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CNN Sunday Morning
Deadly Violence in Gaza; A Look at Gang Violence in L.A.
Aired May 02, 2004 - 09:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The recovery of Thomas Hamill, obviously, a bit of welcome news for the coalition, but this next story, anything but welcome news. You've seen the photographs aired last week. That prompted international outrage over the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
More extensive allegations of abuse are being detailed in an article in "The New Yorker". The magazine quotes an 53-page internal U.S. Army report, completed in February and not intended for public release, as saying Iraqi prisoners face numerous, quote, "sadistic blatant and wanton criminal abuses".
The report, written by a Major General Antonio Antaguba (ph), also cites detailed witness statements and extremely graphic photographic evidence.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the article to Reuters, but does says that all reports of detainee abuse are taken seriously and all allegations thoroughly investigated.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt says he is disgusted by the photographs. Charges have been filed against six soldiers who were working as military police at Abu Ghraib and 17 others who have been relieved of duty until the investigation can be completed.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: At the top of the hour we told you about the deadly violence in Gaza today, where gunmen killed four children and their pregnant mother, near a block of settlements. Paula Hancocks joins us with the latest. She is live Gush Khatif, in Gaza.
Good afternoon to you, Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Erica.
Well, the pregnant Israeli woman and her four children were on their way from the Gush Khatif Settlement block in Gaza to Israel. They were on their way to help campaign against Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, to persuade Likud Party members to vote against the plan to withdraw their settlements.
Now, they were attacked by two Palestinian gunmen on the main road between Gush Khatif Settlements and Israel. Just moments earlier we had been traveling on the same road. We came under attack, under fire from two gunmen. We escaped unhurt, but shortly afterwards a car coming in the opposite direction carrying the mother and her four children, age 11, nine, seven and two, were killed. Now the road was immediately closed off. Israeli ambulances and soldiers rushed to the scene. They killed the two gunmen. When we went back to the scene we saw the bodies of the families being taken away in an Israeli ambulance and the Palestinian gunmen were in the fields on either side of the road.
This isn't the first time there has been an attack on this road. It is one of the main routes from the settlements within Gaza to Israel itself. It's come under attack many times before on certain stretches of the road surrounded by Palestinian houses.
And the last time a settler was killed was a year and a half ago. A rabbi was killed while traveling with his family. The road is now closed off. Hundreds of settlers who were going to go into Israel to help lobby against Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan now on this side of the border.
Erica.
HILL: And, obviously, this happening on the day of that vote. Talk to us a little bit for folks who may not be familiar with the area, what it's like? How the vote that's taking place for this referendum, for this proposal, how it would affect people in that area where you are right now?
HANCOCKS: Well, Erica, the vote today is a Likud Party referendum. And there's only 14 members of the Likud Party within the settlements themselves. But the settlers have been carrying out a very high-profile, a very well-coordinated attack against this plan. They've been trying to persuade the Likud Party members not to vote for this plan, not to vote to withdraw the settlements and take them out of their settlements within Gaza.
So what was going to happen today is hundreds of them were going to go across to Israel and stand by the polling stations so that they could try to persuade those Likud members, as they were casting their vote, to vote against this plan.
This is what this family was doing, the mother and her four children were on their way to Israel to persuade Likud members not to vote for this plan. Many others were on their way as well, but of course, that road because of this incident has been shut off -- Erica.
HILL: Paula, we are glad to hear you and the rest of the CNN staff are all right and please stay safe out there. Paula Hancocks joining us live from Gush Khatif in Gaza.
SAN MIGUEL: Getting back to our top story, this morning, the recovery of Thomas Hamill who worked for Halliburton, a subsidiary of Halliburton.
We have a statement from Halliburton that's just been released:
"It is with great joy and relief that we confirm the safety of Thomas Hamill, one of our colleagues involved in a convoy ambush on April 9. During the past 23 days we is have had a sense of captivity, but we are extremely grateful for the safety of Tommy, a father and husband, as well as our friend and co-worker.
