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American Morning
Fighting Continues Inside Gadhafi Compound; Journalist Kept in Hotel in Tripoli; Hurricane Irene Threatens Southern States; Power Restored to Nuclear Plant; Man Dies in Fall at Yosemite; New Airport Passenger Rules
Aired August 24, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. New clashes taking place right now outside of Tripoli's Rixos Hotel where our Matthew Chance is hunkered down, but no sign of Gadhafi. Rebel fighters say he can run, but he can't hide after they seize his command post.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Where were you when the east coast shook? This morning, new aftershocks and new worries about a nuclear power plant that had to go into emergency mode.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And Hurricane Irene is getting stronger and nastier leaving only destruction in its wake, and the National Hurricane Center warns Irene may be on a collision course with the United States.
VELSHI: And a basketball legend diagnosed with a crippling disease, but Tennessee coach, Pat Summitt, says she's not going anywhere on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning, everyone. It's Wednesday, August 24th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
COSTELLO: Breaking news out of Tripoli. Let's get right to that, shall we? We're hearing reports of fresh clashes breaking out around the city. Rockets landing near the airport, reports of smoke rising. In the meantime, there is a new round of fighting at the Gadhafi compound. Still no word on the whereabouts of the Libyan leader.
The gunfire, though, has forced CNN's Sarah Sidner to move from her location there as Sara was with the rebels yesterday when they stormed this compound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the eastern, the first part of the eastern gate. There are large blast holes in that gate. This honestly is the nicest part of the city. You're seeing these large, very nicely --
(GUNFIRE)
SIDNER: Let's pull back a little bit. I'm getting hit by some of the shells.
(GUNFIRE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Sarah Sidner this morning is back at that compound. The gunfire there not as intense as it was yesterday, but there is gunfire. We'll check back with her when it's safe.
CNN's Arwa Damon also in Tripoli. She joins us from outside the Tripoli national airport where there are sounds of gunfire and shelling. Tell us what's happening, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, we're at the Tripoli international airport just south of the capital itself, and we're hearing NATO jets flying overhead right now. There has been intense fighting around this airport for the last three days, especially coming from the east and to the south.
We just spoke with the rebel commander who led the operation to take over this critical strategic location, and he informed us he believed that fighting around this airport has been so intense because he believes Gadhafi loyalists, Gadhafi troops are trying to clear some sort of an escape route for Moammar Gadhafi himself. He says that last night as the rebels were breaking their fast that he believed this situation was taken advantage of. He says they spotted an official convoy that included an armored Mercedes, and he says possibly that convoy could have been transport Moammar Gadhafi himself.
We have seen the fighting continuing into today. There have been a couple of occasions where rockets have been fired at this complex. The commanders here most certainly believe Gadhafi loyalists in the area are going to do all they can to win back this strategic location, carol.
COSTELLO: Arwa Damon, many thanks to you.
Also breaking right now, new clashes outside the Rixos hotel in Tripoli. That's where about 35 journalists remain trapped this morning. They're being held by armed Gadhafi supporters. Overnight, the journalists slept in hallways to avoid gunfire. And if that's not scary enough, it's also quite uncomfortable. No air conditioning and electricity is sporadic. CNN's senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is inside that hotel. Here's what he told CNN's Anderson Cooper late last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're still very much in the same kind of grim situation, which is that, you know, we're in a hotel on the top floor of the hotel. We've corralled ourselves into that top floor where Gadhafi loyalists are still very much in control of this hotel and the immediate perimeter around it. Beyond that, I can't give you any good indication of what extent Gadhafi's forces, what extent they have control around this area. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Overnight Matthew tweeted, quote, "Woke early. Gunman in Rixos lobby gone. Still forces on this perimeter. Hoping this nightmare will end in a fizzle, not a bang. But there's gunfire outside this morning."
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: John Burns from "The New York Times" told you last hour there's a lot of speculation about why that hotel is so important now to the Gadhafi forces. Could there be a high value target in around or near there, could there be Gadhafi loyalists, their families in that hotel. Some even speculating, wondering, could he be there? Could Moammar Gadhafi be there. Maybe there's a tunnel underneath that hotel.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: There is a lot of attention on this one hotel and it's not just because Matthew Chance and his colleagues and other journalists are staying there. Something's going on. We're continuing to stay in touch with our people on the ground.
Another developing story, we're following, officials say we could still feel more aftershocks from yesterday's 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia. There are reports that it was felt in 22 states, from Maine to Georgia to Illinois and into Canada. This morning, the Washington monument remains closed. Structural engineers will evaluate cracks found at the top of the 126-year-old landmark and figure what to do about it.
