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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Israel & Hezbollah Keep Firing, Diplomats Debate in New York; Tyre Cut Off From Rest of Lebanon and Under Curfew; Arab League Delegation Accuses U.N. of Allowing Mideast Crisis to Worsen; Connecticut Primary Heats Up; Dore Gold Interview; Imad Moustapha Interview
Aired August 08, 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: Tonight, the Israeli military is preparing for a deeper push into Lebanon. Israel is warning residents of the besieged port city of Tyre to keep off all roads and remain indoors as Israel intensifies its attack against Hezbollah.
Diplomats here in New York tonight are struggling to hammer out a peace deal as violence in Lebanon and Israel worsens.
The Syrian ambassador to the United States will be our guest here tonight, as will Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Both sides in this conflict represented here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Tuesday, August 8th.
Live in New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody.
Israeli tonight is again intensifying its offensive in southern Lebanon as the diplomatic efforts to win a cease-fire in the conflict falter. More than 140 Hezbollah rockets fell on northern Israel today. The Israeli security cabinet is set to decide whether to further widen the ground campaign in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, desperation is growing within the Lebanese port city of Tyre as Israeli blasts all routes around that city.
Jim Clancy tonight reports from Beirut on the worsening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Matthew Chance reports from northern Israel tonight, where the Israeli military is awaiting orders to widen its ground assault.
And Ben Wedeman has the latest for us from Tyre, where tens of thousands of people tonight have no way out.
We begin with Jim Clancy in Beirut -- Jim.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, as we look at the situation right now, a lot of debate this day about the number of civilian casualties, and not just on one side, on all sides in this conflict. Unusually high. Let's begin and look at Beirut. Once again, the southern suburbs coming under attack this day. At least three Israeli airstrikes pounding those areas of the capital and the southern suburbs where Israeli believes Hezbollah still has some command or control or offices still operating here in the Lebanese capital.
Meantime, and in Shiyah, another southern suburb, the digging continued trying to recover the remains of some of those still believed trapped. According to officials, the death toll rising to 30 once again. Residents in that area saying there were no fighters, no Hezbollah. In fact, it was a (INAUDIBLE) or movement of hope area that is really led by the speaker of the parliament, Nabih Beri.
Israeli says that it doesn't say why it does or does not target individual buildings in this conflict. No comment there.
Meantime, in Ghaziye, just south of Sidon -- that's about 30 miles south of Beirut -- there was eight civilians killed. They were killed in the village of Ghaziye during -- at the same time that there was a funeral taking place for 13 family members who had been killed in Israeli airstrike just the day before.
All of the south under pressure now.
Let me show you one of the leaflets that's being handed out by the Israelis, being dropped over Tyre. It warns residents there, "Stay off the roads. You become a potential target if you go out on the roads."
All indicators that Israeli is hoping to widen its military operations here as that U.N. cease-fire resolution moves up. There could be a vote on that on Thursday.
The reality is, Lou, 24 years ago when I was in Beirut, the Israeli army pushed within the outskirts of Beirut in a matter of two or three days with a handful of casualties. Tonight, they are barely inside Lebanon. Some times at about five miles inside. In other places, only hundreds of meters.
So the reality is that Israeli is pretty far behind here, and you can look, Lou. There may be some kind of a shift in the command structure of who is running this operation on the Israeli side.
Meantime, the United Nations saying very clearly the civilian casualty count on both sides is incredible. There are more children that have been killed than combatants.
Lou, back to you.
DOBBS: Jim, it's after 1:00 in the morning there in Beirut. Give us a sense as to the intensity of the Israeli airstrikes there tonight. Is it relatively quiet as compared to previous nights?
CLANCY: Compared to previous nights, this certainly lighter than it was on Monday. That is here in Beirut, Lou. But you've got to understand that down in southern Lebanon, where any ground action may be taking place, those operations have been stepped up.
There's no aid. It's all cut off. There's no way to get any more aid to about a hundred thousand villagers still stranded down there in the south. But the Israeli military may be trying to expand its operations in the hours ahead.
People there holding their breath, waiting and watching -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jim, thank you. Absolutely, as you say. And we will be going to southern Lebanon for a report from Ben Wedeman in just a matter of moments. Turning now to northern Israel.
Jim Clancy reporting to us live from Beirut.
Israeli troops are fighting fierce ground battles with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, as Jim Clancy just reported. At least four Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting today. And now the Israeli cabinet is deciding whether to widen the ground offensive.
Matthew Chance has that report from northern Israel.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, you may be able to hear the thunder of artillery shelling going on behind me as Israeli guns pound Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. The Israeli government and the Israeli military have made it clear that if the diplomatic effort that's currently under way in New York comes to nothing, Israel has a very strong military option which it is quite prepared to use to expand its offensive in southern Lebanon, to pour in more and more forces, thousands more tanks and personnel, in order to link up with the 10,000 or more soldiers that are currently there and to expand their operations across southern Lebanon to really try and get control of as many of the areas as possible from where these Hezbollah rockets are being launched into towns and cities across northern Israel.