This is one of those pivotal moments when we hope all those in Iraq, soldiers, civilian workers, and the Iraqi people, feel the support of a united America."
And then, one other paragraph: "Civilian contractors work side by side with the military and Iraqi people. Our work is difficult and in a dangerous environment and Halliburton and some contractors have lost 34 personnel while performing services under or contracts in the Kuwait/Iraq region."
That statement from Halliburton on the recovery of Thomas Hamill.
Stay with us. More on this story as well as some other news on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
On the streets of Los Angeles, the gang problem that has plagued the city for years continues to cause concern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) think about staying away from it, you know what I'm saying? (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAN MIGUEL: Police are trying to find a way to change that perception and make L.A. safer.
HILL: And heavy rains and flash floods have claimed lives in the Lone Star State.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAN MIGUEL: Tragedy at an amusement park tops our look at stories making news across America.
In Massachusetts, a disabled man was killed after falling out of a roller coaster. The Superman Roller Coaster at Six Flags New England was shut down and the incident is under investigation. The 55-year-old victim had cerebral palsy.
In central Texas, crews will resume their search for an 18-month- old swept away by floodwaters caused by heavy rains. The child's mother and two-year-old brother were killed in the flooding. Floods caused the deaths of four other people, including two more children.
In Seattle nearly 3,000 same-sex marriage supporters matched to Safeco Field in an attempt to disrupt an anti-gay marriage rally. Around 20,000 opponents of same-sex marriage gathered inside the stadium. HILL: In Los Angeles gang violence is more than something you see in the movies. Gang-related homicides make up more than half of the county's murders. But can the LAPD make changes to combat that problem? CNN's Miguel Marquez reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): LAPD versus gangs in south Los Angeles, it is a war that seems to have no end.
JASON SCWAB, LOS ANGELES POLICE OFFICER: We received information that a shooting happened yesterday. And the suspect was a male black approximately 5'9", with two ponytails.
MARQUEZ: L.A. Sunny Sund (ph) precinct is gangland ground zero. Police maps show a gang patchwork stretched across a violent urban battlefield.
BRIAN TUCKER, SON KILLED BY GANG MEMBERS: He was shot right in the chest. He was shot in the back. He was shot in the lower groin area. And he was shot in the shoulder.
MARQUEZ: Dead was Brian Tucker's 15-year-old son, Bailey, an aspiring athlete, a musician. His father says Bailey was never in a gang. But he became another statistics of gang violence. For those caught in the middle, the question is -- where to turn?
TUCKER: I feel like LAPD has to be more -- be more visible in the community. And talk to people and get to know people and that will bring out the trust in people.
MARQUEZ: At a barbershop in LA's Limmer Park (ph), trust in LAPD is in short supply.
DVONDRE HICKS, RESIDENT: Most of the time, when you think about cops, you kind of think about, you know, stay away from them, you know what I'm saying? The enemy, not really the friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to partner up. We need the eyes and ears of the community.
MARQUEZ: For the LAPD police chief, the only way to earn trust is to change tactics.
CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: That is with my relatively small police force focus on actually the relatively small numbers of very serious offenders in those neighbors. So that every black kid dressed up in hip-hop is not immediately thought of or suspected of being a gangbanger.
EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, ANALYST: And welcome to another edition of "Tuesday Live".
MARQUEZ: Earl Hutchinson knows LA's black community. He says LAPD has a long way to go to earn trust and stop gang violence. HUTCHINSON: We're talking about decades and decades of mistrust and distrust and even violence. You know, between the Los Angeles Police Department and African Americans in the City of Los Angeles.
MARQUEZ (on camera): LA's police chief says restoring that trust is a priority and offers one measurement that LAPD is earning it. In the 77th Precinct, though homicides are up slightly this year, in the previous year they declined by 50 percent.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Putting a cap on the keg in Wisconsin. Cops make some changes at some of the nation's well known party school. And do you believe everything you read in your e-mail inbox? What you should beware before you believe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: A crackdown on college drinking, sort of. Police set a four keg per household limit at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The move made just in time for the school's annual block party. While you may think four kegs is still an awful lot of beer, police say last year some homes tapped up to 50 kegs, one home.
