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Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraqi Prime Minister; Tropical Storm Alberto Weakening

Aired June 13, 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, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
Bombshell in Baghdad. The president surprises everyone, including his host. Will Mr. Bush's visit to Iraq bolster support for the war?

Alberto's arrival. Strong winds, heavy rain. The first named storm of the season blows ashore. Live reports from up and down the Gulf Coast.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Are you surprised about the suicides that happened at Gitmo?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was shocked but inevitably it was going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A voice unheard. My interview with a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and why he finds the recent suicides so shocking.

LIVE FROM starts right now.

We're watching Tropical Storm Alberto, and LIVE FROM has reporters all along the Florida Gulf Coast. We'll check in with them in a just moment. But first our top story.

Where better to huddle on the future of Iraq than Iraq? Not content to confer with Iraq's new leaders via satellite from Camp David, President Bush slipped away for a surprise visit to Baghdad, and we all mean surprise. Not even Iraq's prime minister was in the loop, but our John King was. He's one of the pool reporters who traded his cell phone and BlackBerry for a seat on a top secret mission.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House said this is his most important meeting here with the new Iraqi prime minister, Prime Minister Maliki. We've seen the pictures back in the states now. The president greeting the prime minister, the prime minister greeting the president, perhaps I should say, here at what is now the temporary U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

White House officials told us on the flight over, the secret overnight flight by Air Force One to Baghdad, that the president has wanted to do this for some time, but wanted to wait until the Iraqi cabinet was full and complete, all of the security posts completed just -- filled in recent days. They say he wanted to meet the prime minister face to face because of the enormity of the decisions they make -- they face over the next couple months, including most significantly for President Bush, of course, how many U.S. troops here.

Iraqi officials have said perhaps they could go from about 130,000 U.S. troops to fewer than 100,000 by the end of the year. But the president has been reluctant to commit to that publicly, although the White House would certainly love to be able to do that in an election year.

Until he develops a better relationship with this prime minister and sees whether this Iraqi government, contrary to some of the previous Iraqi governments, will truly improve the security situation, improve the police forces and have stability, political stability in the country.

This obviously, a secret trip. It is the president's second visit to Baghdad. He was last here on Thanksgiving in 2003, a secret trip he took from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The whole reason for those meetings at Camp David yesterday White House officials tell us, was they decided they could not do this at the White House and have the president sneak out undetected. It would be easier, they decided, if they had the planning meetings for Iraq up at Camp David on Monday and the president snuck out after dinner last night.

We're told he was at dinner with many members of his cabinet. And about 7:45 p.m. Washington time, simply said, "I'm losing altitude. I'm going to take off some time and go do some reading." The president snuck out. Then the senior staff snuck out.

We were already at Andrews Air Force Base. We had been told to meet in northern Virginia. And then pretty uneventful flight over. The president said, "POTUS is on board" as he boarded Air Force One shortly before 9 p.m. POTUS, of course, standing for president of the United States.

He did not speak to us during the flight, and we've seen very little of him on the ground here because of the extraordinary security. We landed at Baghdad International Airport, hustled off Air Force One onto helicopter rides. We didn't see the president at all. He had been rushed with security after the helicopter ride.

Despite all the heavy security, a pretty uneventful ride and the helicopters flying very low over the houses in Baghdad. Some traffic on the streets below, machine gunners looking down anxiously. About a six-minute flight and the president and the press pool with him and his senior staff hustled into a motorcade and brought to, again, what is now the temporary U.S. embassy.

He's meeting with Prime Minister Maliki now. He will then have that cabinet meeting. His cabinet is at Camp David, Maryland, back in the United States. The president, of course, will joke with them now that he's surprisingly on the other end of that call.

