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The Situation Room
Connecticut Navy Base Gets New Lease on Life; Pat Robertson Under Fire; Military Analyst Suggest Exit Strategies; Tropical Storm Katrina Tops Internet Topics
Aired August 24, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information arrive at one place simultaneously. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you the day's top stories happening right now. It's 1:00 p.m. in Idaho, where President Bush tells military members and their families the U.S. will stay, fight and win, even as the violence rages on in Iraq.
In Connecticut, it's 3:00 p.m. A key Navy base gets a new lease on life, but around the nation, other military facilities and tens of thousands of workers getting the axe.
And it's 3:00 p.m. in Virginia Beach, where Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson is continuing to take flak. He's also backtracking on his call to assassinate Venezuela's president.
You are in THE SITUATION ROOM.
President Bush today stepped up his campaign to try to win back some popular support for his Iraq policy. In Idaho, he met with troops and their relatives, along with some families of the fallen, his message, clear and simple: Stay the course.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is joining us now live from the White House with details. Elaine?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf.
For the second time this week, President Bush delivered a speech aimed at boosting falling public support for the Iraq war, the audience today, mostly members of the Idaho National Guard, but also families who have lost loved ones in the war on terror.
Now, the president reiterated his arguments for keeping U.S. forces in Iraq, saying an immediate withdrawal of troops from that country or the broader Middle East would only embolden terrorists. And, in a move designed to counter Cindy Sheehan and antiwar protesters who have joined her, Mr. Bush also discussed an Idaho family, Tammy and Leon Pruett, who have four sons serving in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tammy has four sons serving in Iraq right now with the Idaho National Guard, Eric, Evan, Greg and Jeff. Last year, her husband, Leon, and another son Aaron, returned from Iraq, where they helped train Iraqi firefighters in Mosul.
Tammy says this -- and I want you to hear this -- I know that if something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing what they believe, what they think is right for our country.
And I guess you couldn't ask for a better way of life than giving it for something that you believe in.
America lives in freedom because of families like the Pruetts.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, the Bush administration invited the Pruetts to focus the spotlight on a family that is clearly making sacrifices, but also backs the president, this an effort by the White House to put a human face on the president's message of resoluteness when it comes to Iraq and to serve as a contrast to the images of Cindy Sheehan and those who have rallied behind her.
Now, we should also tell you that the president today has scheduled time as well to meet with families of those who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, however, Wolf, no indication that the president has any plans to meet once again with Cindy Sheehan. Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Cindy Sheehan coming back to Crawford later today as well, at least she's scheduled to. Thanks very much, Elaine Quijano, at the White House.
In Baghdad, it's been another bloody day of street fighting. Firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, dozens of insurgents carried out coordinated strikes against police checkpoints in broad daylight. At least six police cars were set ablaze. One police official said it was raining bullets. The clashes left nine civilians, four police officers and at least one insurgent dead. Dozens of people were hurt. Police say they seized four cars filled with weapons.
Tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars are at stake in communities around the United States, as a federal panel decides which military bases will shut down and which ones will stay in service.
Our national security correspondent David Ensor joining us now with the latest details from the Pentagon. David?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as you say, there are winners and losers today.
The Base Closings Commission has accepted most of the Pentagon's recommendations for base closings, including 62 major bases they propose, $49 billion of savings that they hoped for. But they did not accept all of them. The big winner, I suppose you could say, was New England today. Both the New London, Connecticut, submarine base, very large base with 8,500 employees, roughly speaking, and the Portsmouth Naval facility, a shipyard there, the commission voted to keep them open, despite the Pentagon wish to close them.
That was a 7-1 vote, with one abstention. Only one commissioner agreed with the Pentagon. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES HANSEN, BRAC COMMISSIONER: You find yourself in a position, you just got a lot of parking space you're not going to use. So, as much as it would pain me to see this close -- I think it's a fantastic base. It's the epitome of everything we think about. When you talk about submarines, what do you think about? You think of New London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: Although the U.S. submarine fleet has dropped from about 90 at the high point of the Cold War down to around 40 now, most of the commissioners decided that the New London facility was too important to national security.
Here's the chairman of the BRAC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY PRINCIPI, CHAIRMAN, BRAC: We close New London down, we will never get it back. I think it would be a tragic mistake, a tragic loss to this nation if this recommendation was to be approved. I will oppose the recommendation, support the amendment by General Newton.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: The commission also disagreed with the Pentagon on three facilities, smaller facilities in Texas, California and Louisiana. But, as I said, they accepted most of them.
