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CNN Live Sunday

Dozens of Civilians Killed in Israeli Airstrike in Qana; Protestors Take to the Streets in Outrage; Murderer on Death Row Suspected of Eight More Murders

Aired July 30, 2006 - 19:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Lin. It's 7:00 p.m. right here at the CNN world headquarters.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Roberts. It's 2:00 a.m. in Israel. CNN LIVE SUNDAY starts right now.

LIN: Midnight strike, dozens are dead. Including innocent children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America mourns the loss of innocent life.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Could this be the turning point in the crisis in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRANSLATOR: We have come to ask, when will the killing machine stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there were no Hezbollah, this would never have happened.

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LIN: Is this the end of the world as we know it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life as we know it is going to change instantly and forever.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Why some Christians say Armageddon is upon us. Following the trail of a serial killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The majority of these folks we do not know who they are, who they were. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: How new pictures could crack some cold cases.

And why actor Mel Gibson is apologizing. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY. And here's what we know right now about the Middle East. Mideast diplomacy takes a nosedive with Israel's mistaken bombing of Qana, Lebanon. At least 60 people were killed and many of them were children. Israel announces just in the last few hours a 48-hour suspension of air activity in southern Lebanon to allow humanitarian aid in. Meanwhile, protestors go on a rampage of the United Nations compound in Gaza City. Palestinian security forces forcefully disbursed the estimated 2,000 demonstrators.

ROBERTS: The big development out of here tonight, Israel agrees to a 48-hour suspension of its aerial bombardment of Lebanon, answering a flurry of criticism from the Arab world and beyond, Israel says it will cease all of its aerial operations for a 48-hour time period and allow a 24-hour period for people to get out of south Lebanon. But Israel says it reserves the right to take action against targets preparing to attack it in that time frame. An IDF spokesman says the temporary halt of air action should allow a better flow of humanitarian aid getting into southern Lebanon, while allowing residents safer passage out. But primarily, Israel says it wants to investigate what happened in Qana with that errant bombing. Right after the Israeli airstrike in Qana, the Lebanese government called off potential talks to end the bombings. CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Beirut with more on that. What have you got from your end, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So far, we've heard nothing from the Lebanese government about the cessation of the air activity. Right over Beirut, right as the cessation was being announced, we did hear a number of aircraft flying low several times over the city for about 15 minutes. Obviously, no reports, no indications of bombing whatsoever. But that coming right at the time of that announced cessation. The government here, the U.N. operatives in the field here neither giving us their analysis of how long it will take to organize this 24-hour window to evacuate people and to bring in relief supplies. But when the news reached Beirut of that attack on the house in Qana with all those people inside, it brought a very violent reaction to downtown Beirut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Within 12 hours of this, an overnight Israeli airstrike on a residential house in Qana, South Lebanon killing close to 60 people, many of them children, this -- an outpouring of Lebanese anger in Beirut, focusing first on the United Nations, destroying windows, smashing office equipment. In less than an hour, thousands more protestors poured in, mostly Hezbollah supporters. But many others, too. Many calls for Arab support, but the U.N. still the focus of anger, a picture of U.N. chief Kofi Annan beaten. But the anger is beginning to turn, focusing more on America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: America, don't kill my children.

ROBERTSON: Politicians quickly weighing in with their own emotional outpourings.

FOUAD SINIORA, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER: We scream out to our fellow Lebanese and to other Arab brethren and to the whole world to stand united in the face of the Israeli war criminals.

ROBERTSON: At the demonstration, now about 14 hours after the strike, speakers tell protestors to go to the U.S. embassy. Lebanese army soldiers were out on the streets, moving quickly. Protestors begin to disburse.

(on camera): The call at the demonstration were for the crowds to head here to the U.S. embassy. The Lebanese army has put up barricades so they can't get up the road.

(voice-over): Protestors were slow to arrive. In the end, only a handful able to get through the road blocks surrounding the area. This war is an American plan, in Israeli hands, she says. We don't want this embassy or this ambassador here. We don't want anything that's related to the United States in this country, he says. They don't love us. Lebanese people are dying. And they're saying we are terrorists. But they are bigger terrorists. Back in the center of the city, just before sunset, 18 hours after the attack, a new crowd gathers.

Children in an organized rally. The tone distinctly anti- American. The message, very clear. Many here hold the United States responsible for the Lebanese deaths earlier in the day.

