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American Morning

Crisis in the Middle East; G-8 Faces Crisis; California Wildfires

Aired July 14, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Friday, July 14. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Here is a look at what is happening this morning.

The Middle East on the brink of war. Israel escalating its military campaign in Lebanon. Warplanes again bombing Beirut's airport this morning. Hezbollah has now fired more than 100 rockets into northern Israel.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is in Russia right now. He left Germany earlier this morning. He is meeting today with the Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the G-8 economic summit in St. Petersburg.

Outed CIA operative Valerie Plame is suing Vice President Dick Cheney and other top administration officials. She says the vice president and his former aide, Scooter Libby, and Presidential Advisor Karl Rove conspired to destroy her career.

M. O'BRIEN: In Massachusetts, big changes for the Big Dig. Lawmakers there giving Governor Mitt Romney control of the troubled highway project. Romney demanded the Big Dig boss step down after a ceiling collapse in a tunnel killed a woman Monday.

S. O'BRIEN: And a state of emergency in southern California. Firefighters now say that 49,000-acre Yucca Valley wildfire could merge with another big fire in the San Bernardino National Forest. The Yucca Valley fire has destroyed more than 150 homes and buildings.

Chad Myers is off today. Rob Marciano is in for us at the CNN Center. He's got the forecast.

Hey, Rob, good morning.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Soledad. Hi, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

That's the latest from the Weather Department.

Good morning guys. Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you, Rob. See you in just a little bit.

No slowdown in the Middle East this morning, both Israel and Hezbollah still firing away. Israel again bombing the Beirut International Airport just after the damaged runways there were repaired. Also targeted, several roads leading in and out of Beirut. Hezbollah returning fire, launching more rockets into northern Israel.

Our correspondents are standing by to bring you the latest from all throughout the region. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson in Beirut, Paula Newton live from Jerusalem. Let's begin with Nic in Beirut.

What's going on there now, -- Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The very latest, Miles, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora here just received a call from President Bush offering him the understanding and support for his government's position. Fouad Siniora had called Condoleezza Rice a little earlier in the day, expressing concern about the escalation and violence, asking her to get international help to bring about a comprehensive cease-fire.

The shelling has continued around Lebanon today. South of the city, a deal worked out to get five Middle Eastern Airline aircraft flown out of the airport. That's the Lebanese national carrier. The air runways were paved over, the planes took off and then the runways were bombed again.

There's been a bombing of the main road linking Damascus, the town -- the capital of Syria, with Beirut. That's been an escape route for a lot of people leaving this country in a hurry yesterday. That was bombed overnight. Bombed again this morning.

Power station south of the capital here had its fuel depot bombed overnight. The fuel depot for the airport bombed. Roads linking the capital Beirut to the airport on the southern outskirts, a tunnel hit this morning. Two bridges taken out linking the airport to the city.

Also taken out, the ports. The port of Sidon to the south of the capital reported blockaded. The Port of Tyre the same. And to the north, the Port of Tripoli, that also blockaded, according to Lebanese officials -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic, Israel is basically holding the government of Lebanon accountable for the actions of Hezbollah, but how much do they really control Hezbollah?

ROBERTSON: So far they don't appear to have been able to bring any influence to bear. Two, there are two Hezbollah Cabinet ministers. The Cabinet met yesterday. It's due to meet again today in about five, six hour -- five or six hours time.

Yesterday in that session, the government was unable to find a unified position, a position strong enough to demand that Hezbollah stop these attacks. Israeli officials, and certainly Lebanese officials, note that Israeli officials have said that they will target the leadership or have intimated they would target the leadership of Hezbollah.

But they say that until now the attacks have not been against Hezbollah, they have been against the infrastructure of Lebanon, in particular, the economy affecting tourism at this time. The government so far has not shown an ability or perhaps is too weak because of the inherent divisions within it to call Hezbollah to heel so far -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson in Beirut, thank you very much.

Let's head to Jerusalem now. CNN's Paula Newton there.

Paula, what's the latest from there?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, you know as Nic was saying, the government in Lebanon says it doesn't have any control over Hezbollah. And Israeli government spokesperson told CNN they just patently don't believe that, which is why they say they will continue to apply pressure in Lebanon.

You know this war here, this conflict, it is not a war yet, this conflict is in fact starting to resonate with Israelis. The government claims that almost two million Israelis have spent some time in bomb shelters in the last 48 hours.

