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CNN Sunday Morning
Interstate Collapse in Oakland; Iraq Reconstruction Audit Finds Problems; Tenet Points Finger at Cheney
Aired April 29, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody, from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. It is Sunday, April 29th. And I'm T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Want to tell you about this, because they are fighting flames in Georgia. We're going to give you an update from the front lines of that wildfire.
Also, some live pictures from Istanbul, Turkey. Take a look at this. In fact, this is some tape just coming in to CNN. Tens of thousands of people demonstrating this morning. We'll give you the low down on that.
HOLMES: Another story this morning, eight skeletons found deep in the woods. Now a usually quiet town is abuzz over this grisly discovery. We'll tell you about this strange case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACHARY TRAYES-GIBSON, HELPED FIGHT OFF MUGGER: Heard a scream, saw a woman down on the ground with the man on the top of her, assaulting her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes. That woman being assaulted was a former senator and one-time presidential candidate. We'll hear from the young man who came to her rescue ahead on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: But we start with this, a story just in to CNN. Take a look at this video, it's a fiery crash in Oakland, California, which has led to a partial collapse of an interstate overpass. It happened at the intersection of interstates 80 and 880 when a tanker truck caught fire. That interchange is known locally as "The Maze."
Now Oakland police say they don't yet know if other vehicles are involved. We do want to tell you that the video comes to us from Paul Kochli, and in fact we have Paul on the phone.
And, Paul, I want to ask you, you were driving along, and did you notice this accident before it burst into flames?
PAUL KOCHLI, WITNESS TO COLLAPSE: No, we actually had just come across the Bay Bridge, and we saw sort of a mushroom cloud, a big dark cloud. And I knew something tragic had happened. As we drove a little further, we started to see the flames and at that time we pulled over and got the footage.
NGUYEN: What kind of information have you been able to gather from this? I mean, the flames are just pretty remarkable, just the video that you sent into us. And you can see the partial collapse of the bridge.
KOCHLI: Well, from what I've heard just on the radio, from what they've gathered, is some sort of an oil tanker wrecked on the freeway. They don't know if it was actually below or on top of the freeway, but for whatever reason, the heat from the flames actually caused the freeway to collapse.
NGUYEN: And is the interstate shut down going through downtown?
KOCHLI: All incoming lanes going to the Bay Bridge westbound, as far as I know, have been shut down. You can go across the Bay Bridge and leave San Francisco, but from what I understand, all of the interstates going into San Francisco across the Bay Bridge have been shut down.
NGUYEN: And have you heard anything about injuries or any other vehicles involved in this besides that tanker truck?
KOCHLI: I think that the fire is still big at this point. And there were no witnesses when it actually happened I don't believe. That they don't -- from what I hear, they don't know anything, if any cars actually drove off of the freeway or what.
NGUYEN: And it is quite a fire there. And before we let you go, I want to ask you this. In that area, this bridge pretty important to commuters, especially when it comes to the workweek which starts tomorrow.
KOCHLI: Absolutely. They already said that it was going to be -- this is basically -- this section of the freeway is actually part what they call "The Maze," and is a huge connector for meeting (ph) traffic on the weekdays. They already said this is going to be shut down for an undisclosed amount of time.
NGUYEN: We're taking a live look at Oakland, California. You see some folks on the road, but not at the area of where we saw the video come in from I-Reporter Paul Kochli. And we will be showing it throughout the morning, just as we get more information on this awful accident involving an oil tanker at "The Maze, " which is interchange, which has caused a partial collapse.
Paul, we really appreciate you sending in your video and providing us with the information that you have this morning. Thank you.
KOCHLI: Not a problem. Thank you.
HOLMES: We turn to Iraq now and the showdown over paying for the war. That new spending bill likely to be delivered to the White House on Tuesday. President Bush promising a veto because it includes a timetable for troop withdrawals. Democrats and Republicans expected at the White House on Wednesday.
But tomorrow the issue may be reconstruction. A report due tomorrow from the office of the inspector general for Iraq with a critical look at projects in Iraq. CNN's Hugh Riminton is live in Baghdad for us this morning.
Hello, Hugh.
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, there, indeed. There is a lot of political developments happening just as I come to you. We have just been speaking to the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, who has admitted that there has been discussion in Iraqi political circles about replacing the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
Now Maliki has come under fire from a number of sources, being perceived as being and weak and ineffectual. Zebari says that alternatives have been discussed, but at the moment, given the other crises pressing in on this country, they have been decided to stay on with al-Maliki. It shows the pressure is at a political level.
