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Indiana Experiencing Severe Weather; Pentagon Discussing Gradual Reduction of Troops in Iraq; Search Continues For Chicago Shooting Suspect

Aired June 22, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Coming home, the top general in Iraq is about to reveal a plan to reduce troop levels in Iraq. We're live at the Pentagon for that announcement.
Plus in the crosshairs, if North Korea launches a missile towards the U.S., who is in danger?

Then (INAUDIBLE) hot seat, a (INAUDIBLE) detective will show me how he can protect your kids online.

Fair weather our top story this hour. A tornado in Indiana, straight to Reynolds Wolf now in the weather center. Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. We have a possible tornado in parts of Indiana, currently a tornado warning in effect for northeastern Grant County and Huntington County and Wells County, again in central northeast Indiana. We're going to go there right now and the place of concern are the counties you see shaded in red at this time. We're going to zoom in a little bit closer. We're going to tilt this back and what we have some rotating thunderstorms. These storms have been popping up all afternoon through portions of the Midwest and into the northern parts of the Ohio Valley. It is this storm that we're seeing right here, just a little bit of rotation. We're watching this area. This storm is drifting its way to the northeast. If you happen to be say in Huntington or maybe even Ft. Wayne, you're going to be dealing with this through the afternoon hours.

And what's more, Kyra is we've been seeing these showers drifting to an area of northern Ohio, where they've already been inundated with heavy rainfall last night. Parts of northern Ohio, they've had anywhere from say four to five inches of rainfall and they have a flood warning in effect as this makes its way to the east, it's really going to compound those problems, again primarily south of Lake Erie from Toledo to about I would say near Cleveland. Right here on this belt is going to be your possibility of some flooding later in the afternoon, especially places like Sandusky. But again we do have the tornado warning in effect. Nothing confirmed at this time. This is Doppler indicated and we'll keep an eye on it for you. We could see more of these through the afternoon. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Reynolds, thanks so much. U.S. troop strength in Iraq may be coming down gradually, modestly, regardless of the rumble in Congress. Standing by with more on that story, CNN's Barbara Starr, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you Kyra. Well we don't really know if there's a firm decision yet, but we do know that General George Casey has been in town all day today. He's been on Capitol Hill with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld holding a series of meetings talking about this very issue. General Casey talking about his preferred options for what to do about troop levels in Iraq. There will be a news conference here in this room in about an hour and a half. And it will remain to be seen whether General Casey will really show his hand on all of this or not.

But our Pentagon sources are telling us that the option at least on the table for discussion is a gradual, as you say, drawdown of troop levels in Iraq, not by necessarily bringing the troops that are there right now home right away, but by slowing down the rotation schedule, postponing the deployment of some troops scheduled to go or simply not sending some of the units that might otherwise be going into Iraq in the months ahead especially towards the end of this year. What people are saying is the maximum that they see realistic right now would be a drawdown of about two brigades. That might be anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 troops. But, again, very gradual, we're told, very incremental. It would come by simply not sending replacement troops in, and it remains to be seen whether in about an hour and a half, General Casey and Secretary Rumsfeld are going to be ready to talk about any of this. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Barbara thanks.

We expect to hear from General Casey and Secretary Rumsfeld later this afternoon. The two are scheduled to brief reporters at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. We'll bring that to you live, of course.

Three separate attacks this week in Iraq, five U.S. service members are killed, four by roadside bombs in the hair trigger Anbar province and in Baghdad. These raise the total of U.S. military deaths in Iraq to 2,510.

Two American soldiers kidnapped and killed by Iraqi insurgents are back on American soil. The remains of Privates Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker arrived last night at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. They'll be identified and processed before being sent on to their families in Texas and Oregon. A third soldier was killed, but not kidnapped in the same attack last Friday. The body of specialist David Babineau arrived earlier, but for burial at Arlington.

Home from the war, and facing the fight of their lives. Seven Marines and a Navy medic charged with murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, and larceny in the April deaths of an unarmed and disabled 54-year-old Iraqi man. The troops' attorneys and families insist that they are innocent. CNN's Ted Rowlands reports from Camp Pendleton, California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here at Camp Pendleton, they've been bracing for the worst.

LT. COL. DAREN MARGOLIN, US MARINE CORPS: There's sufficient evidence at this point to charge all of them with premeditated murder.

