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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Israel Launches Broad Offensive Into Southern Lebanon; Wave of Violence Across Iraq
Aired August 01, 2006 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli troops tonight have launched their biggest offensive in Lebanon in nearly a quarter century. We'll have reports tonight from Lebanon and Israel.
But the greatest casualties today were in the larger war that's being overshadowed by the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. Sixty Iraqis killed in Iraq. Two more Americans are dead. Tonight I'll be joined by a former U.S. deputy under secretary of defense and Israel's ambassador to the United Nations.
Also tonight, communist Cuba facing an uncertain future following Fidel Castro's emergency surgery. Castro ceding power to his brother Raul. We'll have a live report for you from Havana.
And in the losing battle of our "Broken Borders" tonight, you will meet a federal judge overwhelmed by illegal immigration and our failing war on drugs at our southern border.
ANNOUNCER. This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Tuesday, August 1st.
Live in New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody.
Israeli troops tonight are fighting fierce battles in southern Lebanon as they try to push deeper into Hezbollah-controlled territory. Lebanese security sources are also reporting that Israeli troops have landed by helicopter in northeastern Lebanon near the border with Syria.
Three Israeli troops were killed today, another 30 wounded. Israel says it's killed at least 300 Hezbollah terrorists in the conflict so far. Israel also says it will resume its full-scale air offensive against Lebanon tonight.
Thousands of Lebanese civilians are trying to flee towns and villages in southern Lebanon.
Matthew Chance tonight reports from northern Israel on the escalating offensive.
Ben Wedeman reports from a village in southern Lebanon where residents have been under Israeli shell fire for three weeks.
And Harris Whitbeck tonight reporting from Baghdad on the war in Iraq and the rising number of attacks against our troops and Iraqis.
We turn first to Matthew Chance in northern Israel -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, thanks very much.
Well, a big upswing in military operations inside southern Lebanon over the course of this day, with thousands of Israeli troops now deployed on the ground in southern Lebanon. Striking hard at Hezbollah strongholds, battling in close combat situations, there have been casualties on both sides.
The Israeli military has announced three of its soldiers have been killed and another 25 injured. Also heavy casualties, we're told by the Israeli military, on the Hezbollah side as well, although Hezbollah itself denies that.
What the Israelis are trying to do, it seems, is really pound the Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and to take control of that ground. We're expecting a real upswing, as I say, in ground operations to get under way within the next few hours as well.
Israel has called up thousands of its reserve soldiers. They'll be ready to be deployed over the coming hours. And so it could be a big operation in southern Lebanon.
Elsewhere in Lebanon as well, Israeli troops on the ground already in the northeast of the country around the city of Baalbeck. But the main operations again taking place in southern Lebanon.
Israel wants to take that territory, to make a buffer zone for itself along its border, and to hold that territory, Lou, until that multinational force that's being discussed by world leaders can be put together and actually deployed. So they could be on the ground for some time.
DOBBS: Matthew, thank you very much.
Matthew Chance reporting from northern Israel.
The Israeli artillery and airstrikes have devastated towns and villages in southern Lebanon. Many people have been trapped under the rubble of their homes since the Israeli offensive began three weeks ago. Now some of those people are finally able to flee the area.
Ben Wedeman reports from the Lebanese village of Aitaroun, just one mile from the border with Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The residents of Aitaroun are leaving as fast as they can. Israel's 48- hour period of relative restraint is almost over.
After nearly three weeks in cramped shelters, the young, the old, the infirm are desperate to go. "Get us out of here," says this woman. "Please, get us out of here."
The first to reach the mainly Shiite village of Aitaroun, a group of journalists who do what they can to help.
(on camera): The people in this town have been under bombardment for 20 days. The Red Cross hasn't made it here, the U.N. hasn't made it here.
(voice over): Everyone is fleeing, but for one man, dazed, who stares the rubble of his village. The neighboring village of Ainata (ph) has also been pounded. An unexploded artillery round lies in the main square. The stench of decomposing bodies rises from the ruins.
Hevrid Haraf (ph) says she and her son were pinned down in their house for five days with the body of her dead sister killed in the bombing. Abez Khalil (ph) came to get his sister and found her dead under the rubble of her home.
"It was unbearable, unbearable," is all Ahmed Bassam (ph) can say. He's going straight to Beirut.
Everyone here painfully aware there's little time left.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Aitaroun, south Lebanon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: As we were reporting, the Israeli military has launched a major ground operation in northeastern Lebanon near the border with Syria. There are reports that Israeli troops have landed there by helicopter, fighting Hezbollah terrorists.
Brent Sadler is now on the telephone from Lebanon. He has the very latest on a new Israeli operation.
Brent, can you tell us what is happening now in northeastern Lebanon?
