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American Morning

Mideast Conflict Grows; Raging Wildfires; Capital Crime Wave; 'Big Dig' Probe

Aired July 13, 2006 - 07:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: You've been listening to President Bush and also the German Chancellor Angela Merkel as they do a joint news conference and take questions from reporters this morning. They covered a wide range of topics, telling us what they were talking about, and then going on to talk about Iran and Russia and democracy and human rights and right there wrapping up with what's been happening in the Middle East, specifically Hezbollah and Lebanon and trying to, as the president pointed out, retain the fragile democracy there at the same time reiterating several times that Israel has the opportunity to protect herself is what we heard from President Bush this morning.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The president squarely placing blame on Hamas and Hezbollah, calling what they are doing an effort to derail the peace process in the Middle East. At one point calling it pathetic. We will continue to cover the president's trip and we'll keep you posted on his visit to Germany as he makes his way toward the G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg.

Good to have you with us this morning.

We begin with the breaking news on the conflict in the Middle East. And it is reaching a new level today. Israel is now blockading Lebanon. Israeli bombs hit the runways of Beirut's airport today, shutting it down.

And there's a new warning just out from Israel. All civilians should get out of the Beirut neighborhood where the leader of Hezbollah is thought to live. Israel's army saying no targets are immune. And Israel's government is holding Lebanon responsible for the actions of Hezbollah.

Intense warfare going on along the Israel/Lebanon border, meanwhile. Israeli civilians hunkered down in bomb shelters while Hezbollah fires rockets into their cities. And Lebanon says civilians were killed when Israelis forces attacked a Hezbollah command center.

Israel is still heavily engaged in Gaza, bombing the Palestinian foreign ministry. And Hamas militants fired rockets into southern Israel. So a lot of activity on both fronts, north and south of Israel.

We are covering today's latest developments from Jerusalem with Paula Hancocks, and in Beirut as well with Alessio Vinci.

Alessio, let's begin with you. The president just a few moments ago, I assume you're able to hear him, taking great pains to talk about nurturing along democracy in Lebanon. There's got to be a lot of concern about that right now.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's, of course, a lot of concern because while the U.S. president is blaming Hezbollah and Hamas for what is happening right now in the region primarily, the Israeli government is actually blaming the Lebanese government as a whole, simply because part of that government are Hezbollah ministers, or Hezbollah-affiliated ministers, and that is why Israel is hitting hard not just at Hezbollah's targets, but at infrastructure throughout this country.

And we are beginning to see evidence of this that Israel really means business. Early this morning, Israeli jets bombed all three runways of Beirut's international airports, officially bringing it to a stand-still to close down. And a few hours later it bombed also a Hezbollah-affiliated television station by hitting its headquarters and two antennas at separate locations.

And then, of course, the situation continues to be extremely tense down in the south on the border with Lebanon where Israel bombed several infrastructure -- bridges, power stations. And we understand from the Lebanese officials that at least 45 civilians have been killed there alone.

The Lebanese interior minister is calling Israel's actions an act of war. It is hitting, he says, where it hurts the most, and that is at Lebanon's tourism industry. Of course, we are in the highest peak of the tourism industry here with tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people expected here in this country in the coming months. And, of course, this news is not something that is making people want to come here.

Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci in Beirut.

Let's go to Jerusalem now where we find Paula Hancocks, who's been watching this all unfold.

The president a moment ago, if I heard him correctly, said that they are involved diplomatically in the midst of this. Should we interpret that that they would be involved in any sort of on-going negotiations to quell this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the United States is always very much involved in this particular region. And we know that they have a very close ally in Israel. Now whether or not there are U.S. mediators that are directly involved in mediation between, for example, the Israelis and the Palestinians to secure the release of Gilad Shalit, one captured Israeli soldier, or between the Lebanese and Hezbollah and Israel to try and secure the release of two more Israeli soldiers, that's up for question, to be honest. I think definitely President Bush likes to put international pressure on both sides, asking Israel to show restraint, showing concern that the democracy of Lebanon could be under threat from these air strikes. But also saying at the same time that Israel does have a right to defend itself.

