Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Operation Lightning; Terror Arrests; 'Defining Moments'

Aired May 30, 2005 - 14:00   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Lightning strikes in Baghdad as Iraq's own forces take the fight to the insurgents. A SITREP, as they say at the Pentagon, coming up.
From a picture-perfect New England town to the front lines of Iraq, as the troops ship out, those left behind pull together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the first chainsaw went dull they said, you know, "Don't go back. It looks like this building is on fire." And it just wasn't recommended. But I'd already made contact with her and promised her that I wouldn't leave her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Dramatic rescue from one of the worst natural disasters here in the U.S. Revisit the San Francisco earthquake, part of our 25th anniversary coverage.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

A reluctant warrior remembers, a nation at war honors warriors who never came home, and those who stand ready and willing to pay the same price make the same sacrifice anywhere in the world -- Memorial Day, 2005.

President Bush honored tradition this morning with a wreath and a speech at Arlington National Cemetery. Observing that 60 years now have passed since the end of World War II, Mr. Bush took note of a vastly different, yet somehow similar, threat to world peace in the 21st century.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Another generation is fighting a new war against an enemy that threatens the peace and stability of the world. Across the globe our military is standing directly between our people and the worst dangers in the world. And Americans are grateful to have such brave defenders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Seventy U.S. troops have died just this month in Iraq, along with many times that many Iraqis. Today Iraqi forces, with U.S. support, are fighting fire with lightning. Operation Lightning is an unprecedented crackdown relying largely -- the name notwithstanding -- on routine techniques of law enforcement. It's power comes from its scope, as we hear now from CNN's Ryan Chilcote, who is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq's security forces are launching their largest military operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Forty thousand Iraqi police and soldiers will take part in Operation Lightning, a massive dragnet for insurgents that will stretch throughout the entire Iraqi capital.

Iraqi police will take the lead, setting up checkpoints on the city's limits and in its numerous neighborhoods. They'll also be doing house-to-house searches and launching raids. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers and more than 10,000 U.S. troops will back them up as the Iraqi military tries to switch its posture and goes on the offensive.

South of Baghdad, in the city of Hilla, two suicide bombers took aim at Iraq's own security forces. The first suicide bomber blew himself up next to a line of police recruits. As people ran to attend to the victims, a second detonated his explosives.

More than two dozen Iraqis were killed. More than a hundred wounded. It left desperation and grief in its aftermath, but little surprise. Insurgents have killed nearly 800 Iraqis this month.

(on camera): Operation Lightning is not only an attempt to restore the Iraqi people's confidence in their military's ability to protect them. It's an attempt to show that far from being the ones who are always targeted, they can find targets of their own.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Kim Jong-il, take note. If you didn't know already, you're on Dick Cheney's bad list. Tensions between the Bush administration and reclusive North Korea have worsened over the weeks amid reports the communist enclave might be preparing to test a nuclear weapon.

Here's the vice president speaking to CNN's Larry King about the mercurial North Korean leader and the international effort to keep him in check.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've been working with the Chinese, the Japanese, the South Koreans and the Russians to persuade the North Koreans to give up their aspirations for nuclear weapons, to get them to understand that they're not going to have normal relationships with the outside world in terms of commerce and industry and trade if they become a nuclear power. To date, you know, those talks have not produced much. We're continuing to work it very hard.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": You worried about it?

CHENEY: I am concerned about it partly because Kim Jong-il, who's the leader of North Korea, is I would describe as one of the world's more irresponsible leaders. He runs a police state. He's got one of those heavily-militarized societies in the world, the vast bulk of his population live in abject poverty and stages of malnutrition.

He doesn't take care of his people at all. And he obviously is -- wants to throw his weight around and become a nuclear power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Dick and Lynne Cheney, Larry King's guests tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE," 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.

As those who died in the war on terror are honored this day, two Americas are accused of conspiring to support al Qaeda terrorists. A doctor and a martial arts expert arrested as part of a two-year FBI sting.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick live now from New York with details -- Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the government says they are terrorists, Tariq Shah from the Bronx, a self-described martial arts expert and a jazz musician, as well as Dr. Rafik Sabir, an emergency room doctor in Palm Beach County, Florida. Now, both men were arrested over the weekend. Mr. Sabir at his home in Florida, Mr. Shah at his apartment in the Bronx. Both were charged in a criminal complaint with one count each of providing material support to terrorism.

