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American Morning

Crisis In The Middle East; G-8 Summit In Russia; Hidden Trouble; Tsunami Hits Indonesia

Aired July 17, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Landing at the Kennedy Space Center. But will the weather make that possible? We'll know in a little less than an hour and we'll talk with shuttle commander Eileen Collins ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you, I'm Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Let's get right to the latest developments in the Middle East crisis. Israel launching more attacks into Lebanon early this morning. Southern suburbs of Beirut were hit, as well as the city's main port. Hezbollah firing rockets on northern Israel. That happened just minutes ago. As many as 14 people have been killed in those attacks in Lebanon. Lebanese officials say 142 people have died since at attacks began last week. Twenty-one Israeli citizens and soldiers are reported killed.

A U.S. military helicopter is expected to evacuate a few dozen Americans today. This weekend, U.S. Marines carried out about 21 Americans by chopper. They were all taken to nearby Cypress. We're going to talk this morning to a State Department official about those evacuations. That's going to happen just ahead.

And the violence in the Middle East again is sending oil prices to record levels. Overnight trading put the price up another 55 cents to nearly $78 a barrel.

Our reporters are standing by throughout the region to bring you the very latest on what's happening. Right now Alessio Vinci is in Beirut, Paula Hancocks is in northern Israel for us. Let's begin with Alessio in Beirut.

Alessio, good morning.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Well, we woke up this morning again to the sound of heavy shelling, both in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but also in the port. And we understand that the Israeli rockets fired at a parking lot where there were some trucks parked there and two drivers were killed. Unclear yet what the target was there. But we do know that the Israeli military has been taking out military radar installations there. The Lebanese radar installations there.

Now further north, about 80 kilometers or 50 miles, in the town of Abdia (ph), the Israel attacked for the first time a Lebanese army barracks. And we understand there that six soldiers have been killed and 28 were wounded. Now this would be the first time that the Israeli military has directly targeted the Lebanese army where they have personnel. Where there were soldiers.

We know, again, that the radars were attacked, but that's the first time actually that the Israeli military is actually attacking Lebanese soldiers. They have not responded yet. We're trying to find out exactly more how the government is going to respond or what Israel has to say about that.

And then to the east from here, in the Bekaa Valley, overnight attacks targeting bridges, gas stations. Again, the infrastructure there, trying to prevent Hezbollah from moving around. We understand that as a result of those attacks, seven people were killed in that area, as well as 43 were wounded, one girl is missing.

And that is the latest from here. Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci in Beirut for us this morning. Alessio, thanks.

People on alert in northern Israel for possible Hezbollah strikes. Rockets are being launched into there again today. CNN's Paula Hancocks live for us in northern Israel.

Paula, good morning.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Soledad.

Well just in the last half hour, more rockets have hit northern Israel. We had around five rockets that hit here in Haifa, Israel's third largest city. At this point, we do not believe there were any casualties. The siren did start, but only after two explosions that we heard to start with.

Now we believe that one of the rockets went into the sea. You can see the sea just at the right of me. Now behind there, that is north and that is Lebanon. That's about 25 miles or 40 kilometers away. And this is where the majority of these rockets are coming from. And that's also across the bay there the town of Acko (ph), which you can, which has also been hit quite hard.

Now another couple of towns, Safed and Tiberius, which was hit on Sunday, also being hit in that last barrage of rockets just about half an hour ago. Now on Sunday, Haifa had the bloodiest day from Hezbollah rockets that Israel has seen in more than a decade. Just behind me, down the hill, there's a train depot. A rocket hit that train depot, came through the roof and about 30 people were working on the trains at that particular time. Eight people died in that attack and more than 20 were injured.

Now when the sirens happened here, they're supposed to give you a one-minute warning to get into shelter. And when they happen, you can see the very few people who are on the streets running for cover. But it's like a ghost town. This is the middle of the summer. It's a school holidays. This time last week this town was heaving, but now it's almost like a ghost town.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Just really pretty significant there. All right, Paula Hancocks for us this morning. Thanks, Paula.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Americans with family members in Lebanon frantic to get them out this morning. There are roughly 25,000 of them there and State Department officials estimate about 4,000 would like to leave right now. U.S. Marine helicopters flew 21 Americans to Cypress yesterday. More could leave today for Cypress. CNN's Chris Burns on the line now from Larnaka with more on that.

Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, we've got another U.S. helicopter that's headed over to Beirut today. This is according to a State Department official who says that that copter is expected to bring say a few dozen more people back over here to Cypress. It's about a half hour tip by air. Very, very close by.

This group will include, as yesterday, people who are ill, elderly, students, unaccompanied children, very high-priority cases. But the rest is going to have to wait. And this is going to take some time.

Officials say perhaps Wednesday, maybe tomorrow, they might be able to organize some kind of a shift to bring people over this way as other countries have been doing this already. France has a ferry boat over there that could take on about 1,200 people, mainly French, but other nationalities as well. The Italians have a ship that is loading on about 400 people. Both those ships are going to be heading back sometime this afternoon/evening.

Other countries are lining up to set up some kind of a sea lift between here and Beirut. The Dutch, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Canadians. We talked to a harbor master here. He says that this -- he has not seen since the Lebanese civil war, that ended back in 1991.

We talked to one American here who was evacuated, a student from Harvard, who said he went through a very heroing experience. High- speed driving through the streets of Beirut. Explosions going on just a couple hundred yards away as he made his way to his evacuation point. Very heroing experience and he's glad he made it over here.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Burns in Larnaka, Cyprus, thank you.

If you have a loved one visiting Lebanon, instead of calling the embassy in Beirut directly, the State Department would like you to do this. They'd like you to call this toll-free number. It's 888-407- 4747. And if you don't have a family member there, don't clog that line, please. You can also log onto www.travel.state.gov -- you see it down there -- and get some information there as well. At the half hour we're going to speak to a representative from the State Department about the U.S. evacuation plan for Americans in Lebanon that you just heard a little bit about.

The G-8 Summit in Russia is coming to an end. Just wrapping up a short while ago. The crisis in the Middle East totally dominating some discussions that were supposed to be about mostly other things. We get more on what came out of the high-level gathering, including some rather colorful language from the president of the United States when he was talking to one of his counterparts. Ed Henry joining us live from St. Petersburg with that.

Hello, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning, Miles.

The Mideast dominating this agenda right up literally until the final moments. An open microphone capturing a rather frank and dramatic exchange between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. That highlight some of the tensions among world leaders about the way forward in Mideast stands in sharp contrast to the united front that was publicly presented yesterday by this joint statement among the G-8 leaders about the Mideast and the way forward.

What happened first this morning, to give you some contest, is Mr. Blair and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan went behind closed doors for a meeting and then spoke to reporters and jointly called for an international stabilization force to end the violence in the Mideast. But such a force might require a cease-fire, which is controversial because President Bush has not supported a cease-fire on the grounds that the White House doesn't believe Hezbollah would necessarily follow it.

So after meeting with Mr. Annan, Mr. Blair sat down for lunch with President Bush, the other G-8 leaders as well. And the president, in this conversation, expressed his frustration that the U.N. should be doing more to pressure Syrian President Assad to get Hezbollah to stop the violence. We need to be clear that the leaders knew that this was a photo opportunity. Mr. Blair eventually turns off the microphone that was on the table, but not before this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What about Kofi Annan? (INAUDIBLE) I don't like the (INAUDIBLE). Well, because his attitude's (INAUDIBLE) cease-fire and everything that's happened. You know what I'm saying?

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Yes, no, I think this (INAUDIBLE) I think is really difficult is we can't stop this unless you get international agreement. Now (INAUDIBLE) what you guys have talked (INAUDIBLE) see what comes from that. But you knew that that quickly because . . .

BUSH: Yes, well, I think Condi's going to go for the same.

BLAIR: Right. Well, that's all that matters. If you (INAUDIBLE) but at least it gives people . . .

BUSH: A process. I agree.

BLAIR: At which you . . .