Now, interestingly, in the past hour or so, we're hearing from Israeli media that there have been leaflets dropped on one particular neighborhood in Beirut, in Lebanon. Now this is southern Lebanon area, which is very -- a stronghold for Hezbollah. And they're saying that they should stay inside and warning them that there is going to be operations in that area. In some residents they're actually saying they should evacuate. Now, Israeli media is suggesting this is where the Hezbollah chief, Hassanness Raleighah (ph), actually lives. Now we're trying to confirm that at the moment. But if that's true, that's certainly an interesting development.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula, yes, let's talk about that for a moment because the president urging Israel to use restraint, while at the same time saying it has a right to defend itself. The issue here is, what is a proportionate response? What do the Israelis say when they say any target is fair game, essentially, in Lebanon? What do the Israelis say about whether that is proportionate?

HANCOCKS: Well, the Israeli rhetoric has been very, very strong in the past three weeks or so. The politicians are saying we will do whatever is necessary to get these soldiers back home. And we've heard from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert actually saying we will do anything. And by anything, I mean anything to get the soldiers back.

So the rhetoric has been extremely strong. And Ehud Olmert has also been denying reports from the European Union and criticisms from the European Union that this is a disproportionate amount of force that they are showing. He also said, well, where was the European Union when Israel was subject to constant casan (ph) rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel? And also rockets that are currently being launched from southern Lebanon into Israel as well.

So Olmert is rejecting any criticisms that this is too much force. They're also not giving us any kind of timetable of how long this will go on. And they say nobody is immune.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem, thank you very much.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Back in this country, firefighters in southern California are now bracing for an even bigger wildfire there. The fear is now that a second wildfire could join with the already 37,000- acre Sawtooth fire. And that combination could be even more devastating to the hundreds of homes that are already in danger. CNN's Kyung Lah is live for us in the Yucca Valley in California. It's about two hours east of L.A.

Hey, Kyung, good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

That fire that you're talking about is called the Millard fire. It is directly southwest of where we are. This was a fire that firefighters thought they had completely knocked down in Riverside County, but yesterday's high winds and high heat was actually starting to fan those flames again and is now getting pushed in this area. If these two fires combine, firefighters really have a big problem on their hands.

As far as this fire, the Sawtooth fire, firefighters here, they're rotating through some three-hour shifts. What they're trying to do is get a little shut-eye before the sun picks up and the wind really picks up. Other firefighters are still in the hills right now.

The fire has actually laid down for the evening thanks to the humidity. The firefighters are getting a break. They're trying to make this containment line even bigger. Right now we have a 15 percent containment line.

And this fire grew significantly yesterday. It went from 26,000 acres to 37,000 acres. Firefighters hoping to stop it. They say that it is possible that it could almost triple in size now.

They have lost about 42 homes, 1,500 people are evacuated, 1,500 additional homes are threatened. As some of these residents are fleeing and they look back on the hills, they say seeing all that area eaten up, devastated by fire, is an eerie feeling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact that the vegetation's gone, you know, that you can actually see what's out there now, whereas before it was actually a pretty lush area for the desert. But with all of this ash in the air and -- it's very unsettling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: What firefighters really need is mother nature to continue to cooperate. The good news is that, at least from the fire department here, they believe that the winds are going to die down a little bit, but temperatures do remain high, about 100 to 108 degrees at midday.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh yes, that is high. All right, Kyung Lah for us this morning. Kyung, thanks.

Let's get right to Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center with the very latest.

Is mother nature, in fact, going to cooperate a little bit, Chad?

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the violence in Iraq. Is Iraq really in the midst of a civil war? And if so, what's to be done about it? We're going to ask Iraq's national security advisor about that.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in Washington, D.C. The district is under a crime alert, an official one. We'll talk about that in a moment.

S. O'BRIEN: The investigation into that deadly highway tunnel collapse in Boston. Part of the big dig. We'll take a look at documents that may reveal even more big flaws in the big dig. Those stories all ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: In the nation's capital, police are declaring a crime emergency. Twenty-four murders in just this month. I should say 14 murders just this month in the District of Columbia, bringing back talk of the old unwelcome distinction, murder capital. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken live now from Washington with more.

Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's important that we point out that crime in the last decade has really been cut in half in the District of Columbia. But nevertheless, we have recently had a grim reminder of the district's unofficial slogan, which is "be careful."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN, (voice over): Welcome to the nation's capital, known far and wide for its monuments and seat of government and for its violent crime. Murder and attempted rape are not supposed to happen in exclusive neighborhoods like Georgetown, but a particularly violent killing and assault did last Saturday night. Last January, former "New York Times" editor David Rosenbaum was bludgeoned to death in his prosperous northwest Washington neighborhood. In the first half of this month alone, there have been 14 homicides in all parts of the district. And that was enough for the police chief to declare a crime emergency.

CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. POLICE CHIEF: Now we're starting to see a trend where more and more people are being arrested in neighborhoods that they do not live in.

FRANKEN: The truth is, there has only been one more homicide this year than the same period last year, but robberies are up 14 percent and both the locals and tourists are on edge.

BYRON LARSON, ARVADA, COLORADO: That is not a real encouraging thing, especially when I'm here with the family.

FRANKEN: In late May, a series of robberies near the D.C. monuments targeted Memorial Day tourists in a mall area where crime is very rare. There have been a couple more this week.

ROBERT BIGLEY, PHOENIX, ARIZONA: You just kind of try to avoid putting yourself in a position you shouldn't be in, being out late at night or, you know, alone.

DAVID JACKSON, OXON HILL, MARYLAND: You really do need to pay attention, you know, keep your eyes open.

FRANKEN: The mall area is actually patrolled by a separate police force, but the D.C. mayor points out that doesn't really matter.

MAYOR ANTHONY WILLIAMS, WASHINGTON: If crime is increasing, it hurts your tourism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And tourism comes in the form of millions of people a year. They have put a heavier police presence down here at the mall. But I should point out, they still haven't caught the people who committed the robberies over Memorial Day weekend.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Bob, what does it mean when they say a crime emergency?

FRANKEN: It actually allows the police chief -- it's an official declaration that allows him to circumvent some of the union regulations and the assignment of police officers. As you might imagine, it is not being all that well received by the various police associations.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, so in other words, they can throw out the contract, in some sense, in order, you know, because of the emergency that exists?

FRANKEN: They can, for instance, pull back on vacations, they can add overtime, they can reassign officers without the usual procedures. It is a way of giving the chief a heavier hand when it comes to dealing with crime.

M. O'BRIEN: Got it. Bob Franken in Washington, thank you.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: An inspection of the big dig tunnel where a woman was crushed to death earlier this week found dozens of other potentially fatal flaws in construction. Dan Lothian has more for us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Investigators probing the death of a woman in one of Boston's big dig tunnels have uncovered crucial documents.

TOM REILLY, MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is a serious problem. LOTHIAN: Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly says the documents he's obtained indicate the anchor bolts that gave way, triggering a tunnel ceiling collapse, were identified as a problem in the fall of 1999.

REILLY: It was not only identified, but there was a plan to address that problem. And what we are trying to determine right now, was that plan implemented?

LOTHIAN: Thirty-eight-year-old Milena Delvalle was killed when heavy concrete panels fell from the tunnel's ceiling, crushing her car. Her husband escaped with minor injuries. Engineers have now found at least 60 other areas of the tunnel where ceiling panels may have also been compromised.

MIKE LEWIS, PROJECT DIRECTOR, TURNPIKE AUTHORITY: These individual locations where the threaded bolts were used, where something appears to have pulled out or be somewhat of a gap between the ceiling.

LOTHIAN: Now all unsafe panels are being removed, as local, state, and federal investigators search the tunnel system for evidence.

MATTHEW AMORELLO, CHAIRMAN, TURNPIKE AUTHORITY: We're doing everything possible to ensure that the event that occurred on Monday night does not ever happen again.

LOTHIAN: Attorney General Reilly says he's searching for other documents, hoping the paper trail will help his investigators identify what went wrong and who's responsible.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Turnpike Authority Chairman Matt Amorello says there is no timeline for when the I-90 connector tunnel is going to reopen.