Included among those closed are Fort Gillem, Fort McPherson in Georgia, Fort Monroe, Virginia, Army Garrison Selfridge in Michigan and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Now, the commission has to get its proposals to the president by September 8. He has until the 23rd of that month to decide on any changes he wants to make on the list. And then Congress has 45 days in which to vote on that list, if it wishes to. In the past, it has not decided to do so. Wolf?
BLITZER: And then it goes into effect as is, if they don't vote.
ENSOR: That's right.
BLITZER: Thanks, David Ensor, at the Pentagon very.
Other news we're following, watches and warnings are in place along Florida's southeastern coast. Tropical Storm Katrina is swirling through the Bahamas right now. It's also picking up some steam. Our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, is joining us live with an update. Jacqui?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wolf, the storm is strengthening. Right now, it has winds of 45 miles per hour, but potentially could become a hurricane after it moves through the Bahamas and heads towards the Florida coastline. Now, there's still a fair amount of uncertainty in the forecast track and the intensity of Katrina. But the National Hurricane Center right now thinks that it will be a Category 1 hurricane, making landfall likely overnight Thursday night and into early Friday morning.
It then is expected to move across the Florida Peninsula, but it will be moving very slowly. So, our biggest concern here is going to be flooding rain, freshwater flooding rain, not the storm surge, the salt water kind of flooding. It then should likely move back over open water into the Gulf of Mexico and could strengthen again and make a second landfall. The biggest concern there then, of course, would be the big punch as it makes its way onshore. So, still a lot to be determined with Katrina. Right now, it looks like our best estimates will be late into the night. There you can see on our radar picture some of the showers and thunderstorms into the Northern Bahamas, six to 12 inches expected here.
Locally heavier amounts are forecast and expect same rainfall totals as it moves across southern parts of Florida. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Jacqui, we will be watching every step of the way. Thanks very much.
Ali Velshi is watching what's happening as well. Ali, this is having an impact on what could be a surprising element in this story. What's going on?
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, remarkable, because this wasn't the case all day.
And, as in the afternoon, news of Katrina perhaps strengthening developed, honestly, in the time that it took me to walk from my desk on the sixth floor to this on the fifth floor, oil jumped quite substantially. We're just waiting for an official close on oil. But the number I have, $67.40 for a barrel. The last record close was $66.86. This is a late-day change. It's had an effect on stock markets.
I spoke to some refinery facilities in Louisiana earlier today. They are monitoring the situation very closely. They said they can evacuate and shut oil facilities down if they have to. They don't like to take risks with that sort of thing. Of course, if they shut things down to protect refineries, rigs, oil platforms, ships, that means a bit of a slowdown on oil that goes through those refineries. And that's why the price of oil goes up.
However, just so that we all know about this, there's a lot of oil stockpiled on the back end of those ports that goes out to the refineries. So, we're not in danger as a result of it, but these are futures contracts for oil, people betting that, if these storms, this one and other ones, are -- are -- are tough, it's going to have an impact on how much oil we put through the Gulf of Mexico ports. Wolf.
BLITZER: Sixty-seven-forty, is that a new record?
VELSHI: That is absolutely a new record, by a long shot.
BLITZER: All right, Ali. We will check back.
VELSHI: OK.
BLITZER: We will see how it's affecting the markets as well. Ali, we'll get back to you.
BLITZER: Let's go to Jack Cafferty up in New York with the "Cafferty File." He's got a question for this hour.
Welcome back, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, Wolf.
Let's go back to Iraq for a moment. The insurgents there are getting bolder. Today's attack in Baghdad in broad daylight killed 14, wounded dozens more, sophisticated weapons, well-coordinated attack in broad daylight, as I mentioned, different from earlier ones, where they used the roadside bombs and things like that.
These insurgents fired mortars. They attacked police officers with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, AK-47s. Some officials think these delays in the drafting of this constitution are just encouraging the insurgents.
And here's a disturbing note, according to the Pentagon. History shows that insurgencies take, on average, nine years to defeat. If that's the case, we're in for a bit of a long haul here. Here's the question. Can the Iraqi insurgency be defeated any time soon? CaffertyFile -- one word -- @CNN.com. We will read some of the responses in 40 minutes or so.
BLITZER: All right, Jack. Thanks very much. We will be anxious to hear what our viewers think on this question.