Now, this ends a two-year undercover investigation. An FBI agent was posing as a recruiter for jihad, and he told the men that he was actually authorized by Osama bin Laden to give them the oath of allegiance to the head of al Qaeda, and that's an oath that both of those men took.

Now, in the complaint the government says that Shah agreed to train al Qaeda associates in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. And as for Dr. Sabir, he is alleged saying that he would treat wounded jihadis. Several of these conversations that took place actually recorded between Mr. Shah and the undercover FBI agent.

Now, the complaint does not say that any of the allegations actually went past the talking point to the actual planning stages. The mother of Mr. Shah says that the charges are ridiculous, while neighbors of Dr. Sabir say that he was a very caring man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a surprise to everybody, to be honest. They are nice people, you know. She's very nice, and to me he's, I mean, a normal person.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: Both men are expected to appear in federal court tomorrow after the holiday weekend to answer the charges against them -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Deborah Feyerick in New York. Thank you very much.

CNN, of course, committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay with us day and night for the latest.

Update now on the horse that was stuck in the mud. Last hour we first told you about it.

KTLA's helicopter providing us these pictures which were fed in just a little while ago, not live. Workers there in Sun Valley, California, southern California, Burbank area, eureka. Up goes the horse, off he goes. And a little bit of time with a curry comb and a brush and a little bit grooming.

Not very happy there right now. He's thinking, well, I don't want to get stuck in more mud.

Don't worry. It's OK. It's OK, fellow.

The rider was taken away on a stretcher. We don't know his condition at this point, but we don't believe it to be gravely serious.

He was conscious and speaking to the rescuers at the time. He was kind of wedged underneath the horse in the mud for a spell.

This first came in to us about a little after 12:40 Eastern Time, 9:40 Pacific Time. Horse and rider we believe OK. None too worse for the wear in Sun Valley, California.

Onward.

A small Ohio town is in mourning following an apparent multiple murder-suicide. That story at the top of our news "Across America" now.

Six found shot to death in two neighboring farm houses in Bellefontaine. Authorities reportedly say an 18-year-old is believed to have been the shooter. He was to have graduated yesterday from high school. A seventh is in critical condition.

A murder suspect facing more charges in that crane standoff here in Atlanta. There you see as he was subdued.

Carl Edward Roland is accused of killing his girlfriend in Florida. He now faces charges, including reckless conduct. Police, as you saw there, used a stun gun Saturday to end the standoff on that 350-foot crane which crippled traffic here in Atlanta.

Prices at the pump expected to go down further this summer. The Lundberg Survey found gas prices now tend to peak in the string rather than the summer. Gas prices have fallen an average of six cents a gallon this month.

And in Virginia, a black bear cub goes to school. Well, sort of.

This cub was found in a tree on the campus of the University of Virginia. Authorities used a tranquilizer blow dart to bring him down. Apparently not the trampoline that we're so fond of telling you about here. He will go back to the wild after he sleeps it off.

Now an item from Hollywood's "what if" file.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: If you had offered me a job making $6 an hour, you know, whatever, 20 years ago, I would have took it and never told a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Wow. We're glad that didn't happen. If you aren't getting enough of him this week in theaters, the Chris Rock interview is coming up in our entertainment headlines. He gets a little more than $6 an hour these days.

Yes, it's history in the making, folks, the sound of things to come. A ring tone tops the chart for the first time. It's "Crazy Frog" time ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. A little bit of breaking news for you right now.

We're just finding out about a plane crash in Iraq. Apparently the U.S. military is saying an Iraqi aircraft crashed in eastern Iraq, the Diyala province. Four Americans and an Iraqi onboard.

Once again, the U.S. military says an Iraqi aircraft has crashed in eastern Iraq in the Diyala province. Four Americans and an Iraqi onboard. We don't have much more to offer you at this point, but we're watching it for you.

