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Hurricane Dennis' Impact; Report From Guantanamo Bay

Aired July 11, 2005 - 14:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN.com continues to follow the impact of Hurricane Dennis. Watch free video of the storm coming ashore. You can also send in your stories, pictures and video of the storm as a citizen journalist. Just go to CNN.com/hurricane to see how the remnants of that storm will affect where you live.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: What was once Hurricane Dennis is now a tropical depression. Despite the title change, though, the storm is still causing a host of problems. Dennis is bringing a barrage of rain as it heads inland and leaving rising waters in its wake. Flood watches are in effect today for parts of Georgia where many roads, creeks and rivers have overflowed their banks. More than 850,000 customers in four states are without power this afternoon and utility officials say it could be at least three weeks before everything is up and running once again.

And forecasters are urging people in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi to be on alert for isolated tornadoes today. So far, estimates of insured losses range from $3 billion to $5 billion.

PHILLIPS: Well, thanks to our citizen journalists, we're getting a bird's-eye view now of what a hurricane can do. This sequence of three photos send us to by Neil (ph) in Sea Grove, Florida, in the northwest Panhandle, between Destin and Panama City. The photos show what happened to his neighbor's beach access steps. Here seen on Friday, July 8th well before Dennis came calling. Then despite what that date stamp says, this is the same view Sunday morning, July 10th, just before the storm made landfall. And once more -- wow, take a look at this -- Dennis rolled through, completely swallowing the stairs. Not to mention the beach pretty much wiped out in this location.

Well, if you're anywhere in the affected area of Hurricane Dennis, e-mail us your pictures of the storm damage. We'll get them on. Our address, CNN.com/hurricane, but we'll tell you what we always tell our camera crews, be careful out there. Your safety is first and foremost.

BLITZER: It is first and foremost and the most important of everything. Florida Panhandle, people at least there are breathing a sigh of relief after dodging the brunt of Dennis.

PHILLIPS: But the small fishing town of St. Marks, Florida, wasn't so lucky. We talked about it last night. There's a ten-foot storm surge that overflowed from Apalachee Bay, submerging homes, businesses and streets.

BLITZER: Our Chad Myers has been in St. Mark's, surveying the damage. He's there now live. Chad, what it's like?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's getting better because relief is on the way. The Red Cross is already here. That's the great news. Things are getting a whole lot better for these people here. Down the street here, you see the Riverside Cafe and all of the restaraunts and all of the places along the waterfront there were really heavily damaged. The St. Mark's River Cantina right here, cold beer and good food, there's no cold beer in there because there's no electricity. And maybe there's good food in there, but we're going to have to work on buying some, because they have to replace everything that was in that shop.

The boats here at this marina are in good shape, but down a little further and a little closer to land, there were a bunch of boats on what we call rack storage. That rack storage, two little planes about, oh, so far apart, almost looks like a trailer that doesn't wheels. They take the boats and they put them down there and they keep them in dry dock storage. Well, when the water came up, the boats came up, but the dock didn't. The boats floated away and ended up crashing into each other.

And I want to introduce you to a lady in this town who actually married -- you are the notary public -- you did the wedding ceremonies for half this town. Everybody calls you Mom. We'll call you Miss Joy for now. There's your grocery store back there. Where we're standing is underwater yesterday, over both of our heads. Your building is in the water. It's basically shut down. But you know what, Miss Joy, your parking lot's full. How come?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's my good neighbors that have come out to help me clean up this mess and get started all over again.

MYERS: I said to you earlier, you know, you have to be a friend to have friends. And if I had that many, I must have been a pretty good friend. You've had to be nice to these people over the years. But the stories I've heard about you are pretty amazing. Tell me some of the amazing stories about the other people that are in this town.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, there would be so many that I could think of right offhand, I wouldn't know where to start. It's just an amazing bunch of people and I don't care what kind of disaster we have or what kind of hardship anybody has, everybody bands together to help.

MYERS: You bought that store 40 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's correct.

MYERS: I talked to your sons about it. You've run the thing full time. You run -- sometimes you run it on a piece of paper with a pencil.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's correct.

MYERS: Because you run credit. I don't think too many stores in Atlanta run credit anymore. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I doubt it.

