFIN: And on that diplomatic track, the United Nations Security Council will sit together this afternoon to consider Washington's plan for restoring Iraqi sovereignty. The meeting will be attended by the secretary-general, Kofi Annan.

CNN's Richard Roth has more.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Secretary- General Annan in fact is hosting the meeting at his office far upstairs in the building in which I am speaking.

Earlier, he talked to journalists about Lakhdar Brahimi, his timetable for forming an interim government. Kofi Annan telling reporters, we have indicated our target date was the end of May -- quote -- "Obviously, we are still working towards that date and I hope we'll be able to meet that target." Otherwise, the secretary-general expects to tell the 15 members of the council today just what Brahimi has been going through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think the resolution also indicated that circumstances permitting, and I think when you look at the resolution very carefully, they identify the priority areas that we should be working on, which we are already doing. And the other areas are circumstances permitting. So I think, in that sense, it is satisfactory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Secretary-General Annan said he's going to be discussing with the Security Council members Brahimi's efforts. I asked him what kind of mood is Brahimi in. He said he's in good form. Earlier, you just heard Secretary-General Annan talking about the Security Council resolution the ambassadors will now be considering introduced by the U.S. and Britain.

Brahimi will have input into what the ambassadors are thinking about. He doesn't have a vote when it comes to that. The Chilean ambassador among those who listened to President Bush's speech last night. He said he liked it, but would have liked to have seen more of the White House views represented in the draft resolution. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERALDO MUNOZ, CHILEAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I like the speech and I think we have to line up the content of Bush's speech with the draft resolution. I'd like to see a little bit more of those elements, because he was very forceful about full sovereignty and transfer that to the draft resolution that we're working on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The Chilean went on to say it's all a starting point. Secretary-General Annan has said consistently this is the beginning of a process. There's still several weeks to play with in the formation of this resolution before any approval -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: Richard, is there any sense of urgency there? It sounds like from what we're hearing, at least in this report, that they're going to take their time and they're not particularly targeting a date.

ROTH: Well, obviously, Brahimi doesn't exactly have an easy job. And he's not finding an A and B list of candidates. Presidents, prime ministers, caretaker government. Initially, otherwise, he probably would have already been back.

And, of course, one of the men he met with last weekend was blown up and killed after he spent three days with him. So there are problems, you might say.

GRIFFIN: Richard Roth at U.N., thank you.

PHILLIPS: Picking up the pieces in the nation's heartland. We'll tell you where the worst damage can be found following days of rain and tornadoes.

Plus, a car thief's top five targets. Find out if your vehicle makes the infamous list.

And still to come, Missy Elliott drops one of her stops from her world tour. We'll tell you what the fear of the terrorism has to do with it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: They're mopping up across much of the Midwest today. Overnight, the region was drenched by yet another wave of these powerful thunderstorms. They've been coming all week and weekend, some of them bringing hail and tornadoes. In some communities, cars have given way to rowboats.

This is Gurnee, Illinois, north of Chicago, where the Des Plaines River is expected to crest shortly at a record 5.5 feet over the flood stage there. Parts of Iowa also underwater. Four days of downpours have dumped as much as a foot of rain in some of these areas. Iowa's governor is seeking a federal disaster for about a fourth of his state. PHILLIPS: No wonder Midwesterners are looking for a break today. Of course, it all depends on which way the wind is blowing.

Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras keeping tabs on that -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kyra, there are severe thunderstorms today, but they're farther to the south.

And the areas that are getting hit very hard with the flooding don't have to worry about any more significant rain. They might see a little bit of a shower moving on through today and then again Thursday and Friday, but nothing to aggravate the flooding problems.

We have some severe thunderstorms across the Saint Louis metro area right now, a severe thunderstorm morning for Saint Charles County until the quarter of the hour. There, you can see the strong thunderstorm pushing on off to the east. You can expect to see some large hail, some gusty winds, could cause some damage, around 60, 70 miles per hour as these storms blow on through. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for east central parts of Missouri and west central Illinois.

Springfield may in the line, as well as Mount Vernon a little bit later on. We also have a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of Ohio into western parts of Pennsylvania and also in West Virginia. Charleston will be under the gun here within the next 15 to 30 minutes or so. Again, large hail and damaging winds are big threats here for today.