We have more news coming up, including Pat Robertson, blaming the news media right now. Was he misinterpreted when he said the Venezuelan president should be taken out? We're doing a fact-check on that. Also, the former U.S. Senator Gary Hart, he's taking on his own party, telling Democrats to stand strongly against the war. Find out why he thinks they are making a big mistake and why he fears Democrats are cowards. He'll join us live.
Also, accusing Lance Armstrong, A French newspaper says he used performance-enhancing drugs many years ago. Now the head of the Tour de France is weighing in against them. But is it real science or just the French mad, jealous at this American? We will take a closer look at that.
And plane crash survivor. His flight went down in Peru with an entire family on board. We will find out how he made it out alive. We will have his story.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, the religious broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez should be assassinated. Today, after a chorus of controversy over his comments, Robertson says he meant something else.
Let's go to Mary Snow in New York. She's watching this story for us. Mary?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Pat Robertson is saying today that his comments were taken out of context, and he's blaming the media, saying that he was misrepresented. He spoke today on his program, "THE 700 CLUB." Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE 700 CLUB")
PAT ROBERTSON, HOST: August is a slow news day, but it seems like the whole world is talking about my comments about Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.
And that reaction followed a CBN News investigation into the potential danger from the South American dictator. I said our special forces should -- quote -- "take him out." And take him out can be a number of things, including kidnapping. There are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power, besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP, but that happens all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now, Robertson's comments today have not silenced his critics. We've heard from some lawmakers today, including a conservative Republican and a Democrat, calling on Robertson to take back and retract his statement.
Also, we've been hearing from some leaders in the Christian evangelical movement. At 5:00, we will have more on their reaction and distancing themselves from Robertson.
BLITZER: Mary, thanks very much. We will watch that story together with you. Mary Snow in New York.
We will also have a detailed analysis of exactly what he said the other day to give the impression he wanted the U.S. government to assassinate, to kill the -- Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela. And we will compare that to what he is now saying. That's coming up later here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Also coming up, more on the assassination policy. Should the U.S. have taken out Saddam Hussein? Would that have prevented the war in Iraq? General Spider Marks standing by. We will talk about that and other issues with him.
Plus, deadly plane crash. A 737 splits in half on impact. We will find out how one man and his entire family survived. And they all walked away.
And, a little bit later, the Lance Armstrong doping controversy. The head of the Tour de France is pointing the finger, but is it real science or sour grapes? We will take a closer look at that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Zain Verjee is joining us now from the CNN Center in Atlanta with a quick look at some other stories making news right now.
Hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf.
We want to follow up on a story we first told you about yesterday. Investigators have recovered both so-called black boxes from a Peruvian airliner that crashed on landing yesterday afternoon. More than half of the 98 people on board the plane survived, while others remain unaccounted for. Authorities believe that wind shear caused the plane to go down in the northeastern jungle of Peru, two miles short of the runway.
The Drug Enforcement Administration says, tomorrow morning, crews will begin dismantling an illegal underground tunnel between Washington state and Canada. The tunnel was discovered last month. Since it was seized, Customs and U.S. Border Patrol have guarded the illegal crossing around the clock. Engineers will cut through the road above, remove support beams. And then they're going to fill in the tunnel with gravel and dirt.
The director of the Tour de France says it is now a proven scientific fact that Lance Armstrong had a performance-enhancing substance in his body for his first Tour win. A French sports daily publication reported that new tests show that the seven-time Tour winner used a red blood cell booster called EPO in 1999. Armstrong vehemently denies the allegations and he calls the article tabloid journalism.
In Austria, a woman is swept away and trapped in her car in a river swollen by floodwaters. After two long hours, she was pulled to safety by emergency workers in a daring rescue operation. Relentless torrential rain and landslides have battled central and southern Europe, including Austria, Rumania, Germany and Switzerland. The storms have killed almost three dozen people across the continent. Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain, thanks very much. We will get back to you.
Let's check in once again with Ali Velshi. He's joining us. Ali, among other things, a record high price for oil that you just reported about, but there are also some record high home sales numbers coming out as well.
VELSHI: Well, yes, and this is interesting, because record high price for oil, it's meant that we've had record high gasoline prices. And we've been trying to track whether or not people stop spending or ease up on their spending as a result of it.
And most of the evidence is, other than at the low end of the income range, where we do see some effect, generally speaking, the value of your house has more psychological effect on how you spend your money.
Now, let's talk about housing prices. Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors announced the numbers for new -- sorry -- existing homes that had been sold in July. The number was a little lower than they expected, although it was the third highest month on record. Yesterday was a slow business day, so, it affected the market.
