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American Morning

Update on the Crisis in the Middle East; BP Pipeline Problems Could Cause Problems for Consumers; Cynthia McKinney Facing Challenges in Runoff Election; U.S. Marine Chronicles Time on Front Lines

Aired August 08, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if it's even fully hit yet, until we are actually there in there and just see it with our own eyes.

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TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Conjoined twin sisters, separated successfully. Doctors working right now on the final stages of their surgery. Ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, welcome everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

HARRIS: And good morning, I'm Tony Harris in this week for Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Nice to have you, thanks for helping us out.

HARRIS: Thanks for the invite.

O'BRIEN: Any time, any time.

Let's begin with the crisis in the Middle East. The United Nations Security Council has a proposal on the table for ending the violence between Israel and Hezbollah. The U.N. Security Council and Arab League delegation plan to debate in open session this afternoon.

The Arab League says the U.N. resolution is not balanced. They're asking for some changes. One of the main sticking points, Israel has to withdraw from the Lebanese territories they say. Lebanon says once Israeli troops move out they're going to send in 15,000 troops right into southern Lebanon to control Hezbollah.

Let's get more on that Lebanese government's proposal to send those troops into southern Lebanon, plus an update on all the attacks that have happened overnight. Get to reporters who are on both sides of the border today.

Anthony Mills is in Beirut for us, Matthew Chance in northern Israel.

Let's begin with Matthew. Good morning. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. That's right, there's been reaction to this proposal by the Lebanese government to deploy 15,000 troops inside Lebanon if Israeli forces withdraw from the Israeli government saying that that's in principle, something they welcome, it's what they've wanted all along.

But there is deep concern still amongst the Israeli government about whether that Lebanese force would be robust enough to do what Israel wants it to do. In other words, to disarm Hezbollah and to make sure that the militia group in Lebanon does not use any cease- fire as an opportunity to re-arm. So it wants some kind of guarantees, he wants to look at the mechanisms as to how the Lebanese force, possibly in conjunction with a multi-national force to be deployed later would actually go about that work of making sure that Hezbollah did not come back and re-invent itself, re-arm itself to fight Israel another day.

In the meantime, they're also saying that if that diplomatic process does not produce results as far as the Israelis are concerned, they have a military option which they're very prepared to use. Already there are 10 to 12,000 Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon. That could expand significantly. A big deployment could be made in southern Lebanon over the next few days, if there's not satisfaction from the diplomatic process. And there's word of Israeli forces planning to push as far north into Lebanon as the Litani River, which is some 20 miles north of the Israeli border in some places.

Now, there's been a lot of resistance from Hezbollah fighters that they've been encountering in the pockets of fighting that have been taking place over the past several days. Hezbollah has used the last six years since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon as an opportunity to dig in, to re-arm and to train for this eventuality of a clash with Israeli forces. They're proving a very tough guerrilla army to unsettle and to dislodge. Obviously, if the military campaign expands, you'll see more casualties on both sides. Already today, Israel has lost another soldier. Deep concern there could be more. Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance for us. Thanks Matthew. Let's move from northern Israel to Beirut and CNN's Anthony Mills. Hey Anthony, good morning.

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. The announcement by the Lebanese government that it will send 15,000 troops south to take control of that area from Hezbollah under certain conditions would appear to be something of a step to meet the United States and Israel half way.

Now the Lebanese government is saying, look, we will send these troops down to the south, to really re-establish control over that part of the country, but Israeli forces need to be told in an amended U.N. resolution to withdraw from south Lebanon. That's a central demand of the Lebanese government. It was a criticism expressed by Lebanese officials, but also by other Arab officials in the run-up to yesterday's meeting of Arab foreign ministers here in Beirut. And so it really is or appears to be an attempt by the Lebanese government to say, ok, we're willing to do this, but you have to also satisfy this central demand of ours. Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Anthony Mills for us this morning. Anthony, thanks for the update on what's happening in Beirut. Tony?

HARRIS: New attacks this morning in areas around Tyre, that's in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces again trying to hunt down suspected Hezbollah rocket launching sites.