Now, the rainfall that's being dumped by dumped these thunderstorms are going to be very, very heavy. One to two inches can be expected, possibly locally heavier than that of two to four inch with a couple of thunderstorms as they push through. So middle Mississippi River Valley into the Ohio River Valley will be our next concern. All the flooding is on up to the north of that.

Across parts of the West, for today, some light showers in the Great Basin, otherwise some beautiful, dry conditions and a little bit more humidity and cooler temperatures across the southwest, where we've been dealing with that high fire danger. Today, believe it or not, we're looking at a high fire danger across south parts of Florida -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, thanks so much.

Well, other news across America now. The National Guard could be moving to the front lines of forest fires in New Mexico. A new emergency declaration will allow troops to help battle two fast-moving fires in the central part of the state. The largest is a 9,500-acre blaze in the Capitan Mountains.

Chlorine is fueling a massive chemical fire in suburban Atlanta. The fire erupted this morning, setting off a series of explosions at a warehouse storing pool chemicals. Hundreds of people have been evacuated. Several people were treated for breathing problems. The fire's expected to burn for several hours. Jurors in the Terry Nichols state trial could get the case as early as today. An attorney for the Oklahoma bombing conspirator tried to poke holes in the government's case during closing arguments today. If convicted, Nichols could get the death penalty.

And more trouble for the Boston Archdiocese. Archbishop Sean O'Malley announced today that the church will close 60 of the 357 parishes. The reason? Declining attendance, a shortage of priests and financial problems caused in part by the church sex abuse scandal.

GRIFFIN: If you think thieves have expensive taste in cars, think again. The most stolen car in the U.S. is not a Mercedes, a Cadillac or a BMW. It is a Saturn, and a '95 Saturn to boot. Also, Acura tops the list for the most stolen cars of 2003, not clear why. But experts suspect thieves like these cars because of their parts. They fit a lot of other models. And they're not targeting newer cars. The average stolen vehicle is about seven years old -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hollywood disaster flick or environmentalist rallying cry? In the new movie "The Day After Tomorrow," weather runs amok, destroying Earth's Northern Hemisphere. Well, it's generating a lot of buzz about global warming. Even former Vice President Al Gore is embracing its message and says it should be a wake-up call for the White House.

Our Kelly Wallace explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hollywood's version of catastrophic global warming -- three days of disaster leading to a new ice age on earth, more fiction than fact, scientists say. But that has not kept politics away from the new movie, "The Day After Tomorrow." After all, there was Al Gore, no stranger to the global warming debate, touting the movie just before its New York premier and blasting the White House.

AL GORE (D), FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: We see the consequences of not looking ahead and planning ahead in Iraq. What about the consequences of not looking ahead and planning ahead where global warming is concerned?

WALLACE: The town meeting, featuring Gore, was sponsored by the liberal group MoveOn.org, whose Web site says "The Day After Tomorrow" is the movie the White House doesn't want you to see.

Asked about that, President Bush's supporters fired back.

JIM DYKE, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I think some people may be turned off by an anti-war group and Vice President Gore trying to take advantage, some sort of political advantage or some sort of political statement.

WALLACE: But could the movie sway some swing voters? Probably not, because in a Gallup poll earlier this month, only one percent of voters said the environment was the most important non-economic problem facing the country. And in a March survey, nearly 40 percent said they thought the seriousness of global warming was generally exaggerated. Almost 60 percent said it was generally correct or underestimated.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thanks for coming.

WALLACE: Neither President Bush nor John Kerry even mentioned the words global warming on Earth Day last month and neither candidate has said anything about the new movie. But the Hollywood studio behind the film doesn't mind, saying it is thrilled with all the attention.

(on camera): Because all of the buzz might do more to boost ticket sales than boost the Democrats' chances of retaking the White House.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: If you have a credit card, you're going to want to hear about why it is going to cost you more to plunk down that plastic even if you're paying on time.

And Michael Jackson's father wants to keep an eye on him. Find out who he is hiring to did it. That's ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

GRIFFIN: Checking entertainment headlines this Tuesday.