(on camera): Anger at America's perceived siding with Israel has been seething under the surface here for the past few weeks. The killings in Qana have finally brought that out onto the streets.

(voice-over): 20 hours after the bombing, the mood turning to reflection. A candlelit vigil for those killed in Qana, bringing more measured tones. But still the undercurrent of anger at U.S. policy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without the United States' pressure on the rest of the international community and without their acquiescence to the Israeli government's policy militarily, there would be no incursions into Lebanon.

ROBERTSON: In Lebanon, it's been an emotional day. They've been here before, 10 years ago, an Israeli strike in the same town killed more than 100. But this time, they are showing their anger. Not just at Israel, but with America, too.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And one of the things that people have also told us today is that now more than ever, they feel united as Lebanese, that this is something that they really feel that is happening to them as a country. John?

ROBERTS: Terrible tragedy there. Nic Robertson live for us from Beirut. Nic thanks. Now reaction from the Israeli side of the border. CNN's Paula Hancocks has that side of the story from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emergency workers save those they can from a flattened residential building in Qana, Southern Lebanon. For scores of the victims, it's too late. This is the work of an Israeli bomb. Israel calls it a tragedy and a mistake. But it's not the first Israeli mistake in this village. April 18, 1996, Israeli shells hit a United Nations base sheltering Lebanese civilians. More than 100 were killed. More than 100 more were wounded. One of the bloodiest events to date in the Arab Israeli conflict. The Qana massacre as it is known in Lebanon was a major reason why Israel suspended military operations against Hezbollah 10 years ago. This time, it's different.

DAVID HOROVITZ, "JERUSALEM POST": What you've seen is a robust rhetorical response from the Israeli prime minister from the political echelons saying we've urged people to leave, we've leafleted them, we've broadcast over every available channel that we could, telling these people to get out.

HANCOCKS: Even as bodies were being pulled from the ruins in Qana, Israeli ground troops moved into two more towns in southern Lebanon that it calls Hezbollah strongholds. The difference in reaction this time around say analysts is due largely to the threat that Hezbollah poses to Israel.

PROF. MOSHE MAOZ, HEBREW UNIVERSITY: Hezbollah in '96 was smaller, weaker, not so many missiles, not a full support of Iran or Syria. The U.S. was mediating. Whereas now, Hezbollah is stronger, is more successful. Has the support of Iran and of Syria.

HANCOCKS: Israel has made no secret of the fact it is not ready to end operations against Hezbollah. And there is much more it wants to achieve.

(on camera): Israeli politicians and military have said they regret the deaths of civilians and they will launch an investigation into exactly what happened. But political analysts have widely assumed that only a word from Washington will force Israel to leave Lebanon before it is ready. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Now the U.N. Security Council met in an emergency session today. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for an end to the hostilities in the Middle East. Richard Roth, our senior U.N. correspondent joins us live. Richard before you go over the day's events, I want to get your sense of what the Security Council hopes to accomplish and how this 48-hour cessation of air bombing campaigns over south Lebanon will affect what the council does.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well it's certainly already affecting the council's work. They were wrestling with a statement on how to react to the bombing, the attack in Qana, and now, as many ambassadors pointed out, we've got to take into account that action announced by Israel. At the Security Council today there was a public session where the secretary-general of the United Nations again said how dismayed he was that the 15 countries who sit on the council have not been able to be united in calling for a cessation of hostilities, though it's primarily the United States with veto power that has been blocking that, saying that Israel still must be given whatever time is needed in effect to continue to defend itself. Lebanon addressed the Security Council, accusing Israel of committing in effect war crimes against his country.

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TRANSLATION OF NOUHAD MAHMOUD, LEBANESE REP. TO THE U.N.: In your conscience, in the deepest heart of human hearts, you all realize and know that Israel is committing war massacres. Israel is committing atrocities against humanity. The fact that such massacres are yet regrettably to be taken up by resolutions of this August council, that fact does not mean that the truth is to remain hidden.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman followed saying don't blame Israel, yes, Israel would take responsibility and says it's sorry but Hezbollah is using civilians in southern Lebanon and Qana today to shield against possible attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We today say we are truly sorry for the people of Lebanon and for the people who were killed. I have never heard the Hezbollah say they're sorry for a single Israeli that was killed. Woman, child, elderly, civilian, or innocent. Never. Why? Because they target us, specifically. This is their declared aim. And this is what we're fighting. And why for us every dead Lebanese child is a horrible mistake and a tragedy, for them, every dead Israeli child is a victory and a cause for celebration.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The Security Council was put on notice earlier by Secretary-General Annan saying people are noticing that nothing has been produced from the council since the outbreak of hostilities. Again, there is a split inside that chamber. We expect momentarily a statement, not a resolution, which is more legally significant. We expect a statement which they're still tussling with which would express the shock and distress of the Security Council at what happened. Possibly deploring the act. But they are still wrestling and possibly deleting any call by the Security Council for an immediate cessation of hostilities. That is something Annan wants, the U.S. is very reluctant to sign on to that. Carol?