Also the Iranians have now said they will take part in a neighbor's meeting that will take place in Egypt next month about the future of Iraq. That meeting will also include the United States. Mr. Zebari saying that might even lead to some bilateral discussions between the Iranians and the United States about the future of Iraq.
HOLMES: All right. Well, we talked earlier, the issue now of reconstruction that is going to be -- certainly is going to be a headline probably this week. Billions of dollars of U.S. money, taxpayer money going into Iraq for reconstruction. But it appears not all of that money being put to good use and some maybe even being wasted with some of these projects.
RIMINTON: Some being wasted? A great deal of it being wasted. The inspector general of Iraqi reconstruction has gone out and looked the $20 billion-odd that Congress approved back in 2003 for the reconstruction of Iraq. He has filed his report. And it's grim reading indeed. He has found that a lot of projects simply have not been done. There has been enormous wastage.
Public health centers, for example, there was a plan to build 150 of them, the money has been spent. Only eight are now operational out of 150 in the original plan. In other projects that were completed, he has found that there has been enormous problems with maintenance, with sloppiness, things simply don't work. In many cases after they handed projects back to the Iraqis, they have not been maintained and have fallen into disrepair.
He says they are simply not sustained. So billions of dollars being wasted, much of it in corruption as well. But lives as well. His report says more than 1,000 civilian contractors have died on U.S.-funded projects, about a quarter of those are U.S. citizens.
HOLMES: All right. Hugh Riminton for us in Baghdad. Hugh, thank you so much. NGUYEN: Former CIA Director George Tenet says the Bush administration rushed into war in Iraq without serious debate, and in a few book, he writes his agency warned the White House months before the invasion that anarchy would follow. The book is especially critical of Vice President Dick Cheney.
CNN's John King has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vice president would visit frequently, help the Central Intelligence Agency get more money, and nudge a reluctant foreign leader from time to time.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER CIA DEP. DIRECTOR: It's unusual for a vice president, particular, to take that degree of interest in intelligence, but I must say, this was a positive thing.
KING: And after 9/11, when some said CIA Director George Tenet should have connected clues the attacks were coming, the vice president used an appearance on "Meet the Press" to offer a strong defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FROM "MEET THE PRESS")
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think George clearly should remain as director of the CIA. I think -- I have great confidence in him.
KING: And he appreciated that, but things soon took a troubling turn.
MCLAUGHLIN: The relationship with the vice president started off as a very positive thing and then frictions came into it later on.
KING: Most frustrating were repeated Cheney comments suggesting a possible Saddam Hussein role in 9/11, long after the CIA had in fact ruled it out and told the vice president to stop.
MCLAUGHLIN: We had very harsh conversations on this subject. When we basically pounded the table and said, we're done, we're finished. We're not going to go any further on this subject. George did that, I did that, many other people did that.
KING: Now in his new book, Tenet takes direct aim at the vice president. Claiming Mr. Cheney was pre-disposed to war and discouraged serious debate about whether there were any options short of military action.
Tenet is especially furious at this Cheney recollection, again on "Meet the Press," of a pre-war meeting in the Oval Office.
CHENEY: The director of the CIA said, it's a slam dunk, Mr. President, it's a slam dunk. That was the intelligence that was provided to us at the time. KING: In fact, the choice was already made. The slam dunk meeting came after the Pentagon had issued the first deployment orders and after Mr. Bush went to Congress for war authorization. Plus, Tenet writes he meant only that the president could make a compelling argument for war, not that the intelligence was airtight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FROM "60 MINUTES")
GEORGE TENET, FMR. CIA DIRECTOR: The hardest part of all of this has just been listening to this for almost three years. Listening to the vice president go on "Meet the Press" on the fifth year of 9/11 and say, well, George Tenet said slam dunk, as if he needed me to say slam dunk to go to war with Iraq.
KING: Two senior administration officials pointed to this 2004 speech to dispute any suggestions the vice president forced his views on the CIA.
TENET: No one told us what to say or how to say it.
KING: Mr. Cheney spent most of Friday in Oklahoma.
CHENEY: Thank you very much.
KING: And the vice president's office said he would have no comment on Tenet's criticism.
John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And want to give you the programming note. George Tenet will talk about his book, "At the Center of the Storm" on "LARRY KING LIVE." That is tomorrow night. So you want to tune in 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.