The University of Wisconsin at Madison is listed in the "Princeton Review" as the number two party school in America. The University of Colorado at Boulder was number one -- 50 kegs?
SAN MIGUEL: Sounds like in Madison it's always spring break.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
SAN MIGUEL: We want to give you an update on our top stories. A kidnapped U.S. contractor is found alive in Iraq. The U.S. military announced it just hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Today, at 1020 hours, Mr. Tommy Hamill, an employee of Kellogg, Brown & Root, was recovered by U.S. forces south of Tikrit. He is in good health. He was reported missing after his convoy was ambushed on 9 April.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAN MIGUEL: Military officials say Hamill apparently escaped from his captors shortly after an attack on his convoy last month. This footage was released showing Hamill being driven away by armed men.
Last night two American soldiers were killed when their convoy attacked by Iraqi militants near Amara (ph) in southern Iraq. Coalition Officials say two more American soldiers were killed in an attack in northwestern Baghdad this morning. HILL: "Fast Forward" now to the week ahead, and some of the events in the news. On Tuesday a competency hearing for Brian David Mitchell, he is the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart in Utah. Smart was taken from her home nearly two years ago and held for nine months before two people spotted the suspect and called police.
Also on Tuesday, sentencing for former Merrill Lynch Assistant Doug Faneuil, the star witness in the Martha Stewart trial. Sentencing for Stewart and her ex-broker, Peter Bacanovic, will be on June 17.
Thursday night, after 10 years -- in case you weren't aware -- it is the last episode of "Friends". If you tune in you will be one of the tens of millions expected to do so.
SAN MIGUEL: We're going to go back to Baghdad to get more information on the recovery of American contractor Thomas Hamill, who was found safe and said to be in good health.
More on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, right after this.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 2, 2004 - 09:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The recovery of Thomas Hamill, obviously, a bit of welcome news for the coalition, but this next story, anything but welcome news. You've seen the photographs aired last week. That prompted international outrage over the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
More extensive allegations of abuse are being detailed in an article in "The New Yorker". The magazine quotes an 53-page internal U.S. Army report, completed in February and not intended for public release, as saying Iraqi prisoners face numerous, quote, "sadistic blatant and wanton criminal abuses".
The report, written by a Major General Antonio Antaguba (ph), also cites detailed witness statements and extremely graphic photographic evidence.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the article to Reuters, but does says that all reports of detainee abuse are taken seriously and all allegations thoroughly investigated.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt says he is disgusted by the photographs. Charges have been filed against six soldiers who were working as military police at Abu Ghraib and 17 others who have been relieved of duty until the investigation can be completed.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: At the top of the hour we told you about the deadly violence in Gaza today, where gunmen killed four children and their pregnant mother, near a block of settlements. Paula Hancocks joins us with the latest. She is live Gush Khatif, in Gaza.
Good afternoon to you, Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Erica.
Well, the pregnant Israeli woman and her four children were on their way from the Gush Khatif Settlement block in Gaza to Israel. They were on their way to help campaign against Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, to persuade Likud Party members to vote against the plan to withdraw their settlements.
Now, they were attacked by two Palestinian gunmen on the main road between Gush Khatif Settlements and Israel. Just moments earlier we had been traveling on the same road. We came under attack, under fire from two gunmen. We escaped unhurt, but shortly afterwards a car coming in the opposite direction carrying the mother and her four children, age 11, nine, seven and two, were killed. Now the road was immediately closed off. Israeli ambulances and soldiers rushed to the scene. They killed the two gunmen. When we went back to the scene we saw the bodies of the families being taken away in an Israeli ambulance and the Palestinian gunmen were in the fields on either side of the road.