Then other meetings here with Iraqis officials including some civil and political leaders and opinion leaders in the country, and the president also will meet with General Casey, the commander on the ground here, and then have a bit a pep rally with about 800 members of the U.S. military and other civilians working here for the United States government and the coalition before heading back to Washington. We're asked not to give the exact details of that, but the president due back in Washington very early Wednesday morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, John King mentioned the president would meet with U.S. troops. We're expecting to see videotape from that event in just a few minutes. We'll bring it to you.

And that videoconference has now wrapped up. More on what was said back at Camp David in a moment. The bottom line in Iraq a big surprise from President Bush. The same old story from Iraqi insurgents. The president's visit to Baghdad comes amid the typical deadly violence and grim new threats of more, but there's also a growing hope for a budding democracy.

Let's get straight to Baghdad again and our John Vause.

John, it caught everybody off-guard.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Kyra.

The president's visit here was amid such security, that the Iraqi prime minister was only told five minutes before that he would actually be meeting face to face with the U.S. president, not via video hookup, as originally planned.

This surprise meeting a clear demonstration of the support the U.S. has for this new Iraqi government now just over three weeks old. U.S. President George W. Bush telling Mr. Maliki, quote, "When America gives its word, America keeps its word."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have expressed our country's desire to work with you. But I appreciate you recognize the fact that the future of your country is in your hands. The decisions you and your cabinet make will be determinate as to whether or not a country succeeds that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: And that's what the prime minister had been hoping to hear, especially in the face of the increased violence here in the Iraqi capital in recent days.

And we're now just hours away from a major Iraqi security operation here in Baghdad. At least 70,000 mostly Iraqi troops will take to the streets to try and break the back of the militias as well as the insurgency.

But the visit by the president could also embolden some insurgents. It could demonstrate that this new government is a puppet of the White House.

And we've also had word on an Islamic web site from the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. This could not be authenticated by CNN, but it does read in part that there are threats to attack the Green Zone, the heavily fortified coalition headquarters where Mr. Bush and Mr. Maliki held their meeting today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And John, just to sort of help us visualize, it's not very easy flying into this airport. We've reported on the violence that takes place around this airport, and when people do arrive there. Was it just completely shut down and the whole area surrounding it?

VAUSE: Yes. When we got word that something was up, we were told that the airport had been closed and it will remain closed for several more hours to come. And anybody who's flown into Baghdad Airport knows that it is really a terrifying ride. The planes stay high until the last moment to avoid surface-to-air missiles fired by insurgents, and then there is a sudden spiral, a sudden loss of altitude as the plane comes in to land. All of that security precautions for anybody arriving at Baghdad Airport.

Once Air Force one touched down, we're told the plane landed on a distant runway away from the main terminal, and the building itself had been secured by U.S. forces -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. John Vause, thank you so much.

Well, he slipped away in the night wearing a baseball cap and no tie. Some of his top aides didn't know where he was going. Iraq's new leader didn't know he was coming. Not typical behavior for the president of the United States, but this is anything but a typical trip.

For more, let's get to our White House correspondent, Ed Henry. He's near Camp David, where the president was hosting a strategy session in Iraq.

And Ed, I'm really surprised you were not up at that hour, trying to find out what he was doing.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, where is the president? I wish I had known. In fact, I was getting on a bus right here in the parking lot next to me, heading up to Camp David, which is about a mile away. And I was supposed to be part of a small group of reporters going in for that videoconference that John King mentioned. He was on the Baghdad end of it, John King, and also the president, little did I know.

And on the bus ride on the way over to Camp David, all of a sudden our e-mail devices, our cell phones, everything started going off, buzzing like crazy with rumors, speculation that the president, in fact, was in Baghdad, no longer here at Camp David.

Once we finally confirmed it, we arrived at Camp David. Everyone was obviously in shock but understood the fact that there had to be secrecy attached to the fact that the president was heading into Baghdad, such a security need there, obviously, to keep that secret.

When it turned to the substance of it, when we were in the room, Vice President Cheney was here at Camp David in the secure conference room on the Washington end of it, if you will. We could see the president, as well as Prime Minister Maliki, on the other end of it. There was a large TV screen marked Baghdad on the wall for Vice President Cheney, secretaries Rumsfeld and Rice and others.