There is also concern in Israel at the moment about the use by Hezbollah of an unmanned aerial vehicle, a drone which was intercepted by the Israeli air force off the coast of Israel within the past 24 hours or so. It was believed at first to be carrying explosives. It has the potential to do that, according to Israeli intelligence officials that we've spoken to.
This one was not believed to have been carrying explosives. It may have just been some kind of propaganda ploy by Hezbollah to show that they have the technology capability to do this.
There has also been reaction from Israeli on the proposal by the Lebanese -- and you can hear the shelling coming closer here -- the Lebanese government to deploy 15,000 Lebanese army troops in southern Lebanon. Israel says it welcomes that proposal in principle, it's what it wanted all along, to see Lebanese army troops on the border instead of the Hezbollah militia. But it has big concerns about how robust that Lebanese contingent will be.
Will they be prepared to disarm Hezbollah? If they are, then it's successful. If not, Israeli troops will be going in -- Lou. DOBBS: Matthew Chance, thank you, reporting from northern Israel.
The southern Lebanese port city of Tyre tonight is virtually cut off from the outside world. Israel warning residents of Tyre to stay off roads and streets. Israel preparing to step up its air and ground campaign against Hezbollah.
Tens of thousands of civilians still live in and around Tyre. For them, there is no way out tonight.
Ben Wedeman reports from Tyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The city of Tyre is effectively cut off from the rest of Lebanon and under a curfew. That, after Israel dropped leaflets on this southern Lebanese city banning vehicle traffic.
People are still allowed to walk around by foot. The leaflet said that any vehicle on the roads of southern Lebanon will be considered a legitimate target for Israeli airstrikes.
Now, this, of course, is causing extreme problems for international relief organizations. The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jacob Kellenberger, came to Tyre today, but he didn't come all the way by car. He had to stop at the Litani River, where Israel has blown out the bridge and other temporary crossings several times. He had to cross on a log, which is now the only way over the river.
When he came to Tyre, he gave a press conference and he expressed extreme concern about the humanitarian situation in southern Lebanon. He said that the Red Cross now has its second largest operation in the world here in Lebanon. That, the second one after Sudan.
He said that they're very concerned about the approximately 100,000 civilians left in southern Lebanon here in Tyre, and in towns and villages throughout the south. That, of course -- the population before was 400,000. He said the population that's still here is suffering from a lack of food, a lack of clean water, a lack of medicine. He also referred to the Israeli leaflets banning vehicle traffic, saying just because those leaflets have been dropped, it does not absolve Israel of its responsibility to respect international humanitarian law.
Meanwhile, the bombardment of southern Lebanon, from the air, from the sea, from land, from artillery continues. There's no end in sight for this conflict here on the ground.
I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Tyre, south Lebanon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: And in New York here tonight, Arab League delegates are before the United Nations, and today they blasted the permanent five of the Security Council for standing by and doing absolutely nothing to end this conflict as it worsens. But the Arab League continues to insist that Israeli withdraw from southern Lebanon before any cease- fire can take effect.
Richard Roth is live at the United Nations with the latest for us -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Lou.
The United Nations Security Council was the scene of intense passionate argument, anger with Israel, Lebanon, Qatar, everyone going at it regarding this resolution and the ongoing war. The representative -- the foreign minister of Qatar told the Security Council that Lebanon's proposal of sending in 15,000 government soldiers is good enough to adjust the wording of this resolution so that Israeli should leave much faster than the proposed wording and allow Lebanon to police southern Lebanon and police Hezbollah.
Otherwise, he says there is a risk of a civil war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If we adopt resolutions without fully considering the reality of Lebanon, we will face a civil war. Instead of helping Lebanon, as the representative of Israel has said, we will destroy Lebanon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: The Israeli ambassador fired back, saying he was shocked that Hezbollah was not mentioned once by the visiting Arab delegation who came from Beirut with a united position. He said that sending the Lebanese army down south to work with the U.N. peacekeeping mission is ridiculous because the U.N. operation since 1978 has been a failure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMB. TO U.N.: The terrorists are watching, Mr. President. If this council adopts the path of half measures, concessions and mere declarations, they will be emboldened and we will find ourselves back at this table a week, a month, or a year from now, facing a tragedy of similar or even greater proportion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: One of the visiting Arab dignitaries, Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, just told journalists that they're going to be talking again tomorrow morning and they're going to learn then whether the Security Council has accepted some of their proposed language changes.
So, we're not going to have a vote tonight. No way we're going to have a vote early tomorrow -- Lou.