Now, today, the Commerce Department came out with numbers for new homes. And that is out of control. It is a brand new record, on target to be the biggest year in history, thanks in large part to sales of new homes in the Western United States, up 35 percent over last year.
The one dark spot on this, Wolf, is that average selling prices or median selling prices, the price at which half the homes are above and half the homes are below, $203,000. And that's the lowest it's been since 1996. There's a lot of inventory on the market, so prices are not necessarily high. But activity, new homes, existing homes, it's still very hot out there, Wolf.
BLITZER: And the price of oil still over $67 a barrel right now, Ali?
VELSHI: Sixty-seven-forty, a brand new record high. And these are competing forces for your dollar. You are paying more for gas, heating oil. Natural gas is at a new record, highest it's been since 2003.
On the other side, you are sitting on a house that is worth more than it has been in the past and there's still lots going on there, so, really active competing forces for your dollar.
BLITZER: We will see how all this is affecting the markets. We will check back with you shortly... VELSHI: Yes.
BLITZER: ... when the markets close. Ali, thanks very much.
They've been telling you about today's fierce fighting -- we've been telling you, that is, about today's fierce fighting in Iraq involving an intense insurgency there. Coming up, do you think the insurgents can be defeated? Jack Cafferty is going through your e- mail. He'll share some of those with us.
Also, Pat Robertson, you know what he said, but what is he now saying and what didn't he say? I will ask one elder statesman what he gets from all of this. The former U.S. Senator Gary Hart standing by. He'll join us live here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
And the president's pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. The supporters and detractors are out battling today. We will tell you what's happening.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: As we told you at the top of the program, Iraqi insurgents pulled out all the stops today. They had a brazen broad- daylight attack on a police post in Baghdad. It was some of the heaviest street fighting in months.
Let's get some analysis. Joining us for that, our military analyst, retired U.S. Army Brigadier General James Spider Marks. He was senior intelligence officer for coalition land forces in Iraq.
Is this a new strategy that we're seeing on the part of these insurgents?
RETIRED BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Wolf, we've seen this before. Clearly, this was a very well coordinated attack, with RPGs and small-arms fire. And as many as 40 insurgents were involved in this attack.
But we've seen this kind of attack before. What they like to do is, they can use that, draw out the coalition forces and then they will resort to suicide bombs, which they did in this case.
BLITZER: How did the Iraqi forces, whether the police or the security forces, based on the initial reports we're getting, seem to react? Did they -- did they -- were they up to the fight?
MARKS: Yes, they were. Frankly, they were. If you look at the wounded in action and, sadly, if you have to put a comb through the killed in action, the numbers themselves won't necessarily tell you what the fight was like. But when you have an engagement that lasts about an hour, that means that the -- those that were surprised and ambushed, and, in this case, probably the Iraqi forces and the coalition forces that were present, equipped themselves very, very well, very well, and took it back to the enemy.
BLITZER: Yesterday, the Defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that there would be an increase in the lethality -- that was his word -- between now and the scheduled elections for later this year. In other words, the number of insurgent attacks would go up.
But he also said this. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's been a concern about the possibility of a civil war since before the war started. It hasn't happened. Indeed, quite the contrary has taken place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: You were there. You were in the intelligence. You ran it, basically, going into the war. How much concern was there about a civil war emerging after Saddam Hussein's regime was removed? How concerned were you about that?
MARKS: There was a very large concern that civil war would erupt and that there would be revenge killings that would take place, primarily from the Shias against the Sunnis.
The reason you didn't see that was that, initially, there was a presence of U.S. forces. There was combat power on the ground that could get in between that. And clearly, the catharsis that we saw was not against each other, but for the removal of Saddam.
BLITZER: Did you envisage, then -- this is going back more than two years now...
MARKS: Sure.
BLITZER: ... what has now happened?
MARKS: We didn't. We did not really anticipate the level of this insurgency. And, as we've discussed before, the insurgency was not inevitable. Combat power on the ground at the start of the war, had -- if it had increased in numbers, if a couple of more divisions had been on the ground -- and this is looking in the rear-view mirror. If we had a couple extra combat divisions on the ground, it might have stayed -- and it might have eliminated the problems that we see today. But again, this is looking in the rear-view mirror and trying to connect dots that are popping up.
BLITZER: The Defense secretary says a civil war has not happened. He says, in fact, it's quite the contrary. There's no civil war. But if you look at what's going on, this insurgency is largely operated, run by Iraqi Sunnis, many of whom feel that they're on the outside looking in.