MYERS: Now, tell me, how do you run your store? How do you do this? Well, I guess, why do you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I love it. I love the people, I love the work, and everybody has got to be someplace and I'd rather be there.

MYERS: I wish the viewers could actually see inside that building over there, because I've been in there for most of the day. At least 20 volunteers, 20 of your friends. And when I talk to them, I actually I come to tears at how many great things they have to say about you. And I think, Miss Joy, that says a lot about this town because I think you are the fiber that holds this town together and they're trying to help you put your place back together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know that I hold it together. I think we all just band together and do it. Each and everyone has a part.

MYERS: Well, from what I understand, your record on marriages to divorce is pretty good. So I think you know some good characters when you see them. Miss Joy, thank you very much. We wish you the best of luck. The place in there -- literally, the place in there, guys, this morning was an absolute wreck. Right now, it looks like, well, not like nothing happened, but it's certainly coming together a lot better than it was this morning.

PHILLIPS: Chad's got a new friend.

MYERS: I really do. I love this...

BLITZER: It's a lovely story.

MYERS: everybody calls her mom. We're going to have more on this story, actually, on "ANDERSON COOPER" tonight at 7:00.

BLITZER: We'll be watching.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Chad.

Well, more fascinating images from our citizen journalists just ahead this hour, but first, the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. President Bush made an open invitation for journalists to visit, so we did. Our Ben Wedeman is here, just back from Gitmo. He joins us next to tell us what he saw.

BLITZER: And T minus about 49 hours until NASA's scheduled return to space, but could the lift-off be delayed? We'll go live to the Kennedy Space Center. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now to a different kind of story, the eye of a different kind of storm, a storm of controversy, as one of our CNN reporters visits the military prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

PHILLIPS: Ben Wedeman joins us today here in Atlanta. He took President Bush up on his suggestion to just go down to GITMO and have a look for himself. And I'm -- First of all, I guess I'm the most fascinated by the fact that your video was screened and you were told what we could see and not see.

WEDEMAN: That was part of the ground rules at Guantanamo. Basically, that the military or rather civilian employee, the Department of Defense, goes through the tapes and any picture, any image that shows a detainee's face or profile is erased.

Now, the military says that this is because to protect the identity of those who are considered compliant detainees and to protect their families back home, who might be harmed by members of al Qaeda or other organizations.

BLITZER: Ben, one of the reasons we sent you to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay was because you're fluent in Arabic and we were hoping that you'd have a chance to speak with some of those detainees in Arabic and get a sense of what they say. Did you have that opportunity?

WEDEMAN: No. That was clearly -- from day one we understood that they weren't going to allow that to happen. I was able to pick up snippets of conversation between the prisoners, really just light banter more than anything else. And every time I would sort of wander away from the group I was with, the group of journalists, the military would keep a very close eye on me, because they knew I could understand and they'd sort of direct me back to the group. So, it was almost impossible. In fact, impossible to have any contact with the detainees.

BLITZER: So, it really -- other than the fact that you're an excellent reporter, the thought that we had that you could speak to them really didn't pay off.

WEDEMAN: Well, as I said, I picked up snippets. I mean, I heard two prisoners who didn't realize we were there, just talking among themselves, shouting because they were in two different areas.

One said, in a very heavy gulf Arabic accent, "I miss you," and the other responded, "I miss you back" and then they started to talk back and forth insulting one another with profanity I can't repeat here.

PHILLIPS: Well, I want to ask you about the politicians that made the 24-hour trip to Guantanamo Bay and they came back and said how great it was and conditions were so good and that they had a chance to observe an interrogation. So much of an interrogation is classified. So, what did they observe and do you think this was more PR or substance?

WEDEMAN: Well, my understanding is that they were able to watch three interrogations, one of which was where the interrogators read for several hours "Harry Potter, " and apparently... BLITZER: In English.

WEDEMAN: No, it was in his native language, which I think was Arabic. And apparently, after a few hours he covered his head and turned his back his back. He couldn't take it any longer.

But this is contrary to the kind of interrogations that are permitted there, which include sleep deprivation and exposure to extremes of heat and cold. And obviously, they didn't see that. We weren't allowed to see that sort of thing. So, the military is anxious, very anxious to show that they are treating the prisoners well and as far as we could see, they are. But there are certain aspects...

