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Explosion Starts Fire at Chemical Plant; President's Previous State of the Union Promises Still Unfulfilled; Samuel Alito Sworn in as Supreme Court Justice; Coretta Scott King, 78, Dies

Aired January 31, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Hello, I'm Kyra Phillips in B Control at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. LIVE FROM begins right now with a developing story.
Let's get straight to Betty Nguyen in the newsroom with more on a chemical plant explosion -- Betty.

BETTY NGUYEN, ANCHOR: Yes, Kyra. You need to take a look at these pictures. The fire is pretty much being put out. You can still see lots of smoke in the air. Fire still going on the ground and parts of this plant.

Want to tell you the explosion happened this morning at Synthron Incorporated, which is in Morganton. That's about an hour northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm going to try to give you those pictures in just a moment.

Here's what happened. The explosion occurred. Two people were taken to the hospital. Another live look at the fire that is still burning. Heavy black smoke billowing into the air. Heavy -- not only smoke, but crews are on the ground trying to put this out.

And I also have to tell you that areas surrounding this plant have been evacuated. Highway 70 is shut down. People are being told to avoid the area altogether. Authorities have evacuated residents. Those who aren't leaving are asked to take shelter in their homes, shut all the doors, stay inside.

Synthron, so that you know, has about 150 employees. The company makes textile and water treatment chemicals, de-foaming agents, paint, coating additives, things that are very explosive, which you can see the damage caused by the explosion there, much of the building is just gone.

And again, the fire is still being put out at this time, as you can see. Water being sprayed on top of it. If you look to the right- hand -- top right of your screen, you can still see some flames shooting out from what's left of this building. But nonetheless, the concern is what is being put into the air with all of the smoke and fumes coming from this fire. This plant explosion, at Synthron Incorporated.

Again, two people in the hospital. Evacuations have taking place. People are being told to stay out of the area. We're going to stay on top of this, Kyra, and give you the latest as soon as we know more.

PHILLIPS: Well, he's had an off year. The polls have been down. But President Bush will stay up in his fifth State of the Union speech, eight hours from now on Capitol Hill.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has a closer look at what the president will tell us. But we are being told, Suzanne, a swearing in has taken place.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, actually. Samuel Alito just got officially sworn in as a Supreme Court justice. A big victory for the White House, as you know, particularly when it comes to social issues.

The president promised, in his campaigning, of course, that he would bring judges, appoint judges that are more reflective of his philosophy and many of the other social conservatives, the Republican base.

Now the president -- we understand Alito is going to be at the State of the Union with the president this evening. That, of course, is going to be a very important issue, as well.

Now State of the Union, very interesting. We are told that he is now on his 31st draft, the final draft. It times out about 38 minutes without applause, very much like it was last year. Focusing on what the White House is calling some bold domestic initiative. That would be on energy, health care, domestic, rather, fiscal restraint and American competitiveness.

But Kyra, the big question here is, of course, you can promise a lot things, but is he going to deliver? That's what we take a look at, looking at last year's State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The state of our union is confident and strong.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush promised a lot last year, but did he deliver?

DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: The president deserves credit and high marks for his perseverance. But he has so many incompletes now.

MALVEAUX: Fresh from his re-election in 2004, Mr. Bush declared his 51 percent win a mandate and projected an air of invincibility. But some political analysts say the president overreached on his two top domestic priorities.

BUSH: Social Security was a great moral success of the 20th Century. And we must honor its great purposes in this new century.

MALVEAUX: Reforming Social Security, the centerpiece of last year's State of the Union, died after the president spent six months crossing the country peddling his plan to the American people.

NORMAN ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: The prospects of any action in Congress on Social Security reform are slim to none, and slim just left the building.

BUSH: You and I will work together to give this nation a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand and fair to all.

MALVEAUX: His second priority, tax reform. Recommendations made by the president's bipartisan Tax Reform Commission are collecting dust.

GERGEN: Reform of the tax cut has been a bust.

MALVEAUX: As for this promise...

BUSH: We must make health care more affordable and give families greater access to good coverage.

MALVEAUX: ... this year, making health care more affordable, is being reintroduced.

