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Florida Braces for Hurricane; Canadian Terror Suspects Complain of Treatment; Midwest Oil Tanker Struck by Lightning; Small Plane Crashes in Florida; Bush Meets with Iraqi Advisors at Camp David

Aired June 12, 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: Hi, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Here we go again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Good God, you know, who would have thought that -- we've got a lot of work to do. This is -- this potentially could be a hurricane. And it has a wide -- has a potential wide impact for a lot of people in our state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Tropical Storm Alberto strengthens as Floridians prepare. Is there a silver lining to those rain clouds?

Successor named. The U.S. forces got their top man in Iraq. Now al Qaeda names a new leader

And inside Guantanamo. New calls to shut down the U.S. detention camp after three detainees commit suicide. This hour an inside look behind the bars of GITMO.

On alert for Alberto. The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season swirling just off Florida's northern Gulf Coast. A powerful tropical storm right now, possibly a hurricane by the time it makes land tomorrow. Already hurricane warnings are out, tornadoes have been spotted, and Floridians are bracing for a lot of rain.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is watching and waiting in Clearwater Beach. And our severe weather expert, meteorologist Chad Myers is in the CNN Weather Center.

Chad, let's start with you. Where's the storm and how strong is it?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's not that far west of Tampa, and how we know that now is when we can actually see the storm, the center of the storm, Kyra on radar. So many times when a storm is in the Caribbean or way out in the gulf, all you see is the satellite.

But when you can actually see the curvature of what could be the eye forming here, you know it's getting close enough, less than a couple hundred miles from the coast, because that's about how far a radar beam can shoot before it's so far in the sky. And a radar beam goes straight, and the earth kind of falls off, because it's a big circle. And so you don't get very far in with a radar beam because it's way too high. By the time you get out a couple hundred miles, you're 5,000 feet, 10,000, 15,000 feet in the sky.

So here's the storm on the satellite picture. It did gain some strength overnight, but now it appears like it's losing a little bit of that strength. And here's the whole deal. It is still a tropical storm, Tropical Storm Alberto. The winds are 70. You only have to get another four to five, and then you're in a hurricane.

So the reason why there are hurricane warnings is because that is forecast to be a hurricane before it does make landfall. So hurricane warnings are in effect from the Okalopee River (ph) all the way down to Long Boat Key. And that does include Tampa.

So what does that mean? That means hurricane conditions will be felt in this area within 24 hours. It's coming. It's already there, and in many spots already seeing some really bad weather, thunder and lightning around, also seeing two tornadoes on the ground earlier today, south and east of Tampa.

There's the swirl of the storm one more time. Now I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop the radar and give you a better idea of what's going on around the state.

This big red box, that is a tornado watch box. Tornadoes are possible in that box, because the storms as they roll on shore could be strong enough to contain the tornado.

Now, we're looking at a pretty big one here around Orlando, also back up to almost Titusville. A lot of thunder and lightning in this storm, and that storm wasn't all that far from Kissimmee and also the theme parks just a few minutes ago. There's Kissimmee right there. The storm moved right over the theme parks and on up toward Orlando and Buena Vista now.

So if you're in that storm, get inside, stay inside. A lot of lightning with it, but other than that, the storm still not going to make landfall. The eye of the storm, if there's an eye, doesn't come on shore until tomorrow afternoon -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Chad. We'll be talking all day. No doubt. Thanks so much.

Well, no surprise they're boarding up and stocking up from Sarasota to Tallahassee just in case. Our Susan Candiotti joins us now from Clearwater Beach with more.

Set the scene for us, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in one word I can do that. It's miserable out here.

This is the best kind of wake-up call Floridians and anyone who lives in a hurricane zone area can get that hurricane season is under way, as either Tropical Storm Alberto or as -- if it turns into a hurricane, Hurricane Alberto is close, getting closer and closer all the time.

Gulf of Mexico, you can see over my shoulder, doesn't look too bad. Obviously, visibility is, well, fairly low, but the seas are calm right now, and you see some swimmers out there, as well as people using their surfboards or skim boards out there all morning long.

Again, this is another -- yet another reminder from authorities that people really need to be extra careful. They would prefer they not be out there at all because of the possibility of rip currents.

Now, a portion of the state...

PHILLIPS: Susan, bear with me for just a second. Susan Candiotti, we'll get right back to you. I apologize.

