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CNN Live Today
Search On For Missing Soldiers; Torrential Rains Cause Flooding in Southeast Texas; NYC Subway Terror Plot Revealed; Protecting Against Identity Theft
Aired June 19, 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: And we'll go ahead and get started. A busy Monday morning here for us. Here are some of the major stories that we're following at this hour.
More information about two American soldiers missing in Iraq. We're live from Baghdad and the Pentagon with developments. Also, we'll take you live to the soldiers hometowns.
A true nightmare commute. Reports that al Qaeda plotted to release poisonous gas in New York City subways.
And new worries today about a secretive country's plan. The U.S. and its allies watching and waiting after reports that North Korea may be getting ready to test a long-range missile.
And good morning on this Monday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.
We are tracking new developments out of Iraq this morning. A new terror group claims that it captured two American soldiers. But the Web site statement offers no proof to support that claim. The soldiers went missing after an attack on a checkpoint southwest of Baghdad. Right now a massive military search operation is underway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, COALITION FORCES IN IRAQ: We are using all available assets, coalition and Iraqi, to find our soldiers and we'll not stop looking until we find them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Our Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon this morning with more details about this search.
Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.
Well, this search now is, in fact, massive. The U.S. military saying that 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops are scouring the area, looking for these two soldier whose have been missing since Friday night when their checkpoint came under attack. Another soldier with them was killed. Earlier this morning the Pentagon identified the two missing men as Private First Class Kristian Menchaca of Houston and Private First Class Thomas Tucker of Oregon. Both young soldiers attached to the 101st Airborne Division.
As the search goes on, the checkpoints continue to look for these two soldiers. Military sources are telling CNN that all indications now are this was a very well-coordinated, planned out attack. Iraqi farmers in the are of Yusufiya, south of Baghdad, where this happened on Friday, have told the U.S. military they say they saw eight to nine insurgents taking away the two soldiers who appeared to be alive at that point. U.S. troops in the area also interviewed are indicating perhaps there was some sort of diversionary attack launched against them that drew troops away from the checkpoint where these three men were, leaving them potentially vulnerable to attack. Another indication of how well coordinated it apparently was, Daryn.
As the search goes on, the military saying already they have conducted a number of raids, captured insurgents, conducted search operations and they report that seven troops have been wounded in the search efforts since Friday night.
Daryn.
KAGAN: Barbara, what more can you tell us about this area where this took place?
STARR: Well, this is Yusufiya. This is an area south of Baghdad in the so-called Triangle of Death. That's what the U.S. troops call this area. It is known to be an area of heavy insurgent activity. People who are loyal to al Qaeda in Iraq, insurgents loyal to Zarqawi. This is an area of great concern. So there is a lot of worry about these two missing soldiers. A lot of effort going on to try and find them.
Daryn.
KAGAN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you.
Forget cats and dogs, it's raining elephants and rhinoceros in Houston. I mean it's just getting drenched in that south Texas area. Let's check in with Chad Myers with more about the storm system that's caution all this weather.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've been talking about this most of the morning, Daryn, really. This was called just a mesoscale (ph) -- little storm. I just sat right over Houston. Now down to League City and Galveston. Some areas reported on Doppler radar over 10 inches of rain in 12 hours. I mean rainfall rates like they had back in the tropical storm that just sat over them just a couple of years ago. Was it Allison (ph), I think, was the name.
The whole storm itself from League City now down to Galveston, putting down more and more rainfall. And some of the live shots we've been seeing out of our affiliate there. This was from KPRC out of Houston. They finally have a helicopter now in the sky. Couldn't have that for a long time. The rainfall was coming down so heavily they actually couldn't get planes or helicopters in the air.
If you could just see the cars over to the right, you would actually see the freeway is completely stopped. There's nowhere for the cars on the freeway to go because all of the exit ramps go from the freeway, from the 610, and then they go down on to these little side streets over here. And there's no place to go because as you get off the freeway, which is kind of an elevated roadway, so it isn't flooded in most areas, but can't get off. There's just nowhere for those cars to go.
We'll zoom in here for you just a little bit. Another heavy rain band right here where it has been so heavy. Most of the heaviest stuff, though, has been from Pasadena southward. Right over Pasadena itself. Right over the Green Bayou. Now just going up at tremendous rates. Going up like 20 feet in the past six hours and catching people off-guard.
There's the heavy rain now, Texas City, Galveston. And here's the rainfall estimate on the radar picture. There's the 610. Some of the areas here in this dark purple, that's seven inches of rain just in the past three hours. Rainfall rates from Bellfort Avenue and Telephone Road, that's 10.51. That's since this time yesterday. Nevada Avenue and Houston Boulevard, 9.5 inches of rain.