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Lou, security sources in Lebanon say that this may well have been a snatch operation. Now, what we can confirm from the security sources is that Israeli troops from helicopters landed near to a Hezbollah-funded-and-operated hospital some several miles north of Baalbeck. That's in the Bekaa Valley, and it is an area of intense Hezbollah support.
Now, according to one eyewitness -- this is not confirmed by security sources -- at least several people were taken away by the Israelis from the hospital. We can confirm, according to eyewitnesses, that the Israelis rounded up every worker inside the hospital and checked their documents.
Now, Lou, security assessments here on the ground in south Lebanon seem to think that the Israelis were after at least one of their prisoners captured by Hezbollah some three weeks ago that triggered this conflict. No confirmation of that. That is an assessment. But certainly developments deep inside Lebanon in what appears to be a special operations mission mounted by the Israelis -- Lou.
DOBBS: Brent, thank you very much.
Brent Sadler reporting from Lebanon.
The Israeli forces apparently landing by helicopter and entering a Hezbollah-operated hospital and removing at least several of the people in that hospital. Reportedly, one of them an Israeli hostage.
We'll have much more on the escalating war between Israel and Hezbollah later in this broadcasts. Among my guests tonight is Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman.
In the war in Iraq today, insurgents killed two more of our troops, 60 Iraqis were killed. The attacks are a new setback to American and Iraqi government efforts to defeat the insurgency and to stop rising sectarian violence that rises to the level in many cases of outright civil war.
Harris Whitbeck reports now from Baghdad -- Harris.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, there was more violence in Iraq today, this time directed at members of the Iraqi security forces. Three separate attacks killed 59 people in the country on this Tuesday.
Most of them were traveling on a bus in a military convoy near Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein. That bus was hit by an improvised explosive device. At least 40 people were killed on that bus alone.
And a group of Iraqi policemen on patrol near the city of Mahmoudiya were attacked. Six people were killed. One of them a police officer.
And another group of Iraqi soldiers was hit near a bank here in Baghdad on this, the first day of the month. They were approaching that bank to cash their monthly paychecks.
The Iraqi government continues to man most of the checkpoints in the Iraqi capital where most of the violence has occurred. Those checkpoints are moved periodically to make them more difficult targets.
And within days we expect an increased presence of U.S. troops in the capital. The Iraqi government and citizens in Baghdad say they hope that the increased U.S. troop presence in the streets of the capital will help deter some of these acts of violence -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you.
Harris Whitbeck reporting from Baghdad.
Iraqi insurgents have killed two more of our troops over the past two days. An American soldier killed in a bomb attack on a U.S. convoy south of Baghdad, another soldier killed in Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad.
2,578 of our troops have now been killed in this war, 19,270 of our troops wounded. Of those, 8,789 seriously wounded.
Many Army and Marine Corps units in this country are short of vital equipment because of the stress upon our military from the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military is sending as much equipment as possible, of course, to troops fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of that equipment is coming from units based in the United States, creating a crisis.
Barbara Starr reports from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost taxpayers more than $315 billion. It's about to skyrocket. Now the Army and Marine Corps say billions more dollars are urgently needed to repair and replace equipment worn out by nearly five years of fighting.
GEN. PETER SCHOOMAKER, U.S. ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: I believe we'll be in Iraq a long time, and Afghanistan, and fighting this global war on terror for a long time. A long time is a long time. I believe it's open-ended right now.
STARR: The Army says it needs $17 billion now to replace and repair equipment. The Marine Corps says it wants $12 billion, and the National Guard says it needs $21 billion.
The war is wearing everything out. Army helicopters are being used three times the rate planned, tanks are being driven five times more than expected. Vehicles are being worn out at six times the rate projected.
Top Army leaders privately worry they are being sold out by the administration, which is focused on cost-cutting an expensive war. Capitol Hill leaders echo Army concerns. There is no fat to cut this time.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: It seems to me that someone wasn't listening at the Pentagon when the uniformed services making public statements over the last number of months telling us categorically the shortfalls that exist.
STARR: Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker says he won't cut modernization to pay the bill. But some analysts say the Army's effort to become a high-tech computer-driven combat force is just too expensive.
COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR (RET.), U.S. ARMY: We're now looking at a program that could cost somewhere between $150 billion or more and $200 billion. We can't afford that. It's outrageous.
(END VIDEOTAPE) STARR: Lou, the Army says cash is so tight right now that it has over 500 tanks lined up at one Army depot awaiting repair and that a couple weeks ago at Ft. Hood, Texas, they didn't even have enough people on hand to hand out ammunition -- Lou.
DOBBS: Barbara, that is a shocking report, despite the signals that certainly have been uttered by some of the general's staff. But to hear General Peter Schoomaker say that a long time is a long time and open-ended about the involvement of U.S. troops and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is there any suggestion within the Pentagon, Barbara, that they're a little embarrassed that the general's staff cannot offer up strategy and certainly more finite indications of what we're involved with and where in the world they think they're going to get that money?