Ahead this morning, Andy's "Minding Your Business."

Plus this story. An inmate grabs the gun. There's another courthouse shooting to tell you about. This one's got a deadly ending. But could it have been easily prevented? We'll take a look just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: We've got some information coming to us from AP News alert. I'm just going to read it to you.

Hezbollah apparently has threatened to attack with rockets the major Israeli port city of Haifa if Beirut and its southern suburbs are attacked, as Israeli officials, just a few minutes ago, said that they were open to doing. A little bit ago we heard that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the incursion into Lebanon is raising some fears of a regional war and the Israeli army chief certainly, after that, said no targets within Lebanon were immune to some kind of retaliation, including the city of Beirut.

So you are seeing right now and we are seeing an escalation. This word coming to us this morning from an AP News alert that crossed just a few moments ago. We continue to cover and talk about this top story this morning with our correspondents who are in Beirut and also in Jerusalem this morning.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is here and we're talking about the vice president and Wal-Mart. The vice president is praising Wal-Mart. Is it hot air? A little bit of global warming, maybe?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First we should point out it's the former vice president, Al Gore.

M. O'BRIEN: You're right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

SERWER: That might be from the department that someone wishes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Well, actually -- well that gets pretty complicated. Let's not even go there.

M. O'BRIEN: Onward.

SERWER: Former Vice President Al Gore was in Bentonville, Arkansas. That's the hometown of Wal-Mart. He was at headquarters screening his film "An Inconvenient Truth." And speaking after the screening to 800 Wal-Mart executives, employees, suppliers and experts about the environment, about the green movement, and he praised Wal- Mart for its environmental efforts, saying that he saw no conflict between the environment and the economy. Meaning you can make a buck and be green, too, apparently. He received a standing ovation there in Bentonville.

M. O'BRIEN: I guess that would come as no surprise that he would be warmly received. You can be green and make some green. It's a good thing.

SERWER: Right. I think maybe that point was perhaps really touched home.

M. O'BRIEN: Bring it on.

SERWER: Other news about Wal-Mart. And this is an intriguing story in "The New York Times" this morning. They're reporting, according to internal documents, that they have received -- that Wal- Mart is changing its policy when it comes to shoplifters. If you are caught in a Wal-Mart stealing less than $25 of merchandise and it's your first time, you get a pass. Now this comes in response to complaints by police departments because Wal-Mart had had a zero tolerance for shoplifters. So, in other words, if you were caught stealing practically anything, they would call the cops. And police around the country said, you know what, we just can't handle this. This is just too much stuff.

S. O'BRIEN: Kind of odd to announce it, though.

SERWER: Well, they're not announcing it. See, "The New York Times" got these documents, this internal document. And actually . . .

M. O'BRIEN: Ah, it's a leak.

SERWER: And actually in this story the police are suggesting in various jurisdictions that once word gets out about this, Soledad, to your point, people may start to stick more things in their pockets.

S. O'BRIEN: It was $24.99.

SERWER: Yes, air go I'm scot free.

M. O'BRIEN: Does it include tax or not? You know? I mean, how that goes.

SERWER: Well, we're going to have some test cases there, Miles, no doubt.

M. O'BRIEN: I guess so.

S. O'BRIEN: Or maybe not.

SERWER: Yes. Or maybe not.

M. O'BRIEN: What's coming up next, Andy?

SERWER: We're going to talk about the French soccer player, Zinedine Zidane. And you remember this famous head-butt in the final game and now head-butting has become all the rage on the Internet. We'll tell you about that coming up.

M. O'BRIEN: You're not going to head-butt me when you come back, right?

SERWER: Maybe. That tie looks like . . .

M. O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you in a bit.

SERWER: See you.

S. O'BRIEN: Got a look at our top stories straight ahead this morning.

Plus, you're going to meet a New York City policeman who was paralyzed by a teenage gunman. He's forgiven his attacker and now he's trying to spreading a message of forgiveness around the world. His story straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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