MARKS: And the coalition forces and the new Iraqi government is addressing that. The Sunnis are a part of the future Iraq. They are being brought into the process. They understand that not voting in the numbers that they should have voted in has caused some problems.
So there is an effort, number one, to recognize that and, number two, to do something about it.
BLITZER: How worried are you -- you know General David Petraeus. He's been training the Iraqi troops now for more than a year, providing them with an enormous amount, not only of training, but of military equipment, state of the art guns, ammunition. Lots of supplies are going in there.
How worried are you that the United States may be training a force that, at some point down the road, if democracy doesn't work out the way everyone wants it to work out, if it becomes a fundamentalist Islamic regime, Shiite-led, aligned with Iran, that the U.S. inadvertently right now might be training a monster, if you will, that could turn against the U.S. and the West, with some pretty excellent U.S.-made equipment in the process?
It's not that far-fetched if you think what happened in the '80s in Afghanistan...
MARKS: Sure.
BLITZER: ... when the CIA was supplying the Taliban and the Mujahedeen, including Osama bin Laden, who were fighting the Soviets, who were then invading Afghanistan.
MARKS: Wolf, that certainly is a concern. I don't worry about it, and I know the coalition forces aren't worried about it. Look, Dave Petraeus has been over there almost two years putting a really gallant effort on trying to make this right.
The growth of the Iraqi military, their border forces, their security forces, their police, is a very detailed requirement. You have to look at the individual tasks of the individual Iraqi that's willing to step forward. You've got to look at how those units then coalesce and form. You've got to look at how the larger organizations then grow.
So from bottom to top, the strategy has been we've got to get guys in places at all of those levels that can kind of pull the thread and connect all that. There are very, very detailed tasks and measurements of success that have to be put in place.
But all the mechanisms are in place and moving in the right direction. And clearly, that's the metric for the U.S. to pull out of Iraq.
BLITZER: One final question before I let you go. Killing Saddam Hussein -- not what Pat Robertson is suggesting, that perhaps the U.S. should go ahead, assassinate the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.
There's -- we're looking back at the whole assassination policy. On the eve of the war, right before shock and awe began in March of 2003, the U.S. dropped a big bomb in Baghdad. The hope was that Saddam Hussein would be the result, the killing of Saddam Hussein would be there.
MARKS: Sure.
BLITZER: Remind our viewers what exactly was the authorization, the policy, when that bomb was dropped?
MARKS: I don't know the legal definitions of assassination. That was not an assassination attempt. That was targetable intelligence. It was very, very clear, albeit, it did not turn out to be Saddam Hussein in Dora Fornes (ph), which was the official residence that he maintained in Baghdad. But the decision was made very quickly at the very top levels, and the Air Force did a magnificent job of going after that. Clearly, the Air Force dropped two bombs in an exact location very precisely where they were supposed to go. Saddam was not there.
But that was not an assassination attempt. That was military targeting.
BLITZER: But going into that event, you thought Saddam might be there.
MARKS: We hoped he was there, and we hoped he was going to get this welcome, wake-up call from the Air Force. You bet.
BLITZER: General Marks, as usual, thank you very much, as always.
MARKS: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Recently we've heard some Republicans taking on President Bush's Iraq war policy. Coming up, a Democrat taking on his own party for not opposing the war enough. I'll speak live with former Senator Gary Hart, and get his latest thoughts on what's going on.
And over in the West Bank, the settlers have cleared at least those from the settlements that the Israelis withdrew from. But now they're clearing the homes they've left behind. We'll have details.
And low prices and high fashion. Guess where Wal-Mart is advertising these days? It might just have supermodels shopping in the stores. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here's a quick look at some of the hot shots coming in from our friends over at the Associated Press, pictures likely to be in your hometown newspapers tomorrow.
Look at this. It's Switzerland. A woman pushes a wheelchair through the flooded streets of Lucerne. Dozens have died as a result of torrential rains in central Europe.
In Taiwan, an exploding car in an anti-terrorism drill. It's all part of a simulated hostage situation.
In Jamaica, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, signed the Petrocaribe agreement. This comes just a short time after Pat Robertson called for his assassination.
And in Sydney, Australia, devastating right cross during a flyweight title bout. Colombian Jair Jimenez wins a TKO in the fifth round.
Here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we're plugged into almost everything that's happening online. Almost everything. Right now the most popular stories on CNN.com. Our Internet reporters, Jacki Schechner and Abbi Tatton, standing by with the situation online. What are those stories, guys?
