Tracking Alberto; Threats from al-Zarqawi's Followers; Sergeant Reacts to Haditha Accusations
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Ahead on CNN LIVE SUNDAY, tracking Alberto. The first-named storm of the season is churning in the Gulf of Mexico. Find out where it might be headed. And we're now hearing from the sergeant in charge of U.S. marines accused of a massacre in Iraq. Were the rules of engagement followed? Then, higher gas prices add up to pink slips in one school district. All that and more after this check of the headlines. More threats via the Internet from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's followers. They say they'll continue the fight, even without their leader. A top U.S. general stationed in Iraq doesn't doubt the insurgents intentions. More on their threats in one minute. But be sure to join us tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern for the latest "CNN PRESENTS" special, "World's Most Wanted," right here on CNN, the most-trusted name in news. Two hundred and thirty detainees from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and two other lock-ups are free today; 2,500 prisoners in all will be released, most of them minority Sunnis. Iraq's new prime minister hopes the move will fuel the tensions that have fueled sectarian violence around the country. The U.S. military is calling yesterday's prisoner suicides at Guantanamo Bay an act of warfare by a weakened enemy. A naval criminal investigation continues into the three deaths. Tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern, join us for some straight talk with a former U.S. Army chaplain who was stationed at Guantanamo. That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN. Tropical storm Alberto, the first named storm of the season, appears headed for the Florida coast. We'll update you with the very latest on the storm in one moment. We'll start now with Iraq and an eyewitness account of an alleged Marine massacre. What we've heard up to now is that Marines reacted to a fatal roadside bombing with a rampage against Iraqi civilians. According to the sergeant who led the operation in Haditha, that's not how it happened. Today, he's getting his story out for the very first time. CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports.</s>INTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lawyer for the senior Marine at the scene of the killing says the Marines followed the standard rules of engagement last November and that the 24 civilians who died were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.</s>NEAL PUCKETT, ATTY. FOR STAFF SGT. FRANK WUDERICH: It's clear that innocent civilians died that day, but they died according to what we call the fog of war. Mc</s>INTYRE: Neal Puckett represents then sergeant, now Staff Sergeant Frank Wuderich, the leader of a four-man team that killed the occupants of two houses that day. He's told his attorney several Marines witnessed hostile fire coming from inside the house.</s>PUCKETT: That door was kicked in. A frag grenade was thrown inside and immediately following that, the lead man in the stack went in firing his weapon and killed everyone inside. Mc</s>INTYRE: Puckett, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel insists that was the standard procedure for clearing a suspected insurgent hideout and that the first Marine in, who was not Wuderich had done it before in Fallujah.</s>PUCKETT: There was very little experience on the ground that day, but the one Marine who did have experience in Fallujah and who had cleared houses the very same way, was that first man through the door. And that was what he was trained to do. Mc</s>INTYRE: It was Sergeant Wuderich's first real combat says Puckett and he believed he was in hot pursuit of enemy fighters.</s>PUCKETT: They finished with that room and there's no one else in the house. And Sergeant Wuderich noticed that the back door is wide open. He presumes that the guys who were firing had escaped out the back. So they went back out the front door, stealthily went around the house. The most likely house that they could possibly be in during the fallback position was cleared the same way. Mc</s>INTYRE: Puckett says Wuderich fired no shot at either house but he did fire on five men in a car after they refused orders in Arabic to lie on the ground and instead took off running. He says the Marines thought the car might have contained another bomb and didn't know the men were unarmed. The Marines say they shot others that day too. According to Puckett, in one case, unarmed civilians were shot after they were spotted running from the scene of the attack. And in another a third house where one man had an AK-47 was cleared by a different group of Marines who shot everyone inside. But Puckett argues it was all done by the book.</s>PUCKETT: Sergeant Wuderich does not believe that he did anything wrong on that day. He followed the rules of engagement as had been instructed to him by professional instructors, by his chain of command and everything he understood he was supposed to do he did. They were in houses that were suspected insurgent hiding places from which the Marines were taking fire. Mc</s>INTYRE: How does Sergeant Wuderich feel about what happened?</s>PUCKETT: He's incredibly sorry that innocent civilians were killed, but he knows that he relied on his Marine Corps training to protect his men that day. Mc</s>INTYRE: Puckett says if anything was to blame for the deaths, it was the rules of engagement that didn't provide enough protection for innocent civilians. He's hopeful his client, a 26-year-old father of two, won't be charged with anything as serious as murder once the investigation wraps up later this summer. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Washington.</s>WHITFIELD: Al Qaeda in Iraq is vowing today to avenge the death of its leader. It's the group's first statement since the attack that killed Iraq's most notorious terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi.</s>WHITFIELD (voice-over): With the promise of large-scale operations that will quote, shake the enemy and rob them of sleep, a group calling itself al Qaeda in Iraq sent the message. Despite the death of their leader, they will continue to attack their enemy. While CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the statement, it was posted on a Web site that has carried messages from the group in the past.</s>MOWAFFAQ AL-RUBAIE, IRAQ NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: They are trying to make up for the huge loss and the disorientation they are suffering from because there is a huge vacuum of power now within al Qaeda.</s>WHITFIELD: The statement mentioned no replacement for Abu Musab al Zarqawi, but the posting claimed the group would continue attacks and renewed allegiance to Osama bin Laden.</s>JIM WALSH, SECURITY ANALYST: Whether Zarqawi was dead or alive, they'd still be trying to mount a big attack against U.S. forces or more likely against the Shiite Muslim community with the purpose of trying to encourage a civil war.</s>WHITFIELD: The statement also warned that the group will not be acting alone, but will coordinate with other members of the Mujahadin council to launch future operations.