Just real quickly, I want to let folks know about a small plane crash. We just are getting these pictures in via our affiliate WTVT. This is out of Davis Island, Florida. That's near Tampa, not far from downtown Tampa.

Jen, let me -- how close -- is my producer is actually from Florida. How far is the airport from Davis Island, Florida? Do you know? Let me know if you know that information.

About 15 or 20 minutes from Davis Island, Florida, is the Tampa airport. Don't know where this small plane launched from. Don't know what type of plane it was, but now you're kind of getting a visual on Davis Island here and where that crash has taken place.

Obviously, not good weather. You can see that it's not real clear. There's -- you can see that it's been raining, obviously, according to the streets, but this video just coming into us via our affiliate WTVT. A small plane crash in a neighborhood here on Davis Island, Florida.

We'll get you more information as soon as we get it. Let's get back to Susan Candiotti now in Clearwater Beach.

Susan, I apologize. We had to break away there for a second. You were giving me the one-word wrap, and that was miserable. But you were giving us a few more details there.

CANDIOTTI: Sure. And that includes, you know, in the state of Florida in particular and I'm sure other places, as well, you see a lot of blue tarps on roofs. And that is because there are any number of reasons: not enough building materials to fix them, not enough people around to fix them. Sometimes people have simply run out of money.

And so as a storm like this approaches, those people are particularly concerned about what lies ahead, and even Florida's governor talked about that at a press conference this day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J. BUSH: Another reason, by the way, that -- to not get too -- fret too much, "Oh, this is a Cat 1 or, you know, tropical storm." If you don't have a roof over your head or it's a weakened roof, it's not going to matter too much whether it's 60 mile-an-hour winds or 70 mile-an-hour winds or 75 mile-an-hour winds.

So we have -- the cumulative impact of these storms is that we have a lot of construction that has been deferred from a lack of building materials because of Katrina and a lack of contractors to deal with all this demand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: So as you see, people out taking a walk on this very yucky day out here in the Clearwater area. Others are out buying up supplies, batteries, for example, just in case there are power outages. And in a couple of communities north of here, about an hour or so, they are providing residents with sandbags because we are expecting, as you know, up to 10 inches of rain, if not more, and plenty of inland flooding is expected.

One other thing. There's a silver lining in some of this. Brush fires have been hammering the state of Florida, certain parts of it, central, north Florida. And the hope is that the amount of rain we receive here will help to alleviate that situation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Susan Candiotti there in Clearwater. We'll continue to check in with you throughout the day, Susan. Thanks so much.

We are continuing to follow that plane crash out of Davis Island, Florida. It's about 15 to 20 minutes from the Tampa airport, not far from downtown Tampa. You can see that this small plane crashed into a nearby neighborhood. Not quite sure if this was a residential home or not. When we were looking at sort of a wide shot from the chopper, it appears it might be. Don't know if anybody was inside or if, indeed, it was an abandoned home in this neighborhood.

We're starting to see bits and pieces of that aircraft. You can see part of the wing there with the red trim. Now, you're getting sort of -- there you go. Now, you've got a shot of the front of that aircraft. You can see there's not much left of this fire -- or of this plane crash and the fire that took place.

Firefighters responded immediately to the scene, have been working this fire. There are some small flames still inside the house where this plane crashed. You can actually see where the aircraft hit a vehicle that was parked there either in the driveway or inside that house. You can see firefighters still working small flames.

If you're just tuning in, we're getting these pictures from our affiliate, WTVT out of Florida. It's a small plane crash. We're trying to work details on where it came from, how many people were on board, and what type of plane it was. As soon as we have it, we'll bring it to you.

And CNN will be checking in with our affiliates around the region also as we track the storm. We just heard from our Susan Candiotti. Also Chad Myers working all the maps for us.

Someone else we're going to check in now with, Bay News 9 reporter Chuck Johnson. He's joining us from Hernando County, where the sandbagging has already started. Usually, it's the sandbags and boarding up the windows, right?

CHUCK JOHNSON, BAY NEWS 9 CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Everybody's getting ready for the storm here. We traveled from Tampa to Clearwater and here to Hernando Beach, which is about 45 minutes north of Pinellas County.