The national cathedral closed today. Three of the four spirals on the main corner cracked and fell during the earthquake. And pending further investigation several government buildings remain closed, including the departments of Homeland Security, health and human services, labor, interior and agriculture.
The earthquake's epicenter about 90 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. in a place called Mineral, Virginia. CNN's Brian Todd rushed to the scene in the quake's aftermath. He's there for us this morning. Brian, what's the situation where you are?
BRIAN TODD, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Concern here, Ali, over the safety of a nuclear power plant, this facility right behind me, the North Anna facility, just a few miles from the epicenter. We were told a short time ago that power from the main grid was restored here overnight. That's the power that fuels the cooling systems for the reactor and for the spent fuel pools.
But both reactors here, two reactors housed here, both of them remain shut down and will be for the rest of the day as they walk through their safety checks. This is just one part of how the entire region is recovering from this earthquake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There may be an aftershock but you're allowed to go back in the building at this time.
TODD: To millions of people on the east coast, this was the big one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe you've just witnessed an earthquake in Washington, D.C.?
TODD: It's the strongest quake to hit the Virginia area since 1897, a 5.8, rattling nerves and shaking buildings in the nation's capital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really and truly thought it was some kind of bomb because I never felt nothing like that before in Washington.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was on the bus and the bus did a shimmy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't know what was happening. I thought the building was about to collapse.
TODD: The quake centered near Mineral, Virginia, about 40 miles from Richmond and 83 miles from D.C., but could be felt all the way in Martha's Vineyard, where the president is on vacation. Shaking was felt in more than a dozen states in all, even into Canada. NBC's cameras focused on the White House caught the shaking as it happened.
Some of the masonry of the national cathedral fell off, and the national park service says engineers found a crack near the top of the Washington monument. It will be closed indefinitely to keep visitors safe. Many government buildings, including the Pentagon, were evacuated. But no major damage was reported. Further north in New York City, people ran from skyscrapers, down flights of stairs as they sway.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The building shook back and forth. It actually rocked.
TODD: Near the epicenter of the quake, the North Anna nuclear power station, the earthquake triggering an automatic shutdown there. Diesel generators kicked in to keep the reactor cores cool, but I spoke to a plant executive who wanted to make sure we knew everything was under control.
(on camera) What do you want to say to the public as far as right now?
DAN STODDARD, SR. VP, NUCLEAR OPERATIONS DOMINION VIRGINIA POWER: Well, the power plant is safe, the operators responded well, both units are shut down, maintaining a safe shutdown condition. There was no release of radioactivity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: And officials clarified for us just a short time ago, both reactors remain shut down this morning, one official telling me it's unlikely they'll be back online later today. They have a lot of safety checks to go through. But the power interest the main grid restored here overnight, Ali. That's the power that fuels the cooling systems for the reactors and the spent fuel pools, and that's a very crucial development that they have that main power grid back. VELSHI: I would imagine Brian if it were a year ago, there would be pressure around saying get this back online. But after what we saw in Japan no hurry to get it back until every last safety check is performed. Brian Todd in Mineral, Virginia.
COSTELLO: And certainly since, you know, it doesn't seem there is major damage, the best joke I heard yesterday was FOX News reporting that Washington monument is leaning to the right, MSNBC is reporting the Washington monument is leaning to the left. From my vantage point it looks like it's straight up the middle.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK) Also developing this morning, hurricane Irene gaining strength overnight, back up to category two storm right now. Here's a look at the sheer size of the hurricane seen from the international space station. Isn't that something? Jacqui Jeras joins us now live in the CNN hurricane headquarter. Jacqui, where is the storm now in any computer models on where it might be going next?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Speaking of leaning a little right or left --
COSTELLO: Yes.
JERAS: -- those computer models have been trending to the right or to the east. And we've seen that progressively over the last couple days, and they just continue to do that.
Speaking of size, by the way, when you guys showed that map from space, take a look at this thing. If we put on distance tracker, just to give you an idea, this is not how far the winds extend but just the cloud shield itself, take a look at that. We're talking almost 800 miles across. This is just a monster of a storm when it comes to size.
It's going to be a monster when it comes to intensity soon. In fact, for a category two, 110-mile-per-hour winds, this will be a major hurricane later today. Hurricane hunters are heading into it an hour from now. They're going to sample the winds from the atmosphere here, and I think we'll find out it will be a category three at that time. Look how tight that eye is. We're seeing that stadium effect as we call it there.
All right, let's talk about the forecast track, where this is headed. Going through the Turks and Caicos now, slamming through the southeastern Bahamas today. Throughout the day tomorrow into Friday we'll see it pull out of there and then it takes its aim towards the Carolinas.