CNN's Karl Penhaul is in Tyre for us.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the city of Tyre today very much a city under siege, it is now completely isolated from the rest of Lebanon. The approach roads and bridges into this city have bombed. There are no humanitarian aid convoys that can come in and evacuees certainly cannot get out at this stage. Israeli warplanes have been dropping leaflets warning anybody who's spotted in a vehicle south of the Litani River that those vehicles will be considered as terrorist suspects, that they will be considered as suspicious of moving around Hezbollah munitions and rockets and consequently they will be destroyed. So certainly a warning in no uncertain terms from Israel.

All this comes on the back of a 48-hour bombardment by Israeli warplanes and artillery that is still going on. Until just a few moments ago, there were two Israeli warplanes, warships rather Tony, just off the coast here sending in a ferocious bombardment right up to the outskirts in the south of Tyre. We've now seen though just in the last few moments those warships withdraw. It seems that momentarily that section of the bombardment is over. But as I say, this has now been going on almost constantly for the last 48 hours.

HARRIS: CNN's Karl Penhaul for us in Tyre, Lebanon.

Oil giant BP is now facing growing criticism over its pipeline problem in Alaska. The company whose environmental record is already under scrutiny now saying 16 miles of their Prudhoe Bay pipeline will have to be replaced due to corrosion. That pipeline is only 22 miles long. Company officials apologized for the shutdown which could last for weeks, even months.

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BOB MALONE, CHAIRMAN & PRESIDENT OF BP AMERICA: On behalf of the BP Group, I apologize for the impact this has had on our nation and to the great state of Alaska. BP will commit the necessary human and financial resources to complete this job safely and as quickly as possible.

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HARRIS: And Andy is here with a look at the continuing economic fallout from all of this. Andy, a couple things to consider here, the price of a barrel of crude, and then the price of gas for all of us.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And the price of oil has stabilized Tony, at around $76 a barrel, but ominously, the price of gasoline futures which would reflect how much gasoline would cost in the futures according to traders has risen. Want to talk a little bit this morning about how much blame can be laid at the door of BP. How did BP discover that it had this problem with corrosion in its 22- mile-long transit pipe system?

Well it turns out that there was a spill in March of 270,000 gallons and the U.S. Transportation Department ordered that BP inspect those lines. And it was after this inspection was done that BP discovered this corrosion problem. There's also a criminal probe by the Environmental Protection Agency around those same pipes and spills. These pipes are supposed to have a 25-year life. They have now been up for 29 years. There are also allegations that the pipes were not properly maintained, and BP faces other problems as well.

Remember last year there was an explosion in its Texas City, Texas refinery, where 15 people were killed? and it also faces charges of energy manipulation by traders. What's ironic here, Tony, is that BP has long been known as the green oil company, both in marketing and in practice, and here it is facing all of these problems, where a company like Exxon has taken a much harder stance, doesn't have these problems right now, and there might be some people at Exxon saying, see, here's what you get for all your trouble of being green. You have these problems. It's kind of ironic, I think.

HARRIS: Yeah, it is, to say the least. We will talk about more of these issues with an analyst in the industry. That's coming up next hour. Andy, thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome Tony.

O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning, doctors in Utah doing reconstructive surgery at this hour on each of those formerly conjoined twin girls. They successfully separated the four year olds last night, Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were born fused at the midsection. Surgeons divided their single liver, they separated their intestines, they gave each girl one leg. Kendra's going to receive a kidney. Maliyah's going to be put on dialysis until she's strong enough to undergo a transplant. You should have seen the family members this morning, just absolutely overjoyed at how well it went. Cute little girls though, cute, cute, cute.

Roger Ebert recovering from minor surgery related to his battle with salivary cancer. His wife says the follow-up procedure will delay his physical therapy. Doctors though optimistic about his recovery. The 64-year-old film critic has undergone cancer surgery three times before.

Thirty miles north of Bakersfield, California, a semi truck driver killed when an Amtrak train plowed into his vehicle. Officials say they don't know why the truck driver turned in front of the train. No passengers on the train were hurt.

And how would you like to wake up and find -- this. A big hole in your front yard. It's a sinkhole. Wouldn't, right. It came dangerously close to swallowing a home in Orlando, Florida. Crews spent the night trying to fill it and they had to guide traffic around it. Of course there are pipes underneath it, so they had to move the water from those pipes. What a mess.