And during that videoconference, the president explained why he made this trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've come to not only look you in the eye, I've also come to tell you that when America gives its word, it will keep its word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: But Democrats on Capitol Hill, like Senator Edward Kennedy, already saying they want to hear more from the president. They want to hear about a timetable for bringing home U.S. troops. Obviously, the White House does not want to go there right now.

But the president will be hosting bipartisan congressional leaders at the White House tomorrow to brief them on his trip. You can bet he'll be getting questions about troop levels at that time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ed Henry. Thanks so much.

And is this the president's best week ever? Well, not only is the top terrorist eliminated, so is the threat of a major scandal involving his right hand man.

Karl Rove, President Bush's senior advisor and political strategist, is off the hook in the ongoing leak investigation involving CIA agent Valerie Plame. Rove was called to testify before a federal grand jury five times, but special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald told Rove's lawyer no charges will be filed.

Here's what the White House had to say: "Karl is, as he has been throughout the process, fully focused on the task at hand, crafting and building support for the president's agenda." Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, is facing criminal charges that he lied about the leak.

Patrick Kennedy has a court date at the top of the hour. The Democratic congressman from Rhode Island will plead guilty to driving under the influence of prescription drugs. In return, charges of reckless driving and failure to exhibit a driving permit will be dismissed.

The deal comes more than a month after Kennedy crashed his car near the capital in the wee hours. He spent the next few weeks in rehab after admitting that he was addicted to prescription drugs. Kennedy denies drinking before that accident.

Our other top story, Tropical Storm Alberto. High tide is coming soon, and our reporters are on the story. We'll check in with Rob Marciano and Dan Lothian on the Florida coast when LIVE FROM continues. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight to the newsroom now. Tony Harris working details on a developing story -- Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Kyra, this is out of Los Angeles. Let's take you to live pictures now out of Los Angeles, where about 20 demonstrators are protesting in support of farmers who take care of an urban garden that's very near downtown.

The sheriff's deputies have moved in now and decided to move those people along. Now, the farmers take care of that site. But the owner wants to turn that site into a warehouse. This is an area that is surrounded by, as you can see here, some warehouses and train tracks.

Actress Daryl Hannah is watching, actually, the arrest as this all unfolds from a nearby walnut tree. So far seven people of the 20 have been arrested. Protesters have chained themselves to barrels of concrete.

And Hannah says she believes this is a moral thing to do, to stand in support of the farmers. And she says she is willing to risk arrest to stand in support of these farmers.

So there's the scene in Los Angeles right now as sheriff's deputies move in and arrest some of these 20 demonstrators who are on the scene right now in Los Angeles. We'll keep an eye on it for you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Tony. Thanks so much.

HARRIS: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's get straight to Jacqui Jeras. She's, of course, working everything Alberto for us today. I understand things are coming across the wires. Jacqui, what do you have for us?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We've got official landfall now from the National Hurricane Center. They're pinpointing it at Adams Beach, which is just north of Keaton Beach here. That was at 12:30. So it's been slowly making that progress over land now into northern parts of Taylor County, pushing up to the north and to the east ever so slowly.

You can still see this big area of showers and thunderstorms. And this is where we're going to see some pretty strong, gusty winds yet. Fifty miles per hour as it made landfall. But now here we are about 45 minutes later, so these winds are going to be continuing to diminish, and the storm will gradually be weakening, as well.

We're still going to see some of these outer bands with 30, maybe 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts basically just embedded within these thunderstorms as they pull on through. Here you can see them pulling along I-4, pushing into western parts of the Orlando metro area. We also have some showers and thunderstorms pushing in around Jacksonville.

You head up I-95, you head throughout parts of Georgia and into the Carolinas, we did have a tornado warning earlier which included Tybee (ph) Island and up towards Savannah. That has expired right now.