Is it going to hit it? We don't know for sure at this point. But we also have to take note of what's going to happen up here into the northeast. Let's check out those computer models. It had been trending off to the east and notice they're clustered through the Bahamas. That gives us a lot of confidence in the forecast but they start to splay out a little bit as we head towards the Carolinas and into the northeast.
All of the good models were bringing it this way yesterday and now look at how many of them keep it offshore. So that's even a possibility at this point that the Carolinas could get lucky. But you need to be prepared for a three either way you slice it. We also need to watch the mid-Atlantic. We need to watch parts of New England for this potential.
And even as this stays offshore, guys, the big thing to keep in mind is this will still likely be a big wind and rainmaker. Take a look at the precipitation forecast or how much rainfall potentially we could see in the next five days. Take a look at that. That's as much as six to 12 inches of rainfall towards those coastal areas. So still a lot of threats, a lot of potentials with this storm, and we'll continue to keep it up to date. I'm going to try to not lean, but those models keep going one way or the other.
COSTELLO: You just stay down the middle, Jacqui.
JERAS: That's what I'm going for.
COSTELLO: And just report whichever way it's going.
VELSHI: All right, Jacqui, thank you.
Still to come this morning, a big save by Florida Senator Marco Rubio. This is not political. Before he delivered a speech at the Reagan presidential library last night, you're going to want to see what he did.
ROMANS: And probably the most frightening 45 seconds of their lives. A cashier stares down the barrel of a gun at the food mart. Employees fight back. The amazing surveillance video ahead on that.
COSTELLO: Plus the family of Amy Winehouse revealing what was in the singer's system at the time of her death. The results may surprise you. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 11 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: If such a thing were possible after watching our coverage yesterday, the situation in Libya actually appears to be growing more tense this morning. Gunfire, mortar shelling being reported at the Gadhafi compound a day after the rebels took control of it.
ROMANS: We're also hearing of shots being fired outside the hotel where dozens of journalists, including CNN's Matthew Chance, are holed up. Joining us now with his insights in these new developments in Libya, Fouad Ajami, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. We heard from John Burns from "The New York Times" and someone at the BBC who's also recently been writing it. Why is I this hotel important, and could Gadhafi actually be there?
FOUAD AJAMI, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: Well, I love John Burns. He's a celebrated reporter. And having covered the - the Iraq War, having followed the Iraq War and having spent eight years of my life thinking about Iraq, John is amazing.
What's interesting about Matthew Chance and what's interesting about this hotel, is Matthew Chance is a human shield. That's really what it is. He's right now he's captured by a dying regime, if you will, in its remnants. And where Gadhafi is, of course, we don't know. He's looking for a spider hole. He's looking for a spider hole. And howling that he says calling on the tribes to rebel and son, all this is meaningless, because the regime has fallen and the regime was just the house of Gadhafi and his retainers.
COSTELLO: But still people are wondering where he is -
AJAMI: Yes.
COSTELLO: -- and I'm sure the opposition would like to parade Moammar Gadhafi through the streets, right?
AJAMI: They'll love it.
COSTELLO: So, Arwa Damon also reported she saw reinforced Mercedes speeding towards the airport and the airport has now come under fire.
AJAMI: Right.
COSTELLO: So, she's saying it's possible that they're trying to carve out an escape route for Moammar Gadhafi. Would it be possible that he could get out of the country?
AJAMI: Well, he could - I mean, he could be at the Algerian border, for example. Because if you take a look at the neighborhood of this new Libya, this free Libya, which is what it is, it's a free Libya, it has favorable boarders. It has Tunisia on one side, Egypt on the other, but the Algerians are committed to Moammar Gadhafi. They're corrupt like him. They're tyrannical like him.
So he's got some options. He could go to Chad where he had paid tons of money to the rulers there. So I think he is a man, he is a man, hunted man. He is truly - we should see him for what he is. He's a fugitive from Libyan justice and international justice.
VELSHI: So we've been fairly obsessed, rightly so, I think with the question of what happens next.
AJAMI: Right.
VELSHI: We've spoken to people in the opposition, the rebel movement, who say they're a little surprised at how quickly -
AJAMI: Yes.
VELSHI: -- Tripoli fell. It's going to take them a few days to get organized.
But you wrote a remarkable op-ed, where you said, just pause and think about what has happened. This wasn't just a democratic movement in the streets that - that got a regime to fall. This is people who took down an army and an iron-clad regime.
AJAMI: And how could you not love them and how could you not wish them well. There's something I - I saw on a report from Al Jazeera, a man named Tajir Tanini (ph), he's 47 years old, his daughter on his shoulders, he says, I am 47 years old, 47 lost years. This is the first day in my life I feel happiness.