LIN: Richard thank you very much. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made plans to return to Washington today after Lebanese officials told her to cancel her planned trip to Beirut. With more on the diplomatic fallout, CNN's John King in Jerusalem. JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, consider this, Secretary Rice will go home now with what her side considers to be a significant, perhaps not lasting but a significant diplomatic victory at the end of the day in which she was clearly frustrated and exasperated. Not only at the tragic bombing in Qana but also we are told by U.S. officials, exasperated with a sense that Israel was stalling as she tried to present what she considered to be considerable progress in getting a deal to finally end the fighting. But tonight, just consider this stunning development. The Israeli government makes a major concession, agrees to stop its air campaign in southern Lebanon for 48 hours. And that deal is announced not by Israel but by the United States State Department. So the Bush administration thinking it has rebuilt some of its reputation, if you will, after days of international condemnation of Bush diplomacy. Days of condemnation that the Bush administration was standing too closely with Israel.

I want to read you a bit of a statement the State Department issued tonight in announcing this deal, this is from State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli. He said, "Israel has agreed to a 48-hour suspension of aerial activity in south Lebanon while it investigates today's tragic incident at Qana. Israel has of course reserved the right to take action against targets preparing attacks against it. During this time, Israel will coordinate with the United Nations to allow a 24-hour period of safe passage for all residents of south Lebanon who wish to leave."

From the U.S. perspective, the key thing is that humanitarian help, 48 hours no air strikes. 24-hour passage to get any residents who want to flee out. The key question though, Carol, as we look forward to the next 48 hours is, what will Hezbollah do? If Hezbollah starts launching rockets, Israel reserves the right then to strike those rocket sites. So, while Israel has made a major concession tonight brokered by Secretary of State Rice, the big question over the next 48 hours especially as day breaks here is how will Hezbollah respond?

LIN: And we'll certainly find out. John, do you know when that 48-hour period actually started?

KING: It was effective tonight, so it started about two hours ago. You were on when we had the breaking news earlier this evening. So essentially they have 46 hours or so to go. And again, from the U.S. perspective it is a huge diplomatic victory in the short term to get humanitarian aid in there. The question is, will it then affect, Richard Roth was just talking about the Security Council debate. Will it affect all the other diplomatic balls that are still in play because we should make clear, it doesn't affect northern Lebanon.

There could be Israeli airstrikes near Beirut tomorrow. But is likely to stop, while the agreement is only for the air campaign, sources are telling us tonight, don't look for any major ground offensive in southern Lebanon either. Because any military expert would tell you, you will not send your troops into battle unless you can give them air cover. So a significant development, but not the full resolution of this conflict. We'll have an interesting week ahead on that front. LIN: You'll bet. John King thank you very much, live in Jerusalem. John, any moment now, we're expecting to hear from the president of the U.N. Security Council on whatever statement the council has agreed upon in either condemning the bombing campaign in Qana or in applauding Israel for its 48 hour air campaign cessation. Whatever it may be, the wording of it has been carefully devised over the hours throughout this day this council has been meeting. As soon as we hear from the president of the U.N. Security Council on that statement, we're going to bring it to you live.

In the meantime, targeting Hezbollah. The technology seems so advanced. So how did it go wrong? I'm going to talk to our military analyst. And tough questions with no easy answers. Should the U.N. force in Lebanon do more for civilians there? And can they? They say they can't. So the pressure is on.

And he's been in jail for a generation, but now this inmate could help police solve dozens of cold cases. We're following a killer's trail. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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ROBERTS: Back now from Metula, Israel, I'm John Roberts where it is eerily quiet now that Israel has declared that 48-hour pause in the bombing. United Nations troops have been embedded in south Lebanon for more than a quarter of a century since 1978, to be exact. It's worth asking what have they accomplished in that time. CNN's Gary Nuremberg reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The secretary- general says he wants to end civilian deaths in the fight between Hezbollah and Israel.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Action is needed now before many more children, women and men become casualties of a conflict over which they have no control.