Holiday barbecues could be forced to move indoors. But gosh, do not bring the grill inside, folks. That would create a whole different kind of story, wouldn't it? No, don't do that. But I have not seen a rainier map in a long time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Now, as we mentioned to you quite a bit, this is a special week for us at CNN. We're celebrating 25 years of bringing you the stories that defined our lives. And we're catching up with the people at the heart of it, like Shira Cox (ph) and Gerry Shannon. Their friendship was born amid devastation in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHUCK AFFLERBACH, CNN PRODUCER: One of the memorable images was from a surveillance camera at the time that the shaking began. Everyone's reaction was, uh-oh, something's happening, I've got to get out of here.

We made our way through San Francisco. It was dark, it was spooky. When we got to the bureau, it was dark also, because there is no power in the city. Except the building had an emergency generator which provided lights for the exit signs, and our bureau chief, Kim Chamberlain (ph), had ingeniously found a way to tap into the power from the exit sign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ken, what can you tell us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The power is out in our building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that's how we managed to send pictures and reports out of the San Francisco bureau during the power failure.

The three areas hardest hit by the quake were the Bay Bridge, where a 50-foot section collapsed. There was also a mile-long section of double-decker freeway pancaked on top of itself. And then, of course, the marina district in San Francisco, where a whole city block went up in flames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For God sakes, go and help yourselves out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The footage of the fire in the arena district, with the collapsed building in front of it, it was propped up by beams and fire was threatening it. That was one of the images that we've seen over and over again, and it also produced one of the more dramatic rescue stories out of the earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The walls started caving in toward me, and then the ceiling fell on me, literally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A woman named Shira Cox (ph) was trapped in the rubble when her building collapsed around her, and a firefighter by the name of Gerry Shannon crawled through the rubble in an attempt to rescue her. And that story was one of the more powerful stories that we told during the '89 earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a voice asking if anyone was in the building, and I tried to shout, but I could tell they couldn't quite hear me. So I found this iron pole and started banging on the door.

GERRY SHANNON, FIREFIGHTER: After the first chainsaw went dull, they said, you know, don't go back, it looks like this building is on fire. And it just wasn't recommended. But I'd already made contact with her and promised her that I wouldn't leave her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew he'd be back. I never doubted for a moment that he wouldn't get me out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the earthquake happened, I was sitting right there. I didn't think at the time that it was anything special, and it's turned out to be obviously the biggest event of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I think about what happened, I mostly feel today that I'm -- was very fortunate. Whatever injuries I had, they were all taken care of right away.

I lost only possessions, nothing of my friends. And I didn't realize how many friends I really had until that happened. One little boy wrote me a note about all these things, and at the very end he said, "I'd send you money, but I don't know you."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was amazed at her attitude, you know. Here's a woman who lost everything in 10 seconds, and everything she had on the face of the Earth was wiped out.

I think during the quake I had a moment of clarity, you know, that possessions, again, from Shira (ph) mean nothing. My best friend Rick always goes, "The earthquake screwed you up, you know. You're not same guy." And I'm not the same guy, because my value system changed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know, we're very, very good friends, and always will be. You don't want that sort of thing to happen, but it does prove that good things do happen out of a really terrible situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: June 1st marks our official 25th anniversary. Wednesday night, CNN will bring you a special look at the top stories that we've witnessed altogether over the past quarter century. "Defining Moments: 25 Stories That Touched our Lives," it begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. Please join us.

With a dad on duty in Iraq, a little boy reaches out for some support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were praying for daddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Got to give this kid a hand, seriously. Find out how 2,000 hand cut-outs have cured his nightmares.

And Chris Rock talks about his movies, what he'd advise the youth of today, and how close he came to not ever telling jokes for all of us. The interview is straight ahead. And we're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Breaking story we're following for you. In eastern Iraq, an Iraqi aircraft is down, four Americans aboard, one Iraqi. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with further details -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, very sad news on this Memorial Day, Miles, for four U.S. military families. The U.S. military is now confirming that an Iraqi aircraft, air force aircraft fixed wing, has gone down about 30 miles northeast of Baquba.