DOBBS: And in that language, the ambassador from the Arab League to the United Nations, Ambassador Malassani (ph) said here last night that the introduction of 15,000 Lebanese troops, Richard, critically important, but the withdrawal as a condition precedent to a cease-fire on the part of the Israelis was also their goal, as you just reported. But no mention of the disarmament of Hezbollah, period.
ROTH: That's right. And under this resolution, currently Hezbollah would be disarmed by the Lebanese government, but first they would be a robust international peacekeeping force in there. But what Lebanon and the others are saying, we can do it before that force gets there.
DOBBS: Thank you very much, Richard.
Richard Roth reporting from the United Nations.
A great deal more coming up on the widening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Also ahead, what we cannot do when it comes to border security and illegal immigration enforcement. It is a very long list. We'll have a special report.
And then, middle class families bracing for more record gasoline prices while the Bush administration today decided to celebrate its one-year-old energy policy.
And the war between Israeli and Hezbollah. The Syrian ambassador to the United States says U.S. policy is fundamentally wrong. I'll be talking with the ambassador here next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Our borders and our ports aren't secure, but President Bush is pushing Congress again to approve his so-called comprehensive immigration proposals. But while the president is pushing for new immigration laws, there is a seemingly endless list of existing immigration laws that we are simply failing to enforce.
We have two startling reports tonight.
Casey Wian reports on a federal judge who allowed illegal aliens to sue after they lost their jobs. And it's an interesting reason why.
And Christine Romans reports on our litany of failures -- our government's litany of failures when it comes to border security and illegal immigration enforcement.
We begin with Casey Wian reporting from Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): ... the Los Angeles farm laborer contractor specializing in the federal government's existing agriculture guest worker program. Each year, the government grants between 14,000 33,000 H2A visas to farmers who can't find enough local workers.
Global Horizon supplies workers mostly from Asia to farmers in two dozen states, including, until this year, Washington State.
MORDECHAI ORIAN, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL HORIZONS: The farmers were very happy. They say, "You know what? Not only I get legal aid and I can sleep well at night," I got also people who are productive and also not coming to make my unemployment and workers' compensation go up through the roof.
WIAN: To qualify for H2A visas, Global Horizon first must show a local labor shortage exists. So it run ads and accepts applicants from unemployment offices.
In Washington, 600 people applied for jobs. The vast majority, Global Horizons says, were illegal aliens. About half provided the company with phony Social Security numbers and were fired. Most of the rest it says never showed up for work.
But now Global Horizons is fighting a class action employment discrimination lawsuit. Incredibly, a federal judge recently ruled the illegal aliens who provided fraudulent documents can also sue from losing their jobs.
ORIAN: We're just outraged, and we think that it's shocking. And I think all the farmers that came up speechless about it, they don't know even what to do because now the same government to tell us use illegals, if not you're going to be arrested or get fined as using illegals. On the other hand, they're telling, you know what? If you don't hire the illegal, you can get in trouble, too.
WIAN: U.S. magistrate Judge Michael Leavitt (ph) ruled the phony Social Security numbers do not establish that the workers are illegal aliens. And he also found that "At this stage in the litigation, the immigration status of individual plaintiffs is not relevant."
Leavitt's clerk says the ruling leaves open the possibility the illegal aliens could be dropped from the suit if it goes to trial.
(on camera): Still, Global Horizons is furious it's being sued for following federal laws against hiring illegal aliens. The law firm representing the illegal aliens would not comment for the record.
Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: And the failure to exist -- enforce existing immigration laws against hiring illegal aliens is just one example of this country's seeming inability to secure our border. There is an endless list of what our government cannot or will not do to protect our borders and our ports.
Christine Romans has the report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Undercover investigators with fake documents breathing through border patrol. Concerned new passports with radio frequency I.D. technology could be corrupted by hackers and attempts to secure the southern border with technology a disaster.
Since 1997, half a billion taxpayer dollars spent on high-tech border cameras at a cost of $800,000 each. Many were never installed. Many others don't work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we make the federal government more efficient, more effective and more accountable? And until we do that, I think we run the risk that these stories will continue.
ROMANS: Time and again, federal audits have shown lapses in security with little progress in the five years since 9/11.
TIM ROEMER, FMR. 9/1 COMMISSIONER: Cameras that may not work, forged documents that too easily are passed off as real and get people through, dirty bombs that are snuck across the border that actually make it through. We know terrorists will use travel documents as weapons. We have to learn the lessons of 9/11 and plug these holes and get our left hand of our government working with our right hand and competently manage these problems.
ROMANS: Problems like our ports, where less than 5 percent of cargo is inspected. And problems like overstaying visas.
An audit last year found at least 3.6 million people have overstayed their visas and disappeared into American society. Of those the government investigates, few are ever deported. The inspector general found "actual removal of visa violators is minuscule."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: In that vast sea of visa violators the FBI and the immigration authorities are currently looking for 11 Egyptian students who failed to show up for class last week in Montana. Now, their visas have been revoked.