And this is kind of a tough view but you get the idea. This is the Green Bayou right here at the Highway 59. This storm gauge, every 15 minutes puts a dot down here, shows us what's going on. This water level has gone all the way through flood stage and now into heavy flood stage. That is 62 feet. Earlier this morning it was only in the 40s. So on up to almost 15 feet just in the past three hours. This water's going up quickly, catching a lot of people off-guard.
Daryn.
KAGAN: Any sign of when that's going to clear out of there?
MYERS: Well, we're getting another shower that pops up just now. This thing here. I'll kind of zoom back out for you. The storms are popping up in a line and they're training, as we call, one train car after another. Just going right on down toward League City and Galveston. Another one developing here. It will head over west Houston, down towards southeastern Houston and right through League City again. One after another. That's what's been happening all night long.
KAGAN: Chad, what do you say we welcome in Ed Lavandera. He is in Houston on the phone and hopefully dry but not a good chance of that.
Ed, good morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, we lost all chances of that about two hours ago, Daryn. We were here actually on another story and, as Chad mentioned, kind of caught off-guard by all of this. And we've seen it just continue to pour down here for the last couple of hours really intensely and it has turned the morning commute here in Houston into an absolute miserable experience. Some of the interstates leading into downtown you can actually see people just getting out of their cars, walking around. They've just come to a complete standstill.
Of course, many of the concerns -- much of the concern at this point too is, many of the bayou that cut through the city of Houston that dump water out into the gulf, and those are the areas that seem to be the most vulnerable at this point and forecasters here in Houston say that they expect this rain to continue throughout the rest of the day. So they will keep this a close eye on those bayous. And then the roadways in those area. And that seems to be the areas we're most vulnerable. But we have seen pictures of water starting to creep closer to homes and roadways which will complicate things here for the rest of the day.
KAGAN: Chad, you wanted to ask Ed a question?
MYERS: Well, you know, you're hearing about the Sims Bayou, the Green Bayou, some of those bayous going up at 10 to 15 feet just in the past six hours. Do we have people that are being rescued, Ed? I mean are there active rescues going on?
LAVANDERA: The fire department has been telling us there's been a number of high water rescues. We haven't heard of any injuries or drownings or anything like this at this point. But we have seen a lot of pictures of just, you know, stranded cars, water halfway up the door on cars and people just bailing out as quickly as they can.
KAGAN: I hear summer school has been canceled.
LAVANDERA: Absolutely. There have been some summer school classes in some areas where this -- because of the commute and just how -- what gridlock there is on the roadways here in the Houston area this morning, they've just decided to cancel those classes.
KAGAN: Ed Lavandera on the phone from Houston. Stay not too wet, OK?
LAVANDERA: All right. I appreciate that.
KAGAN: All right, Chad, and we'll check back with you.
MYERS: Yes, look at all those cars trying to get over to that one lane that was available, which was the shoulder.
KAGAN: Yes.
MYERS: Now it's no longer available at all.
KAGAN: They need chitty chitty bang bang that could swim and drive and do all that. Look at that one guy just walking on the freeway the wrong direction. Well, we just missed him holding an umbrella.
MYERS: Right. Just getting dangerous now. The water is going up in the ship channel, going up in those bayous. And if you're trying to run through those areas or your water's getting up into the doors of your car and the car just won't go any farther. Once it gets stalled out, you're done. KAGAN: Chad, another guest source that we can talk to about Houston, Rusty Cornelius. He is the administrator for the Office of Emergency Management in Harris County. And Mr. Cornelius on the phone with us right now.
Good morning.
RUSTY CORNELIUS, HARRIS COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good morning.
KAGAN: A soggy morning for you there in Houston.
CORNELIUS: Yes, it is. Quite wet.
KAGAN: Tell us about some of the challenges that you're facing today.
CORNELIUS: Well, right now the rain is continuing to linger over us. And, of course, any time we have rain like this, our terrain is very flat so we have localized street flooding and that's essentially what we're receiving right now over a very wide area of the county is localized street flooding. We do have three of our bayous, which is a local term for a river, that have either reached capacity or, in effect, come out of their banks. And one of those is inside the city limits of Jersey Village, which is a community that has received floods before and, unfortunately, looks like they're receiving one now. And then also on the Hunting Bayou (ph) in the Cashmere Gardens region in the city of Houston, they're experiencing a flood at this point in time. And we have localized flooding throughout the entire city and county.
KAGAN: Do you have any options except waiting for the rain to stop and dry up?
CORNELIUS: That is the only option. We do advise everyone to seek high ground.
Right now the city of South Houston, which is a totally separate city from the city of Houston, has declared a local state of disaster. And they are engaged in evacuations in and around the city of South Houston Elementary School. We have two open shelters. I don't have a shelter count for you at this time because we're in such an early stage of the operations.
