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CNN Live Today

George W. Bush Makes Surprise Iraq Visit; Tensions Rise Between Israel and Palestine; Type II Diabetes on the Rise; Florida Bracing for Tropical Storm Alberto

Aired June 13, 2006 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well time to check the markets. They've been open just over an hour. Not a lot of movement after what has been a rocky few days. You can see the Dow is down just about a little bit over a point, and the NASDAQ is not moving much either.
Once again, our top developing story, President Bush makes a surprise visit. He is in Iraq today. This was to be the day that President Bush did a video conference with the new prime minister of Iraq, Nouri al Maliki. But instead, he went in person. It's a five- hour trip. Turns out our own John King is the pool reporter along for this story and about a half hour ago, he filed this report.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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 -- and 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'd face over the next couple of 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 in 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 much easier, they decided, if they had the planning meetings for Iraq up at Camp David on Monday, and then the president snuck out after dinner last night.

We're told he was at dinner with many members of cabinet simply, and at 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 9:00. POTUS, of course, standing for "President of the United States."

He did he 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, onto a helicopter ride.

Despite all the heavy security, a pretty uneventful ride in. The helicopters flying very low over the houses in Baghdad. Some traffic on the streets below, machine gunners looking down anxiously. But about a six-minute flight, then 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 the Prime Minister Maliki now. He will then have the 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 is surprisingly on the other end of the call. Then other meetings here with Iraqi officials, including some civil and political leaders, some 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 of 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.

This is John king with the U.S. network pool and the president in Baghdad.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KAGAN: And once again, that was our John King. We do expect to hear comments from the president coming in here to us at CNN any minute. And when we do, we'll bring those to you.

Meanwhile, other big news out of the White House today. Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove getting word he will not be indicted or face any charges in the CIA leak probe. That coming from Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Right now let's listen in to Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer commenting on the development.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Finally, no matter what the outcome is of the final investigation, I am renewing my call on Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald to issue a report detailing his findings and explaining his charging decisions. In this type of case, I think that's the prosecutor's obligation to the American people.

Ready for your questions. Yes. QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

SCHUMER: Well, that's why I've asked for a report. Clearly, the name was leaked. And there is a different standard between leaking a name, which was wrong, and a criminal standard, which is a statute that's been on the book since 1982.

It's Prosecutor Fitzgerald's decision only to prosecute if the criminal standard is met. But that doesn't absolve the White House or the leaker of culpability. And there ought to be punishment for them as well, an appropriate punishment even if it's not a criminal punishment and a trial.

KAGAN: Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer as he comments on the news. One of the big stories happening today. Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove getting word he will not be indicted or face any charges in the ongoing investigation into the CIA leak probe.

Let's move on now to the Middle East. It is a deadly and ongoing back and forth there. Israeli forces and Palestinian militants launching rocket attacks against each other. An Israeli strike today in Gaza left 11 dead. Now the military's investigation into the death of seven Palestinians on a Gaza beach may raise tensions even more.

Fionnuala Sweeney is live in Jerusalem on this report from the Israeli military. Hello.

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Well, that report has yet to be published, but leaks to the Israeli media indicate that an exhaustive investigation on the part of the Israeli army has determined that they may not have been responsible for that explosion on the beach last Friday. The pictures, of course, which were beamed around the world, of 11-year- old Huda Ghaliya mourning the death of her family, and in particular her father. They had been having a picnic on the beach last Friday afternoon when there was an explosion.

Now, the Israeli military -- and I have to point out, the report has not yet been published -- give a number of reasons as to why they say that it could not have been an Israeli shell. They think the chances are, in their words, probably nill. We will be hearing more, though, about that report, because it is due to be published on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, as you have reported, Daryn, there have been air strikes. An air strike on a white van in Gaza earlier in the day. Eleven people dead. Two were members of Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad saying that one of their top rocket launchers -- people were killed in that explosion. Israel says that the van that they targeted was carrying Katusha rockets.

There were two explosions, eyewitnesses report, but the Israeli army not commenting on how many missiles they launched. It would appear, though, that there is some speculation that ambulance workers were killed when they came up to the scene minutes after the initial strike because the Katusha rocket itself exploded. So 11 people dead in Gaza. Two members of Islamic Jihad, two were children, and two were ambulance workers, five members of the same family -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Fionnuala Sweeney, live with the latest from Jerusalem. Thank you.

Once again, our continuing coverage of Tropical Storm Alberto. More live coverage with our correspondents up and down the Gulf Coast. Also, we'll check in with Chad Myers, our severe weather specialist. That's coming up after this break. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: And Susan Candiotti can appreciate that. She got a little soaked, but she certainly has seen worse. She is in Clearwater Beach, near Tampa, some of the most beautiful beaches in the world along this stretch, and it looks like they're doing just fine -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pure white sand. That's right, Daryn. Well, here it is dry, it is sunny, and obviously it is very, very windy here in the Tampa-St. Petersburg Clearwater Beach. In fact, I think we're wearing hats at the beach because it is so windy.