This isn't the first time there has been an attack on this road. It is one of the main routes from the settlements within Gaza to Israel itself. It's come under attack many times before on certain stretches of the road surrounded by Palestinian houses.
And the last time a settler was killed was a year and a half ago. A rabbi was killed while traveling with his family. The road is now closed off. Hundreds of settlers who were going to go into Israel to help lobby against Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan now on this side of the border.
Erica.
HILL: And, obviously, this happening on the day of that vote. Talk to us a little bit for folks who may not be familiar with the area, what it's like? How the vote that's taking place for this referendum, for this proposal, how it would affect people in that area where you are right now?
HANCOCKS: Well, Erica, the vote today is a Likud Party referendum. And there's only 14 members of the Likud Party within the settlements themselves. But the settlers have been carrying out a very high-profile, a very well-coordinated attack against this plan. They've been trying to persuade the Likud Party members not to vote for this plan, not to vote to withdraw the settlements and take them out of their settlements within Gaza.
So what was going to happen today is hundreds of them were going to go across to Israel and stand by the polling stations so that they could try to persuade those Likud members, as they were casting their vote, to vote against this plan.
This is what this family was doing, the mother and her four children were on their way to Israel to persuade Likud members not to vote for this plan. Many others were on their way as well, but of course, that road because of this incident has been shut off -- Erica.
HILL: Paula, we are glad to hear you and the rest of the CNN staff are all right and please stay safe out there. Paula Hancocks joining us live from Gush Khatif in Gaza.
SAN MIGUEL: Getting back to our top story, this morning, the recovery of Thomas Hamill who worked for Halliburton, a subsidiary of Halliburton.
We have a statement from Halliburton that's just been released:
"It is with great joy and relief that we confirm the safety of Thomas Hamill, one of our colleagues involved in a convoy ambush on April 9. During the past 23 days we is have had a sense of captivity, but we are extremely grateful for the safety of Tommy, a father and husband, as well as our friend and co-worker.
This is one of those pivotal moments when we hope all those in Iraq, soldiers, civilian workers, and the Iraqi people, feel the support of a united America."
And then, one other paragraph: "Civilian contractors work side by side with the military and Iraqi people. Our work is difficult and in a dangerous environment and Halliburton and some contractors have lost 34 personnel while performing services under or contracts in the Kuwait/Iraq region."
That statement from Halliburton on the recovery of Thomas Hamill.
Stay with us. More on this story as well as some other news on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
On the streets of Los Angeles, the gang problem that has plagued the city for years continues to cause concern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) think about staying away from it, you know what I'm saying? (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAN MIGUEL: Police are trying to find a way to change that perception and make L.A. safer.
HILL: And heavy rains and flash floods have claimed lives in the Lone Star State.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAN MIGUEL: Tragedy at an amusement park tops our look at stories making news across America.
In Massachusetts, a disabled man was killed after falling out of a roller coaster. The Superman Roller Coaster at Six Flags New England was shut down and the incident is under investigation. The 55-year-old victim had cerebral palsy.
In central Texas, crews will resume their search for an 18-month- old swept away by floodwaters caused by heavy rains. The child's mother and two-year-old brother were killed in the flooding. Floods caused the deaths of four other people, including two more children.
In Seattle nearly 3,000 same-sex marriage supporters matched to Safeco Field in an attempt to disrupt an anti-gay marriage rally. Around 20,000 opponents of same-sex marriage gathered inside the stadium. HILL: In Los Angeles gang violence is more than something you see in the movies. Gang-related homicides make up more than half of the county's murders. But can the LAPD make changes to combat that problem? CNN's Miguel Marquez reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): LAPD versus gangs in south Los Angeles, it is a war that seems to have no end.
JASON SCWAB, LOS ANGELES POLICE OFFICER: We received information that a shooting happened yesterday. And the suspect was a male black approximately 5'9", with two ponytails.