As these outside feeder bands continue to make their way on shore, we could see a little bit of rotation as these make their way over land.

There is a tornado watch which remains in effect across southern Georgia, also into northern parts of Florida. That will be ongoing as a threat throughout the afternoon. And then we also worry about the threat of flooding as this storm continues to push on up to the northeast.

Here's the forecast track to show you where this thing is going to be going. It's going to be tracking across southern Georgia, then on up through the Carolinas throughout the day on Wednesday, and then eventually making its way back out to sea.

But at this time we don't think it's going to fire back up after we've had landfall here. We think it's going to continue to weaken and move on out. Could see a good three to five inches of rainfall, some locally heavier amounts. And this rain, really, a welcome sight, Kyra. This area is so, so dry across all the southeast.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui. Thanks a lot.

Well, Guantanamo prison, a man held there for two years as a suspected terrorist says it almost drove him crazy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our families were threatened. Our own lives were being threatened. And we didn't know where we were. For the first two weeks I didn't know I was in Cuba. And all this just sitting in your cell just starting building up, and you start slowly going crazy. And the only thing you really want to do is to end it. And the only way you can end it is by trying to kill yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: To GITMO and back, a former detainees tells me about torture, confessions and why he's shocked that three detainees succeeded at suicide. That's later on LIVE FROM.

We're also waiting for the president of the United States as he meets face to face with troops in Iraq. We'll bring you that as soon as it happens. LIVE FROM continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Iraq is a part of the war on terror. Iraq is the central front on that war. And when Iraq succeeds in having a government that -- of and by and for the people of Iraq, you'll have dealt a serious blow to those who have a vision of darkness, who don't believe in liberty, who are willing to kill the innocent in order to achieve a political objective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the president surprised everyone, including his host, you saw him right there by his side, the new prime minister of Iraq. He arrived in Baghdad for a visit today.

Now we're waiting to see some video of the president greeting U.S. troops. We're going to bring that to you as soon as we get it. We're also going to talk with General Don Shepperd. He's going to join me at the bottom of the hour to talk about what a visit like this means to the leadership and the soldiers on the ground.

We're also going to talk to our political analyst, Bill Schneider. A number of polls out about the president's ratings.

Let's listen in as the president greets the troops there in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you all. Thank you for the warm welcome. Thought I'd stop in to say hello.

(APPLAUSE)

I bring greetings from a grateful nation. I thank you for your sacrifice. I thank you for your service. I thank you for making history.

You know, one of the things I try to do is put good people in place to accomplish hard jobs, and I can't think of two better leaders than Zal Khalilzad and General Casey to lead this important effort.

(APPLAUSE)

I thank you all very much for your service to our country. Your sacrifice is noble and your sacrifice is important.

I understand long deployments are tough. They're tough on you and they're tough on your families. And so the first thing I want to tell you is the American people are incredibly grateful for what you do, and I bring their greetings and their thanks for the sacrifices you and your family make.

These are historic times. The mission that you're accomplishing here in Iraq will go down in history books as an incredibly important moment in the history of freedom and peace, an incredibly important moment of doing our duty to secure our homeland.

You know, right after September the 11th, I knew that some would forget the dangers we face, some would hope that the world would be what it's not, a peaceful place in which people wouldn't want to do harm to those of us who love freedom.

I vowed that day, after September the 11th, to do everything I could to protect the American people. And I was able to make that claim because I knew there were people such as yourself who were willing to be on the front line in the war on terror.

Baghdad and Iraq is a front in the war on terror. It is a part of our mission to help make sure that the world is a better place.

I truly believe the work that you're doing here is laying the foundation of peace for generations to come. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The progress here in Iraq has been remarkable, when you really think about it.

The people of this country suffered under the hands of a brutal tyrant. And thanks to the United States forces and coalition forces, the people are liberated from the clutches of Saddam Hussein.

(APPLAUSE)

America's safer. The world is better off.