STARR: Well, I think the feeling on the part of the Army generals is that they are looking for that guidance from the political civilian side of the Pentagon. And one of the undercurrents right now in this building, Lou, behind the scenes, at least for the moment, is how unhappy some of these generals are. Very closely, General Schoomaker's comments are being watched to see what he might be up to about all this.
DOBBS: Unhappy, certainly with the civilian leadership, but certainly there's got to be a sense in that building that the American people, with our brave young men and women fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and deployed around the world, are being given the kind of leadership that has the temerity to say a long time is a long time, and then have over a $60 billion shortfall in necessary equipment for the U.S. military?
That's not management. That's not military leadership.
STARR: I don't think there's a single person in the U.S. military right now in a leadership position that doesn't think there is a very significant problem on how the war is going to be paid for over the long term. I think they all agree on that point.
DOBBS: And one would hope how the wars will be won.
Barbara Starr, thank you for that excellent report.
Barbara Starr from the Pentagon.
Coming up here, word tonight that Israeli troops have stormed a hospital in northeastern Lebanon as their offensive widens. We'll have the latest for you.
Also, immigration judges in this country refusing to enforce U.S. immigration laws, illegal immigration, and the war on drugs overwhelming many of those judges. You'll meet one of them.
And Fidel Castro is loosening his grip on power for the first time in nearly 50 years. What does it mean to the future of Cuba?
We'll be going live to Havana for the very latest. And a great deal more on the Middle East as Israeli troops push deeper into Lebanon. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations joins us.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: We'll be going back to the Middle East for far more on the conflict between Israel, Hezbollah, and the offensive that is now under way in southern Lebanon by the Israeli forces.
But first, a federal immigration judge tonight refusing to enforce federal immigration laws as illegal aliens and their supporters have launched a new push to register new voters, and among them certainly no impediment to registering illegal aliens.
Bill Tucker reports tonight on the federal immigration judge who is now granting a reprieve for illegal aliens in this country.
And Casey Wian reports on the illegal alien amnesty movement so- called Democracy Summer. We're going to see, they say, a million new registered voters.
We begin with Bill Tucker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Outside an immigration court in Chicago demanding the law not be enforced.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're asking for a miracle. We're asking them to postpone the deportation, postpone it until the Congress can pass the law.
TUCKER : Their wish was granted. The court ruled that because immigration law might be changed, existing law is meaningless for the 11 who appeared before the court. So the judge granted a stay of deportation for one year.
The 11 were arrested in a massive workplace enforcement action by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement last April in which nearly 1,200 illegal alien employees in 26 states were arrested, all working for the same employer.
The ruling and the logic is disturbing to advocates of the law.
VICTOR CERDA, SIFF & CERDA: Well, the judge's decision is clearly troubling in the sense that to make a decision based on speculation of changes in law really is not what they are paid for. It's not their role. Frankly, their role should be to apply the laws as they stand.
TUCKER: ICE has not decided on whether it will seek an appeal, but told us that it will continue to enforce the law. "ICE is continuing to aggressively enforce the nation's immigration laws targeting illegal aliens and the criminal elements that support them."
ICE officials say their operation teams are now averaging arrests of 1,000 aliens a week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Ironically, the ruling was handed down on the same day that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was in New Mexico announcing the addition of 20 new prosecutors who will be completely and solely responsible for prosecuting only immigration offenses -- Lou.
DOBBS: All of whom remain to be hired.
TUCKER: Right.
DOBBS: The idea that federal judges are conducting themselves this way, the idea that a federal judge will not enforce the law is -- you know, I keep saying it doesn't make any sense at all.
TUCKER: And it undermines the law, and the logic that the law might be changed confounded everyone I spoked to today -- Lou.
DOBBS: And I frankly don't know where people turn to. We have a dysfunctional government, a dysfunctional administration on this issue. Homeland security is being run as if it's a joke. It turns out it is. Neither our borders, our ports or our homeland are secure.
Thank you very much, Secretary Michael Chertoff, I believe would be the way to say that.
Bill Tucker, thank you.
Later here I'll be joined by U.S. district court Judge Robert Brack of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The judge says this nation's court system is at the breaking point as our illegal immigration crisis and our war on drugs continue to worsen.
He's speaking out tonight. He'll be here to tell us his story. You don't want to miss it.
And the illegal alien amnesty movement tonight is beginning its most extensive and intensive effort yet to sign up one million new voters. Many of them presumably will be illegal aliens. All of that by Election Day.
Casey Wian has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The so-called Democracy Summer is in full swing in California thanks to Spanish language radio station La Raza and its biggest star. Los Angeles deejay El Cucuy, one of the organizers of the pro-amnesty street marches earlier this year, is now working to register a million Latino voters by Election Day. RENAN "EL CUCUY" ALMENDAREZ, LA RAZA RADIO (through translator): The voters are voting. We have become present. We have become visible in the marches. Now we have to become present in voting.