That is Missy Elliott. She knows when to work it and when to take a pass. The latter is what she's going to do about a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia. Citing official U.S. government warnings about travel in the region, Missy's canceled tomorrow's show.

PHILLIPS: Joe Jackson, he is a little worried. He wants to keep a close eye on court proceedings involving his son, Michael. So the pop star's dad has hired his own lawyer to be an extra set of eyes in the courtroom as the child molestation case proceeds. Debra Opri says that she won't be added to Michael's legal team, but will help Joe keep tabs on what's going on.

GRIFFIN: And this one sounded like a sure bet to a lot of sitcom followers. ABC, though, is passing on a pilot that had Jessica Simpson starring as a ditsy TV reporter. Anyone who's seen Simpson on MTV's "Newlyweds" knows she's got that ditsy part down. So we're left to wonder what went on.

PHILLIPS: And in case you're still losing sleep about poor Bob Guiney not finding love on "The Bachelorette" or "The Bachelor," well, you can breathe a sigh of relief. You can take a sigh of relief now, Drew. He popped the question to soap star Rebecca Budig, who is now sporting a two-carat rock.

GRIFFIN: That wraps it up for this edition of LIVE FROM.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired May 25, 2004 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Drew Griffin. Here is what's happening at this hour.

PHILLIPS: Promoting his health care agenda in a key battleground state, President Bush attended a town hall meeting in Youngstown, Ohio. It's his 17th trip to that state since taking office. Mr. Bush highlighted his plan to expand community health care centers while serving the uninsured.

Thick smoke and a strong chlorine smell fill the air in Conyers, Georgia, just east of Atlanta. A chemical fire is still burning at a warehouse that produces chlorine and other poll products. Residents in a 1.5 mile area around the plant have been evacuated and part of Interstate 20 has been closed.

"The river took everything." That's the reaction of one stunned resident on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola after rain pushed rivers over their banks. Some reports say at least 245 people have been killed in those floods. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the two-nation island.

GRIFFIN: It's been a day of destruction in parts of Iraq, rocket fire and an explosion in the capital and a sacred shrine damaged in the holy city of Najaf.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck is monitoring it all from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two powerful explosions were heard this Tuesday afternoon in central Baghdad. Apparently two mortars were fired at an Iraqi national police station. A U.S. military medical evacuation helicopter could be seen over flying the area around this police station and it was later seen landing and picking up at least one wounded U.S. soldier.

Another wounded U.S. soldier was driven away in a military Humvee. Those explosions came after a car bomb went off near the Australian Embassy in Baghdad's Jadiriyah district, injuring, according to U.S. military spokesmen, at least five people, but according to Iraqi national police, four people would have been killed. The explosion went off near a building that also houses members of the Australian military and offices of the United Nations World Food Program. Meanwhile, more fighting in the holy city of Najaf has taken a toll beyond the human one in that city considered sacred by Shiites worldwide. A battle between U.S. forces and militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resulted in at least seven deaths, according to local hospital officials, and a projectile hit the Imam Ali shrine, considered to be the holiest site for Shiites.

Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr accuse U.S. forces of firing mortars at the mosque, but the U.S. military denied it was carrying out military operations in the vicinity of the shrine and said that great care has been taken to avoid fighting near holy sites in Iraq to avoid damaging religious sensibilities.

Meanwhile, there is some reaction to the speech given by U.S. President George W. Bush on his plans for Iraq after the handover on June 30. The point that seemed to resonate the most had to do with the possible destruction of Abu Ghraib prison. People here said that if the prison were to be destroyed, it should be after a decision taken by Iraqi leaders and not by the United States. And the point made by some was that the prison should remain standing as a symbol of the oppression suffered by people under Saddam Hussein's regime, but also under the American occupation.

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So who will be running Iraq 36 days from today? Will they have any say in the comings and goings of non-Iraqi soldiers or even Iraqi soldiers? Will the new arrangement have the U.N. Security Council seal of approval? These and other questions have followed President Bush from Pennsylvania to the White House, to Youngstown, Ohio.

That's where we find CNN's Elaine Quijano -- hi, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.