And people here are really getting jittery in Haifa, which is a northern Israeli town of about a quarter of a million people. At least one woman was killed and possibly another person killed and dozens injured by a Katyusha rocket landing in Israel from Lebanon. Again, the Israeli defense forces claim that about 130 of those Katyusha rockets are coming in from Lebanon -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula, all this escalating violence, is there any talk of negotiation, any room for negotiation?

NEWTON: You know what's really depressing here, Miles, is when we were here earlier and this conflict only involved what was going on in southern Gaza, and that was trying to free Corporal Gilad Shalit, you did hear, I did hear from Israeli officials that, look, we're looking at this prisoner swap. Certainly in public they would only say they would never negotiate.

But what is going on now, Miles, is that the Israeli government, people are saying to us quite categorically, look, Hezbollah came into our territory, they kidnapped our soldiers, they killed our soldiers, we cannot, at this point in time, even contemplate any kind of a prisoner swap -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Newton in Jerusalem, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The go ahead has been given to some U.S. Embassy personnel and their families to leave Beirut, but the State Department admits it is too dangerous for any travel. Israel's bombing shut down the airport and the main road to Syria also destroyed. The Pentagon is preparing for a possible mandatory evacuation of the embassy and more than 20,000 other Americans who are in Lebanon. That operation will be backed by Marines who are coming in from ships in the Mediterranean.

The United Nations full Security Council will meet for an emergency session today. They're going to try to stop the military escalation in Lebanon. The U.S., meanwhile, stalled action yesterday on an Arab-backed resolution calling for Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza.

CNN's Richard Roth has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Inside the Security Council, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton checked his watch. It would only be a matter of time before he issued his first veto as ambassador and the first by the U.S. in nearly two years here.

John Bolton said the resolution dealing with Israel's move into Gaza was unbalanced, not in favor of Israel in any way, and that it would only exacerbate tensions in the region.

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: In light of the fluid and volatile nature of events on the ground, the United States believes that this draft resolution was not only untimely, but already outmoded.

ROTH: Outmoded in part because the United States helped stall any action in the council on this Gaza resolution. The Palestinians said they did what they could to make it more balanced, including a section mentioning that that abducted Israeli soldier should be released. Now the Palestinians worry for the region following a veto.

RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINIAN AMB. TO U.N.: We are highly disappointed and frustrated at the council's continued inability to act while innocent Palestinian civilians continue to be brutally killed by the Israeli occupying forces.

ROTH: Later today, an urgent session of the full Security Council to debate what's happening on Israel's northern front with Lebanon.

Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: The Middle East on the brink of war just one of several world crises leaders of the wealthiest nations will grapple with as they meet in Russia. President Bush arriving in St. Petersburg less than a half an hour ago in advance of the G-8 summit. He will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and apparently pick a few bones with him, but only behind closed doors.

Matthew Chance live now from St. Petersburg with more -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, thanks very much indeed. President Bush arriving within the last half an hour or so here in the very sunny Russian city of St. Petersburg where the G-8 summit of industrialized countries of course is scheduled to get under way tomorrow.

But ahead of that, President Bush has a number of items on his agenda, including meeting Vladimir Putin, the Russian President. The two leaders have a great deal to discuss, not least of course the mounting tensions in the Middle East. Both countries are co-sponsors of the Mideast peace efforts, members of the quartet, and so they're going to have a lot of private discussions at Vladimir Putin's private cottage outside of St. Petersburg on that issue.

Also, other international issues, like the crisis of North Korea's missile launches and Iran's very controversial nuclear program. Both countries have common stated ambitions and ideas about how to -- about what they want resolved in those issues, but very different ways, it has to be said, of reaching that resolution.

U.S. officials also saying that President Bush will bring up privately and frankly the very thorny issue of democratic freedoms in Russia. The United States and Russia have been very much at odds over this one area. It's caused a great deal of tension.

Washington saying that it believes that under Vladimir Putin democratic freedoms have been backtracked under President Putin. Russia very much denying that, as if to underscore the importance of the issue, though, for the United States.

Ahead of his meeting with Vladimir Putin, President Bush will participate in a round table discussion with civil society leaders, NGOs, human rights groups, people like that, to get a better idea, according to U.S. officials, of what their concerns are about democracy in Russia -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance in St. Petersburg, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.

Valerie Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson, filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and White House strategist Karl Rove. Plame and Wilson claim the trio conspired to expose Plame's identity as a CIA operative as a punishment for Wilson's questioning the reasons for invading Iraq.