Now, this person here has already filled up his track with sandbags. More than three dozen people have been here at the Hernando Beach Volunteer Fire Department, putting sand into bags, and we have one lady here who's doing it for a very good reason. Pat's story.

Pat, give me an idea why you came here today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have some elderly neighbors that can't get out and do it. Her husband's in the hospital, and she can't do it herself. So me and my grandson came out to get sandbags to keep them from flooding out.

JOHNSON: Are you in a low lying area like a lot of folks around here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really, normally, but when they built my house next door to her a year and a half ago, they built it up, up, and now everything goes down into her house.

JOHNSON: So you're a neighbor helping a neighbor. That's a good thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's what we're supposed to be doing.

JOHNSON: And James, your grandson here. James, what do you think about the rain?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's really wettening (sic), and I think everybody needs to stay out of it because it's very cold.

JOHNSON: That's good advice, but right now we are under a hurricane warning here. We're expecting some very high winds over the next 24 hours, and, of course, a high amount of rain, which leads to a lot of flooding in this area, that's why we expect a lot more folks to be here putting sand into bags, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Chuck Johnson, thanks so much.

And if you're concerned about Alberto, stay with CNN, your hurricane headquarters. You can track Alberto's projected path online at CNN.com/Weather.

Now the alleged terror plot in Canada. A bail hearing began this morning in a courtroom near Toronto for some of the men accused of plotting spectacular attacks against the Canadian government.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve following the story, and she joins me now live with the latest -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, an outburst from two of the defendants punctuated this morning's court hearing, which has dealt largely with how the defendants are being treated in jail and also in the courtroom.

It was called cruel and inhuman treatment by one of the lawyers, David Kolinsky. He spoke to reporters outside. He's representing Zacarias Zamara (ph). He spelled out what he's talking about.

I'm sorry, we don't have that. He -- he said that these men are being held in small cells about 12 x 6, that a light is kept on 24 hours a day, that they're allowed to walk only about 20 minutes a day. He said that his client had been beaten by guards yesterday.

Another lawyer said that there were sour apples, bad apples amongst the guards, and he said that one guard had threatened his client, saying that if he was put in the general population he would be raped.

While the lawyers were having this discussion two of the defendants raised their arms. One of them, Yassin Mohammed, said, "That's torture straight up." Another one by the name of Mohammed Dirie said, "Look at the bruises," saying -- implying that this was evidence of the maltreatment they were receiving.

I should say that Mohammed and Dirie are the two defendants who are already serving jail time for trying to smuggle weapons into Canada from the United States.

In addition there was discussion about how the defendants are being treated in the courtroom. They're being brought in, in groups. They are shackled together at the hand. The lawyers have asked that this not be the case. The judge has said in the future they will be brought in individually, but they will still be shackled.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jeanne Meserve, we'll continue to follow this story with you. Thank you so much.

And stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Getting word now of another developing story, this one out of Glenn Pool, Oklahoma. We're getting some in live pictures. An apparent lightning strike possibly ignited a storage tank at a petroleum farm just south of Tulsa. This happened this morning.

More from our affiliate, KGRH, and reporter Rick Tillery (ph) is there.

RICK TILLERY (ph), KGRH CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. We're here just out of Tulsa; we're just a little bit to the southeast. At 9:08 this morning Central Time, a lightning strike struck one of the holding tanks that's holding about 125,000 gallons of gasoline. It ignited that gasoline, set it on fire, and as you can see behind me -- I'm going to step out of the shot -- it's just an incredible shot of flames, smoke pouring up into the air.

It was going straight up for a little while. Now, we've got a little bit of a storm front coming in from the northwest, and that's a bit of a concern, so fire officials here saying that it could send the smoke down more towards ground level. And it could be a danger to those people who are living down to the southeast of this area.

Now, we're hearing that there are no injuries. I'm going to step back in the shot now, Charlie. There are no injuries out here.

The pipeline -- this is one thing that's very important. This is the Explorer Pipeline that fuels basically all of the gasoline stations up in Chicago, the Midwest area. It's an extremely important pipeline for gasoline to the Midwest. It's shut down right now because of this explosion. So that could be a big problem for gasoline supplies here coming soon.

PHILLIPS: All right, Rick, thank you so much. We'll stay in touch with you as that develops, especially the danger.