ROWLANDS: One of the Marines charged is Private First Class John Jodka. His father says his son is a hero, not a criminal and he was talking tough after the charges were announced.

JOHN JODKA JR., FATHER: You want to fight me? Come on. You can fight me. I'm fighting for my son. I'm fighting for my hero, my Marine hero.

ROWLANDS: Lance Corporal Robert Pennington is another Marine who has been charged.

TERRY PENNINGTON, FATHER: How is it going, buddy?

ROWLANDS: The 21-year-old's father actually got a call from his son while watching at his Washington state home as the Marines made the announcements.

PENNINGTON: I'm angry that they listened to these obviously trumped-up charges and go to this extent. It's just unconscionable to me.

ROWLANDS: Awad's family first reported on May 1st to the Marines that he'd been murdered. They later showed CNN a receipt left by investigators that shows that Awad's body was exhumed and taken for an autopsy. Awad's brother says when Marines showed up that night, they went directly to Awad's home.

SADOON IBRAHIM AWAD, BROTHER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): They didn't search his house. They took him immediately. He was seized by two soldiers, each on one of his side, because he was disabled.

ROWLANDS: Reaction from the people we talked to in the city of Oceanside, adjacent to Camp Pendleton was sympathetic to the Marines who have been charged. Many people wanting to hear their side of the story.

I don't think that people in general, be it Marines or anyone else that would commit something like that without some kind of a really good motivation.

ROWLANDS: All eight of the accused are being held in solitary confinement in this military jail in Camp Pendleton and according to the Marines, they will remain there until the military justice system determines their fate.

(on-camera): Up next for the accused it what's an article 32 hearing, which is basically the equivalent to a grand jury hearing. What hasn't been determined yet, according to the Marine Corps, is whether or not the eight individuals who are accused will be tried separately, or all at once. Ted Rowland's, CNN, at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Ted's report first aired on "Paula Zahn Now" which is weeknights at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

Straight to the newsroom, Fredricka Whitfield working two developing stories for us now. Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Let me begin with what's happening in Chicago. The search continues for a man by the name of Larnell Rogers who was to appear in Federal court at the Federal building there in downtown Chicago. For a hearing, but he showed up late. And then when he finally did arrive, he learned that there was a bench warrant out for his arrest and allegedly, according to officials, he then bolted and because of the sensitivity of this Federal building, given that it is the place that housed the Federal courthouse, and FBI office, as well as a correctional facility, the officials decided to issue a lockdown on the building. Conducting searches floor to floor. It's 27 stories high. And the search continues. They have not located him yet. However, he is not considered to be violent. He is classified as nonviolent, and he's not believed to be armed. The search continuing now for Larnell Rogers there in Chicago.

In the meantime, a man considered armed and dangerous, a man by the name of Darren Mack, you're looking at his picture right here, a nationwide search, you know, is under way for this millionaire ex-pawn shop owner after allegedly killing his wife and a judge. Who was handling their divorce. Well, now, officials are saying out of Reno, Nevada, that they have significant developments in this nationwide search for Darren Mack. They are scheduling a press conference in 30 minutes. Less than 30 minutes from now at a Reno, Nevada. When that takes place, we'll be able to bring that to you.