KAGAN: Chad Myers, our meteorologist, has a question for you, Mr. Cornelius.
CORNELIUS: Yes.
MYERS: We also have reports that the Washburn Tunnel is flooded and closed. Impassible.
CORNELIUS: No, the Washburn Tunnel never flooded.
MYERS: OK.
CORNELIUS: The access roads to the tunnel were covered, were inundated at one time.
MYERS: Good news.
CORNELIUS: It has since run off and the Washburn Tunnel is reopened.
MYERS: Good. OK. Because that would be a major problem.
CORNELIUS: And you were talking about the Houston ship channel. We monitor the Houston ship channel very carefully and are in contact with the Port of Houston Authority. The ship channel is elevated but still within normal operation limits.
MYERS: What do you know about the Green Bayou?
CORNELIUS: Greens Bayou. In about three places we're within three feet of top of bank. Three feet is a critical number for us here in Harris County because that means you're very close to actually having a flood event. So we're monitoring those very, very closely. Unfortunately, three areas we're talking about are within the city limits of Houston in fairly highly populated areas.
MYERS: You have vivid memories of Allison five years ago. Anything like that now or are we not even close?
CORNELIUS: Well, if it's your home that gets impacted, of course it's a disaster.
MYERS: Absolutely.
CORNELIUS: During the Allison event we had some 57,000 homes that were impacted.
KAGAN: Wow.
CORNELIUS: We're probably looking at significantly less than this in our worst-case scenario. Right now we've had probably about a dozen homes that we actually have reports of being impacted.
MYERS: OK.
KAGAN: Did this one take you by surprise, Mr. Cornelius?
CORNELIUS: No. We were briefed that we could have this event yesterday. The difference being today, starting at about 2:00 in the morning, we didn't realize the training effect would be -- lasting as long. Which is what happened during Allison.
KAGAN: And Chad did a good job of explaining to us how the storms just kind of stack up and keep moving into your area. We wish you luck. It's going to be a busy, long and hopefully by the end a dry day.
CORNELIUS: I hope you're right. Thank you.
KAGAN: Sending you dry thoughts. Rusty Cornelius, Office of Emergency Management for Harris County, which includes Houston. And, Chad, thank you to you as well.
MYERS: You're welcome, Daryn.
KAGAN: Of course, we'll check back with you many times over the next couple of hours.
We're talking ahead about a poisonous plot. Terrorists targeting the New York subway system. Looking to maximize fatalities with minimal effort. We'll have details ahead here on CNN.
Also an urgent search in Iraq and now an unsubstantiated claim about two missing American soldiers. We're following the story on LIVE TODAY. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: What a mess. We are watching what's happening in Houston, Texas. Tons and tons of rain. Ten and a half inches of rain reported in parts of south and east Houston. Six inches of rain fell within 75 minutes. So they're having severe flooding problems there. We are watching that as they try to deal with that in Houston, Texas.
Also out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers will be cited in connection with the motorcycle accident he had last week. Here's Pittsburgh police telling reporters exactly what Big Ben now faces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN CONOLEY, PITTSBURGH POLICE: First of all, we did a thorough inspection of both vehicles and we have found no mechanic issues with either vehicle. Mr. Roethlisberger's Suzuki Hayabusa had a valid registration sticker and a valid inspection sticker, as well as the New Yorker.
We were able to come up with a speed of Mr. Roethlisberger at impact. And prior to impact, Mr. Roethlisberger was traveling at 35 miles an hour in a posted 35 miles an hour speed limit.
Mr. Roethlisberger did not have a valid permit or a valid motorcycle license. We had determined that both operators did have the green signal and that the 62-year-old female operator of the New Yorker failed to yield to the oncoming traffic.
Several citations will be issued in this particular case. The female driver will be issued a citation for failure to yield to oncoming traffic. Mr. Roethlisberger will receive two citations, one for failure to drive in his class, that being a class m motorcycle license, and he will be issued a citation for failure to wear a helmet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: And, by the way, failure to wear a helmet because even though they don't have the helmet law in Pennsylvania, they do have in his class that he should have been -- not having his license -- and you are supposed to be wearing a helmet. Total for Ben Roethlisberger $388, not to mention the grief of fans and the injuries he suffered as a result of that accident.
Madrid, London and now New York. All three cities have seen their transit system targeted by terrorists. The only difference here, al Qaeda apparently called off its attack on New York subways. Deborah Feyerick has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): In 2003, two years after 9/11, al Qaeda was reportedly within weeks of carrying out a cyanide gas attack in New York City's subways. Details of the 2003 plot are revealed in a new book, "The One Percent Doctrine" by journalist Run Suskind. According to excerpts in this week's "Time" magazine, al Qaeda planned to use devices, including mason jars, to release deadly hydrogen cyanide gas on subway trains. Suskind says "there would be several placed in subway cars and other strategic locations and activated remotely. This was well past conception and early planning. The group was operation. They were 45 days from zero hour."