And the Iraqi people have a chance to realize the great blessings of liberty because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.

Thanks to your hard work, the Iraqi people have been given a chance to go to the polls -- not once, but three different times -- to elect a government that is dedicated to the will of the people.

Today I have come to not only thank you but to look Prime Minister Maliki in the eyes to determine whether or not he is as dedicated to a free Iraq as you are. And I believe he is. I met with a cabinet of officials from all walks of life here in Iraq and came away with the distinct impression that they are unified in serving the people of Iraq. They want to succeed. The fate and future of Iraq is in their hands. And our job is to help them succeed, and we will.

I have come...

(APPLAUSE)

I have come today to personally show our nation's commitment to a free Iraq. My message to the Iraqi people is this: Seize the moment; seize this opportunity to develop a government of and by and for the people.

And I also have a message to the Iraqi people, that when America gives a commitment, America will keep its commitment.

(APPLAUSE)

Our work is not done with the formation of a unity government. This government is just getting started. And the enemies of a free Iraq will do everything they can to stop the progress. That should -- just tells us something about the enemies of a free Iraq.

Who wouldn't want the people's will to be expressed?

Who wouldn't want a government to be able to meet the needs of the people? Those who kill the innocent lives or those who have no concept of liberty, have no sense of justice, have no respect for human rights and human dignity.

But I believe the Iraqi government that's formed does respect human rights and human dignity. They will respond to the will of the people.

There are going to be tough days ahead and more sacrifice for Americans, as well as Iraqis, but I come away from here believing that the will is strong. And the desire to meet the needs of the people is real and tangible.

You know, one of the things that we've got to realize -- we the world have got to realize -- is that Iraqi women want their children to grow up in a peaceful world. They want their sons and daughters to be well educated. They want to live in peace and harmony. They want to be able to realize their hopes and aspirations.

It's a common desire and it's one that you all are helping the Iraqis realize. It's important work, it's vital work, and it's historic work.

Our military will stay on the offense. We will continue to hunt down people like Mr. Zarqawi and bring them to justice so...

(APPLAUSE) We will continue to train the Iraqis so that they can help the unity government secure the peace. I told the American people that, as the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down.

And I appreciate all the military folks here who are working hard to help the Iraqi forces become capable and able to do the job the Iraqi people expect them to do.

Those of you who are not in the military, but civilians, have got a really important job to do as well.

And I want to thank you for the job you're doing.

(APPLAUSE)

It is clear that Saddam Hussein destroyed many of the institutions necessary for this society to succeed. It is clear that he was a selfish, brutal leader who was willing to sacrifice infrastructure and civil society in order to meet his narrow objectives.

And it is clear to me that our job is to help the prime minister and his government implement his strategy and his plan to restore infrastructure and education and health and an agricultural society so that people have the confidence in their new government.

Yours is hard work, but it's necessary work, and the government of the United States stands strongly beside you.

The stakes are high, and what happens here in Iraq reaches far beyond the borders of Iraq. The war on terror really is -- will be addressed by strong actions by our intelligence and military services to bring to justice those who would do us harm. I've told the American people: We will defeat the enemy overseas so we do not have to face them here at home.

(APPLAUSE)

But ultimately the victory in the war on terror, the victory in a struggle against those who have no ideology -- well, they got an ideology, but it's an ideology that is dark and dismal. It's one that doesn't respect human dignity. It's an ideology that doesn't believe in the freedom to worship.

It's an ideology that doesn't respect the role and rights of women in society.

It's an ideology that has no hope.

The way to defeat that ideology is with an ideology of light. I believe in the universality of freedom. I believe deep in everybody's soul is the desire to be free.

We don't expect the Iraqi government to look like the American government. We expect an Iraqi government to honor its traditions and its histories and its religious faiths. But we do expect the Iraqi government to honor the right of every man, woman and child to live in a free society.

And when Iraq succeeds -- and it will -- the rest of the world, particularly in the Middle East, will see such a hopeful example of what's possible.

