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American Morning

Americans Pinned Down in Lebanon; Murder Charges in New Orleans

Aired July 18, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Americans pinned down in Lebanon -- a cruise ship is steaming their way. But is it too little too late?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Murder charges in New Orleans now for alleged hospital killings in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It is a story you will see only on CNN.

More record high temperatures gripping the nation and the heat is not going anywhere, not just yet. Your forecast just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And Hezbollah's secrets of success. What the U.S. calls a terror group people in Lebanon see as a protector. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

COSTELLO: And I'm Carol Costello.

Soledad is in Cyprus.

we'll get to her in just a minute.

M. O'BRIEN: We begin in the Middle East.

More fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah to tell you about. And growing concern about Americans caught in the middle.

The Pentagon stepping up efforts to evacuate Americans trapped in Lebanon who want to go. A cruise ship chartered by the U.S. left Cyprus for Lebanon within the past hour. It can take 750 people at a time. It is a five hour trip. It is under a U.S. Navy escort. There may be as many as 25,000 Americans in Lebanon.

there is growing reason for concern about those that are trapped. Israeli bombs struck a Lebanese Army base and a house near the border, killing 16.

Today, Hezbollah continues to return fire. Rockets landing this morning in Haifa, in northern Israel, once again.

At least 180 Lebanese and 24 Israelis now dead in seven days of fighting.

The U.N. trying to negotiate a cease-fire. Israel says it'll take at least another week to create a buffer zone in Southern Lebanon.

Soledad has made her way to Cyprus.

She joins live now from Larnaca with the latest -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Miles, good morning to you.

Yes, we just landed just a moment ago.

And I want to give you a little scene setter here. As you can see behind me, that's the Italian destroyer right over my shoulder. That's a ship that came in bringing about 350 people a little bit later -- earlier, really -- last night came in.

And one of the issues here, and it'll be an issue for every ship that gets into the Beirut port, is going to be essentially this time game. It's -- it takes time to process people as they come on board. And that means that there's sort of a rush to get people on board and get them processed before they get out of -- run-out of time, essentially, before it gets too dark and before you sort of close the window when you can leave.

It's a huge problem. We've seen it, certainly, with the French ship. It's a ferry, sort of like a cruise ship. It's down a little bit of a ways. You can't see it quite from here. The problem there, they could hold over 1,200 passengers, but because they essentially ran out of time in getting people on board, they could only get 950 people, including 38 Americans, on board, and they had to leave, essentially, with room on that ship.

It's been a big problem.

There's been a back and forth, as well, with the Israeli officials. They're trying to see if they can get this window, get them to either have a cease-fire or get them to promise safe passage as people come through, foreign nationals who are trying to escape. And there has been a little bit of back and forth on that. It's unclear exactly where it stands right now.

We've heard that they have been allowing some ships through. At the same time we've also heard that, no, we're not going to guarantee any kind of safe passage or even a cease-fire for even a short period of time.

Chris Burns has been camped out here -- Chris, good morning.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And we've just come in.

You know, this sort of narrow window of opportunity has become a massive problem, really.

BURNS: Yes, absolutely, because these ships have to go in before nightfall. And they get -- and take on these passengers and leave before nightfall. The Israeli government is, of course, talking with the Americans on providing clearance, halting their air strikes or at least not having action in that area so that these passengers can get on. But that's a complication.

The Orient Queen, the Greek ship that the U.S. has commissioned, is there right now. We have confirmation from Nicholas Burns, assistant secretary of state, that they are taking passengers on.

How many can they take on before they actually have to leave is a question. But that ship is supposed to arrive here some time tomorrow.

S. O'BRIEN: How many people can that ship hold? And what's the processing like?

I mean they're not just opening the doors and everybody can flood in. It's actually a processing that goes on.

BURNS: It's a very, very tightly run-operation. They're obviously processing every citizen. Some are dual nationals, Lebanese-American. They have to go through their papers, get them on the ship. It's a complicated process.

And security if of utmost concern. This is where some Americans over there have been complaining that it's been taking too long, why do we have -- why did we have this Italian destroyer here last night? Shouldn't that be an American destroyer that brought 400 people?

And what we're hearing from the Pentagon is that the security is of utmost concern. That ship, the Greek ship that is taking on the Americans, is being escorted by a U.S. destroyer. That is why it's taking time.

S. O'BRIEN: At the same time, you do the math and you see -- 64, I think, is the official number of people who so far have gotten out of Beirut, Americans. Other countries have had much greater success, if you will...

BURNS: Hundreds. Hundreds.