CNN Security Analyst John McLaughlin is a former acting chief of the CIA. He says the subway plot was taken very seriously, but says the book overstates the gravity of the terror threat.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: This was important, but it wasn't the center of our universe at this point. When you saw heightened security alerts, they were as a result of a variety of threats, a variety of reports. This was just one of many. This was -- what you she in this excerpt are a few frames from a much larger and more complex movie.
FEYERICK: The subway attack was called off allegedly by Osama bin Laden's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. That prompted fears another 9/11 style attack might be in the works.
MCLAUGHLIN: As important as such an attack would have been, it wouldn't have been the spectacular kind of attack that I think al Qaeda is looking for.
FEYERICK: Subways have been terror targets before. In 1995, 12 people died in the Tokyo subway after a sarin nerve gas attack by members of a doomsday cult. Conventional explosives were used in deadly train attacks in Madrid in 2004.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, for your safety, please stop moving down.
FEYERICK: And last year in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And this reminder for you to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most trusted name in news. And the most reliable news about your security. This just in. Three bits of news from the U.S. Supreme Court.
First of all, the court has accept a challenge from Planned Parenthood involving late term abortions. The high court had already accepted another case. It's expected those cases will be argued in the fall.
Also out of the high court. The court without comment though has declined to block a key part of the administration's Medicare prescription drug program. Some states were challenging that because they say it required the federal government to pay for prescription expenses.
And then property rights. This almost a split decision, 5 to 4. The court has ruled in favor of homeowners in this property rights case. The cases were challenging whether federal wet land regulators went too far in restricting private development.
More out of the high court as news comes from there.
A stolen laptop with personal information. More American workers at risk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What came with the laptop was unsecured data of a very, very sensitive nature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Details on that case. And a new move in Congress that could make it even harder for you to protect yourself against identity theft. Gerri Willis will talk to us about that.
Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn. Good to see you.
Identity thieves aren't taking a summer vacation. We'll tell you what you can do to protect your private information. That's next at "Five Tips."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Well, if you think you're feeling sleepy on this Monday morning, you're not the only one. The markets -- well, the Dow is kind of picking up there. Going down the wrong direction. Down 18. The Nasdaq a little sleepy, though. It is only down six points.
Well, can you believe it has happened again? A laptop with social security numbers and other personal info is stolen and this time the identities of 13,000 city workers and retirees in Washington, D.C. are at risk. The computer was swiped from the home of an employee of ING Financial Services a week ago. The company handles the district's retirement plan and it did not notify workers until late Friday. The company says the laptop is not password protected -- oh my goodness -- and it's not encrypted. ING is offering to pay for credit monitoring and identity fraud protection. Let's hope so.
That naturally brings us to the topic of freezing your credit. One way to protect yourself from I.D. theft. But Congress might close this option for many Americans. Our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis has that story.
Gerri, why would they want to do that?
WILLIS: Is this not incredible? I mean it's one of the few things you can do as a consumer is put a credit freeze on your account so nobody can get your information. However, the House is considering a bill this week as part of their Financial Data Protection Act of 2006 that would pre-empt laws in 18 states that allow people to freeze their own credit . And under this bill, only actual victims of I.D. theft would be able to use the tool. And the idea here is that they want to be able to have access to your information. If you're a consumer, you want to get a credit card, they don't want anything to get in the way of your information being available unless you are a demonstrated victim.
KAGAN: All right. Let's talk about some other things, ways you could protect yourself. You want to think about places that you're really vulnerable. Like when you give out your social security number.
WILLIS: That is the most dangerous time. Whenever you give out your social security number, whether it's in a doctor's office, securing a loan, even doing your taxes because the social security number is the key to your identity. It can be used to literally hijack your identity. Remember, debit, ATM cards have more protection. So if you're simply showing I.D. somewhere, that's the idea to show. Much better even a driver's license. Nothing with your social security. Bad idea.
KAGAN: Even when you go on vacation, you can't let your protection down, your guard down.
WILLIS: That's right. And a lot of people are doing that right now. But don't take the checkbook or your checks. Leave those at home. And if you're using an ATM machine, make sure it's inside an actual bank. Fake ATM machines have been placed in high tourist traffic areas and they're illegitimate. They're just taking your money.
If you brought along valuables on vacation, like jewelry, keep them in the hotel safe. And make sure that you lighten up your wallet. You know how we tend to carry absolutely every credit card we've ever had, all kinds of identity cards. Forget that. Take only what you need when you're on vacation.
