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Holocaust Remembered; Congress to Tackle High Gas Prices?; Three Explosions Rock Egyptian City

Aired April 24, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A stunning question in one community today, where some of our kids plotting a massacre in southeast Kansas. Five teens face a judge this hour. They're suspected of planning a shooting rampage at Riverton High School last Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the Columbine killings. The teens allegedly wanted to wear black trench coats and to disable school cameras.
Police were tipped off after references to the alleged plot showed up on the Web site MySpace. They say they also found guns, knives and coded messages in one suspect's bedroom.

Where does this case go from here?

Let's bring in CNN senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin.

All right, there's the question. What are we going to see in -- in a couple of minutes here?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Tony, we are going to see where the prosecution is going to go at this stage.

They have been held for 72 hours, which, under Kansas law, they can do, without actually filing charges. And now we will learn whether charges will be filed, at least immediately. What is so peculiar about this case and what is difficult for law enforcement is, they always have -- they have a difficult tradeoff to make. Do they bring a case down and make sure that nothing bad happens, or do they wait until a crime is actually committed?

But, if you wait until a crime is actually committed, do you put people at terrible risk? That's -- that's -- they -- they decided to bring it down early. We will see whether they have enough evidence that -- that any of these defendants can be charged with a crime.

HARRIS: I think I understand. You're saying that, bring it down early, before a crime is actually committed puts a premium, then, on the evidence, doesn't it?

TOOBIN: It -- it does.

And we don't -- all we know are these very general descriptions...

HARRIS: Yes.

TOOBIN: ... like coded, messages, weapons. You know, I look at a -- a case like this, and I have to take, you know, my city boy background out of it. You know, when I hear that kids have guns, I think, oh, well, they must be criminals. This is rural Kansas.

HARRIS: Right.

TOOBIN: In rural Kansas, a lot more people have guns than where I grew up in New York. So, those are the kinds of things that a local prosecutor will be able to judge better than someone who is not familiar with the territory.

HARRIS: But we must trust, Jeffrey, that the e-mails, the postings on MySpace must be pretty specific.

TOOBIN: Well, again, we -- we have to wait and see. But that's why they're brought...

HARRIS: Yes.

TOOBIN: That is why they brought the case down.

And -- and, also, I think the timing is very significant, you know, the seventh anniversary of Columbine, you know, also the anniversary of the attack of -- of the Waco attacks, of the attacks on Oklahoma City. You know, April 11 has become...

HARRIS: That's right. That's right.

TOOBIN: ... this focus of, you know, frankly insane people's attention for -- for terrible acts.

So, the combination of the -- the e-mails, the weapons, and...

HARRIS: Right.

TOOBIN: ... the date, you know, it certainly seems like a reasonable choice that prosecutors and police made, which was to arrest these people, even if, ultimately, charges are not brought. But, frankly, it seems likely to me that charges will be brought of some kind.

HARRIS: And, then, the judge -- let's say the -- the charges are brought. Then, the judge has a decision to make, as to whether or not this case and these young people will be tried as adults.

TOOBIN: You know, this comes up over and over again in all these crimes...

HARRIS: Yes.

TOOBIN: ... involving teenagers. You know, it used to be, as -- as long ago as the '70s -- as recently as the '70s -- that the reason we had juvenile laws is that juveniles were treated differently.

But so many crimes have been so awful committed by teenagers that more and more communities, the prosecutors have the option of treating teenagers as adults, which means that they can go to jail for decades, and even life. So, it's an extremely important decision to decide whether these people will be charged as adults or -- or juveniles, or if they will be charged at all.

HARRIS: Yes.

And you are going to be analyzing the -- the -- as this comes down, you will be analyzing the quality of this evidence in -- in the prosecution's presentation, aren't you?

TOOBIN: I will be getting started, anyway.

HARRIS: Yes.

TOOBIN: I don't want to draw any long -- long-term conclusions, Tony.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: CNN's legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin -- Jeffrey, thank you.