President Bush making a stop here to Youngstown, Ohio -- Ohio, of course, a key state for the president, a state that he won in 2000 by just a small margin, four percentage points. Today, though, he is here to promote his domestic agenda. But, as you said, reaction still echoing over his speech last night at the Army War College in Pennsylvania on Iraq, a speech in which the president laid out what he called five steps in the administration's plan for Iraq's future.

And leading up to that speech, aides has said it was meant to show that the situation in Iraq was not as chaotic as it might seem, that there was a concrete plan in place. But critics contend the speech which did not include any new initiatives was not detailed enough, especially regarding the U.S.'s role with respect to the interim Iraqi government.

Now, this morning, the president in the Oval Office met with a group of Iraqis who were tortured under Saddam Hussein's regime. They had their hands cut off as punishments and eventually they received prosthetic limbs here in the U.S. Now, their visit comes at a time when the White House has been very mindful of the need to counter some of the negative images coming out of Iraq with the prisoner abuse scandal and the continued violence against coalition forces and Iraqis as well.

Now, on the diplomatic front, President Bush today reached out to French President Jacques Chirac in a 20-minute phone conversation, looking for backing on that new U.N. resolution supporting the interim Iraqi authority. Now, France has expressed concern that the handover be a real transfer of power. President Bush, though, maintains that the U.S. has absolutely no interest in occupation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll be there to help and we'll help in a variety of ways. We'll help by making sure our security forces are there to work with their security forces. We'll help to make sure the reconstruction money we have set aside is well spent. We'll help by getting -- to continue to work with other countries to help aid a free Iraq. We'll do what we need to do to help the interim government succeed in getting to the free period of free elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Meantime today here at Youngstown State University, the president turning his attention, as I mentioned earlier, to domestic matters, meeting with local doctors, among others, to promote his health care agenda. The president would like to open 1,200 health care centers, primarily, he says, to help the uninsured and the underinsured.

But, of course, as I say, Kyra, reaction to that speech on Iraq still echoing. That speech, by the way, last night in Pennsylvania just a first in what's expected several speeches leading up to that June 30 deadline for the transfer of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi authority -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Elaine Quijano, thank you.

Well, the job of hand-picking an interim Iraqi government falls to U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is due to unveil it days from now, but just how many days remains to be seen. Brahimi is choosing a president, two vice presidents, a prime minister and 26 Cabinet ministers. And "TIME" magazine's Joe Klein tells our Paula Zahn the job has been every bit as difficult as you can imagine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE KLEIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The president said that Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special envoy, was going to announce the transitional government this week. Well, that was the plan, but I am told by high-ranking diplomatic sources at the U.N. that Brahimi is having a very difficult time getting the Iraqis to agree on a roster of candidates. It may go into next week, it may go into the week after. There's all kinds of haggling going on at this point, and...

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Will the U.S. make the deadline on June 30? Or will he make the deadline?

KLEIN: Well, I mean, you know, the thinking is that, probably, at the end, you know, there will be some sort of compromise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Secretary of State Colin Powell said today that the Bush administration is in daily contact with the respected U.N. troubleshooter, whom Powell describes as quite skilled at these kind of things.

GRIFFIN: And on that diplomatic track, the United Nations Security Council will sit together this afternoon to consider Washington's plan for restoring Iraqi sovereignty. The meeting will be attended by the secretary-general, Kofi Annan.

CNN's Richard Roth has more.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Secretary- General Annan in fact is hosting the meeting at his office far upstairs in the building in which I am speaking.

Earlier, he talked to journalists about Lakhdar Brahimi, his timetable for forming an interim government. Kofi Annan telling reporters, we have indicated our target date was the end of May -- quote -- "Obviously, we are still working towards that date and I hope we'll be able to meet that target." Otherwise, the secretary-general expects to tell the 15 members of the council today just what Brahimi has been going through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think the resolution also indicated that circumstances permitting, and I think when you look at the resolution very carefully, they identify the priority areas that we should be working on, which we are already doing. And the other areas are circumstances permitting. So I think, in that sense, it is satisfactory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Secretary-General Annan said he's going to be discussing with the Security Council members Brahimi's efforts. I asked him what kind of mood is Brahimi in. He said he's in good form. Earlier, you just heard Secretary-General Annan talking about the Security Council resolution the ambassadors will now be considering introduced by the U.S. and Britain.