If they are caught, Lou, and if they are deported, they would be the exception.
DOBBS: Incredible, 3.6. -- almost four million people in the same category as these 11 Egyptian students. And you would think with the way the Department of Homeland Security is ballyhooing itself that it had done something extraordinary to discover that 11 students had overstayed their visas.
ROMANS: Eleven, as I said, in a sea of visa violators. There are so many people in this country we have no idea of their motives, their backgrounds, where they are, what they're doing, where they're working. DOBBS: And as you reported, the technology that the president and the Senate ballyhoo doesn't work, despite spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money and saying that's the way they're going to enforce our borders.
Does anything this government try to do -- tries to do in border enforcement work?
ROMANS: Off the top of my head, I couldn't think of a list as long as the list I just gave you here.
DOBBS: You know what? The reason I ask you is I couldn't think of one single thing myself, except a fence. That seems to be working.
Thank you very much, Christine Romans.
Tonight, two Texas border patrol agents await possible life sentencing. The agents were charged with shooting a Mexican citizen who tried to smuggle drugs into the United States.
Prosecutors gave the smuggler full immunity from his crimes to testify against the border patrol agents. A jury convicted the agents on multiple charges, including assault with a deadly weapon.
Incredibly, the prosecutor says the border patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone who is fleeing. Supporters of the officers say agents receive conflicting information as to what constitutes reasonable pursuit. The case is under appeal.
Casey Wian will have a full report here tomorrow night from El Paso, Texas.
Tonight, middle class Americans hit harder than ever before. Families now bracing for even higher gasoline prices just in time for August vacations.
And what is the Bush administration doing? Your federal government at work cheering its one-year-old energy policy. We will have our own report on the effectiveness of that policy.
Also ahead, the U.S. military gives more control to Iraq's army as scores more are killed in a new wave of violence. We'll have the latest for you from Baghdad.
And at this hour, the United Nations still trying to arrange a Middle East cease-fire. Former Israeli U.N. ambassador Dore Gold will be join us, and I'll be talking with Syria's ambassador to the United States.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Hezbollah today fired nearly 150 rockets into northern Israel. Israeli counterstrikes continue. Israeli warning residents of Tyre and southern Lebanon to stay off streets and roads or risk becoming a victim of the conflict.
No cease-fire agreement out of the United Nations tonight. Arab League delegates today met with the United Nations Security Council. The league trying to force an Israeli withdraw from southern Lebanon as a condition precedent to a cease-fire.
I'll be talking with Syria's ambassador to the United States.
The war between Israeli and Hezbollah pushing world oil prices to new highs since the fighting began almost a month ago. Now middle class families in this country bracing for even higher gasoline prices after the nation's largest domestic oilfield was shut down.
So what was the Bush administration's response today to those rising oil and gasoline prices and rising pressure on American family budgets? A celebration of the accomplishments of the administration's energy policy.
Lisa Sylvester has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): $3.29 for gas in Washington, D.C. The price of oil nearly $80 a barrel. BP Alaska says it will take months to repair its pipeline, taking 400,000 barrels of oil off the market.
Not an encouraging picture for consumers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I can say, the price is going sky high.
SYLVESTER: Tell that to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who opened up a news conference today this way...
SAMUEL BODMAN, ENERGY SECRETARY: This is a great day for this department, for the country, I believe. It was just one year ago on August 8th that the president signed the landmark legislation into law.
SYLVESTER: A great day? The Energy secretary is touting the Energy Policy Act that became law a year ago. But critics say that's no reason for the Bush administration to self-congratulate.
MARK COOPER, CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA: The administration's "don't worry be happy" view of the world just is not the reality that the average consumer faces today.
SYLVESTER: The energy bill was chock full of incentives for big oil, including royalty relief. It aimed at solving the energy crisis.
According to the Consumer Federation of America, since the energy bill was signed a year ago, gas prices have climbed 30 percent.
MASSIE RITSCH, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: Folks who are paying high prices at the pump probably feel that they're just outsized by this industry, they can't possibly compete with its influence.
SYLVESTER: Meantime, oil companies are raking it in. ExxonMobil announced it earned over $10 billion this quarter. If you lined up 10 billion dollar bills, that's enough to go to the moon and back... twice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: And according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the oil and gas industry gave $7 million to Democratic and Republican candidates this election cycle, gifts that keep on giving. The American Petroleum Institute says that the energy bill was a first start and more needs to be done to bring oil and natural gas to the American people -- Lou.
DOBBS: I think just looking at a gasoline pump and seeing those numbers is a pretty clear indication of that. And when you mentioned the subsidies to the oil and gas industry in this country, at a time of record-high profits, we should point out perhaps, Lisa, that that amounted to some $10 billion in subsidies, as well as $7 billion in royalties that were not rolled back to the oil companies while they were making, as you pointed out, a very large fortune.