Four people were injured when a tornado touched down in northwest Kansas. They're recovering this morning. All four were hotel guests and most of them were hurt by flying glass and debris. One witness said the sirens didn't sound until it was much too late. The twister touched down following violent storms in that area.

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O'BRIEN: Big day for Senator Joe Lieberman. Is he going to be a political victim of the war in Iraq? We're going to take a look at today's primary races across the country.

HARRIS: Also, an incredible view of what war looks like to the troops. Some marine's amazing home movies are turned into a revealing documentary.

O'BRIEN: And do you remember that doll test back in the 1940s when black children were asked to pick which doll they liked better, the black doll or white doll, and time and time again the kids chose the white doll? Well, a 16-year-old student has re-created the test, and what she found out more than 50 years later is absolutely shocking. We'll share it with you, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: Polls are open right now in some of the states that are holding primaries today. Voters are set to weigh in on several U.S. Senate and House challenges in Michigan, in Missouri, in Connecticut and in Colorado. In Georgia, there are several runoffs today. But the day's marquee match-up is surely in Connecticut where polls opened more than two hours ago. Incumbent democrat Joe Lieberman is facing what could be an uphill battle against challenger Ned Lamont. Some people say it's a referendum on Lieberman's support of President Bush and a referendum, really, on the war in Iraq.

Another high-profile race to tell you about in Georgia. Controversial Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney facing Hank Johnson in today's Democratic Party runoff. Could be the fight of her life.

CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us from Decatur in Georgia. Rusty good morning.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Soledad.

Since 1992 Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has only lost her congressional seat once. So this is only the second time in her career she's facing a serious challenge and the second time that voters have expressed displeasure over her flamboyant behavior.

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REP. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, (D) GEORGIA: I was not elected to remain silent.

DORNIN (voice-over): Her campaign slogan claims she's President Bush's worst nightmare, but Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is haunted by her own demons. They stem from an incident earlier this year in which she hit a Capitol Hill policeman who had stopped her to check her credentials.

MCKINNEY: The fact of the matter is I was never charged with anything.

DORNIN: Known as defiant and confrontational, the Georgia democrat sparred with AMERICAN MORNING's Soledad O'Brien a few weeks later.

O'BRIEN: With all due respect, Congresswoman, forgive me for interrupting you, but I believe we can't have this...

MCKINNEY: You shouldn't interrupted me, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, until you answer my question I'm not sure we can move on.

DORNIN: Later she said she was sorry for what happened at the Capitol.

MCKINNEY: And I apologize.

DORNIN: But she's still defending herself.

MCKINNEY: I have already apologized for that incident even happening.

DORNIN: McKinney's opponent in the democratic runoff, Hank Johnson, has taken advantage of her notoriety and admits he's running on the ABC ticket, anyone but Cynthia.

(on camera): Do you think people are just fed up with what happened?

HANK JOHNSON, CANDIDATE IN 4TH DISTRICT RUNOFF: Well I think it's just one more controversy that could have been avoided, and it was an embarrassment to the people of the fourth district.

DORNIN (voice-over): McKinney initially claimed her clash at the Capitol happened because she is African-American.

ALAN ABRAMOWITZ, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Any problem that she has, any criticism that's made of her, she immediately tries to turn into a racial issue.

DORNIN: A successful strategy for the most part in a district that's 60 percent African-American. McKinney first won a congressional seat in 1992. But in 2002 she outraged voters when she claimed President Bush might have known in advance about the attacks of September 11th. She was defeated for re-election that year. She won her seat back in 2004. This time around, she's trailing in the polls, battling a candidate who seems to be her opposite.

ABRAMOWITZ: He's campaigning on a promise of less politics, less division, less polarization, and let's work together here. And I think that is something that appeals to a lot of voters in the district, irrespective of party or ideology.

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DORNIN: Hank Johnson, her opponent, just cast his vote here at the Ray of Hope Church in Decatur, Georgia. He told us he still thinks it's going to be a close race despite the fact that he's leading McKinney by 13 percentage points. Soledad?