We know Libya very well. The man terrorized his population, impoverished - willfully impoverished his population because poor people are easier to control. And for 42 years he owned a country. And if you really want to know the scale of his evil, it's Caligula. It's near -
VELSHI: Wow.
AJAMI: This is really what we're talking about, a mad man who owned a country.
COSTELLO: So going back to where this mad man is, and what happens once he's caught, I mean, what is your best prediction about what will happen? Because we heard from the opposition saying we don't want to kill anybody. We want justice to be served. But, let's say the wrong rebel finds Gadhafi.
AJAMI: Right. Well, good. As far as I'm concerned, that's OK.
But look, there is this Transitional Council. We know something about them. We've seen them. And the American diplomats were very skeptical of them and went to Benghazi over and over again, look at - look at the cast of characters, an old man, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the Former Minister of Justice, is chairman. Mahmoud Gebril, a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, is prime minister. Ali Tarhouni, the Minister of Finance, he quit his job as professor at the University of Washington of Economics and went back to his - to his country.
So there are very many decent Libyans eager to claim their country, to take it back from this man and his terrible children.
ROMANS: But the road to freedom and the road to new birth is paved with thievery and fighting and we've seen the history books are littered with examples of where the money corrupts. There's $30 billion -
COSTELLO: Well, look at what happened out in the compound, the Gadhafi compound they went in there and they - they took stuff out. They took the gold guns and everything of value they could carry.
ROMANS: And even in the case of Iraq, if you remember the shrink- wrapped pallets of money - Iraqi money that we brought back in in C- 130s and disappeared. You know, how do you make sure that the next step and the money is used in the right way? Would you trust this council?
AJAMI: Right. Well, we just don't know. There is a kind of uncertainty about history, if you will. Forgive me, I may just quote this. I'm sure I'll lose your audience. But Tacitus, the great Roman historian once said the best day after a bad emperor is the first. The first day is always good and then things get complicated.
But, look, you have to -
ROMANS: This is the first day.
AJAMI: Yes. You have to trust in freedom's possibilities. Six million people are eager to claim their country. And rule it better than Gadhafi, not bring down civilian aircrafts and so on and so on, and we have to celebrate that.
ROMANS: And have that moment.
VELSHI: You wrote that in your - in your column -
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: So I quoted it on TV yesterday. So now we've quoted it twice -
AJAMI: There you go.
VELSHI: -- on AMERICAN MORNING for the first time in history.
AJAMI: Thank you.
COSTELLO: And our audience does appreciate it.
VELSHI: And they're with us.
AJAMI: Thank you.
ROMANS: And we all love the Romans, don't we?
VELSHI: Fouad, thank you so much.
ROMANS: Thank you so much.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much.
AJAMI: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Staring down the barrel of a gun, not in Libya, at a food mart. A really scary armed robbery caught on tape in Texas. Three thieves, one with a gun, stormed in. One - you see him leaping over the counter there to grab the cash.
Well, the clerk fights back. And she's a tiny thing. She actually tries to grab the gun.
VELSHI: Wow. Wow.
COSTELLO: Can you believe it? It's just not - ROMANS: I think they recommend you don't do that.
COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE) better than that.
VELSHI: Look at her. She is not taking this.
COSTELLO: No. She's got a broom in her hand and she's beating the guy.
Police say the robbers got away with about $2,000, but everybody is OK.
VELSHI: Oh, my gosh.
COSTELLO: Please don't do that.
VELSHI: I would not do that. But, you know what, good - good for her. Fights back. Oh, ouch. All right.
Wow. Hey, another scary moment, this one for Nancy Reagan. The former first lady lost her footing, nearly hit the ground during an event last night - look at that -- at the Reagan Library.
COSTELLO: Oh, that breaks my heart.
VELSHI: But look at that, well, here's the good part, though. Marco Rubio, Florida senator, he was there. He grabbed her. She never made it to the ground. He was escorting Reagan and was able to break her fall.
Spokesperson for the 90-year-old Reagan says she is doing just fine. Good on - good on both of them.
ROMANS: All right. Casey Anthony has until noon Friday to report to the probation officer in Orlando, Florida. An Appeals Court ruling that Anthony must serve a year's probation in the state on a check fraud conviction. The court rejected a claim that she had served that sentence while in jail awaiting trial for murder. Anthony, as you remember, was acquitted in her toddler daughter's death.
COSTELLO: The toxicology tests are in. Amy Winehouse had no illegal drugs in her system when she was found dead in her London apartment last month. Singer's family say authorities did find evidence of alcohol, but it's not yet clear whether alcohol played a role in her death. There was no mention whether any prescription drugs were found. Winehouse, who was known for battling drug addiction, was just 27.
VELSHI: Big loss. Big loss for the - for the artistic world.