This is An Iraqi air force fixed wing aircraft. There were, however, four U.S. Air Force personnel onboard and one Iraqi. In fact, the crash was reported to a U.S. military command center by local Iraqis in the area who saw the plane go down.

Now, at this time, the U.S. military is not saying what type of Iraqi air force airplane it was. And here is the reason. There are only a small number of U.S. military advisers who work with the Iraqi air force directly right now, and what they tell us is they are trying to reach the families of those American Air Force personnel. If they were to say publicly the exact type of airframe it was, they fear that that would identify who was on board that aircraft, which U.S. military personnel, and they don't want to do that, of course, before they officially notify the families.

Also at this time, the cause of this mishap remains under investigation. Officials are not able to say yet whether it was some kind of accident, mechanical failure, or if the plane went down due to enemy fire. But, again, an Iraqi air force fixed-wing aircraft is down about 30 miles from Baquba. All onboard are presumed to have perished at this point. Four U.S. Air Force personnel working with the Iraqis and one Iraqi personnel onboard that airplane -- Mile.

O'BRIEN: Barbara, we haven't heard too much about the Iraqi air force. You mentioned it's not -- there's not much of an air force. What sorts of missions do they fly?

STARR: Well, they are really just getting up and running, frankly. They have a number of different types of fixed-wing aircraft.

They do reconnaissance and surveillance, by all accounts. They are not yet armed to be an offensive bomber or strike force, if you will. That mission, of course, is left to the United States Air Force and the U.S. Navy, as well as U.S. Army helicopters. But what they're trying to do is get them back up and running, get them also into a transportation mode so they can begin to move their own troops around the country and get them less dependent in the months and years ahead on the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy.

To the best of our knowledge at this point, this is really the first major mishap that the Iraqi air force has had. And again, what we don't know at this point is whether it was brought down due to enemy fire or some type of mechanical or accident -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with a poignant reminder of what we are all about here on this Memorial Day, remembering those who are giving the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of U.S. interests in Iraq.

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 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 30, 2005 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Lightning strikes in Baghdad as Iraq's own forces take the fight to the insurgents. A SITREP, as they say at the Pentagon, coming up.
From a picture-perfect New England town to the front lines of Iraq, as the troops ship out, those left behind pull together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the first chainsaw went dull they said, you know, "Don't go back. It looks like this building is on fire." And it just wasn't recommended. But I'd already made contact with her and promised her that I wouldn't leave her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Dramatic rescue from one of the worst natural disasters here in the U.S. Revisit the San Francisco earthquake, part of our 25th anniversary coverage.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien. Kyra off today. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

A reluctant warrior remembers, a nation at war honors warriors who never came home, and those who stand ready and willing to pay the same price make the same sacrifice anywhere in the world -- Memorial Day, 2005.

President Bush honored tradition this morning with a wreath and a speech at Arlington National Cemetery. Observing that 60 years now have passed since the end of World War II, Mr. Bush took note of a vastly different, yet somehow similar, threat to world peace in the 21st century.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Another generation is fighting a new war against an enemy that threatens the peace and stability of the world. Across the globe our military is standing directly between our people and the worst dangers in the world. And Americans are grateful to have such brave defenders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Seventy U.S. troops have died just this month in Iraq, along with many times that many Iraqis. Today Iraqi forces, with U.S. support, are fighting fire with lightning. Operation Lightning is an unprecedented crackdown relying largely -- the name notwithstanding -- on routine techniques of law enforcement. It's power comes from its scope, as we hear now from CNN's Ryan Chilcote, who is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraq's security forces are launching their largest military operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Forty thousand Iraqi police and soldiers will take part in Operation Lightning, a massive dragnet for insurgents that will stretch throughout the entire Iraqi capital.

Iraqi police will take the lead, setting up checkpoints on the city's limits and in its numerous neighborhoods. They'll also be doing house-to-house searches and launching raids. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers and more than 10,000 U.S. troops will back them up as the Iraqi military tries to switch its posture and goes on the offensive.

