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CNN Live Today

President Bush In Iraq; Rove Off The Hook; Tropical Storm Alberto

Aired June 13, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: First let's go to our top breaking, developing story. The President's surprise visit to Iraq. It comes on the second day of his war summit. Our White House Correspondent Elaine Quijano has more on that.
Elaine, this trip a surprise to us and most of the world, and yet apparently this has been in the works for about a month.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's true, Daryn.

And, interestingly, we're just learning some new details, an indication really of just how closely held a secret this trip to Baghdad was. According to the president's counselor, Dan Bartlett, he says he does not believe that even John Negroponte, the director of National Intelligence, of course a man in the business of keeping secrets, was made aware of this. Only the vice president, we are told, the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were among those who were told ahead of time.

In fact, the president, of course, as you know, Daryn, was supposed to be continuing with a two-day summit on Iraq at Camp David. Now, of course, the president in Baghdad. The teleconference that was to have been taking place is still going on, we understand, between the U.S. cabinet and the Iraqi cabinet. But, of course, the president is now on the other end.

A little bit more on this -- on the information of how this unfolded. It was last night around 7:45 apparently at Camp David that President Bush apparently excused himself from a post dinner discussion on Iraq. In attendance, several cabinet members. But the president saying that he was "losing altitude." That he wanted to get to bed. But at that time, apparently, he slipped away from Camp David unnoticed to Andrews Air Force Base. And then it was shortly after 9:00, in fact, Eastern Time that the president was on Air Force One. As you noted, he announced himself by saying POTUS is on board to the pool reporters where were there, walked into his cabin and shortly after that Air Force One headed over to Iraq.

Now according to Counselor Dan Bartlett, this was a trip that apparently had been planned over the past month by a very small circle of people within the White House. A group of about six people within the White House. Counselor Dan Bartlett saying that the president wanted to come to Iraq as soon as that Iraqi cabinet had been finalized. You'll recall those posts of defense and interior ministries just being finalized in the last few days. Now according to Bartlett, had these posts been filled sooner, the president would have decided to go on and make this trip several months earlier. But what this does, Daryn, of course, a message being sent by the United States, by this administration, that the United States government does stand with the Iraqi government. But also what this does is it gives President Bush an opportunity to sit down face to face with this new Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki. A man, of course, whom the United States is looking to for his leadership. Already the signals coming from this White House are that they like what he has said so far about mapping out particular future for his country, focusing on things like security, reconstruction and national reconciliation.

But the president slated to spend very little time on the ground there actually. Only about five hours or so. But certainly this news coming as a surprise to many even within the administration.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.

A couple notes for our viewers. In fact, all around the world. I want to welcome our viewers that are joining us on CNN International.

There is a pool reporter along for this ride. It happens to be our own John King. We expect John to call in any moment. And when he does, we'll have the latest from Iraq on the president's surprise visit.

Now I'd like to go live to Baghdad. Our John Vause is standing by there with perspective from Baghdad. Clearly if it wasn't known here, even the prime minister didn't know he was going to be getting this surprise visitor, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Daryn.

About five minutes before the president arrived at the republican palace, the Iraqi prime minister was told that George W. Bush was there to meet him. When they shook hands, the prime minister said quite simply, good to see you. The president replied, well thanks for having me.

They will be meeting for about five hours. That meeting underway now for about an hour and a half already. We know a few more details. That Air Force One touched down about two hours ago now on a distant tarmac at Baghdad International Airport.

KAGAN: John, I'm just going to go ahead -- I'm going have -- John, I'm going to ask you to hold that thought right now because, as I mentioned, our John King is the pool reporter, CNN's John King is a pool reporter along for the ride with President Bush for the five hour trip. John now calling in. Let's go ahead and listen to John King live from Baghdad.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is John King with the president in Baghdad.

He is now in the middle of what the White House says is his most important meeting here with the new Iraqi prime minister, Prime Minister Maliki. You'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 -- 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 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 situations, improve the police forces and have stability -- political stability -- in the country.

This obviously a secret trip. And it's 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 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 his cabinet. 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 a 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 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 on to helicopter rides. We didn't see the president at all. He had been rushed with security on to a 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. 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 Prime 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 is surprisingly on the other end of that 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 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.

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

KAGAN: And that was our John King reporting. He is the pool reporter for this trip. We want to go back live to Baghdad. Our John Vause standing by.