I told you earlier: We're laying the foundation of peace for generations to come, and we are, because we go with confidence, knowing that liberty is the desire of every soul.

When Iraq succeeds, reformers and people who desire to live in a free society will see such a hopeful example, and they'll begin to demand the same rights and the same conditions and the same hopeful society.

And that's why I tell you what you're doing is historic in nature. People will look back at this period and wonder whether or not America was true to its beginnings, whether we strongly believed in the universality of freedom and whether we were willing to act on it.

Certainly, we acted in our own self-interests right after September the 11th. And now we act now only in our own self-interests but in the interests of men, women and children in the broader Middle East, no matter what their religion, no matter where they were born, no matter how they speak.

This is a moment -- this is a time where the world can turn one way or the other, where the world can be a better place or a more dangerous place. And the United States of America and citizens such as yourself are dedicated to making sure that the world we leave behind is a better place for all.

It is such an honor to be here.

(APPLAUSE)

It is such an honor to be with you.

May God bless you all. May God bless your work. May God bless your families. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, VIPs fly in and out of Iraq, but U.S. troops come and stay. They're fighting a war more than three years old with no end in sight. President Bush now talking to him. But are his words enough to boost morale? Let's talk more with about the surprise visit with our military analyst retired Air Force Major General Don Shepherd. Shep, what do you make of the trip?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPHERD, (RET.) CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I'll tell you, it was somewhat predictable in the sense that I figured for sure that the president was going to go over to boost this new Iraqi government. I've been in the place where the troops are gathered there, in the hall, on previous visits. And to me, the president sent three messages. One to the troops, and it was thank you. One to the new Iraqi government, and it is we are behind you. And another to the American people, and it is that all of this is worth it. Those are important messages that only the president can carry right now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, he mentioned Zarqawi and the troops went wild. That's definitely a big deal for the U.S. military, obviously a big deal for the president, but if you look at the polls, the recent polls, for the public, it's not that big a deal.

SHEPHERD: Yes, I don't know how to predict these polls. I'll leave that to the political analysts, but I'll tell you, for the troops over there, it's an up and down. These kids are in a very, very tough mission. When you visit them, they believe in what they're doing, they believe it's important. They don't believe that the American public or the world understands what they're doing, and the danger of it. They all want to be home, no question about that. But when the president visits, it's a big morale booster. And of course you have the downers like Haditha, the uppers like Zarqawi, and then you go back to your day-to-day business, which is really tough -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's talk about getting into this area. You've done it. I've done it. It's a pretty hairy ride.

For the president to head to Baghdad International Airport,-- as a matter of fact, we've a map, a Google map, to take a look at, so folks can kind of get the visual of what this looks like. Coming in, it's pretty much a semi-deserted airstrip, right?

SHEPHERD: It's an international airport, and it is semi deserted, in that there's not a whole lot of activity going on. A lot of the initial flights had came in at very, very steep angles because the area it was not secure, then they had to come in at night. Now you can come in during the day, as well as the night, but it's an isolated airport, with the area around it fairly secure. They can still get rockets and mortars lobbed in every now and then, but seldom -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And then he took a short helicopter ride over to the Republican Palace, you know that 1950s-era building, which is now part of the U.S. embassy compound. What do you remember from that compound, and just getting in and out of that area?

SHEPHERD: Yes, it's really interesting. There's two ways into the city. One, you drive the Highway of Death, which I did on my last visit in October, to show that it's essentially been cleared and you can travel it now. The other is in by helicopters, either day or night. And there are tens, if not hundreds of helicopter flights a day between Baghdad Airport, Camp Liberty, out by Baghdad, and the old Green Zone and the Republican Palace. As you fly in, you look at those palaces, you can still see the war damage, the precision-guided munitions that went in through the roofs. They did not destroy the entire palaces. They targeted specific areas in the palaces. And then you go inside the palaces and there's gold-rimmed everything. There's chandeliers. There's air-conditioning. So it's kind of like, man, you go from the real world outside to the world of wonder in the middle of Baghdad, and you wonder how all this is going to fit together, and then you have great hopes for the future, too -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You know what's interesting, everyone on the helicopters was in body armor today except for the White House aides. They just wore business suits, no armor. Why do you think that is? And do you if indeed that the president wears body armor? I've heard yes and no.