South of Baghdad, in the city of Hilla, two suicide bombers took aim at Iraq's own security forces. The first suicide bomber blew himself up next to a line of police recruits. As people ran to attend to the victims, a second detonated his explosives.

More than two dozen Iraqis were killed. More than a hundred wounded. It left desperation and grief in its aftermath, but little surprise. Insurgents have killed nearly 800 Iraqis this month.

(on camera): Operation Lightning is not only an attempt to restore the Iraqi people's confidence in their military's ability to protect them. It's an attempt to show that far from being the ones who are always targeted, they can find targets of their own.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Kim Jong-il, take note. If you didn't know already, you're on Dick Cheney's bad list. Tensions between the Bush administration and reclusive North Korea have worsened over the weeks amid reports the communist enclave might be preparing to test a nuclear weapon.

Here's the vice president speaking to CNN's Larry King about the mercurial North Korean leader and the international effort to keep him in check.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've been working with the Chinese, the Japanese, the South Koreans and the Russians to persuade the North Koreans to give up their aspirations for nuclear weapons, to get them to understand that they're not going to have normal relationships with the outside world in terms of commerce and industry and trade if they become a nuclear power. To date, you know, those talks have not produced much. We're continuing to work it very hard.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": You worried about it?

CHENEY: I am concerned about it partly because Kim Jong-il, who's the leader of North Korea, is I would describe as one of the world's more irresponsible leaders. He runs a police state. He's got one of those heavily-militarized societies in the world, the vast bulk of his population live in abject poverty and stages of malnutrition.

He doesn't take care of his people at all. And he obviously is -- wants to throw his weight around and become a nuclear power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Dick and Lynne Cheney, Larry King's guests tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE," 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.

As those who died in the war on terror are honored this day, two Americas are accused of conspiring to support al Qaeda terrorists. A doctor and a martial arts expert arrested as part of a two-year FBI sting.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick live now from New York with details -- Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the government says they are terrorists, Tariq Shah from the Bronx, a self-described martial arts expert and a jazz musician, as well as Dr. Rafik Sabir, an emergency room doctor in Palm Beach County, Florida. Now, both men were arrested over the weekend. Mr. Sabir at his home in Florida, Mr. Shah at his apartment in the Bronx. Both were charged in a criminal complaint with one count each of providing material support to terrorism.

Now, this ends a two-year undercover investigation. An FBI agent was posing as a recruiter for jihad, and he told the men that he was actually authorized by Osama bin Laden to give them the oath of allegiance to the head of al Qaeda, and that's an oath that both of those men took.

Now, in the complaint the government says that Shah agreed to train al Qaeda associates in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. And as for Dr. Sabir, he is alleged saying that he would treat wounded jihadis. Several of these conversations that took place actually recorded between Mr. Shah and the undercover FBI agent.

Now, the complaint does not say that any of the allegations actually went past the talking point to the actual planning stages. The mother of Mr. Shah says that the charges are ridiculous, while neighbors of Dr. Sabir say that he was a very caring man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a surprise to everybody, to be honest. They are nice people, you know. She's very nice, and to me he's, I mean, a normal person.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: Both men are expected to appear in federal court tomorrow after the holiday weekend to answer the charges against them -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Deborah Feyerick in New York. Thank you very much.

CNN, of course, committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay with us day and night for the latest.

Update now on the horse that was stuck in the mud. Last hour we first told you about it.

KTLA's helicopter providing us these pictures which were fed in just a little while ago, not live. Workers there in Sun Valley, California, southern California, Burbank area, eureka. Up goes the horse, off he goes. And a little bit of time with a curry comb and a brush and a little bit grooming.

Not very happy there right now. He's thinking, well, I don't want to get stuck in more mud.

Don't worry. It's OK. It's OK, fellow.

The rider was taken away on a stretcher. We don't know his condition at this point, but we don't believe it to be gravely serious.

He was conscious and speaking to the rescuers at the time. He was kind of wedged underneath the horse in the mud for a spell.

This first came in to us about a little after 12:40 Eastern Time, 9:40 Pacific Time. Horse and rider we believe OK. None too worse for the wear in Sun Valley, California.