GERGEN: So far, he's got a -- at best, an incomplete if not a failure. He hasn't done very much to try to control health care cost.

MALVEAUX: Early in the year, the president did have a series of legislative victories with agreements on free trade, transportation and energy.

BUSH: We will keep America the economic leader of the world.

MALVEAUX: On the economy, Mr. Bush continues to report good job numbers. But faces a middle class that feels increasingly squeezed by the rising cost of gas and education.

GERGEN: On most subjects, the president has still got an incomplete. But please remember, he has three more years to govern.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And those three years, of course, considered a critical period for the president, not only to accomplish his domestic agenda but also to deal with some of those hot spots around the world, namely Iraq and Iran -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much.

Well, he was born on April Fools Day, nominated to his new job on Halloween and forced to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's in the eye of a partisan firestorm. But Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. will have a front-row seat for tonight's State of the Union address, having finally cleared his final congressional hurdle.

Our Ed Henry has the latest on Alito's ascension from federal judge to America's 110th Supreme Court justice. There's -- still it went with plenty of drama and bitterness, shall we say? ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and it's reflected in that vote count, 58-42. That's the most closely divided confirmation vote for a Supreme Court justice since 1981, back when Clarence Thomas was confirmed 52-48, which was the most bitterly divided vote in the last century there for Clarence Thomas.

It's a sign of just how nasty it got on both sides, right down to the end. Still, though, a sweet victory for the Republican, even though it's a close victory, a victory nonetheless. They'll take it.

A bitter defeat for the Democrats. As you know, they launched this last-minute quixotic filibuster. It fizzled. It divided their party. A lot of questions about how this is going to play out politically for them, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Caused a lot of controversy with this last-minute filibuster.

HENRY: Absolutely. And I mean, also, when you go to the hearings, a lot of these dramas, as you mentioned, these historic confirmation battles, you think back. There's one or two images that stick in your mind.

In this case, unfortunately for the Democrats, one image will be Mrs. Alito crying during those hearings, amid the attacks from Democrats. Now, Democrats would say those attacks were justified. They think that he deserved tough questions. He's going to be the swing seat on the high court.

But what makes it even more bitter for the Democrats is not just that they got bad publicity, but they didn't really score very many points, even by their own estimation. Even as they beat up on Alito, they really didn't get anywhere in the hearing.

So then they tried this last gasp effort, a second one on the floor, with the filibuster. That didn't work either. So at the end of the day, they're left really pretty bitter about it, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry, we'll keep in touch. Thanks, Ed.

HENRY: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Friends, admirers and fellow activists are paying tribute to Coretta Scott King today. Her contributions to the struggle, her quiet dignity, her constant grace under pressure. Mrs. King, who passed away last night in Mexico at 78, will be remembered as much more than the widow of a legendary leader.

Our Drew Griffin is live at the King Center in Atlanta.

Drew, despite her age and recent stroke, people are still pretty shocked by her passing. Yes?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's very sad here, of course, today, Kyra. But there is mild shock that she passed last night. And that's because many people here in Atlanta, a town where people knew her, you know, a first-name basis, thought she was on a bit of a comeback.

We had seen her in Atlanta, just this past month, January 14, at a dinner honoring her late husband. She was in a wheelchair and she didn't speak, but she did wave. And she looked like she may have been on somewhat of a comeback. But lo and behold this morning, we learned that she did pass at the age of 78.

And almost from that announcement, Kyra, there's been a steady stream of mourners and people coming to the grave site of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, here at the King Center, a center that she, indeed, made happen and keeping the legacy going.

And it was -- the mayor of Atlanta, the former mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young who talked about this morning her legacy in keeping his legacy alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER MAYOR OF ATLANTA: She always managed to believe in and adhere to the fact that we could overcome these difficulties without violence. She went from Marion to Antioch College in Ohio and from there to the Boston, New England, Conservatory of Music, where she met Martin Luther King. And I think he saw in her then a kind of strength and determination that brought them together and kept them together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Kyra, again, the mourners coming here this morning, most of them just telling us that they remember seeing her, bumping into her, and how gracious she was to them. And also what she has meant to them, their entire lives.