In New York, some dramatic surveillance videotape to show you. It's just been released by the NYPD. Look at this, it's the massive explosion of that upper eastside townhouse that happened on Monday. Authorities now think that the doctor who lived and worked in the building blew it up in a failed suicide attempt rather than sell it in his bitter divorce settlement.

In New Orleans, police have arrested a 19-year-old that they say is responsible for the killings of five people back in June. Police say that Michael Anderson has been a career criminal in his short life. He was found with the help of some tipsters.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco marked the start of construction for a new five-and-a-half-mile bridge that connects New Orleans to Slidell, Louisiana. The cost is $803 million. It is the largest public works project in the state's history. It's going to rise 30 feet in the air. And that means it's going to be better able to withstand hurricanes than the previous bridge, all those bridges in fact which are only 10 feet above the water.

In Hazleton, Pennsylvania, the city council approved a law designed to make the town a tougher place for illegal immigrants to live and work. Provisions of the law include $1,000 fines for landlords who rent to illegals and requirements that all city documents be in English only.

And in Pennsylvania, Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro has developed severe laminitis. That is the same ailment that ultimately killed the Triple Crown winner Secretariat. According to his surgeon, Barbaro's chances of survival are not a long shot. The disease causes damage to the tissue that bonds the horse's ankle bone to its hoof.

In Los Angeles, three suspects are in custody after a quick but pretty dramatic high-speed chase on the south side of the city. Take a look there. The chase ended when the driver of the car plowed -- ...

M. O'BRIEN: Wow! Yikes!

S. O'BRIEN: ... wow -- right into the fire hydrant, which then burst open spraying water everywhere.

M. O'BRIEN: Whoa!

S. O'BRIEN: Quite a lot of...

M. O'BRIEN: Hollywood could do no better than that one.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow!

Still to come in the program, crisis in California. Two major wildfires on a collision course and we're live right from the spot where they will meet.

S. O'BRIEN: Than House Speaker Dennis Hastert, he's in the hospital. We'll update you on his condition this morning, tell you what's wrong.

M. O'BRIEN: And later, Presidents Putin and Bush may still brush with the same toothpaste, but beyond that it seems they have less in common than they first thought. We have the inside skinny.

S. O'BRIEN: And Carrie Lee has got some business headlines for us.

Good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Thank you.

Oil prices closing at another record high Thursday sending stocks plunging. Will we see more of the same today? We'll have that story and more coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

Violence escalating in the Middle East. Israeli warplanes yet again bombing Beirut's airport. The airport had just reopened following Thursday's airstrikes.

President Bush in Russia right now. He left Germany earlier this morning. Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the G-8 economic summit in St. Petersburg.

And outed CIA operative Valerie Plame is suing top Bush administration officials. She says Vice President Cheney, his former aide Scooter Libby and Presidential Advisor Karl Rove conspired to destroy her career.

S. O'BRIEN: Double threat in southern California this morning, a massive wildfire in Yucca Valley is getting dangerously close to merging with another fire. The situation is so bad in fact that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is declaring a state of emergency in San Bernardino County.

CNN's Kyung Lah is live for us in Morongo Valley in California with the very latest.

Kyung, good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

There is an aggressive firefight happening as we are speaking this morning to you. There is a fire line right over my shoulder. That's active fire. Now firefighters say what they're trying to do with that particular fire line is get it to stop from dropping down into the houses below. They are hoping to prevent that. So far throughout the evening, they have been very successful. Overnight, there have been no homes lost in the area below.

The area below in the Morongo Valley area, hundreds of people, they have been told to leave their homes part of a mandatory evacuation. The fire stats so far, 47,800 acres. This is coming from the firefighters here. Very, very large, hot wildfire in this particular area.

Governor Schwarzenegger, as you mentioned, Soledad, did declare a state of emergency. That frees up some money for this firefight. The tab so far, $6 million.

Now the area that we are standing in, they are expecting another fire just west of here to merge with this fire, creating a very large wildfire. Residents who have been told to leave their homes say that watching all of this happen is just a little too close for comfort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just loading up for a hasty retreat. We're not packing everything. We're putting stuff that we need in here in the cars and we're going to wait it out to see if we can get through this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming right over the ridge right now, so it's looking pretty close. It's looking like it could -- it's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: So looking ahead to today, what firefighters say they're going to continue to do in that area behind me that you see glowing, they're going to try to set a fire just below that, a back fire, hoping that this will burn itself out. Again today, we're expecting high heat, low humidity and those erratic winds -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: That doesn't sound so good.