All right. Still to come this morning, Facebook is making more changes to its privacy settings. Find out how it could save you from potential embarrassment. Some interesting changes and what you can do about it.
ROMANS: All right. Mark your - mark your calendar, Sprint reportedly getting ready to get into the iPhone game. We'll tell you more details about this right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-five minutes after hours. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
The Dow gained about three percent in a solid rally on Wall Street yesterday. The NASDAQ up more than four percent. The S&P 500 gaining almost 3.5 percent. Pushing stocks higher was good news from the FDIC that the number of failing banks fell for the first time in almost five years.
Markets also got a boost from growing buzz that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke could announce new measures to help the economy later on this week. But, economists tell CNNMoney, they think Bernanke isn't going to make any kind of announcement in his speech on Friday at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, even though there are rising concerns about another recession. Lots of buzz about this address because at last year's event, the fed chief hinted at another round of economic stimulus and then implemented it a few months later.
Right now, U.S. stock futures on the Dow, the NASDAQ and S&P are trading lower. A potential market mover today, a report on durable goods orders for July that comes out before the bell. Investors looking for any signs of an uptick in the economy and economists are forecasting a rise in those durable goods orders last month.
Weighing on investors' sentiments this morning, Moody's is cutting Japan's credit rating. The reason widespread financial problems because of the natural disasters that rocked the country earlier this year. Right after the announcement, the Japanese government unveiled a $100 billion emergency package to help fight the spike in the yen. Now, that's been hurting the country's crucial export business, making it more expensive for the Japanese to sell goods abroad.
After a ton of customer complaints, Facebook is switching up its privacy controls. Users can now choose who sees a photo or a status update right when they post it. Also, new photo tags will have to be approved, so you wouldn't see any more surprise tags when you log on. You can also peek at what your profile looks like to other people.
"Wall Street Journal" reporting that Sprint will start selling apple's iPhone 5 in October, and that news which the Journal attributes to inside sources pushed Sprint stock 10 percent higher. Sprint and Apple both declined comment on the report.
Don't forget, for the very latest news about your money, check out the all new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back. Your top stories now. This just in from our crew on the ground in Libya. NATO planes have been heard overhead at the airport in Tripoli. Rebels are telling our Arwa Damon that there's been intense fighting there. Some believe Gadhafi loyalists are trying to give their leader in hiding an escape route. Just to bring you up to speed, we have reports of NATO aircraft over the airport. We have reports of fighting outside the Rixos Hotel where our Matthew Chance.
And we moved Sara Sidner away from the Gadhafi compound where she was reporting live with us gunfire started to intensify and mortars started to fly so a lot going on in Libya this morning.
ROMANS: Right and a lot going on here in the United States in the Atlantic quite frankly. Hurricane Irene now a Category 2 storm as it's reaching the Bahamas at this hour, its winds over 100 miles per hour.
Our Jacqui Jeras says Irene could get even stronger, could strike the U.S. this weekend. Widespread flooding damage is possible from Coastal Carolina all the way up to the major cities of the northeast.
COSTELLO: And the east coast shaking, rattled and rolled. All power has now been restored to a nuclear power plant in Virginia after the earthquake that hit the east coast. Generators kicked in and the plant says no radiation was leaked. However, two of the plant's reactors remain offline while workers walk through safety checks.
ROMANS: Now the fight for Tripoli wages on. We've got new reports of clashes outside the Rixos Hotel and incoming fire at Gadhafi's old compound. Rebel fighters took that massive compound Tuesday where they found and helped themselves to plenty of weapons, but no Colonel Gadhafi. The Libyan leader still remains MIA, but managed to send out an audio address this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOAMMAR GADHAFI (through translator): I call to all Libyans tribesmen, youth, seniors, women, and loyal fighters, to clear the city of Tripoli and eliminate the criminals, traitors and rats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Gadhafi also called his retreat from his compound tactical. Retired General James Marks joins me again to discuss the battle in Tripoli.
Good morning, the Middle East scholar told us it's the first day, it's a new day for Libya, but it is a chaotic day and there are still these skirmishes, still, you know, still a dangerous situation and we still don't know where Moammar Gadhafi is.
One of the sorts of theories this morning is that maybe he is right under their noses, maybe in tunnel compounds under, you know, his compound, maybe at the Rixos Hotel. Why are they still guarding that hotel so carefully? What is your best guess?
JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE U.S. ARMY INTELLIGENCE CENTER: Well, it is a guess. I don't think anybody knows other than those that might have been following this very, very closely for some time, but he probably is with his loyalists.
If not in the compound, could very much, I think that's probably a pretty good theory. He could be in the Rixos. But I don't have any indications that would be the case. Christine, what's important is, what you see playing out right now, is a very intense tactical fight.