We want to get straight now to the president of the United States. Let's listen in. As you know, he's been meeting at Camp David with Iraqi advisors about the war on terror. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To win in Iraq. The government needs to sustain itself and defend itself. You recommendations are valued. I look forward to continuing to visit with you later on this afternoon about how we can help this new government succeed.

You've all been -- I do want to thank you all very much for remaining in theater and working as hard as you are. And you're making a significant difference, and again, please give my best congratulations for the troops on the ground for bringing Zarqawi to justice.

I fully recognize that's not going to end the war. On the other hand it's a major blow to al Qaeda and the killers and terrorists that are trying to spread violence to the -- and stop the emergence of the new democracy. We left off where were talking about Iraq and your perception of this new government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President. As I was saying that with a major success in bringing about the government of national unity in Iraq, a government in which all communities are represented, and that -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with a cabinet that is constant -- successful with the prime minister, with hands on, both chief executives with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) political measures, prioritizing what is needed in terms of what Iraq must do. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the security minister is independent and -- the new government has many tasks and security measures (UNINTELLIGIBLE) coalition. And we will (UNINTELLIGIBLE) secretaries of defense and interior meet, the interior has been satisfied the (UNINTELLIGIBLE). President (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's tape we just got in. The president of the United States there at Camp David, side by side with his V.P. and secretary of state, meeting with Iraq advisors, seeking to boost public support for the war and capitalize, of course, on the death of the terror leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Now, another developing story that we were just bringing to you, pictures -- I don't know if we have live pictures or we're going to roll that tape again. OK. Via our affiliate, WVTV. This is tape of the scene. It's a small plane crash in Davis Island, Florida. That's not far from Tampa, Florida. Laura McElroy is from the Tampa Police Department. She joins me now on the phone to tell me more about this crash.

Laura, what do we know?

LAURA MCELROY, TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT: As you can probably see from the video we have quite severe weather in Tampa as Tropical Storm Alberto is approaching our coast, and despite that weather a small plane did attempt to take off from the Peter O'Knight Airport, which is located on Davis Island here in Tampa.

And during that takeoff the plane crashed right into a home right at the end of the runway. Right now, we know that we had two victims who were severely burned and transported to the hospital. One has died at the hospital. The other is in serious condition.

We do not know if the victims were living there in the home or if they are from the plane wreckage. It's just too early to tell. We're still battling the fire and securing the area so that we can get inside the house and find out exactly what happened.

PHILLIPS: So -- OK, so do we know how many people were on board that small plane?

MCELROY: We don't at this point.

PHILLIPS: Commercial aircraft, private aircraft?

MCELROY: These are all private aircraft. It's a small airport, Peter O'Knight, on Davis Island.

PHILLIPS: So the individuals that you said one dead, a couple injuries. We don't know if those injuries were on that aircraft or inside that home?

MCELROY: Correct. We just don't know at this point. We're still battling the blaze, and obviously haven't even gotten inside the home to begin the investigation. And obviously we'll be calling out the NTSA to get to the bottom of what caused the wreck. We do have the severe weather, but it's really too early to say if that's what caused it.

PHILLIPS: Do you know where the plane was headed to, Laura?

MCELROY: No, we don't have any information on their flight plan yet, since this just happened in the last few minutes.

PHILLIPS: And tell me the name of that airport again on Davis Island.

MCELROY: Peter O'Knight on Davis Island, which is right in downtown Tampa.

PHILLIPS: OK. Do you know what time that plane took off?

MCELROY: No, but crash was just in the last few minutes, and the crash was during takeoff, so it was just a very short time ago.

PHILLIPS: What neighborhood is this? Is this a neighborhood, obviously, not far from the airport? Do you, by chance, know the street or the proximity of this neighborhood?

MCELROY: Well, actually there are houses right at the end of the runway. Davis Island is a neighborhood community where a lot of people who work downtown live in Davis Island. It's an -- it's literally an island in Tampa Bay right off of downtown Tampa, and that is the entire island is populated by homes. And at the end of the runway are quite a few houses as part of the subdivision there.

PHILLIPS: All right. I'm now getting a wide shot. I can see exactly where that is, that subdivision right at the end of the runway. I'm just curious, just looking at this setup, has this ever happened before, Laura, just considering how close those homes are to that runway?

MCELROY: Actually, it has not. We've had that airport there for as long as I can remember, and we've never had a plane hit a house there before.