BUSH: I've told them your offer, too.

BLAIR: Oh, good. Well, it's only if -- I mean, you know, she's going to -- or if she needs the grounds -- obviously if she goes out, she's got to (INAUDIBLE).

BUSH: She'd (INAUDIBLE) is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over.

BLAIR: Syria (INAUDIBLE) . . .

BUSH: All right.

BLAIR: Because I think this is all sort of the same thing. I mean, look, what does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if you get a solution in this (INAUDIBLE), it's not Iraq ends the right way. He's (INAUDIBLE). That's what this whole thing's about. (INAUDIBLE).

BUSH: (INAUDIBLE)) make something happen. We're not blaming (INAUDIBLE) and we're not blaming the Lebanese government.

BLAIR: Oop, is this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, we played this tape for a White House spokesman who said the president's words speak for themselves. The White House has no further comment on this exchange. The key part of the exchange, of course, being President Bush, in some explicit language, basically suggesting the U.N. really needs to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop the violence and then this will be over. This crisis.

Also, what should not be lost in this exchange, is that the president, in his conversation, confirms what we've been hearing privately here at the summit, which is that he's planning to send Secretary of State Rice to the Mideast. That's only going to raise the stakes and they're hoping, obviously, that could diffuse some of the tension.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Ed Henry. Appreciate that.

A six-foot high tsunami crashed into a beach resort in Indonesia's Java Island this morning. It began about two and a half hours ago, 3:24 p.m. local time. It's now a little after 6:00 p.m. local time there. It was a 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

And to put that in perspective for you, the Christmas 2004 earthquake and tsunami was magnitude nine. And that scale of magnitude is logorhythmic. So magnitude nine is a much stronger quake than a magnitude seven.

Nevertheless, about 150 miles off the coast, kicking up a wave about six feet high caused extensive damage to houses and restaurants all along the beach. We've got some early reports there might be as many as five people killed. There was a subsequent aftershock in the order of six of magnitude.

And, at this point, details are very sketchy. We're trying to get more for you. But we don't believe it's a tsunami by any stretch of what we saw in 2004. Nevertheless, an earthquake and tsunami along that very volatile so-called ring of fire, as they call it, there in the Pacific where so much volcanic and earthquake activity occurs on a rather routine basis, unfortunately.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Good chance of heavy rain today in California. That's a blessing and also a curse for those wildfires. The rain, of course, will help calm down the fires a little bit. A hundred and twenty square miles have burned and that means they're going to be in danger of mudslides right now and lightning, of course, could start new fires.

Two major fires have merged in southern California. Firefighters say that actually makes it easier to fight them. Fifty-eight homes so far have been burned, 11 people have been injured. The body of a man who was missing has now been found and the sheriff's department is investigating, but they say his death appears to be fire-related.

Burning of a different sort to tell you about. Across the country over the weekend, temperatures soaring into the upper 90s. Higher in some places, bringing out heat warnings from coast to coast. Choking heat is expected, rather, to continue for the next few days as the hot air moves toward the east coast. That brings us right to Chad Myers. He's at the CNN Center with the latest weather update for us.

Hey, Chad, good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, nature's fury in South America. We'll tell you about the race to evacuate thousands.

S. O'BRIEN: We'll also have more on the crisis in the Middle East. What's happening to all those holy sites that are basically caught in the crossfire? We'll take a look this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Plus, the fight against autism. Sanjay Gupta taking us to the front lines all this week. We're going to meet a brother and sister this morning who both have the disorder, but you would never guess it. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, one of the most violent attacks in Iraq this morning. At least 48 people killed, dozens more injured during a mortar attack on a raid on an open-air market in that volatile neighborhood in Mahmoudiya. That's south of Baghdad.

In Afghanistan, a suicide bombing targeting an army patrol. Five killed. Hours later, forces there killed four suspected al Qaeda terrorists.

Here at home, the Senate is expected to vote on three controversial stem cell research bills today. The measure calls for greater funding for research that uses human embryos in the hope of finding cures for a range of diseases.