WIAN: The popular radio host, himself a former illegal alien, is beginning a 10-city nationwide voter registration tour. He drew scores of fans, several Latino TV and music stars, even a California state senator. Gil Cedillo, best known for his so far unsuccessful effort to grant California driver's licenses to illegal aliens, scoffs at concerns that illegal aliens and other non-citizens will register and vote.
GIL CEDILLO (D), CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE: That's a myth. There's no proof of that. People always bring that up as some danger. The real challenge we have in this country is having people vote.
WIAN: Organizers say in California alone there are four million Latino citizens who are not registered to vote. At this event, only 75 of them filled out voter registration forms. An attorney was present to answer questions about becoming a registered voter, a citizen or a legal resident. Only citizens can vote, but it's clear the goal is to help millions of illegal aliens become citizens and some day voters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Here in California, about a third of the population are Latino. But only about 14 percent of the state's voters identify themselves as Latino -- Lou.
DOBBS: And I'm sure there's a great expression of concern there by the local officials, state officials about whether or not those being registered are bona fide U.S. citizens?
WIAN: They deny that it's even a problem. Some of them, as you heard senator -- state senator Gil Cedillo say, it's a myth. We know that there has been documented cases here in California, we know there have been documented cases in New Mexico. We can't say that there's a lot of illegal aliens out there voting, but it does happen -- Lou.
DOBBS: Casey, thank you very much.
Casey Wian reporting tonight from Los Angeles.
The National Guard, remember, promising to have up to 6,000 troops on the border with Mexico by today. But you won't believe this. It just never happens in the effort to secure our borders and to fight illegal immigration.
The government's promises amounted to apparently nothing. Or at least only half of what they promised.
More than 6,000 new National Guard troops are in border states, we're told, such as New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and California. There's a little problem, though. Only half of those troops are on actual duty on the border. Tonight, the National Guard says it never intended to have 6,000 troops "with their toes on the border." But listen, if you will, to his prime-time speech to the American people on May 15th when President Bush -- after all, he is the commander in chief -- specifically ordered those troops to the U.S. border with Mexico while the Border Patrol hires more agents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One way to help during this transition is to use the National Guard. So in coordination with governors, up to 6,000 guard members will be deployed to our southern border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: I would just like to point out to the National Guard, General Blum, and others, the president, your commander in chief, said to the border. I would assume that he wanted their toes there as well, as the Guard so quaintly put it.
In fact, the National Guard's own Web site tonight is giving the impression that all 6,000 troops are on the border. Their Web site tonight says, "Up to 6,000 members of the National Guard are serving along the United States border with Mexico."
Perhaps we're drawing too much of an inference from that.
Tonight, the Bush White House has launched a major new effort to sell what it calls comprehensive immigration reform to the American people. Top Bush administration officials demanding what is nothing less than amnesty for illegal aliens.
We'll have a special report on a renewed offensive.
And in communist Cuba, Fidel Castro has emergency surgery, cedes government power to his brother Raul. Will the regime survive? We'll be going live to Havana for the latest.
And in the Middle East tonight, Israel expanding its offensive against Hezbollah. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations joins us.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Israel tonight has launched its biggest offensive into Lebanon in nearly a quarter century. Israeli troops have landed by helicopter in northeastern Lebanon, and they stormed a Hezbollah- operated hospital.
In just a moment we'll have a live report for you from northern Israel, the latest on the Israeli offensive. I'll be joined by the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations as well. First, the Bush administration tonight is intensifying and renewing its efforts to sell so-called comprehensive immigration reform. The White House is ignoring pleas from high-ranking members of the Republican Party in Congress to stop pushing illegal alien amnesty.
Lisa Sylvester has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): House Republicans are holding two dozen field hearings on the Senate's immigration plan this month. Rather than backing his fellow party members, President Bush is going head to head with key Republicans with a counterpublic relations blitz.
The president in Miami...
BUSH: The best way to enforce the border is to have a rational way for people who are doing jobs Americans aren't doing to come to this country on a temporary basis.
SYLVESTER: The Commerce secretary in Washington...
CARLOS GUTIERREZ, COMMERCE SECRETARY: We need sources of labor from other countries to fill jobs that simply are not getting filled.
SYLVESTER: White House officials are still insisting on putting illegal aliens on a path to citizenship. GOP critics worry the president's position could cost Republicans the majority in Congress.
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: The president going out to support the Democrats' bill in the Senate. This is absolutely the most ridiculous thing, and politically speaking it's suicide for Republicans.
SYLVESTER: The vast majority of Republican lawmakers oppose the so-called comprehensive approach.
AMY WALTER, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: We've already seen congressional candidates work to distance themselves from the president on this issue of immigration. We've seen it in a wide variety of districts, too, the suburbs, the Northeast, the Midwest.