Onward.

A small Ohio town is in mourning following an apparent multiple murder-suicide. That story at the top of our news "Across America" now.

Six found shot to death in two neighboring farm houses in Bellefontaine. Authorities reportedly say an 18-year-old is believed to have been the shooter. He was to have graduated yesterday from high school. A seventh is in critical condition.

A murder suspect facing more charges in that crane standoff here in Atlanta. There you see as he was subdued.

Carl Edward Roland is accused of killing his girlfriend in Florida. He now faces charges, including reckless conduct. Police, as you saw there, used a stun gun Saturday to end the standoff on that 350-foot crane which crippled traffic here in Atlanta.

Prices at the pump expected to go down further this summer. The Lundberg Survey found gas prices now tend to peak in the string rather than the summer. Gas prices have fallen an average of six cents a gallon this month.

And in Virginia, a black bear cub goes to school. Well, sort of.

This cub was found in a tree on the campus of the University of Virginia. Authorities used a tranquilizer blow dart to bring him down. Apparently not the trampoline that we're so fond of telling you about here. He will go back to the wild after he sleeps it off.

Now an item from Hollywood's "what if" file.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: If you had offered me a job making $6 an hour, you know, whatever, 20 years ago, I would have took it and never told a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Wow. We're glad that didn't happen. If you aren't getting enough of him this week in theaters, the Chris Rock interview is coming up in our entertainment headlines. He gets a little more than $6 an hour these days.

Yes, it's history in the making, folks, the sound of things to come. A ring tone tops the chart for the first time. It's "Crazy Frog" time ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right. A little bit of breaking news for you right now.

We're just finding out about a plane crash in Iraq. Apparently the U.S. military is saying an Iraqi aircraft crashed in eastern Iraq, the Diyala province. Four Americans and an Iraqi onboard.

Once again, the U.S. military says an Iraqi aircraft has crashed in eastern Iraq in the Diyala province. Four Americans and an Iraqi onboard. We don't have much more to offer you at this point, but we're watching it for you.

Holiday barbecues could be forced to move indoors. But gosh, do not bring the grill inside, folks. That would create a whole different kind of story, wouldn't it? No, don't do that. But I have not seen a rainier map in a long time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Now, as we mentioned to you quite a bit, this is a special week for us at CNN. We're celebrating 25 years of bringing you the stories that defined our lives. And we're catching up with the people at the heart of it, like Shira Cox (ph) and Gerry Shannon. Their friendship was born amid devastation in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHUCK AFFLERBACH, CNN PRODUCER: One of the memorable images was from a surveillance camera at the time that the shaking began. Everyone's reaction was, uh-oh, something's happening, I've got to get out of here.

We made our way through San Francisco. It was dark, it was spooky. When we got to the bureau, it was dark also, because there is no power in the city. Except the building had an emergency generator which provided lights for the exit signs, and our bureau chief, Kim Chamberlain (ph), had ingeniously found a way to tap into the power from the exit sign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ken, what can you tell us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The power is out in our building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that's how we managed to send pictures and reports out of the San Francisco bureau during the power failure.

The three areas hardest hit by the quake were the Bay Bridge, where a 50-foot section collapsed. There was also a mile-long section of double-decker freeway pancaked on top of itself. And then, of course, the marina district in San Francisco, where a whole city block went up in flames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For God sakes, go and help yourselves out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The footage of the fire in the arena district, with the collapsed building in front of it, it was propped up by beams and fire was threatening it. That was one of the images that we've seen over and over again, and it also produced one of the more dramatic rescue stories out of the earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The walls started caving in toward me, and then the ceiling fell on me, literally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A woman named Shira Cox (ph) was trapped in the rubble when her building collapsed around her, and a firefighter by the name of Gerry Shannon crawled through the rubble in an attempt to rescue her. And that story was one of the more powerful stories that we told during the '89 earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a voice asking if anyone was in the building, and I tried to shout, but I could tell they couldn't quite hear me. So I found this iron pole and started banging on the door.