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. I'm glad you said almost everything. Otherwise we'd feel like we weren't really doing our job.
Actually, just wanted to talk about some of the stories that were making news or that people were clicking on, on CNN.com. And obviously, people interested in Tropical Storm Katrina. It is expected to hit land on Friday. Could be a hurricane by then. It means it would have winds of 74 miles per hour or above.
So wanted to show you some of the resources that we found online in addition to CNN.com. We encourage you, obviously, to keep checking that.
This was a very cool site. We found HurricaneHunters.com. Mostly for the imagery that we found on the site. Now these are the guys who fly into the hurricanes to track wind speeds and things like that. And they have some interesting photos in their eye-to-eye section. There are photos from storms that they've flown into in the past few years.
Show you some imagery like this one. This is from Hurricane Ivan as it passed over Grenada. And what they call here was a stadium effect, and they described exactly what that is, how the clouds form sort of like a dome over the atmosphere.
And then the other thing we wanted to show you here from Hurricane Hunters was their cyberflight. Obviously, you're not going to get up in a plane anytime soon with these guys. But you can certainly page through. It does everything from on the ground preparations to training to "you ain't seen nothing yet." They say they've got the propeller in the rain to give you imagery.
A couple of other interesting ones, if you've got kids. This is "Inside a Hurricane" from the Miami Museum of Science, MiamiSci.org, their hurricane section.
And then also this one I thought was very cool, from Wunderground, WeatherUnderground.com, Wunderground. And essentially, this is Tropical Storm Katrina now. This is a historical map which shows you that -- any tropical storm this time of year that's passed within 200 miles of where Katrina was as of this morning. That's from 1851 to 2003.
ABBI TATTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Something completely different topping CNN.com right now is a story about British rock band Iron Maiden and the rock festival Ozzfest. There's a spat between -- going on between the two.
When Iron Maiden performed over the weekend at Ozzfest they report they were pelted with debris, and the band manager has now gone on record and said that the Ozzfest fans are vile. At IronMaiden.com he's saying that this was a premeditated and coordinated attack.
Over to the Ozzfest site there. Ozzfest is still carrying on now with Velvet Revolver. What they're saying is that from day one a band member was berating Ozzy Osborne and belittling the Ozzfest audience.
So that's going on, and readers of CNN.com very interested in Iron Maiden at this hour, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Abbi and Jacki, we'll check back with you. Thanks very much.
Coming up, The Gap adds a new brand. Will Baby Boomers buy it?
Also, Ali Velshi standing by. Wal-Mart, it's not just for cost cutters anymore. Wait until you see where to find the chain's latest ads. You'll be surprised.
And California's Republican governor joining forces with some Democratic lawmakers. Their mutual mission sure to raise eyebrows. Everything he does raises eyebrows. We'll have details.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's check back with Zain at the CNN Center in Atlanta with a quick look at some other stories making news. Zain?
VERJEE: Wolf, America Online will pay $1.25 million to settle an investigation by the office of the New York attorney general. The agreement also calls for an overhaul of AOL customer service practices.
The settlement comes after some 300 consumers accused the online provider of ignoring demands to discontinue service and to stop billing them. We know that AOL is a subsidiary of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN.
She left Crawford, Texas, six days ago, but Cindy Sheehan is scheduled to return today to continue her anti-war protest outside President Bush's ranch. The California woman, whose son was killed in Iraq last year, left to be with her sick mother. She's been trying to convince President Bush to meet with her.
Demolition has already begun on vacated houses on the West Bank. Israel completed the removal of roughly 15,000 settlers and protesters from Gaza and parts of the West Bank yesterday. The evacuation was finished two weeks ahead of schedule. The parties are now ironing out details of Israel's handover of the Gaza Strip to Palestinians.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the situation in Niger could get worse if more help doesn't arrive soon. Annan was wrapping up a two-day visit to northwest Africa to highlight the famine crisis. Niger's people face massive food shortages after crops were ruined by drought and locusts. Wolf.
BLITZER: The confidence level, Zain, that the actual relief supplies, the food, the medicine, that they're actually getting to the people who need them most? VERJEE: Well, that's a critical question and, frankly, they're not getting to the 3.6 million people that need them the most. Medecins Sans Frontiers was saying that the U.N.'s got food. It's doing the distribution, but it's just not good enough. And what they're really concerned about is children: children under 5, children under 3. The head of Medecins Sans Frontiers in Paris gave an interview to a French newspaper, "Le Monde," and on the Web site it was -- he was extremely critical, saying the U.N. doesn't actually have the special kind of food that's needed to give to children under 3 years old. They just don't have it in stock, even, in Niger.