There was one note on a card. It was from a woman who said that she was 8 years old when she remembers being in school and learning that there would be a national holiday, marking Dr. Martin Luther King Day. And she thanked Coretta Scott King for that and for keeping this civil rights struggle alive with her life partner, both in life and in death, the late Dr. Martin Luther King.

PHILLIPS: Drew, just to take for an minute and let's talk about where you are there at the MLK Center. I mean, this is one of the first places that I came to visit when I moved here. I know you have brought the family there. It's pretty amazing, from visiting, of course where her husband rests and, in addition to the museum, with so many memories from their travels together. I mean, where you are right now is a pretty amazing place to visit.

GRIFFIN: Yes, and it's -- and it is a grave site, but it is also a living site. You know, this morning there were so many field trips that were scheduled here, as they are, I imagine, of almost every day, of children coming down here and learning about the civil rights struggle and learning about the history that many of their grandparents lived through that they now have to read about in history books. It is a living center. It is a national monument and a national park, and it does have that atmosphere of both reverence but also history and a living history that we are still learning from.

It's just so interesting. One of the write-throughs this morning called Coretta Scott King the first lady of the civil rights movement. And I think that is very fitting, that she is the one who, in 1968, decided she wasn't going to slink back from the national spotlight, but she was going to keep not only her husband's memory alive, but keep the legacy alive, and became a partner that struggle, from then on.

PHILLIPS: It's pretty amazing. I can just think of everything in the museum there, from MLK's Bible, to clothes that they both wore when they made those historic marches.

Drew Griffin, there at the MLK center, thanks, Drew.

The death of Coretta Scott King means the leadership of the family has truly passed to the next generation. Here's a quick look at the children of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Yolanda King is the oldest of the four King children. The 51-year-old is on the board of the King Center. She's also involved with Habitat for Humanity and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

Yolanda is also an actress. She played Rosa Parks in the NBC movie "King" and starred in "Ghosts of Mississippi."

Martin Luther King III is the second oldest of the King children. Martin spent many years at the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was started by his father. Martin stepped down from the post to take a more prominent role at the King Center in 2004.

Dexter is the third child. Besides directing the King Center for several year, Dexter is also well known for his campaign to exonerate James Earl Ray, the assassination of his father. Dexter met with Ray in 1997 and came away convinced the shooter was someone else.

Bernice is the youngest of the King children. She was only 5 years old when her father was assassinated. At age 17, she addressed the United Nations on the subject of apartheid. She published her first book, "Hard Questions, Heart Answers," in 1997. She is currently a minister at a Baptist church in Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, wounded in Iraq, two ABC journalists are on their way back to the United States this hour. Ahead, an update on ABC anchor Bob Woodruff and photographer Doug Vogt.

Plus the latest on Jill Carroll, American hostage being held in Iraq.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Two American journalists seriously hurt in Iraq are heading home as we speak. ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and photographer Doug Vogt were put on a medical transport plane in Germany hours ago bound for Washington. They'll be treated for the wounds they suffered Sunday in a roadside bomb attack at the brain injury center at Bethesda Naval Hospital. A German neurosurgeon says both men's prognosis is excellent.

Woodruff's brother elaborated on his condition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WOODRUFF, BROTHER: Bob, you know, obviously arrived here, you know, in you know, fairly serious condition, but he stabilized very well here. He, according to the doctors, he's doing well. Every hour that's gone by, he has shown improvement or hasn't gotten any worse. They said that's good news.

So his condition is good. And the care here has been incredible, at Landstuhl. They've done a wonderful job. The doctors have been communicating with us all the time. He -- the care he got in the field, you know, he was taken into the Balad field hospital within just about 30 minutes, so he got there, got treated.

And they -- the actions that they took saved his life. There's no question about it. According to the doctors here, they did great work down there, allowed him to get up here. And he's, you know, recovering well. We want to thank those guys, who did an incredible job, thank everybody here at the staff, at the hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: ABC says Vogt, who was not as seriously wounded, has been sitting up and speaking.

Joining forces for a common goal. A journalist group, Reporters Without Borders, says it's collaborating with Arab media to win the release of an American freelance journalist kidnapped in Iraq.