John, we heard John King report that President Bush actually wanted to make this face-to-face visit with the prime minister for some time but was waiting until the cabinet is complete. Just how difficult has that task been getting this government together?

VAUSE: Well for the new prime minister it's been extremely difficult, especially over the last couple of weeks, filling these two crucial positions of defense and interior. Defense controlling the army, interior controlling the police force. He put forward a number of candidates that were rejected by the Shiites and the Sunnis in his national coalition government. Even those within his own Shiite factions rejected some of his nominations.

Finally, though, on the same day that Zarqawi was killed, on Wednesday actually -- the following day after that announcement was made, we heard from the Iraqi prime minister that he finally had reached a compromise within all of the factions, within his own Shiite group and also within this national unity government. That they had reached on the decision of these two men to fill these very two crucial security positions within the Iraqi cabinet.

With the cabinet now filled out, the Iraqi prime minister and these two ministers have moved forward with their security plans. That's also been announced today.

We've been talking about that a lot today already about this security plan which will be put into place for Baghdad. It begins just after dawn on Wednesday, tomorrow morning, about 12 hours from now. At least 70,000 Iraqi troops will be on the street to try and break the back of the insurgency here, take this city back from many of the militias which now control large neighborhoods here in Baghdad.

Daryn.

KAGAN: John Vause live from Baghdad. John, thank you. More from you throughout the next two hours.

Right now I want to go ahead and welcome in one of our correspondents, Aneesh Raman.

Good timing on our part to have this breaking news when you just happen to be visiting at our world headquarters here in Atlanta.

Welcome. Good to have you here.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be here.

KAGAN: How important do you think this visit is, the surprise visit by President Bush to Iraq?

RAMAN: I think he almost had to make it. He has been waiting for a chance like this for some time. They have been trying to build momentum. Every time we hear the words "turning point" with Iraq, before they have led essentially to dead ends -- a number of elections, the trial of Saddam.

This day, the day where Zarqawi was announced as having been killed, the day that the government was fully formed, is perhaps the best chance of that magnitude that President Bush will have to try and turn this around. You've seen some change in the poll numbers. That image there that you see with the president and the prime minister standing side by side shows as well that America is there to aid the Iraqis. An important message President Bush wants to convey is that there's only an amount that is within U.S. control. That it is up to the Iraqis to stand up.

Why did John Vause say the security posts were so difficult to fill? Because Shia militias, as well as the insurgency, have been part of the complications of violence there. And riding the militias out of the ministries essentially was a big bar that had to be passed.

KAGAN: This is the second time President Bush has made a surprise visit to Iraq. The last time, Thanksgiving in 2003. This visit you think, perhaps, even more important?

RAMAN: I think so. I think when we saw him come Thanksgiving of '03 it was really about the troops. It was rallying support for them. This visit, I think, is about the Iraqi government. It's about the situation there. It's about rallying support by Americans towards the chance that we now have that perhaps hasn't come since January of 2005 in the first elections for things to change on the ground.

It is a moment, though, that will only be as powerful as the Iraqi politicians make it. It is up to them. It is up to the U.S. military commanders to seize upon it and really take that momentum to the next stage. Whether we're still talking about this day as a turning point a month from now we'll have to see. We've used that word, you know, so many times before.

KAGAN: What does this mean to the average Iraqi trying to go to work, trying to send their kids to school?

RAMAN: I think very little. This visit to the average Iraqi will perhaps signal that maybe there's something in terms of momentum that clearly President Bush is trying to seize upon. It's an incredibly bold statement for him to make. Security obviously a huge concern.

But for the average Iraqi, and I have seen it over the time period that I was there, the confidence in the government has eroded and legitimately so because they've seen a number of elections come and they've seen very little change in their day-to-day lives. And so what they are waiting for is for security to take hold, for militias to not exist, for some sense of a unified Iraq to take hold among themselves, but also among the security forces. And for the rest of it all to then begin, employment, basic services. In Baghdad proper (ph), for example. So they will celebrate as they did that day. They will see this as a chance but they will wait.

KAGAN: And final question for you. If and when you go back to do more coverage from there, what will you be looking to see?

RAMAN: I think the average Iraq is the best litmus test to how things are going there. It is their support for this democratic process that is essential. Their support in turning over intelligence and providing that to the forces that can suffocate the insurgency. It is their faith in this process that is the only life blood for it to continue.