We should expect that to take place through today, maybe tomorrow, but what's critically important is the NTC, the National Transitional Council, needs to be rolling into town right now and establishing calm where they can establish calm.
And get very, very directive in terms of gathering in all those weapons that they're policing up. Those things have to be controlled or they're going to end up some place where we don't want them to be.
ROMANS: Yes and we're not seeing that control quite yet.
MARKS: Not at all.
ROMANS: We've talking to our reporters and it's celebrations, it's gunfire, then it's squirmishes again and even yesterday a leader of the NTC told us that Tripoli fell so quickly for them. They needed a few more days to set up a security council and it would take them a matter of days.
Now let's talk about those weapons because we're seeing these boxes of guns and that's one thing. But Libya has amassed a great deal of weapons in different locations around Tripoli, 20,000 shoulder-fired rockets, 10 tons of mustard gas, tons of raw uranium yellowcake.
The people we're seeing take Tripoli don't look like they have the organization, the man power, the experience to be able to secure these locations. What's happening?
MARKS: Christine, I hope the guys we see that are assaulting the compound, are not the ones in charge of manning and inventorying and ensuring that these things, these facilities with the yellowcake, with the mustard gas, are rendered safe, are inventoried and locked down and rendered safe.
I have no clue how that's taking place. Now the United States, the international community, knows very clearly what were the designated or known locations for this stuff. I just hope somebody's now in a position to do something about that and to make sure they've got a control.
That's why all along we've danced around the notion of boots on the ground. If not some other nation or some international body controlling that stuff, these guys aren't. I think that needs to be addressed ASAP.
In the euphoria of this moment, this is great, but there has to be a real focus on the next step. Not the celebratory fire. What's the next step to make sure this stuff doesn't get out of control.
ROMANS: Boots on the ground, notwithstanding, can we assume there are Americans maybe in wind breakers, combat boots and sunglasses who know where these things are and watching carefully?
MARKS: Yes, Dockers and topsiders, blue jeans, yes. I would certainly assume that, yes. That there are -- and, and we probably have a number of our national systems with some capability, precise capabilities that are looking at these.
ROMANS: Satellites and the like, right? Clearly watching from the sky.
MARKS: Satellites, UAVs, fixed wing aircraft and we probably have some folks on the ground because personal experience in my case, tracking WMD from a distance is very difficult to do.
ROMANS: All right. Major General Spider Marks, thank you so much for joining us. I know your expertise is excellent in this situation. Thank you, sir.
MARKS: Thank you.
VELSHI: We'll, of course, stay on that story. Let's bring you back to the United States, new this morning, a tragedy at Yosemite National Park.
A man fell 4,000 feet to his death while hiking the Half Dome Summit on Monday. No word yet on what caused him to fall, but this is the 17th fatality this year, making 2011 one of the park's deadliest years in at least a decade.
COSTELLO: At a meeting this afternoon, protesters and officials from San Francisco's transit system will square off over the agency's decision to cut cell phone service at some station. So the move to stop some demonstrations after a number of transit police shootings.
ROMANS: Airports just got a little more flyer friendly, two big changes to tell you about this morning after new government rules took effect yesterday.
Travelers who get bumped off their flights can now expect more compensation. You can get up to $650 depending on the kind of delay. Airports will be forced to pay heavy fines with international flights with long waits on the tarmac.
VELSHI: That was very effective for domestic flights if you recall. But what travel delays caused by weather still don't get you compensation. A lot of travel delays are caused by weather and air traffic control.
ROMANS: But some say that it means more cancellations. Because whether them get into -- just cancel my flight two hours ahead of time so I don't have to go there.
VELSHI: First of all, I'm a bigger fan of that. Don't waste my time and secondly, it didn't end up having all those cancellations when they imposed those first fines, $23,000 a passenger, you know, if delays happen. So frankly, probably works.
COSTELLO: I think you guys could go in your separate corners and duke it out.
ROMANS: Carol has to officiate.
VELSHI: I still have to do more news.
COSTELLO: OK.
We'll take a break and then I'm going to do more news. So we'll duke it out in the break. But when we come back, the news that shocked the sports world, legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's.
We're going to talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about living with dementia and what you can do about it. It's 38 minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: We are going straight to the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli. Matthew Chance is there on the phone for us. Matthew, we've been reporting about the situation around there all morning. What is happening at the Rixos Hotel and with you?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): The past few minutes there have been some developments, quite negative ones for those concerned. We've had one journalist come through, managed to find a way through from outside, from Tripoli, into the Rixos Hotel.