All right, Kyung Lah for us this morning.

Kyung, thanks.

In fact, let's get right to the forecast. Chad has got the day off, but Rob is in for us.

Hey, Rob, good morning.

MARCIANO: Hi, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Miles, back over to you.

M. O'BRIEN: It makes me want to have a beer.

MARCIANO: At least.

M. O'BRIEN: Not right this moment, anyhow.

Still to come, a beer magnate collared for drunk driving. Peter Coors said he made a mistake and now he has a court date for DUI.

And then dial 911 for love. Better not try, you'll end up wearing some bracelets, you know, one for each wrist attached by a chain. We'll tell you about one woman's bad call.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Here's a look at some of the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

Israeli warplanes bombing Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon. So far dozens of people in Lebanon and 10 Israelis have been killed in three days of fighting.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert is being treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital. He's got a skin infection. A spokesman says Hastert is in good condition and that he's anxious to get back to work.

And beer executive Peter Coors is facing a drunk driving charge for a citation back in May. Coors says his company has advocated responsible drinking for years and he's sorry he's not been following that himself -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: With all the tension in the Middle East, what would you expect, you'd expect oil prices to go high.

Carrie Lee here to tell us what we sort of guessed.

How are you?

LEE: You can see that...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: You can sort of see how this is all playing out.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: And it makes logical sense.

Oil prices this morning above $78 a barrel once again. This, after Thursday's record closing price of $76.70. That was a new record for a closing. All of this because of intensifying violence in the Middle East.

The concern here is that we could see possible supply disruptions. Now even though Israel and Lebanon are not directly involved in the oil market, of course the Middle East does produce one-third of the world's oil supply. So the concern is that things could spread out and affect supply.

Also demand has been very strong. Of course we're in the summer driving season here, among other things. And all of this putting upward pressure on oil prices.

Now those high oil prices in part responsible for some U.S. stocks plunging yesterday. The Dow down 170 -- 167 points, excuse me. Down nearly 300 points in the last two days. High oil prices even trickling into some big names like Wal-Mart. That stock down over 2 percent yesterday. Of course the concern people will have less money to spend on other things if they have to pay more for gasoline and energy.

Now some people hoping that we could see some positive news on the horizon. This morning, General Electric, one of the Dow 30, reporting profits. They're expecting a little bit of an uptick on the bottom line from a year ago for profits. And of course GE has its hand in so many different businesses.

So, Miles and Soledad, it's really seen as a bellwether for the economy. But even if the numbers from GE are great today, if oil prices are high, it's probably not going to be enough to lift the whole boat.

M. O'BRIEN: Not enough to do it?

LEE: Right, but we'll see.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

LEE: So far futures looking up a little bit for today, actually.

M. O'BRIEN: Well that's good.

LEE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Have a good weekend.

LEE: OK, you too.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carrie.

M. O'BRIEN: Spend some time at the beach, will you?

All right, -- Carrie Lee.

LEE: Sounds good, right?

M. O'BRIEN: An Oregon woman who put out an emergency call for love may be cooling her jets in jail. Two sheriff's deputies were sent to Lorna Dudatch's (ph) house because of a noise complaint. Now after they left, Dudatch called 911 hoping to get that ever-so-hunky cop to return. He did, to arrest her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: 911, do you need fire, medical or police?

CALLER: No, ma'am, I don't. I don't have an emergency. Two police officers just left my house just now. Can I get their names please?

DISPATCHER: Was it...

CALLER: Just the music turned down. He is the cutest cop I've seen in God knows how long. I just want to know his name.

DISPATCHER: The most...

CALLER: Honey, I'm just going to be honest with you, OK. I just thought he was cute. I'm 45 years old and I'd like to meet him again. But I don't know how to go about doing that without calling 911. I know this is not absolutely in any way, shape or form an emergency. But if you would give the officer my phone number and ask him to come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: OK, don't do that, folks. She now faces a $6,000 fine and up to a year in jail for calling 911 with a non-emergency issue.

S. O'BRIEN: I hope no emergency calls were lost in that time that that operator was on the phone working out her dating issues.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. That would be a terrible thing. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: So.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't think she was thinking that thing through very well. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Doesn't sound like it.

The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including the breaking news that we've been telling you about out of the Middle East. The Beirut Airport again under attack. The violence has been escalating between Israel and Hezbollah. We're live in Beirut just ahead.

And former CIA agent Valerie Plame is seeking some payback for her leaked identity.

Those stories are ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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