So if they start to wane in that support, if they start to see this democratic process as something that won't be around or they don't believe it will be, that is where things could fall apart. But they have to believe in a unified Iraq. They have to believe Iraq is above a civil war. They have to believe that there is a sense to be Iraqi that isn't Shia, Kurd or Sunni and that is the biggest test for Iraq in the days ahead.

KAGAN: One more logistical question for you. Just even what they have carried off in getting President Bush in and out in this five our visit, had to shut down Baghdad Airport. Just how difficult would that operation be?

RAMAN: I think the most vulnerable part for the president would have been the helicopter ride from the airport to the greenzone. It's about a five to 10 minute ride. Coming in, as we come as journalists on commercial flights into Baghdad International Airport, you essentially maintain -- and you see on the map there where the airport is -- you maintain an altitude where you're beyond essentially the grasp of the insurgency.

Once you come in to what is a secure area, you sort of spin down. It's not a dramatic spin as it was before. But it would have been given that no one knew he was coming. That second hop from the airport to the greenzone that would have been more vulnerable for him. People would have known at that point he was on the ground.

But you get a sense of the security. The prime minister of Iraq didn't know until five minutes before. It harkens back to when the vice president went there and the prime minister at the time didn't even know he was meeting the vice president. He was told he was meeting the U.S. ambassador. So clearly security still of massive concern there.

KAGAN: Fascinating day. Aneesh Raman, thank you for your insights and you time spent down on the ground in Iraq.

RAMAN: Thanks.

KAGAN: Now this is a huge day for the Bush administration. Not only did President Bush make his surprise visit into Iraq. Also getting news that a key White House aide is now off the hook. The special counsel has told Karl Rove he will not face charges in the CIA leak's case. Rove's attorney says that decision should end what his attorney calls baseless speculation about his client's action. Let's go back to the White House and talk to Elaine Quijano about this topic.

Elaine.

QUIJANO: Well, Daryn, a senior administration official traveling with President Bush is saying that the president certainly now is aware of this development regarding Karl Rove. But this official and officials here at the White House are declining to characterize any kind of reaction.

What we do have is a statement from White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino who says, " we are pleased that the special counsel has concluded his deliberations. 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."

Now a little bit on the back story taking place here. We understand that it was yesterday, in fact, before Karl Rove delivered a speech to state Republicans in New Hampshire, that he, in fact, was informed by his attorney of this development. But Rove himself made no mention during that speech.

But, of course, this news is certainly welcome news to this White House. There had been, of course, that cloud hanging over the administration with the question of whether or not Karl Rove would be indicted. But now particularly timely for this White House and the GOP. They've been looking for some good news, especially as those congressional midterm elections are coming up in November.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Once again, Elaine, thank you.

And let's get some more details now from our Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley standing by in Washington, D.C. Candy, I think you could technically qualify this as a good day for this administration.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

You know, what's interesting is, this is, as far as Karl Rove is concerned, sort of the lack of bad news. But that's what passes for really good news because it's been such an awful several months for the Bush administration. If this story were reversed, where we reporting today that Karl Rove had been indicted, I can assure you that most of the stories would be about, you know, a lame duck president or the beginning of the end of the Bush administration. That's how key Karl Rove is certainly symbolically and certainly to the elections that are coming up.

I mean this is -- no one at the White House right now, other than Mrs. Bush of course, is closer to the president than Karl Rove. This would have been a huge blow certainly technically, practically speaking, but also just symbolically speaking. So they really cleared a hurdle here and they're feeling pretty good.

KAGAN: And yet, Candy, with the rearrangement of the White House, we've seen Karl Rove -- now there's three deputy chiefs of staff. So what happens to his role now? Does it grow once again?

CROWLEY: Well, his role is pretty vital. I mean one of the things that both Karl Rove and President Bush have sort of dreamed of and tried to shape in these past six years, and even before that, is sort of a permanent Republican majority. I don't need to tell you that that is deeply threatened at this point given what we're seeing in the polls, given what both Republicans and Democrats say is going to be a very, very rough year for Republicans this year.

So Karl Rove's main focus, Karl Rove's only focus now, is where really his strength is, his forte (ph), and that is on these elections. He was in New Hampshire when he got this news, or arriving in New Hampshire as it were. And what was he saying? He was saying, listen, Republicans, get out there, talk up the economy. The economy's great. And you don't have to back down from Iraq. We don't need to apologize for removing a brutal dictator. So he was trying what they want him to do and that is trying to urge Republicans to get out there with what he believes is a winning message.