SYLVESTER: Indeed, they are. And they've been making these record profits, $10 billion. So, to put that in context, again, that is just for this past quarter for ExxonMobil. A lot of money we're talking about that these oil companies are raking in.
DOBBS: Absolutely. And most of that money coming out of the pockets of American working men and women and their families. One year after that new energy policy.
Lisa Sylvester, thank you very much, as always, reporting from Washington.
Time now for tonight's poll. Our question: Do you believe that working Americans and their families should be celebrating the one- year anniversary of the Energy Policy Act of 2005?
Cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. We'll have the results here later in the broadcast.
Next, American forces handing over more security details to the Iraqi army as sectarian violence rips through Iraq. Dozens killed today. We'll be going to Baghdad for the latest.
Senator Joe Lieberman fighting for his political life for supporting President Bush on Iraq.
We're live with reports in Connecticut on what has now become a very ugly fight and charges of political dirty tricks and calls for a criminal investigation.
And the war between Israel and Hezbollah. The Syrian ambassador to the United States joins me. He says the U.S. policy is simply wrong. Former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Dore Gold, will also be our guest here as well.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Tonight, is more dying on both sides of the Middle East conflict. The U.N. Security Council adjourned without any sign of a cease-fire deal. And Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel's security cabinet will consider tomorrow whether to expand its military offensive into Lebanon.
Ahead, I will be talking with Israel's former U.N. ambassador Dore Gold from Jerusalem, and talking with Syria's ambassador to the United States from Washington.
Two more of our troops have been killed in Iraq. One soldier died of wounds sustained fighting insurgents in Al Anbar province. Another soldier died from wounds from enemy small arms fire in Baghdad. Now, 2,592 of our troops have been killed in Iraq.
The U.S. military tonight is handing over more of its security operations to the Iraqi army, even as the security situation worsens in Baghdad and across Iraq. More than 20 people were killed today in Baghdad alone.
Harris Whitbeck has the latest from Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iraqi commanders unfurled their division's flag on a military base in Tikrit. The ceremony in the presence of top U.S. military commanders and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq served to formalize the transfer the power in the province from U.S. to Iraqi military forces, bringing the number of Iraqi army divisions in control of Iraqi territory to five with five more due to take over by the end of the year.
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, U.S. COMMANDER IN IRAQ: They just keep taking small steps and they get better and better every day.
WHITBECK: But whoever is in control of security in Iraq continues to face a huge challenge. Just before the ceremony in Tikrit, two roadside bombs exploded in nearby Samarra, killing nine people. And in Baghdad two explosions, one in the main market, killed another 10. Sectarian violence in the capital has risen sharply in the recent months.
ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Securing Baghdad is vital. It's the national capital, of course, and seven million Iraqis live there the scene of great deal of violence in Iraq. Should this government be dismissed as having failed to deal with it, Iraq will be in a much more difficult situation.
WHITBECK: More U.S. troops have been sent into Baghdad. On Monday, they and Iraqi forces, supported by air power, fought Shia militia in the sprawling slum of Sadr City, and that has caused a rift between the U.S. military and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Maliki criticized what he called the heavy-handedness of the U.S. force.
NURI AL-MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): When they bombed Sadr City with planes, I was so angered and pained from this operation.
WHITBECK (on camera): Maliki now faces the challenge of trying to overcome the sectarian violence in the capital, at the same time as running a country whose army is a long way from being in control.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: Tonight, the fate of Senator Joseph Lieberman has the attention of politicians and voters far beyond the state of Connecticut. If Senator Lieberman loses his party's nomination to first-time candidate Ned Lamont, it would rattle perhaps both parties, certainly the Democratic Party. The last day of campaigning brought accusations of high-tech political tricks.
Candy Crowley is in Hartford tonight with the story -- Candy.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, I can tell you, after a chat with the secretary of state here in Connecticut, that they did a random sampling of about 10 towns and found that voter turnout was a lot higher than they originally predicted.
Once they thought maybe 35, 40 percent of registered Democrats would vote in this election. They're now changing that to maybe 40 to 50 percent -- very high voter turnout. There is concern in the Lieberman camp and hope in the Lamont camp that those voter participation rates are much higher in liberal towns, presumed to favor Lamont.
Both candidates were at the polls today, both candidates talking a good game. Joe Lieberman, who saw some movement in the polls in favor of himself, feels that perhaps momentum is on his side and he could close the deal, still talking, of course, about how he is not George Bush, about how he has been able to deliver for the state of Connecticut, that the state of Connecticut should not, as he put it, go for someone who needs training wheels.
Lamont's message is pure and simple: change. It started with, of course, the war in Iraq. He is an anti-war candidate. He was fueled by the blogosphere. As you mentioned, there was a bit of a dust-up today. The Lieberman logged -- the Lieberman Web site has been down now almost 24 hours.