S. O'BRIEN: ... in bringing out their people more aggressively, or certainly just faster.

BURNS: Well, we're not seeing it. The French ship, for instance, did not get the major escort, that we're aware of, anyway, that came in last -- early this morning. So that is a factor. The U.S. airlift, up until now, has brought in, as you say, some 60 people. But that is all they've done up to now is just by helicopter.

So now what we're seeing in or just starting today is this evacuation operation.

S. O'BRIEN: We'll see what happens when that ship gets here with Americans on board. We'll obviously be watching that.

The other thing that I think is interesting to note is we've been hearing reports of Americans very, in some cases, frustrated. In some cases, frankly, Miles, just freaked out about the process itself. They've been told that they will get e-mails. They are told that they should call. It's hard to get access. It's certainly a real process and a real problem. You're allowed to bring one bag on board. Thirty pounds is the limit and that's it.

BURNS: That's right. And no pets.

S. O'BRIEN: And absolutely no pets. Any pets have to be left behind. So we will be talking with some of those passengers when they finally disembark here in Cyprus -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Soledad.

Good to see you there.

We'll be back with you, obviously, all throughout the morning.

Thank you very much -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Of course, those evacuees trying to get away from the fighting in Lebanon. Israel again hitting Beirut with multiple strikes.

Our reporters are standing by in the region with the latest.

Anthony Mills is in Beirut -- Anthony, the Americans -- oh, Paula Hancocks is in Haifa, too.

We'll get to you in just a second.

Let's start with Anthony, though -- Anthony, tell us the situation in Beirut this morning.

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, early this morning, explosions shook the capital again, as South Beirut, Hezbollah's stronghold in this city, was targeted yet again. The capital has been quiet now for a number of hours, but this is a sign of foreboding, a sense that the rocket strikes within the last few hours against Haifa in the north of Israel, that those strikes, just as others before them, within the last few days, are not going to go unpunished and, indeed, are going to be punished severely.

The strikes on this city have been heavy. They've flattened buildings in the southern suburbs and they sent residents fleeing those suburbs and seeking refuge in schools and shelters.

So there is a sense, an ominous sense, almost, that we can expect some more to hit Beirut.

COSTELLO: Tell us more about the Americans trapped there. We know that Americans are trapped in the university there, and it's probably far from where you are, but they're close enough to hear those rockets hit. They have been unable to leave the university.

What is their situation like? MILLS: It must be a very difficult situation. And trapped is really the key word here. They're trapped in that particular building. But they're also trapped in the city. They're trapped in the country. The airport is closed. All three runways destroyed. No idea when that's going to open again. The borders are flooded with people who are trying to leave this country. The roads out toward Syria are unsafe. And the only other option, of course, is to leave by sea.

So it's very difficult to see exactly what is going to happen now. But certainly the sense among these people must be one of dread, quite frankly.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you about those ships coming into Lebanon. Because, OK, let's say you're trapped in the university in Beirut and you're an American and you get an e-mail from the U.S. government telling you that you're going to have to find this ship some way.

what is the process there?

MILLS: Well, it's very difficult to say exactly what the process is going to be. This is, in some senses, a somewhat haphazard affair. It's very difficult to plan for this kind of thing. And then when it does happen, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere -- I mean there was no idea that this was going to happen here in Lebanon. Even the government didn't know that Hezbollah was going to kidnap these soldiers.

So all of a sudden you have these foreign embassies who are thrown into the turmoil of this situation. And although they may well have contingency plans in place, it's very difficult to really get it right and make the structure really that smooth because it's just so unexpected.

So a lot of frustration being expressed by foreign citizens that they've been unable to get through to their foreign embassies, to their embassies. They've been unable to talk to people and they don't know exactly what to do.

COSTELLO: Anthony Mills live in Beirut for us this morning.

Thank you.

Let's move about 100 miles south from Beirut, to northern Israel's largest city, Haifa. That's about 25 miles from the Lebanese border.

Paula Hancocks is live there now.

And you heard more rockets hit this morning.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol.

Yes, just a couple of hours ago, there were three, we think, three more explosions here, as rockets came over from Southern Lebanon. These particular rockets, though, did not do much damage. We understand there have been no casualties in the latest barrage of rockets. But it is the latest barrage of rockets. We have had a lot landing here. Ten landed, at least, on Monday. And we know on Sunday, the bloodiest day for Israel from a Hezbollah attack in more than a decade, as a train depot that's just behind me down the hill was hit and eight people were killed.