Brahimi will have input into what the ambassadors are thinking about. He doesn't have a vote when it comes to that. The Chilean ambassador among those who listened to President Bush's speech last night. He said he liked it, but would have liked to have seen more of the White House views represented in the draft resolution. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERALDO MUNOZ, CHILEAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I like the speech and I think we have to line up the content of Bush's speech with the draft resolution. I'd like to see a little bit more of those elements, because he was very forceful about full sovereignty and transfer that to the draft resolution that we're working on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The Chilean went on to say it's all a starting point. Secretary-General Annan has said consistently this is the beginning of a process. There's still several weeks to play with in the formation of this resolution before any approval -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: Richard, is there any sense of urgency there? It sounds like from what we're hearing, at least in this report, that they're going to take their time and they're not particularly targeting a date.

ROTH: Well, obviously, Brahimi doesn't exactly have an easy job. And he's not finding an A and B list of candidates. Presidents, prime ministers, caretaker government. Initially, otherwise, he probably would have already been back.

And, of course, one of the men he met with last weekend was blown up and killed after he spent three days with him. So there are problems, you might say.

GRIFFIN: Richard Roth at U.N., thank you.

PHILLIPS: Picking up the pieces in the nation's heartland. We'll tell you where the worst damage can be found following days of rain and tornadoes.

Plus, a car thief's top five targets. Find out if your vehicle makes the infamous list.

And still to come, Missy Elliott drops one of her stops from her world tour. We'll tell you what the fear of the terrorism has to do with it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: They're mopping up across much of the Midwest today. Overnight, the region was drenched by yet another wave of these powerful thunderstorms. They've been coming all week and weekend, some of them bringing hail and tornadoes. In some communities, cars have given way to rowboats.

This is Gurnee, Illinois, north of Chicago, where the Des Plaines River is expected to crest shortly at a record 5.5 feet over the flood stage there. Parts of Iowa also underwater. Four days of downpours have dumped as much as a foot of rain in some of these areas. Iowa's governor is seeking a federal disaster for about a fourth of his state. PHILLIPS: No wonder Midwesterners are looking for a break today. Of course, it all depends on which way the wind is blowing.

Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras keeping tabs on that -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kyra, there are severe thunderstorms today, but they're farther to the south.

And the areas that are getting hit very hard with the flooding don't have to worry about any more significant rain. They might see a little bit of a shower moving on through today and then again Thursday and Friday, but nothing to aggravate the flooding problems.

We have some severe thunderstorms across the Saint Louis metro area right now, a severe thunderstorm morning for Saint Charles County until the quarter of the hour. There, you can see the strong thunderstorm pushing on off to the east. You can expect to see some large hail, some gusty winds, could cause some damage, around 60, 70 miles per hour as these storms blow on through. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for east central parts of Missouri and west central Illinois.

Springfield may in the line, as well as Mount Vernon a little bit later on. We also have a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of Ohio into western parts of Pennsylvania and also in West Virginia. Charleston will be under the gun here within the next 15 to 30 minutes or so. Again, large hail and damaging winds are big threats here for today.

Now, the rainfall that's being dumped by dumped these thunderstorms are going to be very, very heavy. One to two inches can be expected, possibly locally heavier than that of two to four inch with a couple of thunderstorms as they push through. So middle Mississippi River Valley into the Ohio River Valley will be our next concern. All the flooding is on up to the north of that.

Across parts of the West, for today, some light showers in the Great Basin, otherwise some beautiful, dry conditions and a little bit more humidity and cooler temperatures across the southwest, where we've been dealing with that high fire danger. Today, believe it or not, we're looking at a high fire danger across south parts of Florida -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, thanks so much.

Well, other news across America now. The National Guard could be moving to the front lines of forest fires in New Mexico. A new emergency declaration will allow troops to help battle two fast-moving fires in the central part of the state. The largest is a 9,500-acre blaze in the Capitan Mountains.

Chlorine is fueling a massive chemical fire in suburban Atlanta. The fire erupted this morning, setting off a series of explosions at a warehouse storing pool chemicals. Hundreds of people have been evacuated. Several people were treated for breathing problems. The fire's expected to burn for several hours. Jurors in the Terry Nichols state trial could get the case as early as today. An attorney for the Oklahoma bombing conspirator tried to poke holes in the government's case during closing arguments today. If convicted, Nichols could get the death penalty.