TOOBIN: All right, Tony.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Thousands of miles away, in Alaska, police are patrolling North Pole Middle School after the weekend arrest of a half-dozen seventh-graders. That's right, seventh-graders. The kids, all boys, are suspected of plotting to attack classmates and teachers with guns and knives, because they felt picked on.

They allegedly planned to cut off the school's power and phones. Nine other students are suspended in connection with the case. Police say there's no link to the alleged plot in Kansas.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing to follow that developing story out of Dahab, Egypt, where three explosions have taken place in a Red Sea resort town -- upwards of 90 people possibly dead and injured in this.

Let's get on the line with CNN's Ben Wedeman to join us with the latest on what he knows about this.

This happened, oh, about, I -- I would say, an hour or so ago, Ben. What developments have you seen so far?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Basically, we understood, it took place at 7:15, local time, which would put it at about an hour and 40 minutes ago, three blasts very shortly after one another, this confirmed by senior Egyptian officials.

Now, Egyptian television, state-run television, has announced that as many as 23 people were killed in that -- in those blasts, in addition to many, many more wounded, as many 100 hundred people wounded. And, certainly, it is widely expected by the Egyptian officials, security officials I spoke with that, as time passes, the casualty toll, deaths and -- and fatality and -- and casualties, will increase.

NGUYEN: Ben, have you spoken with the Egyptian interior minister? And do you understand that, at this point, do they think that this is a terrorist attack?

WEDEMAN: Well, those Egyptian officials who I -- who I have spoken with certainly are -- fear that this very well may be the case.

One official I said -- I spoke with said that they have already sent -- dispatched a team of investigators to Dahab to look specifically into this possibility. And, certainly, the fact that it is three blasts would fit very much into the pattern of recent attacks in the Sinai Peninsula.

In October of 2004, there were three blasts happening very close to one another, in terms of time, leaving more than two dozen people dead. On July 23 of last year, there were three blasts in Sharm el- Sheikh, that leaving more than 80 people dead. So, certainly, this is a pattern. And the events of this evening the -- the blast in Dahab fit into that pattern.

NGUYEN: Ben, take us to the site of these three blasts. We understand from information coming in to CNN that this happened in a market and a hotel.

WEDEMAN: Yes.

What I have heard is that one blast took place in the market. One blast took place near a luxury hotel, and the third blast may have taken place near the court. Dahab is widely considered to be sort of the -- the backpacker's paradise for the Sinai.

Many people from Europe make their way to this area. It's very good for diving, for instance, scuba diving and snorkeling. So, on an evening like this, in the height of the Egyptian spring, it's very likely to have been quite crowded.

NGUYEN: So, would you say the mainly tourists are those among the dead and injured?

WEDEMAN: Well, we don't know, at this point, the breakdown of those who were injured and those who were killed.

But, certainly, it's highly likely there's a large percentage of non-Egyptians there. Having said that, it's also -- I -- I should point out that this is a five-day weekend in Egypt.

Today is the festival marking the beginning of spring. Tomorrow is, ironically, Sinai Liberation Day, which marks the return by Israel to Egypt of the Sinai Peninsula. So, many Egyptians make their way to the Sinai, make their way to the Mediterranean first to enjoy this holiday.

So, there would be a very large presence, international, and Egyptian in Dahab on a night like this.

NGUYEN: As you mentioned, this -- these blasts occurred about an hour and 40 minutes ago or so. What do you know about the emergency personnel on the ground? Are they equipped to handle upwards of 90 to 100 people possibly injured or dead?

WEDEMAN: Frankly, my experience here in Egypt, after eight years, is, no, they're probably not very well prepared.

The Egyptians are usually better prepared for security problems, like a riot, than they are for this kind of disaster, because, whether it is a natural disaster or a manmade disaster, in the form of terrorism, probably, there's a good deal of pandemonium on the ground.

The local hospitals, I'm almost certain, are not adequately equipped for the sudden appearance in their emergency wards of as many as 100 dead and wounded.

NGUYEN: Would you think they may be seeking help from those nearby? For example, we understand Israel has offered up some of its medical services to those in Egypt.