The Lieberman camp blames Lamont bloggers and asked Lamont to tell them to knock it off. Lamont said, look, this is preposterous, I had nothing to do with this. So just a dust-up in what has been a very bitter race here and what, down to the wire, has been very, very hard to predict -- Lou.
DOBBS: And, Candy, Lanny Davis, former advisor to former President Bill Clinton, in an editorial today talking about the nastiness and vituperative and ugly things that are being said about Senator Lieberman within the Democratic Party. This race has really touched nerves in that state.
CROWLEY: It has. And it has beyond the state, but you're right, Davis and a number of people that I have talked to in the Lieberman camp have mentioned the blogosphere. Look, they have sustained the campaign of Lamont, at least one leading liberal blogger has appeared in Lamont's TV ads.
Certainly, there has been a number of dust-ups about some of the things that have been on the blogs, but it has kept this campaign going. In fact, it has given money to the campaign, though he doesn't need it as you know. Lamont is a very wealthy man. But, nonetheless, this has become a very acrid debate and probably has larger implications for the country.
DOBBS: As you say, Ned Lamont is putting some $4 million of his own money into this race. Candy, thank you very much. Candy Crowley reporting from Hartford.
Tonight, another closely watched primary race is taking place in Georgia. Before I tell you about that, I should point out the polls in Connecticut tonight do close at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Representative Cynthia McKinney -- speaking of Georgia -- is seeking to hold her seat representing a suburban Atlanta district. McKinney recently avoided assault charges after she apparently struck a Capitol Hill police officer, the grand jury declining to indict her. And her opponent in that race is favored in the most recent polls. Primaries tonight are also being held in Colorado, Michigan, and Missouri.
Returning now to our top story, the war between Israeli and Hezbollah, the United Nations today debated a cease-fire draft resolution calling for Israeli troops to remain in Lebanon. Lebanon and the Arab states want Israel to withdraw. They want the Lebanese army to control Hezbollah and southern Lebanon. Israel says that army had over a decade to control Hezbollah and didn't or couldn't. Israel says it's naive to think they would do so now.
Dore Gold is the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and joins us tonight from Jerusalem. Dore, good to have you with us. And let me ...
DORE GOLD, FMR. ISRAELI AMB. TO U.N.: Good to be with you, Lou.
DOBBS: We have just received word from the United Nations, Ambassador Gold that, point of fact, the French have withdrawn their support for what was a joint draft with the United States, suggesting that they do not any longer believe it would be necessary to have an international security force to control southern Lebanon as they had agreed with the United States at the outset, and that they also support the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon now. Are you surprised at the French change of position?
GOLD: Well, I have to say I am surprised and it's extremely unfortunate. One thing that this draft resolution had in it was a detailed security plan, and a kind of opening for how we create a new security situation in southern Lebanon, so it's not a tinderbox in the future. If the French are withdrawing their support, this means this opens up negotiations, and if negotiations are going to go on in New York, during that period, Hezbollah will continue to bomb northern Israel.
DOBBS: And as Hezbollah bombs northern Israel, is striking all across Lebanon, striking with significant power Beirut. It appears that Tyre will be further hit perhaps as early as tonight.
The Israeli Defense Forces have encountered a resistance that very few people, and I don't know whether the Israeli government expected, but very few others expected, the kind of resistance that Hezbollah has put up.
And despite early claims by the Israeli government that they had taken down those rockets by a considerable percentage, they are coming into Israel, as you well know, by the hundreds. Is there a miscalculation here? Is there about to be a change in Israeli strategy?
GOLD: Well, most people in Israel are saying that perhaps we had an over-reliance on air power. The Israeli air force did deliver the goods in central Lebanon. It managed to destroy a significant amount of the Fajr-3, Fajr-5 rockets with a 70-kilometer range. It hit their Zelzal forces, which have a 200-kilometer range.
But in the area of southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been deploying simple Katyusha rockets, there the Israeli air force has had a very difficult time. The only way to stop this rain of terror on Israel's northern cities, these Katyusha rockets, is for the Israeli army to take control of the launch areas from which Kiryat Shmona, Haifa and all our northern cities are being attacked.
DOBBS: And, Ambassador, the idea that as President Bush and Secretary of State Rice suggested, no cease-fire without a sustainable peace makes any sense. What we are watching in these negotiations does not speak to the issues of the fundamental conflict between certainly Hezbollah and Israel and a number of the other Arab states.
There's no requirement here for Hezbollah to be actually disarmed. There is an assertion that Israel withdraw its forces as a condition precedent to a cease-fire. How far apart would you say the parties are here in coming to terms on a cease-fire?
GOLD: Well, the Israeli position is crystal clear. If Israel were to withdraw tomorrow from its positions in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah would just enter those positions, and would recreate the conditions we had at the very opening of this crisis.