Now Karl Rove is not what is depressing Republican numbers at this point. But he certainly is very good at turning numbers around and at delivering messages that candidates can go out and then sell. So that's where his efforts are going to be from now until November.

KAGAN: Five times in front of the federal grand jury, now gets to go just in his scrapbook.

CROWLEY: Yes.

KAGAN: Maybe not one he wants to hold on to, though, but thank you, Candy Crowley in Washington, D.C. Our other huge developing story, Tropical Storm Alberto barring down on the Florida Gulf Coast. We will go live up and down that coast and check in with our Severe Weather Expert Chad Myers in just a minute. Right now a quick break.

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KAGAN: Huge developing news day. President Bush makes a surprise visit to Baghdad in person. He wanted to greet the new Iraq prime minister. More on that coverage of that story as the hour goes on.

But right now we focus on what's happening on the Gulf Coast of Florida. From Tampa to near Tallahassee, thousands of Floridians on the move this hour from Alberto. The main part of the tropical storm is just offshore and closing in on the area known as Florida's Big Bend. And while it's no Hurricane Katrina, Alberto is still a force to be reckoned with. There's heavy rain, storm surge and potentially tornadoes to worry about. We have correspondents spread throughout the region. Live reports straight ahead.

First, though, let's check in with our Severe Weather Expert Meteorologist Chad Myers.

Chad, hello.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Daryn.

A couple things we're worried about today. Obviously you mentioned the one, tornadoes. But also a little thing called storm surge in the little estuaries that are up here on the northern side of Florida. That's the Big Bend that you talked about right there.

And on this map, this is a hydrological page that we always look at. There are river gauges all along here. And we want to see what those rivers are doing. Are they going up? Is that water being forced back into the river?

So what we do is we get on to the NOAA page here and we'll click on -- let's click on Newport right here because it's already in the yellow. We'll see what that means. We know that the rivers been coming up and closer to flood stage.

Here's the action stage is six feet, flood stage is seven. Well that river right there is at 6.6 feet. So only about five inches below flood stage there. And you can see just a little bit of an upturn on the river. So the water is flowing back up that river. That is called storm surge. Storm surge can be four, six, eight, 10 feet and evening St. Marks, on that St. Marks River, back with Hurricane Dennis, it was about 10 feet into downtown St. Marks.

Let's go back to the maps. I want to show you where this storm is and how that's going to affect the rest of the state and, for that matter, the rest of the east coast. This storm did not gain any strength in the overnight hours. In fact, the storm gulped in some dry air. Dry air that came off of Texas and Louisiana and Mexico itself. It spun it into the storm and really almost tore the middle of the storm out. Now it's trying to redevelop around east of Apalachicola. Get a closer picture here.

There is a tornado watch, you talked about. There are the potential around most of the states up and down the east coast there will be a potential for tornadoes today. But about 60 miles from Apalachicola, about 70 miles from Cedar Key now. That's the center of the storm. There really isn't an eye, but it's the center of the circulation. About 24 miles. Hard to read, but that number is 24. About 24 miles from the coast. And there's Steinhatchee and there's St. Marks and that little river gauge would be right about there.

The water is piling up. We do know that. There's been a south wind for hours. And as that south wind blows, it's almost like, think about when you're trying to cool your coffee off in the morning. You take your cup and you blow the top of the coffee. Well the coffee piles up on the one side of the cup as you're blowing it. You're making little ripples. Well, that's what the wind is doing, making little ripples and the water is piling up in the bays here and that's what you call storm surge. The storm surge will probably only affect this coast from about Cedar Key back on possibly as far west as St. George Island.

We're watching more rain showers coming into the southern part of Georgia, the southern part of Florida and eventually the low country of South Carolina and into North Carolina. This has been a very dry area. So if you're getting rainfall, that's the good news. You're getting some wind. You might get a little bit of damage, but probably not much. Hurricane warnings are still posted but there have been no hurricane conditions anywhere with this storm yet.

That's the only game in town. All the way up the east coast, sunshine and clear skies. Back through Dallas and clear. A couple of shows popping up across parts of the specific northwest and maybe a thunderstorm or two for Idaho and into Montana. It's 86 in Billings, 82 in Salt Lake City. A warm day in Atlanta until the rain starts to come in later on today and then rain showers keeping the east coast cool, especially the low country of South Carolina and down maybe even into the Piedmont to North Carolina later today.

KAGAN: All right, Chad, thank you. We will, of course, be talking with you many times throughout the next couple of hours.