SYLVESTER: A strange twist considering President Bush was a key factor for congressional wins in the 2002 and 2004 elections.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Representative Tom Tancredo posed this question. How does the head of the Republican Party, Mr. Bush, think that going across the country advocating the Democrats' position two months before the election will help the GOP? Tancredo went on to say that the president has declared open war on his own troops -- Lou.
DOBBS: And is the question, why would this, after seeing that the leadership, the Republican leadership in the House is absolutely distancing itself from the White House and from the Senate's amnesty efforts, why in the world would the president do this?
SYLVESTER: The vast majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill oppose this. Americans oppose the amnesty plan. It's unclear why the White House continues to push this line, other than it's for the sake of the open borders lobby, Lou.
DOBBS: His corporate masters' call, perhaps. Lisa, thanks. Lisa Sylvester.
Turning to Israel's expanding war with Hezbollah. Israel today launched a broad new offensive into southern Lebanon. As many as six Israeli brigades are on the move. At the same time, Israeli troops have launched a helicopter assault into northeastern Lebanon, storming a hospital operated and controlled by Hezbollah, in a possible effort to -- we're not certain at this hour -- trying to find two soldiers taken prisoner by Hezbollah terrorists three weeks ago, which was the incipient point in this conflict.
Matthew Chance reports now from northern Israel -- Matthew.
CHANCE: Thanks, Lou. And these are the deepest raids into Lebanon for many, many years.
As we've been reporting, Israeli troops landing near Baalbeck in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, as well, close to the Syrian border. They apparently, as you mentioned, stormed a hospital there and have been checking the identification of staff members and patients inside that hospital. That of course confirmed to CNN.
Elsewhere, though, the fighting has really been focused in southern Lebanon, where Israeli ground forces have been deployed in some considerable strength for the first time in the last several weeks in such strength, fighting in various areas, clashing in close contact, combat situations with Hezbollah fighters, really trying to establish some ground in that area, to push the Hezbollah back from the border. The emerging tactical objective, Lou, seems to be to try to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon and to hold that ground until such times as the multinational forces being discussed by many world leaders at the moment can be put together and then deployed on the ground. So they could be in Lebanon for quite some time, Lou.
DOBBS: Matthew, thank you very much. Matthew Chance reporting from northern Israel.
Tonight, Israel says it needs to continue fighting Hezbollah for at least another month. My next guest has written that Israel has been too timid in its battle against the radical Islamist terrorist group. He also says the United Nations has done absolutely nothing to disarm Hezbollah. Jed Babbin served as deputy undersecretary of defense under the elder George Bush. Also, a noted author and the author of the book "Inside the Asylum." Jed Babbin joins us tonight from Washington, D.C.
Jed, thanks for being here. You make it very clear that the United Nations in your estimation is frankly impotent and incapable of carrying out any kind of role in the resolution of the conflict. What should be the path towards some resolution in this conflict?
JED BABBIN, AUTHOR, "INSIDE THE ASYLUM": Well, I don't think this conflict can be resolved with just Israel and Lebanon and Hezbollah. You have to look at the overall picture in the region. You have Syria. You have Iran and other nations that are absolutely dedicated to preventing the rise of democracy, to bestir more terrorism, to supply it, fund it, man it, and so forth. Until that problem is solved on a regional basis, Lou, all the Israelis can do is stomp down some of the Hezbollah assets and get ready to do it again in two or three years' ahead of time.
DOBBS: And that of course has been the cycle of history. Are you suggesting that Israel should strike Syria and Iran?
BABBIN: Well, I don't think they have the ability to strike Iran, but if they want to fight the principal enemy and not fight the proxy, they have to take the battle at least into Syria. That's part of the problem. Syria has been a terrorist state, a terrorist- supporting, sponsoring nation since at least 1979. They are well involved with Hezbollah, al Qaeda and others, and someone needs to send them a message that they can't do that for free.
DOBBS: They can't do that for free. The costs, though, are extraordinarily high for all parties. The Israelis, the Lebanese, Hezbollah, and, you suggest, the Syrians as well. With so much anguish in the region and 58 years of absolutely idiotic U.S. policy in the Middle East -- I don't think you can describe it as anything less -- what is the way out of this cycle of madness and violence?
BABBIN: The only way out of the cycle of madness and violence, as you call it, is to, number one, defeat the ideology of radical Islam. And number two, get the nations that are supporting it out of that business. And that's going to be very tough. It is going to have to be done by a mixture of military force and diplomatic means. And the U.N. is incapable of participating in it, far less solving it.
DOBBS: The idea that the United Nations -- in your book, "Inside the Asylum," you have a picture showing side by side Hezbollah flag with that of the United Nations. You make it very clear that you think that there is far too close a relationship between Hezbollah and the United Nations. Is that correct?