PHILLIPS: But then, they'll going to be on their best behavior when you're there, when politicians are there.

WEDEMAN: Of course. I mean, in their defense, it's a difficult job. Some of these prisoners are dangerous, are people you want to keep behind bars and for instance, one of the guards was telling me that they have what is called a Cocktail Number Four thrown at them by some of the prisoners and if you excuse me, this includes basically a mixture of fecal matter, urine, spit and semen.

And so, these are dangerous men, some of them; about 10 to 15 percent we were told. And the military down there is convinced that they are doing an important job.

BLITZER: Did you get the sense that the authorities have in effect changed their conditions, changed their procedures in the aftermath of all the criticism earlier? Did you speak with some of the guards there and said: Yes, we're doing things differently now than opposed to, let's say, a year ago?

WEDEMAN: Well, I think there is a lot of new stopgap measures in place to prevent abuse. For instance, we were told that they keep a very close eye on the guards to make sure if they're showing signs of stress; if they've become introverted; if they're drinking too much. Then, basically they're taken aside. They're given some time off, some counseling to avoid the kind of misbehavior, for instance, that we saw at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

BLITZER: And there is, what, about 500 detainees still there?

WEDEMAN: We're told approximately 520 and that's down by about 200 from its peak. And just when we were there, in fact, they were holding these review boards and it was decided that four would be released and that, I believe, 26 would be transferred to other countries, because they were deemed to be no longer a threat to the United States.

PHILLIPS: And of course, the military has said if you let certain individuals go back to various countries, well, it's a vicious cycle: Go back, get involved with the insurgency once again.

I mean, were you able to talk about that at all with any of the military officials who, of course, think it's very important to keep GITMO up and running at a time where some politicians and human rights activists are saying: You need to close it down.

WEDEMAN: Well, they do point out that there about 12 cases of former detainees who've gone out and rejoined the fight. And in one case, at least, they said he -- this individual had actually killed U.S. servicemen.

There are other cases where prisoners -- they have a problem releasing them, because they know that if they send them back to their home countries: Yemen, Egypt, Pakistan, that these individuals may end up in a torture chamber back home.

So, it really falls to the State Department to try to find out if they'll be all right if they're sent home and if not, to find alternate places for them to go to.

BLITZER: Ben, I was at Guantanamo Bay in the early '90s, when I was CNN's Pentagon correspondent and that time, the U.S. was holding Haitian migrants there. But it is a lovely spot on the Cuban island. When the vice president, Dick Cheney said to me the other day: It's the tropics, it's a lovely place. He has a point, it is a lovely place.

WEDEMAN: It's a lovely place, but it's prison. And you can have prison anywhere, it's always prison and certainly the conditions are -- they could be worse.

I mean, these people are provided with checkerboards, at least the well-behaved, the so-called compliant ones, they get checkerboards, backgammon boards. They get library books, playing cards and by-and-large, their conditions aren't bad.

Now, there is, for instance, a report that the average weight gain is six pounds for people who've stayed in the Guantanamo, but at the end of the day, tropics or not it's a prison.

PHILLIPS: Calls of worship also respected. Did you actually hear the calls while you were there?

WEDEMAN: Yes, we did and they do seem to be taking public pains to show that they are respecting Islam. For instance, with the Quran, which there have been, I think, five reported incidents by the Pentagon itself of somehow desecration or misuse or mistreatment of the Quran.

But the guards are under strict instructions: They are not supposed to touch the Quran. If they have to carry it, they carry it on a towel. So, they're walking on -- you know, they're trying to be very careful down there on that very sensitive topic.

BLITZER: Prison is prison, tropics or not. Ben Wedeman is our Cairo-based reporter who is doing an excellent job for us. Welcome back to the United States. You're heading right back.

WEDEMAN: That's right. PHILLIPS: Thanks, Ben.

BLITZER: Ben Wedeman, thanks very much.

WEDEMAN: My pleasure.

BLITZER: After almost 2 1/2 years, it's back to space for NASA. The shuttle Discovery is on the pad, but will it launch Wednesday as planned? We'll have a live report. That's coming up.