Oh and by the way, the judge that Darren Mack is accused of shooting was injured. He is alive, but his wife allegedly killed by the hand of Darren Mack. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks Fred. An American vice president whose long since faded history once quipped that the vice presidency wasn't worth a bucket of warm spit and reporters may have altered that last word for publication by the way. Dick Cheney would probably disagree. He's a driving force in the Bush administration, some would say the driving force, generally considered to hold more power than any vice president in memory. This morning, he talked one-on-one with CNN chief national correspondent John King, John here with the headlines from his exclusive interview. Do we get to the serious stuff first and then maybe the more, the personal questions? John, I'll leave it up to you. Maybe we should talk about the Senate debate on troops pulling out.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with that. We spoke, the vice president and I at his home in Washington, DC here as the Senate was debating those two Democratic proposals. Both call for pullouts of troops from Iraq. One, a total pullout within a year from now, other a partial withdrawal and then requiring the administration to put a plan on the table. The administration of course has forcefully opposed these plans, accusing - and you've heard this over and over again, the Democrats wanting to cut and run. You see the vice president there. Those are his dogs, Dave and Jackson. The vice president said if the Democratic plans were adopted, he said it would be a recipe for defeat and disaster, not only in Iraq, but he said the government of Pakistan might fall. The government of Saudi Arabia might fall. The vice president said it would be humiliating to the United States in the global war on terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The worst possible thing we could do is what the Democrats are suggesting, and no matter how you carve it, you can call it anything you want, but basically it is packing it in, going home, persuading and convincing and validating the theory that the Americans don't have the stomach for this fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now the Democrats, of course, pressing those amendments at a time the war is increasingly unpopular. I tried to get the vice president to open up about that, read him the polling numbers, 54 percent of the American people now think the war was a mistake.. An equal number think things are going badly in Iraq. A clear majority of Americans support what the Democrats are proposing, some kind of a timetable for bringing the troops home. The vice president held firm. He said the administration has a good strategy, a strategy for success. Anyone who doesn't think that the vice president said was wrong. And Kyra, the vice president also said, I gave him an opportunity, do you want to take back, saying the U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators. Do you want to say that was a mistake? Do you want to take back, say it was a mistake to say the insurgency is in its final throes? The vice president said no, he stands by his remarks.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about North Korea and what the vice president had to say about that. John, I don't know if you saw the interview I did a little bit ago with Ashton Carter, who used to be the assistant secretary of defense under Carter. He came out with an op-ed piece today headlined, if necessary, strike and destroy. He is saying of course, everybody wants diplomatic talks, but it looks like this is -- the U.S. can take no more, and take it out. Take out that missile site.

KING: Well Kyra, guess what? I read that article. Bill Perry, the former defense secretary, Ashton Carter one of his deputies in the Clinton administration wrote that article in the "Washington Post" today. I read it on the way up to the vice president's residence and when the subject of North Korea came up in the interview, that was the first thing I asked him. I said Mr. Vice President, what about this advice, simply launch a cruise missile and take that missile out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: (INAUDIBLE)

KING: I bet you do.

CHENEY: I think at this stage we are addressing the issue in the proper fashion. And I think obviously if you're going to launch strikes at another nation, you better be prepared to not just fire one shot. And the fact of the matter is I think the issue is being addressed appropriately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: By appropriately, the vice president means diplomatic pressure on North Korea for now. But Kyra, quite interesting, he says the United States doesn't know what is on top of that missile. Is it a warhead? Is it a test warhead? Is it a satellite meant to go up into orbit. The vice president says we don't know and he also said that by the administration's account, North Korea's missile program, its missile technology is fairly rudimentary, his term, but he says if they do test for the first time their new longer-range missile, of course, the administration will be watching closely.

PHILLIPS: And we're watching the story closely as well. What did you think of his health? A lot of people have wondered about his heart and how he's doing. It seems to be living pretty well there in the nice observatory.

KING: He loves the house up there. He loves being up there with the dogs. We took a brief walk afterwards, I didn't discuss his health on camera, because I've spoken to his aides about it repeatedly. They say the vice president is doing fine. But he said he was in a good spirits. He's in a good mood. He's out spending a lot of time campaigning for the Republicans this year. He joked of course that one of the liberating things about his job, actually wasn't joking. He was serious about this. One of the liberating things about his job is that he's not running for president. He says that allows him to do what he thinks is right and not have to worry about the polls.

PHILLIPS: John King, I appreciate you talking about your exclusive interview with us. Thanks John. You can see all of John's interview with the vice president this afternoon on CNN's "Situation Room." It's going to air at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and again at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

From the ashes of the World Trade Center to the bow of a Navy warship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The World Trade Center come back, the people, the spirit of the United States, the people of New York leading the way in the fight against terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Severe weather alert now, a tornado warning in Indiana. Let's get more from meteorologist Reynolds Wolf. Reynolds.

WOLF: It's been a very active afternoon to say the very least through parts of Indiana. What we're talking about is the tornado warning in effect for Grant County, Huntington County and Wells county, in effect until 2:30 Eastern time. Taking a look at the very latest from the storm. We see the counties outlined in the red, those are your trouble spots. Grant County is the one that's really the place we're keeping a close eye on. Just keep in mind, we do not have visual confirmation of this. This is Doppler radar indicated and this storm, rotating thunderstorm, super cell could spawn a tornado at any time. We are watching it very carefully. It is drifting to the northeast and doing so at 35 miles per hour. I'd say it would be moving through places like Huntington, very close to Ft. Wayne within the next half hour to hour.