KAGAN: Now there's this thing out there, I.D. theft insurance. Is that a good deal?
WILLIS: Not so much, Daryn. Not loving the I.D. theft insurance. It's expensive. The coverage is limited. Some deductibles can be as high as a thousand dollars and the policies generally do not cover the out of pocket loss to the victim. Look, you have protections on your credit cards anyway under federal law. It's just an extra expense. You need to take those other steps to protect your identity in the first place.
KAGAN: Let's get back to this bill in the house. Are you afraid that it really is going to pass?
WILLIS: Well, look, even if it does pass the House, it's still got to go through the Senate. And there's no guarantee that the bill is going to pass. And hopefully by talking it up with the viewers, maybe there will be some commentary to Congress.
But the good news here, and the thing that people have lost sight of, is that there's actually fewer identity fraud victims in the U.S. today than there have been in the past. So it looks like some of the efforts out there to curb I.D. theft are working.
And remember, don't forget to send us your questions to 5tips@cnn.com. And if you missed anything on today's segment, check out the Web site at cnnmoney.com and we always like to answer questions from the viewers on Friday, as you know, looking ahead.
KAGAN: All right, Gerri, thank you. We'll see you throughout the week.
WILLIS: Thank you.
KAGAN: No question about this. It is a huge mess in Houston, Texas, today. Tons and tons of rain. Our Chad Myers is following that.
Chad.
MYERS: We're just going to go from live shot to live shot here, Daryn. KTRK. Here is a live shot here out of Houston. Had a shot a little bit earlier of a bunch of police cars that were actually up to the doors in water right at the police station.
You can see that the elevated roadway -- some of the highway, I don't know if that's 610 or what that is from where we are here. But you can't get off of that roadway, because as you get down the exit ramp -- you can see all those tractor/trailers on the bottom of the exit ramp there -- there's nowhere to go. The roads under there, the access roads, are underwater.
And obviously, this car was under a little bit more water than that at some point because it has stalled out and that's really the case. Once you get under the water, your car's not going anywhere. Once you stall out, you're not going to get it back. You need to be careful. Don't try to drive into this -- or just turn around, go the other way, go home, have a better idea of what's going on here.
KAGAN: And no relief in sight, right?
MYERS: No, not really. Let's go to one of our other affiliates. I'm seeing some other shots here of a paddling canoe. See if we can go from one to another. There's somebody trying to get around there. There's a canoe behind that truck there.
This is maybe the safest way to get around, walking through it, but you don't have to do that, don't even do that, because you don't know what's below you. You don't know if you're going to step into something, some kind of a ditch, some kind of ravine, whatever it might be, a little ditch. And so if you can just stay home, that's the best way. Let the professionals take care of this. The water will eventually recede.
Let's go back to the radar maps for just a second. And I'll show...
KAGAN: Chad, actually, I'm going to jump in here. We'll get back to you. Because we actually want to listen in a little bit. And we will get back to Houston in a moment. Thank you.
But, actually, President Bush is speaking at the commencement of the Merchant Marines Academy. Let's listen in.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... reject our offer. It will result in action before the Security Council, further isolation from the world and progressively stronger political and economic sanctions.
I have a message for the Iranian regime: America and her partners are united. We have presented a reasonable offer. Iran's leaders should see our proposal for what it is: a historic opportunity to set their country on a better course.
(APPLAUSE)
If Iran's leaders want peace and prosperity and a more hopeful future for their people, they should accept our offer, abandon any ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons, and come into compliance with their international obligations.
I have a message for the Iranian people: The United States respects you and your country. We admire your rich history, your vibrant culture, and your many contributions to civilization.
When Cyrus the Great led the Iranian people more than 2,500 years ago, he delivered one of the world's first declarations of individual rights, including the right to worship God in freedom.
Through the centuries, Iranians have achieved distinction in medicine, in science, in poetry and philosophy, in countless other fields. In the 21st century, the people of Iran, especially the talented and educated youth, are among the world's leaders in science and technology.
Iranians have a large presence on the Internet and a desire to make even greater progress, including the development of civilian nuclear energy.
This is a legitimate desire. We believe the Iranian people should enjoy the benefits of a truly peaceful program to use nuclear reactors to generate electric power. So America supports the Iranian people's rights to develop nuclear energy peacefully with proper international safeguards.
The people of Iran, like people everywhere, also want and deserve an opportunity to determine their own future, an economy that rewards their intelligence and talents, and a society that allows them to pursue their dreams.
I believe Iranians would thrive if they were given more opportunities to travel and study abroad and do business with the rest of the world.
Here in the United States, Iranian-Americans have used their freedom to advance in society and make tremendous contributions in areas from business to medicine to academics.