That beautiful French phrase she's saying is Doctors Without Borders for those of us who don't necessarily speak French. Zain, thanks very much.
VERJEE: Thank you.
BLITZER: Jack Cafferty is fluent in French. He's standing by. He's got his e-mail in French or in English, Jack?
CAFFERTY: I'm going to use English. I'd do it in French, but I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.
Today's insurgent attack, bold in broad daylight in downtown Baghdad. More sophisticated, more well-coordinated than any before it. The insurgents fired mortars, attacked police officers with rocket- propelled grenades, machine guns and AK-47s. Fourteen people killed.
The question is this. Can the Iraqi insurgency be defeated any time soon?
Mitch in Texas writes, "Insurgents are never defeated in any struggle. They simply morph into some other form of anti-government party. The fact that they're still killing people over there is desperation. The focus should remain on standing that government up so they can defend themselves."
Douglas in Williamsburg, Virginia, writes, "No way, it's too late. We lost the initiative when we went in there with too few troops. Rumsfeld insisted on his way or no way. All the good generals have either been fired or sidelined. The only solution is to declare victory and withdraw."
Cindy in Houston, Texas: "Yes, once we remove the bull's eyes on the American soldiers' uniforms they won't have anything to shoot at except each other. History has also shown insurgencies are better fought within the culture than by outsiders."
John in Vandalia, Illinois, writes, "My son spent the last year in Iraq. He saw some hard action, including getting mildly wounded twice. He says it will take five years at least to get the Iraqis ready to defend themselves."
And Matthew in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, writes, "Didn't we already defeat them? What was all that 'mission accomplished' and 'major combat in Iraq is over' stuff all about?" BLITZER: Do you get a sense, Jack, that most of our viewers who spend the time and send you an e-mail, that they favor this operation in Iraq or are opposed to it? Very unscientific.
CAFFERTY: Yes, and it's hard to tell, Wolf, because the question is kind of in the abstract, you know, whether or not any insurgency anywhere, if it's motivated and armed and funded properly, can be defeated. I guess you look at the thing in Vietnam.
Look how long the Russians were in Afghanistan when they finally packed up all their toys and went home. They couldn't get it done there.
I don't know if you can get a sense from these e-mails where the public opinion lies. I do know this. Public opinion against the war is growing by leaps and bounds in this country every day.
BLITZER: All right, Jack. Thanks very much. Jack Cafferty with the "Cafferty File." We'll check back with you in a few more minutes.
Here in THE SITUATION ROOM, we've made a point of trying to keep you informed about what's going on in the world online. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, now takes a closer look at how blogs are changing the way U.S. military personnel are not only keeping in touch with each other but with the folks back home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Underneath the mustard yellow canopy of our 12-man canvas tent, my political thoughts are momentarily paralyzed.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A thought last year from "A Line in the Sand," the blog of Sergeant Chris Missick in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still think of writing, but writing somewhere far from here, a bustling Starbucks perhaps.
STARR: Missick is a milblogger. Dozens of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan now write their own online war diaries, a 21st century letter home from the battlefield, the most private thoughts in a very public forum. Missick estimates 200,000 people have read his blog.
SGT. CHRIS MISSICK, BLOG AUTHOR: It transforms from being a simple communication tool with friends and family to realizing that I had a voice as a soldier with a message to convey to the American people.
STARR: Even commanders are paying attention.
BRIG. GEN. VINCENT BROOKS, U.S. ARMY: I'm not a commander now but I can tell you that I do periodically look at blogs just to get a feel for what does it look like in the soldier's eye?
STARR: There is worry milbloggers could inadvertently give away classified information that could compromise operations. Last month, an Army National Guardsman in Iraq was demoted for blogging too many details about how his unit was attacked.
Soldiers in Iraq have been ordered to register their blogs and restrict operationally sensitive or classified information. The Pentagon is considering whether it needs to adopt a similar policy across the board.
LARRY DIRITA, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: I think, over time, that's a very rich form of communication that's historically valuable. And the question is, how do you do it in a way that doesn't give up information?