BABBIN: Oh, absolutely. And if you look over history and you talk to the people who have been serving on that border on the Israeli side and you talk to the American observers who have been there, you see that not only has the U.N. effectively welcomed Hezbollah into their positions, they have used the same telephones, the same water. I mean, Lou, these guys are sitting there playing cribbage with terrorists for the past 20 years. How can anybody trust them to do anything different?
DOBBS: And how can we trust our geopolitical thinkers, who have been so wrong-headed, and who have been incapable of seeking a resolution? BABBIN: Well, I think we have a lot of very smart people. The question is, can they get the agreement within the administration to actually do something? And can we get any support from the international community.
DOBBS: Jed Babbin, thanks for being here.
We're going to go live to the White House. Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel has just met with the president. He's stepped before microphones and cameras. Let's hear what he has to say.
SHIMON PERES, ISRAEL'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: First of all, I thanked him very much for the ongoing support of the United States administration concerning Israel, concerning (inaudible). I complimented Dr. Rice for the load she took upon herself in a very difficult time. And I think if she will continue to do it, it will wind up such a success (inaudible).
Then I gave a little bit of a different picture that is being published about the military situation. We feel that we are nearing a decision in our confrontation with the Hezbollah. According to the latest figures, we have -- our army destroyed between 70 and 80 percent of the missiles and the launchers of the long-range missiles and rockets. Maybe the short-range are still there, but the reason that the Hezbollah stopped firing is because they're short of ammunition.
We think we cleaned more or less the southern part of the Lebanese border from the Hezbollah bases. We did it in such a manner so not to harm civilians (inaudible). We destroyed their fortifications. We destroyed the bases for the missiles of other places. We destroyed most of the headquarters of the Hezbollah in Lebanon. We think, also, that the casualties of the Hezbollah are by far higher than it was published. We estimated maybe something like 250 or 300 people.
DOBBS: Deputy prime minister -- Israel's deputy prime minister, Shimon Peres, giving reporters and all of us an account, at least by the reckoning of the Israelis as to what progress there has been in the offensive against Hezbollah. The deputy prime minister suggesting that as many as 300 Hezbollah have been killed, that Israel's forces have been successful in at least securing former Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon.
I want to go back to Jed Babbin now for a moment, to get your assessment as you listen to Shimon Peres. He's giving a very positive account of what has been a very difficult campaign against Hezbollah.
BABBIN: I think he's giving us at least a glimmering of what's going on over there. I think the fighting has been very heavy, and, of course, the Israelis are taking casualties not only in the military but in the civilians. The rockets are still raining down on northern Israel, and Hezbollah has apparently not run out and not run out of the will to fight.
DOBBS: But as Shimon Peres says, they seem to be very confident, the Israeli government, that they have inflicted significant losses on the Hezbollah supplies and inventories of rockets because we have seen, whether it's related or not, over the course of the past 48 hours, far fewer of those rockets being launched into Israel. Jed Babbin, thanks for being with us.
BABBIN: My pleasure.
DOBBS: Again, Shimon Peres, deputy prime minister of Israel leaving his meeting with the president and giving an accounting and progress report on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. We'll have far more on this widening war between Israel and Hezbollah. We're live in Havana, Cuba, next where there is new uncertainty about both the health of Fidel Castro and the future of his regime.
We'll also have the latest on Israel's offensive into northeastern Lebanon. Israeli troops storming a hospital in the town of Baalbeck, northeastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, joins us next. A great deal more still ahead here, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Six Israeli brigades tonight are pushing deeper into southern Lebanon. At least three Israeli soldiers killed. Israeli troops have landed by helicopter in northeastern Lebanon, storming a hospital and 30 Israeli troops have been wounded in this widening action. In a moment, we'll have a live report for you from northern Israel and the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman joins me.
But first tonight, Fidel Castro is reported to be recovering from emergency surgery. And for the first time in nearly a half century, he's not in control of communist Cuba. Castro turns 80 in two weeks. Before the operation, he temporarily transferred power to his brother, Raul. Raul, 75, is Cuba's defense minister. Shasta Darlington joins us now, reporting from Havana. Shasta?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN PRODUCER: Cubans woke up with a new leader today. Raul Castro has taken over as the provisional head of the government. We didn't have news all day about the state of health of Fidel Castro, but towards the end of the day, the head of the national assembly, Ricardo Alercon spoke to a Cuban news agency saying that his last days were still a long ways off.
That will come as good news for a lot of Cubans who were worried that their 79-year-old leader had taken a turn for the worse. Although for his age, he's very active, he gives these two-hour speeches. This has certainly been a wake-up call and people are recognizing that transition could be just around the corner.
Still they carried on with their business as usual. But we didn't see much unusual activity in the streets. People were going to work, going to the beach, walking along the seawall, again trying to give this idea that things are continuing as they normally would. Lou?