GERRY SHANNON, FIREFIGHTER: After the first chainsaw went dull, they said, you know, don't go back, it looks like this building is on fire. And it just wasn't recommended. But I'd already made contact with her and promised her that I wouldn't leave her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew he'd be back. I never doubted for a moment that he wouldn't get me out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the earthquake happened, I was sitting right there. I didn't think at the time that it was anything special, and it's turned out to be obviously the biggest event of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I think about what happened, I mostly feel today that I'm -- was very fortunate. Whatever injuries I had, they were all taken care of right away.

I lost only possessions, nothing of my friends. And I didn't realize how many friends I really had until that happened. One little boy wrote me a note about all these things, and at the very end he said, "I'd send you money, but I don't know you."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was amazed at her attitude, you know. Here's a woman who lost everything in 10 seconds, and everything she had on the face of the Earth was wiped out.

I think during the quake I had a moment of clarity, you know, that possessions, again, from Shira (ph) mean nothing. My best friend Rick always goes, "The earthquake screwed you up, you know. You're not same guy." And I'm not the same guy, because my value system changed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know, we're very, very good friends, and always will be. You don't want that sort of thing to happen, but it does prove that good things do happen out of a really terrible situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: June 1st marks our official 25th anniversary. Wednesday night, CNN will bring you a special look at the top stories that we've witnessed altogether over the past quarter century. "Defining Moments: 25 Stories That Touched our Lives," it begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. Please join us.

With a dad on duty in Iraq, a little boy reaches out for some support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were praying for daddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Got to give this kid a hand, seriously. Find out how 2,000 hand cut-outs have cured his nightmares.

And Chris Rock talks about his movies, what he'd advise the youth of today, and how close he came to not ever telling jokes for all of us. The interview is straight ahead. And we're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Breaking story we're following for you. In eastern Iraq, an Iraqi aircraft is down, four Americans aboard, one Iraqi. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with further details -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, very sad news on this Memorial Day, Miles, for four U.S. military families. The U.S. military is now confirming that an Iraqi aircraft, air force aircraft fixed wing, has gone down about 30 miles northeast of Baquba.

This is An Iraqi air force fixed wing aircraft. There were, however, four U.S. Air Force personnel onboard and one Iraqi. In fact, the crash was reported to a U.S. military command center by local Iraqis in the area who saw the plane go down.

Now, at this time, the U.S. military is not saying what type of Iraqi air force airplane it was. And here is the reason. There are only a small number of U.S. military advisers who work with the Iraqi air force directly right now, and what they tell us is they are trying to reach the families of those American Air Force personnel. If they were to say publicly the exact type of airframe it was, they fear that that would identify who was on board that aircraft, which U.S. military personnel, and they don't want to do that, of course, before they officially notify the families.

Also at this time, the cause of this mishap remains under investigation. Officials are not able to say yet whether it was some kind of accident, mechanical failure, or if the plane went down due to enemy fire. But, again, an Iraqi air force fixed-wing aircraft is down about 30 miles from Baquba. All onboard are presumed to have perished at this point. Four U.S. Air Force personnel working with the Iraqis and one Iraqi personnel onboard that airplane -- Mile.

O'BRIEN: Barbara, we haven't heard too much about the Iraqi air force. You mentioned it's not -- there's not much of an air force. What sorts of missions do they fly?

STARR: Well, they are really just getting up and running, frankly. They have a number of different types of fixed-wing aircraft.

They do reconnaissance and surveillance, by all accounts. They are not yet armed to be an offensive bomber or strike force, if you will. That mission, of course, is left to the United States Air Force and the U.S. Navy, as well as U.S. Army helicopters. But what they're trying to do is get them back up and running, get them also into a transportation mode so they can begin to move their own troops around the country and get them less dependent in the months and years ahead on the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy.

To the best of our knowledge at this point, this is really the first major mishap that the Iraqi air force has had. And again, what we don't know at this point is whether it was brought down due to enemy fire or some type of mechanical or accident -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon with a poignant reminder of what we are all about here on this Memorial Day, remembering those who are giving the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of U.S. interests in Iraq.

Back with more in a moment.

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