This comes a day after Al Jazeera aired new and disturbing the footage of Jill Carroll, kidnapped January 7 while on assignment for "The Christian Science Monitor."

Reporters Without Borders is sending two representatives to the Middle East to encourage Carroll's captors to set her free.

New details on the latest video of Osama bin Laden's deputy, ridiculing President Bush. In the video, broadcast by Al Jazeera yesterday, Ayman al-Zawahiri berated Mr. Bush for a U.S. air strike on a Pakistani village that killed 13 civilians, including women and children.

U.S. officials say that they believe Zawahiri was attending a meeting in the village at the time of that attack.

Joining me now, CNN international correspondent Nic Robertson. Why don't we just start by updating this story, what you know, and then I have a couple questions with you with regard to these tapes.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've had a chance to step back and analyze this. We said from the outset that this was a remarkably quick turnaround for Zawahiri to get this tape out. He references Osama bin Laden's message to the United States, a threat that they could attack here, the offer of a truce. That means it was recorded perhaps 12 days ago.

But the very fact that he has been able to release something so quickly when the CIA, at the time, said that they were targeting him, and then when they said they thought they might have missed him but hit some key members of al Qaeda, this tends to show not just that he's bold, but it tends to show that his support infrastructure immediately around him hasn't been affected.

And, therefore, you do have to question just how close they came to getting him. Because he hasn't gone away and hidden. He hasn't been -- his infrastructure around him doesn't appear to be depleted in anyway, and he's able to continue with these messages.

PHILLIPS: Stay with me. We're going to come back and talk about this some more, Nic, but I want to get straight to Betty Nguyen in the newsroom with a developing story that's happening right now.

Betty, what do you have?

NGUYEN: Kyra, we want to get more on this explosion at a plant in Morganton, North Carolina. We have on the phone with us Mayor Mel Cohen to talk about exactly what happened.

Mayor? Are you with us, Mayor?

MEL COHEN, MAYOR, MORGANTON, NORTH CAROLINA: I am, yes.

NGUYEN: Great. First of all, tell me what the situation is right now. Is the fire pretty much put out?

COHEN: Well, the fire is contained. There's a lot of smoke and...

NGUYEN: All right, we are having some audio difficulties. But as we look at this picture right now, the fire is still under way.

Mayor, I'm being told to tell you to turn down your television or a radio or anything like that that may be nearby that may be causing some interference. Can you hear us now, Mayor?

COHEN: I'm in a car so there's no... NGUYEN: Oh, you're in a car? OK. Well, so we're looking at live pictures. Do you know exactly, since the fire is still burning -- this has been happening for a little while now, what caused this plant explosion?

COHEN: We don't know exactly what caused it. The hazmat...

NGUYEN: All right, Mayor, obviously, we're having some more technical difficulty. We'll try to talk with you soon.

But let me give you an update, Kyra, on exactly what's going on. As you can see in these pictures, the smoke is still billowing into the air, thick, black smoke.

This plant explosion happened this morning at Synthron Incorporated. It's a French-owned company. It makes textile and water treatment chemicals, along with defoaming agents, paint and coating additives. Obviously stuff very explosive. And as you can see from the debris that's left, a huge explosion there destroyed much of the building.

Not only is it affecting that place, but look at the crews that are on the scene and the traffic that's being diverted. Highway 70, that runs nearby, is being shut down. People are being told to avoid the area altogether.

Those living nearby are being told to evacuate. And if they can't do that, officials are telling them to take shelter inside their homes, to shut all their doors and windows, and to stay inside.

The big concern, not only that two people have been flown to the hospital with no word on their conditions, but the concern, as well is, all the fumes that are being emitted into the air with the flames that are still, as you can see, burning bright at this hour, despite the fact that crews are on the scene and they have been for awhile to try to put this out.

I do want to tell you one more little thing that kind of gives us an idea of what happened during this explosion. A man would says he lives about 200 yards away from the plant -- and I'm quoting here -- says he saw a mushroom cloud rise from this plant.

And as you look at the devastation, you can see that this explosion had to be something to be seen, because quite a bit of damage on the ground, and the fire is still burning at this hour.