And more trouble for the Boston Archdiocese. Archbishop Sean O'Malley announced today that the church will close 60 of the 357 parishes. The reason? Declining attendance, a shortage of priests and financial problems caused in part by the church sex abuse scandal.

GRIFFIN: If you think thieves have expensive taste in cars, think again. The most stolen car in the U.S. is not a Mercedes, a Cadillac or a BMW. It is a Saturn, and a '95 Saturn to boot. Also, Acura tops the list for the most stolen cars of 2003, not clear why. But experts suspect thieves like these cars because of their parts. They fit a lot of other models. And they're not targeting newer cars. The average stolen vehicle is about seven years old -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Hollywood disaster flick or environmentalist rallying cry? In the new movie "The Day After Tomorrow," weather runs amok, destroying Earth's Northern Hemisphere. Well, it's generating a lot of buzz about global warming. Even former Vice President Al Gore is embracing its message and says it should be a wake-up call for the White House.

Our Kelly Wallace explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hollywood's version of catastrophic global warming -- three days of disaster leading to a new ice age on earth, more fiction than fact, scientists say. But that has not kept politics away from the new movie, "The Day After Tomorrow." After all, there was Al Gore, no stranger to the global warming debate, touting the movie just before its New York premier and blasting the White House.

AL GORE (D), FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: We see the consequences of not looking ahead and planning ahead in Iraq. What about the consequences of not looking ahead and planning ahead where global warming is concerned?

WALLACE: The town meeting, featuring Gore, was sponsored by the liberal group MoveOn.org, whose Web site says "The Day After Tomorrow" is the movie the White House doesn't want you to see.

Asked about that, President Bush's supporters fired back.

JIM DYKE, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I think some people may be turned off by an anti-war group and Vice President Gore trying to take advantage, some sort of political advantage or some sort of political statement.

WALLACE: But could the movie sway some swing voters? Probably not, because in a Gallup poll earlier this month, only one percent of voters said the environment was the most important non-economic problem facing the country. And in a March survey, nearly 40 percent said they thought the seriousness of global warming was generally exaggerated. Almost 60 percent said it was generally correct or underestimated.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thanks for coming.

WALLACE: Neither President Bush nor John Kerry even mentioned the words global warming on Earth Day last month and neither candidate has said anything about the new movie. But the Hollywood studio behind the film doesn't mind, saying it is thrilled with all the attention.

(on camera): Because all of the buzz might do more to boost ticket sales than boost the Democrats' chances of retaking the White House.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: If you have a credit card, you're going to want to hear about why it is going to cost you more to plunk down that plastic even if you're paying on time.

And Michael Jackson's father wants to keep an eye on him. Find out who he is hiring to did it. That's ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

GRIFFIN: Checking entertainment headlines this Tuesday.

That is Missy Elliott. She knows when to work it and when to take a pass. The latter is what she's going to do about a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia. Citing official U.S. government warnings about travel in the region, Missy's canceled tomorrow's show.

PHILLIPS: Joe Jackson, he is a little worried. He wants to keep a close eye on court proceedings involving his son, Michael. So the pop star's dad has hired his own lawyer to be an extra set of eyes in the courtroom as the child molestation case proceeds. Debra Opri says that she won't be added to Michael's legal team, but will help Joe keep tabs on what's going on.

GRIFFIN: And this one sounded like a sure bet to a lot of sitcom followers. ABC, though, is passing on a pilot that had Jessica Simpson starring as a ditsy TV reporter. Anyone who's seen Simpson on MTV's "Newlyweds" knows she's got that ditsy part down. So we're left to wonder what went on.

PHILLIPS: And in case you're still losing sleep about poor Bob Guiney not finding love on "The Bachelorette" or "The Bachelor," well, you can breathe a sigh of relief. You can take a sigh of relief now, Drew. He popped the question to soap star Rebecca Budig, who is now sporting a two-carat rock.

GRIFFIN: That wraps it up for this edition of LIVE FROM.

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