We have a problem that the hidden actor in this isn't even being spoken about, and that is Iran. Iran is determined to bring more missiles to the ports of Lebanon. It's determined to smuggle much more weaponry into Syria, and then from Syria across roads into Lebanon. Any permanent arrangement to work has to prevent the smuggling of this weaponry, the rearming of Hezbollah, and in fact should also dismantle Hezbollah's remaining missile forces.
DOBBS: Your security cabinet meeting tomorrow. Under discussion, widening the conflict. What is your assessment of the likelihood of the outcome of that meeting?
GOLD: Well, the only consideration that Prime Minister Olmert has for not going after those launch areas from which our cities are being hit, is if diplomacy had a chance. If diplomacy could deliver some kind of stable security arrangements for southern Lebanon.
I think Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice worked very hard with her French counterpart to create that kind of diplomatic option, but if the French are pulling back from this draft resolution and opening up negotiations again in New York, in a manner that could take days or even weeks, then Israel cannot sit back and allow its cities to be pounded by Katyusha rockets. It may have to take action, and that seems to be the direction in which things are moving.
DOBBS: Ambassador, the Associated Press right now has just reported -- and this just in to us here at CNN -- has just reported that apparently Israeli aircraft have struck a Palestinian, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, and there are casualties. Your reaction.
GOLD: Well, one of the largest Palestinian refugee camps in southern Lebanon is called Ain Al Hilweh, and it's significant for the war on terrorism, because that's a place where many al Qaeda operatives ran to after the U.S. took control of Afghanistan and vanquished the Taliban.
We've had problems with al Qaeda from Ain Al Hilweh. If there are innocent civilians killed there, it's something which all of us in Israel regret, but we have learned now that the responsibility for the casualties among the civilian population is directly in the hands of the terrorist organization that are using civilians as human shields.
DOBBS: Dore Gold, former ambassador to the United Nations, coming to us tonight from Jerusalem. We thank you for being with us.
GOLD: My pleasure.
DOBBS: Is the Bush administration hiding information that you have a right to know? At issue -- involving American jobs going to foreign nationals. We'll have that special report for you coming up next.
Syria's role in the support of Hezbollah, unquestioned. How does it defend Hezbollah's actions in this conflict? I'll be talking with Syria's ambassador to the United States about the prospects for cease- fire and resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DOBBS: The U.S. government holds Syria and Iran responsible for providing support to Hezbollah. Both Syria and Iran blame Israel for the current hostilities and want Israel to withdraw from Lebanon immediately and completely.
Washington is not in direct talks, of course, with either Syria or Iran. Imad Moustapha is Syria's ambassador to the United States and joins us tonight from Washington, D.C. Mr. Ambassador, good to have you with us.
IMAD MOUSTAPHA, SYRIA'S AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Thank you.
DOBBS: Are you hopeful after watching the progress of the discussion between the Arab League representatives primarily and the permanent members of the Security Council today?
MOUSTAPHA: Well, the discussions today reached a tipping point. We are cautiously hopeful. I think the Arabs have made their case. The draft -- the leaked draft resolution that was discussed in the prior days was extremely unfair and actually was the Israeli dictate being charged (ph) through the United Nations Security Council.
However, today, what we are hearing is that member countries are considering things seriously, and they do understand how grave the situation is in Lebanon today. The ongoing massacre in Lebanon should stop. Should stop prior to anything else, and, of course, the Israeli forces should withdraw from Lebanon. Otherwise, this state of violence would continue for decades.
DOBBS: As you say, the violence would continue for decades, as it has for now six decades. Mr. Ambassador, how can Syria suggest that a withdrawal by Israeli troops, without a disarmament by -- of Hezbollah could make any possible sense and without an international security force to ensure the integrity of the state of Israel?
MOUSTAPHA: May I remind you that prior to these events, an agreement was sponsored by Syria, France, the United States of America, and the United Nations called or famously known as the April Agreement, in which Hezbollah and Israel undertook that they will limit their hostilities to the military only.
They will never target civilians and once Hezbollah took those two Israeli military soldiers as prisoners, immediately asked for an exchange of prisoners of Israelis, the Israelis immediately started destroying Lebanon, killing Lebanese civilians and totally, totally, demolishing Lebanese.
DOBBS: Mr. Ambassador?
MOUSTAPHA: Yes.
DOBBS: Ambassador Moustapha, I mean, there is a chilling aspect to what you have just said, as if it somehow rational or reasonable that under some terms of an agreement that Hezbollah would attack and kill eight Israeli soldiers and abduct their soldiers, two of them, for the purpose of negotiation. The Middle East has descended to a level of madness in which madness seems rational and we can talk about it...
MOUSTAPHA: No, of course, of course.
DOBBS: ... without feeling the absolute brute edge of that madness?
MOUSTAPHA: No, of course. I'm just trying to say that whatever the reasons are targeting civilians should not be the Israeli -- abducted Israeli policy. May I remind you of one thing?