SHEPHERD: Yes, I don't know. I assume that he wears body armor or a vest of some type under his clothes, but I don't know. I wear body armor the whole time while I'm there. We're required to on our visits. And the reason is that, number one, you can be exposed to small-arms fire anytime. You can be exposed to mortar or rockets anytime and the shrapnel from those. So it's just common sense to wear that until the security situation gets under control in Baghdad, and that may be some time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: General Shepherd, always great to see you.

SHEPHERD: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: When we come back, our reporters on the Florida coast as winds kick up with Alberto's arrival. "LIVE FROM" continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: CNN has crews from Tampa to Tallahassee tracking this storm. Our Dan Lothian is in the fishing village of Steinhatchee.

And Rob Marciano is in Cedar Key, where many feel that they dodged a bullet.

Rob, let's go to you first.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, Cedar Key kind of just out into the Gulf of Mexico, certainly vulnerable to hurricanes, had quite a bit of wind and some flooding last year when Hurricane Dennis rolled through this. And Tropical Storm Alberto passed just 50 or 60 miles to our west earlier this morning, now inland, now diminishing.

But the back half of this storm continues to bring wind, and at times rain, to this area. Our winds have switched, and that's good news at least for where I'm standing. But flooding still persists, especially in the downtown area and especially on the other side of the island. We had a high tide early this morning at around 4:00 a.m., then low tide came, but really with low tide the water didn't recede much because it's being pushed in from the Gulf of Mexico and by Alberto and the winds.

Now, we have another high tide that's going to come in an hour- and-a-half, and that will bring even more flooding. But after that, we should start to see the waters recede. The problems is, Kyra, you kind of see the winds are still gusty here and they're still pushing that water from the Gulf of Mexico inland.

And we're not the only spot that's having a problem with some storm surge flooding. Good news. It's not any sort of thing that's life-threatening. Most people who have seen the flooding live in low- lying areas and know that anytime any sort of storm comes, they need to get out. So it's just more a headache than anything else -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Rob in Cedar Keys, thank you so much.

Let's move about 50 miles north now to Steinhatchee where CNN's Dan Lothian is keeping watch. Dan, what's it like there?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

Well, as you can see, the wind really picking up here over the last hour or so. Check out -- take a look at this sign, just wobbling in the wind, and then behind me the white caps in the water here. And what's interesting is earlier this morning, as we were reporting out here, the water was pretty much staying off of this pier and wall area over there.

Well, as the tide is going to be moving in, that high tide in about an hour-and-a-half or so, we've seen the water splashing across the pier and also splashing across the wall on that side.

One of the things that officials have been so concerned about has been the water, a wall of water, coming into this area, that surge. It's what they experienced when Dennis came ashore last year. They had between eight to 10 feet of that surge. They were expecting some of that earlier this morning. That did not materialize, but they say that we still could see some trouble as that high tide comes in, in as I mentioned, about an hour-and-a-half.

What we have seen in terms of flooding, nothing major. More of this in ditches and in areas -- low-lying areas. You see a lot of standing water as we were driving around. We saw that as well on some of the streets.

Behind us there is a large field, and that field is underwater, but nothing to the extent of major flooding that has gotten inside any of the homes. We also saw some scattered power outages according to emergency management officials, but they told us that all of the power has been restored. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dan Lothian, thanks so much. Stay with CNN for all your storm coverage. LIVE FROM returns right after a break.

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PHILLIPS: Capturing the president in our digital world. No matter how controversial President Bush's leadership is right now or this war on terror, today every member of the U.S. troops there wanted to get a snapshot of their commander in chief.