He negotiated with the guards, came through on the basis he was going to be allowed international journalist be allowed to take one of the journalists who are inside the Rixos holed up here. It's still controlled by the government, on what was a shopping trip and take them out, take that one person out, and basically take them away.
But what happened when they got outside with this journalist who was leaving with him, there was a gun fight and the driver of the car who was waiting for them fled in a hurry and left them stranded at the hotel. That's an additional person at the hotel.
Then shortly afterwards more journalists arrived at the hotel, gun fight, they fled into the hotel and an additional four people came inside. Within the past 30 minutes we've had five additional international journalists, most of them American citizens as far as we can make out.
Who have come into this hotel, perhaps as an attempt to do reporting on what's going on here. Obviously, they found themselves now in the same situation that we are in, Ali, which is very negative.
VELSHI: So Matthew, before that, before that, we understood there to be about 35 people here and what's happening is we've been getting reporting all morning that there's some importance to the Rixos Hotel, other than the fact that there are just journalists there. What is your sense of why the government is treating this location as so important? CHANCE: You know, absolutely no idea. I really don't know the answer to that question. Yes, I mean, there's all sorts of rumors about how this place is of some strategic significance to the Gadhafi regime.
But we've scoured this hotel from top to bottom and can't see any other reason it would be valuable to the remnants of the Gadhafi regime except for the fact that international media is inside it and perhaps that's what's happening now.
Maybe there's a sense in which we are not being allowed to leave. We want to leave. We feel we're in danger. We feel we're victims, but, of course, not being permitted to leave. We've seen examples now over the course of the past 30 minutes vividly illustrated with the gun fights taking place outside as journalists attempted to enter the hotel without negotiating.
The other situation occurred as well, which I mentioned to you. We're in a very -- very fragile position and we're very concerned about how it's going to come to an end.
COSTELLO: Matthew, you said five more journalists are inside. That brings up the total number of people and already food is in short supply, electricity is spotty. How will this -- I just can't imagine what life is like there now.
CHANCE: Yes, it's pretty grim. We have enough water and food for a couple days. We're talking about snacks and chips and things like that. Yes, fast food and junk food. We've got some bottled water, we've got some soft drinks things like that. But no more than for a couple of days. I mean, after that we're going to be in real trouble.
The water's all been cut off in the hotel. We've filled up bottles of water from the swimming pool which is in the hotel and that's slowly draining as well. That water we can use it to flush lavatories and washing and things like that.
And so we're in a bit of a dire situation. And so I really would encourage other journalists in Tripoli moving around not to attempt to come into the hotel because it's obviously dangerous, first of all, and secondly it's putting a lot of pressure on our pretty limited resources.
ROMANS: Yes. Let me ask you, John Burns had said, from "The New York Times" had said something to us, Matthew, that was really compelling. He said that he's been in that hotel many times and that he's actually met with Gadhafi at that hotel and that had Gadhafi seemed to just appear there before, that it seemed as though he had a secret entrance into that hotel.
Is there any talk that, perhaps, somehow this is connected to bunkers or connected to the Gadhafi compound, which I know is not right next door, but is near?
CHANCE: It is near. It's in the same area, as all the offices of other prominent members of the Gadhafi family. But as I say, we've absolutely no evidence that I've seen that this hotel is in any way connected by a secret tunnel networks -- tunnels rather, to any of those other key government installations in this part of town.
I mean, I'm not saying it's not the case. It's just that we've scoured this hotel from top to bottom. We've been in search of food right down to the basement --
COSTELLO: So Matthew, why do you think they're holding you in there? What's the point?
CHANCE: It's difficult to give an answer to that. You know, there have been some international organizations that have commented on why they think we're being held here, being held by a dying regime is what one organization reported, (AUDIO GAP).
You know, it's not clear whether we're (AUDIO GAP). It's not clear if they want (AUDIO GAP) the Gadhafi part of the story. If they did (AUDIO GAP) hardly any contact with any officials. So, you know, it's really hard to put your finger on why we are here, what the purpose of us being essentially kept here against our will is.
VELSHI: Matthew, are you in touch with rebels? What's your contact with the outside world, whether it's rebels or the government sources?
CHANCE: Well, communications out of the hotel are very poor, indeed. I mean, we're (INAUDIBLE) through our headquarters in Atlanta, obviously, with our management.
We're talking to the Gadhafi loyalists who are on the ground here in the hotel, but these are low-level people. They're not people with any authority. They've been given orders to police the grounds of this hotel and they're doing that. Beyond that, we've not got any contact with, you know, the world beyond the perimeter wall of this hotel.
ROMANS: Matthew, what's the mood like among you and your colleagues? Are you all able to remain calm? Are there some -- I mean, is everyone in good health? I mean, is there any kind of a situation where some people might have to somehow be escorted out of there?