Now you might live far away from Florida and wondering what is Alberto and this part of the world mean to you. Well, if you enjoy scallops at your favorite seafood restaurant, good chance it comes from this part of the world, Steinhatchee, Florida, a big fishing village, and they go for scallops there. Also Cedar Keys, one of the oldest ports in Florida. We have two of our correspondents standing by. We have Dan Lothian and our Rob Marciano.

And, Dan, we're going to go ahead and start with you in Steinhatchee, Florida.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this is known for its fishing. We have not seen a whole lot of fishermen out here this morning, although we did see one who was braving the winds out on the pier behind me fishing. He has since moved indoors.

But right now all we've been dealing with is the wind. Seeing the gusts anywhere from the mid 20s to the low 30s over the past hour or so. But the rain really has tapered off. And we even see some sunshine poking through from time to time.

Emergency management officials giving us an update about 45 minutes ago. Telling us that the -- that they have been so concerned about, which we've been talking about and could potentially be even a problem in the next couple of hours or so, did not materialize as they had expected it by 8:00. So they said that is some good news.

The bad news though, if you follow what all emergency management officials want you to do, which is, when we tell you to evacuate, leave. Well in this case, people stayed behind. We had been hearing that from some of the locals who told us they didn't know of anyone who took off.

And emergency management officials confirming for us that most people did stay behind even though there had been that warning. The warning going out to about 2,000 folks in the low-lying areas. There are areas that have been impacted by past storms, specifically Dennis last year where the storm surge came in about eight to 10 feet, leaving about two feet of water in some of the homes and businesses in the low-lying areas. So they were very concerned about those areas. Not completely out of the neck of the woods as they say just -- a little bit better this morning.

Daryn.

KAGAN: We were doing so well and almost started to freeze up your shot there. Thank you, Dan Lothian in Steinhatchee, Florida.

Now let's go to Cedar Key. Rob Marciano. Not to far from there.

Rob, you're in one of the oldest ports in all of Florida.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's the old port here and also, on the other side of the island, they raise quite a bit of clams that you may eat in your local restaurant, as well.

We're on the beach. This is the local beach which right now is experiencing low tide. You can kind of see over my right shoulder some palm trees. Beyond that, the water really lapping right up against those smaller palm trees. Right now at low side we're above where the typical high tide would be. And that's a little bit -- kind of gets you concerned because high tide's coming in at 2:00, 3:00 and these south and southwest winds continue to push this water, as Chad kind of mentioned, like, you know, blowing your coffee in the morning right up against the beaches.

So this water's not going to go out. It's got the south winds pushing it up and now we're gong to have the high tides coming in. So we could realistically get a higher surge this afternoon than we had last night at the height of this storm. On top of that, a little bit further inland to our south on Highway 19 in Citrus County, a place called Crystal River is one that floods quite readily. And officials there are worried for the same deal. That the water was pushed up there last night at high tide and it has not recede a whole lot, so it could see another surge of flooding there later on today.

Video for you now from inland parts of Cedar Key, the downtown area, which is a little bit lower than where we are right now. Kind of shaped like a bowl, this island is. And that downtown gets a little bit more flooded than the beaches or the higher end of the beaches. Knee to waist-deep high water in the downtown area. So businesses and homeowners who live here are going to have a bit of a wait until this water slowly recedes.

The winds have not died down all that much this morning. At times we get kicked with some winds and at times we also get kicked with a pulse of some heavy, horizontal rain. And then much like Dan Lothian, at time we get some peeks of sunshine. So kind of typical what you would see of a tropical storm. At least the back half of it. And Alberto being the first one of season, a little bit stubborn, Daryn. Doesn't seem to want to go away just yet. So we'll see what happens over the next few hours.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Well, like I said, they fish a lot of scallops in the area. We'll call it the appetizer of the hurricane season.

MARCIANO: Yes, sounds tasty.

KAGAN: Yes. Hopefully that will just kind of set the stage, that's as bad as things are going to get.

Thank you, Rob Marciano.

ANNOUNCER: Stay with CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

KAGAN: We, of course, will stay with the story of Alberto as the storm makes its way to the northeast. We have live reporters up and down the Florida Gulf Coast.

Also, Chad is watching the storm via radar.

President Bush making a surprise visit to Baghdad today. We do expect to hear from the president momentarily. All that is coming up.

Also, Israel says it is targeting terrorists. Among the victims of this latest strike in Gaza, two children. We'll take you live to the Middle East when LIVE TODAY returns. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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