Volcano south of the Ecuadorian capital of Quito continues to spew dangerous ash and lava. At least 5,000 villagers evacuating their homes since Friday. So far no injuries to report.

And after 13 days in space, space shuttle astronauts board Discovery are scheduled to return to Earth about two hours from now, weather permitting. We're watching that very closely, but so far they are proceeding as if they're going to be landing. Keep it tuned here. We'll have complete coverage of the landing, of course, at 9:14 Eastern Time.

S. O'BRIEN: You might remember back when Firestone recalled thousands and thousands of faulty tires. The tires were replaced. Not all of them, though. Some drivers overlooked their critical spare tire. CNN's Drew Griffin joins us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with more on this story.

Hey, Drew, good morning.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

You know this is a problem that should never be happening. These older Firestone tires still failing on some Ford SUVs in these deadly rollovers because drivers overlooked them during one of the largest tire recalls ever -- 6.5 million tires recall, Soledad. These are spare tires that few owners worry about until they actually use them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN, (voice over): Six years ago Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires because they were vulnerable to sudden tread separations. They offered to replace those older radial ATX and Wilderness tires still stands. But according to data from Firestone, as many as 200,000 of these tires were never turned in. One reason, Sean Kane, auto safety consultant, says, during the height of the recall, substitute tires were scarce.

SEAN KANE, SAFETY RESEARCH AND STRATEGIES: Some folks brought their vehicles in. Unbeknownst to them, the spare wasn't replaced. They didn't crawl under the vehicle to see if it was a new tire and if it was not a Firestone, for example. There's many, many circumstances why these tires ended up in the spare wells on Explorers.

GRIFFIN: The spare tire on an Explorer is attached to the underbelly of the vehicle. You can't even see the brand name without crawling underneath the car. Linda Scudera's 20-year-old son was killed two years ago when his '93 Ford Explorer flipped over near Miami. It was a used vehicle with 100,000 miles on it and four new tires. But just days before the accident, her son, Anthony, noticed a leak in one of those tires and replaced it with the spare he found under his vehicle. The spare was a recalled Firestone and took only three days to fall apart. Scudera, not wearing his seatbelt, was ejected and killed.

LINDA SCUDERA, VICTIM'S MOTHER: The treads peeled completely off the tire. My car went out of control. My son didn't even have a chance.

KANE: These are clearly classic scenarios. In the crashes we've seen, tires go on the vehicles. Within a short period of time, in one case as soon as a couple of days, the tire suffers a catastrophic tread belt separation, the vehicle becomes uncontrollable and tends to roll over.

SCUDERA: I don't want any other mother to go through what I went through. It's the worst thing in the world to bury your child. I had no idea how dangerous that tire was.

GRIFFIN: Linda Scudera is suing Firestone over her son's death. Firestone denies responsibility and blames her son. Firestone says it continues to reach out to anyone who still owns one of these tires made in the 1990s, but Firestone radial ATX and Wilderness AT tires. A spokesperson says "bring them into a company-owned store, and we will replace them. No questions asked. Free of charge. It is in everyone's interest," she said, "to get those tires off the road."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: So how big a problem is it? The federal highway safety agency that looks over this stuff went out and actually did a random check on older Ford SUVs. And, Soledad, they climbed underneath these cars and found roughly 10 percent still had these outdated Firestone spare tires on them that should have been turned in a half a dozen years ago. Sean Kane is now asking that agency to issue new warnings because these are used SUV owners who have them.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, how do you track down all the people? I mean if you're talking about used SUVs, which could go through one, two, maybe more owners, how can you possibly figure out who's got the tires?