Now, we've heard from the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, saying that it is the time, that Israel will not any longer be held hostage by terror. And he's also been giving conditions for exactly what he wants if there is going to be a cease-fire. He says that the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers taken last Wednesday have to be released. He's also said that there has to be some sort of buffer zone in Southern Lebanon on the northern Israeli border, which has to be occupied by Lebanese troops. Hezbollah has to be moved out of that area and Hezbollah has to be disarmed.

Now, this is part of a U.N. Security Council resolution, 1559, which was passed two years ago that hasn't been implemented yet. And this is what Ehud Olmert is asking for at the moment.

Now, the Israeli military say that they need at least another week to target the targets that they are going for in Lebanon, the Hezbollah targets, the infrastructure, those that they believe need to be destroyed in order to feel safe on their northern border. And we also know from the Israeli Air Force that they've destroyed at least 10 of these long-range missiles that are Iranian made before they were launched. And those, they believe, can actually reach Tel Aviv -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Hancocks reporting live from Haifa, Israel this morning.

Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Now to New Orleans, where a doctor and two nurses face murder charges this morning. They are alleged to have killed patients to make it easier to evacuate their hospital in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

This is a story you heard first here on CNN.

Investigative correspondent Drew Griffin live now from New Orleans first with details on these charges, as well -- Drew.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And just in the last few minutes, Miles, we've had developments in this story. We now know the names of this one doctor and two nurses. One of the doctors familiar to CNN producers and investigators who have been looking into this.

Dr. Anna Poe is the doctor who is now charged with second degree murder in this case. She is the doctor that another doctor, Dr. Bryant King, came forward to CNN and said was holding syringes in the aftermath of Katrina on this floor of a hospital, Memorial Hospital in New Orleans, where this supposed killing took place. We can confirm now that these doctor and two nurses, the other nurses names are Laurie Boudreaux (ph) and Sherrie Landry (ph), have been charged with second degree murder.

They were arrested late yesterday afternoon, released on their own reconnaissance about midnight this morning here in New Orleans, released from the jail.

They are connected to this 10-month long investigation by the attorney general's office, Attorney General Charles Foti, who's been looking into the allegations that doctors and staff at Memorial Hospital were trying to evacuate that hospital -- remember, it was surrounded by water, they were running out of rations. They want to evacuate this hospital. There were very few patients left and the allegation is instead of moving the last of those patients, they actually killed them, injected them with some kind of medication that ended their lives and that would allow this doctors and staff to leave the hospital, leave those patients behind.

That is what is breaking. The attorney general is having a news conference about 2:00, 3:00 Eastern time in Baton Rouge. We expect to know much more about this. But, again, the investigation into the deliberate killing of patients, into -- in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- has now led to second-degree murder charges against two nurses and one doctor at New Orleans Memorial Hospital.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell us about this 10-month investigation, Drew.

Why so long?

GRIFFIN: Well, for a variety of reasons, and not the least of which has been there's been some court snags. Tenet Hospital is the owner of Memorial Hospital and has made it, according to the attorney general, difficult to talk with witnesses, to talk with members of its own staff. The last of the witnesses wasn't free to talk with the attorney general's office until just about a month or two ago.

Also, you had the problem of forensics in this case. Remember, Miles, I mean you were here. These bodies, 45 bodies or so, were found in that hospital, had been lingering there for days on past a week, 11 days or so, in a very decomposed state.

So all of this took a long time. They finally got it all together, announced later today. But, again, second-degree murder charges have been filed.

M. O'BRIEN: Drew Griffin in New Orleans.

Thank you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the weather. It is miserably hot over much of the country. And -- Chad, I guess we're all in it together.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know what, though? You're warmer in New York than we are in Atlanta by 13 degrees this morning. COSTELLO: Ooh!

MYERS: So, I mean, you try to open the windows and let some cool air in, it just isn't there. Now, tonight, that's a different story. But in this heat of the day kind of day we're going to have in New York, D.C. all the way back into Pittsburgh and State College, Philadelphia, you're going to get some severe weather popping up this afternoon.

You can't get 99 degrees with a cold front coming without severe weather popping up.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Coming up, the race to evacuate Lebanon. We'll meet a doctor who is part of a Swedish rescue team. He'll tell us what his biggest worry is right now.

M. O'BRIEN: And the U.S. and Israel call Hezbollah terrorists. But in Lebanon, they're hailed as heroes. We'll look at why.

COSTELLO: And later, a look at how the Mideast crisis is playing out on the Internet. We'll tell you about some chilling online videos that are getting a lot of attention.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... rebuilding their country and after so many years of civil war. And it's looking great now. They have so many buildings redone. And yet, here again, they have more bombings and more war. And it's just like yet again these people are going through it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: One of the handful of Americans that have made it out of Lebanon. It's an estimated 25,000 Americans in Lebanon. We're not sure how many of them would like to flee, but clearly there are some who would like to leave that country who have been unable thus far. Only about 70 so far have made it to Cyprus and Larnaca, which is where we find Soledad this morning.