O'BRIEN: Going to be interesting to watch, to say the very least. Thanks, Rusty. Tony?

HARRIS: Still to come, what's it going to take to get a cease- fire in the Middle East? We'll ask the League's U.N. ambassador, that's the Arab League's U.N. ambassador. That's straight ahead.

Plus, war from a marine's point of view. His home movies turned into an amazing documentary, still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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HARRIS: And now a rare view of what war is really like. When Lieutenant Mike Scotty was sent to the front lines he took his video camera with him. Now his home videos are being made into a feature documentary. AMERICAN MORNING's Alan Chernoff gets a look at his amazing footage.

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ALAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These scenes of combat are unlike others played out on the news. They're up close, personal -- war filmed by a U.S. marine under fire. Captain Mike Scotti thought he was on a peace time mission when he set sail from San Diego in August, 2001. But September 11th changed all that. Scotti was on shore leave in Australia when he got the news.

MIKE SCOTTI, U.S. MARINE CORPS: It was literally like a movie. The military police, the M.P.'s were running through the casino shouting.

CHERNOFF: Within hours, his ship, the U.S.S. Peleliu was heading out to sea.

BUSH: Our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.

CHERNOFF: Scotti and his fellow marines watched the president's speech, and geared up for war. He wrote his mother a good-bye letter.

SCOTTI: Tell Dave and Dan I miss and love them.

CHERNOFF: Which gave her some comfort.

GERRI SCOTTI, MARINE'S MOTHER: I felt more reassured because I could hear the confidence in him. CHERNOFF: Scotti's family says he spent his childhood playing a marine. Possible preparation for the day he had to switch emotional gears from routine deployment to combat.

SCOTTI: I took my video camera along with me expecting to be videotaping zebras in Kenya, not fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

CHERNOFF: In Afghanistan and later Iraq, sometimes he would film the guys goofing around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you get some good video when we're out there.

CHERNOFF: Other times he captured the intensity of combat and the boredom and uncertainly of round-the-clock patrol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're still here. We don't know if we're going on the attack.

CHERNOFF: During the march to Baghdad, Scotti would go three or more days without sleep. Fatigue, he feared, would lead to mistakes in battle.

SCOTTI: For me, making a mistake that gets marines killed needlessly is worse than death.

CHERNOFF: The video diary from Scotti's two tours of battle will soon be a feature length documentary, called "Severe Clear." Scotti narrates the movie with excerpts from his war journals, real-time reflections on life on the front line. His film, he hopes, will show the world what war is really like for the men and women who fight. Alan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

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HARRIS: Scotti is now back home and an MBA candidate at New York University. His documentary "Severe Clear" is planned for release. That's next month.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, will Lebanon agree to any cease-fire with Israeli troops still in the country? We're going to check in with the Arab League's Ambassador to the United Nations.

And remember the doll test back in the 1940's? Black children were asked to pick which doll they liked more, a black one or a white one. And overwhelmingly, the black children picked the white doll. Well now a 16-year-old girl has re-created that test. We'll tell you what she discovered. It's pretty shocking. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris in for Miles O'Brien. O'BRIEN: Let's get right back to the crisis in the Middle East. Israel now considering Lebanon's offer to send some 15,000 troops to the border. CNN's John Vause live in Jerusalem for us. Hey John, good morning.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. At best the Israeli prime minister says that this offer from Beirut to send 15,000 troops to southern Lebanon is "interesting." Sources in Jerusalem say they see both positives and negatives in this.

On the up side, they say it means that the Lebanese government is quite possibly ready to act against Hezbollah by sending those troops in, and the fact that two Hezbollah cabinet ministers agree to this proposal could be an indication that the militant group has been weakened and is now looking for a way out.

On the down side, that very same agreement by those Hezbollah cabinet ministers could be an indication that the militant group does not see any threat coming from the Lebanese soldiers. The Israelis are also concerned that this Lebanese force will not be able to disarm Hezbollah, will not be able to stop the rocket fire. So for the Israelis, they want to see more detail about this. And in particular, how this Lebanese force will fit in with the new multi-national force being sent into southern Lebanon. Soledad?

O'BRIEN: John Vause in Jerusalem for us. John, thanks.

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