CHANCE: We'd love to be escorted out of here. In terms of the people's moods, it's (INAUDIBLE). Occasionally there's a degree of, you know, we're all very frustrated, obviously. We're all very concerned. There's a collegiate atmosphere as well. We're all kind of like joined together in sort of a (INAUDIBLE) this together as a group of international correspondents, many of whom are very experienced indeed.
We've got, you know, some, you know, some top people from the world of foreign reporting from all the big news agencies, from CNN, obviously, from BBC, from the Associated Press, from Reuters. There are people here from British television networks as well.
And so yes, I mean, there's a collegiate atmosphere but obviously we're all very aware of the dangers that we've found ourselves in and we've all got pretty much the same opinion, that, you know we feel like we've become, you know, the victims of this crisis in Libya in many ways. And we'd like to end that that as soon as possible, obviously. But negotiating that end is proving very, very difficult indeed.
COSTELLO: Matthew Chance, we're praying for you and for the rest of the journalists.
CHANCE: I've got to go.
COSTELLO: Bye, Matthew.
CHANCE: Got to go. Listen.
VELSHI: We're getting a lot of tweets, as well, of people who are very concerned about Matthew. Matthew and his team have been tweeting out there as regularly as they can to give us an update. But that's some of the most crucial information we are getting out there.
We've got Arwa Damon and her team. We've got Sara Sidner and her team and Matthew Chance and his team and developing fluid situation.
ROMANS: And they are -- I mean, look, this is the cream of the crop, as he was saying of the foreign reporting corps. I mean, a lot of these people have seen about everything and they are pretty frustrated by what they're experiencing right now and that's --
COSTELLO: I just can't imagine what their families are going through so I much admire them. Thank you for your work.
It's 50 minutes pas the hour. We'll be back.
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ROMANS: Welcome back. She is the winningest college basketball coach in history but legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt has never faced anything like this before.
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PAT SUMMITT, TENNESSEE BASKETBALL COACH: Earlier this year, the doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed me with an early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type at the age of 59. I plan to continue to be your coach. For that reason, I will be relying on my outstanding coaching staff like never before. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Wow. What a candid expression. Fifty-nine years old.
Joining us to talk about living dementia is chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta.
Sanjay, 59-years-old. Unusually young for this kind of diagnosis.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There is an early onset type of dementia and that typically occurs in people under the age of 65, that's what the early onset means. But, you're absolutely right. If you look at the dementias across the board, only about percent of these dementias occur in people under the age of 65. So it is young. That tends to be more likely to happen in someone who's had a family history incidentally. Her maternal grandmother she went on to say had this type of dementia, so she has some family history here.
Look, a lot of people, they develop memory loss, they develop personality changes, they develop withdrawal. These can the early signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's type dementia. And in her case, she said, I was forgetting appointments, I was second-guessing myself, I had to ask her son in this case, the same question over and over again to get the answer. That's what sort of tipped her off and those are some of the early signs, as well.
COSTELLO: But, Sanjay she says she wants to continue to coach. So, first of all, can she do that? And secondly, are they any treatments that might help her along the way?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting. When you look at a diagnosis like this, first of all, it is still very much a clinical diagnosis, meaning that, you know, a series of questions are often presented, basic math questions and basic memory questions and to get an idea, first of all, does the dementia exist and also to some degree the severity of it. I should point out, as well, doctors always rule out other things as possibilities of causing memory loss first.
As far as her coaching goes, I think that this is a tough decision. There's no absolute sort of rule book and this question is posed to us as doctors all the time, exactly what is a person capable of continuing to do? It is a progressive problem usually. So what she's able to do now may be different than what she is able to do several years from now and that's going to be something she is probably getting constant feedback from her coaching staff and the people who support her in this sort of position.
But your judgment is not as impacted as your memory. Some of the activities of daily living. So to the extent that her judgment is being called for as a basketball coach, that's something that could remain intact for many years to come.
ROMANS: She's an inspiration for people who are living with dementia, early onset dementia or Alzheimer's, or people caring for people, too, to see someone who can be in their role. I think that's an inspiring move. Very inspiring.
VELSHI: All right. Sanjay, thanks very much.
GUPTA: You got it, guys.
VELSHI: You can see more of Sanjay's reporting this weekend when Sanjay explores, signs, tests and lifestyle changes that could result in the last heart attack. That's Saturday evening 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And ahead next hour, news to make you feel old ahead next hour. And coming up, as the first true internet generation enters college we look at the class of 2015, so young --
ROMANS: Don't tell me this, don't say it. I see it on the teleprompter. Don't say it.
VELSHI: Oh, my god. Ferris Bueller could be their dad.
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