good morning to you. it is tuesday, august 23rd. this is am: wake up call. i m carol costello live in new york. let s get started with that big storm crashing through the atlantic ocean right now. irene is getting ever more powerful and may be heading toward the united states. people in south carolina already getting ready for irene. the hurricane is near the dominican republic right now. take a look at the storm from the international space station. irene is now a category 2 hurricane, but jacqui jeras says it could become an enormous category 4 later this week as it gets closer to the southeastern united states. it s already left about half of puerto rico without power. cnn will take a closer look at the storm s path in a few minutes. how is the battle for tripoli going anyway this morning? that depends on whom you ask. rebel leaders say they have control over most of the city. there s still some fierce fighting in some neighborhoods. moammar gadhafi s son saif, the o