STARR (on camera): With blogs, some of the most wrenching details and personal anguish of war can be read around the world instantly.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And this just coming in to CNN. A statement that the Reverend Pat Robertson has just released a statement, a written statement, in which he goes further than he did this morning on his "700 CLUB" television program and formally now apologizes for his comments earlier this week, suggesting that the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, should be assassinated.
"Is it right to call for assassination?" he asks, Reverend Robertson in this latest statement. He says this: "No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him."
Once again, Reverend Robertson formally apologizing for the statement he made earlier in the week, suggesting that Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, should be assassinated.
At the end of his statement, he goes on and says this. He says, "There are many who disagree with my comments, and I respect their opinions. There are others who think that stopping a dictator is the appropriate course of action. In any event, the incredible publicity surrounding my remarks has focused our government's attention on a growing problem, which has been largely ignored."
We'll continue to watch this story, get some more reaction. Mary Snow is watching this story for us. And we'll have additional details coming up. Once again, a formal apology from Pat Robertson.
Still to come, four brothers serving in Iraq. We'll get to know them, a little bit at least, and why they got a mention today from President Bush.
Plus, Wal-Mart takes a page out of Target's playbook. But are the upscale shoppers buying it?
And when we go "Inside Politics" in a few minutes, we'll find out who's coming out for and against Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, with his confirmation hearings less than two weeks away.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Record high oil prices. The markets are about to close in New York. We'll go to Ali Velshi in a moment.
But first, there's been a development in Jerusalem. Zain Verjee is watching what's going on. Zain, what's happened?
VERJEE: Wolf, two Jewish men have been stabbed in Jerusalem's Old City. Police are looking for a man described as a Palestinian. One man has been moderately wounded, and he was able to go to the police station and to report this. Another man has been seriously wounded, say police and ambulance services. The Associated Press, quoting hospital officials there, say that that second man has died of his wounds. CNN cannot confirm that. But that's the information we're receiving right now.
Police are calling it a terror attack. Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Zain. We'll watch that story. We'll go to Jerusalem when we get some more information. Thanks very much.
Moving on now. Supermodels strolling the walkways at Wal-Mart (ph)? You may see more of it if the store has its way. Let's check in, the "Bottom Line".
Ali Velshi joining us. What's going on, Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, let's start with Target. Target has worked hard to create an impression among consumers as an upscale version of a discount retailer. Now it carries designer lines by Mossimo, Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Graves, others, things that aren't typically seen in discount stores.
Now, if you've missed the trend and you can't figure out why your friends are calling it "Target", Target is going to hit you over the head with it in the current issue of "New Yorker," the issue that actually came out last week.
Now I've got this in my hand. And for the first time ever, every ad in "The New Yorker" is held by Target. There's no other advertisers in this issue. They're all Target. They're all very "New Yorker"-style ads, in that they're cartoonish, and I'll show you what I'm talking about in a second. They're all -- they're kind of -- they're not really very clear ads. They're just little Target ads.
Now the typical reader of the "New Yorker" is a sophisticated, high-income reader earning $80,000 or more a year. The world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, told us last week that its core customer is starting to feel the pinch from rising gas prices, and that's been typical of lower income consumers who have less disposable income.
What Wal-Mart has been trying to do for some time is attract more of those upscale consumers that Target has been attracting. And Wal- Mart is nothing if not big, so it has taken eight full color pages in this, the more than 800-page fall fashion issue of "Vogue." It's the first time it's done that. This is the typical -- let me try to get no reflection on that. This ad is one of the eight that it's trying to put out there.
Now, the average "Vogue" reader doesn't earn as much as the average "New Yorker" reader, but it's part of an attempt by Wal-Mart to upscale its own image. And it's unclear as to whether or not this is actually going to work for Wal-Mart, Wolf.
BLITZER: There's another story that involves Gap, that you're watching, as well. What's happening on that front?
VELSHI: Yes. And what Gap has done is for the first time since 1996, it started a new brand. That brand is called Forth & Towne. It's aiming at an older client, the Baby Boomer, 41-59.
Even though you go to a mall and all you see is the -- all you see is stores for kids, the bottom line is people age 40 to 59 accounted for 40 percent of all sales to women, women's apparel last year. It's a hot market. It's very different. And that's what Gap is trying to capitalize on, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. The markets are closing. What's going on?
VELSHI: We've got the Dow closing. Look at this, 81 points lower to 10,438. That was a late-day turnaround because of the spike in oil prices. The NASDAQ is down 8 points, 8 1/4 points to 2,129. And crude oil for October closing at above $67, another all-time hig. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Ali. We'll be checking back with you. Ali, thanks very much.
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