You know, President Bush is wrapping up his surprise and brief trip to Baghdad now. Even some members of his inner circle didn't know he was going and Iraq's prime minister didn't even know that he was coming. The president slipped away from Camp David last night during a pretty high-level conference on Iraq. He wore a baseball cap and later boarded Air Force One through the back door.

A small group of journalists and top aides were sworn to secrecy about this trip. The new Iraqi leader got only five minutes notice of his face-to-face meeting with the president.

Well, he's trying to uplift the troops, the war, and the new Iraqi government, but will President Bush's poll numbers also get a lift from his surprise visit to Baghdad? Let's crunch some numbers with CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.

What do you think, Bill? There was a Gallup poll that came out, a CBS poll that came out -- are they pretty much saying the same thing?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What they're saying is not much change, not much bounce really, from the news of the elimination of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The CBS News poll showed the president dropping a couple of points, no real change. You see it there, 33 percent now down from 35 percent in May. And the "USA Today"/Gallup poll shows, again, not much change, a two point gain in that poll.

PHILLIPS: Now you heard the troops go crazy as soon as he mentioned Zarqawi. But yet, you and I were talking earlier that it's really not doing much for men and women back home.

SCHNEIDER: Well, Americans are under no illusions about what the elimination of Zarqawi could mean. The CBS News poll asked them do they think that it means they'll be a change in the frequency of attacks of U.S. troops?

As you can see here, 50 percent say they expect attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq will remain about the same, 30 percent think they will increase, only 16 percent of Americans believe that the killing of Zarqawi will cause a decrease in the attacks against U.S. troops.

PHILLIPS: Now, there's a big strategy going on here from talking about Zarqawi's death to this surprise visit, and you even mentioned Karl Rove's speech, right?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, Karl Rove spoke to New Hampshire Republicans last night and it was rather a strong pep talk attacking Democrats on Iraq. The administration is clearly seizing the initiative. The American people did not see the elimination of Zarqawi as a significant event or even a turning point in Iraq.

The administration is saying we're going to seize the moment on this and try to turn it into a turning point. Karl Rove spoke to the New Hampshire Republicans. He said the Democrats are falling back on that party's old strategy of cutting and running.

There's the newly liberated Karl Rove who found out that he will not be charged with the criminal offense or indicted for the -- on the revelation of Valerie Plame's name in that CIA leak case. So the liberated Karl Rove spoke to New Hampshire Republicans and used that moment to attack the Democrats on Iraq.

PHILLIPS: Bill Schneider, good talking to you.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

PHILLIPS: Dramatic video, a family attacked on a beach. Now the story takes a twist as we hear who may be responsible. More LIVE FROM coming up next.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: We're going to continue to follow Tropical Storm Alberto, too. Live reports from Florida's Gulf Coast, straight ahead. Stay with CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

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PHILLIPS: Lighten up -- on salt, that is. That's the message you may soon be hearing from your doctor. The American Medical Association is expected to approve a measure calling on restaurants and food companies to cut the amount of salt that they use in half. Some members also want the Food and Drug Administration to change its view that salt is generally recognized as safe. The doctors say too much salt leads to high blood pressure and heart disease, the number one killer of Americans.

It doesn't take an M.D. to prescribe black coffee after too much of the hard stuff, but there may be benefits that we never knew about. A California study find that coffee cuts the risk of cirrhosis of the liver by 22 percent per cup per day. Researchers can't explain it, and they're not recommending that doctors actually start prescribing coffee just yet. Cirrhosis kills more than 27,000 Americans a year.

A controversial prison, an uncompromising view.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen people get beaten severely in Guantanamo and I thought they died by the way that they were beaten by soldiers. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A former detainee talks to me about getting in and getting out of Gitmo. His compelling story, coming up on LIVE FROM.

And a look at how the markets are reacting to the news of the day. The next hour of LIVE FROM starts in two minutes.

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