DOBBS: Shasta Darlington, reporting for us from Havana, thank you.
Tonight in Miami, Cuban exiles opposed to the Castro regime trying to encourage Cuba's pro-democracy movement, small though it may be. Celebrations breaking out in the streets of Miami. Cuban residents there waving flags and cheering the news that Castro ceded power to his brother even if only temporarily.
Miami has a Cuban-born population of nearly three-quarters of a million people. For decades now, Washington has had very different attitudes of course between Communist Cuba and Communist China. Cuba is a mere 90 miles from the United States. And we have an embargo on trade with Cuba.
But we seemingly are handing over our economy to Communist China, a nation with a population of 1.3 billion, China. Cuba's population just over 11 million. Militarily China has a standing army of 1.4 million. Cuba's military amounts to 60,000.
Economically the United States annually trade deficit with China, more than $200 billion last year. With Cuba we had a trade surplus of $369 million. It's hard to figure how to treat a communist.
Still ahead here, this nation's federal ports are being overwhelmed by illegal immigration and our losing battle against drugs on our southern border. I'll be talking with a federal judge from New Mexico who has seen his case load explode as the border crisis worsens. Also tonight Israeli troops pushing deeper into Lebanon. They've stormed a hospital in northeastern Lebanon and the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations joins me. Stay with us for all of that and a great deal more.
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DOBBS: Israel tonight has launched a full scale invasion of southern Lebanon. After three weeks of intense fighting on the border, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel's military campaign will eventually pave the way for a cease-fire. But the prime minister said an immediate cease-fire would not be in Israel's interests. Joining me now, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman. Mr. Ambassador, good to have you here.
DAN GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U..N: Good to be here, Lou.
DOBBS: Kofi Annan, the secretary-general, brought together the five members of the Security Council with veto power, trying to move forward to both a cease-fire and a peacekeeping force. Any hope of that working?
GILLERMAN: Well, Kofi is in a great hurry and I think too much of a hurry. He actually convened the Security Council on Sunday asking for an immediate cease-fire. The Security Council did not decide on one.
And I think most members still of the Security Council realize that a cease-fire without putting out the fire would be premature and a peacekeeping force can only come in -- you can only keep the peace if there's peace.
DOBBS: This is -- well, that may be a truism, war is only war and it's unending in the Middle East through both the failed policies of the United States and the parties involved, 22 Arab states, Iran, the Palestinians, Israel. What is the solution?
GILLERMAN: The solution is exactly what we're trying to do. We're trying to change the pattern of behavior and the culture of hatred. We're trying to do away with the terrorist organization which has taken over Lebanon, held it hostage for so many years and used it as a terror base against Israel. And that terror organization is just the proxy for Iran and Syria, who actually trying to destabilize not only our region but the whole world. So the solution is to eliminate terror, to fight Islamic fundamentalism. And we are doing it in our region, and I think that's the reason that many countries in the world, including some of our moderate neighbors, feel that we're fighting this war not just for ourselves but for the whole world. We're paying the price, but we're doing their work for them.
DOBBS: You're paying a price, the Lebanese are paying a price, Hezbollah is paying the price, and they're the ones to whom you've presented the bill. But the fact is, this campaign differs from no other. Trying to root out a culture of hatred -- there are those, as you well know, Ambassador, who say that you're creating more volunteers for Hezbollah by the civilian casualties that in Southern Lebanon.
The fact is, that the security of Israel seems just as jeopardized as at any other time in what has been a woeful, violent history. Is there not a way in which Israel, the United States, the principal parties, if you will, the six, can come together and say there should be a Palestinian state, that we should have security for Israel, and get it done rather than this unending violence and this endless talk?
GILLERMAN: Well, this way has been presented and offered to the Palestinians. It was actually given to them very generously by President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak. They could have by now had their own state, run their own affairs, cared about the welfare and standard of living of their own people.
DOBBS: I wish I could agree with you, Ambassador, that the Palestinians are the only fools in this terrible tragic, endless cycle of violence, but we're all complicit and we're all part of the violence because we haven't been either wise enough or intelligent enough or engaged enough or resolute enough to end this -- 58 years.
Einstein said the "definition of insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting a different result." Is there not a way here in which people could break through and say, we're going to come to terms with reality and make a better reality?
GILLERMAN: You know, Israel has had five prime ministers who offered the Palestinians their own state, who offered them practically all of the land. You know that we ...
DOBBS: Mr. Ambassador, I will concede that the Palestinians have been fools.
GILLERMAN: Palestinians have not missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
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DOBBS: I understand. Let's call the Palestinians fools.
GILLERMAN: OK, they're not fools.