MARQUEZ: L.A. Sunny Sund (ph) precinct is gangland ground zero. Police maps show a gang patchwork stretched across a violent urban battlefield.
BRIAN TUCKER, SON KILLED BY GANG MEMBERS: He was shot right in the chest. He was shot in the back. He was shot in the lower groin area. And he was shot in the shoulder.
MARQUEZ: Dead was Brian Tucker's 15-year-old son, Bailey, an aspiring athlete, a musician. His father says Bailey was never in a gang. But he became another statistics of gang violence. For those caught in the middle, the question is -- where to turn?
TUCKER: I feel like LAPD has to be more -- be more visible in the community. And talk to people and get to know people and that will bring out the trust in people.
MARQUEZ: At a barbershop in LA's Limmer Park (ph), trust in LAPD is in short supply.
DVONDRE HICKS, RESIDENT: Most of the time, when you think about cops, you kind of think about, you know, stay away from them, you know what I'm saying? The enemy, not really the friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to partner up. We need the eyes and ears of the community.
MARQUEZ: For the LAPD police chief, the only way to earn trust is to change tactics.
CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: That is with my relatively small police force focus on actually the relatively small numbers of very serious offenders in those neighbors. So that every black kid dressed up in hip-hop is not immediately thought of or suspected of being a gangbanger.
EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, ANALYST: And welcome to another edition of "Tuesday Live".
MARQUEZ: Earl Hutchinson knows LA's black community. He says LAPD has a long way to go to earn trust and stop gang violence. HUTCHINSON: We're talking about decades and decades of mistrust and distrust and even violence. You know, between the Los Angeles Police Department and African Americans in the City of Los Angeles.
MARQUEZ (on camera): LA's police chief says restoring that trust is a priority and offers one measurement that LAPD is earning it. In the 77th Precinct, though homicides are up slightly this year, in the previous year they declined by 50 percent.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Putting a cap on the keg in Wisconsin. Cops make some changes at some of the nation's well known party school. And do you believe everything you read in your e-mail inbox? What you should beware before you believe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: A crackdown on college drinking, sort of. Police set a four keg per household limit at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The move made just in time for the school's annual block party. While you may think four kegs is still an awful lot of beer, police say last year some homes tapped up to 50 kegs, one home.
The University of Wisconsin at Madison is listed in the "Princeton Review" as the number two party school in America. The University of Colorado at Boulder was number one -- 50 kegs?
SAN MIGUEL: Sounds like in Madison it's always spring break.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
SAN MIGUEL: We want to give you an update on our top stories. A kidnapped U.S. contractor is found alive in Iraq. The U.S. military announced it just hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Today, at 1020 hours, Mr. Tommy Hamill, an employee of Kellogg, Brown & Root, was recovered by U.S. forces south of Tikrit. He is in good health. He was reported missing after his convoy was ambushed on 9 April.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAN MIGUEL: Military officials say Hamill apparently escaped from his captors shortly after an attack on his convoy last month. This footage was released showing Hamill being driven away by armed men.
Last night two American soldiers were killed when their convoy attacked by Iraqi militants near Amara (ph) in southern Iraq. Coalition Officials say two more American soldiers were killed in an attack in northwestern Baghdad this morning. HILL: "Fast Forward" now to the week ahead, and some of the events in the news. On Tuesday a competency hearing for Brian David Mitchell, he is the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart in Utah. Smart was taken from her home nearly two years ago and held for nine months before two people spotted the suspect and called police.
Also on Tuesday, sentencing for former Merrill Lynch Assistant Doug Faneuil, the star witness in the Martha Stewart trial. Sentencing for Stewart and her ex-broker, Peter Bacanovic, will be on June 17.
Thursday night, after 10 years -- in case you weren't aware -- it is the last episode of "Friends". If you tune in you will be one of the tens of millions expected to do so.
SAN MIGUEL: We're going to go back to Baghdad to get more information on the recovery of American contractor Thomas Hamill, who was found safe and said to be in good health.
More on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, right after this.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