Also as Democrats in Congress try to force withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, is the president holding his veto pen? We're going to ask Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER," that is today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: Former senator and presidential candidate Carol Mosley Braun is nursing a broken wrist after being mugged. The attacker made a grab for her purse Friday night outside her Chicago home. Braun fought back and she held onto that purse, but she did go down on her arm which is now in a cast.
A local college student walking by with a friend helped Braun fight off that attacker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRAYES-GIBSON: Heard a scream, and turned and looked and saw a man on top of a woman -- of this woman, assaulting her, throwing punches and grabbing at her. So he turned and just ran, I ran towards him. As we approached, Rich (ph) yelled out, hey, he looked up, and I started running faster. And he got up and ran in the opposite direction. So I chased him to the next block at which point he stopped and hid behind some cars, the brake lights go up, he just peels out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Braun is calling the student and his friend heroes. She says they may have saved her life. Police are now looking for that mugger.
And another mugger to tell you about now. He's accused of viciously beating an elderly woman. Now he has been charged with hate crimes. The case triggered outrage after surveillance video showed a 101-year-old woman being attacked. The suspect you saw in the video a moment ago was Jack Rhodes.
He's being jailed now without bail following his arraignment yesterday. He is charged with robbery, grand larceny, burglary and assault in that attack and two others. Some of the charges are listed as hate crimes because two of the victims were at least 60. Authorities say they were targeted because of their age.
NGUYEN: Well, you have to check this out, because massive demonstrations are taking place right now, an estimated 1 million people rallying to keep religion out of the government. A political crisis for a U.S. ally. That is coming up at the bottom of the hour.
HOLMES: But first, why a nearly two-week-old wildfire is still raging in Georgia? We'll ask about that.
Plus, we've got this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JENNIFER SOTO, FORT MYERS POLICE: This is actually the very spot where the first skull was located.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So how many more skulls were discovered in these woods? Well, we have the details on the Fort Myers mystery in 10 minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. Check it out, this is what happened in Phoenix yesterday. No, those aren't just gray skies. In fact, a major dust storm fuelled by 50-mile-per-hour winds blasted through that area. Power was even shut down for several hours. The caper? Temperatures in Phoenix yesterday topped 100 degrees for the first time this year.
I want to give you a look at an I-Report of the dust storm approaching. This was taken by Todd Gunn of Phoenix. The picture is looking east from Phoenix at Squaw Peak.
HOLMES: Firefighters battling this wildfire in Southern California expect to have it under control later this morning. The flames charred 15 acres of brush in a residential area but haven't damaged any homes or other buildings.
NGUYEN: Want to get you back now to that huge refinery fire in Oklahoma. Well, two flaming fuel storage tanks will probably keep burning for at least another day. Officials say the blaze is easy to contain, but hard to put out. The fire was started by a lightning strike on Friday.
HOLMES: Well, the prognosis, not so good for a large wildfire in southeast Georgia. Already consumed about 100 square miles of pine forest and swamp and destroyed almost two dozen homes. Susan Reisch from the Georgia Forestry Commission joins us now by phone with an update from the nearby city of Waycross.
Thank you so much for your time. Are you getting help from the weather? I think that we might know the answer, but please let us know if things are getting better for you guys.
SUSAN REISCH, GEORGIA FORESTRY COMMISSION: No, we still have extreme drought conditions and the Georgia Forestry Commission expects the fire will continue to burn intensely through next week. Crews will be working on extinguishing the hotspots through the month and until the next heavy rain at the earliest.
HOLMES: Now is this thing really such a beast that there is absolutely no way no matter how many firefighters and how many helicopters and how much water you drop on it, as long as these conditions are like this, you are pretty much at nature's mercy and the only thing that will help you really is a good rain?
REISCH: We are waiting for rain. But the fire has not crossed U.S. 1. The fire has gone into the swamp, and the Georgia Forestry Commission and our other local agency officials are working to make progress on that containment by widening the fire break lines and creating new lines.
Crews are staged ahead of the fire in case there are any flare- ups caused by high winds. And we're looking for long-term burning spots along the way.
HOLMES: Any threat right now? I know some homes have burned, but is that another immediate issue that is moving toward any more homes down around that area?
REISCH: Because the area is so dry here, there are some hot spots flaring up and in some areas. We evacuated a few people last night after another spot fire flared up. Those people may be able to return home today. But they do need to -- people do need to be -- remain vigilant and aware.