PHILLIPS: Also ahead: Hurricane Dennis. See the storm through the lenses of our citizen journalists, when LIVE FROM rolls on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, NASA took a gamble on Dennis and won, betting that Hurricane Dennis wouldn't hit the Kennedy Space Center. Mission managers decided not to undergo the time-intensive process of moving that space shuttle. Right now, the Discovery is still sitting pretty on the launchpad. Countdown clocks are ticking on schedule for the first space shuttle launch in two-and-a-half years. But Dennis or no Dennis, weather may still be a factor.

CNN's Sean Callebs joins us now with more on Wednesday's planned lift-off. Hi, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. I'm just keeping the chair warm for Miles when he gets here tomorrow. Don't worry, don't worry. Indeed, Dennis has already played into a degree -- a small degree. The astronauts had to arrive here at the Cape a day early, concerned that the storm may affect them and their scheduled arrival today. So Commander Eileen Connor (ph), as well as Jim Vegas Kelly (ph) and the other five crew members are here.

Now, most of the work today has been going on the checking last- minute systems, specifically looking at some of the 100 cameras that will detail the launch of Discovery, set for Wednesday afternoon, just around 3:51 Eastern time. Engineers certainly want to make sure that no debris causes any kind of damage to the shuttle as it hurtles into space. So these cameras are going to capture the shuttle from every angle imaginable and then, of course, the engineers and everybody will go over those photos extensively.

Now, over the past two and half years, the shuttle has simply been overhauled. There have been 50 improvements made to it at a cost of a billion dollars. Some of them -- the shuttle shell has been toughened up to withstand some debris impact as it lifts off from the launchpad. Also, there is a big new 50-foot arm with two lasers on the end of it. And once in orbit, these lasers will be able to go over the wings and over the nose cone to make sure there are no cracks or that has been compromised in any fashion whatsoever.

Also, theoretically, astronauts could make some repairs in space, but this is something even the astronauts are not comfortable with at this point. If any of the tiles would be damaged during liftoff, they could even dock Discovery at the International Space Station, then sometime within 35 days, send Atlantis up for a rescue mission. But that would be incredibly complex. But it's just one of the changes that NASA has undergone over the past two and a half years.

Indeed, the whole mindset of managers here at the space agency has been overhauled, as well. There is great concern that perhaps safety had been compromised in recent years to keep the shuttle on schedule. It's a great deal of pressure to get the International Space Station up and fully running and the space shuttle is getting older. This was a craft designed in the '70s, built in the late '70s, began flying in the '80s. So they're getting ready for the next generation to take astronauts into space and trying to get the ISS done.

Now, some things we've heard down here, vulnerable, still danger despite all the work. There are still a lot of people holding their breath here at NASA, wondering how this launch will go. But we won't find that out here until Wednesday. Just a five-minute window, and they're going to do the next several launches during the daytime, so all these cameras can detail exactly what happens as the shuttle lifts off -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll definitely be following it. And Sean, you did a great job. I know it's Miles' beat, but you got that space talk down. Sean Callebs, thank you.

BLITZER: He is a very smart guy, Kyra, Sean Callebs. Maybe not as smart as Miles O'Brien when it comes to space stuff, but he's a very, very smart guy. Good work, Sean.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BLITZER: Thanks to some of our CNN viewers in the storm zone, we're getting some unforgettable images from Hurricane Dennis. Our so-called citizen journalists who have answered the call include Heather in Apalachicola, who sent us this dramatic shot of floodwaters raging across the sea wall. Check this out. Randy shows us homes near collapse at Blue Mountain Beach in Ft. Walton Beach, two hours after Dennis made landfall. Ron in Panama City shows a catamaran riding out some rough waves at St. Andrew's Marina. And Daisy in Apalachicola sent us this shot of an uprooted tree that ironically fell on a dentist's office.

If you're anywhere near the affected area of Hurricane Dennis and you want to e-mail us some pictures, video still, you can do so. Our address, CNN.com/hurricane. As our citizen journalists will tell you -- what we tell our camera crews all the time -- don't do anything risky. Your safety is key.

Well, next hour, Dennis is causing problems far from the Gulf Coast today. Take a look at this. A suburban Atlanta city has basically been turned into a lake. Live from the scene and just coming up.

And was one of President Bush's most trusted advisers behind a leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity? Howard Kurtz from "The Washington Post" and CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" will join us when we come back at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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