PHILLIPS: All right. Laura McElroy, Tampa police, I appreciate the information. We'll stay in touch with you.

If you're just tuning in these pictures coming to us via our affiliate, WTVT. A small plane crash on Davis Island, Florida. We were able to confirm with Tampa police now it was a private plane. You can see this neighborhood is right at the end of the runway. Because of the foul weather due to this tropical storm brewing in Florida, Laura McElroy telling us this plane crashed. Firefighters on the scene. The investigation has begun.

We're told one person is dead, two are injured. Not sure if those individuals were on the plane or inside the home. We'll continue to follow all the developments within this story and bring it to you as we get it. Also ahead on LIVE FROM, Alberto from top to bottom. CNN is your hurricane headquarters, and we're not talking about the storm. You can still track it with us on the lower right corner on your screen. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Developing news out of Sadr City. We're getting word that a car bomb has exploded outside a crowded market in Sadr City -- you know that that's in eastern Baghdad -- killing at least four people, wounding 10 others.

Then we're told about 10 minutes after that first explosion came another explosion in an upscale western Baghdad neighborhood on Mansoor (ph). Another car bomb detonated near a crowded market, killing three people, wounding seven.

We'll stay on top of this story as we get more information to who was behind these attacks.

Well, the West Wing is 70 miles away. Secluded cabins are standing in for conference rooms. And cell phone service, it's pretty spotty. But the rustic setting, free from the normal daily distractions, is exactly what President Bush wanted for a two-day summit on Iraq. He's huddled up with his top advisers at Camp David.

CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry is nearby.

Ed, is this the first time these Iraqi advisers have been to Camp David?

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president's Iraqi advisers, his war cabinet have been here many times. The Iraqi cabinet, as well as the Iraqi prime minister, will be joining the talks tomorrow via video conference.

What you saw a moment ago was some of the president's top military advisers joining this war cabinet, expanded war cabinet, basically, via video conference from the Green Zone in Iraq, trying to give the president a status report.

The White House has been trying to lower expectations that -- heading into this that there will be a major break through. But you wonder whether they'll be lowering expectations too much, because so far we haven't really heard about anything new.

What we did hear off camera from White House counselor Dan Bartlett was that the White House is viewing this as a fundamental break point with the Iraqi people now with the new government, with the killing of al-Zarqawi. But a lot of people, obviously, wondering what's next after that break point. What's next, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: So, Ed, just so I get this clear, it's a video conference. The Iraqi advisers are not at Camp David. Is that right?

HENRY: That's right. The Iraqi cabinet ministers as well as the Iraqi prime minister, Mr. Malaki, will be joining them tomorrow, not today, via video conference.

Today it's all about the president's war cabinet, and it will go beyond that and include the director of national intelligence, various other top advisers.

And I think what they're obviously looking for, specifically, is to try to get both the Iraqi and American officials talking to one another directly over the course of the next two days to try to get at this from both angles, No. 1. But No. 2, symbolically, the U.S. officials trying to turn over as much responsibility as possible to the Iraqi officials, more and more. And they can symbolically do that as they start these talks -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So Ed, of course, a lot of people are going to want to know if they're having these conversations, will they be able to talk about U.S. troops coming home? Will this be a priority in addition to the attack we saw and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi getting taken out by U.S. troops, a lot of that being in support to getting this intel from the Iraqis?

HENRY: Well, White House officials are -- continue to say do not expect the president to come out with any sort of timetable for troop withdrawal.

Certainly yesterday on CNN's "LATE EDITION", we saw the Iraqi national security adviser come out and suggest by the end of this year we could see under 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and that by the middle of 2008 we could have the lion's share of multinational forces out of Iraq all together.

Now, U.S. officials are comfortable with letting Iraqi officials go out there and do that, because that then puts the onus on the Iraqi officials, not the U.S. officials, to actually back that up. The White House has heard promises before. They want to be careful about going out on a limb here. And so they're going to let the Iraqi officials do the talking on that score, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ed Henry, thanks so much. We'll talk to you, of course, throughout the day.

And we're tracking several other developing stories right now. Tropical Storm Alberto approaching the Florida coastline, a small plane crash off of Davis Island, Florida, and an oil tanker explosion in Oklahoma. We're going to update all of those for you straight ahead on LIVE FROM

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