HOLMES: OK. Well, they certainly will. And a scary word we got from the state emergency management agency that this thing could burn from another month. I know are you not hoping for that. And expect it to go at least through next week. And hopefully get some rain to you guys. But Susan Reisch with Georgia Forestry Commission, ma'am, thank you so much for your time, and good luck.
REISCH: Thank you.
NGUYEN: The debate over immigration reform. That is going to be back in the spotlight. President Bush addressed the issue during a commencement speech in Miami yesterday. The president spoke to the graduating class at Miami-Dade College where many of the students are immigrants or the children of immigrants. And he asked them to push their representatives to pass a comprehensive reform bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In Washington, we're in the midst of an important discussion about immigration. Our current immigration system is in need of reform. It is not working.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: We need a system where our laws are respected. We need a system that meets the legitimate needs of our economy. And we need a system that treats people with dignity and helps newcomers assimilate into our society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The president favors a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants, as well as a temporary worker program. And if you know him, you know what he thinks about illegal immigration. Yes, Lou Dobbs and Rick Sanchez had a very, shall I say, heated discussion on that very topic. Here is just a taste of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Should there not be a little bit of room for tolerance? Are we not judged by how we treat the least amongst us?
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": I don't think you could find a more tolerant nation in the world, could you, Rick? This nation brings in lawfully more than 2 million immigrants a year. That is...
SANCHEZ: And that's what makes...
DOBBS: Let me finish.
SANCHEZ: Go ahead.
DOBBS: That is more than the rest of the world combined. And yet, I hear the effrontery that this is not a welcoming nation?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And you will see much more in our "Sunday Spotlight" tonight at 10:00 Eastern. I want to give you this programming note. The entire network turning the spotlight on the issue of immigration this week. So mark your calendar, Tuesday, May 1st, we will have coverage throughout the day. Among other things, we're covering immigration rallies across the country.
Then Wednesday night, Lou Dobbs live in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, for a "Broken Borders" town hall meeting. It's a CNN prime time special, Wednesday night, 8:00 Eastern.
HOLMES: CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf joins us in the next half hour with a rare look at tornadoes he found because he went looking for them in Kansas. Yes, the man went storm chasing. He'll show us his dramatic video coming up.
Also this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOTO: Am I concerned that I have eight bodies in the woods? Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: I would say so. But Florida police have very little else besides those bodies. After the break, the mystery surrounding several skeletons found in Ft. Myers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, CSI Fort Myers, Florida, no, it's not a new show, but a reality. Because a grisly discovery deep in the woods has occurred and now the usually quiet town is just abuzz over an unsolved mystery.
CNN's John Zarrella has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the downtown House of Pizza, locals come to grab a hot slice, chat about the weather. But lately the talk is about a strange cold case, a whodunit that so far has raised many more questions than answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very mysterious. Very mysterious. It's just not normal for around here.
ZARRELLA: Around here is Fort Myers, Florida. And what happened here would not be normal anywhere else.
SOTO: The ecologist was out here actually surveying the land.
ZARRELLA: Sergeant Jennifer Soto (ph) was one of the first police officers to get here. About 50 yards off a dirt road hidden in a forest of tightly knit melaleuca trees, buried only under leaves and debris, was a human skeleton.
SOTO: This is actually the very spot where the first skull was located. ZARRELLA: The first, far from the last. That day, a couple of weeks ago, police found seven more skeletons scattered across a 200- yard long area.
(on camera): But with all eight of them you found the skulls?
SOTO: Yes.
ZARRELLA: And a large percentage of the remains.
SOTO: A remarkable amount of the remains, considering how long they have obviously been out here.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): How long? For years police say. But at this point they have no idea how many years. And was it murder? Is it the work of a serial killer? They don't know that either.
SOTO: We know we have no missing persons that are being reported. People aren't being, you know, taken off of the streets at this point in time there is no reason for that kind of alarm at this point. But am I concerned that I have eight bodies in the woods? Absolutely.
ZARRELLA: They were all adults, police say, they had no clothing and no obvious signs of trauma.
(on camera): You have to move all of this debris.
HEATHER WALSH HANEY, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLIGIST: All of that debris is put into buckets and it is painstakingly searched. Many times bone is going to look like a stick.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Forensic anthropology Heather Walsh Haney was called in to try and figure out what happened. How these eight skeletons ended up here.
HANEY: By reading the bones I am trying to determine who that person was in life and how they died.
ZARRELLA: The bones are now at the medical examiner's office, locked behind these doors.