She's been flying all night long. And there she is, no worse for the wear -- hello, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Hey, Miles, good morning to you.

Yes, you're right. And that's sort of a, an incredibly shockingly, I think, to some people, low number, although the American officials are saying that they are beginning to really put some of those Americans on board some of the ships to start getting them out.

And Larnaca Port is really the end of a very long road for any of the foreign nationals who are trying to get to safety.

We had an Italian destroyer, the last time we talked to you, over our shoulder. He's already pulled out. There's a French ship, as well, that came in last night. We're expecting that they're going to head out, as well.

It's been said that there is a very highly organized evacuation. That coming from Nick Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs. But what you hear on the ground from some of the people who are still stuck and trying to get out is -- does not necessary fall under highly organized.

Johan Von Schreeb is a Swedish medical team member. They are here setting up a medical facility just right over the way. And you've been dealing with some of, not just Swedes, but others who have been coming in.

Tell me how many people you've been dealing with.

DR. JOHAN VON SCHREEB, SWEDISH MEDICAL RESCUE TEAM: Well, we've been assisting the civilian authorities here taking care of the people. And yesterday there was about 500 people that came with the Italian ship and then some more 400 or 500 people this morning with the French ship.

And we tried to set up a medical screening facility that screens the people when they come, to see whether they are sick so they need medical attention or whether they just need to go home.

And people are really desperate. They are sick. They have been traveling a long time. And as you were saying, under extremely unsecure -- an extremely unsecure environment, trying to go through, with taxis, through bombings all around them and...

S. O'BRIEN: It's got to be terrifying.

You've been seeing lots of children, haven't you?

VON SCHREEB: Yes, a lot of unaccompanied children who have been down on holiday with their grandparents and suddenly they are stuck in this very difficult situation. And...

S. O'BRIEN: How are those children getting out?

VON SCHREEB: Well, apparently they have ways of getting to these assembly points where the different embassies, like the Swedish embassy, are ranged. And then they -- we are dealing together with other countries with various ways of evacuating them, either with boats to come here, or with buses up through to Syria, in any way we can.

But with the given situation, what's a very difficult situation. It's a war situation. We mustn't forget that. Evacuating people during a war is extremely difficult and extremely dangerous.

S. O'BRIEN: How much notice do you get that there are going to be passengers and, really, patients, from your perspective, coming your way?

VON SCHREEB: Well, we know when the ships go into Beirut. But we also know that it takes a lot to load these people on the ships due to security reasons. And like the ship -- the French ship yesterday, it left half full because it took such a long time for a security clearance to get them on the ship. And so then it -- then when they leave the port in Beirut, we are ready. We know we have four or five hours notice, maybe longer if it's a slow ship.

But we are now ready, together with the other international teams and the Cyprus Medical Services, to deal with this and we have extremely good collaboration with the civil authorities here that have set up a really good system in taking care of these people. And I think it's very good international collaboration.

S. O'BRIEN: You were working when the tsunami struck. You came in to help out with the aftermath, as well.

VON SCHREEB: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Is there any comparison here when you think about trauma and children and maybe even payoffs, to some degree?

VON SCHREEB: Well, in the tsunami, first of all, it was in the war situation, you must remember that. And second of all, those patients that had to be dealt with were severely injured.

Of course, there are a lot of injured people in Lebanon. But most of them are probably taken care of by the good health system that already exists in Lebanon, even though they are on their knees now. I think they are running out of supplies. But they have skilled doctors. They have a lot of hospitals. But they're running out and they're probably extremely tired, because that's my experience working in war zones. After a few days of working...

S. O'BRIEN: Weeks straight, you're...

VON SCHREEB: ... of working 24 hours -- you never stop working. People are coming in injured all the time and you're really on your knees. But people also have extremely a lot of energy to help out.

But I think those are the main differences. It's not a war situation. And here we have more, the majority is the psychological trauma and that's what we have to deal with when people come back home, and also when they have to think about their relatives that are still stuck in Lebanon, under a very difficult situation. And we know there are a lot of people in Southern Lebanon who are -- we have hundreds of Swedish citizens who are stuck in Southern Lebanon that we cannot reach and that cannot be evacuated.

And also our staff in Beirut now are really on their knees, also working 24 hours. And the security situation is extremely difficult.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's quite a dire situation now.