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly, the Egyptians are very proud. And we don't know at this point Egyptian officials here in Cairo would have accepted any offers from the Israeli.

In the case of the Taba bombing in October 2004, they did, in fact, allow Israeli rescue personnel and medical experts over, because it was literally just about a -- a three-minute walk from the Israeli border to the hotel that was hit most, severely hit, in those attacks.

In the case of Dahab, it's much further away, about an hour-and- a-half drive from the Israeli border. Given Egyptian sensitivities, the image of Israeli doctors and rescue personnel in Dahab would not go down very well among the Egyptian populace. So, I doubt they would be accepting any assistance from Israel.

NGUYEN: CNN's Ben Wedeman watching things play out there in Dahab, Egypt, as three explosions have rocked the resort town there, a number of those killed and injured. We are still trying to get a handle on the exact number there. But, of course, we're going to continue to follow this and bring you the latest as it becomes available to us -- Tony.

HARRIS: Help defend the dignity of man -- that plea from Israel's prime minister, who calls on the West not to ignore countries that advocate Israel's destruction.

Ehud Olmert spoke at the beginning of Holocaust Memorial Day, when Israel traditionally remembers the six million Jews killed during World War II. Tomorrow, air raid sirens will signal two minutes of silence, and volunteers will read the names of Holocaust victims. It's estimated about 280,000 survivors now live in Israel.

NGUYEN: Well, it's a slogan to some, a sacred duty to many millions more. Never forget. Tomorrow, in particular, the attention of the world is focused on the killing of six million Jews in Nazi concentration camps in World War II. It's Holocaust Remembrance Day.

And, though 60-plus have passed, there are plenty of people around, survivors, long-retired soldiers, who remember those horrors firsthand.

CNN's Kyung Lah met two of them. But you should know, her report contains powerful images that some viewers may find difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emaciated bodies rotting in the open, prisoners packed into sheds, others buried in mass graves, this is what Colonel Willis Scudder saw as a young army commander, when he and two soldiers liberated Ohrdruf, the first Nazi camp liberated by Americans.

COLONEL WILLIS SCUDDER, U.S. ARMY (RET.): It was a difficult sight to see, to know that those were -- had been human beings.

LAH: The survivors linger in the colonel's memory 60 years later.

SCUDDER: These people didn't seem to be walking. They seemed to be gliding. They wanted to come touch us, which they did. They didn't know who we were. We didn't know who they were, either. And we weren't prepared for something of this sort. It was beyond our ken to even understand that people could be treated this way.

LAH: The Ohrdruf camp stunned General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who called journalists there to capture these images to show the reality of the Holocaust. Americans then learned about the murder of six million Jews, a quarter-million Roma people, and 12,000 homosexuals by the Nazis.

SCUDDER: What it did was to give me a view of mankind and civilization, to know that the veneer of civilization is very thin, and you can scratch it, and -- and you find an uncivilized person or individual.

MARTIN WEISS, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: My mother, my three younger sisters, a lot of aunts, a lot of cousins.

LAH: Martin Weiss says Nazis murdered most of his family in the most infamous death camp, Auschwitz.

WEISS: We smelled bodies burning. You know, you could smell it. And they found out what it was all about.

LAH: The Americans arrived just days before he thought he would die.

WEISS: I remember looking at him. It's like they were 10 foot tall, because they would skip -- jump up and down from the jeep, and they were full of life. And the fact that they were Americans, it -- it was the kind of feeling that you can't describe. LAH: That feeling is what draws Weiss to volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

STEVE LUCKERT, CURATOR, U.S. HOLOCAUST MUSEUM: I think it's important for everyone to understand about the liberation of the camps, about the reality of those camps, to know something about what human beings experienced during this darkest of times.

LAH: Survivor and liberator urge the public to pause, because history is rendered meaningless unless it's remembered.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Hot under the collar about the price of gas? Sure you are. And lawmakers may have something to say about it, as Capitol Hill weighs in.

The news keeps coming. We will keep bringing it to you -- more LIVE FROM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Take a look at this video right now. We are just getting it in to CNN.