DR. REBECCA HAMILTON, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Every bone is being radiographed here. The dentist is going through every set of teeth.
ZARRELLA: Dental work done may help identify the remains. Medical Examiner Rebecca Hamilton has taken calls from around the country.
HAMILTON: So we already at this point having people send us dental X-rays on loved ones who have gone missing or who have basically fallen off of the face of the Earth.
ZARRELLA: So far, no matches.
(on camera): So do you get the sense from whoever put the bodies here that they went through any trouble to do this, or was it just sort of like scattering at random?
SOTO: Well, just from the distance that we're back in the woods and from how far everything is apart from each other, somebody took some trouble.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): But who and why? Investigators say it may take them months to figure it out. But eventually they believe they will know exactly how this forest of melaleuca trees became a burial ground.
John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Myers, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A nation fighting between the separation of church and state. Not talking about America here. You might be surprised actually to find out where tens of thousands are protesting this morning, demanding the secular government stay in place.
Also, still ahead, why primary voters in California suddenly matter in the race for the White House.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was on the ground?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice! Well done!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I love it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Well, most people don't usually get that excited when they see a tornado. In fact, the screams are normally of fear, but our own Reynolds Wolf takes you on a wild ride into the storm on his hunt for tornadoes. We have that story coming your way in 20 minutes. Brace yourself. He is pretty excited about it. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Want to give you an update now on a developing story. Look at this. A fiery crash in Oakland, California, has led to a partial collapse of an interstate overpass. Happened at the intersection of interstates 80 and 880 when a tanker truck caught fire. This is new video coming into CNN. Now that interchange is known locally as the "Maze." Oakland police say they don't yet know if other vehicles are involved, this video coming from i-Reporter Paul Kochli. HOLMES: Well also, courting California voters. Democrats are holding their state party convention this weekend and voters there are getting a lot more attention from the candidates this year, thanks to a shift in next year's primary. The story from CNN's Peter Viles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA KERR, PRES CA TEACHER ASSN: What we've really got to do also is get a new president. We need a new president. Well, we need one now.
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As head of the Teacher's Union, Barbara Kerr is a powerbroker in California.
KERR: It's so exciting. We're going to be talk to Hillary Clinton, we're going to be talking to Senator Obama.
VILES: For a generation, presidential candidates could ignore California's political activists because the state's primary in June, came after nominees had already been chosen.
JASON KINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: California hasn't mattered much in a presidential primary since maybe 1976.
VILES: But with a February 5 primary next year, California might really matter next time. Which is why there is a record turnout at the Democratic convention this year in Dan Diego. Candidates Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama and Richardson will all be here, working delegates one-on-one.
ART TORRES, CHMN CA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: What I'm telling the delegates, let them woo you. Let them talk to you. Let them convince you that that's your candidate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been more private meetings among presidential campaigns here than probably any time in recent history. Institutional leaders here are feeling they're part of the discussion.
VILES: Barbara Kerr is part of the discussion and this is what she wants.
KERR: And I want to hear them say that they can do something to make No Child Left Behind go away and put something good in its place. Make it go away and put something new in its place. It is an abomination.
VILES: Senator Clinton, for one, will not say that.
SEN HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to start by fixing all that is wrong with No Child Left Behind.
VILES: Candidates would be wise to listen to Barbara Kerr. She faced down Governor Schwarzenegger in a special election on union issues and won. The only big defeat of Arnold's career and now like other California activists, she'll finally get some attention from her own party's presidential candidates. Peter Viles for CNN, San Diego.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, you can look for Tony Snow tomorrow, the White House press secretary says he plans to be back on the job. So, he's been on medical leave since announcing the return of his cancer on March 27. Snow ways he is feeling good, but it's not clear whether he'll be handling questions in the Washington briefing room.
Let's take you to Oregon now, a hiker is recovering after a very close call. The 50-year-old man was walking along a popular trail in the Columbia River Gorge when he fell about 60 feet down a cliff yesterday afternoon. It took rescuers several hours to reach him and when they finally did, he was in bad shape, complaining of hip, rib and shoulder pain. A National Guard paramedic flight crew took him to the hospital.
HOLMES: A political showdown this morning for a U.S. ally. It's happening right now in Turkey. Local media estimates one million demonstrators have gathered in Istanbul. They are demanding the government remain nonreligious in a country that is predominantly Muslim.
Journalist Andrew Finkel joins us now, live on the phone from Istanbul. And actually looks like we have him -- I'm seeing him here.