DOBBS: Let's call the Israelis the greatest guys, but what I'm saying to you is, in this I think we're all fools because the Palestinians, the Arabs, even Iran, all of us are real victims and potential victims of this. Why cannot intelligent people come to terms, led in part -- and I put great responsibility personally in this, my only view -- that the United States would tolerate this and not seek resolution. Surely there's a way.
GILLERMAN: There's a way. There's a very quick way. I mean, all Israel wants is peace. All our neighbors want, what the Palestinians want and the Hezbollah want is to destroy us. If they stop terror, if they stop hating us, if they start loving their children more than they hate us, if they stop ...
DOBBS: That's what Golda Meir once said.
GILLERMAN: That's Golda Meir, that's right. And if they stop this cultural hatred and incitement in the textbooks, raising more and more children who want to be suicide bombers, there would be peace overnight.
DOBBS: Ambassador Gillerman, we thank you for being here.
GILLERMAN: Thank you very much.
DOBBS: You don't leave me any more hopeful, but thank you.
GILLERMAN: Well, I tried.
DOBBS: Coming up at the top of the hour here on CNN, "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. Wolf, tell us about it.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Lou.
Much more on the crisis in the Middle East. Thousands of Israeli ground forces right now moving deeper and deeper into Lebanon and Israel's air war about to start full speed ahead in the coming minutes. We're taking you live to the frontlines and beyond.
Plus Fidel Castro, speculation and rumors flying after the dictator gives up power for the first time in 47 years. Is this the beginning of the end?
Also dancing before he's dead. In Miami, Cuban-Americans taking to the streets to celebrate Castro's decline. And Mel Gibson apologizes for his anti-Semitic rant. It is enough to make his critics forgive? All that, Lou, coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
DOBBS: And coming up here, America's federal courts overwhelmed by our illegal immigration crisis and our failing war on drugs at our southern border. I'll be talking with a federal judge who says his workload is soaring, our border crisis worsening, and no help on the way. Stay with us. You'll want to meet him.
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DOBBS: This nation's federal court system is unable to handle a rising number of criminal cases in this country involving illegal immigration and illegal drugs.
Joining me tonight is U.S. District Court Judge Robert Brack, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Judge, good to have you with us.
JUDGE ROBERT BRACK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT: Good evening, Mr. Dobbs.
DOBBS: Give us a sense, if you would, Judge, of how many cases you will handle this year. The national average for a district court judge is just about 87, somewhere between 87 and 90 cases, right?
BRACK: Yes, sir. Those are the statistics we have from the administrative office.
DOBBS: And you handle how many cases this year?
BRACK: Through the first six months of this year, I'm on track to sentence over 1,400.
DOBBS: Through the first six months?
BRACK: I'm on track to do 1,400 for the year. It was over 700 for the six months, yes, sir.
DOBBS: Oh my gosh. And this is primarily as a result of a war on drugs that we've obviously not committed ourselves to winning and illegal immigration?
BRACK: I do almost exclusively immigration and drugs. I have a small civil docket as well. And, yes, the war on drugs is a scourge on our society, a scourge on our age. We seem to have an insatiable demand for those things.
DOBBS: You're talking about 1,400 cases. I mean, that's incredible. At the same time, is this what federal judges are facing in all of the border states, our southern border in particular?
BRACK: Absolutely. I'm no aberration. From Brownsville, to San Diego, I think, is 2,000 miles. Las Cruces is just one little courthouse on the border. And the dockets have skyrocketed over the last several years, as you know. DOBBS: I would hope, Judge -- because we're running out of time here, I would hope you would come back and we can discuss this. But are you hopeful that something can be done here to help you and other federal court judges, to help the judicial system itself in this country?
BRACK: Well, I can only be hopeful. Yes, I hope that additional resources are put -- are sent down here. Certainly, enforcement is one thing, but you know, it's a multi-tiered system, a complex issue. We can't just have enforcement. We have to have enforcement up the chain, and sure, if I need to come back, I'd be glad to.
DOBBS: Judge Robert Brack, we'd be delighted for you to do so, and we'd appreciate it. Thank you. We appreciate your time and your thoughts.
BRACK: Thanks very much.
DOBBS: Turning now to some of your e-mails, J.W. in New York wrote to say, "If Bush ran his household like he runs his country, he's have a Chinese mortgage."
Mike in Ohio: "Lou, could you give Congress and the president a memo as they're about to start their summer vacations? Don't bother coming back. Thank you, Lou." I wish I could communicate with the Congress.
And Jerry in Georgia: "The way I see it, Congress going home for the summer is the equivalent of a cease-fire in the war on the middle class. Can we get them to stay there?"
Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs.com.
Finally tonight, I want to welcome the newest addition to the Dobbs family, born this morning to Michelle (ph) and Jason Dobbs, the lovely Malaya Maria Dobbs, seven pounds, 13 ounces of delight and joy, our first grandchild. Mother, daughter, even father, doing great.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us here tomorrow. For all of us, good night from New York. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now with Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.
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