To help provide more opportunities for the people of Iran, we will look for new ways to increase contact between Americans and Iranians, especially in education and culture, sports and tourism.
We'll provide more than $75 million this year to promote openness and freedom for the Iranian people. These funds will allow us to expand and improve radio and television broadcasts to the people of Iran. These funds will support Iranian human rights advocates and civil society organizations. And these funds will promote student and faculty exchanges so we can build bridges of understanding between our people.
Americans believe the future of Iran will be decided by the people of Iran. And we believe that future can be one of progress and prosperity and achievement.
We look forward to the day when our nations are friends and when the people of Iran enjoy the full fruits of liberty and play a leading role to establish peace in our world.
KAGAN: We've been listening in. President Bush is speaking at the commencement for the Merchant Marines this morning, using this as an opportunity to send a message to Iran, encouraging Iran to accept the U.S. offer to have multi-country talks on the issue of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons as well. Mr. Bush in Kings Point, New York, today.
Two American soldiers are missing in Iraq. A massive search is underway. We're live to Baghdad with new developments. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: On the ground, in the air, under the water. Right now coalition forces are engaged in a major mission to find two of their own American soldiers, missing after an attack on a checkpoint in an area known as the Triangle of Death. Now a terror group claims responsibility, but there's no proof.
Our Arwa Damon is in Baghdad with the latest on the search -- Arwa, hello.
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.
That's right. The search has intensified. Eight thousand U.S. and Iraqi security forces. The U.S. military using every means at its disposal -- dive teams, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, planes -- combing through this area just south of Baghdad, the Triangle of Death, looking for two of its own soldiers, as you just mentioned.
They have so far searched 12 villages. All this coming from a press statement, a taped statement made by Major General Bill Caldwell, spokesman for coalition forces here in Iraq. So far, 12 villages have been searched, and these searches have not been uneventful. The area is known as the Triangle of Death for a region. So far, they've said that seven U.S. soldiers have been wounded in clashes since Friday. Three suspected insurgents killed and 34 others detained -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sure, because you spent time in all parts of Iraq; you've been in this part, too. What can you tell us from your travels there?
DAMON: Well, it's a very volatile area. It is, like I said, just south of Baghdad. It is called the Triangle of Death. It's an area where insurgents have operated, and the U.S. military and the Iraqi security forces have been conducting ongoing operations to try to root out these insurgent strongholds, these insurgent groups that are operating down there. And as we saw in the events that have happened since Friday, it is a very, very dangerous area -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Arwa Damon, live from Baghdad. Seems like just yesterday you were sitting here right next to us in Atlanta. Good to see you made it back into Baghdad safely. Thank you.
DAMON: Thank you.
KAGAN: Warnings and worries today over a troubling development in North Korea. It's reported that North Korea may be on the verge of test firing a long-range missile that could reach American soil. And that's sparking concerns for the U.S. and its allies. They're warning North Korea not to proceed with the test, and threatening a serious response if it does. So far the communist country remains silent on any possible launch plans. Along with these new concerns, continued uncertainty over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Six-party talks deadlocked back in November.
A device built from hardware store parts. It's small enough to fit in a backpack. Al Qaeda's latest tool to target New York this time the city's subways. According to a new book by journalist Ron Suskind, the terror group planned a 2003 attack using deadly cyanide gas.
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RON SUSKIND, AUTHOR, "THE ONE PERCENT DOCTRINE": Perhaps not as great a threat as a nerve agent attack, but at the same time, this chemical does have the potential to kill hundreds or thousands of people.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The way this excerpt was written, very dramatically with a lot of details, probably overstates the degree to which this particular device and this particular plot played a central role in our deliberations at this time, which is not to say that we didn't take this seriously. This was very -- taken very seriously.
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KAGAN: According to Suskind's book, Osama bin Laden's number two called off the plot just weeks before the launch. No reason was given.
And this reminder for you to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
We are watching Houston, Texas. They are dealing with a lot of rain today. Chad Myers will tell us about as much as 10.5 inches of rain that was reported this morning in parts and south and east Houston. Six inches of rain falling within 75 minutes at Hobby International Airport. We'll check in with Chad in a moment. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish someone would clean my coffee maker and make my coffee for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd love to have an automated oven with the meals already prepared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without cleaning toilets. That is like the grossest job in the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something that every time you'd walk out of your bathroom just sanitizes your bathroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some sort of machine or piece of technology that zoomed around my house and picked up all the toys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody who will do your chores and you can still get paid by parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd love an automated world allowing me to spend more time with my family.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Our homes are our castles. But these days, we want more than four walls and a roof, we want it to do some chores so we can kickback in the barcalounger and have some more quality times with the kids.