Sir, tell me, these demonstrations right now, they are massive. But they are staying pretty peaceful but loud, nonetheless?
ANDREW FINKEL, CNN NEWS JOURNALIST: Well, it's been an enormous party here. The party is nearly over, but as you say, people believe there's been almost one million people who gathered here to raise their voices. They've been singing patriotic songs, waving flags, clapping and Cheering. But the message that they're conveying is pretty clear. They're very upset about the current candidate for the president of the Turkish Republic. They says he's a man who's not qualified to uphold the secular traditions of this state. They have the army on their side. The army has supported them in a statement to the press. But, the government says the democratic processes will proceed and that this presidential election in parliament will take place, and that Abdullah Gul, the former prime minister, will become the next president -- T.J.
HOLMES: And Pete, the government it telling people that, hey, the government will continue as is, but Turkey's military actually threatening to step in if the government doesn't continue the way they think the government should.
FINKEL: Well, the military gave this extraordinary statement. It's almost -- people are calling it almost this little virtual coup dais de etat, sort of coup by e-mail.
Late one night, they posted a message on their website saying that they weren't basically happy with the way the presidential elections were preceding and they weren't convinced that the secular traditions of the state were being protected.
Now, the very next day the government reacted very angrily, they said this is a democracy, you can't really do this sort of thing, the military shouldn't be interfering in the democratic processes. The government has had a lot of support in the country and in the press. But, of course, the crowd here today, probably takes a very different view. They -- they somehow want a miracle to happen and the presidential elections to be stopped -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, journalist Andrew finkel, live for us in Turkey, keeping an eye on things. Andrew thank you so much and of course, we will be keeping an eye on those demonstrations and what happens with parliament and picking the president, as well. Thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Civilians caught in a cross fire of a military raid. It happened today in an eastern Afghan province and according to the U.S. military, a woman and teenager were killed when U.S. and Afghan troops stormed a suspected bomb maker's hideout and a gun battle broke out. The military says four militants were also killed in that battle.
And the death toll has risen to 28 from a suicide bombing in Pakistan -- told you about this yesterday. Police say the nation's interior minister and his son were among the dozens wounded in that attack. Their injuries are described as minor and witnesses say the bomber blew himself up after guards tried to stop him from approaching the interior minister. Islamic militants are suspected and they've launched repeated attacks because of Pakistanis involvement in the war on terror.
HOLMES: The rescue of Army Private Jessica Lynch and the death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, stories seemed to me made for TV and then we found out the truth. How did the media initially get these two stories so wrong? RELIABLE SOURCES at the top of the hour looks at what happens to the news media during war.
NGUYEN: But first, coming up in just three minutes -- why does Wall Street appear immune to this housing slump? And who is benefiting?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there we are. Look what happened. There you go! We've reached it!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Do it again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More money to pad my pockets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking forward to seeing the 14,000.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: We all want to make lots of money and a lot of investors should be smiling this weekend, thanks to Wall Street's record- breaking week. For the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average surged by 13,000 mark on Wednesday and it stayed through Friday. This, despite a weak housing market. New figures showing the U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace in four years in the first financial quarter. So, to break all of this down, these numbers, we're joined by CNN business correspondent Stephanie Elam.
Stephanie, thanks for being with us today.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Betty.
NGUYEN: So, if economic indicators are weak, why is this market doing so well?
ELAM: Yeah, it freaked out a lot of people. Like what is going on here. We got three records set on the Dow this week and part of the reason why is earnings were really strong. We're looking at the first quarter earnings period, and those corporate earnings numbers were coming in really much better than people expected. So, that's helping to give a lift to the markets. The other thing you've got to take into consideration is along with the weak GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, report that came out, it also showed consumer spending is really strong.
That helps businesses go out and continue to spend as well and so when you see that number it seems investors are betting that the housing market will level off and, yeah, the economy seems to be slowing, but not enough to worry about a recession. And so, when you take those things into factor, it seems like people were just like, hey, let's go ahead and move this market higher.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, it's great to see the market get to this point, but you know, in all reality, what does this mean for the average American?
ELAM: Well, what -- you may not see the same sort of percentage gains that you're seeing on the Dow and keep in mind the Dow is just 30 stocks. If you look at the S&P 500, it also had gains this week, and that's 500 stocks, but not as high as the Dow. And so if you're looking at your portfolio, it may not be showing these same percentage gains, but it should be trending higher and if not, you might want to look into what's going on there with your mix of stocks.