The guy you see right there is the 18-year-old suspect in the school plot that was discovered last week on the anniversary of the Columbine shootings there. This was a plot at Riverton High School -- a number of students suspected in putting this plot together. That's the 18-year-old, the man you see right there in the police escort, with the orange jumpsuit on.

Now, there are four other students who have been taken into custody, as this investigation gets under way, two of them 16-year- old. Another two are 17-year-olds. And, of course, we're going to continue to follow this case, as this investigation truly gets under way. We will bring you the latest.

HARRIS: CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is keeping a close eye on your weather. I peeked behind your back there to see the map. And you will -- you are following weather...

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is where you want to look.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: ... in the heartland there, Jacqui.

JERAS: Right there.

HARRIS: Right there.

JERAS: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

JERAS: Watching the hail, and a lot of it, Tony. It has really been nasty over the last couple of hours, in southern parts of Kansas, into northern Oklahoma. These hail-makers have been producing about golf-ball-sized chunks of ice coming on down on the ground, so severe levels, each and one -- every one of these individual storms that you see lined up there.

Pushing eastward, in Tulsa, you can see, just on the edge of it, your severe thunderstorm warning expired a minute and 45 seconds ago. So, you're in the clear, but east side of Tulsa still could be seeing some of this large hail. And the severe weather threat will be ongoing throughout the afternoon. There's severe thunderstorm watches in effect for you.

There, you can see the big blossom on our satellite picture. Another trouble spot today is the Northeast. And you can see the big swirl on the satellite picture of the low clouds, still seeing some occasional lingering showers.

And, hey, we have got some new places to add to our airport delay list. Just what you wanted to hear, right? Well, Boston is now into the mix. We have got a ground delay of about 40 minutes. Las Vegas still looking at about 30-minute departure delays. New York City, the numbers keep going up. We are now looking at an hour-and-40-minute ground delay. That's arriving into La Guardia.

Newark still holding steady at about 30 minutes. Philadelphia, we shaved off about 10 minutes for you, so making some improvements there. And San Francisco adding five minutes, your ground delay now arriving into San Francisco about 35 minutes overall.

Tomorrow, we're expecting more travel trouble along the roadways and the airways. The Northeast, look at that -- yet more rain into the forecast here. So, you can expect to have travel trouble there. Severe thunderstorms will be possible, pushing a little bit farther east and a little farther down to the south for tomorrow afternoon and evening, primarily.

We will be watching the Tennessee River Valley and then the Lower Mississippi River Valley, including New Orleans, heading on up towards the Memphis area, and possibly sneaking into Louisville.

West Coast has just been kind of cool. You have been doing pretty good across the Pacific Northwest, but we have seen some occasional rain on and off in the California area. We will see another system make its way on shore for tomorrow. And that's going to bring some occasional light rain showers.

Now, we are not expecting anything too heavy. Temperatures, about status quo across the West, then, 64 in San Francisco, as well as Salt Lake City -- Denver, 48 degrees, starting to warm up a little bit tomorrow. You had a little bit of snow early this morning. That is starting to dry up and will gradually warm up throughout the week. And check out the difference in air temperatures here, with that cold front pushing on through the nation's midsection. We're talking 90s today in Dallas. Look at tomorrow's forecast high, only 70 degrees. That's almost 10 degrees below average. But, there, you can see that warm bubble of air, still kind of lingering here, 88 degrees in New Orleans, 82 in Atlanta, and temperatures really not too shabby into the Northeast.

It's still not going to be a great day, though for you in New York City or Boston. But at least the temperatures are a little bit on the comfortable side.

HARRIS: She's good.

JERAS: Glass half-full.

NGUYEN: I like that...

JERAS: Tony, Betty.

NGUYEN: ... trying to find a silver lining in it all.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Yes. That's good.

NGUYEN: That's our Jacqui.

HARRIS: Yes. Right.

NGUYEN: Thank you, Jacqui.