(voice-over): With a quick palm scan at the front door, Jonathan Klutz (ph) of Microsoft enters the softwaremaker's prototype home of the future. The home, otherwise known as Grace, meets Klutz and reads off his schedule.
JONATHAN KLUTZ, MICROSOFT: Grace, what's up?
GRACE: You are meeting with CNN today.
M. O'BRIEN: With the push of a button, Grace sets the temperature, opens the blinds and starts playing some of his favorite tunes.
KLUTZ: Every family member can have it work just the way they want it to.
O'BRIEN: The kitchen comes equipped with an interactive screen for scheduling babysitters and a virtual bulletin board that helps coordinate invitations and notifies you of specials. How about a microwave that can scan bar codes to find exact cooking instructions for a product?
KLUTZ: Here we are in my daughter's room.
O'BRIEN: In the closet, a mirror uses radio tags embedded in garments to pick out your outfits.
Klutz says the goal of all these technologies is making life easier for families.
KLUTZ: It's going to be a really great time saver for people and also, really, basically a real stress saver.
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KAGAN: Torrential downpours causing a terrible commute in Houston, Texas, today, as much as 10.5 inches of rain. Let's go ahead and listen in to the helicopter pilot for our affiliate KTRK.
DAVE GARRETT, KTRK: ... start trying to rescue people out in some of the areas where the water is really high, particularly along Broadway right here. We'll let you know.
KAGAN: Our Chad Myers is watching this. Chad, am I seeing things or is that a little bit of sun looking like it's peaking through?
MYERS: Oh, it could. Actually and there are some breaks in the clouds, especially in North Houston now. But probably not much -- what I'm seeing there is that sheen. Look at the sheen on the water.
KAGAN: Oh, that's oil?
MYERS: That's oil or gasoline coming out of that gasoline station that's right there. You can even see some bubbling up there just to the left of that car.
KAGAN: That's not good. MYERS: And that is not the deepest car that I have seen. I have seen cars all the way to the top of the roof in that same general vicinity. He called it Broadway and I'm trying to figure out where that might be crossing, somewhere around the 610, maybe south Houston. Pasadena really got hit very, very hard. Anywhere there along the Sims Bayou. Water coming up in the Greens Bayou. There's a look at the freeway. And that's probably the 610, although without him telling me where he's -- what he's driving on there.
The cars have nowhere to go. Literally they cannot get off the freeway because the access roads -- this is kind of an elevated freeway. So the access roads are down an embankment. You drive up to the freeway to get on, and you drive down to the bottom of the freeway exit ramp to get off. And you can't drive down because it's just full of water down there.
KAGAN: Hey, Chad, this affiliate KTRK in Houston, the helicopter pilot, had some things to say just a couple minutes ago. Let's listen to that.
MYERS: OK, maybe that will tell us what it is.
GARRETT: Right now we're at the south loop and Broadway. This is some of the highest water that we've seen by far. This is a flat bed truck here, a wrecker truck. And he is almost completely submerged. Cannot tell if there is someone in the vehicle. It almost looks like there may be someone stuck in the vehicle.
Just south of where we are, it looks like they're trying to stage some police officers over there, as well. We were focusing on this car here. This car almost completely submerged. Hopefully these folks were able to get out and make it to higher ground over here. But I can tell you right now, the intersection of Broadway at the south loop is probably one of the hardest hit that we've seen so far. Definitely the highest water that we've seen since we've been out this morning.
I'm going to come down Broadway a little bit. This is where a lot of the folks are parking their cars at, staging out of right now. You cannot go north or south on Broadway at the loop right at this interchange. You do have one police officer here. We have been searching for high water rescues going on this morning. We've had several reports of them taking place.
In fact, one of the reasons we came over toward the Broadway area is we were heading toward 225 in the loop, had reports of a high water rescue going on at that interchange, but we never found it. And as we passed it we flew right over the top of Broadway and the south loop, which is what you're looking at right now. So we came back over here, to give you an idea of how high the water is in this area. Again, have not seen any high water rescues so far going on. But I can tell you, if anyone needs it most, it's going to be folks right at the interchange, particularly this guy right here.
KAGAN: Well, and it definitely looked -- oh, and now there's some four-wheelers going there. But it definitely looked like there was a trucker inside of that cab there, Chad. They're talking about Broadway and the south loop. And from what I'm seeing, the worst parts of the city are in the southern area and east of Houston, as well.
MYERS: Yes, exactly. The whole area there around the south loop, Broadway, that's just about two miles north of Hobby Airport. And anywhere from Hobby Airport northward on up to about Pasadena over to the south there, South Houston, the town of South Houston, a totally different municipality, and on up to about Forest Park Cemetery. That's where the water seems to be the highest. Also into the Sims Bayou and Greens Bayou, that water has just been obviously congregating. They put the bayous there for a reason. They're a natural break. They were formed naturally in some of the lowest spots of the city.