NGUYEN: Yeah, especially with everything doing so well. If you're not doing so great, there's a problem there. OK, so let me ask you this. Can we expect this to continue upward?
ELAM: Right now, we're looking like it should continue this way because we've got a good mix of things, here. Now, here's one thing, though. We're not going to continue every day to see a gain. It's not like we're going to see a new record every day.
Because we have a lot of economic data coming out this week, there's a lot of things that we're going to be looking at: Unemployment for April, we're looking at spending, and we're going to look a at a lot of different habits here that people are putting out into the markets.
Also look at housing. So, this will give us an idea if these markets will continue to go this way it might and might tell us if people are pulling back a little bit. But overall, people are saying, right now, it looks like we'll see a little bit more strength here.
NGUYEN: Well, that's good. Buy you know, in this 13,000 market is a really big number, it's something that a lot of people wanted to get to. But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter?
ELAM: We're humans, we like big round numbers, Betty. We just like to see, like oh, there's a milestone, we hit it! But overall, as far as the market's concerned it doesn't really mean that much. It's nice to see, obviously, the growth, if you look at what the Dow has done over the time. But it's just something for us to cheer about and say, hey, we did it.
NGUYEN: And as we look toward the new week and hopefully making more money this week, what are you expecting?
ELAM: We have three more Dow components now that are going to report. But I will mention that about two-thirds of S&P 500 stocks have reported earnings, so that's going to kind of take a backseat now as far as earnings are concerned. We really will be focused on the economic indicators and showing us what the market's going to do going forward. That's where the eyes are going to be for this week.
NGUYEN: Stephanie knows her money and that's why we like her. Stephanie, thanks for join us today.
ELAM: Sure, Betty. Take care.
HOLMES: And it's now time for us to check in with Howard Kurtz in Washington to see what's ahead on CNN's RELIABLE SOURCES.
Good morning, sir.
HOWARD KURTZ, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thank you T.J.
Coming up, the woman known as the D.C. Madam is spilling her secrets to ABC news and a top State Department official has already resigned. ABC's Brian Ross tell us how he confronted the official and what's next in his investigation.
John McCain back on the campaign bus. Has the press corps that once adored him turned hostile because of the war?
And Rosie taking her rants elsewhere? Was she pressured into leaving "The View?"
That, and George Tenet peddling his tell-all book, ahead on RELIABLE SOURCES.
HOLMES: All right, Howard, we will see you then.
Meanwhile, need to update you on the pet food recall. The federal government says you don't need to worry about affecting bacon, ham, sausage, or other pork products. Several days ago there was concern that several hundred hogs destined for the slaughter house may have been given tainted feed. But, both the FDA and the Agriculture Department now say those hogs will not be available for human consumption and as a result, the government says no meat recall is needed there.
The science behind tornado chasers. Up next, our own Reynolds Wolf shows you what goes into predicting these powerful storms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Which will give us, really, our best chance for severe weather really to ride along this I-35 corridor.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So, things could get pretty loud pretty quickly?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Got an update for you now on a story we've been following this hour. A fiery crash in Oakland, California, has led to a partial collapse of an interstate overpass, a very busy one. It happened at the intersection of interstates 80 and 880 when a tanker truck caught fire. That interchange is known locally there as the "Maze."
Oakland police say they don't yet know if other vehicles also involved in it, but that is a major artery there, and a very important one that we're keeping it live look on here now in Oakland, again.
This is the "Maze," where if you're trying to get from the east bay over to San Francisco, you have to go to that point and get across the Bay Bridge, heading into San Francisco and all of those highways converge at this one spot called the "Maze." Very major necessary artery there in the Bay area, so they're certainly going to try to get that worked out. And more details to come later.
We will turn now to tornadoes. And who else do we turn to when we talk tornadoes, but this guy, who chases the thing -- I didn't even know this about you, Reynolds.
WOLF: Are you sure?
HOLMES: Didn't know this about you. You chase tornadoes.
WOLF: Absolutely we actually chase some a couple years back, but we were able to chase some just last week and with some pretty good success there's some video that we have of not one we got, but just a common phenomena in the Central Plains.
When I say it's common, that's really a misconception. Do you know that only three percent of all severe thunderstorms can produce these storms, but we got very lucky last week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
I think he wants to get us closer, but is afraid of getting us right in the direct path of the tornado.