DOBBS: You may remind me again, ambassador.
MOUSTAPHA: Only two days, only two days the Israelis went and abducted the Palestinian speaker of the parliament for god's sake, the speaker of the parliament, he's abducted at present today.
Would this give a pretext to anybody to destroy Israeli cities and massacre the Israeli population? The root cause of the ongoing Arab/Israeli conflict -- as you have noted a couple of minutes ago, is the ongoing occupation of the Israeli forces of our territories in Palestine and Syria and in Lebanon as well. Occupation is the mother of all evils. What we really need is a comprehensive settlement that would put an end to all hostilities.
DOBBS: Are you hopeful, ambassador, we've just received word, as we reported, that -- and we are told by the spokesman for the United Nations, ambassador of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that France has withdrawn its support for an international security force, has succeeded to the demand for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon?
It was characterized to us by the spokesman for the United States, ambassador to the United Nations, that that is crossing a red line certainly on the part of the United States. Are you more hopeful tonight that there will be resolution and, as President Bush and Secretary of State Rice have suggested, a cease-fire that is sustainable?
MOUSTAPHA: You know, a cease-fire can be sustainable only if the United States will agree to look at the root causes of the crisis, the ongoing crisis of the Middle East. As you have said, six decades it has already has been. Enough is enough. We really need peace. The Arabs have offered Israel time and again a comprehensive piece and total normalization of relations.
We think this is a very fair offer. Allow the Palestinians to have their independent viable state, give us back our occupied, allow the Lebanese to have back their Shebaa Farms and let Israel live in piece with us. This is our offer and we think it's a fair and honorable offer.
DOBBS: And yet today the ambassadors of Iran and Syria walked out as the Israeli ambassador was speaking to the security council. That can't be a good sign for the prospects of resolution, can it?
MOUSTAPHA: If you hear what he said. He was actually singing praise about the friendship between Israel and Lebanon. Can you believe this? Israel is actually destroying Lebanon, putting Lebanon ablaze, killing the Lebanese, they are brazen enough to say we offer friendship to Lebanon.
DOBBS: Ambassador, I can't believe the brazenness or the madness of the entire situation or the fact that the world and the parties involved tolerated it for six decades. Very little will overwhelm me in terms of brazenness and madness.
MOUSTAPHA: I agree with you, You're right.
DOBBS: Thank you very much.
MOUSTAPHA: Thank you.
DOBBS: Ambassador, good to have you with us.
Coming up here at the top of the hour, "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. Tonight, Wolf is reporting from Jerusalem -- Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Lou. A special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" and it's happening right now. There is breaking news coming out of Israel. A stunning development that Israeli's conduct of the war against Hezbollah. We've just learned of a major shake-up at the very top of the Israeli military, right in the middle of this war. We're going to tell you what it means.
We're also checking out reports that Israel has shelled Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp. All of this, Lou, coming just hours before Israeli's prime minister set to convene a security cabinet and make a decision whether to beef up Israel's military offensive in southern Lebanon. And there's diplomatic frenzy at the United Nations as well. As you know, they are trying to make peace but so far, it's no deal. Lou, all that coming up right at the top of the hour.
DOBBS: Wolf, thank you very much, looking forward to it -- Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem tonight. A reminder to vote in our poll. Do you believe that working Americans and their families should be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Energy Policy Act of 2005? One-year-old today, yes or no, cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. Results coming up. We'll be right back and we'll have your thoughts on a number of issues. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Now the results of our poll tonight, 98 percent of you say you do not believe that a working American and their families should be celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as Energy Secretary Sam Bodman suggested today, calling it a great day for the Energy Department and the country.
Taking a look now at your thoughts. Some of you think I'm pro Israel and others of you think I'm pro Hezbollah. I guess we've been doing something right here. Here are two opposing views on my supposed bias on this conflict. Dell in Texas wrote in to say: "Lou, I'm a die-hard Lou Dobbs fan, but I must disagree with your reporting/interviewing on the side of Israel in the latest conflict. When are we going to understand that Israel is not our country? Just because Israel brands someone a terrorist doesn't make it so. We have enough trouble on our hands from invading a sovereign nation for no reason (an act of terrorism?) without thinking that the enemy of our friend has to be our enemy."
And W.H. in Arkansas wrote in to say: "Lou, I respect that you do your best to tell both sides of any issue, but please when speaking of the Middle East crisis stay true to the facts -- the Israel is protecting itself from terrorists, no matter what anyone says Hezbollah has hijacked the Lebanese government and is causing the deaths of hundreds of women and children. Iran and Syria are the masterminds behind this awful conflict."
Send us your thoughts at LouDobbs.com. We appreciate hearing from you. For all of us here, thanks for being with us tonight. Please join us tomorrow. Good night from New York. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now with Wolf Blitzer from Jerusalem.
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