One thing you need to remember with storms of this nature, they are capable of producing 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts. That's a tropical storm force wind, 70 mile per hour wind gust, at the same time, hail that may be one inch in diameter or larger. Another trouble thing that we have with the storm system as it drifts its way from the west to the east across portions of the southern great lakes, it is moving towards parts of Ohio. You notice the counties shaded in the dark greens and the light greens. These are places that have just been saturated with heavy rainfall from last night, some places near Sandusky anywhere from four to five inches of rainfall. The problem is when this additional rainfall comes on through, there's a very real threat for flooding. It's an area we're going to have to watch through the afternoon into the evening as well. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks Reynolds. Straight now to the newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield working details on that developing story out of Chicago. Fred?

WHITFIELD: In Chicago, that Federal building is still in lockdown as officials continue to look for a man who was to appear in a hearing and then allegedly bolted. Our Jonathan Freed is there. Jonathan, what's the latest on this search of this 27-story skyscraper?

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest on this is that earlier when we spoke to the U.S. marshals, they told us that they conceded that it's possible that he left the building, but we have heard that at least at one point officials believe that they either saw or heard him. It's unclear to us exactly which it was on a floor and that he left that floor. So at one point, they believe that he was still in the building. But about 45 minutes ago, and I was talking to one of the U.S. marshals, the spokesperson here. He said that it is, of course, possible that he did leave the building, despite the fact that it is in lockdown.

We're talking about Larnell Rogers and he's described as having walked out after arriving late for a hearing. He was out on bond. He was not a prisoner. He was not in custody, and he -- when he didn't show up for a hearing, he's accused of lying to an ATF agent, a bond - excuse me, an arrest warrant was issued for him. He showed up at the hearing late with somebody that is described as his wife. Was informed that they were looking for him and that the warrant was out for him, and that's when they say he left. Now, I tried to get U.S. marshals to characterize exactly how he left. I said, did he run? Did he bolt? Did he walk away? They said, they wouldn't go so far as to saying bolt at this point. They were just saying that he was informed that there was a warrant out for him and then he left. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: And so this lockdown continues, even though he is considered to be nonviolent, not considered to be a threat to anyone, yet they are still doing the floor-to-floor searches and asking people to keep their doors locked as well as the elevators continue to be locked?

FREED: That's right. And we should reiterate that, that the marshals' office says that he is not considered violent. He is not considered a danger to the public. They say he does have a criminal record. But that notwithstanding that he is not considered violent or a danger. They said that when they were initially alerted to the fact that he left when told of the warrant, that they made a PA announcement into the building. They say it was heard throughout the building and that he was told to just stop where he was and get down on his knees and wait, and they say that clearly either he did not hear that or didn't comply with that.

WHITFIELD: And so again Jonathan, how are officials responding when people ask, gee, isn't this strange, isn't this extreme? When someone is considered nonviolent, he wasn't an inmate. He didn't breakaway from custody, but instead it was someone who just showed up late and the consequence, which is fairly typical is a warrant will go out for your arrest?

FREED: Well, they say that the tripwire is a very fine one. They say this is a Federal building. It's a courthouse. In their words their job here is to preserve decorum and even though he's not considered violent, there is an arrest warrant out for him and he left, so they say this is what they have to do.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jonathan Freed in Chicago, thanks so much.

PHILLIPS: Thanks. Well, a morning mess for commuters in California, but we're happy to report that no one was seriously hurt when these two big rigs collided on interstate 5. Take a look here, making the scene looking even worse, while one of those tractor- trailers was hauling crushed cars. The other one, 35,000 pounds of tomato paste.

Did your last plane ticket cost more than it should have? A major airline, maybe several airlines, are being investigated for possible price fixing. LIVE FROM's on the case, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Still following that severe weather. The alert is a tornado warning in Indiana. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is working it for us. Reynolds.

WOLF: Absolutely. It has been just a crazy afternoon in parts of the Midwest and in the northern parts of the Ohio Valley. Here's the latest that we have for you. South of Ft. Wayne, we have got a couple of tornado warnings that are in effect and we're taking a look again south of Ft. Wayne, you see these two counties here, Huntington County, one of the locations. A super cell thunderstorm, capable of producing a tornado is the one we're really keeping a close eye on. This storm is moving to the east and doing so about 35 miles per hour. Again, no visual confirmation of the tornado as of this time.