(voice-over): I wish I could say I magically drove to this very spot in rural Kansas and saw this funnel cloud, but it didn't happen that way. It was the end of a long day of driving and guessing, and not knowing if we'd be successful. They don't call it storm chasing for nothing.
It all began about 9:30 in the morning in Oklahoma City last Tuesday morning, where I joined up with storm chaser Scott Ganson (ph) and Andrew Oldager (ph). The weather was sunny and it looked like there could be a little bit of activity later in the day. The trick was figuring out where.
(on camera): Well, the way things stand right now, it's early morning. The chase hasn't even begun yet. Outside, we've got skies that are mostly sunny. That's important, because that sunshine helps destabilize the atmosphere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're looking for where these storms will fire first, No. 1 and a combination of where the better sheer will be, and where the better instability will be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which will give us really our best chance for severe weather, really right along this I-35 corridor.
WOLF: So things could get pretty loud pretty quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
WOLF (voice-over): So he headed towards Kansas.
(on camera): Well right now, we're in Blackwell, Oklahoma, we've been driving north from Oklahoma City right along I-35. As can you can tell, the skies above still very cloudy. What we're hoping for a little bit of a break in the cloud cover. We're hoping get some sunshine.
(voice-over): It was still early. Our best guess was to keep heading north. A few hours' drive put us in Kansas. And it was obvious that we were on the right path.
(on camera): Well, now we're in Wichita, Kansas, we've just stopped for a bit of a pit stop to recharge the batteries, and also take some promising observations. For example, look up in the sky. We're seeing a few places where blue skies are showing through. Sunshine's going to filter down to the earth and what that will do is actually good in terms of storm chasing.
(voice-over): Our radar indicated that things were beginning to pop over the prairie. Now, sensing that we were about to get what we came for, we got off the interstate and drove northwest towards the town of Nickerson, then at 5:30 in the afternoon, pay dirt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was on the ground?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice! Well done!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I love it.
WOLF: Turns out this was just the beginning. We drove down the road a short distance to get a better view.
(on camera): We want to get close, but not that close.
(voice-over): For the next hour, we watched the swirling black clouds as they poked toward the ground, pulled back and then dropped out again. It was incredible.
(on camera): Well, we're seeing the wall cloud, then right out of the bottom, we're seeing that funnel coming down. Contact has been made, even though you don't see the funnel itself making that contact with the ground, you can see the debris being picked up, so that's your tornado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And we never thought it was going to happen. I mean, there were times during the chase, we would just be sitting there, seriously, just twitling our thumbs, watching the skies, mostly sunny, when is it going to happen and it finally did. And we just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I mean, you got to remember, the Great Plains, are thousands of miles wide, and I mean, you've got so many opportunities for these things to pop up, and we just happened to be in the right place. I'm not trying to make light in talking about tornadoes. I mean, obviously, these can be deadly things. There are many people that have lost their lives in these storms, but this was a very good one. No one was hurt in this. There was no significant damage, so it was a good tornado, if you could actually use that description.
HOLMES: And you saw five? Is that right?
WOLF: We saw 10 funnel clouds and we saw five tornadoes, they were very weak F-0 to F-1 variety. This is just a funnel cloud. It starts coming close, but never makes contact and then, the rest is just fine. Just kind of dissipates very quickly.
HOLMES: Fascinating to see.
WOLF: Nice wall cloud.
HOLMES: Fascinating video we have other video, we got some other video. I don't know if it can quite match your stuff, here. Some outrageous video to show folks. People jumping out of planes, that's crazy enough, but jumping out of planes with scissors. Mama told you not to run with scissors, she didn't say anything about jumping but the plane with the scissors. This is a stunt, it's as billed as a skydiving haircut.
WOLF: Who would do that.
HOLMES: Who volunteered for this? Who is that woman? It was just a snip, really, not much of a do, not really styled. I don't think they got highlights while they were up there. This might be good enough for the Guinness book of world records. But yes, somebody was falling 14,000 feet with a pair of scissors in their hands. It might be even scarier than a tornado coming down.
WOLF: Oh, absolutely. Maybe just a little right here off the top. All right, goodness gracious.
HOLMES: Well, of course we got RELIABLE SOURCES coming up next, then at 11:00 Eastern, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sits down with Wolf Blitzer for today's Late Edition, hear what she has to say about George Tenet's new book.
Then at Noon Eastern, how close is Iraq getting the Iranian government? Wolf interviews the Iraqi foreign minister for the second hour of LATE EDITION. Please stick around, of course, RELIABLE SOURCES coming up next, here.
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