And so the water now -- although most of the rain is ending, the water is still running down into some of those parts. And I bet water is not done rising, even though that the water -- it's done raining for a while, at least as heavily as it was. There are still some showers out to the west of Houston, but they should skirt to the west of the city. You can kind of see there -- on that one picture, you can kind of see where there probably was a water line where there was debris that had floated to those people's feet and the water looked like it had receded there.
The problem is, until it gets all the way into the ship channel, which is east of the city, many areas are still going to be rising before they start falling. There's that sheen we talked about earlier right there at the gas station. Obviously, all of the gasoline underwater when water goes over the top of the gasoline tanks. The gasoline is lighter than the water and the gasoline reaches the surface, causing another environmental nightmare around that area.
KAGAN: You were talking about this series of storms that was stacking up?
MYERS: Yes.
KAGAN: Are there still more in line?
MYERS: Not too much, Daryn. The problem with this is kind of a small -- do we call it literally maybe a 100-mile wide area of rain that happened overnight, anywhere from Beaumont, Port Arthur, right on down into Houston. It just blew up right over the city of Houston. And then one storm after another just dropped rainfall right over the same areas in Houston. And now most of that rain has dropped down toward League City.
I'm quite concerned for the areas here that are south and southeast of Houston that are getting more and more in the way of rainfall, anywhere from League City down to about Galveston. Texas City seeing an awful lot of rain. The rainfall numbers have been impressive, 10.5 inches there. And that's -- actually, that's not very far. That's less than a mile from where those pictures were taken.
KAGAN: All right, Chad.
MYERS: We're going to be back in a minute.
KAGAN: Yes, we're going to talk about it in just a minute. We'll let you gather some more information and hopefully send dry thoughts to Houston, Texas. Thank you.
Also ahead, we're going to go from the front line and to the homefront. Families of the missing soldiers in Iraq, awaiting word on their loved ones. Next hour, we'll take you to Madras, Oregon, home of one of the American G.I.s who is missing. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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KAGAN: We are watching Houston, Texas. A developing story there as they receive more than 10.5 inches of rain. Many of parts of that city are flooded.
Our Chad Myers is watching that, as well -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, Daryn, I mean, we've been watching this. The water coming up in some areas, coming down in others. And this is the best thing you can really do. Stay home, get to high ground and watch the helicopters fly by and know that it will go down eventually. If you're on the bottom floor, you're probably trying to save some of your possessions. But save yourself instead. Everything else can really pretty much be replaced. The whole area -- this is the YMCA there.
Let's listen to this chopper pilot there, KR -- KTRK.
GARRETT: This is the highest water we've seen since we've been out this morning at Broadway and the south loop. Several cars almost completely submerged as we were orbiting around that interchange. We saw the YMCA here and I went ahead and zoomed in. You can see a lot of the water in the parking lots here.
At closer glance, we saw these people stuck up on top of the roof. Now, I don't know if I would consider the water so high that they should be stranded on the building here. I mean, it definitely is high. I don't know if the water is actually into the building yet or not. It doesn't appear that it is. You can see, they do have the door open here.
And certainly, when some of the cars come through this area -- this is right off the service road just off the north side of the loop, just west of Broadway, in fact. And as some of the vehicles move through here, you know, some of the bigger trucks, as they push through the water, they cause a wake and the wake will overtake some of the smaller cars. And it has a ripple effect to it.
So some of the vehicles come through here, they could be pushing water up into the YMCA building. Whether or not these people are stranded or not -- it appears that way. One of the gentlemen down here was -- looked like he was signaling for us to land on the roof. That man waving his arm right there. So they may want to try to contact the fire department and see if they can get someone over to help these folks out, as well.
And as we came around, there's a stairwell right here -- Tom, you mentioned several people stuck on the stairwell as well. What the conditions are like inside the building, I don't know. I don't know if they have a loss of power here or not. I would assume, at this point, that that's probably the situation. So we'll keep an eye on them, as well, for you, and if we see any high water rescues over in this area, of course, we will let you know.
KAGAN: We were listening to the helicopter pilot for our affiliate KTRK. Chad Myers watching that, with us as well. Chad, as we move into the next hour, what are you watching for in Houston?
MYERS: Well, you can only hear one side of the story. Because you could hear the helicopter pilot talking to the station, but you couldn't hear the station talking back to them. So that's why that was only a one-sided conversation. The rainfall is slowing down, Daryn. We'll get to that. But, obviously, the water is still high, and it's not going down in some areas for a while.
KAGAN: All right. We will check back many times throughout the next hour on Houston. Chad, thank you.
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