However, it is a hail-producer, one-inch hail reported with the storm system, also 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts. We actually have a live image from Ft. Wayne looking to the south. Take a look at this incredible shot that you have. One side, on the left-hand side of the screen, you have a little bit of the sun, illuminating it, but on the right side, greater density in the atmosphere, the heavier clouds and the heavier amounts of rainfall. Moments ago on the same image, we saw just a beautiful display of cloud-to-cloud lightening. Deadly lightening will be this storm system as it crawls its way towards the east throughout the rest of the afternoon.

If we can, let's go back to the weather computer for just a moment. We were talking about this earlier, one of the big dangers this poses. Keep in mind, this warning will be in effect for just a few more minutes. But right now, I'd say the tornado warning is just a small piece of what may happen later on today. Notice all the counties in dark green and light green in parts of northern Ohio. These are the places that experience a little bit of flooding earlier today. Sandusky, Ohio, one of those places. This whole cluster, showers and storms all drifting right over that area that has just -- the creeks, rivers in that air, all swollen with plenty of water. With this additional moisture, it is not good news, and it's certainly an area of concern for us. And, again, it's just going to bear watching through the afternoon. If you happen to live in this part of the world, up near the turnpike in northern Ohio, certainly you want to be on your toes through the afternoon hours. We'll keep you posted with the latest. Let's send it back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Online meeting places are all the rage for kids. But a growing source of outrage for parents. One popular site is giving itself a safety overhaul. LIVE FROM (INAUDIBLE) But first, our weekly series, welcome to the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've always dreamed of having a houseful of kids but right now we are just hoping for one baby.

We started trying to have children about a year after we got married. We just weren't getting pregnant. We've been doing fertility treatments for a little bit over four years now. We were just wondering why am I having all these miscarriages. We found out that we had a chromosome abnormality. We've always led very healthy lifestyles and I just figured we would have no problem having children.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Beverly is not alone. Infertility haunts more than 6 million U.S. couples. Doctors are hoping to reduce that number by learning more about how an embryo develops by screening them for problems before they are even implanted in the mother. But with that knowledge comes dilemmas. Where do we draw the line?

Dr. Mark Purlow (ph) is with a fertility clinic called Georgia Reproductive Specialists. Here they use prenatal genetic diagnosis, or PGD, to help couples conceive healthy babies. The procedure tests embryo's fertilized in the lab for certain kinds of abnormalities. Only the healthy embryos are transferred back to the mother.

DR. MARK PURLOW, GEORGIA REPRODUCTIVE SPECIALISTS: PGD can screen for just about any disease where we know the sequence of the genetic abnormality, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell, other hemoglobin disorders.

O'BRIEN: Purlow says that PGD could one day screen embryos for things like heart disease, breast cancer or diabetes and that raises a lot of questions.

PURLOW: Which conditions are worthy of testing? How should we decide which embryos would be transferred?

O'BRIEN: It could be even more complex in the future as many believe PGD could also give doctors the ability to correct abnormalities by actually changing the embryo's DNA.

PURLOW: Society has to play an important role in overseeing this, and setting boundaries and limits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, more potential trouble for the airlines. British Airways confirms it's being investigated for possible price fixing. Two U.S. carriers are being mentioned as well. We get the story now from CNN's Allan Chernoff at Newark international airport. Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, American and British authorities are teaming up in this investigation. It's focusing on the fuel surcharges that have been added to passenger fares over the past few years as the price of crude oil has been soaring. And you know crude oil is so critical to the price of an air ticket. It's so important for the cost structure of airlines. Now British Airways, as you mentioned, is clearly the target here. The news came out this morning from British Airways, and only last week British authorities raided offices of British Airways in London. Now are other carriers involved, are they targets? That's not so clear.

United Airlines has told us that they are cooperating in the investigation, but they say they have been told they are not a target. American Airlines told our British correspondent exactly the same thing earlier today, but when I spoke to American they said, well, we haven't been told that we are a target. So, quite a change there. A little less definitive, in terms of a denial. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Allan, I think a lot of people are wondering, OK, if we're seeing this happen to British Airways, how many of the other airlines could be tied to something like this? CHERNOFF: Well, it's certainly possible that it's widespread, but we just don't know the details just yet. I mean, we're talking about substantial increases here in the cost of a ticket. Over the past two years, British Airways has actually increased that surcharge by seven times. It's now $65 on a one way long-haul trip.

PHILLIPS: Alright Allan Chernoff, thanks so much.

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