Over my shoulder, you can see the red flags out at the lifeguard station. Those mean that people cannot go in the water. It is off limits to them, obviously because of the danger of rip currents.

However, they are still concerned about all this high wind possibly causing flooding in low lying areas, when high tide comes in later this afternoon. A lot of people are still coming out to the beach to enjoy it, even though they are not going into the water.

Let's show you on radar what's happening right now. We seem to be escaping any more moisture at this time, because of what is called the training effect. We're talking about moisture that is coming in from the south, but to the east and to the west of us, trailing along the wake of Tropical Storm Alberto. And that's a line of showers and thunderstorms that are, as I said, going on either side of us. That's why we think that we will remain in the dry the rest of the day.

Now, overnight, some problems here. About 3:00 in the morning, a construction barge was ripped off the moorings and slammed into the Howard Franklin Bridge, which connects Tampa and St. Petersburg. However, no injuries reported. Obviously no one was on the barge. It did stop traffic on the bridge for several hours. But it is back open again, and we are told there is no structural damage to the bridge.

However, as you lookout live now again, at the pier here in Clearwater and look at those high waves bouncing ashore, we can tell you that they did have some power outages here about, oh, 7,500 customers in all. However, all but about roughly 2,500 or so, or a little bit more than that, remain without power, and they are expecting it to be turned back on by the end of the day to all of those customers.

So things are looking up here in Clearwater. One tropical storm down. We'd like to think no more, but it's only the start of hurricane season.

KAGAN: Yes, wouldn't that be a good story if we just had Alberto way back in June and then nothing. We will see as it plays out.

CANDIOTTI: No chance of that happening.

KAGAN: I don't think so. Keep the hurricane gear ready to go. Susan, thank you.

Coming up, a hidden epidemic that affecting millions of Americans. You could have it and not even know. A special report by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So two big developing stories we are watching.

Number one, President Bush makes a surprise visit to Iraq today. It's a five-hour trip. He decided to go meet the new Iraqi prime minister by himself in person. So he's there. And in fact, we expect to see some taped shots with the president where he makes a statement in just a few minutes. As soon as that happens, you'll see that here on CNN.

The other story we're working on, of course, is Tropical Storm Alberto. The Gulf coast of Florida has been paying a lot of attention to this storm. Well, we can tell you that the National Hurricane Center has now downgraded its hurricane warning for this part of the Florida coast. It is now just at a tropical storm warning. Still very aware of what's happening there along the coast of Florida. And we have correspondents up and down that coast, and we'll go to them live, as well as to Chad Myers, our severe weather expert. We'll be back with him in just a moment.

But let's get some health news in first. Has someone you know been diagnosed with diabetes lately? Maybe a family member or friend this has happened to? Well, you're not alone. Doctors are warning that type II diabetes --this is the kind you can get from how you live and what you eat -- is at epidemic levels in this country.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Susanna James (ph) began feeling tired, she knew something was wrong. But it didn't occur to her that it was anything serious until she lost her vision temporarily.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I realized, oh my God, I'm completely blind!

GUPTA: Her doctor said her blood sugar was really high. Turns out she has type II diabetes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And immediately, he was like, what are you doing alive? You should be dead or in a coma.

GUPTA: Millions of people in the United States may have type II diabetes and not even know it. The disease seems to affect African- Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans more than other groups.

James was in her mid-20s when she was diagnosed. Doctors said she probably had type II diabetes for years without realizing it. Although she was never heavy, her family had a history of the disease. Type II is triggered by lifestyle. Obesity is a major factor. Doctors say being overweight doubles a child's chances of contracting type II diabetes.

Some of the signs and symptoms of type II diabetes are increased thirst, some flu-like symptoms and weight loss or weight gain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once you get diabetes, the earlier you get it, the longer you have it, the more time you are given in your life to have complications.

GUPTA: While there is no known cure for diabetes, type II is preventable. Physicians say the best way to keep your child from developing diabetes is to start early. Insist on exercise and watch those diets. Fight back by eliminating or at least cutting back on junk food. Stress the importance of getting a child to eat a good breakfast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Children and adults who eat a nutritious breakfast weigh less than people who don't.

GUPTA: James has learned to deal with the lifelong condition, but her main concern is her young son. She says she'll make sure he grows up healthy and free from diabetes.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And if you're worried about your health or your children's health, be sure to watch "FIT NATION" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Learn more about this health crisis impacting our families and our future.

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