We're going to try to get back in touch with that mayor and get you the latest word, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Betty, thank you so much.

We want to continue our conversation now with Nic Robertson. Usually he's overseas covering these stories. You're with us here in Atlanta right now, talking about al-Zawahiri and this recently released tape. Pending attacks and the timing of these tapes, is there -- can we actually document all the tapes that have been released, whether audio or video, from him or Osama bin Laden, and been able to connect them to any types of attacks and put a time line together?

ROBERTSON: We certainly can. I mean, I think the most recent sequence is perhaps the easiest one to look at.

Zawahiri releases a tape. A few days later, there's an attack in one part of Pakistan. We don't quite know if that's after him. But seven days later there's -- after his message, there's an attack that we're told is targeting him.

Then we're told perhaps he wasn't there attending this feast, at a time of religious festival. We're told that it might have targeted other key members of al Qaeda.

Then within -- again, within three weeks of that, he releases another message. So it is just sort of classic guerrilla tactics by al Qaeda, if you will. But electronic guerrilla tactics. Guerrillas pop up in an ambush, they shoot their weapons, they run away and hide. You don't know where to shoot. They're doing it electrically with their propaganda. They pop up, put out this propaganda. Where do you fight back? This is the problem for the White House right now.

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you about that then. Because you think, OK, these are airing on Al Jazeera. So are there various runners acting covertly and dropping these tapes off at Al Jazeera? Or is everything happening by computer and something pops up at Al Jazeera on a screen -- does the CIA -- are agents keeping their eyes on Al Jazeera, trying to see if there is any unusual activity? I mean, are there any interesting inside...

ROBERTSON: They certainly know that's the place to watch, because that's where the tapes are ultimately arriving, all the material is ultimately arriving. And obviously, the question for them is how does it get there? Can they follow it back down the chain?

And the indication was, a couple of weeks ago, when they targeted Zawahiri, that perhaps they'd found some steps in that chain, because an attack came just a week after his message.

We know that for intelligence officials, one of the best ways of tracking terror groups now is through computers through the Internet. They put a lot of scrutiny onto how information may be passed. Could it be buried in computer games or pictures or whatever people pass around on the Internet? So that there's a lot of scrutiny there.

So it would seem al Qaeda would be pretty dumb -- and they've shown themselves not to be dumb in this regard in the past -- to try and send stuff over the Internet, because it would -- particularly big files like a video clip that Zawahiri released there.

So it seems that their most likely ways is that they're going to try and courier tapes and have cutouts. That is pass the tape off. The first person doesn't know the second person. The third doesn't know the second, has no idea about the first. And the tenth person has no idea how many people have had the tape before he gets it. He just knows that he has to get it from "A" to "B." And that's their security.

PHILLIPS: Nic Robertson, when are you going back?

ROBERTSON: We'll see. Soon, I hope.

PHILLIPS: Not sure. OK. Something to keep our eyes on. Thank you so much, Nic.

Women and children first on today's list of innocent victims of deadly violence in Iraq. Just north of Baghdad, gunmen shot dead the wife and two young sons of a Sunni cleric. The cleric found his family massacred when he returned home after evening prayers.

In the same province, insurgents killed three Iraqi soldiers and wounded three others. Elsewhere, police in Baghdad discovered the bodies of 11 handcuffed, blindfolded men inside a truck. Police think they may have been killed by sectarian death squads.

Deeply saddened, says Tony Blair. Tragic milestone, says the opposition Liberal Democrats. They're reacting to Britain's 100th military war death in Iraq. A soldier killed by a roadside bomb south of Basra near the Kuwaiti border. More than 230 British soldiers have been wounded since the U.S.-led invasion almost three years ago. Britain has about 8,000 soldiers in Iraq.

Girlfriend to greatness. The longtime friend of the late Coretta Scott King shares her memories of a couple who helped change America forever. The LIVE FROM interview is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Enron was a ticking time bomb. That's how prosecutors are characterizing the bankrupt company in opening statements today in the Houston trial of founder Ken Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. The two are charged with lying to the public about the company's financial footing while scheming to hide billions of dollars in losses.

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