GRIFFIN: You know, Soledad, that is the big problem. Usually the recall is sent out to owners who bought these cars from the manufacturers. Now, as you said, we're two, three, four owners down the line. The tires are just about anywhere and they're also in the hands of lower income people. Usually these 100,000 or more miles on vehicles. So you can't find the traditional methods of reaching out to these car owners. It's a real puzzling situation. Something that FTSA, the Federal Transportation Safety Administration, is trying to work out right now.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a huge problem. Drew Griffin. Thanks, Drew. You can see Drew's full report tonight on "Paula Zahn Now" at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: We've got some breaking news coming to us out of the region around Indonesia. Jakarta specifically. Word this morning of a significant earthquake and perhaps as many as two significant aftershocks, which have kicked up a 6-foot tsunami, which has washed ashore and has caused some significant damage and death. Joining us on the line right now is one of our reporters in the region who is going to fill us in on this, Kathy Quiano.

Kathy, we were just looking at the United States Geological Survey site and there is an indication here that there's been a second aftershock, a magnitude six earthquake, on the heels of these two others. Have you -- you see where that red dot is there on that screen there. The first biggest orange square is the magnitude 7.2, which happened a few hours ago. Then a magnitude 6.1, the smaller orange square, and then this red one, the latest aftershock, magnitude six. So, obviously, a lot of seismic activity. What are you seeing and hearing there, Kathy?

KATHY QUIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, I'm hearing, of course from eyewitnesses, been talking to local radio stations here that reported waves crashing into the southwest coast of Java and the waves were as high as about 2 meters, hitting the area, damaging homes and hotels along the beach. Now this came shortly after, as you said, about three successive quakes that came in one or two hours. The biggest one, though, was at 7.2, which happened about three hours ago. And we believe that the wave came crashing after that big quake.

Now reports are still trickling in. Communication lines seem to have been cut in some areas, (INAUDIBLE) is down. But police are saying that in the area roads are blocked with debris from damaged homes and buildings along the southwest coast. The Indonesian president has also said in the recent broadcast that five people were killed. One eyewitness said that these (ph) she saw were on the ground as she rushed through inland into higher, to safer ground. The other media reports are saying now that about 60 people are missing.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Help us understand, Kathy. This is 150 miles offshore. So there would have been an opportunity to get the word out. And yet we're talking now more than a year and a half since that December 2004 tsunami and all the calls for tsunami warning system. What sort of warning system is in place right now?

QUIANO: Well, Miles, I'm sorry, I can't hear your question very well. But a tsunami warning system is being put in place in Indonesia. However, the people, the government and scientists that are working on it say that it will take time. They have put those in place, equipment there, but it's not completely working yet. However, there has been extensive public awareness of programs put in place to let people know about what to do when an earthquake happens, particularly if you're living on the coast. And the hope here now is that people were more aware of this and that people are better prepared to run for safety after a quake. However, we did hear some reports from eyewitnesses on local radio stations who say that some people were on the beach, in fact fishermen, saw the water recede after the quake and weren't expecting that waves would come crashing back. But apparently, it did.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Kathy Quiano who is reporting to us from the region there, thank you very much.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We're getting this word into CNN coming to us from reports from various Arab networks and Israeli networks as well. It appears that some kind of an F-16 apparently has gone down in east Beirut. Israeli forces, of course, have been trying to take out the Hezbollah militants who have been lobbing hundreds of rockets into Nahaniya and Haifa in Israel, including some recently this morning as we've been telling you about live. So it seems as if, from these reports by Arab and Israeli networks, it seems as if an -- that has gone down -- the F-16 has gone down in east Beirut.

Now we're getting this word from the Associated Press this morning. Israeli ground troops apparently have entered southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah bases on the border. That word coming from an Israeli government spokesperson. The offensive now six days old. The battle's been going on really originally began with the capture of two Israeli soldiers. And since then, both sides, Hezbollah and Israel, have been trading fire back and forth.

So far, though, there's been an aerial campaign with this word coming to us from the Associated Press, based on what the Israeli government sources are telling them. That now moves to a ground war as Israeli ground troops are moving into southern Lebanon. Last time Israeli troops have been in Lebanon was back in 2000. They pulled out, you'll recall, in May of 2000.

So we continue to watch these developments for you from the Middle East and we're going to take a short break. We're back right after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Let's take you right to these live pictures. You can see an explosion. You're looking at pictures from Haifa in Israel. This has been the target of a series of rocket attacks coming from Hezbollah.

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