NUREMBERG: But Annan said the United Nations interim force in Lebanon, Unifil has rejected an Israeli request to help evacuate civilians from two southern Lebanon towns.

ANNAN: Unifil has refused to evacuate the villages, indicating that they don't have the capacity and these requests often have come where their assistance is required from the government of Lebanon.

NUREMBERG: Unifil itself, a force of about 2,000, lost four soldiers last week when an Israeli shell hit their observation post in an area where Lebanese security forces say Hezbollah had previously fired missiles. Unifil was first dispatched to southern Lebanon in 1978 to monitor the Israeli-Lebanon border, but it is not a fighting force.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Unifil has no capability, zero, none, in terms of getting in between Hezbollah or anyone else and the IDF. But it's not their mission.

NUREMBERG: Israel calls Unifil ineffective.

BRIG. GEN. MICHAEL HERZOG, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: They couldn't do anything against Hezbollah, they couldn't do anything and wouldn't do anything to stop them. And in many cases, Hezbollah was just all over Unifil's position.

NUREMBERG: But Unifil says its mission is to patrol, observe and report. Now, there is talk of a new international force with a distinctly different mission. To impose or keep peace along the border.

MARKS: It's going to have to have combat power. And it's going to have to have the ability to make peace. Making peace means you've got to be able to get into combat, you've got to be able to engage forces, you've got to be able to kill people.

NUREMBERG: All things that might be required to help civilians evacuate a fire zone, all things Unifil is now unable to do. Gary Nuremberg, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: I'll be back in just a few minutes' time with the Israeli military's response and explanation about what happened in the Qana attack. Right now, let's go back to Carol Lin at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Carol?

LIN: John, we have an intriguing murder mystery in the United States. Coming up, a fashion photographer turned serial killer. Could his photos identify more victims? And later, big trouble for a big Hollywood star. Why Mel Gibson could be headed for jail. Later on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

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LIN: An unusual investigation is underway in Los Angeles. Police are trying to find roughly 50 women who came in contact with a serial killer, a generation ago. Former photographer Bill Bradford is on death row for killing two aspiring models. Police say he may have killed many more. Peter Viles has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Having found the defendant, Bill Bradford, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree.

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When he was sentenced to death for two murders in 1988, Bill Bradford allegedly taunted police.

CAPT. RAY PEAVY, L.A. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Even after he was convicted, he made statements that he had killed many more people than we knew about.

VILES: A generation later, Bradford is still on death row and police are now trying to figure out exactly how many people did he kill. He claimed to be a fashion photographer, police say he stalked singles bars on LA's west side.

PEAVY: There's no point in trying to put other cases against a man that's already on death row. That's not our ambition. Our ambition is more to give closure to the families of the victims, if there are victims.

VILES: The sheriff's department did something unusual, it released more than 50 photos of women who posed for Bradford in the late 70's or early 80's and asked the public who are these women and are they alive.

PEAVY: The majority of these folks we do not know who they are, who they were. Many of them could have likely been homicide victims themselves.

VILES: The girl in photo number 8 was a teenage model who met Bradford in '84. She's alive, working as a dog groomer and thankful.

TINA TEETS, FORMER MODEL: I called my mom yesterday and I said, Bill Bradford. And she said, oh, my gosh. I remember him. I remember him, and he -- she said he used to give me the chills. She said he bothered me, and she said I always felt very protective of you when he was around.

VILES: Investigators say they've located roughly 30 of the women in the photos but they now say three of the women in the photos were killed. And Bradford is the chief suspect. They now suspect him of eight murders, six he's never been charged with. Through his lawyer, Bradford has maintained he didn't kill anyone.

PEAVY: My experience has been if you rely on a crook, especially a killer to give you accurate information, you know, it may not be the best way to go.

VILES: Meantime, cold case detectives keep asking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there any other girls that you either recognize by name or by face.

VILES: Peter Viles for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: One big mistake. That is what Israel says about its strike in Qana, but how did it happen? And could it happen again? That's coming up.

And is the end in sight? Not the end of the war but the end of the world? Believe it or not, some say yes. Find out why when CNN LIVE SUNDAY returns.

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