(LAUGHTER)

NGUYEN: Will a fast-food fix hold the guilt? Coming up on LIVE FROM, Ali Velshi shows us how a Happy Meal can also be a healthy one, believe it or not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: It's the truth. You need a -- a full wallet to fill up your tank these days, but sticker shock at the pump means profit for oil companies.

Now, some say the government should do something about it. And some lawmakers agree.

CNN congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel joins us from Capitol Hill with details.

Andrea, good to see you.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony. Nice to see you, too.

Well, lawmakers barely hit the ground here in Washington, returning from their two-week break, before they were eager to send that message back to those constituents that they have been listening to for the last two weeks. The Republican leadership sent out this letter to President Bush, basically asking him to direct not just the -- the Federal Trade Commission, but also the attorney general, to investigate any potential collusion, price-fixing or gouging in the sale or distribution of gasoline.

Now, I can tell you that I have spoken to someone over at the FTC, who didn't want to respond directly to this letter, but said they do not, by law, look into gouging. Nevertheless, the message is very clear. And that is that the Republicans are listening to the American people, that they want to send out that message, that they know very much that they are about seven months away from hotly contested elections, both in the Senate and the House.

And gas prices are on everyone's minds. Now, Democrats have also been listening to what the Republicans are doing. And they are just not buying that. In fact, both the House and the Senate Democratic leadership basically saying that they feel that it's a bunch of empty rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: Does anyone think it's fair to have consumers pay $100 a week to fill their fuel tanks, and the big energy bosses fill their bank tanks with hundreds of millions of dollars? We, on a bipartisan basis, need to work to provide consumers relief at the gas pump. It's much more important than measures to appease a few.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOPPEL: Now, Republicans say that they have also spoken with the White House about talking to the EPA about getting certain regions to basically change their laws and to allow for less clean air, in other words, cheaper gasoline to be able to be burned.

Regulations would restrict certain types of gasoline. They are saying waive those regulations in certain regions, so that they can maximize the amount of cheaper gasoline that gets to the consumers. Republicans are also planning to hold a couple of hearings this week in the Senate, Tony, and -- in the House, rather, not in the Senate -- in the House -- to try to deal with all kinds of alternative fuels that they can try to get out to the American consumer.

But you can bet this is going to be on everyone's lips, certainly here on Congress', as they return from their recess.

HARRIS: I was hoping you wouldn't say we were on the path to more hearings, but you said it.

(LAUGHTER)

KOPPEL: Sorry.

HARRIS: You said it. And -- and let's hope, this time around, we get something concrete out of this.

Congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel -- Andrea, thank you.

NGUYEN: We are getting some new pictures in to CNN of those three explosions in Dahab, Egypt.

Let's get on the phone right now with CNN's Ben Wedeman to walk us through what has happened and set the stage for what is happening right now.

Ben, we're getting those pictures in. Tell us what you know.

HARRIS: Yes. We just received the statement from the Egyptian Interior Ministry, in which they say that three blasts took place at 7:15, local time. That's about an hour-and-45 minutes ago -- actually, two hours and 15 minutes ago.

According to this statement, the blasts took place one -- in two separate cafeterias, or restaurants, and a third in a supermarket. It says that 10 people were killed, including four foreigners -- their precise nationalities not being specified -- and that approximately 70 others were wounded in the blast.

Now, this slightly contradicts the reports that are being put out by Egyptian state television, saying more than 20 people were killed. And, as I said earlier, certainly, this -- because it's so early after the event, that the -- the precise information is sometimes contradictory.

But, when the ministry puts out details like this, we should certainly take them seriously.

So, just to recap, according to this statement, two of the blasts were in cafeterias, another in a supermarket, leaving 10 people dead, including four foreigners, and 70 people wounded.

NGUYEN: And we're looking at video of some of the emergency personnel on the scene.

Of course, we will stay on top of this.

Ben Wedeman, thank you for that update.

And you can see more on this developing story on THE SITUATION ROOM, as well, with Wolf Blitzer. That's coming up a little bit later this afternoon.

Stay with us. LIVE FROM will be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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