Johan Von Schreeb is with the Swedish Medical Team helping out there.

And they've really, I mean this is a working port, so you've got right in front of us a parking lot and then a building on the other side. And that's where they've set up their makeshift medical area, where they're going to be taking people in, checking them out and hopefully giving them whatever kind of medical care they're going to need -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Soledad.

Thank you very much.

We will get back with Soledad all throughout the morning and will provide updates for us from there, as she makes her way toward -- through the Middle East.

COSTELLO: And a little later, we'll meet a Michigan man who has been trapped in Lebanon with his daughter. His wife is at home in the United States. We're going to talk to both of them and find out how they're getting through this crisis.

Also next, the conflict in the Middle East goes online. We'll take a look at how the violence is playing out in the age of the Internet.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The crisis in the Middle East is playing out with rockets and bombs and bloodshed. And it is also playing out online, with each side waging a propaganda war, trying to seize the high ground in the virtual world of the Web.

Let's take a look now with CNN's technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, who's been spending some time surfing the Web, looking at some places where that discussion is raging -- good morning, Daniel.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

That's right. And not only with blog sites, but also with these more popular sites where you can share online video. These days, it seems everybody has a camera in their cell phone or access to a video camera.

And sites like YouTube allow you to share that video with people around the world.

We're going to show you the first one here. This, according to the profile page of where it was posted, is from a 19-year-old living in Haifa. And you can get a sense from what's happening here. He's hearing air raid sirens in the background. He's running downstairs and he goes outside where he hears a couple of explosions. And I'll just let it play for a few seconds so you can get a sample of it.

(VIDEO CLIP OF FOOTAGE FROM HAIFA)

SIEBERG: So obviously some pretty intense and engrossing video.

Last night when we first looked at this, it was viewed about 150,000 times. That's jumped up to more than 200,000 this morning. So a very popular video. And you can see why. It's pretty chilling stuff.

The second one is a pro-Hezbollah propaganda video. This one hasn't been viewed nearly as many times. It's been viewed about 1,000 times. You can see images here of fighters in the streets. I talked to our folks on the International Desk here and they said that that phone number on the bottom, this is probably taken from a talk show where they're encouraging people to phone in, voice their support for Hezbollah.

And actually the posting on this site, it says: "Onwards to victory against Israel." That's by the person who's posted it on this site. Of course, we can't verify the authenticity or the origin of this video. But, you know, that's the case with a lot of these sites, especially when we're talking about blogs -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. So what's happened is there is a video debate that is going on. And, of course, we're a little more accustomed to the textual debate that we see on the blogs.

What are you seeing on the blogs? What are the blogs saying?

SIEBERG: Yes, we've got a couple of blogs to show you.

The first one is called Urshalim, and it's by a Lebanese blogger who's already been active this morning. In this case, he's posting quite a bit of information. And at the top there you can see it says: "Sad and ugly. How can we expect peace in the future?"

He's also posting some photos which are being shared on a number of blog sites this morning, very contentious photos that show, apparently, these Israeli girls writing messages on bombs. These are posted on a number of different sites.

In this case, he's obviously very upset about them, posting from a pro-Hezbollah point of view. He also does this a lot in real time. There's a lot of postings that sort of go hour by hour, minute by minute. He tries to stay updated with all of this.

There's also something in here that he says is from his son. I'll just read you a sample of what is son says. You can see the building that's blown up there. His son says: "This used to be my playground. Six days ago, there were four buildings with eight to 10 stories high and a little garden in front of them. My parents' home used to be on the second floor in the building in the middle. They did not hurt anybody their entire life. Neither did their neighbors."

So you can obviously see some emotional messages on this Web site from Urshalim. The second one we're going show you is one called "Israeli Cool." This one from on Australian who moved to Israel back in 2000. Here you can see at the top there. It says live blogging the war. This happens a lot on blogs, where they're trying to post every half hour or so a lot of really current information.

But, you know, Miles, you have to be careful with a lot of this stuff. It's, in a sense, unfiltered, so you're getting a perspective from the citizens in modern warfare these days, but you've got to be careful with the authenticity of these.

O'BRIEN: Yes, surfer beware. Just consider the source wherever you go on the Web and factor that in as you make decisions.

Technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg, thank you very much.

SIEBERG: You bet.

O'BRIEN: Very interesting.

Coming up on the program, a closer look at Hezbollah. The U.S. and Israel say it is a terrorist group, but it is more than that, and that may be the secret to its success. We'll explain.

And later, we'll meet a Michigan man trapped in Lebanon. His wife is at home in the U.S. We'll ask both of them how they're handling and how they're holding up.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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