</s>CAROLINE FARAJ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think this is very important because they are here</s>WHITFIELD: The White House has been cautious about what impact al Zarqawi's death may have, but the expectation is further attacks are inevitable.</s>WHITFIELD: And the president is calling some of his top advisors to Camp David this week. Those advisors and military commanders will consider what is next for America's Iraq strategy. White House correspondent Ed Henry explains.</s>ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: As President Bush gathers his top advisors for two days of high level talks on Iraq strategy at Camp David, the Iraqi national security adviser is predicting U.S. troop levels will drop below 100,000 by the end of this year.</s>MOWAFFAQ AL-RUBAIE, IRAQ NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: By the end of next year, most of the multinational forces would have gone home. And by the middle of 2008, we will not see a lot of visibility neither in the cities nor in the town of the multinational forces.</s>HENRY: President Bush is down playing expectations of U.S. troop cutbacks while touting the death of Abu Musab al Zarqawi as a major blow to al Qaeda.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He killed a lot of people. And it's a big deal to have brought him to justice. Having said that, I don't want the American people to think that a war is won with the death of one person, that we have still more work to do.</s>HENRY: The top U.S. commander in Iraq, who will participate in the Camp David talks by video conference, suggests U.S. forces will come home over time.</s>GEN. GEORGE CASEY, US COMMANDER IN IRAQ: I think as long as the Iraqi security forces continue to progress, and as long as this national unit government continues to operate that way and move the country forward, I think we're going to be able to see continued gradual reductions of coalition forces over the coming months and into next year.</s>HENRY: Experts say the death of Zarqawi coupled with the filling out of a new Iraqi cabinet sets the stage for more progress at Camp David.</s>PAUL BREMER, FMR. US AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: The opportunity now is to design a military strategy to defeat the insurgency which is the core of the problem in Iraq. And once that is done, once a strategy is in place, it makes it possible to deal with the problems of the Shia militia, the problems of reconstruction of the economy and so forth.</s>HENRY: A senior administration official said the president wants to leave this summit feeling that every level of the U.S. government has a specific strategy to help the Iraqi government succeed. Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: And Ed, we know the Danish prime minister has been meeting with the president at Camp David already throughout the weekend, but why will he be part of the summit as well?</s>HENRY: Well, instead the president is going to be focusing on dealing directly with Iraqi officials. As you noted on Monday, there will be a lot of high level U.S. officials specifically from the president's cabinet who will be there all day Monday, a series of meetings. But on Tuesday the president by video conference is going to bring in the new Iraqi prime minister as well as key members of his cabinet. So I think that is going to be the focus. Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Interesting, all right, Ed Henry, thanks so much from the White House. With a new chief at the helm, the U.S. Supreme Court has been unusually united. But with most of its contentious cases still undecided, that agreement could be a thing of the past. We'll take a closer look. Plus paying the price at the heartland, how suburban families are adjusting to high gas prices. And in our look across America the search for a missing former diplomat in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. More now on tropical storm Alberto. It's churning in the Gulf of Mexico and will soon be affecting the U.S. Let's go to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui</s>JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, new this hour the tropical storm watch have just been posted for Florida's west coast from north of Bonita Beach extending all the way up to Steinhatchee. And what this means is that tropic storm conditions with winds of 39 miles per hour or greater are possible within this area in about 36 hours. The storm still remains very lopsided. It's all on the east side of the storm that we're seeing the convection, got a little bit of blossom up here in this area of the Gulf. But you can see those clouds covering a good portion of the state. It's still tough to really pick out that center of rotation, somewhere in this vicinity here. And the storm has also started to turn more up to the north. It's moving to the northwest all day long today. And now we're seeing more of the northerly pull. The models not in complete agreement as to exactly where it's going. Most of them, though, the consensus, will be pulling it up to the northeast and heading toward the big bend area of Florida. But we're still going to have to wait and see. The next 24 plus hours are going to be pretty critical as to what is going to be happening. Rainfall certainly in the forecast in the picture here for much of Florida's peninsula and we have been seeing some heavy rainfall at times across the region. We're going to go ahead and show you a little closer into south Florida just offshore some heavier thunderstorms. You head on up to Naples and you're just getting some light showers at this time. There you can see the tower cam from the Naples area, 76 degrees is your temperatures and the winds are relatively moderate at 76 miles an hour. The forecast track now as to where this is going, it is expected to stay steady as a tropical storm. Now we just got word in that the hurricane hunters are going to be going back into the storm, about a half an hour. They are expecting to leave and they'll be taking measurements and finding out whether some of the suspicions that it could be weakening a little bit are true or not. So we'll bring that to you once we have it available. And the official forecast track doesn't (ph) have it crossing the peninsula sometime on Tuesday. Fredricka, we'll continue to watch this and let you know if it's going to change</s>WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Jacqui. Tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, "</s>CNN PRESENTS: Sudden Fury in Katrina's Deadly Wake." Brace yourself for nature at its worse as we hear some amazing survival stories right here on CNN. Ahead on CNN LIVE SUNDAY, for many Americans Somalia conjures up memories of the 1990 Blackhawk down tragedy. Now lawlessness, the only country in the world without a government. We'll take you to the capital city of Mogadishu straight ahead. Plus this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of focus on the lessons that they learned and a lot of focus on the upcoming hurricane season yet we're still sitting here 95 percent substantially destroyed trying to find a way to fix this puzzle.</s>WHITFIELD: Waveland, Mississippi's "Catch-22." What is standing in the way of recovery? And later how gestures can speak louder than words. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.